“I can walk,” I said, breaking the tense silence between us.
Nature sang its soothing night song, helping me relax further into Rune’s arms. Crickets chirping reminded me of humid summer nights as I grew up in the countryside. Toads called to each other, and somewhere nearby an owl hooted.
Branches of the large trees on both sides of us swayed in a gentle breeze, adding to the music of nature. A piece of my damp hair fluttered over my nose from the wind. As I gazed around us, I brushed it away with my finger.
With Rune’s touch, my heart swelled. I was overwhelmed with love as I took in the scenery’s beauty. Something about this filled me with pride. I felt one with it. Which wasn’t unusual since it’d been something I grew up with. Connecting with nature had always been one of my favorite pastimes.
The sounds of the night were by far one of my favorites of nature that always made me relax.
I’d spent many nights outside when the weather was nice, just so I could sit in silence, listening to the lullaby of everything around me. My parents had a home in the country where the nearest town was half an hour away. The nearest neighbor was a mile down the road.
So I never heard anything but nature. And it always felt like I was in the right place as I star-gazed. But I was missing something as I searched the dark sky dotted with stars. There was always the gaping part of me that was raw and missing the one piece that would make me whole.
I always had an inkling it was a person who was missing.
I’d always been a daydreamer and a hopeless romantic. Often, I imagined the man who was made for me gazing at the moon at the same time. I wondered what he was like, what he looked like, what made him smile, what his favorite food was, if he ever thought about me and what I was like.
As I stared at the moon, I prayed to him.
I grew up in a Christian home and was taught about god. But I never really felt that connection. It interested me, yes. But it wasn’t something I devoted my life to. There was so much more out there, and I never felt like god deserved my devotion.
But when I thought about the man of my dreams, I prayed tohim. I devoted myself to him like I already had a connection with him. And I believed he was out there, and maybe... just maybe, he heard my little prayers.
Did Rune ever hear them? Did he ever look at the moon at the same time I did and pray to me? Did he feel that same missing chunk that ached until we met at Starbucks?
“Yes...” Rune said, his voice deep and gravelly. I turned toward him, my lips parting as my heart fluttered against my chest.Did he...? His eyes met mine; anger and fear mixed until they became one in the ocean blue. “I know you can walk, but if I let you out of my arms for even a second, something will take you away from me again. And I fucking refuse for you to be ripped away from meagain.”
A shaky breath escaped me, meaning to ease the tightness in my chest when it didn’t. Instead, it was like someone handed me a star a million light years away from Earth that would grant any wish, then snatched it away before I could touch it.
I thought he answered my thoughts, my longing to know if he heard my prayers and if he prayed to me too, but that was silly to think. He couldn’t hear my thoughts. The link wasn’t connected.
When I cringed at my mistake of assuming he heard my thoughts, Rune cocked his head and bunched his eyebrows. I turned my head to keep him from seeing my embarrassment and the letdown.
I really thought his answer meant he heard my prayers to him... how stupid of me. I didn’t have our link opened, so how could I get upset with him about it? It’d be just as stupid to get mad at him if I were to have a dream where he cheated on me. It wasn’t his fault.
But why did my heart hurt? Why did I feel like I was about to throw up from being so upset?
Logic was gone. Maybe a small thread was there, but not anything for me to grab onto and see reason.
“Isa.”
It was wishful thinking on my part that he heard me years ago. It was a stupid thing I did as a kid growing up. Sitting outside under the blanket of the stars, head tilted back with my eyes on the bright moon. I even got so emotional a few times I shed a tear or two, asking where he was. And I didn’t even know whohewas. But that need was so strong for him.
Something inside me tugged each time I thought about him growing up. Even as an adult, there was a tug at that missing piece. Like I was pulling the missing piece to me, to find me.
I wasn’t aware until now that I hoped with us being soulmates that we could hear each other before we met, and that was somehow how he found me. I knew I never heard him, but I held onto the sliver of hope that with Rune being a god, he heardme. That he’d felt me and knew I was out there waiting for him.
I was yanked out of my thoughts as Rune moved me in his arms. My back met the rough bark of a tree when Rune shoved himself between my legs, so his hips nestled against mine. When I moved my hands to rest on his shoulders, he grabbed my wrists with one of his hands, pinning them above my head.
He gave no time for me to process what he was doing before his mouth slanted over mine in an unyielding kiss. My flesh pebbled, and my nipples hardened as he rocked his already hard cock against my core. I whimpered into his mouth, and he took advantage of the opportunity, sweeping his tongue into my mouth, exploring and tasting me.
He tasted like strawberries again.
Why did he always taste like strawberries?
Everything about him was demanding, and I couldn’t do anything but respond eagerly. It was a distraction from my hellish thoughts and worry. Him kissing me made me feel exactly how I felt when we were back in the store with his hand around my throat.
I was safe, and he was going to take care of me.
