Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (60 page)

Extremely hard muscles held her
securely and gently to his chest. His short sandy blonde hair barely mov
ed
in the breeze.
His piercing raptor eyes held her
entranced. His
strong jaw locked in place and
she
saw his jaw muscles flexing just below the skin
, warring with anger he wished to voice
.
Connor’s soft and restrained voice asked “
Sarah, a
re you hurt anywhere?”

With a sigh of relief she
put
her
head against his chest.
Sarah’s
left hand
started
getting painful and
she
knew that
she
was gripping the
metal
handle far too tightly. Pu
tting
Tool in Connor’s belt, she
said “No, but that
really
was a close one.”

His voice was straining to keep
his
calm.
“Kara and you will no longer fight, until she learns a little
more
restraint.” She
looked back up at him
and
saw his attention diverted at the ground. “I saw the two of you fighting and she was doing
well
until she got too carried away
when you tripped
.”

Sarah
looked down and saw
that
both Mark and Kara
were standing together,
silently looking up at the two of
them
. Kara’s eyes were glowing and
Sarah
knew that she was changing back to normal.
The fight was over and she knew that she
i
s in trouble.
A minute later, Connor descended back to the firmness of the ground
,
very
slowly.

Kara ran up to them
saying “Sara
h
, I’m
so
sorry. I pr
omise I’ll never do it again.” Sarah
took
her
eyes away from
Kara
and fixed Connor in
her
field of vision.
He was feeling a strange emotion.
“Brother, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” Connor’s jaw
remained
locked and fl
exing; he said nothing to her. Sarah
looked back at Kara when
she
start
ed
to cry.
Being ignored
i
s painful to her.

Connor finally spoke in his restrained voice, but only to Mark. “We’re done for today. We’ll see the two of you tomorrow.” He then started walking away before anyone could say anything.

Sarah swiftly caught up to her
mate. Before
they
entered the tree line
she
took one last look back. Kara was crying on her knees. Mark knelt on one knee as he rubbed her back
,
trying to comfort her.

They
walked at a normal human pace and ov
er the course of a few minutes Sarah
saw
and felt
that his rage
began
dissipating.
About halfway home, Connor spoke as he ducked under a branch. “I’m sorry for doing that to her, but she needs to know that it’s
called training and not a fight
to the death.”

Rounding an old oak tree
and jumping over
a fallen
pine
tree
Sarah
said “If you didn’t step in, my face would have been ripped open
in four
jagged
strips
at the moment
.”

Connor stopped in his tracks. When
she
looked up into his eyes
her
h
eart began leaping. He cupped her
cheek with his right
hand
and with a gentleness only he could provide for
her
. Closing
her
eyes
she began
nuzzling into his warm hand
.
H
e said “I was glad that I had the forethought to get up when Kara was calming herself down. The moment I saw you trip, I flew right at you. I’m lucky that my flight was faster than Kar
a could move.” He then pulled Sarah
closer and into his loving embrace.

S
tress
began
floating away as
he
just
held
her
.
Sarah
took in his
masculine
scent and he still ha
d his usual smell that drives her
wild, but his shirt also had a smoky hint to it from the fire. It was a p
otent combination and it made her
knees go weak
and her
excitement began growing
. On top of that, his strong heartbeat made
her
own heart match his rhythm.

He held
her
close for several minutes
,
in complete silen
ce. Then he kissed the top of her
head and when
she
looked up
,
his smile
that is
hers
alone
was on his face. He released his
hold on h
er
lower back and
she
too pulled back. Connor
then
looked back at the log that they
leapt over. “I forgot that we will need
some
fire wood for the winter.” He looked back to
her
. “Being from Washington and all, I’d bet that you know how cold the snow gets
.”

“You’d win that bet.
Try living in a world without technological convenience like I did.
” His smile widened and so did
hers
.

Connor walked over to the log and studied it. “No use in cutting down a healthy tree if
we can use this one.” He took
Tool out and walked over to the roots of the tree. Using the hatchet side of his weapon, Connor cut away all the roots that bound the base
of the collapsed tree. Putting
Tool back at his hip
,
he reached just below the base of the trunk and with one mighty heave he lifted the tree out of its groove in the dirt. As he sat the tr
ee on the flat surface Sarah
was amazed at Connor’s overwhelming
strength.
She’d seen her father do it before, but with her love it seemed effortless.

The trunk of the tree was as round as Connors arms if he put his hands together and made a circle. After he cut off some of the branches, He lifted the base of the tree again and held it over his right shoulder. “Let’s go home
.
I’ll make
the fire wood if you can make us a snack.”

She
smiled his
favorite special
smile.

Connor dragged the entire tree home without stopping or looking the least bit exhausted. Connor dropped the log at the side of
their
cottage a
nd walked inside with her
. He walked into his work room that he recently made out of one of
the spare rooms. He also made Sarah
a
work
desk and converted t
he last room into a study for her
because of school.

While she
was washing some fruit in the sink, he walked
out with a
crescent bladed
axe han
ging over his shirtless
shoulder
. T
he axe over his shoulder
was one
he made when they
got home after buying groceries.
They
stopped on the side of the road when Connor saw a big piece of scrap metal. Using his powers
,
he re
-
forged
the mangled metal it into a
solid
axe. The crescent
blade
of
the axe was as wide as Connor’s chest.
Sarah
had to restrain
her
self from jumping him right then. He was so
handsomely
rugged with his over
developed muscles
, rugged axe
and his unwavering spirit.

He went outside
as
she
started
cutting up the fruit.
Thunk,
Sarah
heard Connor’s first sw
ing hit home on the tree. When she
heard the sixth
T
hunk
she
made a platter of fruit and four peanu
t butter and jelly sandwiches. She
left the food
i
n the
fridge
and open
ed
the front door to watch
her
mate in action
.

Her
mate used the base of the tree and made a stump out of it.
She
could even see where Connor forced the log down into the ground with brute strength because the dirt was slightly riding up the sides
of the wood
as it
had been
forced into the ground
and couldn’t offer any opposition
.
She
saw that Connor had the entire
cylindrical
tree close beside the log. What was amazing was that five straight lines separated the pieces of the tree.
She
knew that
her
husband cut through the trunk of the tree with a single stroke of his axe.
He picked up a cylinder piece of the tree and placed it atop the log platform. He made each stroke of his blade
precise with each cut.

Sarah
leaned
her
shoulder on
the frame of the front door as she
watched
her
man work. Twenty minutes later Connor had a thick sheen of sweat covering his body becaus
e the sun hit him just right.
Each droplet glistened like tiny diamonds.
She
noticed
her
bottom lip was hurting
because she
was biting it to keep
her
self somewhat clear headed.
She
walked into the kitchen and made two glasses of lemonade.

It wasn’t possible to calm her
self down after seeing all that.

He took a break from the cutting
the tree
and joined her
in a drink. He wasn’t breathing hard, but he was breathing deeply. He
soon
went back to work cutting the logs and stacking the
wedges
perfectly beside the cottage.

Thirty minutes later he finished
cutting
the firewood and came inside to take a shower.

When he came out of the shower
,
wearing clean black shorts
,
he sat down with her
at the table. His short hair was brushed to the side and he looked so
delectable
.

Come to me my Greek God!
He was stunned at first
after hearing
her seductive
thought
, but caught on to
her
mood very quickly.

After he ate his snack, Sarah
partook in
hers
.

Trail and Track

Connor
awoke early
the next morning
just before dawn and
felt great. Sarah’s
uninhibited
attack
was nothing short of spectacular
and
awe
inspiring
. From the look of her
wild
hair in bed this morning, it was for her too
, if not more
.
Even in her sleep she often sighed in satisfaction.