12:02 AM Pacific Standard Time
Had there ever been a day in history when the minutes passed by more slowly? Probably not since the Cretaceous period when a giant asteroid collided with the planet—but then again, the dinosaurs were lucky; they hadn’t known it was coming. They hadn’t known that they were hours away from being wiped out of existence. If they had, they surely would have spent several hours staring at the bright, incoming object in the sky, and thinking philosophical, dinosaur-thoughts.
This was what Pax was doing as she sat on the rooftop of the temple at Sakra’s Point, hugging her knees and feeling helpless. She stared out at the beautiful Himalayas wistfully. She occasionally looked at her watch, feeling more anxiety every time she saw that a minute had passed. Stop, she told the rotating second-hand. Stop moving—let’s just keep it the way it is now.
Her watch wouldn’t listen. The world wouldn’t stop spinning, and moving through space towards its own doom. Pax closed her eyes, lying back against the rooftop in exasperation. She knew that she had to do something. She closed her eyes, trying to conceive of what that was.
For Sakra’s sake, Pax, Thornton said telepathically. The world is ending today. Wanna get married?
Pax’s eyes flew open, and a smile spread across her face. She knew that Thornton was all the way in California, while she was still in India, but she suddenly felt like he was lying right beside her. She turned to her side, expecting to see his arrogant smirk inches away from her face. I would, Thorn—but if the world doesn’t end, we’ll still be married tomorrow.
Exactly, his voice said into her mind. She could not resist laughing lightly at this. But let’s be real, Pax—just look up. Can you see it from where you are? The world is obviously ending. We tried everything yesterday. We both need to get to Mara’s bomb shelter soon—I’m just saying we should hit up Vegas first. We might be underground for a while.
Pax was glad that he could not see the stupid smile on her face, betraying how adorable she thought he was. You never pay any attention to me in Vegas. You’re always so obsessed with the blackjack tables.
This time will be different. I’m thinking a quaint little chapel, a rushed ceremony, and then the most luxurious honeymoon suite money can buy. We can lock ourselves up all night, order champagne and room service and… well, we can do whatever you feel like. We could even watch pay-per-view movies.
She found herself pressing her cheek against the rooftop and giggling. Movies, indeed. She took several deep breaths for composure, staring at the incoming comet to regain her focus. You already have a girlfriend, Thorn. Go marry her.
She’s not a real girlfriend, he admitted. I just used her to try and make you jealous.
Well, it worked, she answered. I’m jealous. Does that satisfy you?
No, he answered, having you back would satisfy me. Pax, we need to sort this out right now. Teleport your fiery little ass over here. If you don’t, I’m coming there.
She shook her head before remembering that he could not see this motion. Sorry, Thorn. I can’t. I’m really upset about the fact that we can’t stop this thing. It’s really depressing me, and I don’t want you to see me like this.
I’m not a stranger, he told her. You can be sad around me.
I know. But should I really be relaxing and spending the night with you? Or should I be thinking of a way to stop that comet?
It’s going to hit, hot stuff. There’s nothing we can do, and we have to accept that. We tried our best. His thoughts paused. Don’t you want to be with me tonight? We could just unwind and take our mind off things.
I would love to, she answered honestly. I would love nothing more.
Then come be with me, he implored her across the miles. Let’s forget about tomorrow—and especially, let’s forget about yesterday. I love you, and I need you now.
Pax wrapped her arms around herself, feeling as though she had been struck. She felt tears spring to her eyes. Her insides ached for him, yearning to throw caution and pride to the wind and just teleport over to him and fling herself into his arms. It took every ounce of mental stamina to refuse. I can’t, she told him. This is possibly the most important night in human history. I can’t just shut my eyes for the sake of a few moments of my own happiness, and give up on this comet. I need to find a way.
Paxie…
Taking a deep breath, she pressed her hand to her stomach and teleported to Para’s basement. Amara had installed technology that would conceal her life force from his detection, so he would not be able to find her—he would not even be able to reach her telepathically and distract her from her pensive misery. She only hoped something good would come of her nun-like discipline to make it worth sacrificing such precious distractions.
* * *
2:34 AM
Thornton was walking aimlessly through the empty streets, with his hands shoved deep inside his pockets. Every human soul had deserted the city for the safety of a bomb shelter. He could not see the comet through the stormy skies. He supposed that Pax might have a great view from wherever she was hiding in India. He had been walking for quite some time before the sky had begun gushing down on him at a rate of ten bucketfuls a second. He could have flown. He could have driven. But he needed the comfort of just moving his legs in the ancient rhythm of walking.
It was the type of day that required a meditative stroll—especially for a man who was used to taking a limo everywhere. Birthdays were surely special, as were holidays such as Christmas. All of these days had a certain infectious energy about them—but they could be skipped if necessary, for work or other reasons. Doomsday overshadowed them all. It could not be avoided, ignored, or brushed off with a few hundred-dollar-bills stuffed in a Hallmark card.
He wanted to go to Pax. That was the obvious, necessary thing to do. In their darkest moments, they had always relied on each other for comfort—and why should this be any different? It was extremely disturbing to him that he could not sense her prana anywhere on the planet—not even the tiniest hint of it. Where was she? Her life force was great and very familiar to him; he should always be able to find her. The only explanation was that Pax was using Amara’s prana-concealing technology to hide from him.
“You’re my sister,” he muttered to himself angrily. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”
As he continued to walk around aimlessly in the torrential rain, his mind began to taunt him with the possibilities. Why did Pax find it necessary to conceal her prana? She had been acting extremely strange in recent months, arousing his suspicions. He did not believe her spiel about trying to stop the comet. There was only one real reason he could imagine—one reason she would act this way.
She was with someone else.
Her words had haunted him non-stop since they had exited her mouth. I think that we should both see other people. He knew he deserved the rejection, but the one thought that he couldn’t bear was her being with another man. I want anyone but you. Yet it seemed that achieving his greatest fear was her entire agenda.
He could not deny that he had been overly anxious about Pax’s whereabouts since she had spoken those words. When he could detect her prana, he focused on it, sensing for the slightest fluctuations. If she were ever in a passionate moment with another man... well, he would know. He would do something about it. But the only fluctuations he had felt in her life force lately had occurred while she was training with his father.
That had always been a frequent occurrence, but Vincent and Pax had been training notably more in the past few weeks. Obviously, the impending apocalypse had much to do with that, but Thornton’s mind liked to wander and imagine the worst. He had briefly imagined that something was going on between Pax and his father, using every tiny bit of evidence to convince himself of this horror. The thought almost made him blind with rage.
He had fantasized about killing his own father. He had searched his soul to determine whether he was capable of this, and he realized that if it came down to Pax, he was capable of anything. He stopped walking and breathed deeply to calm himself. He noticed an empty playground just to his left —even if a projectile larger than the largest possible bomb had not been about to collide with the planet, no one would have allowed their children play in this weather. Hadn’t he and Pax taken Layla’s girls to this playground years ago? The slides and jungle gym were a gaudy bright red and the see-saw was made of blue and yellow.
Damn those primary colors to hell.
Thornton raised his hand and the playground instantly disintegrated.
He couldn’t look at anything or go anywhere without thinking of her. It was as she had said. To break their connection, he would have to destroy everything in existence including himself. They were too deeply connected. Their lives had been too elaborately intertwined.
He continued walking, leaving the blue-white blaze in his wake. He did not turn around to see the destruction he had caused, for he knew that more destruction was about to occur, making this seem meaningless. He might as well help the comet along with a head start. Looters had already begun looting—martial law had been declared weeks ago as people had begun to rush for supplies, and Thornton had barely noticed. He had been too focused on helping his mother implement her strategies—strategies which had miserably failed.
As he walked, he realized that he had been hardly soothed by the small release of energy. His prana still hissed in his gut, with all the turbulence of the storm around him. Images of Pax and his father being intimate together danced through his mind, making him really, really sick. Was this the way Pax had felt when she had seen him with Karina Allbright? If so, he understood why she would hold a grudge for so long. This jealousy was volatile and devastating—even though he knew that it was unwarranted. He tried to focus on something else. Anything else. He shuddered at the visions of Pax and his father making love on the floor of the training room. That's just impossible. It couldn't happen. I must really be losing it.
But if not him... then she’s definitely found someone else. It’s been months since... the incident with Karina. I was too angry for a while to notice anything that was going on around me. I just bet that after she saw me with that woman, after she went berserk, she ran right into the arms of another man for comfort. That’s why she wouldn't let me talk to her in Antarctica. That's why she didn't accept my apologies or proposal. She probably spent all those years in the Pseudosphere thinking about him, whoever he is, and dreaming about him. Yearning for him. What else could explain why she isn’t with me right now?
I bet she couldn’t wait to get back to him as soon as she got out of the vector zone. That’s why she said those awful things to me; that’s why she’s concealing her prana. I bet she couldn’t wait to get back to fucking him. And she’s hiding her prana so that I don't come and slaughter her little boy-toy.
Images of Pax lying under a man and gasping out in pleasure made him clench his fists. Is she screaming his name the way she used to scream for me? The thought of her wrapped up in someone else’s embrace made him want to empty the contents of his stomach. His Paxie! She had always been his.
She could be engaged in such activities at this very moment. He had no way of knowing since he couldn’t sense her. She could be in a new apartment or house that she had bought somewhere... anywhere in the city, anywhere in the world. Underneath a man who was making love to her, stealing her away from him on the most important day of all days. Underneath a man who was making her writhe and moan in pleasure. Underneath the man who had comforted her when he had let her down. Underneath the man who...
Stop it! Sakra. Thornton Vincent Kalgren, get real! He chastised himself. That’s not realistic. That wouldn’t happen. Paxie isn't like that. She would never do something like that. She would never put herself in that position…
She prefers to be on top.
He went back to imagining the disgusting situation in the way which it was more likely to be happening. There’s no way Pax would let some weak human fuck her. No, she’s the one fucking him. Pax was probably lowering her body down onto the man who had consoled her all those weeks ago, giving her body to him in gratitude. Pax was probably closing her eyes and sighing for that man, whoever he was, as she used the muscles in her thighs and abdomen to grind her hips down onto him.
Thornton turned a corner, and seeing a shiny parked yellow car, he planted his foot firmly in the side of the vehicle. Primary colors were just so annoying. The car went tearing across the street before slamming into another car and then into a brick wall. After the impact, he nervously looked around and was relieved to see that it was an incredibly quiet street. There was no one around whatsoever. Anyway—what was this small impact compared to the impending global disturbance?
He groaned at this thought. What am I doing? Why am I acting like a child? This makes me no better than an opportunistic looter or anarchist. Wrecking playgrounds and cars isn’t going to help the situation. What I need to do... is get Pax’s attention. I need to do something so major that she can’t help but take notice. Pax isn’t mourning the loss of me. She’s out there concealing her prana, doing Sakra-knows-what with Sakra-knows-who. I need to live my life and show her.
I need to find Medea, and build something real with her—I need to make it look like I’m perfectly normal. Better than normal. I need to make it look like I’m on top of the world. I need to send a message to Pax that I’m enjoying my life, with or without her. A message that I don’t need her and that she has no power over me. I can’t let her know how jealous I am of whoever she’s with... no, I need to focus on making her jealous. Making her miss me. I know I’m better than any man she could possibly be with. No one else can even handle her physically!
He quietly admitted to himself that the extent of Pax’s passion would be too unbearable for any lover that she chose. When she lost control, when she felt herself at the brink of release, the tension would build in her body and she would involuntarily slip into Ruby Form. Thornton gritted his teeth as he imagined her powerful muscles tightening around another man’s member. She would destroy the body of a human, wouldn’t she? She would! She wasn’t accustomed to exercising control. She’d never had to before. She would unintentionally burn a human man to cinders. This thought made him smile. Pax was incapable of holding back.
Regardless, he knew he needed to find a way to get under her skin. Medea was his best bet. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was worth a shot. But what if Medea wasn’t responsive to his advances? He hadn’t exactly done much to charm her. Hopefully his wealth and reputation would do the work for him. He should test it now.
Why not? The comet barreling toward the planet was a great excuse to get it on. He would never again have such an impeccable opportunity to use cheesy pick-up lines. Pulling out his trusty, Kalgren Tech cell phone, he began to type a message in the hammering rain.
So, Medea—any plans for your last night on Earth? Because I’ve got a couple ideas. Let me know if you’d like some company.
“You sleazebag,” he said to himself semi-affectionately as he read over the message before sending it. He shook his head, not knowing whether to punish or congratulate himself on this new level of depravity. Now, all he could do was continue to walk around the abandoned city, wandering in circles and letting the rain beat down on him while he waited for her answer.
* * *
3:33 AM
Pax had been sitting in Para’s basement, playing with an ornament that Amara had commissioned for them. It was an antique hourglass that had been filled with the emerald sand they had taken from the final room of the vector zone. The two perfect glass bulbs were joined by a narrow neck that allowed the grains from a different dimension to pass through.
It took precisely thirty minutes for the sand to completely descend through the neck. As Pax rested on her forearms, staring at the little shower within the hourglass, she reminded herself of just how much could be accomplished in only thirty minutes. There were still plenty of hours left in the day. Something could change.
She was startled by a text message on her phone. She almost knew who it would be without looking. Once she did look, she immediately wished she hadn’t.
“Sleazebag,” she whispered. Would just anyone do to satisfy his masculine urges? But she had declined him, and it was doomsday—and Para wasn’t just anyone. How could she expect that he would sit patiently and wait for her when he was Thorn Kalgren, CEO stud? The worst part was that she was sure he would have waited for her if she had only asked him to—but she had been forcing him away. He was what she wanted more than anything, but she was terrified of accepting happiness again, only to have it inevitably ruined.
Needing to flood her head with a distraction for a few minutes, she used her telekinesis to turn on the TV in the basement. Every channel was filled with morose news coverage on the comet. She knew that it was far too late for anyone to prepare for impact; anyone who did not know where they were staying upon impact was basically a dead person. As she flipped through the channels, Pax was mildly surprised by the efforts being taken to help everyone get to shelter.
“…and if you are stranded, you can call the toll-free number on the bottom of the screen, and rescue efforts will try to send a vehicle or a helicopter to help you and your family. Priority will be given to families with young children…”
“…many wealthy citizens are offering limited spaces in their private shelters to members of the community, as long as you bring your own bottled water and canned goods…”
“…the local stadium will be open to last-minute stragglers, and the police force is out in full-swing to maintain order and assure your safety…”
“…a heroic volunteer who is giving rides to all of his neighbors, creating a ‘comet carpool’ and playing uplifting music along the ride to the shelter…”
Pax could not help but smile at all of these hopeful endeavors in the middle of such a dismal event. People seemed to really be coming together and helping each other—now that there were only a few hours left on the clock, there was nothing else left to do. It was heartening.
The basement door burst open, startling Pax as Amara began clomping down the stairs. For a delicate little blonde girl, her friend sure could stomp the hell out of a staircase. She held up her phone, displaying the message she had received in synchronization with Pax.
“Do you want to do this?” Amara asked.
“I couldn’t ask that of you,” Pax answered, staring at the phone, “but yes, I do.”
“Then let’s do it,” Amara said with a frown. “Remember—we might be playing games and lying about everything, but this actually is the end of the planet as we know it. Big changes are about to happen, and nothing is certain. We should act like it.”
“Don’t you want to be with Ash?” Pax asked.
“He doesn’t want to be with me, or he would be,” Amara said with a frown. “So I’m in your corner tonight. Wanna enter the ring and knock ’em dead?”
Pax nodded, giving her friend a grateful smile.
“Hand me that hourglass,” Amara said, holding out her hand. “I’ll put it upstairs to decorate more—so that it looks like someone actually lives here.”
* * *
3:57 AM
Thornton knocked on Para’s door.
A few moments passed, and finally the door slid open to reveal a very sleepy looking woman. Para moved a hand to her forehead to brush her indigo bangs aside from her eyes and she gave him the smallest of smiles.
“Hi, boyfriend,” she said quietly.
“I would have gotten you flowers or something,” he said gloomily, moving forward to kiss her cheek, “but all the flower shops were closed on account of the apocalypse. Why aren’t you in a bomb shelter? Didn’t you get my message inviting you to my sister’s bunker?”
“Enjoying these final hours above ground,” she answered. “Oh my goodness, Thorn! You’re soaking wet! Didn’t you have an umbrella? Please come inside and get warm.”
She knew that he could use his prana to instantly dry out his skin, but she needed to feign innocence. When Thornton had arrived at Para’s house, Pax and Amara had not yet been joined. They waited in the basement for the sound of the doorbell before joining bodies; it was the only way they could guarantee they would have all of the available time. Every second of every one of those precious thirty minutes.
They had also injected copious amounts of etorphine before and after joining. It was a fast acting drug, so Para had stumbled up the stairs of the basement in a weakened, dizzy haze before shaking her head clear and answering the door. She decided to act as though she had only just woken up. The fresh dose of tranquilizer had been nearly enough to knock her unconscious, so it wasn’t a hard role to play. She had almost been too drowsy to notice that Thornton was soaked to the bone from the rain, but when she noticed she quickly ushered him inside.
“Let me put your clothes in the laundry,” she said. “You can take a warm shower in the meantime.”
“No, no. It’s fine,” he said, knowing that he could dry off his clothing with his body heat. But then how would he explain that to her? It might be better to let her help.
“I insist. Please come upstairs,” she offered again, leading the way.
“Sure, Medea,” he said, following her obediently and absent-mindedly.
“I don’t have any men’s clothing but I should have a robe or something you can wear until your clothes dry out.” She guided him to the master bath and held out her hand, indicating that he should deposit his clothing into it. He tugged off his expensive-looking wet shirt and gave it to her, and she made a motion with her other hand to indicate she wanted his pants as well.
She then moved to the laundry room (in which she had never done laundry) and looked at the machines. She saw that the dryer was an older model that would take an hour for the clothes to finish drying. She frowned and quickly glanced behind her to ensure her privacy before pulling the clothes tightly against her body and releasing a miniscule amount of hot prana to dry them out before tossing them into the dryer.
Quickly, she headed back to her room to find clothes for him. After sifting through a few drawers, all that she could find was a satin robe. She laid the robe out for him in the bathroom (with a quick glance at his form through the foggy shower door) and headed into her bedroom.
She hesitated for a moment before going to the bedside table where her purse lay and digging into it. She pulled out the simulator and turned it on. The arousal-intensifying waves had never been used on Thornton. Para had never really gotten extremely intimate or sexual with him. What would their dynamic be like? As intense as it was with Asher? She could be patient and allow things to progress in the natural way... or she could cheat nature and speed things up with a little science.
It was in her nature to cheat nature with science.
In the meanwhile, Thornton was toweling himself off with a towel that had never been used. He saw that she had lain out a robe for him. He was extremely surprised to observe that the robe was pink. He weighed his options for a few seconds before donning the garment.
Exiting the bathroom, he fingered the pink lace at the cuffs of the robe hesitantly. “How do I look?” he asked with a sheepish look.
“The color really brings out your… masculinity,” Para said with a sly smile.
“I see that you have taken this opportunity to torture and mock me,” he said, gesturing down at himself.
She laughed lightly. “I’m sorry, Thorn. I couldn’t find anything else that might fit you. Let me look again.” She moved across the room, going to a dresser. She pulled out drawers (which Amara had filled with random articles) and she searched for something else. She couldn’t really think of anything that might fit her brother—Amara liked her clothing skin-tight.
Thornton gazed at Para’s long, slender legs as she bent over, rummaging in the drawer. He watched as her dress rode up to reveal the little curve at the top of her thighs where her legs met her buttocks. He stared at her shape for a moment, somewhat surprised to feel how strongly his own body was responding at the sight of her.
I can do this, he thought to himself. I want to do this. It’s a surefire way to make Pax boil with jealousy. Wherever she is, she may be concealing her prana... but I’m positive that she can still feel mine.
Para paused in her digging through the drawers, as she heard Thornton’s train of thought. That simulator sure does work quickly, she thought with mild surprise and substantial pride in her invention. She straightened her posture and moved her fingers to the hemline of her dress. She gently grasped the edge of the fabric, intending to pull her dress down modestly, but Thornton crossed the room and seized her fingers, crushing them in his grasp. He spun her around instantly, staring down at her in a no-nonsense way.
Her breath caught in her throat as she beheld the typhoon of lust and wrath burning in his eyes.
“Thorn,” she said softly, feeling suddenly afraid. She was Para—she never felt fear, but there was an unusual and unmistakable sense of danger provoked by his proximity. There were very few men who could be intimidating in pink, but Thornton was one of them. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck lift as the heat of his prana intensified, prickling and electrifying her skin. Her anxiety made her heartbeat accelerate as every muscle in her body began to contract and beg for oxygen. His heat surrounded and pervaded her until her own arousal began to stir within her womb. She remembered exactly who he was, and just what he could do to her.
The ferocity of the emotions and the hormones released into her bloodstream burned away some of the effect of the tranquilizer, and she felt her subtle drowsiness dissipate and her own prana rising slightly. Her body yearned to let go and match his passion and power, but she fought desperately to contain herself and hold onto her sedated state.
It was impossible. It was impossible to look into the oceanic intensity of the eyes belonging to the man she loved without feeling a typhoon of her own lust and rage consuming her. She fought against the onslaught of anxiety as his hands forced her hands behind her back. His chest and forehead grazed hers.
“This is not the kind of night,” he said in a low voice, “on which one should be concerned about clothing.” He discarded the pink robe and tossed it onto her dresser with a flick of his wrist. He flexed his shoulders back as he stood in his godly naked glory, his skin still warm and moist from the shower.
Para examined the muscular landscape of his chest, letting her eyes travel through the canyons and valleys before returning them to his face. She swallowed and sought to control her prana as her heart raced. “So this is what the end of the world looks like,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he answered, touching her elbows. He gently ran his fingertips up her arms, and she shivered lightly at the sensation. He slid his fingers under the straps of her dress, and began to slide them off her shoulders.
“The world should end more often,” she decided, closing her eyes.
“I can destroy the world any day you like,” he growled. “It’s my specialty.”
Her eyes shot open at this, and she saw the pain behind the lust in his eyes. She knew that he also felt responsible for their failure. Oh, Thorn, she thought to herself sadly. She tried to regain her composure, and remind herself of what was important. I shouldn’t be here, she told herself. I shouldn’t be here with him, wasting time like this—not even half an hour! I should be out there, trying everything to stop that comet—beating it with my fists until the last second it collides with the planet. I shouldn’t be playing this foolish, trivial game to toy with my ex-lover. I have all these amazing abilities, and I’m squandering them—I should be doing something important.
When she felt his soft lips press against her cheekbone, she realized the truth. This is important. He is the most important thing to me. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else on this day. The universe could crumble around me now, and I would hardly notice.
Thornton’s mind was also racing as he let his hands roam over inch of Para’s exposed body. He uncovered her breasts, kneading the soft flesh with his hands, and sending his energy into the delicate nerve endings to stimulate her arousal. He could acutely feel her response, noticing the tiny hitches in her breath and the arch of her back as her body begged his hands for more.
This is going to piss the hell out of Pax, Thornton realized. She’s going to sense what I’m doing—she will know I’m with another woman. That’s the whole point, of course—but somehow, I don’t like the thought that she might come after Medea. I will have to protect her—Medea is innocent in all this. She may be a pawn, but I won’t sacrifice my pawn to the vicious queen. I’ll just use her to reposition my queen, closer to the king, where she belongs. But sometimes pawns do get butchered. Pax will be furious—how I love it when she’s furious! As long as she’s close to me, I don’t care if she kills Medea or tries to kill me. This will get her attention—this will smoke her out of hiding.
Smoke me out! Para thought in amusement. His hands had departed from her breasts and had circled around to her lower back, slipping down to cup her bottom. She lifted her face to lightly brush her lips against his, caressing his face with her mouth. I’m right under your nose, and you can’t find me. Her body was reacting strongly to his touch although she fought to keep her mind stable and aloof. She imagined that the simulator was affecting her hormones as well. How many of anyone’s actions or choices were based on logic, and how many were based on hormones? Thorn is willing to sacrifice me (to me) for me? What great lengths he would go to! No greater than my lengths, I suppose. We all want different brands of vengeance.
Thornton continued tugging Para’s dress up inch-by-inch. I know Pax is trying to forget what we had and ignore me... but I won’t allow that to happen. Not tonight, on this night of all nights. I am going to shove my life directly into her face, as much as I possibly can. Medea, is the key—she is the cornerstone.
When he pressed his mouth against hers, she was gone. Every ounce of resolve melted. She felt him lift her off the ground, and hardly noticed the swaying motion as he carried her, so focused she was on his lips and tongue. When she felt the bed against her back, part of her began to panic. No! This is too much, too fast—this can never happen! This man is my brother.
“Wait!” she said, pulling the straps of her dress back over her shoulder. She pressed her hand against his bare torso, pushing him away hastily. “Thorn—let me… let me see if your clothes are dry.”
“I don’t really give a damn about my clothes,” he stated matter-of-factly.
Para inched away and looked around, panicking. She moistened her lips with her tongue. “What do you care about?”
“I just...” He exhaled and rubbed the back of his hand over his eyes. He got off the bed and began to pace in the room. Was he really sure about this? Maybe he’d been moving too fast for her? She was pretty young, but they’d had several dates together at this point. It didn’t matter. He needed to try to be a gentleman—it was hard considering the circumstances.
“Medea, do you want to do something else? Maybe watch a movie?” he asked, gesturing to the giant television in the bedroom she had never slept in.
Para frowned, glancing at the random DVD collection—it had been purchased just to make it look like someone spent time in the house. Her eyes scanned the titles, and she mentally noted that the movies all lasted around 90 minutes. Too much time. She chewed her lip. That’s triple as long as I’ve got.
“Choose a movie if you like. Hey! This is a beautiful antique,” Thornton remarked, suddenly noticing her hourglass. “The workmanship is very fine, and the sand is such an interesting color.”
He turned the hourglass upside-down. The emerald sand began to fall.
“It’s the most precious thing I own,” Para whispered. As she looked from the cascading sand to the naked man considering the ornament, a decision came to her. “Thorn. Get back over here. Screw the movie—I’m not a patient girl.”
He looked at her with a self-satisfied expression. “Patience is a virtue, young lady.”
She smiled at the wicked expression on his face, extending a beckoning arm. Her insides screamed at her to abort her actions. Pax! Good Sakra, you cannot do this. That’s my brother! It’s horribly wrong. I can’t be in this mind while you do this—pollute your own body. I can’t watch…
Then don’t watch, Mara. Like you wouldn’t put me through worse if you had the opportunity.
Well, maybe I would. That’s not the point...
Amara Kalgren! I’m taking over this operation. Shut up and find a dark corner of my brain to sit in quietly for the next 23 minutes.
“I can’t afford to be patient,” Para said softly as she watched him approach. “Not today. Life is too short.” Especially my life, she thought, glancing at the hourglass. “Or maybe I just can’t afford to be virtuous. It hasn’t gotten me very far in the past.”
“Then you should be nefarious with me,” said Thornton, closing the distance between them. Their bodies collided with the force of two celestial objects, crushing and molding together. They were past the point of no return. Thornton pulled her hips tightly against his exposed lower body so that she kneaded against him in a tantalizingly rough way. Her bare thigh slid in between his as they naturally sought more aggressive and intense contact. Slipping his hands around her thigh, his strong hands massaged the large muscles nearest to her most sensitive region, inching closer and increasing the blood flow to her vulva. The tease was unbearable. He released prana into her skin, and the tingling sensations of heat and power travelled through her skin to her perineum and labia. She groaned against his mouth.
She had not expected this intricate attention; she had forgotten that he was never desperate and sloppy. His lovemaking was eloquently crafted poetry, not vulgar, careless speech. How many years had it been? She had forgotten this aspect of why she was so mad about Thornton Kalgren.
This is for you, Pax, he thought to himself victoriously. Every time Para vocalized her pleasure, he could not help feeling smug and intensifying his administrations to elicit more reactions. I hope wherever you are, you’re sensing everything that I do with this girl. It could have been you, Paxie, if you weren’t so determined to be stone-hearted.
I’m right here, lover. I’ll be sensing everything you do in more ways than you think, thought Para, still managing to appreciate irony from the depths of her arousal. You think that you’re going to sleep with someone else to get back at me for rejecting you? Little do you know! This is my game. This is my revenge, not yours. You think I’m a pawn, but I’m your queen in disguise. You’re my pawn, a knight at most—and you don’t even realize it. When you shed your king’s clothing, what will remain underneath?
Without warning, Thornton grasped the hem of her dress and pulled, and a ripping sound was heard as the garment went sailing to the join his discarded robe. Thornton hastily began massaging her moist flesh through her white panties as he continued to assault her lips with his mouth, using his tongue to excite her taste buds with warm, sweet prana. He commanded every one of her senses—filling her with scents and tastes which quickened her pulse. He overwhelmed all of her nerves with electric sensations, completely taking her away from the world and its woes.
Finally, sliding aside her panties, he pulled her cheeks apart, separating her folds of flesh before plunging his middle finger into her center. She cried out at the sensation as he hit her interior walls repeatedly, adding a finger after a few strokes.
Para shuddered, tilting her head back in delirium. Her body writhed and twisted in pleasure, involuntarily—she felt somehow outside herself. She could sustain lightning bolts, liquid nitrogen, or fires burning thousands of degrees hot—but this was too much.
As his hands continued their merciless assault, her mouth drifted away from their kiss as she could no longer focus through the kaleidoscope of colors in her vision. His fingers worked expertly and aggressively, spreading around the moisture that her body was producing and massaging her flesh vigorously from the inside. Soon her every pore was saturated.
“Is this okay?” he grunted, succinctly and functionally.
“No,” she gasped as she clung to him.
“Too rough?” he asked as he paused, worried.
“No,” she insisted again, ripping his hands away from her soft, swollen flesh and pinning them to his sides. She took a deep breath—she did not feel comfortable losing control. She glanced at the hourglass, seeing how much sand she had left.
She looked back at him with determination before placing her hands on his chest to push him back onto the bed, and slowly sliding down his body until she was positioned on her knees at the foot of the bed. The fingers of her right hand immediately began to tangle in the soft blonde fuzz at the base of his penis. She grasped his member firmly, intending to take back dominance of the situation.
Part of Para sucked in a breath of surprise at his size, for her fingers wouldn’t meet as they tried to encircle him. She cleared her throat. “Wow. I guess you must have really great genes.” She engulfed the head of his penis with her mouth, taking him into her warmth. She tightened her lips around him as she lowered her head down the length of his shaft repeatedly, quickly and firmly, all the while also stroking him with her tongue. She fought the urge to use her prana to increase his pleasure.
“I ate my vegetables… and I took my vita... mins!” Thornton tried to speak through Para’s hand firmly stroking him at the base of his member, keeping perfect time with her mouth. Cupping his balls gently with one hand, she squeezed and massaged his silky scrotum just the way she knew he liked it.
“Medea!” Thornton threw his head back and moaned at the sensation as Para used her lips to create more suction while stroking him firmly and smoothly with her fist. When he had seen that she intended to pleasure him orally, he was going to mention to her that she should be as rough as possible. He wanted to genuinely enjoy this and to lose himself in the passion: Pax might be able to feel the excitement in his building prana if it was real; he liked the thought of her seething in anger. As he remembered, human girls generally did not have the strength it required to please him very much with their mouth or hands (or anything else for that matter, not in comparison) and he didn’t think Para could either. However, as soon as she had begun, he lost all train of thought with regards to this.
Not only was he able to feel her grip, but it felt amazing. Thornton found himself bucking his hips against her mouth in a silent plea for more as she struggled to engulf his entire size. When he was able to gather his wits about him long enough to look down at her, something about the way she brushed her dark hair back over her shoulders stirred his memory. She tossed the giant mass of hair away from her face quickly, with plenty of attitude, suggesting her profound annoyance with the cumbersome tresses.
He looked down at the way she worked both her hands and her mouth vigorously, and he couldn’t help but think of Pax. If he closed his eyes, he was almost certain that he could hardly tell the difference between the sexual skills and styles of his current lover and his previous one. He could even imagine that she was Pax. Maybe his memories had been skewed and making love to Pax hadn’t been that different from other women? This thought was interrupted by Medea raking her teeth roughly along his frenulum.
He let out an animalistic roar and grabbed her head behind her ears, forcing her mouth down on him until his length hit the back of her throat. She inevitably gagged but he hardly noticed her discomfort in his fervor as he continued to slam his erection into her throat.
Para briefly wondered what had gotten into him as she released a little bit of energy so that she could wrestle his hands away from her head, and pull his penis out of her mouth. She licked her lips where the mix of her saliva and his juices mingled together, and glanced down at him in pleasant surprise. She liked it when he was uninhibited.
No more wasting time, thought Para to herself. She glanced at the emerald sand falling through the hourglass. I only have so many minutes. She crawled over his body, positioning herself so that she could feel him pressing against her. She lowered herself just on the tip of his head, teasing him with promised entry.
“Thorn,” she begged, “I want you now.”
He did not need a more explicit invitation. Reaching down, he easily ripped her panties off, and grasped the sides of her hips. He was about to push her body down on his length when he paused.
“You’ve done this before, right Medea?” he asked gruffly as he fought the urge to plunge into her.
“Of course,” she said, biting her lip and moving her hips against him in an urgent plea. It was the truth, and yet it wasn’t. She, Para, had never before had sex before in this body, although Pax and Amara had separately. Well, they say lying is the most fun a girl can have without taking her clothes off, she thought to herself, but when you’ve told so many lies that it isn’t even fun anymore—it’s time to tell some lies with your clothes off.
“And you’re...” Thornton tried to remember that other important question, “on birth control?”
“Yes,” she answered grinding her body against him. That was the truth. Both of her halves had continued taking birth control, despite the general lack of need for it.
“Good.” Without a moment more of delay he slammed her hips down onto his erection. She moaned and moved very slowly so that her body could take its time to adjust to his size. He swallowed, not liking the position, for it reminded him too much of Pax. He folded her thigh and expertly rolled her over so that she was on her back. Positioning himself above her, he thrust into her gently, trying to be considerate of the fact that she was human and delicate. However, once he was inside of her completely, memories came flooding back to him of Pax. The warmth and love he had experienced with her for so many years flooded his chest, drowning him.
He was overpowered with emotion. For several moments his vision blurred and he could almost see Pax lying there underneath him, looking up at him with her trusting and loving dark eyes. His Pax and her sweet Burnson smile. Her honest warmth, her confident strength mingling with girlish innocence. Her fearlessness and her vulnerability. The vision was so realistic that he opened his mouth and almost whispered Pax’s name.
Then the vision fizzled away, and it left him feeling empty. Its vivid clarity had almost brought tears to his eyes.
I must be losing my mind, he thought. He had been almost positive for a moment that she was Pax, that it was Pax’s flesh he had buried himself into. He knew that this was some kind of hallucination; just his damaged mind playing tricks on him, creating mirages in the desert—but how badly he wished it were true! He felt tears prick the back of his eyes as he longed for the woman he loved, but the sadness quickly segued into anger. How could you leave me, Pax? Over one mistake One stupid mistake! I deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserve your damned cold shoulder! He rocked his hips to dig himself deeper into Para, eliciting a guttural moan from her throat.
The sound made him even angrier and he increased the force of his thrusts. Who is making you feel this way now, Pax? Who is making you crazy, making you moan and scream? If I find out I will kill him! I will rip out his throat! You should be with me now—there is no one who can give you what I can give you. There is no one who can love you with all his heart the way I do. Can anyone do this to you? Can anyone make you feel this way? His vision blurred again as his rage overcame him and his strokes became even more forceful. Too forceful. He pounded himself into her so hard that his pelvic bone banged against hers painfully.
“Thorn!” she screamed through the intense mix of pain and pleasure. She found herself reaching up to grasp his hips, trying to get him to ease up.
That’s right, scream my name, he thought viciously as he continued to pummel his rock-hard erection into her soft depths. His motions increased in speed and he mercilessly tore at the flesh of her insides.
“Ah,” she gasped out in shock at his violence. The rapture she had felt initially begun to transform into agony as her skin began to rupture. “What are you...”
See other people, hot stuff? How's this for seeing other people?
His unbridled anger and lust had caused him to naturally transition into Ruby Form as he moved inside of her, and she gaped at his lack of control. Flames began to engulf her body, singeing her skin and charring her hair. It felt like a spiked rock was impaling her body.
“Thorn! Seriously, please…” Para grasped his shoulders tightly, trying to get his attention and ask him to calm down. He was not only blinded by his rage but also deafened and numbed. When the heat radiating from his skin intensified so much that she felt like she was being stabbed with a hot poker, her fingers dug deeply into his shoulders until her nails pierced even his stone-hard skin. He still did not notice. Each sledge-hammering stroke actually moved her body across the bed until her head was repeatedly slamming into the headboard. She let go of his shoulders (realizing that it would be challenging to explain any more damage to his body) and reached up and tried to stabilize herself against the oaken headboard of the bed. Thornton continued pounding into her almost as though he were possessed by hellish demons.
Actually, when his body had been hijacked by a demon intent on destroying the planet, it had been far gentler than this. The real Thornton was more fearsome and brutal than any shapeshifter or apparition could be.
Para fought to resist the urge to increase her prana to match his so that it wouldn’t be painful. She knew that every deva could feel the sudden increase in Thornton’s energy, and she also knew that a good portion of them were able to read the emotions in the prana enough to tell why. If she raised her energy to even a fraction of her capacity, she would undoubtedly raise suspicions amongst her friends and family. Everyone would know that Thornton’s new girlfriend was not human. She would just have to endure the pain and stay weakened, trying her best to tolerate the situation—it was her fault after all. She had certainly asked for it. The tranquilizers in her body weren’t helping, subduing her power and making her vulnerable.
A cracking noise was heard as the headboard splintered apart with the impact of her head against it. Somehow, Thornton didn’t even notice this in his feverish concentration and impassioned frenzy. She gasped out in pain as her head went through the solid wood headboard and began to bang against the wall—but the pain which made her gasp wasn’t from the impact of the wood or the wall—it was from the severe impact of the deva man pounding into her between her legs. He was inhuman. If it had never been clear to her before, she could feel it now—he was utterly inhuman.
“Thorn!” she screamed at him, trying to get him to stop. It only fed his fury. She could tell he was releasing all of his pent-up wrath—all of his anxiety about the comet and all of his turmoil about Pax, combined and twisted into a single moment of abandon. But Thornton was too powerful to allow himself a moment of abandon. Not with a human girl, or a girl subduing her strength and pretending to be human.
This is for you, Pax. This all for you. We’re fucking even now! Do you see what you’ve done to me? Do you see what a monster I am, because of you? I loved you! You just tossed me aside like nothing! I’m not nothing—and I don’t need you. Feel my energy! Feel this! His prana grew tenfold with a loud roar as he reached Silver Form.
No, not Silver! Para clenched all her muscles defensively, and felt a rapid increase in the moisture inside of her. It was blood, she knew instinctively. She was bleeding, and she couldn’t use her prana to shield herself. Yet Thornton continued thrusting, completely oblivious.
When her bed burst into flames, she knew the situation was becoming dangerous. She would need to increase her energy to Ruby Form in order to survive. It would be hard enough to explain how her head wasn’t even slightly injured from breaking the strong wooden bed. How her fingernails had managed to bruise his shoulders. How her skin wasn’t burned from the scalding fire. It would be even tougher to explain how she was able to be unharmed from her head going through the wall. She braced the wall with both hands in order to try to spread out the force evenly and keep the wall from caving in.
Come on, Para. Don’t show your power, don’t show your power. Keep your prana low. Oh, Sakra! If I don’t assume Ruby Form, he’s going to rip me apart! What on Earth is he doing? She could feel her flesh tearing more and more with each of his furious strokes. The flames of his Silver Form were engulfing her room, and setting her entire house on fire. She glanced at her hourglass with worry—not only was she running out of time, but she did not want her beautiful souvenir from the vector zone to be destroyed by Thornton’s unruly prana. Another thrust, and she cried out in agony. She could not believe this demented craze. A human woman couldn’t take this! Anyone else would be dead right now; burned alive! He wouldn’t be able to hurt me if it weren’t for trying to appear weak and using those damned sedatives... Sakra! What is he doing?
Damn you, Pax! He inwardly raged as he drove himself into her. Damn you for leaving me! Can you feel this? Damn you!
Para screamed and reflexively raised her prana enough to protect her body—she was careful to hold back just enough to avoid assuming Ruby Form. She hoped that her energy had not become great enough to arouse suspicion. As she raised her energy, her muscles tightened around the intruding organ and she acknowledged that even despite the pain, being so intimate with Thornton felt wonderful. It felt divine to be with a man in this way again, after so long, even if it was less than perfect. The pain just added to the passion of the situation. The world was ending—why not go nuts?
Any feeling was better than no feeling at all. Any love was better than no love at all. She almost wouldn’t have had it any other way.
When her prana rose in self-defense, Thornton felt the increase even through his daze he imagined that it was as an indication of her pleasure or achieving orgasm. He let some of his anger go and allowed himself to feel the delicious sensations of her tightening muscles. After a few rapid thrusts he clutched her tightly as he finally approached his climax.
When his orgasm came, the clouds cleared from his mind and Thornton suddenly saw the look of pain and torment on Para’s face. As soon as his body sagged against hers with his release, he realized that the bed and the room were on fire. In shock, he lifted his hand, creating a harsh wind to subdue the flames.
“Oh my god,” he groaned in realization. He knew that he’d hurt her—the look on her face! He pulled his body out of her, moving beside her to check her for injuries. When he began running his hands over her skin and check if she was burned, she moved away from him, turning to face the wall. She lay on the opposite side of the bed, curling her knees up against into her chest. Her breathing was ragged, but Thornton was glad to hear that she was breathing at all.
He looked down, seeing the sheets which had been singed by the flames. He saw that there was a huge spot of blood on the bed, and he frowned. “Is this… were you on your period?” he asked hopefully.
She glanced back at him over her shoulder, giving him an incredulous look. She stared at him for a moment before she emitted a burst of laughter. Para clutched her stomach as she began to laugh hysterically at this ridiculous situation.
Thornton knitted his brow in confusion when a telepathic message reached him.
Dude. What the hell? It was Asher’s voice reaching out to his mind, and even his telepathic voice sounded terrified and frantic. I could sense what you were doing. She’s not Pax! Did you burn her alive? Thornton realized all of a sudden what he had done.
His hand jerked up to touch his face, and he realized the temperature of his skin was far past the point of boiling. He swore. Thornton immediately released the flames which surrounded him. His blazing eyes returned to their original, pale blue color. He noticed the cracked headboard, and understood that he had lost control more than he believed. Thornton crossed the bed and took the wounded girl into his arms gently.
“God, Medea... what have I done to you? I’m so sorry. How bad are the burns? I made you bleed...”
Para glanced down at the sheets and frowned. She was shocked to see that she was actually bleeding quite a bit. That part of her body—or rather, that part of both Pax and Amara’s bodies had been out of commission for several years, and the skin of her insides had become delicate. She moved her hand down to touch herself gently to survey the damage. “I’ll be fine. I won’t need stitches or anything; it will heal on its own before long.”
Thornton ran his hands over her skin, checking for injuries. When she winced and pushed his hands away, he realized how badly he had scalded her skin. “God—you’re really hurt.”
“It’s nothing,” she answered. “Thorn—I swear that I’m fine. That was just… a little more intense than I expected.” She smiled sardonically at herself, knowing that she deserved this. If she could have increased her energy just a little more, it would have felt amazing. If she could have used her own Silver Form, or even more than that, she could have been the one hurting him. She could have easily prevented the injuries—she had chosen to restrain her life force from skyrocketing to continue fooling him into believing she was a human woman. This was the price.
Thorn! Is she alright? Asher’s telepathic voice entered Thornton’s mind, and Para overhead the exchange. She felt a little bit of warmth at Asher’s concern for her. Her guys were idiots, but such lovable idiots.
No. She’s really hurt, Thornton responded, angry with himself.
What were you thinking, man?
I just lost control for a few minutes.
She’s a nice girl, bro! It’s one thing to use her, but it’s another thing to physically injure her! She doesn't deserve you taking out your anger on her.
I didn’t mean to, Thornton responded. I screwed up, Ash. I’m sorry. I’ll take care of her. See if you can get me some vials of Sakra’s water to heal her.
“You have to let me take you to the hospital,” Thornton said with concern. He lifted her body effortlessly and was already moving to the window. “I don’t know what came over me. I just...”
“Relax, Thorn! Put me down. I’ll heal.” She gave him a reassuring smile, freeing herself from his protective grip. She moved over to her hourglass, and saw that she was running out of time. “We don’t want to be in a hospital on a day like this. Not over something small that isn’t life-threatening. I’m a doctor, remember? I know this isn’t serious.”
“You don’t understand! It is serious. I used too much power...”
“Shhh,” she said, “it’s fine. It's just a little blood. You'd be surprised at how much this type of thing happens to people.”
“What’s wrong with me?” he whispered. Thornton sat on the side of the bed and put his head in his hands. Para moved over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Pax, do you hate me? I wonder where you are right now. Look at this mess I’m in—and I’m just digging myself a deeper hole by the second. Maybe I will try to go back in time. I love you, Pax. I need you with me, always. I’m not even half a man without you—I’m some kind of insane beast.
She frowned as she listened to these thoughts. He was tortured. He was just as tortured as she was. Her heart ached for him.
Come on, Thorn, he told himself, just forget it. Let it go. There’s a beautiful woman here right now, and you owe her some kindness. You just nearly burned her house down and wrecked her body by using Silver Form and she hasn’t even complained. She’s smiled and been so tough. She’s tried to reassure you she’s alright when she’s obviously not. What a sweet girl. Just forget about Pax... just for a few minutes. Medea needs your attention.
He looked up at the indigo-haired woman, trying to think of what to say or do to make this better. As he examined her face, he found himself searching for similarities to Pax. Dammit! What I like most about Medea is her resemblance to Pax! I’m such a sick fuck. When am I going to stop? When am I going to accept that Pax is gone and stop beating my head against a brick wall?
Para pulled away from him, and began to move around slowly, picking up her discarded clothing with shaking hands. Her dress was ripped, so she pulled another out of the dresser in an irritated huff. “Thorn, I don’t have to be a genius to know you’re not thinking about me.”
She began to tug underwear out of the drawers with angry and abrupt motions. Be angry, be angry, Para. I wish I could take a shower to wash off this blood, but my merger will be ending soon. Time to get going.
“Where are you going?” he asked, suddenly panicking.
“I have to get out of here. Maybe I’ll take a walk to clear my head. This was a strange experience.”
“Medea, let me explain,” he said wretchedly, “I’m not completely human…”
“I can see that,” she snapped. “Your eyes turned red and your body was covered in flames. It was really painful and horrible. I need to go.”
Thornton looked up at her with sad, anxious eyes. “No. Don’t go, Medea. I—I can’t be alone tonight. Please. You’re the only person I have left.”
Para had already begun walking for the door, and she paused midstride. She turned back to glance at Thornton. He was sitting on the bed, with his head in his hands, completely devastated. She heard his thoughts about missing Pax and needing Pax, and her heart went out to him. It’s my fault. I can’t do this to him. She had intended to make him hurt and angry, but she still loved him and it was hard to see him this way.
She moved to the dresser, grabbing her watch and saw that she had four minutes remaining. Slipping it on her wrist, she sighed. “What’s wrong?”
“She hates me,” he said softly.
His voice was barely a whisper, and she was hardly able to make out his words. She moved back to him and sat beside him on the bed, stroking his arm gently. It was one of the rare times in this escapade that she had felt genuine love and concern for him. His little sister’s affection mixed in with his lover’s adoration, and both of their remorse. The emotions mingled to create a new, unnamable feeling that belonged only to Para.
“She really hates me,” he said again.
“No, she doesn’t,” she told him as she put her arms around him, stroking his back and hair soothingly. She used untraceable amounts of prana to transfer some of the tranquilizer from her own body, and into his. She hoped this would help to sedate him.
“If she didn’t hate me before, she’ll hate me now,” he said hoarsely.
“I don’t hate you. I never could,” she said, kissing him gently on the lips. Then she remembered who she was and added, “Not that you seem to care about that much at the moment.”
He took her hands into his. “Of course I care.”
“No, Thorn,” she said, shaking her head. She glanced at the hourglass again, and saw how little sand was remaining. “I’m obviously nothing but something to use to kill time. You act like you were so heartbroken over Pax, but you wouldn’t have been chasing after me in the first place if that was true. Do you really care about her?”
There was a pause before he said too firmly, “Maybe I don’t!”
It hurt her to hear him say that. “Maybe you don’t,” she repeated. Was he admitting it or trying to convince himself? Her watch vibrated. Two minutes. “I need to go.”
“No!” Thornton tightened his grip on her shoulders nervously. “I’m really messed up right now... but I know one thing for sure. I need you. Right now, in a million ways, I need you.”
She silently studied his face in the dim light.
Thornton sighed and spoke again. “Please. Will you just let me hold you?”
She answered by moving close to him and letting him encircle her body with his arms before gently lowering her back down onto the bed. He held her tightly, and pressed his face against her chest. She felt the moisture from his wet cheeks against the skin of her breasts as she cradled his head gently.
“I’m sorry,” he said, tightening his arms around her waist. “I’m just so fucked up. I’m sorry.”
“Everyone is,” she said in a soft voice as she kissed his hair. “Get some rest, Thorn.”
He mumbled softly, “I didn’t mean to injure you...”
“It’s nothing at all.”
She glanced at her watch. Two minutes. His breathing began to slow down, and his thoughts became cloudy and insensible: Where are you, Paxie? Don’t hide from me. I’ll search the whole world until I find you. I’ll hold you like this—you feel so good in my arms. You’re the only one. His mind called out her name, over and over again, pleading and yearning for her. I love you, Pax... just stay with me.
Para felt herself swallowing as she wondered, Does he somehow know in his heart that it's me? She continued listening in on his jumbled thoughts curiously, but with growing concern over the time she had remaining. One minute. Please fall asleep in one minute, Thorn. Please fall asleep in one minute.
Concentrating on the tranquilizer which she could feel in her body, she exhaled a bit of etorphine mixed with prana, causing him to breathe the substance. Everywhere that his skin touched hers, she allowed the tranquilizer to leak out of her pores and suffuse his body.
As she did this, the turbulent thoughts swimming in his mind began to calm. Thornton mused to himself, even through his drowsiness: She is so kind. Would it be so terrible... if I ended up with Medea instead of Pax? He ran his hands over her hair, and deeply inhaled her scent. He thought he could make out cinnamon and sandalwood. Sakra, holding her like this is so comfortable. Thank you for giving me this gift—it’s just what I needed. It’s not strange or forced. I could do this every single night.
You certainly could, Para said inwardly, if you can fall asleep really fast. Thirty seconds. Go, go, go! Sleep! Hurry, please. She continued with her soothing caresses, and continued letting tranquilizer seep into his body, until there were only fifteen seconds left. She prayed he was deeply asleep enough that her movement would not disturb him. She edged away from him on the bed and gently lifted herself off the mattress. Ten seconds. She looked down on him for a moment as she deftly pulled on a simple black dress.
Pax was always there when you woke up. Para won’t be.