“Lina, get up.” Brad shook her. “The trees are screaming in terror outside.”
“What?” All the peace of lovemaking from earlier fled while her heart seemed to pound in her throat and head.
“It’s morning. We slept too long.”
She didn’t have a second to connect with his gaze, but before she sprang up to dress, he gave her a brief hug from behind. At least the connection they’d shared a few hours earlier hadn’t waned. She couldn’t decide whether it made her glad because his powers should return or because they weren’t at odds with one another. Yet, she still didn’t know if she could trust him fully. Nope, no time to worry about these things. Think positive, united thoughts.
“We’re a team,” she voiced her thoughts. “We’re going to conquer this.”
He pulled on jeans and a sweater. “No clue what the weather’s like outside.”
“Same here.”
“No time to eat.”
Within minutes, they’d made it down to the street.
“Stick together,” he said, just as she turned to make a dash toward the nearest treed road.
“Of course. Should we take the car?” Yells for help assaulted her ears. The trees’ pleas, which she’d ignored for the last few days, converged on her, and she almost stumbled with the impact of their suffering.
“I know.” Brad took her hand and stared at her.
Their contact sent a solidarity through her—they would survive and conquer. Brad and I are one—for now.
“I think the car will give us an advantage of speed and preserve our energy. Just means getting in and out of it a lot,” he added. “Wish we had bicycles.”
The roads were damp from the crazy snow melt of the previous night. At least the air held a healthy winter chill, and the suffocating heat had passed. Still rather warm for early December, though.
“We could hire bicycles,” she suggested.
“Not at six in the morning.”
“Right. Think.” Fear and the need for haste paralyzed her thought-processes for a moment. “Wait. The landlady and her husband often cycle around the place. I’m sure they’ll lend their bikes to us if we explain the situation.”
Brad stalled. “Should they really know?”
“Don’t your powers give you influence over ordinaries, too?”
“That’s what we read—”
“Maybe she can help us. She wasn’t happy about the tree being hacked down. She could send out a search to find Celeste. She’s too close to me. It’s causing the trees to suffer. Someone needs to get her out of Paris.”
He nodded. “I think they get confused.”
“Why did she want to kill me?”
“I don’t know, but I’m keen to find out.”
“Do you think she operates alone?” Lina hoped they didn’t have more than one evil person to deal with.
He shrugged. “We don’t have time to worry about that now. Let’s get the bicycles.”
It took at least twenty minutes to wake the landlady. Once they gave a brief summary of their situation without going into details about their powers, she shrugged.
“Non, non, we don’t have bicycles.”
Lina frowned and cursed herself inwardly for wasting precious time. “I don’t understand.”
“Oui, oui, you get the bicycles on the street.” She used heavy hand gestures to explain, but Lina remained confused.
“I think I understand.” Brad touched her arm. “You use a traveler’s card to swipe. Haven’t you seen those rows of bicycles on the sidewalk locked in place?”
She nodded. “I hadn’t given them much thought.”
“They’re free.” The landlady smiled. “For the city people. Use the cycling lanes. They run from north to south and east to west.”
“Great.” Brad asked her to assist them by contacting the police to check whether Celeste was still behind bars.
Mademoiselle Carla offered to round up volunteers to guard the trees in the city. “My brother owns an online news agency,” she said in French. “He can spread the news.”
After many thanks, they left to find some transport.
***
It had taken a few near-wobbles before Lina developed an easy cycling rhythm. While riding through Paris, she took in the sights of parts of the city she’d never seen before. Despite the sense of impending doom, she chanced glances at her teammate. Growing pride and respect for him warmed her heart.
She’d been a devoted sage her entire life but had to admit she’d never possessed the degree of courage and determination she saw in Brad. He doggedly kept going the whole day, shielding trees, networking with people to keep a watch out for dangers, and making sure her needs were met while she healed every sick tree she came across. Particularly on the outskirts of the city, where several trees were afflicted with blight and hadn’t taken well to the severe changes in temperatures during the last twenty-four hours.
By three, they hadn’t eaten a thing, and, weak with hunger, Lina thought she might fall off her bicycle. “Let’s find a place to eat,” she muttered, unsure if Brad heard her.
Further protests were drowned out by the roar of a truck screeching around the corner. The monster headed straight for them, ramping the pavement lip. Lina swerved into a fence, ramming her knee, and tumbled onto the gravel. Brad avoided the front bumper by millimeters. He swerved around and came to her from behind just as Celeste jumped out of the truck, accompanied by two thugs.
“Argh,” Lina groaned. The woman had brought her sidekicks.
Brad made a grab for Lina but one thug seized her first. In a swift move, he tightened her hands behind her back while the other gagged her.
The only power remaining—her eyes. Her bruised knee throbbing worse than her restricted hands, she focused on a tree inside the fence a couple of feet from her.
Brad, look at the tree. She couldn’t speak the words, but she tried to project them to him.
“What do you want, Celeste?” he growled.
“I want an end to this fiasco.” She spat out each word, sending a spray of saliva all over Lina’s face.
Lina remained focused on the tree. She projected her powers onto the creature that still had a few leaves left from summer. The plants had helped her before. Together with Brad, maybe she could….
The branches reached through the fence. The next minute, the dagger-wielding thug in front of her flipped onto his elbows and knees. Celeste made a grab for the knife, but the weapon got whisked up and chucked into the yard.
“Perfect job,” Lina whispered.
Brad used the distraction to knock the thug behind her onto the ground. With several punches, the two ruffians were unconscious, and Celeste was restrained in very much the same way Lina had been minutes before. Brad’s century sage powers must go beyond protecting trees because a rally driver could never subdue heavyset criminals with such swift and easy movements.
“Wow, I like the feeling,” he said. “Lina, call the police. This time, get her out of the city.”
Celeste wriggled, hatred contorting her once beautiful features.
“Before you go,” he boomed in her ear, making her cringe. “Why did you come here?”
She shook her head like a mad woman. “I knew you’d steal all my powers, all my influence in France,” she spat. “I’ve tried to move to Paris for years, but the Order wouldn’t allow it. They never liked me. Pushed me into nothing. Left me to do the menial jobs. I hate you, Lina. You came from Africa of all places and took all my glory.” She squirmed, but Brad held her firmly.
Lina stared at her, confused as to how a sage could turn so completely against her own nature. Yeah, she’d had her own moments of rebellion, but to turn against the very creatures you love and who heal you in return? “What about the sage trust? You betrayed the very purpose for which you were born. You destroyed the beings you were called to heal.”
“The trees betrayed me. One fell onto my roof, destroyed my entire house—the one I’d spent years building onto and fixing. How could he do that after all I’d done for him?”
“The wind might have—”
“Don’t patronize me,” the wicked sage snarled and spat in Lina’s face.
As she wiped the muck away, Lina almost laughed at the absurdity of the woman. She stared at a nearby tree, seeking its comfort. The evil emanating from Celeste’s gaze sent shivers down Lina’s spine. The plant reached through the fence again and pinned the evil sage to the ground.
“Your powers have been taken from you,” the tree said. “Forever.”
“Brad, that means her evil power is gone,” Lina told him. “We’re free.”
“She can still cut down trees.”
Celeste bucked against her bonds. “I’ll kill you all. You took my powers from me. I’ll never get the Order’s blessing.”
A siren blared close by, and a police vehicle pulled up behind the truck. Within minutes, Celeste and her two sidekicks were loaded into the back to be taken far away.
Brad bent to pick up her bicycle. “We’re gonna have to pay for the repair. Are you okay?”
“Couldn’t be better.”
While they pushed their bikes back to the place where they’d borrowed them, rain began to fall—first a light, refreshing drizzle, wiping away the day’s dust from their skin, but then heavy, pinpricking drops.
“I’ll write a letter to the city council about the bicycle,” said Brad when they reached the bike rack, drenched and miserable. “We need to get inside.”
Lina nodded, every muscle aching, especially the ones between her legs from all the cycling. She blew at the streams of water running down her cheeks and nose toward her mouth. Her hair clung to her face, fighting for access to her eyes. The temperature had dropped in the last hour, and she shivered.
Brad wrapped his arm around her, and they set out for the last stretch toward their home. Outside the apartment block, huddled under umbrellas, a noisy crowd had gathered. As Brad and Lina arrived, the people cheered them like they were heroes.
Lina managed to smile, despite longing for a hot bath and her favorite fluffy pajamas. A newspaper flashed some photos of them and asked a few questions but very kindly let them go inside when Lina’s teeth chattered.
In their apartment, Brad made a beeline for the bath and ran hot, steamy water. After peeling off her heavy, wet clothing, she dipped icy toes in first. Soon, the water became bearable enough to sit in, and she sank in with a big aah. Within minutes, her shivering subsided.
Grinning, he sat opposite her, his bulky form taking up a large portion of the tiny tub. She didn’t care. He’d been her savior. She would never have managed the last few days on her own.
As the adrenalin began to subside, the realization of their joint purpose flooded through her. The man before her—the best-looking, sexiest man she knew—shared her life’s calling, her passion, and her gift.
He bent forward to kiss her, and she melted. Her mind plied her with questions about their future. She had no idea what would happen to them as a couple. Would there always be evil forces working to pull them apart? Her heart hung on too many doubts regarding his feelings toward her. Sure, he’d remained loyal because of his new calling, but what of true love? Maybe she should drop the dream and embrace her destiny as a Paris tree sage married to a century sage. If her mother knew she’d wed such a sage…. Oh, she’d be envious and thrilled at the same time. Not many dryads had such a privilege.
He deepened the kiss, the play between their mouths slick and very erotic. Their tongues made love while he fondled her breasts with warm, wet hands. Exhaustion weighed her down, but she allowed the sensation of his glorious touch to take her to a tropical island in her mind, away from the struggles of the last few days.
Glancing down at his naked form, she gasped at his erect cock, strong and powerful between his legs, the domed tip purple with swollen need and just breaking the surface of the water. Lust took her over, and she bent down to wrap her mouth around the ripe organ.
Leaning back, he thrust into her mouth, clearly pleased with her choice of pleasure. The water lapping her chin, she sucked and licked the shaft and tip, drops of pre-cum flowing into her mouth. She’d never tasted his before and was surprised at how sweet it was.
He fondled her breasts, and her pussy took over, sending wonderful spasms through her. Brad responded by pumping cum into her mouth, his smooth, rock-solid cock throbbing against her tongue and lips. After cleaning up, he took her into his arms, her back resting on his chest. Once again, he used his skillful hands to tease her nipples until they were tight, round balls and then rubbed her clit, his finger lubricated with the bathwater. Something about wet friction on her erogenous zones sent her up into the sky to soar amongst the stars. She cried out his name over and over again, and, groaning, he wriggled until water splashed over the tub’s edge and flooded the floor.
He turned her around to face him, his cock pressing against her leg. “Come on top of me.”
“I can’t believe you’re ready again.”
“You do this to me, Lina. Just one touch, and you take me to another world.”
Was that a confession of love? No, she couldn’t presume anything.
While the water sloshed around them and grew cooler, the heat of their tangled bodies kept her warm, thawing her heart. Temporarily. Brad kissed her, pressed inside her, and clung to her as though the well-being of the world depended on it. Is that his reason?
She pushed away the thoughts while she reveled in his body. The firm muscles, his solid rod pleasuring her hungry channel, and the heady drunkenness of his kisses sent her over the edge. Tremors rippled through her core in glorious waves. Once more, everything went black, and then shivers ran over her again and again until her body cooled.
“Wow, you are wonderful.” He kissed her forehead. “Your skin is silky smooth, and your kisses drive me crazy. I can’t get enough of you, but I’m sure you’re exhausted and would love to sleep.”
She nodded, swiping the tears away when he looked for the soap to wash down. To hide her emotions, she topped off the tub with hot water then wet and lathered her hair with shampoo. How his words pierced into her, mirroring her feelings about him. Yet she longed for more. The soothing glow after sex wasn’t strong enough this time to assure her that her heart remained safe with Brad forever.
Oh, why didn’t The Pinnacle make it clear for sages how to reconcile their very human side with their gifted side? Her human nature wanted love, and, sometimes, the need burned stronger than any other—even her duty to the earth and her passion for the trees.