ReEmergent -Guardians of Vesturon [4] (28 page)

Xarrid watched Saylan the entire time, worried that something might happen, but she sat next to him, gripping his hand, grinning. When Zander said his little thing to Sharra at the end, tears slipped down her cheeks, and Xarrid molded her to his side. “That’s how I felt about you, my love,” he whispered. She dropped her head to his shoulder and squeezed his hand a little tighter.

As all the guests made their way back inside for the dinner, Xarrid tugged Saylan toward the side of the house. “Have I told you how lovely you look tonight?”

She stood on her toes and rubbed her cheek against his. “Yes. You always tell me I look lovely.”

“
I’m glad. I think it all the time, so I want to be sure I tell you too.” Then he bent his head and kissed her, which was a mistake, because her hands slipped beneath his shirt and soon her fingers were working their magic across his muscles.

He forced himself to tear his mouth away from hers, panting heavily as he did so. “Christ Saylan. I need you so badly.”

She giggled as her panting matched his.

“
We have to go to dinner.”

“
Yes, we do, don’t we?”

“
Um huh,” she said as she nibbled on his lower lip.

“
You have to stop that,” he chided her.

“
What if I don’t want to?”

Xarrid lifted his head and looked around. He briefly wondered if they had time for… that wouldn’t be a very good idea, he decided.

“
Xarrid! You’re having naughty thoughts!”

“
Indeed I am. How can I not? With you wrapped around me like a warm, soft blanket,” he chuckled.

“
We’d better go.”

“
Yes, I suppose so,” he agreed, his voice laced with disappointment. “We’ll slip away as soon as dinner is over. This kind of reminds me of our wedding night.”

Saylan laughed, “Yes, it does.”

He smoothed her hair and then joined the rest of the guests.

Xarrid and Saylan made a hasty exit from the dinner celebration and Jurek took them back to the sanctuary. They were happy to return too. Sometime during the night, Xarrid was awakened to find himself alone in the bed. He started searching for Saylan, and found her outside, by the pond, staring at the stars.

“
Are you okay?”

“
Yeah. I am”

“
Why are you here?”

She reached for him, indicating to him that he should sit. When he did, she crawled onto his lap, and faced him.

“
I woke up and couldn’t sleep. I didn’t want to disturb you so I came out here. Sharra and Zander make a great couple, don’t you think?”

Xarrid gave her an odd look and asked, “Where did that come from?”

“
Oh, I was thinking how sweet it was when he did that little thing at their wedding. She was glowing.”

Xarrid was watching her mouth work as she spoke, thinking how sexy it was. His heart nudged in his chest, reminding him of how much he loved her.

“
Saylan,” he had one hand on her hip and he slipped the other one in her hair, “I wish I could express to you in words, how you make me feel.”

Her lips parted slightly and just the sight of them made his belly tighten. He moved his hand from her hip to her back and brought their bodies together. “I love to feel your body against mine and my soul feels empty when I can’t see you. Can you understand that?”

Her hands latched onto his hair and she crushed her lips to his. It was a fierce kiss, with all of her intense emotions put into it. “Xarrid, you can’t begin to understand what you mean to me. Imagine being in a black hole, with no sunshine, day after day, existing, but not living. The only stimuli you ever feel is pain. There is no joy, no love, nothing but that terrible pain. Then one day, you begin to feel the light and warmth upon your skin. But you fear someone will take it away from you, and bring that terrible pain back again. You see the most beautiful person you can ever imagine, and they start to tell you things, things you want so desperately to believe. But you are so afraid the darkness will come again and steal him and take that light away, leaving the pain behind. It doesn’t happen though. That beautiful person stays, and showers you with the most intense love you can imagine, even though he discovers terrible things have happened. He doesn’t leave, but he stays and believes in you. He builds you back up to what he thinks you once were. And you finally begin to believe in yourself again. That’s what you are to me Xarrid. You are the light, the love, the center of my universe, my everything. I would rather die than live without you.”

Xarrid knew his heart would stop with her confession. He’d known it was awful, but how she’d just explained it to him, made his heart and soul disintegrate.

“
Saylan, Saylan, Saylan. As long as there is breath in this body of mine and blood beating in my heart, I won’t ever let anything happen to you again. I wish I had known of your fears of the darkness, for I would’ve tried to ease them for you. Oh my love, I would’ve done anything to have taken that fear away.”

“
I know that now. But when it was happening, I didn’t know you, or myself for that matter. But Xarrid,” she tugged his arm free and placed his hand over her heart, “I think I’m getting better. When I woke up, I felt happy for the first time, and not frightened. It was strange at first, because I kept expecting the fear to hit me, but it never did.” She smiled radiantly at him and the warmth of it soaked into his bones.

He smiled back and kissed her nose. “Then perhaps Jurek’s power is helping.”

“
Yes, I think so. But I feel so
unburdened
.”

Xarrid didn’t share it with her, but because of her revelation, he, too, felt unburdened. But more importantly, he was relieved for her sake. The most important thing to him was her happiness, above all else.

“
So, do you think you might be happy?”

“
Well, you make me happy, so yes. I’m happy.” She smiled. “But I know a way you can make me happier.”

“
Oh, how’s that?”

She smacked him in the arm and snickered.

********

Sharra and Zander left the dinner and departed for their honeymoon. As with Xarrid and Saylan, the jokes were flying. It didn’t help matters that Zander wore his nervousness like a neon sign. In her excitement to get away from her obnoxious brothers, Sharra was oblivious to Zander’s unease. They teleported to the lovely seaside cottage where they would spend a week.

Once there, Zander fumbled around, knocking things over, as he settled their things into the bedroom.

“
Is everything okay?” Sharra asked.

“
Well, yes. Why do you ask?”

“
You’re acting strange.”

“
Me?”

“
Yes, you. Who else would I be talking to?”

Zander crashed into a side table and knocked the whole thing over.

Sharra gave him an intense look and things started to become clear to her.

“
Zander come here.”

He didn’t move.

“
Now,” she demanded.

He slowly walked toward her.

When he was standing in front of her, she said, “Take off your shirt.”

His eyes nearly popped right out of his face.

Sharra gave him one of her cutesy grins that he loved and then whispered, “Zander, I won’t bite. I promise.”

He hooked his fingers under the hem of his shirt and then drew it over his head, tossing it on the floor.

“
Just as I thought.” Her hands reached out for him and began to waltz across the muscles of his chest. His eyes grew warm and heated as her fingers continued to ease their way to various places she hadn’t been allowed to touch before. “No, I was wrong. So very wrong.”

His voice was husky now as he asked, “What do you mean?”

“
This is nothing close to what I thought Zander. This is much better. Much much better. Now kiss me before I go mad.”

Zander was happy to do as his wife commanded him, and her simple little gestures were enough to take away his case of the nerves.

“
Zander,” she began as she broke off their kiss, “I have to tell you something. I’m a little scared of all this too. I don’t really know what to expect, but I know you and I will be perfect together. Just remember that if you feel a little, you know...”

“
Sharra, you are perfect. And yes, I’m worried more about pleasing you than anything else. I wish I had a bloody manual to tell me exactly what to do.”

“
But you do have one. Me! I’ll tell you if I like it or not.”

He laughed. “I suppose you will, won’t you? You’re not one to hold back are you?”

“
Not at all and I’m hoping you’ll do the same.”

“
Sharra, the way you look at me sometimes is enough for me. You eyes, damn it all, send me to the stars and back.”

“
Zander?”

“
Hmm?”

“
Have I ever told you how sexy I think you are?”

He raised his brows at that remark. “No, you haven’t. And I glad you didn’t until now, because I’m not sure I could’ve handled it.”

“
Well, I thought that since we were married and all, it was okay now.”

“
Yes, it is now that we’re two old married people.”

“
Zander, are you just going to chat with me all night or are you going to pick me up and carry me to bed?”

“
Hmm. Let me think about that for a minute.”

She elbowed him in the ribs and he scooped her up in his arms as his lips sought hers in a searing kiss.

********

Several hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, Sharra and Zander lay tangled up in each other arms. She loved looking at the contrast between his larger arm and her smaller one. His skin was deep golden brown and hers was much fairer. She ran a finger from his deltoid, stroking the sinewy muscles, to his wrist, marveling in the thickness of it.

“
See something you like?” he inquired playfully.

“
I see everything I like.”

She raised herself to her elbow and began to trace his profile, beginning at his forehead, inching down to his perfectly straight nose, briefly stopping at his full and half smiling lips, and then finishing at his sexy dimpled chin. It didn’t take her long for her nose to find his neck...she love to snuggle up to his neck. But for some reason, she especially loved to run her nose along it, inhaling his scent. It was particularly potent tonight, and she chuckled.

“
What’s so funny?”

“
Nothing’s funny. Your scent is very powerful and I’m loving it. It makes me giddy.”

“
Ahh. Pheromones.”

She suddenly pounced on his abs, kissing, nibbling and tickling him. Zander was deluged by a series of intoxicating emotions...love, lust, humor, all rolled into one.

“
Oh hell Sharra. You overwhelm me sometimes!” he sucked in his breath.

“
Good,” she said, lifting her head and laughing. “I love to overwhelm you!”

“
Oh no you don’t.”

She found herself flat on her back and he began tickling her like the devil. Sharra was extremely ticklish.

“
Stop! Please stop! I can’t take it!” she screamed between howls of laughter. But Zander didn’t ease up. He kept on going, until his tickles turned into something altogether different, and Sharra was soon screaming for something else.

“
Do you still want me to stop?” he teased.

“
No! How can you ask me that now?”

He chuckled, then kissed her and didn’t stop after all.

********

When the newlyweds left their little honeymoon cottage, they had lost all shyness and were so in love, a meteor could’ve fallen in front of them and they would never have noticed. The only problem they now had was moving into the palace, where they would be living until their “real” wedding. They would have to move about in secrecy, but it would be hard to hide the feelings they shared between them.

One look at them and all the Yarristers knew they couldn’t remain on Vesturon. Anyone could see that the couple had consummated their marriage. It practically screamed from every thought they had. Jurek was called upon again...and he laughed like the devil when he took one look at the two lovebirds.

“
Bloody hell, you don’t even have to ask. I guess it’ll be Lare-Stell for the two of you for the next four months. My question is will I get any work out of you or will the two of you be locked in your quarters the entire time?”

Everyone laughed except for Sharra and Zander whose faces erupted in crimson. They literally had the audacity to look shocked.

Rykerian laughed and said, “Seriously sister, I can’t believe you look surprised. I mean, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like you two.”

Sharra sputtered and Zander wisely kept his mouth shut. All he really wanted to do was kiss his wife, but he dared not even touch her for fear of what he’d do after that.

Rayn heard his thoughts and looked as him and shook his head saying, “Boy have you got it bad. Real bad.”

Jurek looked at Sharra and asked if she were ready and she didn’t answer. She just clamped onto his arm. A couple of minutes later, he returned for a red-faced Zander.

They did end up working...albeit not very much, but when Jurek called on them, they did answer him. They became the joke of Lare-Stell too. Everyone just said they would only leave their quarters for air.