Wanderers 3: Garden of The Gods (The Wanderers) Read online

  She stood up and unzipped her jacket.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Stripping,” she replied shrugging out of her jacket and unfastening her pants.

  “But you just said–”

  “I know, but then, I realized that you can control the wind so much better than I can. Come on, I won’t be able to concentrate until you get this sand off of us.”

  I sighed and started removing my jacket.

  Chapter 6

  Therese

  I was in a hurry to get out of my clothes, but it certainly wasn’t for the reason I’d have preferred. My carelessness with the wind spell had left grit in every crevice of my clothing. Even without moving, I felt like I was wearing sandpaper. When I moved, the feeling amplified. I kicked off my boots, even though they were the least affected by my dust devil, I had to get out of them to get my leather pants off. I’m not the type of girl who normally wears leather pants, regardless of how good they make my legs look, but these pants had a lining that kept the leather from sticking to my skin when I started sweating.

  After I got out of my boots and socks, I slipped off the pants and underpants, and then picked up everything I’d taken off. Rafe was still getting out of his boots. Either his skin was tougher than mine or he was playing at being bashful. It could hardly be the latter; we’d been sharing a bed for the last week. Granted, we’d only had sex once, but we had each seen the other’s junk enough times that it shouldn’t be an issue with him.

  I stood there inside the shimmering bubble of energy that formed our practice circle and watched Rafe shuck off his own leather pants. Holding his jockeys and pants, he looked at me. The rest of his clothing was piled on the ground next to him.

  “What do we do now?” I asked and then gave him a lecherous grin. The training, as always, stoked passion and while I thought I’d get used to it, I was still getting as horny as a teenager on prom night.

  “Don’t get ahead of yourself here. If you think you have grit all over you now, rolling around on the ground would make you realize that you’re relatively clean.”

  “What? I wasn’t suggesting anything,” I said, putting on an innocent air.

  His face got his smug look on it, and I had to grin. Rafe could be damned cute when he wasn’t trying. His hair was on the short side, just touching his ears and above his collar in the back. It was dark, nearly black with red highlights that showed up more when he was in direct sunlight. He was a couple of inches taller than I was, I guess about six foot, and he was slender. The muscles of his arms and chest were hard but didn’t bulge as if he lifted weights. All in all, he was very attractive, and I could see other women easily falling for him. It wasn’t like that with me. Sure, I was physically attracted to him, and I recognized serious cuteness when I saw it, but he was going to be my mentor for decades. We needed a serious relationship, not some lovey-dovey thing. That said; I was still planning on jumping his bones at the next opportunity.

  He glanced up toward the sky, and I followed his gaze to see Beast circling a couple hundred feet up.

  “Drop the circle,” Rafe said. “My ward is still active, of course, and Beast is watching so we should be safe from any surprises.”

  “Okay,” I said, nodding and canceled the spell that maintained our training circle.

  “You can set your stuff on the ground; I’ll get to it once we’re free of grit.”

  I set my clothes down next to his and then stepped closer to him. I found myself studying some of the old scars that crossed his torso and limbs. I’d asked him why he had them since the healing he’d done on me hadn’t left any. He had explained that his original healing spell wasn’t as powerful as the one he had been using on me. While his old one would mend whatever was damaged, scars still formed. I was glad he’d found a better one. Don’t get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the way he looked, if anything it just made him more rugged looking. But as I thought about the burn on the side of my head and my lost limbs, not to mention the deep wound that had left a six inch gash from my right nipple to my armpit–an inch to the side and the shrapnel would have taken off my nipple–I realized that I liked my skin smooth.

  Rafe raised his hands, and I took them in mine.

  He triggered a tat that glowed blue beneath the skin of his right thigh, and I felt myself grow weightless. I grinned at the sensation and looked down to see the ground gradually receding from us.

  “That’s cool,” I said.

  He grinned back at me.

  We leveled off about fifty feet off the ground, and the wind tattoo on his right forearm began to glow. At first, it barely ruffled our hair, but it gradually strengthened until I had to close my eyes tight. The wind swirled around us, tickling my skin with its caress. It was kind of sensual, and I felt myself thrilling at the sensation.

  All too soon, the gale dropped to a breeze, and I opened my eyes. Rafe was grinning still, but his hair looked like some kind of ‘50s duck’s ass style, except that the ass was at the crown of his head instead of the back. I had to bite my tongue to keep from giggling.

  “Don’t laugh, your hair looks the same as mine,” he said.

  I felt him easing the power on his levitation spell and in a minute, we were standing back on the ground. Somehow, Rafe had been able to keep the wind from reaching the ground, and our clothes were undisturbed.

  He let go of my hands, but I held tight and pulled myself against him. He lowered his face to mine, and our lips met in a warm, wet kiss that had my pulse tripping.

  Always the gentleman, Rafe waited for me to break the kiss.

  He looked down at me, his wide brown eyes were kind, but I knew there was a hint of lust behind them.

  “What was that for?” he asked.

  “Just thanking you for your skill,” I said coyly.

  “Skill?” he asked.

  “That and I wanted to give you a taste of later.” We were close enough that both our torsos and our naughty bits were touching. I could tell that the kiss had aroused him, even without the meshing that was letting us fully share emotions.

  He frowned and for a second I couldn’t decide how he felt. That was odd. Every other time we meshed, I had been able to do everything but read his thoughts.

  “Like you said, later,” Rafe said. “Now let me get our clothes cleaned off so we can get back to training.”

  I let go of his hands and stepped back, only casting the briefest of glances downward to confirm what I had felt. Rafe ignored my look and stepped beside our clothing. His levitation tat glowed again, and our clothes floated into the air. When they were a couple of dozen feet above us, he activated his wind tat. In a moment, our clothes were being buffeted by gale force winds just as we had been.

  I couldn’t figure out how he was holding all of our clothes in one spot while the wind was flapping them back and forth, but he was definitely doing it. I’d have to remember to ask him about that trick later.

  A couple of minutes later, our clothes returned to us, stopping about four feet off the ground.

  “There you go, that should have gotten rid of all the grit,” Rafe said as he plucked his jockeys from the floating mass of clothing.

  I watched him step into them and grinning, started looking for my panties. Mine were easy to spot as both the panties and my bra were red. They stood out amidst all the black leather. I held the bra in my teeth while I slipped into my panties. I looked up then, expecting that Rafe would be watching me as I had watched him, but even before I saw him pulling his leather pants out of the floating pile, I could tell he was keeping his eyes off me. I wasn’t sure if it was because he was playing the gentleman or because he didn’t want any more distractions during my training time.

  Reluctantly giving into my mentor’s desires, I hurriedly finished dressing.

  Rafe was still pulling his boots on when I sat down and reactivated our circle. He noted my closing the circle and nodded. “Good work, Apprentice.”

  Humph, he only refe
rred to me as “Apprentice” when he was either formally training me or scolding me about my doing something he didn’t think proper.

  I gave him a smile, but I knew he could tell I was a little miffed.

  Rafe sat down in front of me, and we got back to work.

  It was getting dark before Rafe called a halt to the day’s training. It was a good day. I had finally gotten the hang of the wind spell and had used it to move the tops of trees and create another dust devil, this one far away from our circle. I had begun to sweat from the effort of controlling the forces the spell unleashed, and I was also as horny as hell. I knew Rafe was feeling the same, to a lesser degree, even though he had tried to dampen both of our emotions. I didn’t like it when he did that, and I’d told him on more than one occasion, but he was the mentor. It wasn’t as if I could make him stop. Still, I had felt his emotions for long enough that day that I knew I could seduce him with very little effort. I was looking forward to the night.

  We dropped the meshing, and Rafe summoned his salt back into its bottle. Beast lit beside us and morphed back into Rafe’s Harley. I was more than a little disappointed because I had planned on beginning my seductive moves as soon as Rafe got on the back of my Harley. Oh well, there’d be plenty of time at the room.

  We rode back into Raton side by side on the narrow road. My headlights came on automatically, but Rafe actually had to turn his on. Well, maybe not, he could let Beast do the steering or activate his senses tat, but neither of those choices would allow other vehicles to see him.

  The motel’s little diner was closed, so we rode back to the main drag and stopped at a KFC. It was a mutual decision, I’m from southwest Virginia, and we love our fried chicken in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Rafe ordered an eight-piece bucket with sides of Cole Slaw and mashed potatoes. We also stopped and picked up a six-pack of beer on the way back to the room. Let me tell you, casting magic all afternoon had left this young Wanderer thirsty.

  We parked directly in front of our door at the north end of the motel. The parking lot was quiet so Rafe dismissed Beast for the night as soon as we dismounted. Beast growled something I didn’t catch, morphed, and then flew off, looking for all the world like a hawk. Rafe carried the bucket of chicken, so I unlocked the door and hit the light switch.

  The motel room wasn’t anything special, but it did have a bathroom with a shower with hot and cold running water, and it had a big comfortable looking bed. I didn’t know what I wanted to do first, eat (I was starving), jump Rafe’s bones (I was hungry in more ways than one), or take a shower.

  The smell of fried chicken followed me into the room, and my stomach growled. I guess my stomach got first vote. I set the beer on the table and started shucking off my leathers.

  I heard the door close and looked back to see Rafe standing in front of it and casting his warding spell that would alarm if anyone tried to come in or began a dangerous spell within range of our room.

  I felt the snap of energy when he completed the spell. He turned and came to the table, setting the bucket of chicken and the boxes of fixings in front of me.

  I dropped my jacket onto the back of the chair and sat down to unsnap my boots. Taking off the top of the bucket, I grabbed an extra-crispy thigh off the top. I tore off a large bite and chewed rapidly, not at all lady-like. I glanced up and saw Rafe was eyeing the king-size bed.

  He lowered his eyes to mine, “One bed?”

  I swallowed and chuckled. “I thought that was my line.”

  He looked puzzled and then smiled. “Yeah, that was the first thing you said when I got that first room. Are you sure about this, I thought you and Alex–”

  “Me and Alex? What are you talking about?”

  “Either I’ve gotten senile in my old age, or you and Alex were bumping pelvises yesterday morning,” Rafe said as he sat down across from me and grabbed an original recipe breast out of the bucket.

  I grinned and thought about making some comment about his choice, but decided to be serious instead. “That was yesterday, and in case you haven’t noticed, Alex is a thousand miles away.”

  I took another bite of crunchy goodness and then popped the top on one of the beers.

  “So he was just a convenient itch scratcher?” Rafe asked between bites.

  Shaking my head, I washed down the chicken with a couple of gulps of Tecate. “Nothing of the sort. I really like Alex, but I was clear with him that you and I would be leaving in the near future. I didn’t break your son’s heart if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Rafe winced at my reminding him that eighteen-year-old Alex was his son. I’m sure it also reminded him that he’d had to kill Alex’s mother less than two days ago.

  “I’m sure the boy can get over a broken heart. It’s not like he’s the first boy in history to have a girl desert him.”

  I stared at Rafe, open-mouthed, wondering what was wrong with him. Then he grinned. “Just messing with you, Tess. But you’ve got to admit that having you sleeping with both my son and me is a little odd.”

  “It’s not odd. It’s perfectly natural, besides you didn’t know he was your son until I told you.”

  Rafe set the breast on a napkin and slipped off his jacket. He took one of the beers and popped the top.

  I wolfed down the rest of the thigh I’d started on and then kicked off my boots. Standing, I peeled the leather pants down my legs and then kicked them off. I draped them over the back of my chair and sat back down.

  Two additional pieces of chicken and a couple of Tecates later, I wiped my fingers off and stretched. My immediate hunger had been satisfied, and I started unbuttoning my blouse.

  Rafe watched me as I slipped the blouse off my shoulders and dropped it to the floor.

  “You in a hurry?” he asked.

  His tone was light, but I could sense the emotions he was still holding in check. Without taking my eyes off of his, I unfastening the clips at the front of my bra and shrugged out of it. His eyebrows twitched. Raising my fists above my head, I made a point of slowly stretching out to my full height.

  Rafe stopped chewing.

  I moved back from the little table, stepped on first one and then the other sock, and pulled my feet out of them. I stared down at the stump of my right foot. It ended where my toes should have started. Lifting my right foot, I put my insole on the edge of the table directly across from Rafe.

  “What do you think? Will you be able to finish it tonight?”

  Rafe made a point of studying my foot and then he shrugged. “Should be able to,” he said. Then he continued, “With enough body contact.”

  He looked up at me and grinned.

  I returned his grin. Finally, the man was acting as if he wanted the same thing I did. Turning my back to him, I slowly bent from the waist and slid my panties down my thighs. When I had them off, I looked over my left shoulder at Rafe. He was sitting motionless, watching me.

  Giving a little wiggle, I stood erect and turned back toward him. “I’m going to start the shower. Care to join me?”

  He swallowed and nodded.

  “Good, don’t keep me waiting,” I said and strutted from the room.

  I made quick use of the facilities and then started the shower. I was just starting to rinse the lather from my hair when I felt a breeze indicating that the shower door had opened. A moment later, I felt Rafe’s hands on my hips. I finished rinsing, straightened and wiped a hand across my face to clear my eyes.

  Rafe stood there watching me, the spray from the shower slowly soaking his hair. I picked up the washcloth I’d been using and held it out to him. “Make yourself useful and wash my back.”

  Grinning, he took the cloth, and I handed him the little bar of soap I’d found in the bath. I waited until he had lathered the washcloth and then I turned my back to him and stepped back to get out of the spray. He started at my neck, sliding slowly to either side, across my shoulders and back to my spine. Moving deliberately, he rubbed the cloth across my back, easing it lower
. He stopped once to get more lather and then continued down, changing his grip as he reached the swell of my hips. The cloth rubbed across my skin, roughly on the first pass, and then gentler on the return pass.

  He dipped it into the crack of my cheeks, and I spread my legs to allow him access. Rafe’s fingers guided the washcloth farther, reaching past my thighs and coming up the front of my groin. I moaned with pleasure and then with one hand I leaned against the front wall while my other hand reached down and grasped his, pressing him into me. His fingers moved the washcloth against me, and I bit my lower lip.

  I moaned again and then felt his fingers slide around the cloth and into my cleft. I gasped at the penetration and shuddered in pleasure.

  His left hand came around to clasp my breast, and he pulled me back against him. I turned my head, and his mouth found mine. We kissed, deeply, passionately while his fingers brought me closer to release.

  The long hours of my training while meshed mind and soul with my mentor had brought me close with his first touch and now my release came suddenly and shockingly hard. I spasmed violently against Rafe, and my legs grew weak. His fingers left my sex, and he supported me with both hands. I reveled in the afterglow of my climax and then I reached a hand back and pulled his face to mine, kissing him deeply.

  My strength returned gradually. I turned in his hands and pulled him tightly against me. I felt his hands lifting. It was amazing how strong Rafe could be when he wanted to be. I knew it was an aspect of a Wanderer’s ability to pour his magic into his muscles, but it was a technique I hadn’t yet learned. He lifted me as though I was weightless and then lowered me onto him. I wiggled a bit to get him lined up and then we were joined. I almost came again immediately. Biting his lower lip, I flexed my muscles and then wrapped my legs around him. He growled something I didn’t catch and pushed me into the cold tile of the shower hard enough to get a grunt out of me.

  Letting go of his lip, I sank my teeth into his neck and licked his flesh as he began to pound into me. I felt for his mind, and in a few seconds, as our meshing formed, I began to feel his emotions, his sensations, as strongly as I felt my own. My next orgasm exploded through me, and I felt his own orgasm burst over him in the same second. Together, we shuddered against each other until the after-glow overcame us.