The first chapter of this has caused some confusion due to the way that the story twists. This is the huntress' tale. It might answer some questions and then, it might cause more. Don't give up, we're getting to where this all weaves together.
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Helen looked up, admiring his powerful body again. She reached and ran her fingers through the straight fur of his chest with a soft smile as she looked at his yellow eyes there over his snout. Ion thrust harder suddenly and her hand fell away in a bit of bliss as he shifted his weight onto one hand and caressed her stomach up to one breast. He bided his time and then thrust again just after pinching her nipple softly. Helen flew over the edge once more and began to buck as hard as she could, and then clung to him as though her life depended on it as he filled her again.
She recovered and bucked a bit more gently, cooing her encouragement for more spasms from him, "I love the way you do this," she sighed, "You're such a machine."
After he'd spent himself, she hugged him, "You know what? I've finally figured it out. I'm addicted to you. I mean, every time that we do this, I love the tingle that I get from it. That's never happened to me with anyone before."
He looked at her, "What do you mean, tingle?"
"Exactly that," Helen smiled softly, "When you finish, your semen goes in, the same as any man's would. But for one thing, there's so much of it, and mainly, it makes me tingle after. I guess I should have told you before, but right from the very first time, that's what I've always felt, and it doesn't matter where you put it, either. So thanks for that."
It had been well over a year now that they'd been together. Ion now had legal identification though other than twice, Helen had never taken him into the town. Ion wondered what the point had been. He had a small subsistence farm going that he had just got the harvest in from, Helen's writing and her artwork were selling, and her book, co-authored with Stan Beamish had hit solidly on the seller list and was moving up quickly. Ion reflected that his life was now far out of hell and well into heaven, as far as he was concerned. To his mind, he owed everything to Helen and Stan. He'd never have imagined that he could have such happiness. He wondered if he deserved it.
He kept that quiet little doubt locked away. The one time that he'd voiced it had been the worst fight that they'd had.
After she'd wound down, Helen had apologized. "Look, Ion, I'm very sorry for that. But you always sell yourself short. You are a wonderful man. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I just hate it when you put yourself down the way that you do. I understand about you thinking that you're just a humble guy. But I know how fabulous you are."
"I've always told you what I'm doing. I'm doing most of it for us - the same as you do - for us. But I also do some things just for you. I love you, and that's enough reason for me right there, but it's also because you were cheated by everyone and everything, whether they were aware of it or not. I could support both of us and not notice the cost, pretty much, but I know that you need to do some things to feel that you have worth. I get that. I'm just helping you to get started."
There was something in what she'd said that bothered him to a small degree for its slightly condescending tone, but there was also something else in the sound.
And right there, he saw the small tear begin. His vision drilled down to sharp focus on that tear within a tenth of a second of time. He embraced her and asked about it.
Helen struggled, but finally just quietly said it, "I need to do this for you, Ion. I'm not going to be around forever, am I? You just stay the same, but I get older every day."
He now thought about that, and what she said that she felt during sex. With no answers, he filed them away for the moment. The truth was that in spite of the way that she talked, he'd noticed that they seemed to be drifting apart a little bit. With nothing to compare what he'd noticed against, he could only wonder about it vaguely.
Helen had her reasons to pull back a little and they bothered the hell out of her, though she said little. For one thing there was that aging problem. He could go on like this forever, but she faced the arch enemy of all women - time itself. She'd mentioned to him several times that it might be better for them if he'd just bite her so that they'd have it out of the way. Ion had real fears based on what had happened to Danaya's mind. It terrified him to think that it might happen to Helen, and so he refused.
He could see that his gentle refusals were beginning to bother her. From her point of view, she'd done a lot for him and he was holding out on her. From his viewpoint, this wasn't a gift at all, what she was asking him for. She was asking him to be let in to a nightmare without end.
Another thing was that she could say what she wanted to him to cover it, but he was helpless in the modern world without her and that took a lot of effort on her part. She'd wanted a man who was something of an equal. Ion was far more than that, in many ways, but for some things, ...
And then there had been that one unexpected email, hidden among the many that landed in the mailbox provided to her by her publisher. She scrolled through them and even answered many from her fans old and new and there were more every day now, but seeing that one had almost caused her to drop her laptop when she'd recognized the old account where it had originated.
Pete might just be an ex-husband, but he bought and read everything that she published, she knew from before their divorce. It just had never occurred to her that he'd still be doing that. It had taken her over a week to decide to answer it, but she did answer finally. The conversation of their emails told him that she was living on the island of her book. When he'd inquired about what had inspired the book, she'd been stuck, but had finally replied that it had sprung from some old history in the area.
Helen in turn had learned that Pete was now on his own again, and he said that he didn't mind it. Before she could ask, he just said that they'd drifted apart, but after about another week of correspondence, he admitted that whatever they'd had, it had just flamed out after a time, and they both realized that they were drifting.
He asked for a phone number where he might reach her if it wasn't a problem, and Helen had hesitated for a few days, and then told him that she'd be on the road making appearances for her publisher, and they might meet up somewhere for coffee. She wrote that she'd advise him of her itinerary.
The next day, she had a cell phone. It wouldn't work on the island, since there were no cell towers for miles, but she told herself that with it, she could check in with Ion while she was on the road to make sure that he was ok. Well, that was what she told herself, anyway.
Stan Beamish was a bit surprised when she'd told him that she was going away for a while. He'd been asked to go with her, but his business had forced him to decline. Now Helen was asking him to look in on Ion for her while she was gone.
