The Hidden Glade

The birds sang and chirped and I lay on my sunbathing rock in the middle of the grotto and watched the clouds float delicately across the blue sky. I sang softly to myself and with the birds that perched on the branches of trees and dipped into the water, catching drinks of water and any mosquitoes that dared hover above my water. I dipped my foot into the sparkling clear water and watched the diamond droplets trickle up my leg as I lifted it up. I giggled and dropped my foot back into the water, enjoying the ripples spreading out towards the shore. I sighed and lay my arms above my head, my fingers trailing in the water, my skin exposed to the warming sun. An otter slipped from the water and scrambled onto my rock, laying its glistening wet head on my bare stomach. Its whiskers tickled under my breasts and I giggled and pet its smooth, soft, wet head.

The otter's nose tickled my stomach and I smiled down at my little friend with pure joy. I continued to sing, more to the otter now, than anything else until the otter's glittering black eyes widened and his head snapped up and looked towards the shore before bounding off of the rock and disappearing into the water with a small ripple. I sat up, looking towards the shore but didn't see anything. My body however, tensed and suddenly throbbed in a way that I never before experienced. My breath seemed to leave my body and I flopped back down onto the rock and groaned lightly. I closed my eyes and focused on the air dancing across my bare skin and the cool crystalline water encircling my left foot as it dangled in the water. I rolled over and sighed in relief as the cool rock beneath me chilled my front. I felt my nipples harden against the suddenly cold stone but the sun on my bare backside made my muscles relax as I sighed and rested my head on my left arm as I played with the water with my right hand.

The otter still hadn't come back and now the birds had changed their tone and now I was worried. The birds were telling me that someone was here that I couldn't see. I wondered if perhaps it was another nymph, but the birds wouldn't sound as worried as they did now if it was. I let my mind glance over it because the sun felt so decadent against my bare skin, caressing it in such a way that I was melting into the rock. It wasn't every day that the sun was this divine and I understood that I was taking chances.

A twig snapped behind me and I sat upright, my long hair falling to hide my nakedness as I turned to look again at the shore. I frowned when I saw nothing. Someone was there, but they weren't announcing their presence. I peered into the darkness of the dense trees and spotted a pair of eyes staring back at me. I gasped and leapt off my rock and into the water behind it but not before I heard a voice cry out for me to wait

. I could have disappeared back into my own world, gotten away from the stranger in the trees in a heartbeat, forgotten about the day and gone back to my sisters with a story to tell but the stranger felt different than the others I had spied upon from my crystalline waters. I looked at the waters above me and bit my bottom lip. I pushed back up from the depths and my head broke the surface of the water silently.

I wrapped my fingers around the edge of my rock and peered over the cool stone to the man visibly standing on the shoreline. I watched him as he ran a large hand through his black hair and bent his head with closed eyes. I pulled myself more out of the water as I looked at his features. He was a large man, and he looked extremely powerful with muscles rippling through all of his limbs. His skin was a golden bronzed, like ancient armor encasing his strong muscles. I crossed my arms on the rock and rested my chin on them as I watched shamelessly. His clothing titillated my mind. One of my sisters had once called it a kilt when we spied on a group of human males sunbathing a few years ago.

I watched as he sighed and turned from the water and started to walk back into the woods. I frowned and for some reason, I didn't want him to go. He made me feel warm on the inside by just watching him.

"You're leaving?" I called out as his back was completely facing me and he took the first step away from me. He froze at my voice and spun back around, his eyes searching until they settled on my face. His mouth fell open as I smiled at him and he took a step back. I watched him as he watched me.

"I thought you left." He whispered. I grinned and shook my head.

"I could have." I giggled.

"But you didn't." A slow, sultry smile spread across his face and my stomach fluttered delicately and I swallowed, feeling like prey in a lion's gaze.

"Should I have?" I raised an eyebrow with a small smile. The man crossed his arms over his chest and I licked my lips as I looked at the muscles bulged. He leaned back against a tree trunk behind him. The birds had long since stopped singing and everything was quiet except for the water as it sang against my bathing stone.

"What's your name, beautiful?" He asked softly. I batted my eyes and wiped my long blonde hair back from my face. The man's eyes seemed to devour all that he could see of me. I just smiled at him, not answering. Our names were sacred. Only our sisters knew them because we could trust them not to use us.

"What is your name?" I purred. The man chuckled and bowed his head, shuffling his feet in amusement.

"Alright, beautiful, my name is Kieran." He grinned and pushed off the tree and walked to the very edge of the water. My eyes fell on the sword at his hip and I glared at the weapon.

"If you plan on entering the water, that weapon cannot come within." I rose up out of the water a little more as I pointed at the sword. Kieran looked down and then back at me with a hungry smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Is that an invitation?" He asked.

I blinked and settled back into the water, watching Kieran carefully as he took the belt holding the sword off and laid it down on the grassy bank. The belt also held up his kilt and he let it fall when the belt came off. My eyes widened as I saw his manhood, large and heavy, jutting from between his legs. I averted my gaze quickly and blushed.

"What are you?" Kieran asked huskily as he sat down on the grassy bank.

"Do I intrigue you, Kieran?" I murmured and the water repeated his name around me.

"Aye." He purred sexily and I really saw his eyes for the first time. They were green like the beautiful plants in my pool and the grass on the emerald bank. I abandoned my rock and disappeared under the water, swimming towards the bank in my deep pool. There was no gradual rise to the shore, but rather an underwater cliff that I swam up to as Kieran watched the rock with a disappointed gaze. I watched from under the water as he reached for his belt and kilt again and broke the water's surface close to his feet. He jumped and looked at me in surprise and shock.

"Leaving again, Kieran?" I giggled.

"You keep disappearing minx." He grinned down at me and leaned forward. His eyes devoured my face and he dipped his feet into the water. I followed his movements carefully, like a hawk watching a field mouse. "I arouse you, don't I?"

I blinked in surprise at the audacity of his question. Then I realized that perhaps the feeling I felt was indeed arousal: the heat low in my belly, the aching between my thighs and the racing of my heart were things that I had never experienced.

"I wouldn't know." I told him honestly.

Kieran narrowed his eyes and sighed. "You don't trust me?"

"I've never met a man like you before..." I admitted with a grin. "You are intriguing."

Kieran bent forward and placed a finger under my chin and tilted my gaze up to him. His eyes searched my face and I smiled, gripping the grassy ledge with ivory fingers. His hand left my chin and cupped a water lily entangled in my long pale hair. He smiled gently sat back with a sigh. "Tell me how to earn your trust."

"Why do you want it?" I asked with a musical tone in my voice.

"I feel that it's a strong token to have in my possession." Kieran explained simply with a shrug. I devoured his honesty with a hooded stare and a slow smile curved my lips.

"Did you know that water never lies?" I asked as I cupped water in my hands and let it fall back down into the pool in a gentle trickle.

"Never?" Kieran leaned forward again, his green eyes intense.

I shook my head and reached forward, wrapping my fingers around his forearm and pulling it down closer to the water. Kieran watched me with hungry eyes and I drew a strand of water out of the pool and saw his eyes widen at the magic. I placed the strand across his exposed wrist, surprised that he didn't pull away. Once the water touched his wrist, it scattered like a broken crystal on a flat floor and flew back into the pool. I frowned and tried again, but the water reacted the same way.

"Can water keep secrets?" Kieran purred into my ear and I shuddered, letting go of his arm and pulling away but Kieran's large, warm hand grabbed my wrist.

"When it needs to..." I whispered and tried to pull away but he didn't relent. I frowned and stared at where his hand gripped my arm with wide eyes. "Kieran, Let go."

Kieran's hand released my wrist and I pushed back from the edge of the water, treading warily. He narrowed his eyes at me and sighed. "What are you?" He asked again. I considered it and realized that I could still disappear if anything happened.

"I'm a Nymph." I watched his eyes widen and then narrow again, this time shining with heat. Kieran chuckled and crossed his arms across his chest.

"A Nymph, huh?" He purred, stretching back, leaning back, and exposing everything to me. "If you are a Nymph, then why do you watch me so hungrily?"

"I do not know." I looked down into the water, to my bare body hidden by my long hair, fanned out across and through the water. "You...are potent."

He tossed his head back and laughed. "You are divine, beauty."

"Kieran, why did you come here?" I asked with genuine curiosity.

"I came because something called me to this grotto; I have never been here before." Kieran grinned, "But I am glad I found it, and you."

"Have you ever lain with a man before, Nymph?" Kieran asked shamelessly. I made a face and he laughed again. "Ah, you haven't."

"My sisters say that human mating is...chaotic." I narrowed my eyes and peered at his manhood, tall and erect from his body.

"And have your sisters lain with a human man?" Kieran grinned at my voyeuristic gaze. I didn't look away or blush this time. I felt bolder, stronger.

"Some have." I admitted. "Most of us haven't, except for the ancient Nymphs from the Greek era."

"I read stories of them." Kieran chuckled lustily, "Their stories are...enticing."

"The elders do not like them; they think that they've given up a part of themselves by allowing so many men inside them." I glared at the water. "But the elders don't like me either because I spend so much time in your realm."

"It sounds like your elders have not spent enough time in the warmth of the sun." Kieran dipped his legs farther in the water and it took me longer to take my eyes off of his engorged manhood. My body ached looking at him. Kieran growled, "Their bodies have grown cold, out of the sun, and with their bodies, their hearts too have grown cold."

"Do you enjoy the water?" I noticed the husky tone to my voice and thought it shameful. I cleared my throat and swam back a little further; hoping the distance between us would help my overheated body.

Kieran sighed, leaning back on his elbows, staring at me with heavily hooded eyes. He swished one of his feet about in the water and smiled, "It's the perfect temperature."

"Of course it is." I twirled around in the water, "I spend a great deal of time in it; it should have a mind to be."

Kieran sat up and suddenly slipped completely into the water, disappearing under for a few moments, a bit longer than I expected. Had he become tangled in a weed? I ducked under the water, but did not see him where he went in. I frowned and resurfaced, watching the silent and still water. I felt heat behind me and turned, my hand pressing against Kieran's chest. His arms snaked around my slim waist and I gasped as he pressed against me. This was taboo, this was wrong. The elders would be furious with me if I lay with this man.

"Relax, beautiful. Tell me your name." He whispered seductively into my ear. I felt his manhood brush against my stomach and I shivered.

"I cannot." I protested.

"Why not?" Kieran purred, his fingers tightening around my waist.

"We never tell our names..." I breathed, my eyes closing to slits as his body heat warmed the water.

"Adrastde did, and so did Alemurae and a few other of your ancients." Kieran chuckled and slid his hands from my waist to my hips, his fingertips digging into my untouched flesh. My skin burned where he touched me and my breath caught in my throat. No man had ever touched me before and I found it hard to focus on my words when he touched me.

"You read of them in your stories?" I gasped.

"Of course." Kieran groaned lustily. "So tell us your name, beautiful Nymph."

"I...I have never told another." I whimpered and looked away from Kieran's penetrating green eyes and deliciously wet black hair, some of which stuck to the side of his face. Kieran's mouth suddenly kissed my presented neck and I shuddered, the water rippling against my skin.

"Tell me, beautiful. I'll never tell another." He kept devouring my neck and I moaned helplessly against his ministrations.

"Moira." I moaned; letting my head collapse back as Kieran ground his hips against me. Kieran's mouth moved from my neck to the hollow at my throat. How could something that the elders condemned as being so terrible feel so deliciously good? I whimpered against my will and I shut my eyes as a need that felt so primitive, so natural, and so desperate rocked me. I wanted more.

Kieran growled and gripped my hips and ground his hips harder against mine. I clutched his shoulders and pulled my head forward to rest against the side of his neck. Kieran's hands dug into my skin but the pain felt right, it felt good. I sighed and rocked against him, my naked body against his bare skin. This felt taboo, but that excited me even more. I thought of my sisters back in our home realm, about how they were such chaste nymphs, always attending our temple celebrations and prayers. I had been one of them, but that was over now, I was no longer one of them. I felt inspired, as if our Goddess mother, Aphrodite herself, was upon my mind, lifting that silken veil that our elders placed upon me. I felt like the first nymph to share her body with a man. I realized that this was what was happening; I was exiting the pure world of my young sisters and entering into the legends of Adrastde. I had met her several times and couldn't help but notice how her eyes sparked mischievously when she saw me and how she always seemed to know something about me that I didn't.

Suddenly, I realized that I had no idea what to do as Kieran held us both up in the water. He pulled away to look into my eyes which I knew shone with hesitation and trepidation as well as arousal. We moved to the rock that jutted out from the middle of the grotto and Kieran found a foothold in the hidden steps leading to the top of my sunbathing rock. I placed my palms flat against his heavily muscled chest and my body shook in fear and need. Kieran's eyes searched my face with a furrowed brow.

"You truly haven't lain with a man...have you?" Kieran breathed. I swallowed and shook my head with some difficulty. All of my muscles felt extremely heavy and lethargic. Kieran kissed my lips sweetly and I closed my eyes as he pulled his lips away.

"I don't know what to do..." I whimpered and moved my hips against his subtly but Kieran's eyes blazed with the simple and small movement. I was terrified and excited all at the same time and my breath was coming faster. This was thrilling.

"I promise that I won't hurt you." Kieran grinned, "I will teach you what to do, but I have a feeling that your body will know what to do. All women know what to do; a nymph should be no different."

"Teach me." I whispered seductively in his ear. The elders told me that this was taboo, this was wrong, but my body and mind told me that it was right. The elders had never saved my life; my body and my mind had, on more than one occasion. Kieran lifted me up and out of the water and onto the warm rock, into the warm sun. I sighed and closed my eyes, my head resting in the hollow at the top of the rock. I had been coming here for centuries, the rock eventually molded to fit my body perfectly, supporting the hollow of my lower back and always staying warm as I lay upon it for hours, my hair falling down into the water surrounding. I had created the steps leading up in the first years of my creation, when I stumbled upon this place and kept coming back, realizing how perfectly hit suited me.

The warmth of the sun was suddenly blocked and seductively cool drops of water fell upon my golden skin. I opened my eyes and saw Kieran above me, straddling my waist, his hands on either side of my head. I licked my lips and watched in confusion as he moved down my body, bending his elbows until they too rested upon the rock on either side of my ribs. His lips touched my left breast, just above my heart and I smiled, watching him. He looked up at me as I slid an arm behind my head to watch him kiss my collarbone and sternum. His lips were sweet and gentle and my heart was beating strongly inside my chest. Kieran's left hand touched my right side, cupping my right hip and sliding down my alabaster leg. His other arm held up his weight as his left hand slid repeatedly up and down my left side, each time, his thumb brushed against the underside of my breast and I bit my bottom lip as the skin grew almost uncomfortably sensitive. Was this human mating? If so, then what was so dangerous about his touch? It was true that I felt like I was on fire, but sometimes when the sun was too hot while I bathed in the sun, it felt like I was on fire. I knew that this was a different fire on the inside, but I was desperate to understand this and retain my ability to understand everything else around me in my life. But Kieran's mouth and hand was driving me to a frenzy of emotion that didn't allow coherent thought. I moaned as his lips encircled the nipple on my right breast and I arched my hips in reflex to the sensation and gasped. Kieran grinned up at me as I watched him. My free hand shot out to grip his neck and hold him against my breast. His tongue encircled the sensitive nub and my breath caught painfully in my throat. It took me a few seconds to remember how to breathe and when I finally drew in air, it was uneven and my naval burned with a pleasurable fire. Kieran's nostril's flared as he watched my face and his teeth closed around my nipple and bit it, sending a jolt through my body and I cried out, wanting to close my eyes but they were riveted to his demanding and heated gaze. He pulled with his teeth on the sensitive nub and I finally broke away from his gaze to remove the arm behind my head and grip the stone beneath my searching fingers. Kieran's hand left my body to entwine in my fingers as his mouth moved to my other breast and repeated the delicious things all over again there. My body felt strung tight and heavy as I arched against him repeatedly, my eyes closed and savoring the sun on my face as Kieran's mouth worked magic on my breasts. Suddenly his mouth left my breasts and started licking, nipping, and kissing down my abdomen. I giggled breathlessly as my sensitive skin bucked underneath his mouth.