**Thank you everyone for all the positive feedback and ratings. I'm happy to give you the second chapter. All the feedback pushed me to get it out to you guys sooner than expected. Even on vacation I wanted to finish this chapter up for everyone who has been waiting. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it for you all. Again I would love for friendly feedback and critique on this chapter and a huge thank you to Bigg_Mike for editing once again. And yes there is a steamy part. ^_^ Enjoy!**
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"Come with me. I promise I'll explain everything else but right now we need to get out of the Blades before complete darkness consumes it." I reached for his hand and he pulled me into his arms. "Hold on tight," he told me smiling, "It will only take a second to get used to." My hands slowly found their way to the back of his neck and in one fluid motion he picked me up and began his ascend out of the Blades. I inhaled sharply and shut my eyes tight, afraid I was going to fall. My grip tightened around his neck and my face buried into his chiseled chest trying to block out the fact that I was flying.
"Kayle," he whispered to me as he gently nudged my head with his chin, "You're safe. Don't worry. Just open your eyes and take a look for yourself." I slowly opened one eye and then the other. What I saw was completely breathtaking. The Blades had vanished below us, replaced by the sparkling blue water of a lake, half surrounded by towering cliffs. A majestic waterfall cascading right down the middle, the setting sun reflected off the flowing water creating the illusion of rubies and diamonds glistening within the falls. I angled my head to look up at Aurummare and thanked him for all he's done having just met me, but the sight I saw startled me to a point where I had almost lost my grip on him. I blinked my eyes trying to focus and refocus at the area behind him.
"Wh-wh-where are your wings?" I stuttered, as I asked him and wondered how the hell we were flying when his wings were gone.
"They're still there, but when I fly I am able to cloak them. So when in night form, I will still be undetected while hunting or tracking. It would be a little hard to go unnoticed if I could not hide them right?" As if to make a point, he revealed his wings to me for a few short seconds. His white wings seemed to be on fire with the sun setting behind him. He gave me an impish grin before he cloaked them once more. Suddenly his grip on me tightened and he went into a nose dive towards the lake, straightening out at the last minute when parallel to the surface, with the lake only inches out of my reach. He freed his right hand while the other still held me steady and slid it along my left arm making me loosen my grip on him. He took this chance to release my hold of his neck, and stretched my hand out over the water. He descended slowly, just far enough for him to extend both our arms out towards the water's crystal clear surface and run our fingertips through it, creating a tiny wake that trailed behind us.
"This is just so unreal. Am I actually here?" I asked him.
He tilted his head down and brushed his lip gently across my ear. I could feel his warm breath as it tickled me.
"You feel me next to you, yes? My touch?" He replied in a whisper , trailing his fingertips up my arm creating tiny goose bumps.
"My warmth?" As he tilted his head closer to mine, his breath warming my neck.
"Hear my words?" I shivered, not from the cold, but from the thoughts and feelings that coursed through my mind and body. I retracted my hand from the water and returned it to his neck. A little embarrassed I buried my face back into his chest.
I felt Aurummare's body angle change as we floated in place. I opened my eyes; we were face to face with the base of the cliff. He asked if I was ready to see his home and I nodded my head yes. We scaled the side of the cliff in record time, like a rocket blasting off into space. At the top, he landed gracefully on a patch of grass next to a river running through the middle of the cliff. It cascaded over the edge creating the waterfall I saw moments before, but I saw no logical explanation as to where the water originated from. The soft prickly grass tickled my bare feet, making me wish I had some sort of footwear to protect them. I surveyed the area around us atop the cliff with disappointment, seeing there was not a single building in sight, the sun surrendered to the night and twilight was upon us.
Directly in front of me a tree house appeared aloft in a monstrous, very ancient looking tree. The house wasn't like your typical tree house. It resembled a miniature castle with walls made of what looked like thick, smooth branches tightly woven together and a rooftop made of twine and old man elm. Kaleidoscope designs on the windows seemed to make them sparkle even in the darkness, illuminated by an unknown light source from within. As quickly as it appeared it vanished once more. I blinked once, twice, my eyes widen.
Am I going crazy?
I thought.
"Are you ready to see my home?" Aurummare asked appearing close behind me. "Close your eyes." I turned my head and looked at him skeptically. The Blades were in the distance, around it, flat plains of land stretched for miles until reaching the shore of the lake and the foundation of the cliffs which looked so out of place out here in the middle of nowhere.
"Kayle, this will only work if you close your eyes." I returned to my forward facing position, finally listening and closed my eyes. "Are they closed?" He asked, just to make sure I had followed his instructions. I told him that my eyes were shut tight. A few seconds had passed and I felt his hands gently slide from my shoulders, down my arms, to my clammy hands. He lightly grasped my hands at the wrist and told me to relax. He brought my hands up to cover my already shut eyes, covering my hands delicately with his own. His body so close to mine, his heat engulfed me like an aura, shielding me. We stayed like this for what seemed like eternity. Having his body so close to mine was affecting my sense of time; it's as if time stood still when we touched. After a few brief seconds he removed his hands from mine and found their way to my waist as if to anchor me.
"Welcome to my home." He said proudly. I deliberately took my time to uncover my eyes and open them, not wanting to be disappointed again if there was nothing new in front of me. I was flabbergasted. There were tree houses and big old ancient looking trees so similar to what I thought I had imagined only a few minutes ago. These houses were all different though. None matched the one I had seen prior to Aurummare revealing his home to me.
Maybe it was just a coincidence
I thought. Before I was able to ponder more about the little phenomenon that occurred, he took me into his arms again and gracefully floated us to the treetops. The branches and leaves were so thick and full that they easily supported us once we were above them.
Aurummare broke away from me to talk to another of his kind only a few feet away. The man was dressed in black shorts, onyx chest plate and armguards, and equipped with a bow and quiver. As for Bastilus, he trotted to a group of children nearby playing a game. I was left standing there as the town gradually took notice of me. They began to point and whisper to each other, making me feel more and more uncomfortable. I stood there awkwardly until Aurummare was back at my side. He guided me deeper into the town while the onlookers' gazes followed. We weaved between the houses and climbed a few short ladders, until we came to a halt at a path leading to an almost identical tree house as the one I had imagined only minutes before.
