Valara's Mate

"I'm coming!" Kevin panted.

It was a bit of a struggle to make it to the door quickly without feeling out of breath. The doorbell had just been rung and it was the pizza delivery he had called it not half an hour earlier in the evening.

The pizza place in town had always been prompt with his order. He was by far the best tipper they had and everyone was happy to see when he ordered, their average take on tips for the evening skyrocketed when he called. The drivers even scrambled a little over themselves to be the one to take it out to his place since he never yelled at them.

"Mr. Eckard." The delivery driver smiled when Kevin opened the door.

Kevin didn't know the drivers by name but he did recognize them. This particular young man came out the most often.

"The usual." The driver said as he passed Kevin the pizza.

"The pizza." Kevin laid out the exact charge for the pizza into the driver's hand. "And the tip." He placed the fifty down last.

"Thank you sir." The young man said with a smile.

Kevin closed the door and turned back inside. He settled down in the living room and placed the pizza on the coffee table in front of him.

He sat back into the couch and reached for his portable oxygen. Placing the mask over his face he breathed deeply a few times before relaxing. The extra air helped and he started to feel better.

When he was feeling better he removed the mask and went to the kitchen to get something to drink. As he walked past the open window he heard a rustle in the woods outside. As he watched the tree line he thought he saw a humanlike shape moving deeper into the trees. It was already dusk outside and the fading light made it difficult to see.

The pizza delivery driver had already left, his car no longer on the gravel road that led to the main road, and there was no reason for him to be running about in the woods. Kevin stared at the place he saw the shape disappear for another moment before deciding he was just seeing shadows in the evening or a deer, the shape did seem to have antlers of some sort. It had to have been a deer; they sometimes strayed close to the house.

With his drink in hand he returned to the living room and his meal. Rummaging through his movie collection Kevin picked out something that interested him and settled down again to watch it.

When his movie was finished Kevin cleaned up a little and made his way back to his bedroom. Stripping down to his boxers and t shirt he donned his sleep mask and laid down to sleep.

Outside his window a shape took one last look at his home and moved away through the woods.

Around midmorning the next day Kevin heard a car coming down the gravel road, its tires crunching the gravel underneath them. When he looked out the window he saw a nice BMW coming to a stop, and it looked like a woman was driving.

Confused by who would be coming to visit him he went to step outside. Normally if someone wanted to turn around on the road they would just use the first part of his drive, there was no need to travel all the way back to his house to turn around.

Outside the woman was just getting out of her car. Kevin came to a halt when he saw her. She had platinum blonde hair and was stunningly gorgeous; she looked like a Scandinavian model that had stepped out of a cover shoot.

"Mr. Eckard?" She said as she approached the porch. She was wearing what appeared to be hiking gear, albeit rather form fitting hiking gear. She had one killer body Kevin thought to himself before he tried to banish such thoughts.

"Ah... yes. What can I do for you?"

The blonde held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Val. I'm a nature photographer. I was hoping I could get some shots on your property today. I can pay you." The woman came to a stop in front of him. She had extremely pale blue eyes; they didn't look natural to Kevin.

He frowned. This had to be some sort of trick. He'd had some offers for the property in the past. A few developers wanted to look into starting a new subdivision. There was no way he was going to part with his family's house and land. It was all he had left of them now.

"The land isn't for sale. If that is what you're really looking for." He said.

Val looked at him oddly. "I'm not looking to buy it. Honestly." She flashed him a smile. "I'd just like to get some photos. I heard in town the creek you have out back is really picturesque." She motioned to her car. "I have my equipment with me, I can show you."

Kevin eyed the car then let Val walk him to it. Inside she took out a heavy case and opened it. It contained a camera and several different lenses and flash bulbs.

Val smiled again. It was a very sincere and happy smile and Kevin could not detect any dishonesty in the woman. "Alright. But you don't need to pay me for anything." He insisted.

"I'll give you some copies of all the pictures I take then. It's at least fair."

Kevin nodded. "I'll show you back to the creek if you'd like then. Or would you prefer to come back another time?"

"Right now works perfectly; if you're available to show me."

"Sure. Just let me get some old boots on."

Val offered another smile and turned back to get her camera ready.

Once Kevin had a pair of boots on he saw that Val had a camera looped around her neck and looked ready to go. He had debated on if he should take some air with him. He was feeling ok today and part of him was self-conscious and didn't want to be seen carrying that around an attractive woman.

Kevin pointed to the trail that led into the woods. "This path will take us to the creek. We've had some rain recently so it should be flowing pretty well right now."

Kevin walked at a slower pace and noticed that Val seemed to keep up with him, not trying to walk faster than he was and she didn't seem to be in a hurry either. She was busy taking in her surroundings.

"Is this something you do often?" Kevin asked. "The pictures I mean?"

"Oh yes, or as much as I can. I can show you some on my camera latter. I prefer the pictures when they have been printed out. They look much nicer that way than on the small screen here." She held up her camera so Kevin could see the screen on the back of it.

"Alright." He tried to give her a smile of his own and hoped it didn't come across as awkward.

"Have you lived here long?" Val asked as they walked down the trail. The trees above them formed a protective canopy from the sun.

"My whole life. This is my family's land. That's why I'm not interested in selling it. Or, I guess it's my land now." Kevin added softly.

"Oh?"

"My parents died last year." He shrugged lightly. "So, all of this is mine now."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." Val apologized.

Normally Kevin would not have even mentioned his parents to a stranger. But something about Val made him want to talk to her. She gave off a pleasant and soothing feeling. "It's alight. Every now and then it's good to talk about them. It sort of keeps them alive in a way."

By now they could hear the trickling of the creek.

"Is that the creek?" Val asked.

Kevin nodded. "It is. There is a place not too far just off to the right there that has some nice rocks in the creek bed, if that's something you'd like to take shots of." He said as he pointed to the right of the trail.

Val readied her camera and smiled when the creek came into view. "It's perfect."

Kevin watched happily as Val got to work snapping pictures of the rocks in the creek.

He had tried to keep his eyes respectfully away from her form as they walked. Now as he watched her bending in front of him to get closer to the water he could not help but get an eyeful of her physique. It was utterly flawless.

Is this what she did for a living? That would entail a lot of hiking, which would help her stay in shape. Or was this something she did in her spare time? She could be a model if she wanted to. A nude model even. Kevin felt his pants stat to become a little tighter.

Val turned around and started to come back to where he was standing. "I think some shots from back here will be nice as well." She seemed to have a knowing look in here eye as she smiled at him.

She didn't know did she, what he was thinking? Kevin laughed inwardly at himself. Of course she didn't. She couldn't feel what he was thinking, that wasn't possible.

"Do you shoot wildlife as well?" Kevin asked so as he wouldn't look like he was standing around gawking at a beautiful woman.

"Sometimes." Val said looking back at him.

"I have a birdfeeder back by the house."

Val smiled again. Kevin felt his heart rate speed up slightly. He wanted to see her smile more often.

"We'll have to stop by there on the way back." Val said as her camera snapped several more pictures.

Kevin and Val spent the next half an hour walking through the woods taking pictures. Kevin pointed out some places that Val might be interested in and she always took his suggestion and took some great shots.

After she had a few pictures of his birdhouse, minus birds unfortunately, they went back to her car and she set about packing up her camera.

"Thank you for the tour around your property." Val said. "Do you have a number I can text when the pictures are ready. I like to do a little touch up in Photoshop before I get them printed."

"Ah, sure." Most guys would probably love to have her number, or at least giver her theirs he imagined.

When she had put it into her phone she smiled again. "Thanks again Kevin." She held out a hand for him to shake. "I'll text you soon."

"Looking forward to it." When he shook her hand he felt warmth spread through his body and it looked like Val's eyes glowed slightly. But that couldn't be. Eye's didn't glow.

"Later." Val got into her car and started it up.

Kevin watched as she turned around and drove back down the road. He was actually looking forward to seeing her again. Even if it would be only to see some photos.

Two days later Kevin's phone vibrated with a new text message. He was sitting at his table enjoying breakfast when he picked up his phone.

It was from Val and she was inviting him to come and view the shots she had taken in the woods behind his house the other day. He typed back that he was available and she promptly replied with a place in town at noon. He smiled as he sent a final message saying he would be there.

Val was sitting on a bench in the cooler part of the park that had shade trees. She stood and waved when Kevin got out of his car.

"Hello Mr. Eckard."

"You can call me Kevin." He said as they sat down together. His insides twisted warmly when she gave him a coy smile.

Val pulled out a folder and opened it up. Inside were some of the photos she had worked on and wanted to get printed. The shots of the creek were particularly nice.

"I really like how these turned out." The blonde said as she held up the creek photos. "This one in particular is my favorite."

The photo in question captured the water rushing over the stones and the light filtering down through the canopy of leaves.

"That is a good one. You're pretty good at this." Kevin said.

"Thanks. It's nice to see my other talents are appreciated as well." Kevin wasn't sure what to make of that, he figured she was a professional photographer. Maybe she wasn't. She put the pictures back into the folder and handed it to Kevin. "Here. I want you to have these. Thanks again for letting me use your property."

"No problem. I hope these work out for you. What do you do with them, if you don't mind me asking?

"Most of them are just for my own collection. Sometimes I sell them to a local gallery. Actually, I'm heading over to sell the one I like later today." Val looked at Kevin again before speaking. "There's something I'd like to ask you. There is a viewing tonight at the gallery, would you like to come and see what it will look like? It will be much larger than this." She said pointing to the folder.

"I, ah. I've never been to a gallery before." Kevin rubbed the back of his head. "Isn't that a formal event?"

"I wouldn't call it formal. Just dress in something nice. Do you know where the art gallery is?"

"Yeah, any time in particular?"

"How does eight o'clock sound? It shouldn't be long, I'm not one for drawing these sort of things out too long. But I do enjoy the dressing up and going out." She said while smirking.

"Alright." Kevin decided. "Then I guess I'll see you tonight then." Kevin waved as they went their separate ways for the time being. Perhaps she wanted him to buy a larger print of one of these photos he thought as he looked at the folder. He would have to see tonight.

That evening Kevin was dressed smartly and ready to go. The only thing left was deciding on whether o not to bring along some air. He didn't want to have Val see it, but he knew it would be safer to have it on hand should he need it while in town.

He exited his home and left the door unlocked as usual. He had never felt the need to secure it as he lived away from other people and was never bothered at home. After securing the canister under the passenger seat Kevin set off for the art gallery.

There were several cars already parked near the gallery when he arrived. Kevin quickly spotted Val's car and looked around for her.

"Kevin!" Val called from near the door to the gallery. Kevin caught himself staring a little longer than he had meant at Val. She was even more stunning than before. She had done her hair up nicely and was wearing a nice dress with stockings or hose. He hoped they were stockings, not that he would ever she what they were.

Kevin waved. "Hi Val."

Val came to meet him halfway and strung her arm through his. "Thanks for coming. It looks great inside."

"Ah, sure." The pair lapsed into silence as they walked into the gallery and Val led the way to her photo.

The picture she had taken was indeed blown up and framed nicely. It was under the glow of several studio lights on the ceiling.

"It does look nice." Kevin said as he admired Val's work.

The two didn't mingle much with the other guests. Val explained she did not attend such events frequently and did not know anyone else there besides the gallery owner. The man had talked with them briefly and had praised Val's work. He didn't get many photographers in his shop, he focused more on paintings.

Kevin shifted on his feet nervously. "I can see why you'd invite my here. You wouldn't have much to do otherwise. Sort of like a date." He laughed, but it came out forced. He kicked himself. She had only invited him here as a courtesy or to just have some to talk to. That was all this was.

Val gave him that smile that made his legs feel wobbly again. "The company has been very pleasing. You look good as well." She enjoyed the slight blush that creeped up his neck at her compliment.

After answering the questions of another patron Val decided she had enough of her time at the viewing. "Would you like to take a walk in the park?" She pointed to the park across the street. It was not rather large but had a path around it. It was surrounded on all sides by little shops and restaurants; the gallery was one of them.

Kevin looked out the window and thought about it briefly. It was dark outside; there were lamps all along the path that gave off light. A walk through the park would be a little romantic, but why did she want to do this? Didn't she only want to meet to have someone to talk to at the viewing and not stand around awkwardly?

"Alright." As soon as he had answered he felt her arm loop around his. When he looked at her she was sporting a smile that broke any resistance he had left in him.

As they walked across the street and down path in the park Kevin's mind was running with all the sensations of the gorgeous woman on his arm. She was warm and soft, and so incredibly inviting. She smelled of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever it was he found it relaxing and slightly arousing at the same time.

Val sucked in her breath and released it. "I just love the evening." She said happily.

"Your favorite time of day I take it?" Kevin asked.

"Oh yes. The world becomes shaded and cozy when the sun goes down."

"Some people think it's scary at night, or that only bad things happen then." Kevin said.

"Only if you are up for bad things. Are you going to stay up for naughty reasons Kevin?"

Kevin blushed furiously and tried to walk ahead briskly but quickly realized this would leave him out of breath.

"Do you think I could get some shots of the moon in the trees at your place sometime?"

Kevin considered her request. He didn't see why not. There were plenty of other places to get a photo of the moon, his wasn't any more special than the next.

"Sure. Just let me know when you'd like to come over. I'd hate to think you were a thief sneaking onto my land one night." Val merely grinned at his remark.

"Don't have many women coming and going at night?" The woman asked.

Kevin scoffed. "No."

"Does it get a little lonely out there?"

"Sometimes. I do some freelance accounting work for a few mom and pop stores here in town. It helps keep the time from standing still."

He considered telling her about how not many people wanted an employee who was constantly ill around, but figured that wasn't what she wanted to hear. He wasn't hurting for money his inheritance and the life insurance payouts from his parents were enough to live on.

When they had come full circle Val pressed herself closer to Kevin. He could feel the mound of her breast on his own chest as she did so.

"I've had a pleasant night. I think I'll be seeing you sooner than you realize Kevin." She leaned in suddenly and kissed his cheek. Without as much as another word she turned and left him standing by his car with an uncomfortable erection and questions.

Kevin was less aroused when he got into his car. He briefly caught sight of Val as she was getting into her own car. His arousal shot back up when he thought about her. What was it about this woman?

By the time he had made it back home and was opening the door he was back to normal. Perhaps a light snack and he could kill some time in front of the TV before going to sleep.

Kevin opened the door and shuffled in with his unused air canister under his arm. He froze when he turned back around.

In the gloom of his living room sat a figure in one of the chairs framed by moonlight.

"Val?" Kevin stepped closer as the woman stood up.

"I'm sorry to startle you like this. I wasn't really sure how else to do this. The most direct approach seemed the best."

Kevin glanced around nervously. What was this? Was he being robbed? He didn't have anything of incredible worth, and why go through all this trouble of taking photos and inviting him into town? He fumbled with the canister; even now he was still embarrassed to be standing in front of her with it.

"What are you talking about? Why are you here?"

Val approached him but stopped when he looked at her nervously.

"I enjoyed our time together tonight, and the other day in the woods."

Kevin studied her expression. She didn't seem to be lying or preparing to attack him. He looked over her shoulder. He didn't see anyone else or hear anyone in the rest of the house. He hadn't noticed another car nearby. How did she even get here so fast?"

"OK. Just... What is going on? How did you even get here?" He asked her more questions hoping to get a straight answer.

Val moved to the side. "Perhaps you would like to sit down. I promise I'll answer all your questions." When he hesitated she continued. "I truly wish you no harm Kevin."

She took his hand gently and led him to the couch. She sat on one side and he sat on the other. He fumbled with the oxygen and tried to hide it off to the side of the couch. His breathing was becoming a little labored but still did not warrant any of the air it contained.