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Season 1 Episode 6 - Nubbins
5.47:
Will: Am I reading a personal relationship?
Magnus: I don’t want to see his sacrifice go to waste.
“Um, speaking of personal relationships…”
“Yes, Will?” She always found herself wanting to chuckle at his bashfulness over certain things, and had to keep reminding herself just how very young he was.
“Rowan. Uh,” he scratched nervously at the nape of his neck. “Do you regret not going with her when she asked you to?”
“Ah, William. Now there’s a word I try very hard not to use given my predilection for a very long life, though I do find it does still apply sometimes despite my best efforts.”
“So, you don’t wish you had gone with her then, when you had the chance? I mean, it seems obvious that you had feelings for her, and you’ve been rather happy to have her around here the last few weeks. Who knows what might have happened between the two of you if you had said yes. She might never have left…”
“Will, she’s one of my dearest and oldest friends. When you’ve been alive for a century and a half, you don’t have many of those left. Of course I’m happy she’s here. And yes, I found her very attractive, and we shared a few intimate moments in my youth. That does not mean there was anything there more than some conventionally rebellious physicality. She’s a hell of a kisser, but you don’t build your life around something like that. I’ve had my work- my father’s before me- for a long time, it has been the important pursuit of my lifetime, and I still have so much yet left to do. I couldn’t run away with her then, and I can’t do so now. As to her leaving, I don’t know why she left, so I can’t speak to whether it would have changed anything or not.” She sighed. How did you explain such life decisions made from the perspective of forever to someone who had barely lived any time at all and whose peak was little better than half what you’d already put under your belt? “I’m happy with my life, Will, and I’m proud of my accomplishments. Rowan seems to have found similar fulfillment in whatever she’s been pursuing for the last century.”
Will looked at her a bit helplessly. He couldn’t understand it any better than Magnus could explain it, and he was beginning to feel that he’d made a bit of a rookie move in even asking her the question in the first place.
“No, Will, I wouldn’t change it,” she stated with certainty.
He nodded. That he could understand.
No. Helen Magnus would not have changed her answer to Rowan, nor the resulting life that choice had brought about. But did she regret it? Well, that was another matter entirely, and a question she didn’t believe she could truthfully answer. Even to herself.
7.46:
Will: So you’re going to go through with the postmortem?
Magnus: Of course. If his claims are unfounded, well there’s no harm in fulfilling the man’s final request.
She peered over Will’s shoulder to the woman curled on the far corner of the sofa. “Care to assist?”
“Absolutely,” Rowan smiled. “It’s been far too long since we shared a scalpel.”
11.50:
Will: I’m, uh, I’m gonna go to bed.
Helen: Sweet dreams.
Will: Don’t forget to put out the fire.
Helen: I never do.
Will: Alright. Okay.
As Will left her office, Helen found herself wondering what had just come over her. She had never felt attracted to him before, yet she now found herself in desperate need of a long cold shower. It must just be the inevitable longing that comes from an extended amount of time without companionship and he just happened to be who was sitting in front of her when it hit. Yes, that must be all it was. She extinguished the fire and headed down the hall to her room. She wasn’t tired and she was still filled with a deep yearning, so on the whims of her desire she lit the dozens of candles scattered about her room and, after stripping out of all her clothes, she slipped into a silken dressing gown she had picked up several decades ago in Japan. She hadn’t worn it in an age, she’d had no cause to, but it always made her feel sexy when she was of a mood, and tonight certainly fit the bill. Her heightened senses relished the feel of the smooth fabric slowly sliding down her naked skin; a soft caress across her breasts, over her hips, down her backside and thighs. The hem dropped quietly to the floor in a puddle about her ankles. She strode to the french doors leading onto the balcony off her room and opened them wide, welcoming the cool night breeze with a soft sigh, then settled herself into the oversized armchair before the fireplace. She picked up her worn copy of Jane Austen’s Emma intending to calm the desires burning within the core of her and set this nonsense aside- she had gone much longer than this without before, she could again- when a small gust picked up and brushed the chocolate locks back from the side of her neck and she found herself suddenly and desperately wishing that it were the caress of lips and not the wind. Her deep sapphire eyes fluttered closed at the thought.
There was a soft knock at her door. So quiet that if every nerve in her body hadn’t been on edge she’d have sworn she imagined it. Setting her unopened book back on the table, her bare feet danced across the wooden planks of her bedroom floor. Helen swung her chamber door wide, and stopped short, her heart suddenly hammering in her chest.
“I hope I didn’t wake you.” It was Rowan, her scarlet hair a luscious waterfall down her back splashing seductively across her hips. Her emerald eyes were raking every inch of Helen in her rather well fitted kimono, and when her gaze reached those dazzling blue orbs gazing back at her with disbelief she swallowed, hard.
“I was up. I’m usually a night owl,” Helen breathed, almost a whisper.
“Can, uh, can I come in- I mean, um, can we talk?”
Helen stepped aside and extended her arm into the room, “Please.” She closed the door behind Rowan as she entered. “To be quite honest, I had hoped someone might knock at my door tonight, but I rather hadn’t dared think it to be you.”
“Pardon?” Rowan turned a steady gaze upon Helen, who appeared uncharacteristically flustered.
“Sorry, nothing. Please, have a seat,” she indicated the settee flanking the right side of the fireplace. They both sat, not casually and relaxed but rather anxiously and a bit nervous. For a long moment neither one spoke, they just sat staring into each others’ eyes, transfixed and unable to look away.
Finally, after another hard swallow to wet her dry throat, Rowan broke the silence. “I’m sorry, I guess this is really rather inappropriate, barging into your chamber in the middle of the night, unannounced and with no invitation. I just, I really needed to speak with you, privately, and I guess tonight I kind of thought if I didn’t do it now, well….” She trailed off, allowing her eyes to flow down the length of the beauty seated gracefully in front of her, within reach yet oh so far away.
“Rowan, what is it?” Helen straightened her back as she crossed her legs elegantly at the knee, causing the split up the front of her kimono to fall open revealing her right leg all the way up to where her thigh joined her buttocks.
Rowan’s breath caught in her throat and she barely stifled a longing gasp at the sight. What was she doing here, she wondered not for the first time tonight. Her desperate desire for Helen Magnus already ran so deep, and the added sexual impulses of the nubbins made her yearning nigh unbearable. She was completely overwhelmed, and if Helen didn’t feel the same way- no, she couldn’t think like that. She had to just put it out there, or she never would. After all, it’s not like there was ever going to be a better time. “Helen,” just the taste of her name on her tongue sent quivers throughout her body, “dost thee, by chance, fancy me? I mean, still? I know we had our handful or so of moments back at Oxford, but that was over a century ago and it never really went anywhere to begin with, and I guess I was just wondering, if after all this time, you still look at me that way. Even just a little?” Ugh, you’re babbling, shut up!
Helen realized she’d been staring at the hollow at the base of Rowan’s throat and the soft curve of her collar bone as it disappeared into the edge of her shirt and that Rowan had been speaking, but she hadn’t heard a word of it. She looked up to meet the radiant green of the other woman’s eyes, “What?”
Rowan leaped to her feet and paced a few steps past Helen’s startled figure still perched on the edge of the settee, her back firmly to the other woman so she didn’t notice when Helen stood and quietly moved up behind her. Just say it, she screamed inside her own head. Bloody get it out already! Head down in her shaking hands, unable to look at Helen, she began to blurt, “See, the thing is, I love you, Helen. I’ve loved you forever. I know you’ve never felt the same way about me, I’ve not diluted myself into thinking otherwise. But I also know I’ve never told you how I truly feel, and I couldn’t go on not telling you anymore. You were never just a physical diversion for me. Had my heart in your hands from the moment I first saw you in the courtyard all those lifetimes ago, ye have. I never stood a chance. You’re the one for me, the only one. Ye always have been. Never in my five hundred years have I ever felt about anyone the way that I feel for thee. You’re the other half of my soul, Helen. I’m deeply, madly, passionately in love with you. Tried to tell ye I have, over and over and over again. I daren’t hope that you return my feelings, I just couldn’t stand another second of ye not knowing just how very much you mean to me.” The sudden contact of Helen’s gentle hand on her shoulder was too much to bear on top of everything else, and she just couldn’t contain the urge to touch her any longer. Rowan spun back toward Helen in a flash, her left hand burying itself in the lucious brown waves at the base of Helen’s neck, her right wrapping about her waist pulling her close by the small of her arched back, and she kissed her. Deeply, fiercely, intentionally, passionately. Pouring every ounce of want and emotion and love that she had ever felt for Helen into that single agonizing, delicious, unending kiss. Every fiber of her vibrating with longing and desire. She broke the kiss, panting deeply against Helen’s soft, kiss swollen lips. “Gods, I want ye so,” it escaped as nothing more than a gutteral whisper, pure need driving her words.
Helen’s startled cobalt eyes bored into Rowan’s own moss ones as she gasped to catch her breath, her heaving bosom the only part of her body moving at all. “So, take me.”
No sooner had she uttered her reply than Rowan had spun them both across the floor and pressed Helen’s back against the wall to the right of the roaring fire. Rowan kissed her again, cradling her face in the palm of her left hand. Then, panting raggedly, she kissed the line of her neck, the hollow of her collar bone, down the plunging V of her kimono, the valley between her breasts, then she traced the same trail back up again. Helen gasped, drawing air in rapid, shallow breaths, her nimble fingers working expertly at the buttons down the front of Rowan’s shirt, pulling the tails from her pants, sliding the sleeves down her shoulders, flinging the satin garment to the floor. Rowan’s hands caressed their way up Helen’s stomach to cup her breasts, gingerly brushing nipples standing hard beneath the silk; she closed her mouth around Helen’s once again, feverishly, sliding her tongue slowly over her lower lip, eliciting a shudder of pleasure from the nearly naked woman pressed firmly against her body. Helen’s arms wrapped around her, her hands sliding up and down Rowan’s back, finding the latch to her bra, releasing it with expert swiftness. Her slender fingers slid under the straps across Rowan’s shoulders and carried them down her arms. Caressing her bosom as she grasped the fabric and pulled it away from her chest, freeing those milky pale, heaving mounds. Her eyes transfixed on the sight of Rowan’s uncovered body, glistening in the flickering glow of the candles all about the room. “Dear Lord,” she breathed, her whole body gone still as she stared, taking in the visage before her. “I knew you were beautiful, but…” She gulped, her brilliant blue eyes wide with awe. She trailed her fingers daintily across Rowan’s taut, pale skin in dazed wonderment. Every inch of Rowan’s skin tingled at Helen’s gentle, whispered touch; shocked by the dazzled reverence with which the gorgeous younger woman gazed at her, the worshipfulness in the soft caress of her fingertips. “Bloody hell.” With renewed hunger, Helen pulled Rowan closer, grasping, kissing, panting.
Lips pressed to Helen’s ear, caressing the lobe with each word, Rowan whispered, “Easy. Slow down. This is your first memory of lying with me. I wish for it to be a memory worthy of you and my feelings for you. I want to take my time with you; I want this experience to be one for the history books. Oh, Love, we’ve waited so long for this, let’s make it worth it.” She slid her hands under Helen’s buttocks, lifting her onto her hips. Instinctively, Helen wrapped her thighs around Rowan’s waist, sitting on her pelvis, pressed against the wall, Rowan’s firm yet soft hands cradling her bum. “Don’t worry, we have all night and I intend to make full use of it.” With that, Rowan turned them away from the wall, walked to the fur rug (faux, of course) adorning the floor before the crackling fire, knelt before the flames and, supporting her with one hand at the small of her back and the other cradling the base of her neck, gently lowered Helen to the floor.
She leaned down over the trembling woman lying beneath her, blood red hair falling in a curtain around them, and kissed her. Slow, steady, deep, lingering. If the first kiss the two women had ever shared was the singular most paramount experience in Helen’s entire life, then this kiss was unequivocally the second. The fingertips of Rowan’s right hand traced the soft, graceful lines of Helen’s face, slipped tenderly through her luscious hair fanning out beneath her, stroked down the elegant stretch of her neck, drew across the length of her collar bone; all while her soft lips caressed the supple fullness of Helen’s, breaths synchronized, inhaling and exhaling through each other in instinctual unison. Rowan parted the kiss, raising her face away from Helen’s, microscopically so, they could still feel each other’s needful breaths hot on their skin. Emerald peered intently into sapphire and sapphire back into emerald again, both wide with longing and sheer inability to believe that, after all this time, they were actually here, in each other’s arms. It was really happening. Finally.
By all the gods, Helen in the firelight, lying on the floor beneath her, her velvety chestnut curls pooling around her enchanting face, that look of utter needfulness dancing in the endless blue of her captivating eyes, she was stunning. Rowan couldn’t believe this ethereal beauty was looking up at her with that desire, wanting her touch, her kiss, her fulfillment of the heat so clearly coursing through every fiber of her being. It was surreal, intoxicating, unbelievable. Utterly euphoric.
Never taking her eyes away from Helen’s, Rowan’s fingers trailed ever so slowly down the V of her dressing gown, finding the buttons down her abdomen which held it closed. Sightlessly, she began to unfasten them with agonizing restraint. One, Helen’s crystal blue eyes widened. Two, her breath hitched in her throat. Three, her breathing resumed, and quickened it’s pace. Four, her belly was quavering with anticipation. Five, a small gasp escaped her lips as the delicate material, no longer bound to her, slowly slipped across her sublime form and slid, open, to the floor at her sides. Her piercing blue eyes were still locked on Rowan’s, and the desire in them was enough to make anyone go mad with want. Ever so slowly, and with great effort, Rowan managed to draw her eyes from Helen’s and down her naked body. She drew in a sharp gasp, and Helen’s breasts shuddered as her shallow breaths came faster under the intensity of Rowan’s gaze taking in the length of her; large, firm, supple, seductive breasts, heaving as she admired them; sleek, smooth abdomen hourglassed in at the waist from the ample chest above; flaring out again to round, alluring hips, the delicate lines of strong bones tantalizingly visible through the fine layer of flawless skin; long, luscious legs, the right knee slightly raised as she ran the top of her foot along her inner left calf; the tender, supple mound covered by a fine, neatly trimmed patch of hair. By all the gods, above and below, she was radiant. Never once in her five hundred years had she ever seen anyone so exquisite.
Helen quivered beneath her as Rowan slowly glided her fingers up her arm, over her shoulder, along her collar bone, down her cleavage, across her stomach, around her hip; she was awestruck. “Mo déithe, tá tú thar a bheith taibhseach,[My gods, you're absolutely gorgeous,]”
Rowan whispered almost inaudibly, her eyes reverently drinking in every last drop of the sensual, exposed flesh spread supplicatively below her. Helen watched her dazzled face, the firelit green orbs filled with a wonderment such as she had never before witnessed in the eyes of one gazing at her naked body; it sent chills dancing across her skin. Rowan’s eyes came back to rest on Helen’s again as she leaned down to kiss her once more, the weight of her body sinking onto Helen’s, the press of flesh meeting flesh unhindered by clothing. Helen’s arms wrapped themselves around Rowan’s back, her hands finding her bare shoulder blades, fingertips gripping tight, pulling the other woman closer against her, their breasts caressing each other, attentive nipples brushing together; Rowan’s kisses became fiercer, more fevered; panting against her lover’s hungry mouth, Helen’s hands slipped to Rowan’s waist and, trembling, unfastened her pants, pulling them down her hips with both palms firmly sliding down her smooth buttcheeks. Rowan broke their fervent kisses long enough to kneel up, allowing Helen to pull her pants the rest of the way off her body, sliding Helen’s dressing gown off her shoulders at the same time. She slid one arm under Helen’s back lifting her up, Helen arching into another passionate, panting kiss as Rowan’s other hand flung the kimono across the room where it slid, forgotten, under Helen’s bed. The last of the clothing separating them now abandoned.
Rowan pressed her love’s body back to the floor with the full length of hers, hands sliding up her arms, guiding Helen’s wrists above her head, holding them there tenderly with her right hand, propping herself up with her left planted firmly in the fur of the rug at Helen’s side. A slight slide of her right knee pressed her thigh between Helen’s legs, bringing a quick gasp, and the tongue dancing across one nipple and then the other elicited short murmurs of pleasure. Ever so slowly, the full length of Rowan’s tongue flicked across Helen’s fully erect nipple, drawing it into her mouth as she closed her lips around it, sucking gently, her teeth lightly closed on the swell of breast just at the nipple’s base, allowing her to continue to flick her tongue across the swollen nib of flesh. This tore low moans from the throats of both women, naked and tangled together on the floor before the fire. Rowan settled her hips firmly between Helen’s thighs, pulling her right knee up to rest on her hip bone, allowing Rowan to press even closer to her. Her left hand then followed the curve of her bum, across her sensuous hip, up the edge of her flat stomach, the palm coming to rest cupping the underside of Helen’s right breast, nipple gingerly rolling between thumb and forefinger. She kissed up the length of the front of her neck drawing rapid pants from her already quavering bosom and pressed her mouth once again to Helen’s, parting her lips with her tongue, sliding it into her mouth and caressing Helen’s own. Helen moaned, low and deep, and arched her back into the kiss, pressing Rowan’s hand firmer onto her breast. Her arms once again wrapped their way around the naked form of the woman on top of her, gripping the flesh of her back with her fingertips, her right leg wrapping under her bum as she straddled her from beneath.
Rowan once again broke their kiss, moving her face back just enough to focus intently on Helen’s wanting eyes. She began to slide her right hand down the center of Helen’s abdomen, slowly crawling it’s way toward the space between her thighs. Helen’s quick, panting breathes unconsciously held in her chest, her bright eyes boring into Rowan’s, full of anticipation. Rowan’s second finger slowly slid into the warm, wet folds of the split between Helen’s legs quickly finding and gently massaging the engorged bump of flesh at the top; eyes never leaving Helen’s face, for she wished to see every second of the response her touch elicited. Helen’s eyes widened and she drew in a sharp breath, at the same time emitting a quiet cry of pleasure; Rowan’s whole body shuddered at the feel of Helen’s naked form responding under her touch. She continued to watch the firelit face of her lover as she twirled and circled the pad of her finger faster, still just the barest of pressures, but Helen was dripping and Rowan knew the change of speed was all she needed to bring Helen over the edge.
Helen’s hips were gyrating against Rowan’s hand, her gasps coming more and more often as soft moans. She was close, but Rowan didn’t just want to watch it, she wanted to feel it. Sliding down the split, Rowan pushed her middle two fingers deep inside Helen’s yielding faighin, stretching and reaching for that spot at the back where a simple rapid flutter of fingertips would drive her mad. Helen’s eyes flew wide and she wrapped her left hand around the back of Rowan’s neck, pulling her lover’s panting lips to her own. She moaned, loud and long, kissing Rowan with desperation, rocking her hips onto Rowan’s outstretched fingers, eyes firmly locked with Rowan’s all the while. Rowan’s thumb found the nub of soft, pliant flesh and began to stroke it, up and down, up and down, faster, faster, faster; her fingers pushing deeper, their tips rubbing the sensitive place on the top side of Helen’s wetness, pressing further, harder, faster; her thumb spinning small circles as she continued to stroke up and down; her left hand gently pinching and pulling at the nipple still firmly grasped between thumb and forefinger; deeper, faster, tighter circles, up and down, faster, a bit more pressure now. Helen’s pants were now gasping, whispered moans, the occasional barely intelligible ‘yes, yes’ escaping her lips. She gripped tighter, pulling Rowan’s face closer, nails biting into flesh ever so sweetly where her fingertips clung to Rowan’s back. Just a little more, almost there. Her thumb stroked faster, faster, faster, faster; her fingers pressed deep as they could go, pushing and flicking mercilessly at the roof of their drenched chamber, rocking her hips against Helen in time with her own gyrations; her hand squeezed firm breast and her fingers pinched tighter at the plump nipple, giving a steady tug.
Helen’s breathing sped to super sonic speeds, her back arched, her eyes going wide, “Oh, oh, oh!” she stuttered unintelligibly as her whole body gave a shudder. She clung to Rowan for dear life, every muscle tensed and seized, her breath caught. She cried out, the flesh surrounding Rowan’s fingers spasmed, clenched, loosened, clenched again, a shiver coursed through her body as she gasped and moaned long and low pressed against Rowan’s mouth, seeing stars in the eyes that never lost focus of Rowan’s large emeralds. Rowan’s entire body quaked, riding the wave of Helen’s ecstasy clamped firmly around her flesh. Another spasm wracked Helen’s body, nethers outward, crying out again, her breath pulled in ragged gasps, and as the intensity of the wave subsided, her body relaxed, flopping to the floor, quaking from head to toe, biting her lower lip, blue eyes gaping up at Rowan in wonder. “Bloody hell,” she smiled breathlessly.
Rowan lay motionless, drowning in the depths of Helen’s sea blue eyes, soaking in the feel of their skin colliding, slick with sweat. “My gods, you’re beautiful,” she whispered against Helen’s mouth as she leaned in to kiss her again, deep and long. When their lips parted, both women came up gasping for air. Sitting back on her heels, Rowan’s hands caressed the length of Helen’s bare flesh, settling into a firm grip on her hips and lifting her fluidly onto her lap. Her hands coursing up her back, fingers plunging into her arousingly tousled hair, kissing her soft breasts, the valley between, her shoulders, her lithe neck, the strong line of her jaw. Helen’s back arched long and graceful in response to the whispered kisses, her own fingers clawing at Rowan’s smooth back, her hips rocking and swaying, rubbing herself against Rowan in a seductive dance of desire. Palms cradling the contours of her shoulder blades, Rowan pulled Helen tight against her, breasts pressed together, sliding sensually, glistening in the firelight. Helen’s long fingers slid their way into Rowan’s waterfall of ruby hair, she was enthralled by the thick silky feel of it, she was enthralled by the feel of everything about Rowan. She could hardly believe they were here, together, now, doing this ; she couldn’t at all believe how amazing it was, in all her wildest dreams of lying with Rowan- of which there had been many- what it would be like, how it would feel… none of them ever even come close. She couldn’t get enough of her, she grasped her breasts firmly in her hands, kissing her neck, the curve of her shoulder, sliding her tongue across the arch of her collar bone. Rowan’s nipples were stiff against her palms and as she brushed across them with her fingertips, they responded attentively to her caresses. She wanted to feel Rowan gasp and shudder as she had just done, she wanted to make her gasp and shudder. To touch her in such a way that her body filled with so much pleasure it would be too much to contain, and it would break free and spill over, pouring forth in a screaming moment of ecstasy. She wanted to watch Rowan’s eyes widen and roll back in her head, feel her body tremble and convulse, hear her lips pant and moan- with desire, with need, with release. She wanted her hands, her lips, her tongue, her fingers to be the reason for it.
She bent her head and kissed the mounds of flesh she gripped in her hands, licking across their tops, the groove where they met, the tender nipples that stood out from them in hard desire, drawing her teeth ever so gently across one, curious the response it would draw- she was arousingly surprised by the low moan her mouth pulled from the lips of her lover and the tightening of the grip on her shoulder blades, the firm press of nails dizzyingly erotic as they slid down her back. Still nibbling and licking at her nipples, Helen’s right hand trailed down her navel, brushing through the short fine hairs, pressing against the groove in the swell of flesh between her parted legs. Rowan’s head was thrown back, her eyes closed, lashes fluttering against her cheeks, breath fast and shallow. As exquisite as it was to have Rowan’s hands on her, Helen found that her arousal was even more intense now that she was touching Rowan, and she knew she would be leaving no place untouched tonight. She pressed harder against the groove in Rowan’s mound, it yielded, her fingers sliding between those soft lips, their tips brushing against the throbbing nub of flesh at its peak, she was delighted to find that Rowan was soaked with desire. Her fingers slid nimbly and freely, stroking and caressing her plump bud, dancing circles across it, tapping rapidly at its tip making it vibrate; all the while watching Rowan’s radiant face, listening to her aroused utterances with elation. Unable to stand the anticipation any longer, Helen slowly slid her fingers inside Rowan, her pulse quickening and a desperate moan falling from her own lips at the feel of her. Pressing deeper, she could feel Rowan’s pounding heartbeat pulsing rapidly against her fingertips, she licked her lips, kissed her way up Rowan’s neck to her supple lips, eyes alight with longing.
“Oh, gods. I love the way you feel,” Rowan whispered against her lips, kissing her fiercely as she slid her own hand between Helen’s legs, pushing her fingers deep inside her. They sat, one stradling the other, fingers working within each other, thumbs stroking tenderly, hips rocking and swaying in unison, spare hands fisted in each others’ hair, breathing into each other, tongues twined together, exhaling moans as they brought each other closer and closer to climax.
Helen had never felt anything as exquisite as Rowan deep within her as she pressed herself further into Rowan. The sensation was as if there was no separation between the two women as they rocked and pressed and panted against each other, as if they were, in fact, one single, fluid being. Their hearts thrummed in unison, chests pressed together, beating from inside and outside both. Every whisper of flesh, every heartbeat of lips, held her entirely in thrall. There was no thought, no time, no world. Only the two of them floating in the endless euphoria of their own passions.
Their thumbs stroked faster, their fingers pushed deeper, their hips rocked onto each other harder. Their kisses broke apart, they were both gasping too much to sustain them. Both grabbing for breasts, their eyes locked, staring into the bliss they were creating for each other, their bodies on fire with it. They worked against and in each other harder, deeper, faster; their urgency growing stronger, drowning in one another’s gaze, their flesh keeping them afloat. Their movements desperate, more more more more. Moaning more than breathing now, harder, faster, gods please more.
Helen thought she would burst from need, then-
They both went ridgid, though their working hands never faltered, they each drew in sharp breaths, their eyes wide and boring into the other, the flesh of their insides tightening making the feel of the fingers working within more intense. Shudders racked their bodies, they cried out in unison, spasming muscles clenching together, their bodies shaking against each other as they rode the wave of orgasm pressed together as long as they could make it last- the pleasure of the other heightening and extending their own. Mouths pressed tightly together in panting, fevered kisses, they fed off of each other’s climax again and again, every time it started to subside, another wave crashing over them. Again and again and again. They gasped for air, eyes alight with euphoria, clinging to each other. Panting and shaking, a great shiver ran through them once more drawing another cry from their lips. As it passed, their muscles gave way all at once, and they collapsed against each other, the sweating, naked form of the other the only thing holding them up.
Exhausted and satisfied, they fell to the floor utterly spent, Rowan laying atop Helen, eyes closed, lips smiling, giggling softly with elation.
“Dear Lord,” Helen said finally, breathless. “Is this what I was missing out on all those years ago?” She grinned happily.
“Oh, Darling,” Rowan propped herself up on one elbow, absently caressing the flesh of Helen’s shoulder, chest, abdomen with the fingers of her other hand, tracing invisible patterns in her skin. “I highly doubt we would have been like that all those years ago,” she smiled down at Helen’s sex flushed face. “There are some things that a bit of life experience counts an awful lot for.”
Helen laughed, nodding, “I’ll give you that.” She arched her back and stretched happily, like a sleepy kitten lying in the sun. “Mmmm, I never would have imagined. Perhaps the century of anticipation worked a bit in our favor as well.” She reached a hand up and stroked the hair falling beside Rowan’s glistening face, running her fingers over and over through those thick silken waves of fire, her shining blue eyes searching the face hovering above her, “Where have you been, Rowan?”
Rowan tenderly brushed a stray lock of hair away from Helen’s forehead, running her fingertips down her cheek, “My heart has been with you every second. I never left you.” She spoke with sincerity and conviction.
Helen’s searching eyes found nothing but utter truth written across Rowan’s open face. She wrapped her arms around her, drawing her down to meet her waiting lips, the kiss filled with passion and emotion she hadn’t even known she held for the enigmatic faery who seemed to magically appear in her life right when she needed her to most, every single time.
Their naked flesh pressed and slid together, finding its own natural rhythm, dancing together in harmony. Rowan pressing closer to Helen, Helen’s legs instinctually wrapping about Rowan’s waist, drawing her down. Their tongues entwined, their hands caressing.
Rowan peered down into the radiant face of her life’s love. “Fancy some more?” she grinned mischievously.
“Mmm, God yes!” Helen pulled her back down into another passionate kiss, arching her back and thrusting her hips up to meet her. Hands flowing over her body, fondling all the sensitive bits, aching for the feel of her, inside and out. She rolled her body, holding Rowan tight as she did, flipping her onto her back on the floor, Helen on top sitting astride her lover, supporting herself with hands pressed to Rowan’s panting chest, grinning triumphantly down upon the startled look of surprise on Rowan’s face.
“I imagine most folks would tell you if you wanted to be on top, all you had to do was ask. But I’m rather aroused by that aggressive display of dominance. Please, do continue,” she pushed herself onto her elbows, kissing Helen’s chest, her neck.
For a moment Helen relished the heat of her lips on her skin, but it was her turn now, and she found herself newly wet at the revelation that it turned Rowan on for her to take control. She gave her a forceful push back to the floor, one hand pinning a wrist above her head, the other hand grasping the soft length of her throat, holding her in place with a wicked grin as she bent to kiss her again. Oh! she couldn’t get enough of her lips, kissing Rowan was like drowning on the air that kept your lungs filled with life.
The unexpected turn this enthralling night had taken drew a deep, guttural growl from Rowan’s mouth, the sensation of being pinned to the ground by Helen’s sexy, naked body was hot. Seriously hot. She allowed her body to relax, submitting to Helen’s take charge attitude, which visibly heightened Helen’s arousal, she moaned against Rowan’s mouth, releasing her grip on her wrist and sliding her hand underneath herself and into the crevice between Rowan’s legs. Her fingers expertly massaging Rowan’s swollen bump of flesh, she rocked her hips vigorously against her own wrist pressed tightly into her own mound, working both of them at once.
The sight of Helen pleasuring herself sent a shudder coursing through Rowan’s body, knowing that she was the source of arousal causing such an act was even more pleasurable. She began to rock and sway her own hips in time with the rapid movements of Helen’s deft fingertips quickly bringing her to climax. She moaned into the kisses Helen poured over her lips, her pleasure rising, feeling herself coming closer and closer to-
A sharp knock at the door.
Both women froze, eyes wide in surprise, stifling their ragged breathing.
The knock came again. More insistent.
“Damn!” Helen whispered.
A voice floated through the door, “Doc? Uh, Doc, are you in there?” Henry.
“Bloody double damn!” Helen scrambled off Rowan, trying to smooth her hair, searching the floor frantically. “Where’s my gown?” she hissed quietly.
Rowan visually searched the room, her eyes coming to rest on an edge of silk peeking out from under the four poster bed in the center of the opposite wall. She scrambled over to it, scooping it up and wrapping it hastily around Helen’s naked form, still gleaming with fresh beads of sweat.
“Hide,” Helen said quickly.
“What?” Rowan couldn’t suppress her shock.
Another knock on the door. “Uh, Boss?”
“Just a moment, Henry,” she called as casually as she could manage.
“Hide, please . …. Ashley, I-” Helen’s eyes were pleading.
Rowan nodded, heading for the balcony.
“Wait, your clothes!”
Rowan swept them up in her arms, stepped out the open door onto the balcony, and pressed herself against the wall on the far side of the doorframe. With an effort, she managed to slow her breathing enough to not be heard, though it was a very good thing Henry’s allergies were haywire at the moment, because the smell of their affair was all over the room even without the senses of a wolf.
Composing herself as best as she could manage, Helen opened the door to her chamber, leaving nothing but empty air to greet Henry’s once again raised fist.
“Uh,” he looked rather awkward and uncomfortable. “Hi, Doc.”
“What is it, Henry?”
“Uh, Doc, I really think you oughta come. The nubbins… Well, I’m not really sure. You should come see this.”
“All right, Henry. Give me a few moments to get dressed, and I’ll be right there.”
Henry’s cheeks flared bright red and he swallowed a gulp, obviously just noticing the rather revealing nature of Helen’s gown. “Sure, Boss, right. Of course. I’ll just- go wait for you downstairs. Sorry.” He disappeared quickly down the otherwise empty hallway, still stammering as he went.
Closing the door after him, Helen slumped against it in relief. That had been close. Too close. Maybe they should remember to use Rowan’s chambers in the future. The future, what a luscious thought. Was this to happen again? She hoped so. It had been quite the experience, though she was still a bit on edge from coming so close before being interrupted, as was Rowan, probably. Rowan! “He’s gone,” she called softly out the open door.
Rowan stepped back into Helen’s room, her clothes clutched against her naked chest. “Is everything all right?” she asked, her eyes full of concern.
“I’m really not sure. Something’s happened with the nubbins. I have to go see to this. Will you be alright?”
“Of course,” Rowan smiled at her. It was an easy sort of smile, calming and carefree. It made Helen’s knees weak. “You’ve got work to do, I understand. Besides, I should really take a shower, anyway. A cold one.”
Helen flashed her a sympathetic smile, one that said she was sorry they had been unable to finish their latest interlude. Stepping into her pants, Rowan smiled back at her, one that said it was okay, she understood. She closed the distance between them and brushed a lingering kiss up the side of Helen’s neck. Drawing her shirt over her arms, buttoning just enough of it to cover herself, she smiled again, this one said she’d find Helen later, it said they’d continue where they left off.
Helen gave her a playful smack on the rump as she brushed past her and out the door. She ran a damp cloth hastily between her thighs and quickly donned a far more appropriate outfit, then she headed down to the nubbins’ enclosure to see what all the fuss was about.
14.12:
Sophie: Why should I believe a single thing you tell me?
Magnus: Sophie, we find ourselves in a very rare situation. I’m about to do something that I normally wouldn’t even consider.
Sophie: I don’t understand. What?
Magnus: You will shortly. Will, would you be so kind as to show our guest around?
Will: Uh, yeah. Sure.
Helen sat at her desk, hardly able to believe what she had just done. But what else was there to do? After all, Sophie was almost surely an abnormal in her own right, and she had been brought up with knowledge of the Sanctuary given to her by her abnormal grandfather. She was scared and alone and confused. She had a right to answers. As absurd as the decision was, it was the right one. Of this, Helen had no doubt.
“How did it go?” Rowan entered from the side door, dropping a soft kiss on Helen’s cheek as she sat against the edge of the desk.
Helen smiled at her, “She’s getting the tour.”
“Oh?” Rowan raised her eyebrows, and with a sly smile she pulled Helen from her chair. “I’d rather enjoy taking a tour of my own.”
“Would you now?” Wrapping her arms around Rowan’s neck, she kissed her longingly. “I believe that can be arranged.”
Rowan’s arms circled Helen’s waist, her fingers deftly sliding the hem of her dress up to her voluptuous hips. Still locked in a deep kiss, she turned them around and lifted Helen onto the edge of her desk. Drawing her panties slowly down her legs, she sank to her knees in front of her. Hands firmly gripping her hips, Helen’s right knee bent over her shoulder, Rowan leaned into the space where her tender thighs met, her outstretched tongue pressing hungrily into the slit of her supple mound.
Helen uttered a gasp of surprise, her eyes fluttering closed, the fingers of her left hand tangling into Rowan’s thick hair, her back arched, extending her hips into the press of the soft, dexterous mouth feeding from her. She held onto the lip of the desk with her right hand, the firm grip of her left holding Rowan’s head tight between her legs.
Rowan’s silky tongue slipped up and down Helen’s crease in long, slow strokes. Pressing harder, it teased against the mouth of her opening, just the tip pushing gently inside and retreating again. Slightly deeper in and back out, deeper in and back out. Helen’s body readily responded by coating the unexpected visitor with an abundance of slick fluid, generously wetting the rest of her groove. Rowan slowly removed her tongue from the warm canal and slid it across the erect bud of flesh above it, now dripping with anticipation. First long, slow strokes with the full length of the flat of her tongue, then faster, shorter flicks with just the tip.
Helen’s hips rocked and swayed against the mouth drinking her in, her chest heaving with shallow panting gasps. Soft moans escaping her throat, she urged Rowan on with the fingers tightly wound through her long, soft hair. The stroke length of the quick flicks up down, up down, up down, were so short that Helen’s swollen nub was now vibrating under the talents of Rowan’s delicious tongue. Short, soft cries tore from her throat, her legs trembling with pleasure. Head thrown back, eyes pressed tightly shut, she watched spots dance across the insides of her eyelids, her navel trembling with need and desire. She gasped with pleasure at the unexpected sensation of two long, nimble fingers plunging deep inside her, their tips pressing fervently into that secret little place at the back of her that caused her the most incredible feeling.
Strong fingers probing her depths, supple tongue expertly working the tender nib which had shed its hood, exposing every nerve to Rowan’s talents. God, it felt so good, Helen could hardly stand it, and she craved more. “Don’t stop. Don’t stop. God, please don’t stop!” fell from her lips over and over in breathy pants.
Rowan’s face pressed deeper between her quaking thighs, tongue speeding faster, fingers pressed to the back of her.
“Oh, God! Please! Don’t stop! I’m so close, oh God, I’m gonna-” Her words broke apart as her hips pressed forward around Rowan’s fingers, onto her tongue, back arched sharper, legs trembling against the sides of her face. She kept her volume down, but her utterances weren’t gasps or cries, they were screams of ecstasy. Rowan felt the orgasmic sensation of the flesh inside of Helen pressing tightly closed around her penetrating fingers, spasming violently as her climax peaked, and Rowan thrust deeper, her tongue licking harder, faster, extending the wave of release crashing over Helen. She cried out again, her whole body shaking as the muscles in her root tightened, drawing her forward in a hunched, quaking ball wrapped tightly about Rowan’s head and shoulders as she came and came and came again. Her taut muscles quivered and released, leaving her heaving breasts gasping desperately for breath.
Rowan stood between her still shaking legs, providing her own breast for Helen, whose limbs had turned to gelatin, to collapse against. Her heart thundered beneath Helen’s ear and she stroked her hair and kissed the top of her spinning, star-filled head.
The sound of footfalls approaching from down the corridor brought them back to the world. With a quick kiss brushed across lips, Rowan slipped quietly out the door she had entered and Helen lept from her desk, turned, and settled back into her chair, drawing her panties up from her knees and back to her waist where they belonged.
Moments later, the Big Guy poked his head through the far door, “Helen, we’ve got a problem.”
She stood quickly, coming around the side of her desk.
His nose twitched, he sniffed at the air, his eyes fell on her, questioning.
She shook her head definitively. Don’t.
He offered her a low growl as she stepped past him out the door, following her down the hall, but he said nothing.
29.11:
Magnus: Haven’t you noticed it?
Will: Are you asking me if I’ve been feeling… randy?
Magnus: I’ve made you uncomfortable.
Will: No, as a matter of fact, you’ve, uh… you’ve aroused my curiosity.
Magnus: Oh. Well… turnabout is fair play.
Will: Awkward.
Magnus: Poor thing.
“I’m, uh, I’m gonna go check on how things are going with Henry. Uh, yeah,” a flush colored Will’s cheeks as he left the office.
“You shouldn’t tease the boy so, Helen. You’re liable to give him a complex.” Rowan flashed a cheshire grin up at the intoxicating woman standing above her. “Me, on the other hand, I rather enjoy arousing you.”
“Do you, now?” Helen bent over her on the sofa, her dark hair falling in a curtain around their faces. She leaned forward, kissing Rowan lightly, teasingly.
“Mmm, quite, yes.” She drew Helen onto the couch on top of her, left fingers laced through her hair, right hand finding its way up her abdomen from her hip to her breast. Returning Helen’s light, teasing kisses with deep, lingering ones of her own. Helen responded instantly to her touch, soft sighs and quiet moans escaping her lips pressed against Rowan’s mouth. “How am I doing so far?” Rowan smiled.
“Mm, job well done, I’d say,” Helen breathed, looking down at her lover, captivated by her enchanting emerald eyes, sparkling wickedly.
Rowan tucked a lock of hair behind Helen’s right ear. “Helen? Is that why we’re doing this? I mean, is it why you’re doing this? The pheromones?”
“What?” Helen was caught off guard by the question, but slowly understanding dawned. “Wait, you think I’ve only... Because of the nubbins?” Her eyes softened, and she tenderly brushed Rowan’s face with the pads of her fingers. “Do you see me running off to Will’s bedchamber since the nubbins arrived? Yes, the pheromones accentuate people’s feelings and their responses. But they don’t induce behaviour that wouldn’t otherwise happen. We’re all still very much in control of our own actions.” She smiled sweetly, cupping Rowan’s cheek with her palm. “I’m doing this because I want to, Rowan. The presence of the nubbins may have lowered my inhibitions a bit, but it didn’t force me into anything. I want to be with you. I want you . I wouldn’t change what’s happened the last couple of days for anything. Well,” a sly grin spread across her tantalizing lips, “a few less interruptions, maybe. But the us naked bits? Perfection.”
Rowan pulled her down against her, the full length of their bodies pressed together, breathing as one in a flurry of passionate kisses.
31.22:
Magnus: We have them contained right now, but if they get out and this expands beyond the Sanctuary, we could be ground zero for a plague of furry locusts. We have to act, and quickly.
Ashley and Will left the office with their marching orders, Helen stared, frustrated, at the data on her screens. Rowan came up behind her, wrapping her arms around her waist, pulling Helen’s back firmly against her, hands resting on Helen’s navel, chin on her shoulder. “Do you have any idea how sexy you are when you’re laying down the law like that?” She showered gentle kisses down the side of her neck. “What can I do to help?”
Helen leaned back into her, her own hands covering Rowan’s, drinking in the feel of her. “Mmm, well, you can keep that up, for one,” she smiled.
“What?” Rowan kissed her neck again, slower. “This?” Her lips caressed the tender place behind the lobe of Helen’s left ear. “Keep doing this?” She licked across the pulse point under her jawline, giving it just the tenderest little nibble as she left a lingering kiss there, too.
“Yeah, that. That helps.” Helen took just a moment longer to bask in the feeling before clearing her throat and refocusing on the task at hand. “We’re going to try releasing the predator that came in on the ship with the nubbins, see if we can corral them. You could help Henry with the bag and capture.”
“Whatever you need. As long as you make me a promise.”
Helen turned in Rowan’s arms, holding her face in her hands, smiling into her eyes. “What is it?”
“Be safe. Please. You have a bit of a reckless streak, don’t tell me you don’t. I need you to be safe.”
“Of course. You too, okay?”
Rowan nodded. They kissed each other, deep and lingering, before heading in opposite directions.
42.50:
Magnus: I think we know what your grandfather wanted for you.
Sophie: Yeah. I guess, in a way, he’ll always be guiding me.
Magnus: And so will we.
“Come on,” Will said. “I’ll walk you out.”
Sophie followed Will to the door of the office. Looking back over her shoulder, she smiled, “Thank you, Dr. Magnus. For everything.”
“My pleasure,” Magnus smiled in return.
Rowan entered from the other door as Will and Sophie’s footsteps faded down the hall. Standing in front of Helen, her arms laced around her waist, she smiled at her, “Well done, you.”
“Oh, pish tosh. Just another day at the office.”
“You avoided a potential plague of fuzzy biblical proportions, you engineered a habitat that allows you to research fascinating life and mating cycles you’ve never had the chance to observe before, you solved the mystery of an undiagnosed abnormal, and you gave that sweet girl answers to lifetime long questions that she never could have gotten anywhere else. I’d call that a bit more than just your average day.”
Relenting, Helen smiled, “Well, all right then. Maybe just a bit.”
Rowan kissed the teasing, bare flesh of the right side of Helen’s neck, slowly working her way toward her ear, lips brushing gently against her lobe as she whispered, “I’m proud of you.”
She could feel Helen’s grin break across her face as she wrapped her arms tightly around Rowan’s neck. Then she felt Helen’s lips brush against her own ear, whispering, “Shall we take this to my room and find out how it feels without supercharged nubbin pheromones in the air?” Helen let out a delighted squeal as Rowan picked her up and whisked her off down the hall.