Octavia's Time [The Klawinken] (Siren Publishing Allure) (3 page)

“We wish your sister no ill will,” her father spoke softly, breaking the silence, his voice full of emotion. “I want you to know that sometimes, no matter how hard it is, letting go is for the best. Your sister was always so stubborn and wild. Hopefully this man she has married will be able to tame her and give her life direction.”

“You, on the other hand,” her mother interjected, “have always been more grounded and even tempered. Evenela tried to convince herself that she was something she wasn’t. My advice to you is to learn from your sister’s mistakes. Your father and I have always tried to do our best by both of you. I hope you know that and don’t decide to leave us without a care the way your sister did.”

Sadness tugged at her heart as she looked at the two people she loved most in the world. “You know I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you,” she choked out. “I’m sorry Evenela still hates us. I’m sorry about everything that’s happened. I don’t understand any of this, I really don’t.” With that said, she practically knocked over her chair as she ran from the table and up the stairs to her room and locked the door, where she sobbed her heart out. She cried for her sister, her parents, and herself. Upsetting her parents wouldn’t bring the letter or Evenela back. When she emerged from her room the next morning, she was once again the dutiful daughter her parents expected. Secretly, she hoped she might receive her own letter from her Evenela, but the letter never came.

Not since then, until now, had she felt so alone. There was no one to help her understand the dreams and lustful cravings that were all but consuming her. She had taken a few psychology classes, and in one class in particular they had studied transference. She had used a few of the techniques to help control her unwanted behavior. However, more times than not, she succumbed far too easily to the agonizing thoughts and images that inflamed her primitive urges and caused her to do things she normally would have been far too inhibited to even think about, let alone try.

She did find that working with the kids at the homeless shelter in town, where she volunteered for a few hours once a week, provided a slight reprieve when it came to thinking about someone other than herself. They were so eager to be accepted and to learn. The parents were down on their luck, but for the most part, loved their children. However, there were a few that seemed to care less about their children’s welfare, and they were the ones she had a hard time being civil to, even though she knew her job was to simply be helpful, comforting and nonjudgmental.

Her mother, although supportive of her desire to help others, found the time she spent at the shelter a concern. “You know those people are unstable. Just be careful one of them doesn’t turn on you or worse.”

She had tried to calm her mother’s fears. There was no way she was going to stop volunteering. She loved reading to the children and helping them with their studies. They needed her, and she felt it was one of the more worthwhile things she did with her time. Luckily, her mother backed down, and Octavia didn’t have to take a stand. She hated conflict and tried to avoid it at all costs, especially when it came to her parents.

Forcing herself to think about her family and the kids at the homeless shelter provided a much-needed diversion. However, she still had some time before her appointment, so she pulled out her literature book from her book bag and turned to Monday’s assignment. Reading would help her to remain calm and focused while she waited for the man named Mathieu to arrive.

She had just finished answering the questions at the end of the chapter when she heard a knock at the front door. Perfect timing, she thought to herself, grabbing her cell phone from the bed and running down the stairs. She stopped and took a deep breath at the front door, feeling her breasts swell and her nipples come to attention.
Dear God, all he did was knock on the door, and this is how I react. What will he think of me when he begins the piercings?

She was going to expose her breasts to a stranger, an act that would normally have kept her from even considering having her nipples pierced. She put her hands to her cheeks. They were warm. However, it wasn’t embarrassment that generated the unwanted heat throughout her body. Whatever was happening to her libido was intensifying by the minute, and not for better.

Mathieu Lacroix stood very still with a black leather bag in his hand and waited for the woman who was destined to be his mate open the door. He had only seen her from a distance these past few years, biding his time until she turned twenty-one and would be ready to take her place as a Klawinken.

The front door creaked open slowly until she was standing in front of him in just jeans and a T-shirt, her beautiful, long auburn hair framing the face he dreamed about every night. Pretty light-blue eyes looked into his, making his knees weak. She appeared startled by his appearance. He could see her body shivering uncontrollably and knew she felt the living current of their heritage flow between them. He moved closer and put his arm around her waist to keep her from falling. She leaned into him for support.

Too soon, she backed away, regaining her balance. “I’m so sorry. I must have lost my footing or something.” She moved further back into the house, holding the door for him to follow.

“No problem. Glad I was here to catch you.” He smiled. “I’m Mathieu Lacroix. We have a two o’clock appointment.”

In person, she was lovelier than any dream he had ever dreamed. He was so ready for her. However, unlike Octavia, he was fully aware of who he was and had embraced his heritage. While waiting for her to mature, there was never a shortage of women who wanted to share his bed with the kind of wild abandon he demanded.

They enjoyed running their fingers through his longish light-brown hair when they screamed his name and he filled them with his seed that had them begging for more. He loved the feel of a woman’s body in his strong arms, drawing her close to him until he could feel her heart beating out of her chest. But always it was Octavia he craved. Regardless of how experienced the woman or the intensity of the orgasm, he had never felt the oneness he knew could exist with his one true mate. There was only one woman who could make him feel that way, and he had only been told of her existence when he had turned eighteen years old. He had waited for this moment for ten long years.

His father had taken him on a hunting trip to their summer home near Moosehead Lake, Maine, for what he said was some father and son time. It was there that his education into the Klawinken people began. He told him their people had been mating in secret for centuries. Only those born from the mating of Klawinken were given the gift of their heritage, the ability to find their one true mate and to develop the skills that were theirs as part of their enlightenment. They were gifted with the wonders of a love that knew no boundaries and a life that could be an asset to all humankind, if they chose wisely. Although the male could develop his talents without mating, a female could not fully develop hers until she became one with her mate. Some matings occurred soon after the male’s eighteenth birthday with an older Klawinken woman who was sometimes not so patiently waiting for him. Most males waited for their mate to turn twenty-one.

At first Mathieu had laughed at his father’s story in disbelief, thinking he must have had a bottle of Scotch hidden away somewhere that he had taken a few too many sips from in secret. It was only when his father levitated himself and his chair to just below the ceiling of the room that Mathieu stopped laughing. He continued to stare while his father very gently lowered himself and the chair back down to the floor.

“Now, Mathieu, I know this is a lot to take in. It was for me when I was your age. My reaction was pretty much the same as yours. My father, however, proved to me the truth of what he was saying by flinging me on his back and taking me so high up into the atmosphere I practically lost consciousness. Now that’s a trip I’ve never forgotten. Your grandfather always was a bit of a show-off. To me, it’s not so much how you come to believe what I say, Mathieu. It’s that you do believe what I say.”

Shocked, he just stared at his father, this man he thought he knew. “Does everyone have to go through this rite of passage? I mean, are all my friends doing something like this when they turn eighteen?”

“No. We’re a select group of people that have survived through the centuries through pure determination and, I must say, love. Most humans go through their lives never using certain parts of their brains. We, on the other hand, at certain ages, eighteen for boys and twenty-one for girls, begin to develop our brains more fully, almost to capacity. Those areas that are never used by most of our brothers and sisters on this planet are awakened, and with that awakening comes the ability to interpret signals and signs that can result in feelings of unequaled pleasure, and insights into a world that others only glimpse in their dreams. There is no denying that our intellect level far exceeds the norm. However, we rely more on our instincts than the intelligent quotient that so many people measure the value of their lives by. Intelligence is only one small facet of what makes us who we are.”

“I don’t understand. I hear what you’re saying, but I just don’t understand.”

“Perfectly normal, and you won’t for a while. Your mind and body will be going through many changes over the next few years. Those changes will help you to begin to understand your potential. They will also give you glimpses of your mate, the woman who you will spend the rest of your days with.”

“Really?” Now that interested him.

“Yes, really,” his father said with a soft smile that seemed to take him to another place for a few moments. “I dreamed about your mother long before I met her. I knew everything a man could know about a woman before I ever so much as said ‘hello’ to her. When we did finally speak, she took my breath away. Nothing can prepare you or her for your first mating. Being Klawinken is truly a gift.”

“If it’s so wonderful, why did you wait so long to tell me?”

“That was your mother’s and my choice. We wanted you to have a childhood free of concerns that you were different from the majority of your friends. However, many of our kind tell their children much sooner. I was told when I was eighteen, your mother, when she was only twelve. We both agreed to allow you the freedom of ignorance in our ways until you turned eighteen because until then, there was no way you could fully comprehend your gifts with the level of maturity needed to embrace them.”

And now here he was ten years later, and his mate was standing in front of him, looking up at him expectantly. His father was right. Nothing could have prepared him for the feelings of love, desire, and the need to be one with her that coursed through his body. He wanted to rip her clothing from her body and make her his in the most primitive way possible, and yet he wanted to protect her from the immeasurable pain he knew she would experience when he finally mated her soul with his.

Mathieu wasn’t quite sure how long he had been standing there, lost in thought, before he said, “Where would you like me to set up?”

* * * *

Octavia knew the man standing in front of her was speaking to her. However, she was having difficulty joining his words together.

“Just point me in the general direction, and I’ll find my way, Octavia.” He smiled. “May I call you Octavia?”

“No, I mean, yes, of course you can call me Octavia. It’s my name.” She sounded like a complete idiot. He had that effect on her. She had never seen a more handsome man. She wanted to touch him for many reasons, but mostly just to make sure he was real. He wasn’t only handsome, she decided. He was downright beautiful. He stood around six feet tall, and his thighs that were outlined through his tight, faded jeans were as well muscled as his upper arms that were visible beneath the short sleeve, black T-shirt that fit him to perfection. His light-brown hair hung straight to just above his shoulders. His features were sharp, his bone structure strong, and the eyes beneath his long lashes were green. Not just hazel but really green, almost like a cat’s eyes. They were gorgeous, and they were looking at her with amusement.

“Please, let me show you to the sun room. There’s a table and chairs in there and plenty of natural light. We also have lamps and an overhead light if you think you’ll need it.”

He followed her. She turned to see his eyes surveying the room.

“It’s nice that you have privacy here,” he said, looking out into the large fenced backyard. This room will work well.”

Octavia sat down at the table and watched him begin to prepare for the piercings. She was mesmerized by his smooth, long tapered fingers that removed clamps, forceps, packaged needles, medical pads, disinfectant, and an array of other items that she couldn’t put a name to from his bag. He looked over at her and grinned, showing even, white teeth. “I have something in my car that I need to bring in. Would you excuse me for a second?”

“Of course, I’ll show you out.”

“No need. I’ll find my way. Just relax. I’ll be right back.”

Octavia watched him disappear through the house. This man was going to pierce her nipples and insert nipple rings. She trembled with the desire of a woman who was about to be taken for the first time, no, she corrected, a woman who was going to have her nipples pierced for the first time.
I must be suffering from some kind of mental disorder. If I wasn’t, I would tell him to leave.

He walked back into the sunroom carrying a folding table with a mattress pad. She watched him open it and then secure the latches before he put the pad in place. “This is where you will lay while I pierce your nipples. You did want them both done, is that right?”