Freefall-Book One

Prologue

           Prologue:

                    I arched against him, my body responding as my mind screamed, “NO!”  It was too much; I couldn’t think, only feel, each emotion swelling and bursting like a dam with too much pressure built up.  My hands moved across the taut expanse of his muscular chest, meaning to push for my freedom.  If I crossed this threshold, there would be no going back.  My life as I had known it, the freedom to make my own decisions, to face the consequences alone, would be over.  I wanted to yell, to scream, to kick, to run from this man who sent me spiraling into the depths of passion.  I didn’t want this rationally, but apparently, my body didn’t care if I was rational or not.

                His lips on my wrists tore a gasp from me, my body arching again, my legs wrapping around his waist involuntarily.  Everywhere his bare skin touched mine, I burned from within.  His lips moved from my wrists to the crook of my arm, eliciting more gasps as I squeezed my eyes shut, begging her to quiet.  I was losing control; she was taking over, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.  She wanted this.  She wanted him.  I could fight for as long as I wanted, but we both knew the truth, she and I, that in the end, she would win.  This wasn’t a fight that I was even prepared to begin, nor to end.

                Groaning, I tried.  I fought against him, placing my hands upon his chest, his tanned skin contrasting with my porcelain.  The anger I had felt when this had begun boiled within me, helping to clear my head as I pushed with all of my strength, sending his body towards the trees.  In the split second that it took for him to roll to his back and stand, I had already taken off towards the trees on the far end of the clearing, sprinting as if my life depended on it.  In a manner of speaking, it did.

                As I ran, I could feel their eyes boring into me from all sides, watching, as they always did.  This was the way of things, and it was not their place to become involved.  This was between him and me; and her.  I could feel the anger, the need, the yearning to be back within his arms, but I fought it with every breath, willing my body to weave through the forest, begging her to quiet for yet another time in my life.

                A howl sounded in the short distance, and I felt my heart skip a beat painfully within my chest.  He was fast, faster than I had thought.  That second wasn’t enough; not even I, who prided herself on her speed, could outrun him.  Not here.  A second later, and I felt the air change from the coolness of the forest to fill with a charge, as if touched with electricity.  And then I heard him, pacing behind me, a growl humming low in his throat.  There was nowhere to run, and so I turned, slowly, my mind churning, as if in a horror film.

                I couldn’t help it, my body reacted.  I felt a tightening in my stomach as I raised my grey eyes to his emerald ones, taking in his naked form along the way.  In all his glory, he called to me, forced my body to sing as no other had.  Glaring, I stared; it was hard not to.  He was tan from long days spent in the sun, not a tan line in sight.  His upper arms, thighs, everything, spoke of muscle and secret delights.  And a dark swirl of hair on his chest led down to…

                “You’re mine, Sofia.  Even if you don’t want to be,” he said, his tones clipped, but each word brimming with passion.  His emerald eyes appraised me with mild amusement; his brows knotted together low on his forehead.  His gaze traveled from my eyes and down, lingering on my chest, and then lower.  My temper flared, and before I could control myself, I was bursting through the trees again.  From the pounding behind me, I knew he wasn’t far.  A growl and I felt my body become airborne, landing with a soft thump as I hit the moss on the forest floor.  Dazed, I reached my hand towards my cheek, where I could feel a thin line and warm liquid running down to hit softly on the ground.  He was here.

                Without a glance at the hurt that had filled my eyes, he flipped me from my stomach to my back, clutching my wrists in one hand.  Opening my mouth to shriek my rage, I was cut short by his lips rushing down to meet mine, brutal and painful.  He nipped at my lips with his teeth, demanding entry, which I denied.  She called for him, wanting him, and when the last of my control was in tatters, she burst through.  She rushed towards the surface for him, ripping through my body like a demon would run from heaven.  Instead of pulling free of my lips, his mouth clamped down on mine, taking her as I shrieked in pain.  I had fought her for too long.  His body shudder as she poured out into him, but he did not stop the kiss, nor did he let her control him as she sometimes did me.  With agonizing slowness, he moved his mouth over my face, kissing sensually as he moved lower, his body moving restlessly against my own.  I could only feel and I moaned against him, twisting my body with his, trying to free my wrists in my desperation to touch him.  He did not relent.

                His breath hot on my body, his kisses trailing down my neck to the crook there, licking and nuzzling, as if wrapping my scent around him.  Delicately, he nipped at my neck, sending shivers coursing through my body, causing me to move against him wantonly, moaning and gasping until my legs had tightened around his waist.  It couldn’t be helped; she felt me give up, and she sang for me.  He moved aside my long, honey brown curls, moving his kisses to the right side of my neck, kissing and licking deeply.

                “Nooo….” I moaned, panting as me placed more kisses there.

                “You are mine, Sofia.  You have been since the first time you stepped foot into my territory.  You were made for me, and I will have you!”  A stab of pain laced itself from my neck to my heart, turning to pleasure as soon as the thought of pain entered my brain.  I couldn’t help the whimpers coming out of my mouth, or the scream that rolled out next, blood curdling and chilling.  And then I was floating, and the pain was gone, the pleasure had taken over, hot and blinding.  Even with my eyes open, I could see nothing but a white light.  All I could hear was heated panting, although there was a tight pressure lower in my body.  This pressure built, and I gasped out his name, my body sending me over the edge of climax.  Fingers threaded with mine, registering for only a moment before the pleasure took over again, and my life as I had known it ceased to exist.