Kindred of the Wood

"I love you," Mara responded, feeling the sting of spurning her mother's desire to help, and Wade's friendship in the space of so few words.

It was the latter that eventually wormed its way into her consciousness, making her feel ashamed. Her half-formed plan of avoiding him for the remainder of the trip so she didn't have to confront her feelings was inexcusably unfair to Wade. He hadn't done anything wrong, and certainly didn't deserve being left to wonder why she didn't want to see him.

No matter how terrifying the prospect was, she had to talk to him. There was no way that she could live with herself if she hurt him out of her own selfish needs. Somehow, she had to make him understand what she was doing without telling him the real reason for it.

More secrets.

Her stomach went sour as she looked at the trail her mother had walked down earlier. It was such a simple thing — a single step forward — yet she didn't move. Steeling her will, she drew upon wells of courage and determination hidden deep inside her until this very moment.

Her lower lip quivering, Mara took that heart-wrenching step.

****

"As if this isn't hard enough," Mara muttered in a weepy voice as she returned to the beach below Wade's camp. His canoe was tied up on the bank, but he was nowhere to be found. Assuming that he'd gone somewhere with his father, she climbed back in her canoe, wondering if she could find the strength to go through with this again.

Pushing off with her paddle, Mara drifted back out into the lake. Her eyes were drawn first toward the beach behind her, and then off to the side. The magic that had always concealed the inlet from her was gone now, at least when she directly looked at it. Whenever it was in her peripheral vision or she simply glanced over the area, it looked as though the shoreline was solid across the mouth of the finger of water.

There was someone else she owed an apology, and she could at least explain to La'isa why she had left so abruptly.

Careful to keep her eyes and ears alert, Mara paddled along the shore toward the inlet. After pausing to make absolutely certain that nobody was watching her or approaching, she turned the canoe and paddled in.

The fish were jumping immediately beyond the invisible magical border, and Mara had trouble believing just how many she saw darting or lazily drifting along beneath her in the water. Unsure about how well the magic masked sound, and certainly not wanting to reveal the nymph's secret place, Mara whispered near the surface of the water, "La'isa, it's Xanmara."

When there was no response, she paddled a little deeper into the inlet and tried again. After two more attempts, she was beginning to believe that she'd so offended the nymph that La'isa wouldn't come out for her.

Coming up toward the circular terminus of the inlet, Mara decided to try one last time and then turn around. She certainly wasn't ready to see the spot where Wade had stood bathed in the silvery light of the moon the night before. Just before she could whisper the nymph's name again, she heard a splash behind her — far larger than what she would expect from even the wily old fish that dwelled here.

Turning around, she saw La'isa's tail vanish beneath the water. It was something, at least. Mara pulled in her paddle and waited a minute to see if the nymph would come to the surface. Her canoe continued to drift unnoticed from the momentum of her last paddle stroke.

"M-mara?"

Mara spun toward the voice so quickly in alarm that her hair whipped in front of her face to obscure her vision for a moment. When the golden curtain dropped away, she saw Wade sitting on the bank in almost the same place he was the night before — thankfully clothed this time.

You've got to do this, she thought, fighting against both the pattering of her heart upon seeing him and the tears trying to well up in her eyes. She put her paddle in the water and concentrated on the motion of propelling the canoe toward him.

He extended his hand to help her out of the canoe when she turned to bump up against the shoreline. "Thought you were sick. What are you doing here?"

Mara thought that he sounded a little nervous, which only made this all the more important and necessary. He had obviously seen through her pitiful subterfuge and was beating himself up over imagined wrongs. She took his hand with a mixture of longing and pain, stepping out of the bobbing boat onto the soft bed of loam.

"I need to talk to you," Mara began, the words strangely freeing as they passed her lips.

Wade interrupted her before she could continue. "Mara, I'm sorry. I tried to... I didn't mean to weird you out."

Confused, Mara blinked and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I need to say this now, or I'm going to chicken out."

A flash of movement in Mara's peripheral vision — La'isa's tail breaking the surface — caused her stomach to clench up. Please, please, please — not now! The last thing she needed was the nymph making this even harder. Wade glanced out over the water for a second, and she held her breath, waiting for the panic to cross his face, revealing that he'd seen the nymph.

He turned back to her. "Mara, I know I've been weird. The thing is..." His eyes darted out to the water for another fraction of a second. "I'm in love with you."

Mara's heart sang and broke simultaneously. "Oh god, Wade."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's stupid. Don't worry; I'm not going to hang all over you or anything. I'll leave you alone."

All of the good reasons she had not to go down this path fell away. That final word — alone — was the straw that broke the camel's back. She didn't want to be alone any more. Damn the odds and damn the consequences, she threw her arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder, "I love you too."

Hesitantly, Wade lifted his arms. They were stiff at first as he embraced her, and then softened as he let out a great sigh. "You... I... Really?"

"Yes, I love you. I didn't want to, but I can't help it."

Wade cleared his throat as a splash sounded nearby. "Uh, there's something else I need to tell you."

"Please. Not now. Just hold me," Mara begged in a rush, knowing that she couldn't handle another shock right now.

"I have to. I can't go through this again." Cradling her cheek in his hand, he lifted her face to look into his eyes. "I want you to meet my mom."

Mara's bewilderment lasted for all of a heartbeat, just long enough for Wade to glance down, and a musical giggle to arise from the lapping waves at their feet.

"See. I told you that you were being silly, Wade," La'isa chided as she stared up at the couple with a beatific smile.

Mara couldn't help it. With tears still streaming down her face, she broke out into gales of laughter. Seeing the stung expression on Wade's face, she erased it by the simple expedient of putting her hand on the back of his head, tilting it down, and standing on her tiptoes to kiss him soundly.

"You're not freaking out?" He asked in wonder as their lips parted.

"Tell him, Xanmara," the nymph encouraged.

"Xanmara? Like La'Dara?" Wade muttered, understanding dawning in his eyes.

Mara nodded. "My great-grandmother is a dryad."

A flip of La'isa's tail soaked them both, leaving them dripping. "Now that you are done being silly, take away those things you cover yourself with."

Wade's face turned bright red. "Uhm, Mom sort of..."

Mara blushed as well as she wiped her eyes, but mingled with that embarrassment was a great swell of desire. "Gramma is the same way."

Obviously nervous, Wade grabbed the tail of his t-shirt and tugged it upward while turning to avert his eyes. Mara watched the wet, clinging cloth slide upward to reveal his muscled torso before she reached for the tail of her own shirt.

Not realizing that Mara was admiring him with undisguised desire, it was all Wade could do to keep staring out over the lake when her t-shirt landed atop his. He dropped his shorts and made a little show of struggling to kick them off past his shoes. He then sat down to untie his laces, further delaying the moment when he would have to drop his briefs.

Mara's bra landed atop the growing pile of clothing with a little whump. His modesty and attempt to protect hers brought a bemused smile of arousal to her lips as she kicked off her shoes. Her shorts joined the pile, her heart beating rapidly as he lifted his butt off the ground and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of the briefs covering him.

Mara shuddered as his gorgeous cock flopped free. Like all men of nymph blood, only the lightest and sparsest of hair grew on his body. Never taking her eyes off him, Mara slid her panties down her legs, revealing the final evidence of her nymph heritage, a body that would never sprout a single follicle anywhere except the golden tresses atop her head.

Here at last was someone she could share all her secrets with. Never again would she have to hide her heritage while opening her heart. Wade knew her. He understood her — better than any other man ever could.

And he loved her. It had been written on his face and in his deep blue eyes for so long, and Mara lamented the time she'd wasted in not recognizing it.

"There," La'isa declared, and then wiggled her fingers in a wave before spinning in the water.

"I thought you wanted to talk?" Wade asked.

The nymph giggled. "Later. You want to do the nice things, and the coverings would be in the way." With that, she vanished beneath the water, her tail waving above the surface before it followed her.

"Mom, wait," Wade helplessly pleaded to the ripples on the pond. He coughed and shifted nervously. "She can be kind of..."

Mara stepped in front of him, her cheeks rosy as his widening eyes met hers. Running her hands down her body, she silently confirmed the nymph's parting statement before kneeling and leaning over him.

The kiss they shared nearly took Mara's breath away. Tenderness and desire mingled in equal parts as his hand caressed her cheek and an arm enfolded her. Mara let her body sink down atop him, her stiff nipples pressing against his broad chest and his manhood swelling beneath her leg. Her fingers explored the contours of his muscles, setting off tingles that spread from her head to her toes.

"I love you," he declared in a rushed whisper when their lips parted for the briefest of moments.

"Oh, I love you," she agreed, her voice thick with passion. "I want you."

Wade pulled her down to him again, his lips finding her neck. Mara whimpered with every feather-light kiss, her hips swiveling to press her folds against him for a measure of much needed relief.

Soon, that wasn't enough.

Mara put her hands beneath her, scooting backward at the same time, her nipples brushing his chest. She planted her knees in the warm loam and rose above them, his erection bumping against her bottom. Curling her fingers around his manhood, she pressed the tip against her folds.

A long moan escaped Mara and she threw her head back in rapture from the feeling of his thick cock filling her. Wade groaned beneath her and whispered, "You're so beautiful," when she let her head fall forward again, golden tresses framing her face and rustling in the breeze.

A silly grin spread across Mara's face and she agreed, "So are you." She rocked her hips almost imperceptibly, stirring his cock inside her. They fit together so perfectly, like two pieces of a puzzle — made for each other in every way.

She could feel every vein and contour of him enfolded in her satiny embrace, her intimate muscles contracting in time with the throbbing of his manhood. He groaned, his hands gliding over her hips and fingertips tantalizing her bottom in a soft caress.

"Oh yes," Mara cooed, her hips rocking just a little faster and one hand moving to cup her right breast. She teased the dark pink point of one nipple, and then the other, reveling in a sense of fullness unlike anything she'd ever experienced before.

Mara's eyes widened and she let out a restrained yelp of surprise when Wade's hips lifted toward her. He matched her rhythm, his motion joining her undulating hips to swell the warmth slowly building in her loins.

Oddly, though she knew that it drew closer with every moment, she felt none of the urgency of impending climax, and no need to rush to fulfillment. Wade was smiling, his face filled with the same joy and closeness she felt. Joined in harmonious motion, they reveled in each other's pleasure.

It came upon her not in a rush, but rather as a gentle wave of bliss that traveled through every inch of her. Only a long, high-pitched moan escaped her as she came, her hips still stroking him inside her at the same measured pace. Every movement sent another ripple of sweet release through her, drawing out her climax for long, wonderful moments.

Mara's hands slid up his sweat-dampened chest as she reclined over him with a content sigh. She rested her head on his shoulder, tingling all over and shivering.

"Did you..?"

"Oh yes. Oh yes, yes, yes," Mara whimpered. "Mmm — thank you."

Wade kissed her hair, wrapping his arms around her. Though he still throbbed inside her, he made no effort to seek his own release. Mara quite nearly dozed off in the comfort of his arms and the afterglow of the beautiful orgasm he'd given her. Only the sun warming her back and bottom eventually forced her to rouse. She made a sad little sound as his half-hard cock slipped free.

Twigs and leaf stems aplenty lie beneath her back, but she didn't feel a one as he rolled over to kiss her. His lips were so soft against hers, the lightest of pecks delivered over and over again. Her entire world was his kisses, the lapping of the water, and the wind rustling through the trees.

When he paused for a moment to smile down at her, she felt her passions stirring again. "You didn't, did you?"

He shook his head, still grinning. "Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does," she disagreed, seeking his lips and sliding a guiding hand behind him.

Following her silent direction, he lifted a leg high and swung it over her. Mara reached between them to wrap her fingers around his cock, moaning as she felt it swelling once again.

The temptation of her firm breasts rising and falling with her quickening breaths overwhelmed him, and he kissed one of the buds crowning them, his erection slipping from her fingers. Mara cried out from the electric tingle his kiss sent through her, and then again when he sucked her nipple between his lips.

Moaning and writhing from his ministrations, Mara bent her knees, parting her legs wide. An ache deep inside her demanded attention, so she pushed on his shoulders to that end.

Wade released her nipple with a final suck and a kiss, then moved one knee at a time until his twitching member hovered above her nether lips. Their eyes met, and Mara gave a single nod of her head. He was still gazing deep into her eyes when his cock slipped inside her.

If anything, he felt even bigger and harder than before. Mara gasped as he filled her full, and then squealed as he pulled back. She glanced down just in time to see his glistening cock vanish inside her once more, his muscles bunching to push his hips forward.

Wade groaned, "God, Mara," as his hips worked, burying his cock deep inside her, then retreating until the rim of the bulbous head popped free of her canal. A slight shift of his stance caused the shaft to slide against her swollen clit on the next thrust.

"Yes — right there," Mara gushed. "God, yes."

He seemed to know exactly when she needed more, increasing the pace of his thrusts to add to the hot friction. Mara tingled all over, her body moving in sinuous waves as she whimpered in bliss. She caressed her breasts, her heart soaring at the smile it brought to his lips. The firm globes jiggled ever so slightly each time their bodies came together.

Wade let out a long, deep groan. "You feel incredible."

"So do you. Come for me."

"You first."

"Ah," Mara sang out as a stronger, sharper burst of pleasure caused her to slap one arm to the sun-warmed earth and her toes to curl. "Ohh — if you insist."

The hand still caressing her breast slid down Mara's body, three fingers settling just above her hood. She pressed down, making slow circles every few seconds, but still letting his cock do most of the work.

Seeing that he was just as enraptured by this as when she'd teased her breasts, Mara put on a coquettish expression and asked, "Do you like... Mmm! Like watching me touch myself?"

His head nodding with almost comical intensity, he answered, "Yeah."

"I like it too."

Wade grunted from a squeeze of her intimate muscles and said, "You're too sexy."

"No, you," she countered, the last word transforming into a warbling moan when he pumped into her faster — harder — their bodies colliding with a quiet slap.

Growls began to intermingle with Wade's grunts and groans, his expression tightening. Mara's whimpers grew louder, her fingers moving faster over her hood. This time, the urgency was there — subdued — but certainly there. Her muscles tightened as the pressure swelled, chilly sparks joining the warm glow in her mound.

"Too good. Can't..." Wade said from between clenched teeth, losing the battle to keep his seed from surging forth.

"Don't stop. Almost... Almost there," Mara pleaded.

"I... God..." Wade stammered. Then his hips jolted forward and his breath exploded from him in a near roar.

She felt the first pulse of his buried cock, and cried out the word yes, knowing that he was pumping her full of cream. Before the word had even fully passed her lips, orgasm claimed her.

The initial shock of sweet agony caused her to half sit up and scream, loud and long. Her fingers dug into the soft earth at her sides, and her legs clamped tight around Wade's quivering hips. All the while, she could feel him throbbing, flooding her depths with cum.

An exhausted, almost pained sounding groan escaped Wade, and he fell forward onto his hands. He hovered over her, his pants an echo of hers, sweat dripping from his flushed skin to mingle with the beads adorning every inch of her.

Mara wore a wide grin, her continuing cries of release now mixed with short laughs. Wade couldn't help but chuckle as well in the face of her joy, but a squeeze of her walls around him caused the sound to change into a loud, high-pitched exclamation that made her laugh even harder.

Mara wrapped her arms and legs around him, holding his softening cock deep inside as the aftershocks rippled through her. She still couldn't overcome the irrational urge to laugh, and didn't even try to fight the compulsion to kiss him repeatedly.

She'd never been happier in her life, and wanted this moment to last forever.

Unfortunately, a painful truth crept into her thoughts after a few minutes, and she couldn't suppress the whimper that came with it.

Wade stroked her cheek and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I have to go home in a week." Her lower lip began to quiver. "You'll be so far away."

"Oh, that's right. I kinda got distracted before I could tell you."

"Tell me what?"

"I got a scholarship to play football."

His grin more or less gave away the answer, but Mara asked the question anyway. "Where?"

"Guess it'll be your turn to show me around."

Mara let out a squeal of delight and tightened her arms around him.

****

Two very special families met that evening in La'isa's pool, forevermore linked by the bonds of love as Kindred of the Wood.

****

Hope you've enjoyed this story, the first to break the annual Earth Day tradition of the Magic of the Wood series.

While every tale in the series is its own story, they do follow a timeline — mostly a generational one — in this order: Steward of the Wood, Daughter of the Wood, Forever of the Wood, and Secret of the Wood. Or, you could use the publication dates, as they follow the timeline as well. If you enjoyed this story, going back to read about those who have come before will give you a deeper look into the special magic that my little family possesses.