Shifting Illuminations

"I read on one of animals spirit websites, that if we are not getting the message our animal guides are trying to convey, they will sometimes get our attention by attacking or biting us. Often, the animals we fear in life are the ones working with us; likewise, the ones we have always been drawn to. Do you fear the wolf?" Le summarized what he had read on an Animal Spirit/Shamanism website.

"That makes sense. No, I have never feared wolves. I've always had a fascination with them, actually." She told him. She stood up and walked over to his counter where her purse lay and opened it. She unzipped the change purse and drew out an ivory wolf pendant. "I keep this with me at all times." She handed it to him.

"It's beautiful." Le turned it over in his hand, feeling the smooth surface of the wolf. He tried to remember if he had ever seen the necklace on Aine's person. She must just keep it in her purse. "What is it made of?"

"Moonstone." She smiled as he handed it back to her and she placed it around her neck. It nestled between her breasts, the weight of it warming and reassuring. "I guess maybe the animals are trying to get me to open myself up again."

"It does seem that way. They want you to stop denying your nature and to step back on the path set before you. Why do you resist?" He was curious.

"I have a need to be in control." She said simply. She stood up from the table, pushed the chair back, took Le's hand in hers and swung her purse up over her shoulder. She walked purposefully back to his bedroom, bringing him along with her. She sat him on the bed, peeled the white t-shirt off her body, and stood before him. While he was beginning to become accustomed to her nakedness; something about her standing naked before him, with only a pendant (a pendant with the animal that seemed to consume her) dripping between her breasts, was incredibly erotic and shook him to his core. She reached up and removed the hair band from her hair and let her hair cascade over her shoulders.

"I'm tired of running." She placed her hands on his thighs and squeezed. "I'm tired of denying myself." Her hands coasted up his thighs to rest on his groin. Le leaned back slightly, his hands behind him, supporting himself. "I'm tired of keeping it all in." Her hands moved away and he felt the loss. She stroked his chest. "I'm tired of hiding." She leaned forward and kissed his chest, pausing to swipe her tongue against his nipple. "I'm tired of fighting." Le tried to focus on her eyes, trying to detect any change in her demeanor, her countenance, or her skin. So far, nothing. He breathed a sigh of relief. She pushed him onto the bed and climbed on top of him. "I have needs." Her hands were once more stroking his hardness and he groaned when she reached his waistband, pulling it down, exposing his hard erection to the air.

He checked her fingers, assured when he saw no claws growing there. He sucked in a breath when her moist lips touched him. She ran her tongue along his length, her green gaze holding him captive. She took his shaft into her mouth and slowly pleasured him with lips and tongue. He felt his body come alive. When he didn't think he could take much more, she let him go and stepped away.

"Where did you go?" His voice low and strained. She was standing in front of him, her purse balanced on the bed.

"Le, I want you." The confession music to his ears. He wanted to leap up from the bed, throw his arms around her and rejoice. Instead his arms came around her and he pulled her down beside him and against his chest, soothingly rubbing her back. She puffed out a breath and leaned her head down to rest it on his shoulder briefly. He tenderly kissed the top of her head.

"I want you too, Aine." He told her.

Although Aine had not been with a man in quite some time, she was a cautious woman when it came to her health. After her last intimate encounter, she had gotten herself tested for venereal diseases and was, as expected, given a clean bill of health. She kept the results tucked away in her purse, just in case. She chuckled to herself at the irony of actually being in a moment where that bit of safe-guarding would come in handy. Another woman may have shied away from the issue and not been so forward, assuming he had condoms, but she was responsible and came out and asked him, no pretenses.

"Have you been tested?" Le's eyes bulged at the question, having been thrown off his guard. He tried his best to recover quickly, stood up, and walked away from the bed. He fumbled around in his top drawer, sweat beading up on his brow.

"Actually, I have, just recently." He cast over his shoulder, intent on his mission. She quirked her red eyebrow up at that and thought it sounded a bit suspect.

"How recently?" She queried. He removed the slip of paper and walked back over. With a trembling hand, he gave it to her.

"A few weeks ago. One of our colleagues did a complete physical and for entertainment purposes added the test on. I was mad at him at first, but now..." He beamed at her, coming to stand in front of her, touching the skin of her face. "I'm glad he did."

She leaned into his hand and smirked up at him. "I just bet I knew who it was, too." They laughed together, breaking the tension, somewhat. "I'm also on the pill."

"This is a good thing, because I have no protection on me." Le confessed, almost sheepishly. Aine took the paper out of her purse, unfolded it and handed it to him.

"Does this seem too clinical?" She asked, with a suddenly nervous giggle.

"No. Given what we are, I think it is fitting." Le laughed himself. "Are you sure about this?" Outwardly he seemed to have the patience of a saint, but inwardly, he wanted to bury himself deep within her and well, stake his claim he supposed. Where that thought had come from, he had no idea. But, there it was. Maybe it had to do with her inner beast calling to his. He wasn't sure. She answered him by tearing his boxer-briefs the rest of the way off of him and climbing onto the bed.

"Are you afraid of what might happen?" He asked her, as he gently rolled her beneath him. She didn't protest.

"No. This feels right." She assured him as she spread her legs and he fitted his body between them. Le moved his hand down between her legs and felt that she was already incredibly wet. He dipped his head down to take one of her nipples in his mouth and tugged at it with his lips. Her body arched, seeking his. His tongue caressed the seam of her lips. She parted them and their lips and tongues met, dancing and swirling with one another. His fingers were massaging within her wetness, coaxing more from her, switching to give her clitoris attention.

"Le, I need you inside." She whimpered as he acquiesced to her request and slid his length inside her, sheathing himself within her heat.

"Stay with me." Le's voice instructed her. She wrapped her legs around his body, drawing him deeper, her hands wandering up and down his back, to settle at and squeeze the muscles of his ass. She always knew it would be a tight one. He pistoned in and out of her slowly, picking up momentum as she met his thrusts, clinging to him. His muscles flexed beneath her hands and his face showed his pleasure. But, try as she might, she was unable to keep focus.

"Please, not now." She whispered fiercely. Le started slowing down. Her legs were a vice around him and her inner muscles began pulsating, squeezing him. "Don't stop." She told him.

"Focus on my voice, Aine. We can get past this." Le's mouth came down hard on hers, a kiss of possession. Her tongue plunged into the depths of his mouth, searching, exploring, demanding. Her body flowing to a primordial rhythm. Darkness filled her vision and then light flooded it. In her refusal to be taken away from this moment, she bowed up and sunk her teeth into Le's shoulder, staking her claim. A tingling started at the base of her spine, a curling and unfurling of energy rising up within her. She let loose a preternatural howl. Le hissed in pain, his eyes widening at the look of warning and the glow in her green eyes. It was going to happen again. Despite everything, she was going to be lost to him, again. There was a strange buzzing in Aine's ear, then a rushing sound like water. With renewed fervor and animal strength she lurched up and rolled Le beneath her. A ringing sound overtaking her, as she crashed down on him. Le was grateful for the soft landing on his bed. She was quickly losing control, again.

Aine fought tooth and claw literally, to stay in control. What more could these animals want from her? She growled and used Le's body to anchor her within her own. The pull of that other world was so strong and winning out. She trembled. She could hear Le's voice encouraging her and speaking tender words in her ear. She wanted to hear those words, but the damn ringing was making it impossible. She screamed out in fury.

"What do you want with me?"

"You think we are doing this to you?" The female wolf's voice answered.

"Aren't you?" She asked, feeling herself spinning out of control. The pressure that started low within her abdomen was rising up her spine, at a panic-inducing rate.

"You are coming into your power. Embrace the energy." The voice in her head spoke. Images flashed before her eyes. Memories of her past, memories of lives she had lived before, glimpses of the future, face after face flying past her. Illuminated beings, winged beings, scaled beings, furred beings. Angel song, droning from the depths of the earth. Knowledge came at her, charging forth on a thousand hooves. It was too much. She was flailing around, boundless in the cosmos, she was crying, she felt her body come apart, as though her soul were being ripped asunder. She was dying.

Le tried to lift Aine off of him. He couldn't tear his eyes from her face. There was a golden glow surrounding her. Was he seeing her aura? As he watched, different faces hovered over hers: animals and human faces, faces he had no words to describe. She seemed to be floating, yet still clamped to his body. He could not explain it. His rational mind was shutting down. She was a blur; at once the beautiful woman he was coming to love, and also a merging of different energies and beings, her form shimmered, wavered, ethereal and insubstantial. Her evanescence alarmed him and awed him. He tried to hold onto her body. He wasn't ready to lose her, if that was what was occurring. He loved her!

"Hold on, Awn. Just hold on!" He whispered in her ear over and over again. Light blinded him. He knew she was no longer there. He felt the change in her body; it went on automatic pilot, mimicking the act of love-making. But she was elsewhere. Le prayed he had the strength to bring her back.

"I love you." He murmured in her ear, his hands caressing her body, bringing her down to his chest to cradle her in his arms. He held her and rocked her, still rock hard inside of her. He wracked his brain for any clue she might have given him about what might be happening to her. Then, he remembered that while she relayed the other night's experience with the animals to him, she had explained how they had nudged her forehead with theirs. He had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

He gently took her face in his hands and touched his forehead to hers. Pain blazed between his eyebrows and a vision came to him, he saw her standing in a circle of forms. She seemed illuminated from within. A serene look was on her face, angelic, if he had to pick a word. Her eyes were closed. Suddenly, they flashed open and landed on his, staring straight into him. Le felt as if his soul were being stripped bare, leaving him exposed to all the glorious light. Was he dead? He wondered. He felt vulnerable and wondered if he were being judged. Then she came to him, her arms open, a beatific smile gracing her face, purity shining from her eyes. He enfolded her in his embrace.

***

Something was tickling him. Le opened his eyes and he looked down. A crown of red-gold nestled beneath his chin, silken waves pouring across his body, soft eyelashes fluttering against his cheek. They were alive! Aine looked so peaceful. He didn't want to wake her, but he needed to. They were alive! He shifted his body and her eyelids fluttered open. She snuggled closer, sighing contentedly, closing her eyes once more. He caressed her hair. She lifted one lid to look at him with her green orb.

"I love you, too." She purred. It was no feminine purr he had ever heard before. This purr rumbled through her entire body, reverberating against his face. Her other eyelid opened, this one was golden. Two different eye colors. She pecked his cheek, smiled at him impishly, and closed her eyes again. When they reopened they were grey. She giggled and sat up, sliding her body against his, her hand wandering down to take his cock into her hand. She teased it and with in a gleam in her eyes, traveled down his body, mouth blazing a trail southward. Le held her shoulders, stopping her movement. She looked up at him, a question in her eye.

"A-Aine?" He sputtered.

"Of course." Her voice smooth and steady.

"Are you?" He couldn't form the words.

"I'm still me." She assured him. "Only more so." She sat up, sitting with her legs crossed and tucked in. "My Kundalini has awoken." She had read about chakras before when she was younger. Chakras are the nexus of biophysical energy, of the life force of energy. When she was in medical school, a classmate of hers had tried to introduce her to the world of homeopathic and natural healing, which included energy work. She had laughed at the notion of wheels or vortexes of energy controlling and effecting every aspect of the emotions, body, mind, and spirit. She had also not trusted anything, including nature's gifts that could not be measured or proven. She clued him in to her thoughts.

"Huh." He said dumbfounded, sitting up with her. This fascinated Le. He had always had an interest in the metaphysics, but had never allowed himself the time to explore it. He realized, as he had been slow to realize the past few days; that fate, destiny, the hand of something bigger than himself; whatever one wished to call it; was placing the opportunity to explore and open his mind to more; right in his hands, in the enticing little package that was his Aine (as he had begun to think of her). He welcomed the moment and seized the opportunity.

"The sleeping serpent." She continued. "The coil of energy that resides at the base of the spine, at the root chakra. Oh Le, I have awoken!" She continued on excitedly, coming up to rain kisses on his jaw and his lips. The rest of the knowledge that came bubbling to the surface of her mind she accepted, but part of her still wasn't quite sure where it had come from. But then she knew, it had always been there. She was just now able to access it in light of her awakening.

"What exactly does that mean?" Le searched for an explanation.

"I've done what you said." She replied enigmatically, as she climbed into his lap and wrapped her legs around him, sliding onto him. Le groaned in response. "This is nothing science can explain, my dear fellow doctor. This is a journey of the soul. My soul has gained the knowledge of its past life times, and I now know." She grinned at him as she moved her body against his, purring at the fullness inside her. Her energy restored to her, she worked them both into a fevered frenzy. He followed her lead, allowing her take him where she wanted to go. He placed kisses on her chest, suckling her breasts, tenderly stroking her back, rocking them back and forth.

"What did you do? What do you know?" He asked her, needing to know, as he caught his breath. Aine's body tightened around him, milking him, the silken walls of her heat coaxing him and bidding him to release himself.

"I have accepted." Aine cried out in rapture as he moaned into her hair. "I am Illuminated." They came together, bodies shuddering, breath coming out in gasps. "My heart is open." She gazed lovingly into his eyes, a brilliant light. "I am love."

"You are loved." He told her as she moved off of him to lay down, holding her hand out for him. They lay spooned, satiated and content in each other's arms. She looked back over her shoulder and whispered.

"I think it's time for a life path change." His arms drew her close his chest.

"To what?" He was curious. Would she just quit?

"The study of energy and its impact on the healing of the entire being." She yawned and nuzzled him. Their eyes closed simultaneously and they drifted off to blissful sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading, voting, and commenting on my story! I hope you enjoyed it and took something away from it! :)

Note: The book references used within this story are real. They are real resources that I own and use quite frequently.

First, I must thank Dr. T for the challenge and story inspiration. Thanks for keeping me on my toes and providing me with the scientific material and friendship.

Next, thank you to my editor and friend Litfan10, as always for the wonderful edits and suggestions.

Thank you to Knightshade for the wolf guidance, and LadyKnight for her unending support.

Lastly, but certainly not least - I could never have written this story without the "animals" and their lessons.