Josalena
On the side of the room that I had decided to place out the picnic, the wall was made up of brick. The other walls weren't and were painted crème colored and had gold painting on it.
For a moment her smell reached my nose, curling around it. She smelled of the outdoors, of the raindrops on leaves, of the pine cones lying on fresh grass. She smelled of dirt, but not in a way that made her stink. She just smelled of nature and I loved it.
Her eyes had roamed around my room as if it were a magical place. I felt guilty as I had always seen this house as a prison. But now, seeing it through her eyes, I knew I lived in luxury.
And I had taken it for granted; only seeing it for the true beauty it was through Kalaya's eyes.
The moment I laid eyes on Kalaya, I was infatuated. It might have just been because she was a half-breed, but it was as if the world went from fuzzy to sharp when I saw her. I've never seen anyone so beautiful, so strong in the way she held herself. If I was any good as an artist, I would paint her smiling over and over again and never get tired of it. And her eyes. Every time I looked into them, I got lost. The only time I've seen the golden color of her eyes was when I'd see the sunset shining through the tress. It was a perfect mix of yellow and orange.
Not wanting to look like a total pervert eyeing her, I looked down when she looked over at me.
"Ok, next question, what do you imagine when you think of your future? My answer is freedom. I want to be free of my father," I spoke wistfully.
"I want freedom too," Kalaya spoke and I wanted to smack myself. I'm sure this date has painted me as nothing more than a spoiled brat. How could I talk of freedom to a half-breed? "If you could be any animal, what would it be?" She asked. "I would be a cat of course."
I smiled and automatically said, "a bird."
"Why?" She had asked, frowning slightly.
"Isn't it obvious? They fly, they can take to the skies and enjoy the wind. They fly high and see everything. It would be nice to have wings."
She got that far away look in her eye, she did that a lot, I was coming to realize. "Being born with wings, it's a curse for us shifted; it means horrible pain for when they chop them off."
"Shifted?" I asked confused and feeling the anger for my fellow humans bubbling up for what they do. I was ashamed to even be classified as the same group as them.
"It's what we like to call ourselves. Half-breed wouldn't be such a bad name, but the way hum- people use it, it's as if it's a curse word. So we gave our own selves that name."
Shifted, huh, I liked it. "Mind if I use it? Or is it something just for hal- you guys."
Kalaya smiled, teeth showing and all. "No please, that'd be great. Maybe even a step forward," she answered, still smiling as she spoke.
We somehow had gotten closer, our fingertips touching from where they lay on the blanket.
Once again I found myself caught in her stare. I only was able to break out of it long enough to look down at her lips before looking back up, noticing that she was also looking at my lips too.
Having her this close made me self aware, and I wanted to go check in a mirror, make sure there wasn't any crumbs on my face or anything embarrassing, but I stayed in place, just hoping that I looked fine.
Her hand moved slightly overtop mine and she leaned closer. It had me catching my breath inside, holding it in, as I didn't want to move or anything or else she'd change her mind.
It must be the wine that made me bold, because suddenly I found myself moving closer as well. Her breath fanned out and mixed with mine as I finally made myself breathe again.
My face was so close to her, I could see the specks in her eyes and every line in her full lips that were slightly chapped. The hair on my arms rose as I got goose bumps, shivering in pleasure even before our lips touch. My heart speed as if it were in a race, the tension between us was almost too much, the air felt like it was electrified. I paused, wanting to both kiss her softly and throw her down and attack my lips to hers, but I held back, leaning in halfway, waiting for her to move closer, questioning her with my eyes, asking if this was ok. She reached out and caught my hand as I lifted it up to touch her cheek. At first my heart dropped, thinking she was about to reject me, but then before I knew what was happening she was gripping the back of my neck, pulling me in and pressing her lips roughly to mine. Our teeth clinked together, but neither of us pulled away, instead I fell into her, wrapping my arms around her neck and as we kissed opened mouth, our tongues clashing together, leaning me down on the floor. She ended up on top of me, between my legs as the kiss turned gentler, more slowly, our tongues caressing each other like longtime lovers. The only noise in the room that could be heard was the sound of us kissing. We fit together perfectly, as if we were made for each other. She moved her grip from my wrist, to entwine her hand with mine, moving it to rest above my head as she moved her other hand to gently run down my leg and grab the back of my knee, pulling my leg up and pressing closer.
I felt at peace, no longer lost in my head, no longer overthinking everything.
But it was over all too soon as she pulled back.
"Josalena," Kalaya began, brushing back my hair. "it's not worth it,"
My heart shuddered to a stop. "What?"
"Messing with a shifted like me. It's not worth it," she spoke softly as she rolled off of me and laid next to me. Looking over at her, I grabbed her hand in mine and squeezed lightly. "It's worth it to me," I said honestly. "I've never felt so... happy," I admitted. I wanted to say more; to tell her as a human, she should hate me. And not the other way around.
"I don't know if I can feel happiness," she whispered. And my eyes widened when I looked over at her. "There's too much bad up here, ya know," she pointed to her head. "How can I be happy? When I was raised in misery, when my people are starved and tortured every day. Alive but not living."
She went silent and it felt as if someone had rammed a fist full of clay down my throat. I felt warm tears fall down my cold face.
It was horrible what her people were going through, and all because of my people.
I wanted to save her from her fate and it made me feel so helpless.
What could I do?
What could I do?
YOU ARE READING
Shifted
Fantasy(lesbian romance) (This is NOT a werewolf story it's a shapeshifter book) Kalaya must lead her people to freedom; humans have kept her kind enslaved with the propaganda that they are less than and should be treated like animals. Shifted are people...
