Page 85 of Sidhe
“We’ll show you,” Epica added, her tone calming as if maybe Nathan was dreaming.
He barely noticed at first when she took his hand, or maybe that was Attoinette, he couldn’t be sure. The touch was light, simple, but there was a steadying thread pulsing from it, something to help him focus. Both of the twins were touching his hand, he realized.
“You feel it, how strong it is, how it flows into your body,” Epica said, “and I know you’re gonna hate this at first, but to start, Nathan, you’re going to have to sever that connection so we can begin fresh or you’ll only get lost in it.”
Sever the connection. That sounded like severing alimb, and would probably feel like it about now too. But Nathan needed to master this,thisespecially, so he tried to cut off the flow of energy. It made him gasp at the sudden loss.
“Good,” Attoinette said. “Now start to let it back in, but slowly this time, little pieces of it slipping in, like…through a window instead of barging in through the door.”
Nathan smiled at the analogy at first, but as he began to ‘open the window’ and feel the sexual energy flowing again, he found that imagery surprisingly helpful. It was still so strong, the sensation, almost like Nathan could feel the ghost of hands on his skin, but it wasn’t so overpowering that everything else was blocked out.
“Now you have it,” Epica said. “This is how you always have to begin when you’re feeding. It’ll be second nature before you know it, but it’s important to remember now. As for making sure you know when to stop, this really is the best way to teach you. Reaching the end will feel almost exactly the same as feeding from sex, but you can’t hurt anyone feeding like this. Do you understand?”
Can’t hurt anyone.Nathan liked that. Much better than flying blind and merely hoping he could learn hands-on without sucking Sasha dry. “O-Okay.” He shivered,fucking shiveredso hard his knees nearly buckled. He might be focused, but he was still caught in a whirlwind ofsexandloveandneedfrom the other side of the door.
Neither of the twins said anything for a long time. Sasha merely stood there, a hopeful, innocent smile on his face as he watched Nathan. Even though Nathan wasn’t supposed to be able to ‘see’ anything of what was happening in the room, he imagined he could, couldn’t help it, seeing flashes of moving bodies, shifting and wrapping around each other beneath the sheets. A broad expanse of back. A long neck arching. Dark hair fanning over a pillow.
Nathan had jokingly called it ‘free porn’ to Sasha long ago, but it wasn’t something he could even categorize now that he was experiencing it himself—feelinghow two people loved each other and expressed that through their bodies from an outside but still very present perspective.
When the end began to draw near, Nathan felt that too, felt Jim tensing, felt Alex right on the brink. She was going to get there first, the force of that build making Nathan tremble so hard that the twins had to move their gentle touch on his hand to his shoulders, where they clung tightly to hold him up.
“Now, Nathan, you feel the difference?” Epica asked. “You feel that threshold at the end? Youcan’t cross it. That’s the dangerzone. That’s where you start to take too much. In the beginning, when you’re still learning, your body tries to trick you into thinking that threshold is where the climax hits, where you’ll really feel everything to its fullest, but it’s a lie. If you hold back, keep away from crossing that line, you’ll still feel what you’re waiting for, you just have to be patient.”
Nathan heard her words, understood them, even thought it all made a crazy kind of sense, how he could feel it just like she was saying—a threshold so close he could almost touch it, that appealed to him to cross over—anddamn, he still wanted to cross that line even though he knew he wasn’t supposed to. Learning the first time how to not take too much had to be torture for a young incubus.
At least right now, in this situation, Nathan knew he couldn’t hurt anyone if he slipped up, but he still had to succeed. The sooner he could do this right, the sooner he would be able to be with Sasha again.
So he stayed behind the line, the build-up practically killing him. He understood now why Sasha, so young and unknowledgeable of these sensations, had unknowingly killed the first person he fed on. It made it so much easier for Nathan to hold control, empathizing with what Sasha had gone through.
Then, after what felt like ages, Nathan felt the spike, the end, therushfrom Alex. Feeding off that surpassed anything crossing that threshold had tempted him with. He was utterly lost in it, in the aftermath, and therefore completely unprepared for Jim’s echo, so strong that suddenly Nathan was blinking up at the others from a cozy spot on the floor.
“Way to go,” Epica whispered, looking quite surprised as she crouched down to offer him a hand. “Most newly changed and initiated don’t manage that the first time. That was impressive.”
“So wasthat,” Attoinette giggled toward the door.
Nathan chuckled breathily, his smile crooked, his stance unbalanced as he was hoisted to his feet. He wasn’t tired, he felt invigorated, but the process had him reeling so much that he could barely stand up straight. He leaned into Sasha.
“Sick and wrong or not,” he huffed, “that was flippin’ fantastic. And it wasn’t even the real thing.” He waggled an eyebrow at Sasha.
White teeth flashed back at him. “You’ll need a little more practice before it’s safe for that, Nate. Much as I’m tempted.”
“Hell, I know,” Nathan said, “but it’s nice to dream.” He kissed Sasha then, slow and simple, languid even as the last thrums of sexual energy filled him. He didn’t mind that the twins were watching, both of them buzzing with powerful emotions of glee and goodwill. Despite all the setbacks and long talks, Nathan felt like everything about today had turned out for the better.
Go to bed, Nate,called something almost like a voice into his mind, likeJim’svoice, annoyed but amazingly tolerant sounding.
Nathan’s eyes snapped open, his head snapping away from Sasha at the same time.
“What’s wrong?” Sasha blinked at him.
“Nothing,” Nathan whispered a little softer, “just, uhh…really ready for bed, is all. Long day. Longer one ahead of us, I’m thinking. We’ll see you girls in the morning?” He looked to the twins, who couldn’t have hid their approving grins even if they covered their mouths.
Epica nodded. “Wouldn’t miss a thing.”
“We’re in it for the long haul now,” Attoinette said.
The twins headed further down the hallway while Nathan and Sasha stepped over to their room across from Jim and Alex’s. Nathan swallowed deeply as he stared back at their door a moment. Jim didn’t know how good of a brother he was sometimes.
He really, really didn’t.
