Enticed by the Satyr (Kindred Tales)

“You’re not a disappointment at all!” Mia protested. “You’re different but that’s all right. I’m more than ready for different right now.”

“Good, then our mutual attraction is agreed on,” he said lightly. “As if we hadn’t already established that last night.”

Remembering what they had done together the night before, Mia found herself blushing again.

“Um…tell me about your instrument,” she said, hoping to change the subject. “What did you say it was called again?”

“Oh—this is my leelah flute.”

He handed it to her carefully and Mia saw that it was made with someone who had large, powerful hands and long fingers in mind. Well, Storn certainly fit the bill, there. What a reach he would have on the keyboard!

“May I know the name of your instrument as well?” Storn asked her. “I have seen you playing it sometimes, in my dreams of you, but you have never told me its name.”

“Oh, this is a piano.” Mia played a few notes and smiled shyly up at him. “I love to play more than anything else,” she confessed.

“I love music too,” Storn said softly. “Can we play together again, do you think? I believe I can follow along with the tune you composed—the one you were playing earlier.”

Playing seemed less embarrassing than talking—though Mia really did earnestly want to talk to the big Satyr Kindred and get to know him better. Still, right now she was feeling rather overwhelmed by his big, muscular body beside her on the piano bench. His physical presence made her feel tongue-tied. But music was a way to communicate without language.

Placing both hands on the keyboard again, she began her bouncy little happy song and, after a moment, Storn put his leelah flute to his lips and began to accompany her. Sometimes he played the melody with her, but just as often his flute warbled into the harmony, dipping in and out of the piano’s notes, finding the right rhythm to tie the jaunty little tune together.

They played the happy song through three times and by the third time, Mia realized it was perfect.

“Oh,” she said, stopping at last. “It’s complete now!”

Storn stopped playing as well.

“Wasn’t it before?” he asked, frowning.

Mia shook her head.

“I’ve been working on this piece ever since I came aboard the Mother Ship. But every time, I felt like it was missing something. Now I know what it was missing—your flute.” She smiled at him shyly. “Hearing it with you playing along on the harmony, makes me realize that it’s just right now—it’s complete.”

“I know the feeling.” Storn smiled down at her. “Together, we are complete.”

It would have been a crazy thing for a human man she had only met the night before to say to her. But Storn was Kindred and they had been Dream-Sharing and it was clear he meant what he said and wanted the two of them to be together.

I should want more time to myself, Mia thought, looking up at him. I just got out of a long, awful, abusive relationship that I’ve been in since I was a teenager. I should need time to recover.

But, looking into Storn’s brown eyes, she didn’t feel that need at all. It was almost as though the long years she had spent with Hank had been a kind of holding pattern.

I was just waiting for Storn, she thought. All that time spent in a miserable marriage doesn’t matter now because he’s finally here.

“You’re finally here,” she whispered, voicing her thoughts out loud. “I…I feel like I’ve been waiting for you, somehow.”

“I have been waiting for you, too, lovely one,” Storn murmured. He stroked her cheek gently. “I am so glad I finally found you.”

“But…isn’t this moving kind of fast?” Mia protested, rather breathlessly. She was beginning to think, as she had the night before, how good the big Kindred smelled. His dark, masculine, cedar-spice scent seemed to fill her senses, making her almost dizzy.

He laughed softly.

“How can we be moving too fast? We have been Dream-Sharing for months.”

“Still,” Mia made herself say. “I…I don’t remember the dreams as well as you do. I think we need to get to know each other. Not just…jump into things.”

“I would love to get to know you,” Storn murmured. “Will you spend the day with me? Or do you need to be here to play?” he asked, looking around the music room, which had instruments of all kinds scattered in different areas as well as a large set of risers for the chorus to stand on.

“Um, I’m not officially at work yet,” Mia said uncertainly. “But I was supposed to start as soon as my face healed up.” She put a hand to the left side of her face, which was as soft and smooth as the right side. “And now it is—thanks to you.”

“It was my very great pleasure to heal you, lovely one,” Storn murmured. “If you need to stay and play, I understand. But I hope you won’t mind if I stay to listen.”