Free Archive by Viola Grace Page B

received.
    “There you go. Now don’t go saying that I never do anything nice for you.” She made quick work of the dishes, and then pondered getting dressed. It was still cool and she could wear jeans and take a walk in the woods out back.
    With that in mind, she dressed quickly and headed out into the woods that she roamed as a child and teenager, the gremlin and squirrel roaming behind her as she walked.
    The patch of poison oak was exactly where she remembered it, as was the tiny footpath and the berry patch. Her mouth watered at the remembrance of the tart raspberries and the bursts of juice that came with the blueberries. The nearby danger of itchy skin was a small price to pay.
    A quick glance told her that the berries were not near being ripe, so she continued on, heading for the pond. When she was young, she referred to the pond as her ‘swimming pool’ and had imagined that there was an imaginary friend living in its depths. When she was a teen and told her grandmother of her swimming adventures, she had always seemed relieved. Melissande had never been sure why.
    It was just as she remembered it. The rocky wall spilled down into a recessed pool that swirled gently and remained open and crystal clear the entire year round. It even defied the ice and frost that was endemic to the winters in the area.
    It warmed her, this lack of change in her environment. With her world swirling with uncertainty, having a portion of her childhood remain constant was a comfort. Stepping firmly into the glade surrounding the pool she unbuttoned her jeans and stripped off in preparation for her swim.
    The air this morning was brisk, but still warm and the pool was a welcome sensation on her bare skin. She had finished thirteen laps when she felt something or someone watching her. Surfacing and pulling herself up on a rock, she looked carefully around her to find her admirer. There was a brief flash of fur and silver eyes and then nothing but waving tree branches.
    A wolf? That would be a little unusual. They normally didn’t stray into this territory. Her naked body was exposed to the breezes and it was when her nipples peaked at the wind’s caress that she realized that she was still being watched.
    There was nothing on the banks, nothing in the woods; she shook her head and glanced down, then shrieked in surprise as she saw a face watching her from within the water. “What the hell?” She jerked her feet free of the water and swung them onto the rock with the rest of her.
    As the water stilled again, the face reappeared. It was masculine, handsome and almost as transparent as the water. As she watched he slowly rose to the surface a few feet from her and waited for her to speak.
    “Uh, hello.” Manners mattered, her grandmother used to tell her. No time like the present.
    “Hello Melissande. You are as lovely as I remembered.” He was wearing a wrap at his hips, slightly darker than his skin, which faithfully moulded to his body to do more than hint at his interest in her loveliness.
    “Have we met?”
    “No. Not formally. I am Orion, guardian of the Maiden’s pool.”
    “I am Melissande Simpson. My grandmother owns the property that this pool is in.”
    “Your grandmother was a devotee of the maiden. She worshipped the goddess in all her forms. The Maiden pool was once a site of devotion. Then, with the encroachment of man, it became a refuge, and now it requires its own protection.”
    “From development?”
    “From women who are no longer maidens.” He grinned at her through silvery eyes that slanted like a cat’s. Unless she was mistaken, he was a half-breed between elves and elementals. A rare combination.
    “What?” His last statement sunk in. So he knew that she was still a virgin after all these years.
    “Each woman who is no longer a Maiden that swims in these waters, takes some of the magic with her. A Maiden gives more than she takes. Her purity cleanses the water and relieves the souls of those who