Free Fallen by Elise Marion Page B

moment he had been anticipating ever since he’d made his decision. He tentatively stepped forward toward the gateway, knowing that once he walked through it, he would be changed forever. He took a deep breath and took the final step through the gateway.
    A blinding flash of light met him as he began to fall. Faster than he’d ever moved through space, he hurtled toward earth uncontrolled, unable to use his wings. Heat, searing hot and intense burned his entire body and he cried out in pain. On his back, his wings were shriveling and curling back toward his body before disappearing completely. The journey seemed endless, the pain inside as his body transformed for the final time almost unbearable. The tiny blue speck of earth grew larger and larger until he was moving through its atmosphere and back toward New York, his new permanent home.
    Just when he thought the pain would kill him, he began to slow until he was floating gently to the rooftop of Shayla’s apartment building. The extreme heat subsided slowly, and the intensity of his pain faded into nothingness. Breathless and dizzy, he lay there for several minutes staring up at the black, star dotted sky.
    And then the laughter came. It began as a chuckle, but before long spread through him in a chest-vibrating roar that warmed his entire body. He was a man now. He was a man whose woman was waiting for him. Slowly, he rose to his feet and when he was sure he would retain his equilibrium, he headed for the fire escape.
    Shayla was waiting, dozing in a chair by the open window, her grandmother’s old record player spinning away in the corner. Amir stood in the window for a moment and watched her. Her hair was scraped back into a messy ponytail, and stray curls fell into her face, though it didn’t seem to be disturbing her sleep. Curled lashes rested on her cheekbones and her lips were slightly parted. Her chest moved gently and evenly as she slept, a book clutched in her hand.
    He entered the apartment and closed the window. He took the needle off of the spinning record and shut of the record player. He t hen found a blanket tossed over another chair and put it over Shayla , after the grabbing the book from her hand. The movement startled her out of her sleep and her eyes flew open. She sat up with a jolt when she saw him, blinking her eyes a few times to clear her vision.
    They sat that way for a moment, him kneeling with the book in his hand, her looking down at him from her chair. “Is it done?” she asked finally.
    He smiled. “Yes. It’s done.”
    She stared at him for a moment, pressing one hand to his cheek and then stroking his hair. “You don’t look different. How do you feel?”
    “ Well for one thing , the only person whose emotions I’m feeling right now are my own.”
    “ So now you’ll have to guess what others are thinking and feeling just like the rest of us mortals.”
    “ A penny for your thoughts,” he said with a laugh.
    She came down from the chair onto the floor with him, taking his face in her hands. “It’s a bit hard to put into words, really. Maybe I should just show you.”
    She pulled him in toward her for a kiss, moving her hands up to tangle in the silky strands of his hair. Groaning against her lips, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her flush against his body, shuddering at the feel of her against him. He placed his thumb on her chin and pressed down gently until her mouth opened and met his tongue with hers. He clung to her as the world seemed to tip off of its very axis. Time seemed suspended and still, until all that mattered was the taste of Shayla on his tongue, the sound of her soft moans as he caressed her mouth with his, and the feel of her body pressed up against his.
    They fell back onto the floor together, his arms coming around her when she landed on top of him. Their kiss grew more frantic by the second, the heat of it searing him with every touch of her velvety tongue against his. Their bodies moved