Free Balancer's Soul by Jr H. Lee Morgan Page A

cleaning out the
wound. He poured the last of the water over both of her hands to
show the blood flowed free and all dirt had been dug out. “Well
that wasn’t too bad.” Sarah said, forcing a smile.
    Connor didn’t smile, but said instead “As old
as you are, you know that was the easiest part. This Sage stings
just as much, if not more.” He placed the Sage leaves into the
piece of wood that held the water. He pulled Tool out and she
noticed that it too had been cleaned. Using the hammer side to
crunch and grind the leaves into a paste, the little bit of water
residue helped congeal the Sage into the right texture that it
needed to be. It makes it more effective and easier to apply. At
the exact time she knew it to be ready Connor said “It’s finished.
May I take your hand?”
    Sarah took his question the wrong way. Her
face burned even hotter and brighter than ever before and all she
barley could get out was “We have only known each other for a day,
Connor!”
    He stared at Sarah with a questioning look
until he caught onto her train of thought. He let out a strong
masculine laugh that gave her stomach butterflies. Sarah’s body was
getting out of control from being so near him. When he was able to
speak again he said “Sarah, I don’t know about that yet. We really
have only known each other for a full day. I definitely have
feelings for you, but this is all new for me. I have never felt
this way about anyone like this before. It’s all so confusing.”
    “I’m ancient and for the first time in my
long life, I too haven’t felt this way about anyone before now
either. I am just as, if not more confused than you are.” Sarah
said in all complete honesty.
    “Well let’s just see how things go from here
on in.” He said, being honest himself too. He took his index and
middle finger and dipped it into the Sage paste. He applied it
gently to the wounds on both of her hands.
    When the stinging finally ebbed from her own
endorphins, Sarah asked him very seriously. “What do we tell people
about…us?”
    Connor answered with a bone melting smile “We
can say that I found you in the woods and brought you back safely.
For your scraped hands you may say ‘I tripped on a tree root and
scrapped them trying to brace myself from a fall.’ As for us, we
tell others that we became good friend. In private we can do
whatever we want.” He then added with a grin and a twinkle in his
eye, “I won’t tell anyone about your age if you don’t tell anyone
that I took on a full grown Cougar and killed it.”
    “Will you quit calling me that? Cougar, there
must be a better name…” and Sarah gave a wicked smile of her
own.
    Connor stood up, towering over here and held
his hand out and she took it. He helped her stand and get her
bearings. They started walking again and Sarah did something
completely out of her usual comfort zone.
    He currently walked on her left side
and led her from about a half stride ahead. “This is reckless, but I really want to do this for some
reason.” Sarah bit her bottom lip, stepped closer and
encircled her left arm through his right. She felt his well defined
muscles under the long black sleeves and became more astounded by
their sculpted complexity and flawless structure. He was even more
built than she could have ever imagined in a human these days.
Connor didn’t flinch or shy away from the impulsive act. The only
change came from his stride and it just slowed down to match hers.
He looked down at her as Sarah looked up into those gorgeous hazel
eyes and asked “Is this alright?”
    “I’m not complaining am I?” And she
figured out what his smile meant. It was a smile for her
alone. “My smile?” Her
butterflies took off flying again.
    “So where did you come from? Not originally.
I mean before you came to live out here.” Sarah thought he just
wanted a conversation to get his mind off certain things. Probably
the fact that she intentionally pressed her small, perky