Chapter 51 – Poolside – Raine's POV

Alaric and I spent the rest of the day talking. He really was fun to be around, and all in all, the situation was as favorable as it could be, because we were building a very solid friendship. Realistically, it was more than I could have hoped for, given most vampires cruel behavior.

As the sun began to descend in the sky, he ordered playfully, "Go fetch a bathing suit. I am taking you swimming."

"What?!" I asked excitedly. I adored being in the water, and it had been such a long time since I enjoyed the feeling of the cool liquid encase my body. My heart turned painfully when I realized the last time was the night I met Cage. I forced the bittersweet memories out of my mind.

Alaric didn't pick up on my tension and smirked, "You heard me. Go get changed."

I jumped to my feet and hurried into our bedroom closet. I had brought two different bathing suits with me, both black; one was a single piece and the other a bikini. Both were quite revealing. In the end, I decided on the one piece. I was hugely grateful for Alaric's patience when it came to initiating a physical relationship, and even though he indicated he didn't care if I wore ultra-sexy things, I still felt bad about teasing him, because I knew I still wasn't ready to take the next step.

When I emerged, he unapologetically drank in my features from head to toe. I blushed. He murmured thoughtfully, "You are going to need to wear a cover-up while we walk there. I wouldn't want one of my subjects to lose their damn mind suddenly, and try to take you from me, all because they couldn't control their behavior at the site of you in that."

I blushed again. Even though his words for teasing, I could tell he seriously did want me to put something over top of the suit. I ran back into the closet and pulled out a matching tank top and sarong. When I met him again in the living room, he nodded in approval.

"Before we go, there is one last thing," he murmured as he tugged on my wrist, guiding me to sit back down on the couch.

I sank down onto the comfortable cushion and looked at him in confusion. His intensity was a little overwhelming as he pulled out a small jewelry box and said, "I have something for you. It is not a ring, as I will give you that during our ceremony. But I had this made for you as a token of our friendship and hope that you will wear it always."

My hands trembled as I opened the delicate little box. I inhaled sharply at the exquisite cobalt blue pendant I found inside. It had to be at least five carats and I was certain it wasn't crystal. It hung from a sparkling silver chain. It was stunning, but simple enough that I could wear it every day.

"It's beautiful, thank you!" I whispered past the lump in my throat.

He smiled brilliantly at my response and took the necklace from my hands so that he could put it on me. He said, "The stone is a sapphire. It reminded me of the color of your eyes."

Once he had it clasped around my neck, I turned and hugged him tightly, murmuring against his chest as I repeated, "Thank you!"

His strong arms tightened around me. He kissed my hair, and then said, "Let's go."

..........

After a short diversion to gather Loki, Alaric and I walked to a part of the estate I had not yet seen. When we arrived, I gasped. When he mentioned swimming, I had immediately pictured a normal rectangular structure of some sort. The view in front of me was far from normal. The pool itself was huge with large mosaic tiled stone. It was multilevel and its border gracefully curved in and back out, in a wave pattern, outlining the perfectly manicured landscape of trees and flowering bushes. Even more stunning, where the three grand waterfalls. They were backlit in enchanting purple lights, glowing against the now darkened sky.

I squealed and rushed forward, eager to test the water. I hoped it wouldn't be too cold. I didn't have the body temperature of a vampire and even though the air was warm, the water could be quite chilly. I shouldn't have worried. Clearly they had spared no expense in creating the pool, so it went to reason that I would find it was heated to just the perfect temperature.

I was practically vibrating with excitement as I turned back to Alaric.

He chuckled and said, "Go right ahead."

That was all the invitation I needed. I quickly shed my cover-up, and dove into the warm liquid. I let my body glide under the water, kicking my feet occasionally to propel me along, until I needed to come up for air. When my head breached the surface, I spun around to find Alaric grinning at me. I called out to him teasingly, "Surely you're not afraid of the water. Join me!"

His grin widened as he pulled off his shirt, and dove in at the same spot I had. He reached me shockingly fast, purposefully splashing me as he came up out of the water. I squealed again. And his steel arms locked around my waist. I wrapped my legs around his torso gratefully, giving me a moment not to have to tread water to keep myself afloat. Of course, in the next moment, I couldn't stop myself from mischievously pushing his head under the water and wiggling out of his grip.

I was only able to swim back a few feet before he came back up. He acknowledged with a wry smile, "Funny." Then his mouth curved into a wicked grin as he purred, "My turn."

I inhaled sharply.

He disappeared under the water. I felt him come up right beneath me, actually launching me ten feet into the air! My arms and legs flailed at the unexpected maneuver, but I couldn't stop laughing as I splashed back down into the water.

When I came back up, he was about four feet from me, smirking. I quickly swam to him and demanded breathily, "Do it again!"

He shook his head at my childlike excitement and then disappeared once more. This time, I was ready when I felt his strong hands push me from the water into the air. When I hit the crest about 10 feet up, I flipped in the air before coming back down smoothly.

It was fabulous!

Abruptly, I heard a huge splash behind us. Apparently Loki enjoyed the water as well and had jumped in to swim to me. When he reached us, I grasped the big cat around his neck and pulled my body onto his back, my legs gripping his sides to keep me in place.

I guess he felt like he wanted to play in our game, because he shot under the water just like Alaric had. Thankfully I had been able to take a large breath before he submerged us. I thrilled at the feeling of his powerful muscles gracefully contracting beneath me as he swam down to the bottom of the pool. I was cognizant of the amount of air left in my lungs and was ready to release him so that I could swim to the surface if needed, but he rose back up in plenty of time for me to breathe deeply, refilling my lungs.

I turned my head, searching for Alaric. He was about twenty feet away from. He commented, "I know I should be used to it by now, but it still shocks the hell out of me, the way that he responds to you."

I tutted softly to Loki, letting him know I wanted him to carry me back to Alaric. He moved easily through the water. I didn't think there were words to describe how I felt as I sat on his back, my legs wrapped around him and my fingers curled tightly into the thick hair of his neck. If anyone would have told me six months ago, that I would be riding a giant tiger in the middle of a swimming pool, I would have fallen over laughing.

When we reached Alaric, I disentangled myself from Loki. I patted his big head and said affectionately, "Go play." Immediately, he swam away from me, and rolled his body through the water.

Alaric and I spent the next ten minutes playing; me trying to dunk him under, and him tossing me repeatedly into the air. I was laughing so hard, my belly hurt.

Suddenly, I heard Talia's sparkling giggle, "Looks like fun."

I spun around to find her standing with Gen. Raed. My eyes were bright as I enthused, "It is! Come join us!"

She dove in effortlessly and swam to my side. Gen. Raed remained at the edge of the pool, uncharacteristically grinning at me. I simply took that as a challenge. I nodded my head toward Gen. Raed, and whispered conspiratorially to Talia, "Play with Alaric. I am going to go get his stoic ass into the water."

She giggled.

I swam purposefully in the General's direction, and glanced over my shoulder when I heard Talia squeal, just as Alaric threw her several feet into the air. I laughed and turned back toward Gen. Raed.

"Oh, no, no," he said with a smirk, obviously having heard what I said.

"It would do you good to let loose every once in a while. You are too damn serious all of the time," I reprimanded him.

He didn't budge.

I narrowed my eyes and decided more tactile encouragement was required. I pulled my hands out of the water and then push them back down hard, splashing the front of him completely.

He looked at me in shock and then his expression morphed into calculation as he stepped toward the edge of the pool. I inhaled sharply and backed away from him. I hadn't really thought about the consequences of my actions. From my peripheral vision, I could see Alaric and Talia both watching us. I swam back even farther when his lips curled into a wicked grin.

In the next instant, he disappeared with only a ripple on top of the water to reveal that he had dove under. Adrenaline pounded through my veins as I tried to find him beneath me. And then, quite abruptly, I knew exactly where he was, because he pulled me under. Oh shit!

I wasn't down for long, before he too propelled me right into the air, much higher than Alaric had. I gasped deeply to catch my breath and back flipped, to compensate for the angle at which he had thrown me. I'm sure it wasn't more than a few seconds, but it felt like I was suspended in the air forever, before the water rushed up to meet me again.

I went under at impact and then pushed myself back to the surface. When my head bobbed out of the water, I found Gen. Raed smirking at me. I think he suspected that he scared me. Quite the contrary. My body still coursed with adrenaline and it wasn't fear. I knew he didn't expect my response when I swam quickly to him, grasped his shoulders and demanded excitedly, "Again!"

His eyes opened wide, and then he disappeared beneath the water, pulling me down with him. Once again, I felt like I was flying through the air.

It was the best damn feeling ever!

The four of us continued our games, laughing and challenging each other for the next thirty minutes. My body wasn't quite as durable, so I swam to the edge to relax and rest for just a moment. Talia swam across the pool to join me, leaving the men to chat about the upcoming Alliance Meeting.

I was glad to have a moment alone because I was intensely curious. She hadn't been available to change my clothes last night, because she hadn't ridden back with us. I demanded eagerly, "Did you spend the night with Felaern?"

She bit her lip and breathed, "Yes..."

Alaric's head snapped around. His dark expression told me he was clearly unhappy with my line of questioning. I couldn't tell if he was jealous that Talia had spent the night with Felaern, or just irritated with Felaern in general. Somehow I suspected the former, and wondered if he might start to realize his feelings for Talia, now that he apparently had some competition for her heart.

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Hmmm...I am on kind of a roll again with this story. If i keep this up, we are going to get to some very (very) interesting turn of events quite quickly.  :) :)

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