Books by Jade Lee
The Time, a short story by Jade Lee
- Format: e-book
- May 2011
- Also on Sony reader
Summary:
Two butterfly-like fairy lovers struggle to avoid the Time for Mating. They wish to have a time without children, but the biological urge is strong! Is the reward worth the sacrifice? The danger?
Author comment: I wrote this short story when I was knee deep in diapers and desperately wanted some private time with my husband. As my first foray into the world of e-publishing, I decided to resurrect this lovely tale that always brings tears to my eyes. Hope you love it as much as I do.
Excerpt
Ache.
From shoulder to hip, my back throbbed with pain as I cracked an eye, shaking my antennae to clear the sleep from my sensor hairs.
Black night.
I rolled onto my side, sighing as the weight of my wings fell on my mate.
"Mmmphh." Dretne grumbled in the dark, ineffectively pushing at my wings with a sleepy hand. "Move, Glissa."
"Well, excuse the hell out of me." I took a deep breath, gathering my strength, then pulled my wings up and over so that I could lie on my other side.
"Fold up, will ya? It's the middle of the night." Shivering, he pulled his wings tighter about his body, wrapping himself twice in his soft underwings.
"Aren't you cold?"
"I'm wet." Bitterness made me spit the words. Now I knew why my back hurt. I'd been pumping my wings open and closed in my sleep. It's the only way to keep them dry during the Time.
Why did it always come in the middle of the night? I'm too old for this.
Dretne blinked at the moonlight. "You're wet? Really?" A sly grin crept over his face. Looking around our tree home, he saw the spring leaf buds dotting the black branches. "A little early, aren't you?"
"Oh, dry up. Help me spread my wings. They're stuck." I flopped back on my stomach, my wings a thin, wet line straight up in the air.
"With pleasure," he purred. The moon illuminated his form as he unfolded his wings, stretching them almost to the next branch. He flexed his pectoral muscles and tightened his thighs, showing off for me.
His desire was full, already pulsing with eagerness.
"Nevermind." Wincing at the pain, I jerked my wings apart. One wing flapped Dretne in the face, spreading sticky pheromone covered fluid over his sensor hairs.
"Ummmm," he sighed, cleaning his antennae like a cat licking up cream. "I love spring."
"No. No way. Not. Never. No!" I backed away from him, my antennae twitching in defiance.
He froze mid flex, his chest deflating in stunned surprise. "Whadda you mean, `no'?"
"I mean not this time. We've got enough kids. Half the whole forest's related to us. I don't want to."
"Don't what to what?"
I swore under my breath. Pheromones make them so stupid.
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