Life is Too Short

Life is Too Short

Chapter Eight – Changes

I woke to the sound of the alarm clock and slapped at it in vain until a longer arm than mine reached over and hit the snooze button. Even after I felt the long, silky hair begin to caress my body, it took me a moment to realize that something was not as it should be. My eyes flew open and I rolled onto my back to find myself looking at Thranduil, who was trailing his hair down my body.

"You stayed," I stated the obvious. The elves never stayed until morning.

"Yes, I stayed," he said, touching his fingertips to my lips as he rolled back onto his side and looked at me. "I have no pressing plans for today and did not see the need to leave yet."

I don't know why that pleased me so much, but I could feel the silly smile on my face as I took one of his fingers lightly between my teeth. I had only an hour before it was time to leave and Thranduil would not make it easy, but I didn't care. I could get ready in about ten minutes and that would leave me fifty minutes to spend with him.

Letting go of his finger, I wrapped my arms around his neck. "So are you going to help me shower and pack?"

"I would love to help you shower, eventually," he replied, eyes glittering with desire. "How long will it take you to pack?"

"About five minutes," I admitted.

"Then we have plenty of time to get all hot and sweaty before our shower, do we not?" he asked, his mouth hovering a hair's breadth from my lips.

"Plenty of time," I murmured, though I knew that it had been a rhetorical question. He took my hand, guiding it downward. I took the hint and wrapped my fingers around his arousal as a hiss escaped his teeth. We had barely gotten started when the stupid snooze alarm rang.

Reluctantly, I rolled onto my stomach so that I could reach the clock, but before I could roll back, Thranduil took advantage of my position and separated my legs to settle himself between them. I moved up onto my knees, allowing him to enter me from behind.
Moving my hair off to the side, he kissed the back of my neck which sent shivers down my spine. He knew exactly which spots to concentrate on for the best reactions and he used that knowledge to his advantage. As he continued to slowly rock into me, he held his weight off of my back with one hand while he caressed my breasts with the other hand. Eventually the hand made its way down over my stomach and ended up between my legs, causing me to groan at the sensations assailing every part of my body. As I grew closer to completion, he began to increase his speed, biting on my earlobe now as well as sucking hard on my neck, marking me. His erratic breathing and increased ardor affected me tremendously and soon I was begging for him to go harder. He complied, driving himself into me now with determination, which forced me to push against the headboard to hold myself in place.

I wondered briefly how the people on the other side of the wall were enjoying it, but at the moment, it was the least of my concerns. When I felt his chest leave my back and his hands move to my hips, I knew that he was close, too. The thought was enough to send me over the edge and I cried out his name as well as some other unintelligible words with my release. I heard my own name escape his lips as he spilled his seed deep inside me, moments later. I swear, the sex with him was getting better all the time and I didn't even know why. It just was. I sensed that he thought so as well, based on his reactions lately.

We eventually ended up in the shower and I have to repeat what I have said before, there is nothing like a wet elf; a wet, naked, hot elf. I could have spent an hour just standing there and watching the water run down his hair and off of his nipples. The way his soapy, wet skin felt beneath my hands was incredible. When I was done with him, I was sure that he was the cleanest elf in…whatever city we were now in. I couldn't let all that clean skin go to waste, either. I dropped to my knees in front of him and took him in my mouth, letting my tongue and lips bring him to another climax as he braced himself against the shower wall. We still had time remaining, though, and somehow I ended up on the floor of the tub. The shower was aimed almost directly my face but his body deflected most of it quite effectively. I doubt that I would have noticed anyway, as he thrust into me until I screamed.

Wow, what a morning, I thought as I quickly packed. I didn't want to leave Thranduil and I stayed with him until the last possible second. He asked if I wanted him to walk me out to the van, but I didn't think that it would be a good idea. Glen might know what was going on, but the kids did not and I didn't think that it would be possible to explain it to them.

I sat on the edge of the bed after putting my bags by the door. Thranduil had only a sheet covering his body and somehow that was just as sexy as when he was naked.

"Thank you for the clothes and for the date last night," I told him. "It was wonderful."

He pulled me down against his chest and held me tightly. "We will do it again, soon," he promised.

"That's good because I still owe you one," I reminded him.

"Yes, you do," he said, placing his mouth over mine for a deep kiss. I wondered at that moment if I could buy a plane ticket and just meet Glen at his next stop. I think that it would have defeated the purpose of me helping him drive, but it was tempting. Maybe I was just not very anxious to see Glen today, especially when I could be doing other things.

I pulled away and we sat there staring at each other for a moment while I wondered what was happening. This was Thranduil, not Haldir. This was not the elf that I loved, yet I did not want to leave him and it wasn't just because of the sex. I wanted so badly to crawl back into the bed with him and have him wrap his strong arms around me.

"I do not wish for you to leave, either," he assured me, playing with my hair. A slight chill ran down my back. Haldir had told me that Thranduil could not read my mind because it required a slight bond and the king would never allow that to happen. I had to assume, then, that he had simply read the thought in my eyes.

"Unfortunately, I must," I told him, yet I didn't resist when he pulled me down to him again and began to softly kiss me. His tongue soon moved between my teeth and caressed mine and I lost all track of time as we lay on the bed, kissing. When a knock came on the door, I felt as though I was waking from a dream; a good dream.

"I'll be right there," I called out. Turning back to Thranduil, I gave him one last kiss and told him goodbye.

I sighed and reluctantly stood as he joined me to walk to the door. I had one last look at Thranduil standing in the room, naked, and then I closed the door before my will power was completely shot to hell. If Glen only knew the sacrifice I was making.

I joined Glen at the van and he was very quiet. He would not look at me, either. It was going to be a long day if he was going to give me problems. I could easily just stay with Thranduil. I pulled him aside once the kids were in the van.

"Glen, if you're upset with me, I can fly back. Thranduil is still here and I'm sure he would take me to the airport." I was also sure that the king and I could easily spend a couple of days in the motel room having hot sex without getting bored for even a moment. I didn't mention this to Glen, but was silently hoping that he was upset enough with me to let me stay.

"I just don't know what to think of all this, Sinda," he told me, keeping his voice down so that the kids wouldn't hear. "I'm worried about you. If I hadn't met these guys myself, I'd think you were losing your mind, but now I don't know what to think. I saw his ears and they were real! How can this be happening?"

"Welcome to my world, Glen," I said. "I've been asking myself the same question for months. I had to go see a therapist after I met Haldir because I was sure that I had lost my mind."

"Is this what you want, Sinda?" he asked me, incredulous. "To jump back and forth between two different guys…"

"…elves," I interrupted; huge difference.

"…two different elves," he frowned as though it hurt him to say the word, "never being able to settle down and marry and have a family. Letting them use you until you're old and then dying alone. This is what you really want?"

"Geez, when you put it that way," I said, but grew serious at once. "Yes, it's what I want. I love Haldir and this is the only way I can be with him."

"What, by being with his friend, too? That makes no sense to me," he said.

"Of course it doesn't," I replied. "You're an accountant."

"So are you! Sinda, this isn't like you!" he was raising his voice.

"I know it isn't," I replied. I tried to explain everything to him, while the volume inside the van began to grow in direct proportion to the length of time the kids were inside, unsupervised. When I was done, I think he understood it a bit more, but Glen would always be Glen and would never, ever really see why I could choose to throw everything away for a chunk of time with Haldir.

"So, you have no feelings for Randy, or whatever his name really is, but you have sex with him because it takes your mind off of Haldir? Do I have that right?" he asked. I thought that maybe he was being a bit sarcastic, but it was hard to tell with Glen.

"Well, no, of course I have feelings for Thranduil," I told him, surprising myself with the words. I guess that was the first time that I realized it was true. A few days earlier and I would have answered the question differently. What was happening here? Was I falling in love with Thranduil, too? That would be a disaster. It was probably just because of the wonderful night we'd just spent together but I would have to make sure that I didn't let him sense any feelings other than lust, or he would quickly end things with me. Right now, I couldn't bear that thought any more than the thought of losing Haldir. I gave up trying to explain it to Glen because, at the moment, I was pretty confused, myself.

"Let's go," I told him. "I don't want to be driving until midnight tonight."

"I'll just bet you don't," he said, under his breath. I let it slide and got into the passenger seat. He was just jealous because he wouldn't have a hot elf in his bed tonight. Too bad there weren't any she-elves left.

We were driving back through the northern states since we'd covered practically every southern and eastern state already, on the way out. By the third night, we were only to Minnesota, but that was fine with me. I liked Minnesota, at least in the summer. The plan was to find a cabin on a lake for the night and spend the next day there too, so the kids could fish and rent a canoe. It sounded great to me, but I wondered who would be visiting me while I was there.

The kids were fighting more than usual that day and it was wearing on my nerves. It was a really good thing that I'd have some time to myself the next day, or at least time away from the kids. When I could take no more, I dug through my stuff and handed a disk to Dex. It was from the extended version of “Fellowship of the Ring.”

"Here," I said. "This is full of stuff about the making of `Fellowship of the Ring' and it has all kinds of special effects and interviews, too."

Dex looked like a kid at Christmas time and for the first time that day, the kids were quiet. In fact, they were quiet for hours. I was armed with several more disks, too, and was not afraid to use them.

We found a nice quiet little lake with cabins on it and stopped early in the afternoon. The kids wanted to swim and managed to actually convince me to join them. I didn't think I'd have any elves show up that early and if they did, I'd probably see the car arrive anyway. I had barely gotten into the water when the car pulled up and Haldir got out. Smiling, I walked back out of the shallow water to meet him.

"Do you mind if I join you?" he asked, a bit stiffly. I wondered if he was nervous about being around Glen and the kids.

"Of course not, you know I love any excuse for a wet elf," I told him. I pointed him in the direction of my cabin and he went to change. It didn't take him long and when he walked back towards me and the lake, I couldn't help but stare. He just did that to me. He kissed me but kept it light, which was good with the kids nearby.

"I'm surprised to see you here so early," I told him, "happy, but surprised."

"I spoke with Thranduil today," he informed me, rather abruptly. "I understand that your friend knows about us."

So that was why I was sensing some coolness about him today.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I had too much to drink…"

"I know that, Sinda," he cut me off, still looking upset. "I heard all about your date."

"All about it?" I asked, running through the event-filled night in my mind.

"Yes, all about it," he said, looking me in the eye.

"So are you unhappy about the date or the fact that I spilled the beans to Glen?" I asked, not sure.

He stared at me for a moment longer then looked away. It was the date. He was jealous.

"Am I missing something here?" I asked him. "I thought that the reason I had a date with Thranduil last night was because you were busy having sex with some other woman."

His head whipped back in my direction and he started to speak but he slammed his mouth shut and looked away again.

"I also seem to remember you being the one to bring Thranduil to me and ask me to have sex with him in the first place."

"I am sorry," he said quietly. "You are right."

"I don't understand why you would care, anyway," I said, still confused. "You don't care if I have sex with him but it bothers you if we go on a date?"

He looked at me again and laughed that short little laugh that I was beginning to realize did not indicate humor.

"Thranduil does not go on dates," he told me, waiting for a reaction.

"Well, apparently he does now," I said. "I was fairly surprised myself, believe me."

"I heard that it was the best date you ever had," he said, his face trying not to show the hurt that he felt. My words were coming back to haunt me. Technically, Haldir and I had been on dates, too. I really wished that Thranduil had not passed those particular words on to the Marchwarden.

"I'm sorry," I told him. "That wasn't what I meant. The date with Thranduil was fun and exciting. It was an adventure. My dates with you were good in a whole different way. If I had to choose, I'd take a date with you any day because I love you and I love being with you."

That seemed to mollify him a bit. He pulled me into his arms for a brief hug before letting me go again.

"I don't understand why Thranduil is doing this," he said, looking almost distantly across the lake.

"Taking me on a date?" I asked. "It's obvious to me that he's still competing against you. It really bothers him that I love you and not him. I'll guarantee you that if I had fallen for him instead, he would have moved on by now."

"No," Haldir said, quietly. "Something is changing, for all of us."

I didn't know what he meant and it frightened me. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"My brothers are both in love with mortal women. Two other elves, Táurnil and Bálgin, are both in love with the same human woman, a woman named Michelle. Why now? Why all of us…why is this happening after all these thousands of years?"

"I've wondered about that myself," I told him. "But I really don't see how it has anything to do with Thranduil. He is obviously immune to whatever is going around."

"You think so?" he asked me, smiling a little. It was at that moment that Dex bonked him in the back with a football and got him involved in a game. I joined in, too, but stayed in the shallow water. I still could not go out any deeper than my knees, because I had to be able to see the bottom of the lake. I didn't know if this fear of water would ever go away, but I also didn't want to draw attention to it. So far, nobody had noticed I had not gone past my shins. I stayed in the shallow water and played, but when a ball would fall in the deeper water, I always let somebody else get it.

I mulled Haldir's words over as the game progressed. It was very strange. These elves had lived thousands of years, having had many, many human women as lovers and now, all at once, they were falling in love with them. I couldn't ask Haldir about his other women. I didn't think I could stand to hear the answer that he was also falling in love with others as well as me. Of course, maybe I was being presumptuous. It sure seemed like he was spending a lot of time with other women, so maybe he was not falling in love with me, after all. He looked over at me suddenly with a strange expression on his face and I knew that he'd been reading my mind again. I needed to get some tinfoil and build one of those helmets that kept the mind-reading waves out. He laughed at that and shook his head. I was careful of my thoughts from that point, on. Instead I lusted after Haldir's body. In fact, I began to play mind games with him to amuse myself. I pictured the lake and a very relaxing blue sky for several minutes. Suddenly I pictured myself kneeling in front of him, using my mouth on him. He turned to look at me, letting the football hit him in the chest. I smiled. I did it again a few minutes later, this time picturing him tackling me on the beach and ripping my suit off to have his way with me. He raised an eyebrow and smiled at that one.

Sure, it was all fun and games until he did it back to me. I got the shock of my life when I was hit with a vivid picture of him using his tongue on me. I gasped and I know my mouth was hanging open for a minute there. It had almost seemed as though it was actually happening. From the smile on his face, he apparently knew exactly what he had done to me.

I wanted him, now, and I told him that. I saw a slow smile creep across his face as he regarded me from where he stood. He tossed the football to Dex and said something to the boy and the next thing I knew, Haldir was moving into the shallow water. His eyes were dark and intent and he reminded me of a panther, sleek and dangerous, as he strode towards me. My heart was pounding in my chest, just watching him stalk me thorough the water. I'm sure that the fact that he was wet didn't hurt, either.

Without saying a word, he took my hand and led me to the cabin. No words were necessary. We both knew what we wanted. I'm sure Glen did, too, but I chose not to look back at him to see the disapproval on his face.

Haldir wanted to wash the lake water off of him before we became intimate so we went straight for the shower. Unfortunately, it was a very small stall and try as we might, we were unable to find a way to have sex in it; at least not mutual sex. I took care of his needs, though, and when we made it back to the bed, he returned the favor.

I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, Haldir was shaking me awake.

"What?" I asked him, groggily.

"We must get ready for dinner," he explained, nuzzling my neck.

"I suppose," I said, thinking of several things I'd rather do. "Where do you want to go?"

"I told Glen that we would join him and his children for dinner," the elf told me, sitting on the bed.

That got my attention.

"You what?" I asked, sitting up, feeling like crying. "Haldir, why?"

"Why not?"

"Because I spend all day, every day with them and I want to be alone with you now."

"I am sorry, Sinda. You were sleeping or I would have asked you first," he replied, taking my hand and kissing it. It was impossible to get mad at him.

"It's fine, Haldir. I'll get dressed," I told him.

"Maybe not just yet," he said, his hands moving to unfasten his pants.

***

The meal went better than I had expected. The kids insisted that Haldir and I ride in the van with them and though I didn't really want to, I also didn't want to hurt their feelings. It took me about ten seconds to realize that they all liked him a lot. I saw something close to hero-worship in Dex's eyes and the Witch couldn't stop staring at him. Even the Princess was giggling and making goo-goo eyes at him. I can't say that I blamed them. I did the same thing.

When we got back to the cabins, Glen did something that shocked me. He asked Haldir if he'd like to finish the trip with us. What surprised me even more was that Haldir agreed without a second thought. We would simply drop his rental car off at the next big city.

I pulled Glen aside for a moment while Haldir was busy talking to the kids.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" I asked my friend.

"Sinda, it's obvious that you're in love with the guy and I hate to be the one to keep you apart. The kids like him and he seems all right to me, so why not?" he asked. “Besides, he might help entertain them.”

"I'm sorry this didn't turn out the way you wanted it to, Glen," I told him.

"No problem. Just keep me in mind if you have any single friends," he said, joking.

"You know, actually, my friend Anna would be perfect for you," I told him, wondering why I hadn't thought of it before. She couldn't have kids of her own and wanted them desperately. They were a lot alike in many ways, too, and I thought that she would adore Glen.

"Do you think she'd go out with me?" he asked, trying not to act too interested but failing.

"I think she would," I said. "I'll call her and we'll do a double date or something when we get home. She'd love the kids, too."

Glen was more upbeat than I'd seen him in days and I really hoped that this would work out. They were both nice people.

When Haldir and I finally made our way into the room, I threw myself into his arms.

"I am so happy that you're coming with us," I told him. "I still can't believe it."

"I know somebody that will not be quite so happy about it," he said, a serious look on his face.

"Glen? He's fine with it," I said, confused. "It was his suggestion."

"Not Glen," he explained, "Thranduil."

"He won't care," I said, laughing. "He has plenty of other women to keep him busy. It doesn't matter to him which one he's with."

"He will care," Haldir insisted. "But we will deal with that later."

"What did you think of the kids?" I asked him, not wanting to let my mind wander to Thranduil.

"They seem like wonderful children, Sinda," he stated. "I do not understand why you don’t like them. You seemed to get along well enough with them tonight."

I had to stop and think about that for a second.

"To tell the truth, they've kind of grown on me," I admitted. "Granted, they were on their best behavior tonight, but I think they've changed a little since the start of the trip, too."

"It is obvious that they like you," Haldir told me, backing me towards the bed.

"You think so?" I asked, surprised.

"I know so," he said.

That kind of gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling. Not that it would matter soon, because in a few days we'd be home and I would be packing to move to Oregon. I'd probably never see them again, but still it felt good to think that we would be ending this vacation on a brighter note than when we started, a little over two weeks ago.

When I felt the back of my legs hit the bed, I stopped moving.

A slow smile broke across Haldir's face and he raised an eyebrow. "I think that you are trapped, Sinda. What will you do now?"

"I don't know," I told him. "Should I try to get away and make you chase me or should I give in and make it easy for you?"

"I think that it would be fun to chase you," he said, smirking.

"Not much of a challenge in here," I stated, getting an idea. "How would you like to play `Hide and Seek'? The loser would have to do whatever the winner wants."

His eyes lit up. "I like the idea. The lake seems very private."

"I'll hide, but you have to give me ten minutes," she told him. "No mind reading, either."

"I will not need it," he raised an eyebrow.

"If you find me before I get back to the cabin, you win, but if I get back first, I win," I told him, wondering why he was smiling like he knew something that I didn't.

He looked at his watch. "Go," he said.

I took off outside, quietly closing the door so as not to attract attention. Glen and the kids had a cabin at a fair distance from ours, so I wasn't too worried about them hearing anything, but there were a few other occupied units near ours. I took off running around the lake, hoping to put a large distance between myself and the cabin. I thought that if he could track me, it would just lead him around the lake and I’d already be on my way back. I didn’t think that there was any way I could lose. I was a little less than halfway around the lake when I saw him come outside. Quickly, I ducked into the woods. Giggling, I watched him as he looked around, the glow from the cabin window illuminating him for me.

He seemed to look right at me, though I didn't see how that was possible when I was hiding behind a tree. Moments later, he took off at a run in the same direction from which I had just come. I had underestimated his speed and now I thought that I'd better give up on trying to stay hidden. I just needed to get to the cabin before he did. I started running as fast as I could, but he was much faster. Every time I glanced back, he was closer and even though I put on a burst of speed towards the end, I never had a chance. I heard him behind me moments before I felt his arms grab me around the waist. He took me to the ground, fairly softly, and pinned my arms above my head as he held my body down with his.

"How did you do that?" I asked him, amazed.

"I am an elf," he laughed. "I could see you very clearly across the lake, I heard you giggle and I can run much faster than you can."

"Hmmm…I guess next time you'll have to be blindfolded," I told him as he kissed my neck. "So what do you want in payment?"

"What do you think I want?" he asked.

"What do you want more than anything?" I asked him, elaborating. "You only get one prize."

He grew solemn for a moment.

"What I want more than anything is to bind myself to you, to have a family and live together for the rest of our lives," he said, staring into my eyes.

He was scaring me. I didn't like to hear him talk this way after he'd already mentioned giving up his immortality. I opened my mouth to say something, but he beat me to it.

"Unfortunately, we both know that scenario is not possible, so I'll settle for oral sex," he told me.

What a save, I thought, laughing. "Again? How did I know that was what you were going to want? Here or in the cabin?"

"Right here on the beach, just like the night we met," he told me.

“I didn’t do that to you the night we met,” I reminded him.

“No, but we had sex on the beach,” he stated.

Well, it was a beach, but that was the only similarity. It was cold outside, but that was good because it kept the mosquitoes to a tolerable level. When I was done with him, he spent another half hour making love to me on the beach until we both decided that it was too cold to be outdoors. We walked, hand in hand, back to the cabin where we continued until late that night. I fell asleep happy and looking forward to the next day, when we would have another whole day together.

~~To be continued~~