Yay! It's finally here...the Love At First Sight Blogfest has arrived!
And of course I'm late for the party. I stayed up too late last night reading and then slept in this morning, so I'm late getting my scene posted. But here it is!
A little background: This is a scene from the first novel in my paranormal romance trilogy. Shadow is fae and Holly has only just recently discovered that although her mother is human, her father was fae. In this scene she has just learned how to transform herself into fae form with Shadow's help and this is their immediate response to her transformation.
She heard Shadow’s voice calling her, but couldn’t see him. She realized with a jolt of both fear and satisfaction, that she’d done it. She’d transformed herself. The next instant the sensory overload hit her. The noise was overwhelming, as were the smells, and her vision seemed to be impaired because everything seemed brighter, sharper, more detailed – more alive. She could see shimmering shadows and vague auras glimmering around everything. She was staggered to realize that plain old grass came to her neck, and the log which she could just a moment ago easily step over, now towered over her as a nearly insurmountable obstacle. The perspective of everyday things was suddenly completely skewed and had her staggering. She leaned over getting ready to vomit from the flood of sensory input, when she felt a hand on her back.
“Wow, that was awesome! You did it, Holly. I guess you were right, you are a good student!”
Shadow seemed giddy with excitement, a state Holly had never imagined him capable of, while she was still woozy. She looked up at him in order to express her misery, but before she could utter a word their eyes met and she was struck dumb. The perspective was completely different. Whereas before he had been a tiny little faery and Holly had seen no gender about him, now he stood taller than her and she could feel the male energy pouring off him. His eyes were a deep and glittering amethyst, his warm brown hair curled in waves just below the nape of his neck and tucked behind his ears, a wisp dangling over his forehead. His nose and mouth were strong and firm, and the rest of him was slim, lean and muscled in ways she hadn’t seen before. How could she have missed all that? She felt like she’d been struck by lightning. The power of it literally put her to the ground, landing her on her butt with an “oof,” unable to clearly identify this feeling.
She could see he was just as shocked. His brows shot up and his jaw fell open, and he staggered back to lean against the log as if Holly were infected with a ghastly plague he needed to escape before he was contaminated. It was at that moment that Willow showed up.
“Hey Shadow, how’s the training going? Oh, Holly! You did it!"
Shadow didn’t say a word but took off and disappeared without looking back. Holly didn’t think she would ever understand him.
“What was that all about?” Willow asked as she watched him leave.
“I have no idea. One minute I thought I was going to puke and he was standing right next to me, the next minute I looked up at him and he practically ran away like I was the devil himself.”
“Really? That’s not like him. I mean, sure, he can be moody, but he doesn’t panic easily. You just looked at him and he freaked out?”
“Well, I can’t speak for him, but when I looked at him it was like someone hit me with a brick. But my senses are all crazy right now. This whole faerie thing is a real overload for the senses.”
"So when you looked at each other, it was powerful? It was shocking?”
"Yeah, you could say that.”
“But you don’t feel that looking at me, right?”
“No. But I think I’m starting to adjust.”
“Hmmm. Interesting.” She had an amazed grin on her face.
“What?”
“Nothing. Nevermind. I’m sure it was just the shock to your system from changing.”
Willow giggled. “Before we go anywhere though, we should probably get you some kind of clothes. Don’t you think?”
“What?” Holly looked down and realized she was as naked as the day she was born. She could feel the blush explode on her face and she imagined her cheeks were cherry red. No wonder Shadow had seemed so shocked. Willow giggled again and took her hand.
“C’mon, don’t worry about it. We’ll find you something nice to wear.”
***************
Shadow had to get away, he needed to breathe. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. It couldn’t be true. It just couldn’t. He’d been so excited when Holly had shifted, but when she’d looked him in the eyes, he’d gone weak in the knees. Her eyes were the color of sage shot throughout with molten copper. Her hair was black as coal, sexy short and unruly. He could imagine jamming his fingers into it while kissing her. He remembered with no small satisfaction that he had been right, he was taller than her after she’s shifted. It made him feel a sudden urge to hold her close and protect her from the vague unknown. And from Rand. He also remembered how naked she’d been and how full her breasts were and how her waist narrowed then flared again into generous hips and slim legs.
“Oh, Mother,” he groaned trying to wipe her image from his mind without much success. He was flying just to fly. He didn’t know where he was going, he just needed to get as far away from her as possible. But no matter how much distance he put between them, he could still feel her. He’d felt the jolt. Felt the shock and felt the way Fate had branded her as his. He had no doubt that it was some huge cosmic joke at his expense, but there it was just the same. He could no more deny it than he could stop breathing. Even now he could feel the connection, as much as he wished it weren’t there. And from the look on her face he could tell she’d felt it too. He was just glad she had no idea what it was.
So there you have it. Probably not what you were expecting for love at first sight, but certainly my interpretation of it for these two characters!
No, go read the rest of the love at first sight scenes! Check out
Courtney's blog for the links. And Happy Valentines Day!!
