Monthly Bonus Content #4—Spring Scenario Special ('Narcissus—'Desire' Ava)

There is still a chill in the air. Winter hasn’t relinquished its icy grip on Wayhaven just yet. But Spring is trying to force it away, shining the sharp light of morning down on the forest, beaming out in announcement at its own oncoming reign.

Yet with the way Ava is moaning about the cold, you’d think we were in the middle of the Antarctic.

“We have a perfectly good training room indoors,” she berates, shivering as she flexes her fingers beneath the training bandages wrapped around her hands.

My shoulders droop as I turn to look at her. “It’s been a harsh Winter and now we’re getting the first beautiful signs of Spring. Why wouldn’t you want to train out amongst all this?” I stretch my arms out, tilting my head back as the sun shines down on us, spreading its bright warmth over the clearing in the forest that’s starting to wake from its Winter hibernation.

I can feel Ava’s gaze on me, slowly tracing over the lines of my body, leaving a hotter trail across my skin than the sun could ever manage.

“You…do not feel the cold as I do,” she finally states, clearing her throat as she glances at the silent training mannequins with a frown.

I expel a groan.

Looking about the clearing, I spy the drinks and equipment we brought out. I head towards it, grabbing a large towel and letting it unfurl before walking over to Ava.

Her brow arches as I approach, but she doesn’t move away.

I hold one edge of the towel and fling the rest around her, catching the other end to tug it around her shoulders. Bringing the towel edges together at her chest, I let my hands fall beneath the fluffy edge, spreading my fingers against the solid planes of her stomach.

Her breath shivers out of her as I lean in closer.

My focus dips from her dazzling emerald eyes to her lips—parted and perfect.

“Warmer?” I murmur out.

“Considerably,” she replies, the word barely whispered on a breath.

I half-smile. “Then maybe we should get to training. It’ll warm you up quicker.”

As I make to step away, her hand reaches out to grasp around me, and she steps into the space I just left.

“I am finding this is working far more effectively,” she says.

I tilt my head at her, running my hands up her stomach again, enjoying the way she draws in deep breaths at my touch, before I whip away the towel and jog back a few paces.

Holding up the towel like a trophy, I laugh. “I didn’t think I was ever going to have to be the one to encourage you to train.”

A flicker of a smile curves at her lips that she can’t stop. She darts forward, but I whip the towel away from her grasp at the last minute. She snatches for it again, but once more I sidestep. Training with her so often has at least given me some insight into how she moves.

She laughs. The sound is magical, encompassing the clearing and seeping through me. I hear it so rarely that my body seems attuned to it, unable to function when I hear it, only wanting to provoke more of it.

As I try to get my senses back, Ava manages to grab the towel and pull it from my grasp.

She wraps it around my back and drags me in close towards her using it, the ends grasped firmly in each hand.

I’m not sure if it’s the Spring sunshine or the warmth that blooms and sizzles between Ava and I, but the frosty edges of Winter have melted. Birds call sweet songs like a serenading melody, bees buzz loudly around us, dotting from flower to flower, and a carpet of golden Narcissus turn their heads towards the source of heat spilling from the two of us.

“Warmer?” she asks, leaning in closer.

I smile. “Considerably.”