Page 79 of Dark Awakening: Hidden Currents

Oh, Mother above, he just had sex for the first time in his life!

Jasmine's eyes popped open. "What happened? Why are you suddenly tense?"

"I'm not. It just dawned on me that I lost my virginity to the female I love. I should be soaring on a cloud of euphoria."

"You are not?" She pouted playfully. "I thought you were."

Was she really offended? She made it look like she was teasing, but he could detect a note of insecurity under the pretense.

"I will cherish the memory of tonight forever. I just don't think it's fully sunk in." He leaned to kiss her forehead. "Do you remember your first time?"

She groaned. "Not in a good way."

"What happened?"

"Nothing traumatic. It hurts the first time, especially if the guy is clueless, and mine was. It was better the second time."

Well, at least Jasmine was going to remember their first time together in a more positive way. Ell-rom was probably as clueless as her first lover, but since she had more experience, it hadn't been a complete disaster.

"Are you okay?" she asked. "No jealousy over not being my first lover?"

He chuckled. "I'm sorry that you didn't have a good experience, but I'm grateful that one of us knew what she was doing. Otherwise, it could have been as bad as what you've described."

"No way." Jasmine propped herself up on one elbow. "You're a natural, and you're doing amazingly well, considering everything you've been through."

It was on the tip of his tongue to ask how she would rank him compared to all of her other lovers, but he thought better of it. "Thank you," he said instead. "I just want to be worthy of you."

"You are." Jasmine leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. "Just by being you. I love everything about you. Even these flashes of insecurity. I'm so tired of guys who think that they are all that."

"All what?"

He wanted to make sure never to be one of those guys.

"Know-it-alls, conceited, full of themselves." Before Ell-rom could ask her to give him examples, Jasmine's lips were on his again, more insistent this time.

He responded eagerly, his hands sliding down her back to pull her closer. As their kisses deepened, Ell-rom felt heat building within him, a heady mixture of desire and nervous excitement.

Jasmine's hand slid down his chest, her touch leaving a trail of fire in its wake. When she reached the waistband of his sleep pants, she paused, looking up at him with a question in her eyes. "Are you up for another round?"

He arched a brow. "I'm always ready, but aren't you tired?"

"I've gotten a second wind."

56

KIAN

As Kian surveyed the familiar faces of his council members seated around the conference table, he once again debated the wisdom of his decision to add new ones. Perhaps it would have been wiser to keep the original group, which included a core of experts in different fields for most decisions, with the addition of the Head Guardians when the voting regarded issues involving clan security.

It had been an advisory council rather than a political one, and it had functioned perfectly. Now, with the addition of Kalugal, Jade, and Toven, it had turned more political, something he should have considered before inviting them to join.

Kian trusted all three and liked them as people, but he was uneasy about their vote potentially swaying decisions regarding the clan based on political agendas rather than the good of the community.

Politics was the bane of democratic societies and would eventually lead to their downfall. Their leaders were no longer public servants elected by the people for the people. They were turning more and more into tyrants, controlling the populacewith fear and propaganda and silencing opposing voices so they could perpetuate their power and money grab.

The more things changed, the more they remained the same.

He should have separated the functions, included the newcomers only in informative meetings, and excluded them from decision-making. Thankfully, the clan representatives still outnumbered the others, but things might change soon enough. The Kra-ell birth rate was much higher than that of immortals, and in a century or two, they would outnumber the immortals in the village.