Chapter 2

Harriet was not used to sharing her house, land and bed. Jared helped with the physical work, but his urgent training absorbed all and more of the time his help saved. Jared must become well-trained – or both he and Harriet could bear severe consequences from the other females. They had no trust in males and an active male would present a serious threat.

But Jared’s training proved difficult. He was profligate, almost careless with his use of power. Harriet strove for subtlety, harbouring her power as she worked with the growing things around her. She nurtured rather than commanded. Jared’s way came from a place where subtlety appeared unknown.

Working with Harriet to encourage a row of onions, Jared almost loosed a gout of power that would have burst them had she not contained him. When she showed Jared how to dampen Apollo’s ardour for the young female goats, he would have sterilised the poor he-goat had she not held him back.

“Gently, Jared. Softly.” Harriet’s calm voice belied the frustration she felt.

“I see what you do,” Jared frowned. “But when I reach out, it’s like ... holding a snake: the channel writhes, twists and flies out of control.”

Harriet heard the frustration in his voice, saw it in his face. He was trying, but something basic eluded him. The problem for Harriet was both Joy and Alison had sensed a change in her. It would not be long before Alison’s curiosity drove her to visit. Finding an untrained, active male was unlikely to end well. All recent female experience was that males were dangerous and an active one, doubly so. Harriet worried the danger Jared represented might drive the loose-knit society of women to do something hasty. She must show them that Jared was not a danger, but an asset. For that, he had to be in control of his energies.

That evening, she tried something different. They sat on the carpeted floor cross-legged opposite one another. Harriet leant forward and drew her finger down Jared’s cheek, whispering across the skin.

“Feel the delicate sensation, Jared. That’s the touch we are seeking.”

Jared looked at her, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Harriet leaned forward. “Touch my cheek like that.”

Jared’s hand rose and a finger pressed along Harriet’s cheek, his rough skin almost rasping.

“Barely touch the skin, Jared.” Harriet’s hand reached up again, tracing a path across the skin beneath Jared’s eye, above the straggly beard. A subtle quiver rippled through him at the sensation.

Jared’s finger rose near her nose and paused, almost quivering with intent, before sliding almost imperceptibly from her nose to her ear.

Harriet smiled and reached out with a tendril of power to stroke Jared’s face. “Now try that using your power.”

Harriet felt Jared’s concentration. Sensing the gout of energy he was about to loose, she squeezed his channel closed. “I think you’re confusing concentration with control.” She smiled to soften her words. “More concentration on the merest suggestion of power.”

Jared frowned and Harriet again sensed the gout of energy Jared gathered. She was ready to act, but he controlled it. She watched it dwindle to a flicker: the lightest caress of her cheek.

“Excellent. Again.”

Jared closed his eyes and Harriet felt his power slip across her other cheek. A smile touched his lips and the touch slid down her neck and across her left breast: the hint of a feather circling an aureola.

Harriet inhaled, her breasts pushing tighter against her top. “Mm. Exquisite control.”

Jared’s eyes flicked open. The first feather continued its circling and a second started spiralling round her right breast, closing on the other aureola.

“Let’s see what we can do with no physical touching.” Harriet smiled as Jared shivered at the tendril of energy she sent to tease his nipples.

They played, trading intimate touches. Jared sent fingertips tracing across Harriet’s back and stomach, raising goosebumps. Harriet duplicated these, adding feather strokes up Jared’s legs. Arousal grew and Harriet felt her top slide up, the cooler air further tightening her nipples as Jared continued his teasing. She responded by unfastening the drawstring on Jared’s pants with her mind. She sent touches to tease the inner skin of his thighs and feasted on Jared’s sensual writhing.