by B N Miles
She tugged down his boxer briefs then climbed on top of him.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered in his ear. “I’ll take care of us.”
He groaned as she arched her back. His cock pressed against her dripping pussy as she slowly slid back down along his length.
She rode him fast and hard. There was no gentle mercy, no thought of his wounds. He groaned in pleasure and pain, both sensations tearing his mind apart as his Need rolled violently down his spine. He palmed her ample breasts, tweaked her nipples, kissed her lips, and she worked her hips faster.
Her skin glowed, dripping with sweat, the dirt and the blood running together. He gripped her ass hard, spanked her rough, and she fucked him faster, working her hips, rolling them up and down, bucking and riding. He gasped as pain flared in his chest, but she didn’t stop, didn’t seem to care. She shoved him down on the bed, leaned her hands on his chest, and bucked her hips.
Her slick pussy rode him up and down. He groaned, his eyes locked on hers, and they were in a frenzy. He knew it, from some distant rational part of his brain, they were losing their minds in the fucking, in the pleasure, in the pure physical joy. And she was hurting him, definitely hurting him, definitely breaking his ribs even more.
But he didn’t care. All he wanted was for her sweet little body to keep riding his iron hard cock.
They came together in a writhing, moaning mass. The magic flared to life and Jared could have sworn the bed exploded into pieces as he came deep between Lumi’s legs. Her orgasm clenched down on his shaft, her back arched, her moans loud and low and deep.
They floated in the explosive impossible pleasure of their orgasm, the priori flowing from their bodies, mingling into one consciousness, one shared mind. They were linked in that moment, and Jared felt flashes of Lumi and knew she was feeling flashes of him. This always happened when they came together, and although he’d gotten used to giving parts of himself over to her, it was still disorienting.
Lumi, in a sundress, maybe eight years old, picking flowers with an older man with black hair. He smiled at her, patted her head.
Lumi at ten, clenching her fists with a growl, a rock snapping in half ten feet away.
Lumi at sixteen, smoking a cigarette, then bringing it down to put it out on her thigh.
Lumi at nineteen, power flowing out of her in waves, and two Magi burning to a crisp under the giddy power she threw forward.
Jared tried to take it all in, tried to process it, but they were too raw. He knew she was experiencing something similar about him, flashes of his life, flashes from his world.
They came down together. The memories faded and the magic dissipated into the room. Lumi slumped forward, drenched in sweat, and kissed his neck.
“Oh, fuck,” she whispered.
“Yeah,” Jared said.
She moved a little and he gasped as pain flared through his chest. She rolled off him, her eyes wide with alarm.
“Are you okay?”
He took a breath and groaned, grabbing at his ribs. All the pain that had been held in check by the Need, then the fucking, came flooding through him all at once.
“Shit,” he gasped and coughed. More pain wracked him. “Fucking fuck.”
Lumi put a hand on his side. “Should I try?” she asked. “I can—’
“No,” he said, clenching his jaw. “I’m okay. It just surprised me.”
“Jared, I can help.”
“Save yourself,” he said. “The Medlar… might not be done.” He grunted and managed to roll onto his back. “Izzy’s on her way.”
Lumi bit her lip. He forced himself to smile at her and lean closer. She met him halfway, pressed her lips against his, grabbed his hair and held him there.
“Thank you,” she said.
He grinned at her. “You did all the work.”
She smiled, kissed him again, then got up. She began to get dressed again. “We should go back down,” she said. “See if they need help.”
Jared nodded and tried to sit up, but fell back with a gasp of pain.
“Maybe, uh, maybe I need a little help getting my clothes back on,” he said.
Lumi finished dressing then helped get Jared’s pants and shirt back on. They didn’t bother with the boxer briefs. When he was decent, he leaned on her and got out of bed, grimacing with each breath.
But he managed with Lumi’s help.
That sex hadn’t been the best for his broken ribs. But at least his mind was clear and he could think about what they needed to do next.
Lumi took more weight, and together they headed downstairs.
16
Jared found Izzy Read crouched over Wade, her hands spread out over his chest, her fingers splayed. Lumi lingered on the steps as Jared reached the landing and winced from the pain of his ribs.
Jessalene came over and put an arm around his waist. “Better?” she asked.
“Better,” he said. “When did she get here?”
“Ten minutes ago.” Jessalene bit her lip and watched as Izzy moved her hands down Wade’s body. Cassie sat right next to her cousin, a look of quiet intensity on her face. “She’s been doing that ever since she got here. Just walked on in, crouched down, and got to work.”
“Huh,” Jared said. “I can’t say I’m surprised. If Nikki uses her, I bet she’s the best.”
Izzy grunted and mumbled something to herself. Jared let his eyes drift back over her, along her dirty blonde hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, down to her peasant-top, which looked like it had been haphazardly thrown over a pair of worn, sun-faded jeans and dirty brown boots.
Cassie shifted in her seat, leaned close to Izzy, and whispered something Jared couldn’t hear. Izzy only nodded once in reply as her hands slowly drifted down Wade’s midsection.
Jared felt Lumi press up against his other side. “Do you feel that?” she asked.
Jared shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said.
“Try and listen,” Lumi whispered.
Jared frowned at her then looked back at Izzy’s hands. He closed his eyes and blocked out everything around him, which wasn’t easy. The Need was gone, but the pain in his body flared and pulsed, making it hard as hell to concentrate. But after a few moments of finding his center, he began to sense the magic Izzy was using on Wade.
It slipped from a trickle along her fingers and into his body. Jared had never felt something so precise before. It was a scalpel, a laser, focused and pure, and at first, he wasn’t sure what she was doing.
But then he realized with a start that she was changing his molecular structure. Just small changes, but she was doing it all over his body. She was rearranging something in his bloodstream, twisting it and reshaping it. Jared blinked and came back to the world and saw a small bead of sweat roll down Izzy’s pretty, exposed neck.
When she reached his feet, she let out a breath and dropped her hands.
“Okay,” she said. “Finished.”
“Is he better?” Cassie asked, looking at Wade. “Is he going to wake up?”
Izzy stood with some effort. She took a blue bandana from her back pocket and dabbed at her forehead. It was dripping with sweat and her skin was flushed as she shook her head.
“I think he needs more rest,” she said, wiping her hands on the bandana then shoving it back into her pocket. “He had a pretty bad infection, but I think I got most of it out. I’ll have to go over him again tomorrow, just to make sure, but for now he’s stable.”
Jared stepped forward with some of his weight still on Jessalene. “Izzy,” he said. “Thanks for coming.”
She turned to him and frowned. “I was wondering where you were,” she said then her eyes drifted to Lumi. “I suppose you were busy.”
He winced. “Sorry about that,” he said. “Magi thing. You understand.”
A little smile played at her lips. “I do,” she said, then tilted her head. “But you said you were injured?”
“His ribs,” Lumi said.
�
��And she has burns,” Jared said. “Arms and stomach.”
She glared at him. “I’m fine. You first.”
“Lumi,” he said. “Let her look at you. I can just—”
Lumi reached out and pushed him. Not hard, and under normal circumstances, Jared would barely have noticed. But she pushed him hard enough to make him take a step on his own, and he gasped in pain as his ribs flared hot fire up his chest.
“Well, that solves that,” Izzy said and glared at Lumi. “Next time, try something a little gentler, please?”
Jared coughed and Lumi just grinned at them. Izzy came over and helped Jessalene get Jared in the easy chair next to the couch. He let out a breath as Izzy bent down to look at him, the neckline of her top falling forward.
He stared at her large, round breasts. She wore a black bra that barely contained her incredible chest, and Jared felt himself stir all over again, despite the fact that he’d just very much sated himself.
Izzy caught him looking, frowned, but didn’t try to cover herself. She held out her hands again and magic flared to life between her fingers as she crouched and began to run her palms along his chest.
“Three… no, four broken ribs,” she said. “Another one’s cracked. Jesus, Jared, it looks like you got into a car accident. You’re lucky you didn’t puncture a lung.”
“That’s me,” he said, smiling. “Really lucky. Is Wade going to be okay?”
Izzy frowned and glanced at the prone, pale man on the couch. Cassie still sat near his head, frowning down at him like she couldn’t decide if he was a poisonous snake or her best friend. Jessalene joined her, squeezing down onto the couch, and held her hand.
“I think so,” she said. “Severe dehydration, probably hasn’t eaten in a few days, and a really bad infection. He was on the verge of going septic. You guys got me here just in time.”
Jared let out a breath and grimaced from the pain. “Lucky him,” Jared said.
Izzy smiled a little and moved her hands away from him. She shook them out and rolled her neck.
“All right,” she said. “This is going to feel weird.”
“Weird, how?” he asked.
“Like someone’s regrowing the bones inside of you,” she said and looked over her shoulder. “Lumi, dear, can you come over here?”
Lumi joined them and perched on the arm of the chair.
“What can I do?” she asked.
“Restrain him,” Izzy said.
“Wait, I can just—” Jared barely got the words out before Lumi’s power flared to life. He felt the air around him harden, pressing him down against the chair. He struggled a little, trying to free himself, but the shields held him tight.
“Damn it, Lumi,” he said. “I can just stay still.”
“Better this way,” Lumi said with a grin. “Besides, I would’ve thought you’d enjoy being tied up with a bunch of pretty girls around you.”
Jared groaned but Izzy laughed and splayed out her hands again.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s do this.”
Izzy’s power flared as she pressed her hands against his chest again, and he took a sharp, gasping breath as the strangest sensation he’d ever felt rushed over his skin.
It didn’t hurt, not really. In fact, the magic she flooded in his body was almost soothing. But he could feel the bones in his ribs move, twist, and reshape themselves. He felt them knit together and snap into place with a brief flash of agony that made him thrash. Fortunately, Lumi’s shields held him in place, and Izzy didn’t let up. She healed each rib, snapped it into place, then moved onto the next with ruthless efficiency.
She finished in less than five minutes. She pulled her hands back, sweating again, and took a deep breath before letting it out.
“Okay,” she said. “How do you feel?”
Jared frowned and felt Lumi release the shields from around his arms. He moved a little, expecting pain, but there was nothing.
“Huh,” he said. “I feel… fine.”
Izzy grinned. “God, I’m good.”
“You really are.” He sat forward abruptly. There were still some minor aches and pains, but the ribs were all better. “Wow. I’ve seen healing before, but that… that was something else.”
Izzy looked at her fingernails and grinned. “There’s a reason I get paid the big bucks. And a reason you’re paying double.”
Jared sighed. “Right. Forgot about that.”
“I take checks and cash,” she said.
Jared laughed and looked at Lumi. “Fix her up then we’ll talk about your fee.”
Izzy nodded and gestured at Lumi. “If you’ll take a seat, my darling.”
Lumi gave her a look. “I think I’m okay,” she said.
“Lumi,” Jared warned.
“I’d rather just, uh, heal on my own, thanks.” Lumi backed away, hands up.
“Don’t make me force you,” Jared said.
Lumi gave him a wicked grin. “You couldn’t even if you tried.”
But before she could bolt, Jared snapped his shield memgram into place and wrapped hardened air around her legs. Her eyes went wide, and she went to struggle, but he used a second memgram to place another shield around her middle, pinning her arms to her side.
She glared at him. “Let me go,” she said.
“Izzy,” Jared said. “If you’d please.”
Izzy shook out her hands. “Gladly.”
“No, no no no,” Lumi said. “I’m fine. I’m really fine!”
“Don’t be such a baby,” Jared said.
Izzy pressed her hands along Lumi’s body, her power flooding the air. Jared smelled lilacs and apple blossoms, and Lumi let out a gentle moan. Izzy moved all around the captured Magi’s body until she stepped back less than a minute later.
“Easy,” she said. “Skin’s no problem.”
Jared dropped his magic, the tickle of Need gentle in the back of his mind.
Lumi glared at them but touched her stomach, her side, and her arms.
“Assholes,” she mumbled and stomped upstairs.
“What was that all about?” Jessalene asked.
“Some Magi don’t like being healed like that,” Jared said. “It’s invasive, to say the least.”
“She’ll thank me tomorrow,” Izzy said. “Now, if we can talk about my very modest fee?”
Jared ran a hand through his hair. “I suspect your definition of ‘modest’ isn’t going to match up with my own.”
She gave him a lovely, innocent smile. “I think you’re right.”
Jared sighed and was about to ask her what the damage was, but he felt something tug at the backyard wards. It was Nikki, based on the knocking pattern, and he felt a smile slip onto his face.
“Well,” he said. “We got lucky, because your payment just arrived.”
Izzy gave him an odd look. “I don’t know what that means.”
Jared walked into the kitchen, ignoring Izzy for a moment, and he reached out to unweave the wards around the back door.
17
Nikki swept into the room wearing a fresh pair of blue jeans and a black tank top tucked into them, her hair slightly damp and up in a bun, her lips freshly painted pale pink.
“Hello, hello,” she said then stopped just beyond the door. Jared stitched the wards shut behind her. “Izzy Read, I didn’t expect you.”
Jared turned toward the girls as Izzy leaned up against the kitchen counter and crossed her arms.
“Had to come clean up this mess,” she said and gestured at Jared.
“I can’t thank you enough, then.” Nikki beamed at her and walked over. They kissed each other on the cheek, and Jared noticed that Izzy’s hand lingered on Nikki’s arm for just a moment too long.
“The boy on the couch out there should be okay,” Izzy said. “Bad infection, though. I need to look at him tomorrow.”
“Boy on the couch?” Nikki looked at Jared. “So you found him?”
Jared nodded. “His name’s Wade. He was hiding in
some abandoned mini-golf place and was in bad shape when we found him.”
“Interesting,” Nikki said.
“I’d ask where he came from or why he was in that position in the first place, but knowing you guys, I’m not sure I want to know,” Izzy said
“Oh, darling, probably not,” Nikki said with a laugh. “But I do appreciate you helping out.”
“We were just about to discuss my fee,” Izzy said, arching an eyebrow.
“And Nikki was just about to write you a sizeable check,” Jared said
Nikki sighed dramatically. “That’s all I am to him, you know,” she said and came over to drape her arms around Jared. “Just a pretty face and a blank check.”
“And a gorgeous pair of lips,” Jared said. “Nice hips. Good, firm—”
“I get it,” Izzy said.
Nikki laughed and kissed Jared’s cheek. “Of course, whatever he owes, I’ll pay,” Nikki said. “And you know, I was just thinking, we are going after a Plethoak. Maybe it would be best if we had you on retainer?”
Izzy went still. “You’re going after a what now?”
“Plethoak,” Jared said and rubbed his eyes. “I know how that sounds.”
“Stupid and dangerous,” Izzy said. “About sums it up.”
Nikki laughed. “But you’ll do it?” she asked. “We pay your retainer fee, you stick around in case someone gets a real nasty lightning burn?”
Izzy chewed on her lip. “I don’t have any other work right now,” she said. “And the farm’s been slow.”
“Perfect!” Nikki released Jared and walked over to Izzy. She threw her arms around the healer’s neck and kissed her cheek. “You’re a doll.”
Nikki released her, and Izzy gave Jared a look.
He just laughed and held out his hands. “I’m as helpless as you are,” he said.
Nikki beamed at them. “Well, this has been a lovely night,” she said. “But I have even more good news.”
“What’s that?” Jared asked.
“I think I’ve located our little problem,” she said. “Or at least I have a good lead.”