Windstorm (Nightwraith Book 1)

by Gaja J. Kos

  Nenad snorted but came to sit by my side. He stretched his honed body across the sofa and shook his head. “The entire collectors’ community is in a frenzy. My phone’s been ringing since the middle of the night. Worried clients, worried dealers. And a few who sounded quite pleased that the elite experienced a blow like that.” His lips curved upward for a moment before his expression turned serious again. “I know you’re not the kind to go around stealing other people’s stuff—or engaging a roomful of psychotic, obscenely rich supernaturals. So, what the fuck happened, Liva?”

  For a second there, I considered keeping him in the dark. Far more for his sake than mine. But Nenad deserved to know. It seemed unlikely that the Fae fucks of Fire would decide to pay a visit to my business acquaintances, but if they did, I wanted to give Nenad at least the small advantage of knowing who he was up against.

  A labored sigh uncurled from my chest. “Could you man the shop for a few more days?” I asked. And once he angled his head in agreement, I started to tell him everything.

  I retuned to the lair with Nenad’s promise of silence and a backpack filled with food. Although I’d grabbed a coffee and sandwich at his place, my stomach was still rumbling from using up as much power as I had the previous night. Besides, I was adamant to get some breakfast into Cian before we made our next move.

  The warm embrace of the pentagram greeted me on the other side. I bathed in its magic for a moment longer, infusing myself in its healing properties, then strode into the bedroom next door.

  Immediately, my gaze fell on Cian.

  His presence was magnetic, drawing me in as if my very existence were attuned to it. And perhaps it truly was.

  While a demon wasn’t fated to meet only one true mate, but instead choose one among the several compatible energies, there were those who called to us far more intensely than the rest—Cian was firmly in the latter category. Although with the way things in my life seemed to have a knack for creating their own rules rather than following an already established set, I wondered if the same held true for the mating aspect. Because even without actually completing the ritual, what Cian and I shared went beyond anything I’d ever imagined.

  A slow smile spread across my lips as I took in his naked body, the sheet that was draped so lazily across his thighs, leaving little to the imagination. His pensive expression brightened as he saw me, his gaze sweeping up and down my outfit with a hint of hunger that made my breath hitch.

  “Hi, you,” I said in a husky voice.

  “Hi there yourself,” he purred back.

  Not exactly trusting my knees to hold me much longer, I crossed the distance and scooted next to him on the bed, already unzipping the backpack. His fingers traced my arm, the touch light yet so intimate, so erotic, it took all my control to keep my hands on the food instead of the Fae I fully intended to have for dessert.

  “Nope,” I managed to say. “Breakfast first. Demon’s orders.”

  But my words only fluttered into the air without any hope of reaching their recipient as he pulled me back, his lips sealing off any further protest on my part.

  Satisfied, fed, and caffeinated, we were standing on the pentagram once more. Well, Cian was, to be precise.

  I was still lingering on the threshold, deeply regretting that we couldn’t just stay here and forget about the outside world. Something we actually could do, given the safety my place of power granted. But, as High Lord, Cian had a court to run. A court he couldn’t leave unprotected for the enemy Fae to attack.

  So I blew out a steadying breath, walked over to him, and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Ready?”

  His lips brushed against mine. “Ready.”

  Instantly, the darkness inside me swirled and merged with the umbilical cord of my place of power, our bodies dissolving into particle form yet again. We traveled through the in-between, then reemerged deep within the shadowed woods near Tolsti vrh. I kept my grip on Cian steady until he fought off the temporary disorientation, but before either of us could take a breath, his own power rushed through me, and the world around us disappeared once more. Or, rather, our bodies did.

  We evanesced in the Fae manner of travel, and although he had done this once before, transporting us from the small cavern into the villa, the sensation was hardly the same. Cian had prepared me for it over breakfast, explaining that larger distances affected the process and transformed it from the blur I had experienced into travel I would be fully aware of, but, gods, it was still weird. The sensation was so foreign, so unnatural that I clung to him even when I knew it was his magic alive and beating inside me that kept us linked, not the physical contact.

  Unlike taking particle form and tethering myself to the ever-present energy connecting me to my lair, my body remained intact. Invisible, but intact. And we most certainly didn’t flow down some ethereal path. Nope, we switched realities like slides under a microscope.

  To say the experience was unsettling would be a severe understatement.

  I gasped for air as solid ground materialized underneath my feet, Cian’s arms pressing me to the hard expanse of his chest. Panic surged, my legs shaking violently, refusing to accept that it was over. That there was soil, not space, beneath my boots.

  “Breathe, Liva,” Cian murmured, his fingers stroking my hair. “Just breathe.”

  As hard as it was, I did as he told me, and, eventually, found relief in the simple mechanics of supplying my body with oxygen. My mind was still struggling to comprehend what we had just done, but at least my legs weren’t quite as wobbly any longer.

  “The first time is always unpleasant. Even for someone of my race,” Cian said softly as I continued to rest in his arms just to be sure the sudden stability wasn’t misleading. A chuckle vibrated in his chest. “I think you took it far better than I handled your particle form. Feeling your body dissolve is…disturbing.”

  I buried my head in his warmth and laughed. “We have some things to get used to, don’t we?”

  His arm uncurled from around my back, a single, gentle finger lifting my chin up to meet the stunning purple of his eyes. “I look forward to it, Liva.”

  His breath caressed my lips, followed by the fluttering touch of his kiss that held such promise I nearly melted in his arms. Reluctantly, I made myself pull away and smiled. “So, High Lord. Care to show me your court?”

  There were no words that could do justice to the beauty of the Fae realm—Faery, as they called it in the common tongue. My Kolduny magic marveled at the colorful, untouched nature that spread in all directions, at the fragrant air, and the caresses of the sun that fell upon my skin, ethereal and everlasting. Even the demonic whispers, despite their love for potent darkness, seemed to thrive in the unusual environment. My heritage linked me to the earth—the earth I knew—but here, the connection grew even stronger. Somehow made me stronger, too. As if this was where I was meant to end up all along.

  Cian’s fingers were entwined with mine as he led me across the gentle grassy slope towards the exquisite white manor resting on the wide, flat top of the hill. We passed through several wards, and each time the energy recognized me as a part of Cian. The barriers granted me entrance, marking me at the same time so that I could come and leave at will. A not-so-small part of me warmed at the trust it implied.

  After all, this was Cian’s court. His home.

  And despite everything, I was still a demon.

  It seemed there was a part of me that still had a hard time believing Cian had truly moved past his reservations—regardless of what he had said in my lair. Maybe it was simply because I wanted him to accept me so badly that that damned seed of doubt continued to lurk deep within my core.

  As if sensing my thoughts, the handsome Fae tugged on my arm and spun me around until I was flattened against his muscular torso. Every nerve in my body came alive under the hunger pooling in his purple gaze—a testimony of how much he wanted me, the entire Nightwraith package. I leaned back and traced my nails down his chest, then g
uided the palm of my hand lower, across his ripped abdomen and all the way to the hard swell of his erection.

  He groaned as I cupped him and, teasingly, lovingly, rubbed my palm against his groin. His fingers tightened around my ass, and, a heartbeat later, his mouth found mine, drowning me in wave after wave of all-consuming passion.

  “Know that you are mine,” he whispered into the kiss, my body shuddering as the power of the Fae ritualistic words spread through me. “Know that I claim you as my mate, as the other half of my soul, bound together in this world and the next.” His lips brushed against my forehead, my cheeks, and I found myself staring at the magnetic purple hue of his eyes, our respective magic entwining, becoming an unbreakable whole.

  We evanesced then, silken sheets resting below my body with Cian towering above. Slowly, he removed the pouch containing the relic from around his neck, cast a beautiful, glimmering ward around it as he placed it on the gold nightstand, then pulled off his shirt in a single, elegant move. His muscles rippled and flexed, his hands working on liberating me from my own clothes as I hurried to free him from the constraint of his.

  Our bodies came together, skin on skin, the velvet tip of his shaft nudging against the molten heat between my thighs. I moaned into his mouth, spreading my legs wider to accommodate the impossible thickness of his erection. He shifted his hips, rubbing against the sensitive folds of my core, teasing me, taunting me, threatening to break my entire world apart.

  Instinctively I arched my back, stealing his control and making him press against my entrance. He groaned, a sound so primal, so male that I shuddered beneath him, the ache within me growing to the extent where every cell in my body called out to him, seeking the ultimate fulfilment.

  Seeking for our flesh to become one. As were our souls.

  The bond our respective powers had woven pulsed as he thrusted inside me, the ethereal connection shining more brilliantly with each stroke, with each push of his hips that coaxed moans to spill from my lips, only to be captured by the warmth of his. My hands sought the honed muscles of his back, fingers hooking around his shoulders to anchor myself as we moved, to allow him to enter me deeper. To brush against every silken inch of me.

  A growl rattled in his chest, then transformed into my name. We both raced towards the peak, wanting to come together—as we would for the length of our near-immortal lives.

  As Cian spilled his seed inside me, his massive, hard body shuddering in the embrace of mine, the thread our powers had built between us snapped into place, binding us for an eternity to come.

  Chapter 23

  I ran my hands through Cian’s tousled hair, swooning over his lazy smile and the love I saw reflected in his gaze. My very soul seemed to shiver as I watched him, unable to contain the joy at finding its other half. At being complete.

  Although I hadn’t shunned it, I had also never yearned for the traditional demonic binding of mates. The custom had had a bad history of my race entrapping humans in such vows, misusing the strength of the bond to tether not only their victims’ fleeting lives to them, but the lives of their descendants, as well. Yet even without the abuse the worst of my mother’s race had committed, I had never given much thought to the concept of sharing myself so completely with another. Had never felt the need—especially when it was the demonic side, fuelling the bond.

  I propped my head on my hand, my fingertips trailing down the chiseled lines of Cian’s face all the way to his heart. What we shared was so much more than the expected connection.

  As I had bound Cian to me through the demonic tradition, he had claimed me as any true male of Fae did once they found their mate. We weren’t just sworn to one another. I could sense his presence deep within me, the essence of his magic woven into mine.

  We would breathe as one. Live as one, linked through our bodies, our powers, our souls.

  There wasn’t a force in existence strong enough to break us apart, to erase the intimate awareness of one another we would carry always.

  I laughed, the sound bubbling from my lips and fluttering into the vast, sunlit chamber. Cian arched an eyebrow at me, but I just shook my head, riding the wave of joy. It didn’t matter that I felt like a besotted teenager. It didn’t matter that I had never, never fallen for the rough masculinity, but rather turned time and time again to polished, tame guys, only to be swept away so completely by a Fae warrior. To be claimed by one.

  I laughed until Cian’s deep voice joined mine.

  He wrapped me in his arms, the sound slowly dying down as I saw the sheer hunger in his eyes, the hunger that had always been there, leashed only by his reluctance to accept what fate had set in his path. But those reservations didn’t exist any longer.

  Heat soared though me like a hurricane as our tongues met, shivers of pleasure enveloping my body at just how complete I felt in his embrace. There was no internal struggle within me, no room for doubts. His presence overtook my reality to build a new one—one where I was safe, loved for every quirk, every inch of the inky darkness, as well as the blinding power of the light.

  “When all this is over”—Cian pulled away just enough to meet my eyes—“I want to proclaim you before the gods as my High Lady. As my equal in ruling over this court.”

  The sincerity of his words, the desire to fulfill them rendered me speechless. Yet as moved as I was, there was still a small, rational part of me that refused to shut up. And somehow, that fragment succeeded in finding its voice. “You may have taken a half demon into your embrace, Cian. But I doubt the rest of the Fae realm will be quite as welcoming…”

  “They better not harbor any ideas of the sort.” His purple gaze darkened, but he couldn’t quite mask the tug of a smile. “I’d rip their bloody hearts out if they tried stealing you from me. If they even thought about you in such a way…”

  I punched him lightly in the shoulder and pressed my lips to his. “You know what I mean.”

  He eased back into the pillow, his fingers brushing against the side of my neck. “The Court of Earth harbors no hatred for other races, as I have already said. Water and Air are unallied, their existence nothing but a silent presence, waiting to see which of the remaining two forces will prevail. And once I end this madness Gearoid and his brothers have started, there will be no one left who would hunger for the blood of innocents—or foolish enough to oppose my word. Not unless they have desire to face me in war.” He traced his hand down my collarbone, following the swell of my breast to the curve of my narrow waist, then back up again. “Trust me, Liva, no one will object. My court will accept you. With far more grace than I did.”

  I lay down next to him, submerging myself in the warmth of his body, but couldn’t quite dispel the uneasiness pooling in my gut. “What do you plan to do?”

  With my mother’s desire for the hallow, our initial plan of leaving it in my lair for at least a little longer fell apart. Although no one but me should be able to cross the wards surrounding my place of power, I just couldn’t rid myself of the thought that the Queen Bitch would eventually find a way in. One way or another. Perhaps even by entrapping me and then forcing my compliance. No deed was too vile when it came to her.

  The Stone had to return to the Court of Earth, where it rightfully belonged.

  Although Riordan hadn’t believed the hallow was safe here and had come to my country seeking an alternative, Cian didn’t have the luxury of tracking down a mythological creature. Not when he was the last one of his line. But if the Stone was to remain at the Court of Earth and fuel the land as was its destiny, there was only one way to make sure nobody would try stealing it again.

  He needed to eliminate the threat.

  Chills crawled down my spine at the thought of him facing Gearoid and his merry band of murderous brothers. Even if the High Lord had decided to punish Faolan for his treason, he and Dalaigh were more than formidable opponents all by themselves. I hardly wanted to bruise his ego by pointing that out, but it still didn’t change the fact that I so did not want
him to take on the enemy Fae alone.

  “I won’t be alone,” he murmured, somehow following my train of thought.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “Are you in my head, High Lord?”

  He shrugged. “You’re projecting.”

  I nipped his neck with my teeth, then nestled myself in his embrace one more. His hand brushed down my ribs, drawing me even closer to his honed body, and the reluctance to let him go transformed into a living entity.

  “I’m a warrior, Liva,” he said in that smooth, velvet voice that left no room for arguing. “But I am not the only one the Court of Earth has. The murder of my brother can be interpreted as an act of war, and I intend to use all means necessary to bring his killers to justice. I meet with the council this afternoon, and we’ll see what we can do.” He rested his cheek on the loose curls of my hair. “Rest now, love. And don’t dwell on things that haven’t yet come to pass.”

  He had a point. So, determined to enjoy these few hours we had left together, I closed my eyes and listened to his steady breaths, the strong but calm beating of his heart. But, despite the serenity of the moment, I couldn’t shake the feeling that things were going to go very, very wrong.

  And all I could do was hope to the gods above and below that I was wrong.

  Chapter 24

  The sun was crawling across the horizon as I stood in the spacious living quarters on the ground floor of the manor, observing the amethyst pendant dangling lightly from its silver chain. The stone was silent, devoid of any memories. Only its power hummed in a soothing melody that caressed my ears and gave off a strong sense of serenity.

  “This will give me the means to evanesce?” I asked wearily as I placed the chain around my neck, the pendant settling in the groove between my breasts.

  A half smile tugged on Cian’s lips. “Try it.”