Fanning Her Flames

by Lacey Thorn

  “Yes and perhaps if you will allow me to help you dress and share this tray of food with me then I can take you out of doors and show you what I can do.” Erika’s eyes twinkled with merriment as she added, “I am quite amazing, I assure you.”

  Farrah giggled with pure delight. “That sounds wonderful.” Then her smile faded and she seemed to withdraw back into herself their brief moment of companionship pushed aside. “But I don’t know if I am allowed. My mates are no longer here and I know not where they have gone.”

  “Allowed!” Erika scoffed. “You are a Guardian, blessed by the goddess’s own hands.” She slapped the bed next to Farrah. “I would advise you to remember that as well. A Guardian seeks no permission. Better to ask for forgiveness than be denied to start with.”

  Farrah found herself smiling again. “I will do my best.” She could already sense that Erika was going to bring mischief and delight into her life.

  Erika helped her to sit up and turned away to lift the tray, allowing Farrah a moment of privacy to lift the covers high enough to hide her nudity. Erika turned back and placed the tray over Farrah’s lap and helped herself to a wedge of cheese and a glass of the wine. She nibbled and kept watch while Farrah ate her fill of the fruit and cheese before draining her own glass of wine.

  “How long have you been the bonded mate of the Donan brothers?” Erika asked softly.

  “A few hours, I suppose,” Farrah replied then jumped when Erika squealed and slammed her glass on the bedside table.

  “What do you mean, only hours?” Erika demanded, shaking her head. “Perhaps you should start from the beginning and tell me everything. We are sisters of a sort, bonded more closely then if we shared blood, so there is nothing that you can’t tell me.” Erika moved to the other side of the room and picked Farrah’s clothes up from the chair and carried them back across the room to her, giving Farrah time to collect her thoughts and decide where to begin.

  “My aunt sent me here to protect me from a bonding with a different set of warriors.” Farrah waved that away with a flick of her hand, refusing to discuss what she no longer saw as an issue. She was bonded now to the Donans and it would be suicide for any other group of warriors, especially the Latoni, to try anything now. “I traveled for eleven days to get here, guided by my aunt to find you. I had only just stumbled upon you and your mates in the glen when I ran into the Donan brothers, well, two of them at least.” She blushed because she knew that she had just told Erika what she had seen the other woman doing with her mates.

  “You just met them?” Erika was lost, not understanding how Farrah could have met and bonded with the Donan brothers in so short a span of time. As for Farrah seeing her with Galen and Arik in the glen, that she would not comment on, not with Farrah’s discomfort so high. “But you are mated to them?”

  Farrah dropped the covers to her waist and pushed them down far enough to show the wolf head on her lower right abdomen. “I bear their mark on my body.” She pushed up from the bed and moved so that her legs dangled over the side.

  Erika gasped as she saw the blood that still stained Farrah’s thighs. Farrah hung her head but refused to hide what they had done to her.

  “They left you this way?” Erika whispered with shock and then hurried to get a bowl of water and cloth and brought it over to the bed, giving the cloth to Farrah and holding the water for her while Farrah cleaned up. “How could they leave you this way?”

  Farrah felt the tears in her eyes and was helpless to stop them from flowing down her cheeks.

  Erika took the used cloth from her hands and put both it and the bowl of dirty water aside. She pulled Farrah off the bed and hugged her, whispering in her ear, “I am here for you. No matter what comes your way, I am here now. You no longer face anything alone. Did they hurt you?”

  Farrah took a shuddering breath. “It was beautiful at first. Marcus made me feel so good, it was unbelievable, magical.” She shook her head sadly, “Then he just walked away and let his brother take his place, let his brother claim me.” She looked up at Erika. “I didn’t even know Bannen’s name until after he used me for his pleasure.” More tears leaked from her eyes and trailed down her cheeks and Erika felt them fill her own eyes as well.

  “Did Alexi hurt you as well?”

  “No, he yelled at Bannen to get off me. He came toward me but I was too frightened at the time.” Farrah shuddered with the memory. “All I could see at the time was the last of my mates ready to claim me.”

  Erika patted Farrah’s back and then stepped away from her, bending to pick up Farrah’s skirt and helping her step into it. “Alexi is a sweet man. I can’t see him hurting you but then I couldn’t have seen either Marcus or Bannen acting that way.” Erika helped fasten the red top behind Farrah’s neck and back. “Lust can do strange things to a man though. It doesn’t make their actions okay, not by a long shot. They can have no excuse for why they treated you as they did.”

  Erika looked like a fierce warrior and Farrah actually giggled. “Are you going to beat them up for me?”

  Erika nodded slowly and smiled once more. “I’ll see to your warriors as long as you keep mine from interfering.”

  Farrah was confused. “Why would you need me to do that?”

  “You cannot use your own powers against your mates,” Erika explained. “Didn’t your aunt tell you that?”

  “I have a feeling that there is much she didn’t choose to share with me,” Farrah sighed.

  “So what is your power?” Erika asked as she picked up the tray and, with Farrah following her, headed out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the bottom level of the house.

  “I have the power of fire. I make flame with my hands,” Farrah confessed.

  “And your mates have no idea of this, do they?” Erika whispered.

  “No, there was no time to tell them. You know more of me than they do,” Farrah whispered back.

  “Then you will have the last laugh, Farrah. They will be more than sorry that they hurt you and in the process angered the Guardians.” Erika sat the tray on the great wooden table and took Farrah’s hand in hers. “For to anger or hurt one of us is to do the same to us all. Just remember when we find them to keep my own two warriors away so that I can deal with yours. Don’t hurt my mates but buy me some time.”

  Farrah grinned with genuine anticipation. “I will do my best. But your secret will be out then. Are you sure that you wish to do this for me?”

  “Your warriors already know that I am a Guardian. They have seen my powers with their own eyes and have protected my secret as have my own mates. There is also another here in our village who knows of me, Reanna. I will introduce you to her. She has become a great friend and helps me often to train and work with my powers. Then there is my mother Mama Erin and my mates’ mother Mama Katya. I do not know how your aunt knew of me for I trust all who know of me with my life. I have to.”

  “The Princess Asme knows much and tells little,” Farrah told her with a smile. “I believe that she knew I would be found and mated to the Donans but chose not to tell me. She has often said that there are some things that must be experienced without warning. I also know that your secret is safe with her. She would never betray you or any Guardian.”

  “I know that,” Erika told her, “but thank you for saying it anyway. Now let’s head out before our warriors decide to check on us.”

  The two women left the house and the small village behind, heading toward the woods. Erika had decided to bring the warriors to them instead of walking around searching most likely in vain for where their mates might be. That way if someone got knocked with a small boulder or slapped by a tree branch it would not look deliberate on Erika’s part. She was angry at the treatment of Farrah by the Donan brothers. She didn’t know what would delight her more, the Donan brothers’ reaction to Farrah being a Guardian or the fact that the Princess Asme was Farrah’s aunt.

  Erika stopped at the glen where she always practiced, knowing that Galen and A
rik would look here for her first. “I will show you a little of what I can do,” she spoke quietly to Farrah. “Then you can show me what you can do. That is, you can extinguish the flames as well as create them? You will not set the forest on fire or anything?”

  Farrah laughed, the sound floating on the air around them. “Yes, I can control the flames. I can even give the illusion of fire when there is none.”

  Erika smiled big at that thought. “Now that I would like to see.” She pointed to a spot a few feet from where she stood. “Have a seat over there and I will show you my amazing feats of power and control.”

  Both girls laughed at that and Farrah moved the small distance away to sit and watch Erika. Erika showed her small things at first, like making flowers burst from the ground in beautiful displays of color. She then worked with vines for a while, showing Farrah how she could make them grow and wrap around whatever she wanted using trees and shrubs to demonstrate. The next thing Farrah knew the very trees themselves were bending and swaying with the motions of Erika’s hands. One of the branches touched the ground and Erika climbed right up on it and then made the tree grow taller than all the others around it, allowing Erika to see for miles around them. It was an amazing sight and Farrah was awed by this power that her sister Guardian held. Just as quickly Erika returned the tree to normal height and had the branch lowered once again to the earth and she stepped off and headed to Farrah.

  “If I saw correctly then we are about to have company of the warrior variety.” Erika linked hands with Farrah and pulled her into the middle of the glen. “I would guess that your mates have noticed that you are not where they left you and that my warriors are convinced my absence indicates that I am responsible somehow.” She grinned broadly at Farrah and, then releasing their clasped hands, threw her arms into the air. The wind seemed to pick up, blowing both women’s hair all around them as Erika called to the skies, “I call upon the goddess, giving thanks for the gifts bestowed. I call upon the goddess, asking wisdom to use them well.”

  Marcus stepped into the glen, followed closely by Erika’s two mates and Bannen. Farrah did not see the one she now knew as Alexi with them. Marcus looked furious and as far as Farrah was concerned that was fine with her. He stepped toward them and the ground began to tremble beneath his feet, stopping him where he was.

  One of Erika’s mates stepped forward to stand next to Marcus and the trembling stopped. “That will be enough, Erika. You will come here to me now and remove yourself from this.” He looked angry as well and his next words confirmed it. “You are in enough trouble as it is for defying my orders.”

  Erika took Farrah’s hand in hers once more before answering. “I don’t think so, Galen. Do you have any idea why Farrah is even here? Any of you?” Erika glared at the men before them. “She was sent to find me. Me! She was not sent here to be claimed and used,” she sneered the word and Marcus and Bannen both flushed, “by a group of warriors who cannot see the gift they have before them.”

  Marcus held his hand up and stated for all to hear, “Farrah is our mate and she will learn to accept this. Now if you will remove your mate, Arik, Galen, we will deal with our mate.”

  Farrah’s eyes flamed a bright green as she felt the blood in her veins heat with anger. “You plan to force me again? Should I just disrobe and lie upon my back for you to save time?” Erika choked on her laughter at Farrah’s boldness. Now this was the Guardian of Fire.

  Marcus flushed again but this time it was with anger of his own. “I did not force you, Farrah. You accepted me willingly. It will not bother me to let them,” he indicated Erika’s mates who he had addressed as Galen and Arik, “witness your submission.”

  “That was before I knew that I meant nothing to you. That was before I knew how easily you could and would walk away.” Farrah clenched her hands tight by her sides in hopes of keeping the fire burning so hot inside her at bay just a little longer.

  Bannen stepped forward then, his head downcast in his misery. “It’s me that you should throw your anger on, Farrah. I am the one who used you.” He looked up and Farrah was lost for a moment in the depths of his big blue eyes that revealed the extent of his sorrow and misery. “I stood in the doorway and watched you with Marcus, heard your sweet noises and witnessed the emotions cross your face. I let my need to experience the same thing take over and for that I am sorry. I let my lust go to my head and I took you with no thought to soft words and even less to soft movement. I hurt you and I will live with that for the rest of my life.”

  “You did not hurt me physically,” Farrah whispered, overcome with the pain she heard in his voice saw in his eyes.

  “I saw the blood on your thighs,” Bannen exclaimed. “I saw your face.”

  “No, the blood was only because it was my first time and it was from Marcus not from you. The tears I cannot deny—nay, I will not deny—that they were partly from your treatment.” She looked Bannen straight in the eyes, her green ones bright with new tears that pierced his heart like a sharp sword. “I didn’t even know your name,” she whispered to him. “I didn’t even know that there were three brothers. One moment Marcus was there and it was wonderful and then there were two others in the room with us. Before I had time to even understand the significance of that Marcus was gone and you were the one standing there, doing what he had just done. And I didn’t even know you. He was the only one of you that I even knew by name and he just walked away like I was nothing.” She glared at Marcus for a moment before turning once more to Bannen. “Then there you were and you didn’t even look at my face. You just took me and it was like I could have been anyone as far as you were concerned. It was demeaning as if I were no better than pani.”

  Both men gasped and it was only then that Farrah realized that Erika and her two warriors, Arik and Galen, were gone from the glen, leaving Farrah completely alone with her warriors. Here she stood with Bannen and Marcus, and according to Erika she could not use her powers to aid her in dealing with them.

  Marcus stepped up to her then and pulled her into his arms, wrapping her against the long length of his body. “I did not walk away as if you were nothing, Farrah. I left you to one of your mates. I told you earlier that you belonged to all of us.”

  Farrah shook her head in disbelief. Could this big warrior not see that he was at fault? “You could have at least introduced me to your brothers and them to me! You could have at least tried to make me more comfortable! You could have done any number of things but instead you chose to turn away! Can you not see just how your actions made me feel? Can you not even try?”

  “I know that you are mine and I will not let you go,” Marcus informed her, his voice hard and rough. “I know that it took all I had to move from the sweet haven between your thighs and let another man there even though it was my brother. I know that I only have to think of you and I want you all over again.” Marcus bent his head and took her mouth with a kiss that was as dominant and controlling as he was. He gave no quarter but took her prisoner, wielding his tongue like a sword and spearing deep into her mouth, tasting her everywhere, stealing the very air she breathed. He pulled back slowly, keeping his eyes on her flushed face, her swollen lips still wet from his. “I know that I would die for you a thousand times if only to stop your tears.”

  “I wish you would have expressed this to me earlier, Marcus,” she murmured softly.

  Marcus gave a slight tilt to his lips and Farrah’s heart stuttered in her chest. “If I had been able to think at the moment then perhaps I would have.”

  Farrah caught movement out of the corner of her eye and realized that Bannen was going to leave them. She held her hand out to him and implored, “No, don’t leave us, Bannen. Stay and let me get to know you, the real you. We are mated now, bonded for life. I would like to know who you are.”

  Bannen took a long breath and stepped to where she still stood in the circle of Marcus’ arms and gratefully grasped the hand she held out to him. “I would like that very much.”
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br />   “And where is the third of you?” Farrah asked the two warriors by her.

  “I am here,” Alexi called as he stepped out of the sheltering confines of the trees. He walked toward them but stopped a few steps away. “I am Alexi.”

  Farrah moved away from Bannen and Marcus and stepped to Alexi, pressing her body flush against his. “We have not consummated our bond yet,” she reminded him before framing his face in her hands. “You understood my pain and walked away when I needed you to.” She leaned up and gave him a damp kiss on his startled mouth. “I wish to thank you for that.”

  “Are you willing to mate with me now?” Alexi asked, holding his breath as he waited for her answer. He felt like he was going to burst in his pants. It had taken all of his willpower to walk away from her and he didn’t know if he could do it a second time.

  Farrah nodded her head but didn’t look at him as she answered, “You are my mate.”

  Alexi took her chin in his fingers and tilted her head up, forcing her to meet his eyes. “That is not what I asked of you. I asked if you were willing, Farrah. I will not take you if you do not want me to. I will wait until it is what you wish as well.”

  She rubbed against him, making them both aware of what his body was saying loud and clear. “You would walk away again even with your need so great?” she asked him, quietly ignoring the presence of Marcus and Bannen behind them.

  “I would do whatever you needed of me to ensure your comfort.” He stroked his hand down her cheek and added, “I would only make you happy, Farrah.”

  Farrah smiled at Alexi, his words clearing her mind of any fear or doubt that still remained. “I willingly agree to consummate our bond with you, Alexi,” she whispered to him.

  Alexi crushed his mouth down over hers, his tongue finding its way into her mouth and tasting her, drinking her in. He took her under his spell and within moments she found herself naked on her back in the thick grasses of the glen. She had no idea when her clothing had been removed, she only knew that this man was kissing her in a way that made her forget everything else around her. He consumed her, calling to her heart with his own, claiming and binding it as surely as he was her body.