The Fire Within The Night (Night Aberrations - Book Two)

by JD Nelson

  Jakob tucked my hair behind my ear and stroked my cheek. “Ease your mind, love. I do not cherish the thought of drinking another’s blood.”

  “Good, because I despise it.”

  “I, too, wish that there was another choice.”

  “I wish that I could do it for you,” I admitted, a little ashamed of my greed in this. “It’s stupid, but even with all of the other magic I possess, I hate not being the one who can do that for you.”

  A look of concentration crossed his features. “Erin, Myrgjöl said that you had the power of absorption, did she not?”

  Sitting up, I gave him a wide-eyed look, understanding what he implied with his question. “Uh, bite me, Jakob.”

  He laughed. “You know, out of context, those words could be a little unsettling to hear.”

  “Then I’m glad that no one else is here to hear it,” I teased. “Come on, do it. Wait. You won’t burn up right away if it doesn’t work, will you?”

  “Not right away, no. It would take an hour or so,” he replied, his fangs peeking out, past his smile.

  “So, it’s like what happened to me when I went back to the shop? The thousand needle pricks of hell and smoking flesh?”

  He sat up. “You could have been injured, Erin. Why am I just hearing this now?”

  “I forgot. I had a lot going on with the whole Soren, Chase, Älvornas Rike, Queen Layla, and the Nils thing.”

  “If you burned, I doubt you have the light elves ability,” he said, clearly upset with himself. “I am sorry, my love. I should have thought to caution you after your elven magic emerged.”

  I rolled my eyes at his martyred expression. “You have to stop blaming yourself for my stupidity, Jakob. You did try to stop me, remember?”

  “Yes, but I have not made myself available to you in the ways that are important, as I should have. You must have questions about your magic, and concerns about your expectations, now that Kristian is gone and you shall be Queen of Svartálfaheim. Please believe that I will be more attentive to your needs … all of them, from today forward.”

  I shook my head. “All of my needs, huh? Oh, Jakob. You’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

  He pulled his borrowed shirt over my head, leaving me in just my panties. “At the moment, nothing bad comes to mind, älskling, but to answer your question, yes, I do.”

  “Jakob, I understand that your responsibilities keep you away. And, I mean, sure, I have questions, but when faced with the option of having mind-blowing sex, or having a serious conversation about current affairs, I will always pick sex.” I stood to slide my underwear off. “Every topic pales in comparison with your dick.”

  “Forgive me, Erin,” he said, surging up from the bed with me in tow. “I have never wanted to ‘fuck’ anyone, but you bring out the animal in me. I want you on my cock. I have to be inside of you.” He backed us to the wall and kissed me, teasing at first, then with an overwhelming intensity I struggled to match. Breaking the kiss, he panted through sharp fangs. “I have too many clothes on.”

  Desperate to give my mate what he wanted, I successfully made his jeans disappear on the first attempt. Jakob smiled at the turn of circumstance, but instead of congratulating me on my new found talent, he didn’t say a word, just lifted me up, so that I could wrap my legs around him. Breathing heavily, his single-minded determination made his face appear almost cruel as he impaled me against the wall and groaned out his pleasure. Over and over, he drove into me, never taking his eyes from mine. His fierce gaze was hypnotizing. So much so, I couldn’t be certain that he wasn’t using his influence on me. Mesmerized, I watched as he brought my palm to his mouth and bit down, drawing on the fresh wound until we reached our peak together, both of us crying out in uninhibited ecstasy.

  Jakob collapsed onto the mattress with me still clinging to him. “You have no idea how much I have missed you being in my bed.”

  I pushed myself up on my weak arms and sprawled next to him. “I do have some idea. It’s about as much as I miss being in your bed. It’s heaven—one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever slept on.”

  He arched a bewildered eyebrow and turned his head toward me. “Sorry, what?”

  An involuntary giggle escaped from my lips. It was impossible not to laugh at the lost look he had on his face. “I’m infatuated with your bed.”

  “Then I shall not stand in your way of sleeping there.”

  “That’s all I ever wanted,” I teased. “Can you get Soren to do that, too?”

  He grinned. “It will be my next endeavor.”

  “Seriously, I think we should give Soren an ultimatum, and if he doesn’t like it, we should just leave. Not the rebellion, of course, just from his society until he can grow up. It may take a few thousand years, but he will eventually accept our mating, right?”

  His face was skeptical. “We shall see about that. Soren is…” He groped above his head for my discarded shirt and shoved it at me as a knock sounded at the door. “Here already.”

  I leaned in to kiss him before he could get up, tracing my finger through the dark hair of his chest and downward toward his still heavy erection. “Soren has a sixth sense for interrupting what has the promise of being an extremely satisfying night.”

  “It does seem that way,” he agreed, catching my wandering hand. “Älskling, you little devil. Your brother will suspect the worst if I do not answer the door soon.”

  Arching a devious brow, I purred, “I know. I’m counting on it,” and gave him a light squeeze with my free hand.

  Groaning, he shot up from the bed. “I should have been warned that my mate would be so evil.” He motioned to his dick. “What am I going to do with this?”

  “Ask the male that’s trying to make me a nun out there. And tell him I’m taking a shower before I go anywhere, while you’re at it.”

  “Of course. Nils retrieved a few belongings from your apartment while you slept. You will find them in a satchel on the dresser.”

  A sudden vision of me having to walk out of the hotel room in the prostitute’s outfit I’d wore last Halloween filled my head. “I can’t believe you let Nils pick out my clothes.”

  “It was not as if I wanted him to go through your private things. I would have sent one of the staff, if it had not been too dangerous. I doubt that it will give you any relief, but I did ask him to be tasteful and practical. There may have been several threats involved.”

  I picked up a tiny black thong that lay on top with a finger. “I guess you could consider this practical. I could fashion it into a slingshot if I had to.”

  He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I am going to kill him, and then I want to see you in those and nothing else, though the ones you had on earlier were…more than alluring. And speaking of those, where are they, and where are my jeans? I will need them if I have any hope of Soren not beating me into a bloody stain on the carpet.”

  “Oh, yeah. Is now a good time to talk about my—” I did quotation marks with my fingers. “Emerging magic? Because I have no idea how I pulled that one off.”

  He barked out a laugh and flinched when the insistent knocking turned to pounding. “Soren wishes the clothes into being. It should not be hard.”

  I closed my eyes and thought about the customary pair of black jeans he’d been wearing. When I opened them, he stood dressed, but looked a little disheveled. “Are you okay?”

  He smiled and pulled me into his grasp, tracing the curve of my bottom with his strong hands. “Perfectly, and I was serious about the panties. I want you in those and nothing else.”

  With a seductive grin, I murmured, “Anything you want, my king. Now please go get the door before Soren breaks it down.”

  He bent to kiss me, his green eyes growing brighter with his mounting lust. “I will remember that you said that, Erin.”

  “Then I hope you have a good memory,” I replied, kissing him back, then heading to the bathroom with the bag Nils had better hope included more than lingerie.
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br />   CHAPTER TWELVE

  Viggo’s farm was situated far off the county road, about thirty minutes outside of Lincoln, judging by my annoyance level. The trip had been so monotonous. Cornfield after never-ending, mind numbing cornfield. “Are we there yet?” I asked, ready to jump out the window just to get some excitement.

  Soren laughed at my petulant tone. “Yes. That is the house in the distance.”

  Slowing down to turn on a hidden dirt road, I spied the white house I’d been praying would materialize. I couldn’t stay in this car with Soren’s smug face a second longer. I was so pissed at his refusal to accept Jakob and me as mates. Even after spending so much time traveling on the trip to Múspellsheim, he still wouldn’t budge.

  Soren caught my attention in the rear view mirror, a pleasant smile, which was every bit out of place as Viggo owning a farmhouse in corn country, spread across his face. Cue the creepy movie music. This was starting to feel like one of those low-budget slasher flicks that come on late at night. “Am I ever going to leave Nebraska, Soren? Which is it going to be? Huh? Buried behind the barn or fed to the pigs? Because if I get to choose, I’ll just start digging now.”

  He scoffed at my crossed arms. “Are you serious, Erin? Viggo would never own pigs.”

  I sighed, more exasperated than I was thirty seconds before. “Well then, what’s the smile about, Soren?” Why had I ever wanted a brother?

  “Nothing particular,” he answered, in his irritating, cryptic way. Still smiling, he started humming as he guided the car to a stop behind the house.

  “Are you humming a merry tune? What the fuck, Soren? Can someone tell me what is going on?” His attitude was a complete one-eighty from the way it was just a couple of hours ago.

  Emelie smacked him on the forearm. “Stop it. This is not a vacation.”

  “It almost feels like one,” Nils supplied. He’d been so quiet, I’d forgotten he was stretched out across the far backseat of Soren’s SUV.

  “See?” Soren asked.

  “Both of you, shut up!” Emelie warned, crossing her arms. She looked at me with pursed lips, shaking her head. “Ugh, males, you can’t live with them, and you can’t feed them to the pigs.”

  Axel and Viggo stood waiting in front of the house as we pulled into the driveway. Damn, they were so handsome. I’d have to talk to Emelie about a males of the rebellion calendar for next year. Maybe we could make some extra cash before they annoyed us to the brink of insanity.

  Emelie opened her door and jumped out, holding up a hand in the universal stop motion. “Nope. Erin and I are having a quick chat. You can see her in a minute, okay?”

  “Please, do not delay her any longer than necessary,” Axel said, bowing.

  Bewildered, Emelie responded, “Of course not, Jörmungand. We won’t be long.”

  Just as confused as she was, I followed her into the cozy old house and into a parlor adjacent to the living room.

  As soon as I was settled, she asked, “So?”

  “Hmmm. Whatever could you be talking about?” I replied in a sing-song voice.

  “Spill, Erin.”

  “It’s no big deal, Emelie. I spent the day with him. We had sex.”

  “Yeah, about that. Soren told me that he walked in on you two.”

  “If you consider kicking in the door and catching us buck naked, then yes, he did.”

  She was grim. “I suppose I should have expected Soren to omit that tiny, little, insignificant detail.”

  “Well, he did seem pretty embarrassed once he’d done it.”

  She rolled her eyes at her mate’s antics. “I’m sure he did, the hotheaded idiot, but forget about that for a minute. There’s something I’ve been dying to know since Soren told me about what happened.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m wondering if Mr. Serious penciled you in for a sex appointment, or did he just narrate and correct your form the whole time?” She straightened and spoke in a strict, accented voice. “Erin, remember your posture.”

  I burst out laughing at the scholarly way she portrayed Jakob. Sure, he was sharp and focused, but he didn’t act like the uptight dullard they all thought him to be. At least, not with me, he didn’t.

  “Emelie, it was incredible,” I answered in truth. “Wild and out of control.” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “We did it on the carpet and once in the shower, before we ever made it to a bed.”

  “The carpet?” she asked, in astonishment. “Let’s just back up a minute here. We are speaking of the same male, aren’t we? Tall guy, dreamy green eyes, stick up the ass personality?”

  “Yep. That’s him.”

  She looked impressed. “Jakob Väsen … the carpet, really?”

  In a blink, Axel popped into existence behind Emelie and stole a kiss from her cheek. “She is indeed serious, my lady. Evangelina even asked me if she needed to make breakfast for the females, thinking that they were new ones in residence.”

  Emelie dragged her horrified gaze from Axel to me. “Oh, Erin. Please, tell me you didn’t!”

  I grinned, unable to contain my excitement. “I did, and it was hotter than hell.”

  “It’s true,” Axel agreed, winking at me. “It would have been the hottest thing I have ever overheard, if Jakob hadn’t been involved.” He shuddered, as if reliving the memory. “That part was quite disturbing.”

  Emelie held her hands over her ears. “Hush, you two. This is Jakob we’re talking about.”

  “I wouldn’t bother with that, kitten,” Axel said, dismissing her disgust with a self-satisfied smile. “Now that Soren knows about the harem part, you’ll be hearing plenty about it, I am sure. He was very angry upon hearing the news.”

  My stomach plummeted, and Emelie took off for the door, shouting instructions behind her. “Give me some time to calm Soren down!”

  “What are you going to do?” I called after her.

  “Damage control!” she yelled. “Fuck you very much, Axel!”

  He chuckled and sat down at the table. “That was … excellent.”

  “Why did you tell him about the harem?” I demanded, pissed and confused by his smugness. Why would anyone that had met my brother try to anger him? Soren was sure to kill Jakob over this.

  Axel was unabashed. “I was bored.”

  I sat down and smacked him in the back of the head. “What the fuck, Axel?”

  Viggo walked into the room just as Axel caught my hand. “Abusing the king’s servants already, huh, Erin?”

  “He deserved it. That, and a swift kick to the ass,” I answered, glaring at Axel, daring him to say different.

  Viggo laughed at our power struggle and pulled my hand from his friend’s grasp. “Take care that you avoid his touch, Erin. He can be quite persuasive.”

  I nearly laughed. How well I knew how compelling Axel’s magic could be. “He is not the only one with the power of influence.”

  “Indeed. I could hear Soren yelling at Jakob about the harem from my bedroom. Axel that was a real dick move, telling him about that. What could you have gained from incriminating my brother?”

  “Dick move!” Axel spat. “It is funny that you would choose those words because those are the ones I would have chosen for the situation Saint Jakob put us in. You should have seen him, parading her around like he’d won first prize in a true-mate contest, and then, to top off the insult, he sent her around the dinner table to put the king and me under her sway. I am sure that even you will agree, Viggo, that to wave Erin’s supple beauty under our noses and then to fuck her senseless within earshot is the definition of a ‘dick move.’

  “Oh, fuck.” I bent my forehead to the tabletop and gave it a quick whack. “Fuck.” Whack. “Fuck.” Whack. “FUCK!”

  “Erin, what the hell? Viggo exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders to keep me from doing it again.

  “This is all my fault!”

  Viggo smoothed back my hair and examined my reddened forehead. “How could any of this be your fault, poppet?”


  Tears slipped down my cheeks. “Myrgjöl told me tonight that I could absorb magic from others, which makes me the dick in this whole mess.”

  Axel understood what I was implying. “Kristian gave you his magic when he took your hand.”

  “Yes. I’m so sorry. I had no idea what I was doing … or taking.”

  He sighed in relief. “I am just glad to hear that there is an explanation for the urges I had after dinner. The need to pull that straight-laced know-it-all off of your naked body and show you how a real male fucks was relentless.”

  “Axel!” Viggo scolded. “Watch your tongue when you speak to my niece, or I will cut it out!”

  He waved off Viggo’s stern reprimand with a wave of the hand. “Ask Kristian, if you do not believe me. We both suffered until Evangelina made us leave the east wing.”

  “Is that why he was drinking in the kitchen that day?”

  “It was either that or go insane. Did you have any idea how much influence you were using on us?”

  “None, though I’ll admit that I was hoping to give you a little bit of payback for the influence you were both using on me. I just wanted to wipe the smirks off your faces. That’s all.”

  “Well, what a surprise,” Viggo said, sarcasm dripping from his words. “The king and his right hand used their talents for evil instead of good. You two are a couple nefarious deeds away from getting your own HBO series.”

  “It was harmless flirting, Viggo. I can assure you. How was I to know that she would steal his magic and use it against us?”

  Incensed, I sprang from my seat. “Uh, asshole, I wouldn’t have done anything if you hadn’t started it! And do you think that I want that power? Why couldn’t it be something useful?”

  “You think his magic useless?” he asked, astounded by my harsh honesty.

  “Okay, maybe useless is a bit cruel,” I acknowledged. “I just find it ironic that someone who will never need it would have the power of sexual influence.”

  “Likewise, Erin,” he growled, lifting a sensual eyebrow.