She yelped, turning from Evvan to see where the voice had come from. “Who said that?”
Evvan sighed and said, “’Tis Anistana,” as he dismounted.
“Ani-who?” Nat frowned at Evvan as he helped her down from the horse. “Who the hell is she?”
Anistana giggled in Nat’s head, the sound kind of like a small win in Vegas on the dime slots—when they used to have dime slots, anyway.
Would you truly like to know, lost one? the woman’s voice inquired. Are you ready to understand?
Natalie propped her hands on her hips and glared into the forest. She was exhausted, in desperate need of a bath and a clean change of clothing, not to mention in dire need of her toothpaste and deodorant. And God knew she would kill for a cup of Starbucks dark roast right about now.
“Cut the crap,” Nat all but growled. “Stop talking in my head and don’t mess with me. I’m not in the mood for it.”
L’th’amir pawed at the ground, and Evvan groaned.
“What?” Nat turned her scowl on him. “She was rude first.”
Rude, am I? Anistana’s laugh had a wicked ring to it, as though she delighted in the description. You truly have no idea…but soon, you most certainly will, little sister.
“Do not worry.” Evvan raked his hand through his black hair. “The Queen will not harm you. Submit you to pleasures of the flesh, mayhap, but you shall be fine.”
Natalie’s jaw dropped and she looked at him as though he’d grown another cock. “What in the hell are you…” she started, but her words died as everything around her turned blue. As though someone had taken one of those blue Dwarf bastards and swirled them up in a blender, and she was dead center.
Even as she opened her mouth to scream for Evvan, her senses filled with the scents of roses and lilies. Her voice failed her, her arms were pinned to her sides, and her eyelids grew heavy. So heavy she could hardly hold them up.
“You shall be fine,” Evvan’s voice came to her—kind of tinny, like a bad phone connection. “Just try not to raise her ire further.”
Fuck off, she thought the second before she dropped into a deep sleep.
Chapter Nine
“Miz.” Natalie’s head throbbed like she’d been trampled on by at least half of New York’s pedestrians during rush hour. She rolled onto her side and snuggled under the blanket.
“No more club-hopping with you,” she murmured, her voice coming out slurred. Every time she and Miz got together for a night on the town, she’d wake up on her apartment floor, or Miz’s—depending on what city they’d been in at the time.
Nat never could hold her alcohol. One Cosmopolitan martini, and the next thing she knew she’d be making out with some muscle-bound guy on the dance floor—never mind that he could have been a former convict or a fast food restaurant reject. Of course Nat did have Miz with her. A one woman security force, she could intimidate the biggest man. With one look, and a twist of her four-inch heels into the man’s foot, she’d send ‘em packing.
What a freakin’ bizarre dream. Natalie groaned as memories of the dream returned to her, one after another. The dragon…a golden horse…the incredible blue Hulk…a bitchy woman…a bunch of mist that looked like blue cotton candy…
And the sexiest man she’d ever had the pleasure of fantasizing about. Odd that she’d fantasize about a man with pointed ears and a ridged cock.
Mmmmmm.
She sighed as she burrowed further under her covers, the throb of her head gradually easing. A part of her, a very large part of her, wished it had all been real—well, that he had been real.
Evvan. Her dream man’s name had been Evvan.
Damn. Why did it feel so intense, as though it had really happened?
And in her dream, she’d—wow. She’d actually fallen in love with—with an Elf?
But what a sexy Elf he’d been. Her heart clenched and she squeezed her eyes tighter, wanting to bring him back. Wanting him to be real.
If she tried hard enough, she could almost smell his musk of pine and forest breezes. Could almost feel his hand caressing her hip beneath the blanket, could almost hear him as he murmured, “Wake l’tiani.”
Natalie’s eyes popped open. First thing she noticed—judging by the gold furniture, crystal walls, and the silver trees growing in the room, whose leaves made a soft tinkling sound by the way—she wasn’t in her own bedroom. Second—she was naked. Third—there was a man lying behind her, stroking her hip beneath the covers with his callused palm while nuzzling her neck. Oh my, here was the biggie, literally… Fourth—he’d just pressed his very large, very hard, very ridged cock tight against her ass.
And how about a fifth (of Vodka, please)—he smelled of forest breezes.
“Evvan?” Nat rolled over in his arms and found herself face-to-face with her dream man. For a moment she could only stare at him, taking in his strong features, the tattoos along his cheekbones, the careless fall of his mane of long black hair—and those incredibly sexy pointed ears.
He propped himself up on one arm and studied her as he stroked her nipple with his thumb.
“You’re real,” she whispered. “All of this is real.”
A puzzled expression crossed his dangerously handsome face. He brought his hand up and stroked her cheek with his knuckles. “I do not understand you when you speak in your own tongue, l’tiani.”
“Oh.” She smiled, her heart swelling with so many feelings—happiness, uncertainty, and definitely lust—that she thought she might just erupt. A regular Mt. Vesuvius of emotions. “Never mind,” she replied in the Devline language.
“You are so beautiful.” Gently he brushed hair from her eyes. “If the goddess had a face, surely she would look like you.”
Warmth spread throughout Natalie, her nipples coming to hard points and her core aching as though she hadn’t had sex in a year. To hear this powerful man say something so sweet, it just about made her melt.
An icky, gooey, I’m-in-love-with-you kind of melt.
Evvan flung aside the blanket, moved over her, and eased between her naked thighs. His body fit perfectly against hers. She wriggled beneath him, arching her hips up. “I want you, Evvan.”
“Forever.” Gently he brought his lips to hers and she sighed into his mouth as their tongues met and mated.
Forever.
She didn’t want to think about that now. Didn’t want to contemplate anything beyond this moment, in the arms of the man she loved.
I love him.
The thought made the moment, the time with him so much more precious. He explored her mouth with his tongue, kissing her so thoroughly that she felt tipsy—like she’d just had a Cosmo, and the alcohol and gone straight to her head.
“I cannot get enough of your scent,” Evvan murmured as he moved down between her thighs. “And your taste—’tis the most powerful of elixirs.”
He lapped at Natalie’s folds, his tongue sending spirals of sensation throughout her. She slid her hands into his hair and grabbed him by the ears as he devoured her.
Just as she reached the pinnacle of her climax, the now familiar burst of warm energy flowed from Evvan’s body, straight to her core and throughout her body. She cried out, her hips like a bucking bronc and his mouth the rider.
She still vibrated as he rose up above her and placed the head of his cock to the opening of her channel. His dark gaze fixed on hers, he slid inside, filling her up, heart and soul.
“I love you, l’tiani,” he murmured as he thrust within her, the ridges driving her quickly toward another climax. “You are more than my heartmate—our souls have been mated through time. We join once again, for all that is eternity.”
“Yes.” Her voice rose as the intensity of his momentum increased. “I—I love you, Evvan.”
His expression turned triumphant, his black eyes flashing. “Come with me,” he demanded as the warm glow began to pulsate within him and through him, straight into her. “Now.”
Natalie shouted as her orgasm e
xploded throughout her body, and as Evvan yelled her name. Fireworks exploded within her mind—like around the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July—brilliant colors and flashing lights filling her sight, taking over all that she knew.
* * * * *
This time when Natalie woke, she knew exactly where she was—well, that she was in Evvan’s arms, on another world called Dair, and she was in a gold and crystal room with silver leaves tinkling overhead.
What she didn’t know, was who the hell the naked redhead was who was sitting at the foot of the bed, watching her and Evvan sleep.
Nat pushed herself up in a hurry, using Evvan for leverage, and he grunted as he woke.
“Who—” Nat started to demand, when she noticed gossamer wings flapping in a slow, lazy motion behind the woman, pushing the scent of roses and lilies over them, just like she’d smelled in the forest earlier.
Wings.
“Are those real?” was the only question that came to Nat’s mind. Forget that the woman was naked, her nipples large and rosy, and her mound shaved of all hair.
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Do not tell me you are as daft as my twin, Tierra.”
That voice—Nat recognized it in a heartbeat. “You’re Anistana…and you’re a Faerie.”
“Brilliant.” Anistana rolled her emerald eyes towards Evvan. “I do not suppose you could have found one with a little more intelligence?”
Nat’s face flushed. “Listen, you bi—”
Evvan’s hand clamped firmly over her mouth and he held her tight against him. She struggled but couldn’t break his hold. Asshole, she thought, wishing she could project the sentiment right into his Neanderthal brain.
Anistana gave a wicked smile and Evvan cut a sharp glance at Nat before turning back to the Faerie and asking, “What may we do for you, Queen Anistana?”
Queen, huh? Well, I don’t give a flying fu—
“Natalie,” Evvan barked. “Silence your thoughts.”
She went completely still. He heard me?
“Aye.” Anistana giggled and flipped her flame-red hair over her shoulder. “But do continue. I am quite entertained.”
Nat narrowed her eyes at the Queen who turned her gaze on Evvan. Slowly Anistana looked over him, from his sleep-tousled black hair, down his broad chest to his narrow hips and his large and pleasingly ridged cock. “A pity I did not fuck you at least once before I found my heartmate,” Anistana said with a sly look at Natalie. “I am sure you would have been an enjoyable ride.”
Anger rushed through Nat like a hoard of frustrated women shoppers at a Bloomingdale’s shoe sale. As in, touch those Pradas and die, missy. She barely heard Evvan’s, “No, l’tiani,” through the blood rushing in her ears. With all the force she’d practiced over the past few days, she shoved her magical power at the redheaded bitch.
Nothing.
Not a damn thing happened.
Anistana’s smile turned cold. “You project your thoughts too loudly. If you are to survive the Fae killer, you must not give him a chance to block your powers.” The Queen turned her attention to Evvan. “Release my sister.”
“Rein your temper, l’tiani,” Evvan murmured as he removed his hand from her mouth. “All of Fae is in danger, including you.”
“The Sorcerer Voral murdered our mother when we were but sprites,” Anistana said. “After Mother’s death, Voral was not seen for over a decade. It was later learned that Zanden, his apprentice, had betrayed him. Zanden trapped Voral in an alternate existence—in a prison created by sorcery. A sort of death, if you will.” Anistana’s wings snapped open and shut as she spoke, as if she was agitated. “Only recently, shortly before Zanden’s demise, did Voral escape that prison and return to plague us.”
Natalie frowned, her eyebrows pinching together. “Like a genie trapped in a bottle?” she asked while the image of Disney’s large blue genie popped into her mind.
Anistana narrowed her emerald gaze. “Do not take this threat lightly, sister.”
Thoughts of Fae killers and danger were too overwhelming at the moment, and Nat thought her head might explode.
“What do you mean, our mother?” Nat said as it suddenly dawned on her. She raised her chin and glared at Anistana. “Why do you keep calling me sister?”
The Queen sighed. “This conversation is eerily familiar. Could it possibly be due to the fact that I recently had a similar discussion with another long lost sister?”
Whoa. Sister. Fae. What the—
Pinching her eyebrows together, Nat glanced from Evvan and back to Anistana. “You’re trying to tell me I’m a Faerie. But you have wings. Obviously I don’t.”
Anistana shrugged her slender shoulders in a dismissive gesture. “Apparently you are a second born of twins, and second born Fae never have wings.”
“Well of course,” Natalie snapped. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
Nat’s new sis continued, ignoring the sarcasm. “Which leads to the conclusion that there is yet another sister hidden somewhere…” Anistana’s wing beats slowed and her emerald eyes looked thoughtful. “…although that sister would be a bit harder to hide as she would have wings.”
“You knew, didn’t you?” Natalie sliced her gaze toward Evvan. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It was not for me to tell.” He reached up to caress her ear. “The starmark behind your left earlobe. It matches the one on Anistana’s right. I noticed hers the day Simoone died.”
“Starmark?” Natalie leaned into Evvan’s touch without thinking. “You mean my star birthmark?”
The Queen pointed with a delicate finger to the silver leaved tree growing in the middle of the room, whose branches swayed far above the bed. “The star we were born with matches the pattern on mishnui leaves. The mishnui is a most sacred tree to Astral.”
Anistana turned her gaze to the tattoo around Nat’s belly button. “’Twas most unwise to flaunt the symbol of Astral royalty.” Her lips tightened. “You put yourself and our family in extreme danger.”
“Astral royalty?” Natalie caressed the tattoo and the gold ring. “Could that be why I was brought here?”
Evvan nodded. “That has been my thought.”
Wow. The conversation all but overwhelmed Nat. It was almost too much info to process all at once.
“Unbelievable.” Natalie shook her head, her wine-red hair brushing across her nipples as she moved. Odd, but she was totally naked in front of a complete stranger—so what if that stranger was supposedly a long lost sister—and Nat didn’t feel in the least bit self-conscious about being naked.
What’s with that?
“So why have I been on Earth all this time?” Nat asked. “If I’m from this world, then why didn’t I grow up here?”
Anistana frowned, but even then the Queen was still beautiful. “I did not know of your existence ’til I sensed the starmark when you entered my realm. Apparently you were sent away to keep you safe from the Fae killer. To ensure the continuation of our kind should anything happen to me, or Tierra…”
The Queen’s voice trailed off as her eyes widened. “I am such a fool! Right beneath my nose—hidden in plain sight!”
Anistana’s wings beat faster as she rose above the bed. She no longer seemed to notice Natalie and Evvan.
“Améa,” the Faerie said softly as her gaze turned to the crystal walls. Through them Natalie could see blue mist swirling through the gardens outside, as though seeking something, or someone. “Ahh…there ’tis. A powerful spell masked Améa’s starmark—leaving it to be revealed only by a direct inquiry from a sister. No doubt our mother cast the spell before her death.”
“What?” Nat glanced up at Evvan. “Is she seeing something we’re not?”
“Aye.” He gestured toward the blue mist. “With her mist, Anistana can see everything within her realm. She knows immediately if a creature or being enters Wilding Wood.”
“Or Astral.” Anistana’s gaze returned to Evvan and Natalie, and there was a hint of a girl
ish smile on her lips that made her look less devious. “I must leave you as I have just sensed that my husband has returned from Vianale.” Silver sparkled around her as she said, “Be prepared to attend a feast in the garden alcove this eve.”
Chapter Ten
“Hold on,” Natalie said as the glitter grew brighter and Anistana began to fade. “We’re not going anywhere without some clothes…and a bath!”
Anistana disappeared.
“How rude.” Nat scowled as Anistana vanished. She started to turn to Evvan only to see more silver sparkles on either side of the bed. Her jaw dropped as a pair of gorgeous Faeries appeared, both as naked as Anistana had been. Heck, as naked as they all were.
The Faerie on Evvan’s side of the bed was wingless, but the one on Nat’s side had beautiful iridescent ebony wings. They both had night dark skin, exotic amber eyes, and their lips were full and a deep garnet shade. Long shimmering hair tumbled over their breasts and large burgundy nipples, and their mounds were shaved.
For a second Nat’s gaze lingered on the winged Faerie’s nipples. A flash of memory returned to her as she recalled the woman from the convention center who’d been wearing that sheer costume and had been dressed like a fairy—er, Faerie.
Nipples. Dark burgundy, full, and erect.
A sly smile curved the corner of the winged Faerie’s mouth, and heat rushed to Natalie’s cheeks. Had she projected her thoughts again?
Before she could say anything, Evvan inclined his head to the winged Faerie. “Elinni,” he said, and then nodded to the other one as well. “Ibella.”
“Welcome, Devline Enforcer,” Ibella said, her amber eyes taking in Evvan’s naked form. “’Tis good to see you again.” Her gaze lingered on his cock. “Very good.”
“Hey!” Nat scowled as jealousy burned in her chest. “What in the—”
“Come, newfound child of Fae,” the Faerie called Elinni interrupted. The perfume of lilies eased over Natalie as the Faerie took her hand. “’Tis time for your bath.”
“Enjoy Astral’s customs.” Evvan’s features remained stoic as he spoke to Nat. “You will learn much of the world to which you were born.”
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