by Caris Roane
“But I also believe in my heart that you’ve come into my realm for a reason. I think Bergisson needs you but I don’t know in what way. I realize we have this issue between us, or maybe it would be better to say that I have this critical need for you right now, but that doesn’t have to define the future.
“However, just for the time being, I’m asking you to stay, until I can get this all figured out, especially Ry. He’s the threat that most concerns me and that his drive toward you, now that he’s seen what you can do, is probably stronger than ever. Do you understand? Ry was here at the battle. He’s joined the Invictus and he watched you feed me.”
She nodded, but something inside her collapsed, a feeling that her liberty was being eroded. Was this how her mother had felt all those years, maybe enslaved in service to Bergisson because of her inherent fae power, something she’d been born with but never chosen?
His voice was softer now as he rubbed her arm. “Please stay.” Because of her fae abilities, she could sense his desperation. “I haven’t felt well like this in fifty years.”
“Okay, that doesn’t help at all. Are you trying to guilt me into this?”
“No, dear Goddess, no. I’m just trying to explain all the reasons why, if I can find some way to duplicate what you’ve given me, I need to do that.”
“So now you want to duplicate my blood?”
“Look, it’s clear to me that you don’t want to be here. I get it. You are your mother’s daughter. I’m just asking for you to stick around for a few days.”
“What if it turns into weeks or months?”
He seemed startled, like he hadn’t considered that as a possibility, then she understood the flip side of this coin. “Oh, my God, you don’t really want me to stay, either?”
He fell silent and his hand dropped away. His gaze shifted off to the side and his scowl deepened. “I have a duty to perform here in my realm that makes it impossible for me to become involved with any woman. When I first saw you, and felt you connect with my personal frequency, I knew you were going to be a problem.”
“I don’t fit into your plans.” She should have been miffed, instead she felt relieved. “That’s good.”
His gaze shifted back to her. “How is that good?”
“Because now I know we have the same goal, to get me back to Shreveport when all this is over.”
He nodded and then he smiled. “Yes, we have the same goal.”
Samantha took a deep breath, the first one since she’d fed Ethan and watched her blood fire him up like she’d put caffeine straight into his veins. But it was his smile that shifted the direction of the exchange, like a train being rerouted by a simple switch of the tracks.
Ethan had a great smile. He probably knew it as well, but right now all she saw was the reflection of her own sense of relief, that each had stated a simple desire not to engage, and so she could breathe and Ethan could smile.
His gaze caught and held, however, and she felt his personal frequency streaming toward her begging for a connection. The fae part of her received that frequency and her body lit up. His hillside grassy scent thickened in the air and tightened her abdomen. Her lips parted like she needed to say something, but nothing came out.
“Samantha,” he whispered, his voice hoarse and deep.
“If we did this, it changes nothing, right?”
He nodded, brisk hopeful jerks of his head. “Right. Nothing. Just mutual enjoyment, fulfillment of need.”
Her turn to nod. She cleared her throat. “But you need to get back to the patrols.”
“Yes. I’ll be home at dawn.”
Sunrise seemed about a million hours away when what she wanted was right in front of her.
“Ethan?” The Guardsman, Finn, called out, heading in their direction.
Ethan’s nostrils flared and a look of irritation then amusement crossed his face. To her, he said, “I’ll get you home then meet you later?”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Ethan turned to Finn just as he touched down a few feet away. “I have to get Samantha home.”
“Let one of the Guard do it.”
Though she was looking at Ethan’s back, she felt his sudden tension like multiple waves beating at her chest all at once. “No, Finn. I have to do this.”
Samantha stepped around Ethan and inclined her head to Finn. He returned the gesture but he was scowling. He seemed to disapprove, but she wasn’t sure why. He said nothing more, but turned and flew back in the direction of the woodland, his leather coat flapping behind him. “What was that about?”
“What was what?”
“Why didn’t you let one of the other Guardsmen see me home? I mean, maybe Finn felt you would be more valuable here.”
Ethan looked down at her and opened one arm, extending his right booted foot just a little. She knew the drill. As she slid her arm around his neck, she balanced both feet on the top of his foot. Left to herself, she was sure she’d fall, but his arm clamped around her waist like a vise.
He leaned close and straight into her ear, whispered, “Want to know why? Because I’d kill any man for getting this close to you right now. Understand?”
His warm breath and the resonance of his voice filled her ear and sent a series of shivers cascading over her neck and shoulders and down her back. Desire flooded her, so that she could do nothing else but turn toward his mouth and catch his lips with her own.
A growl filled his throat as he drove his tongue inside her mouth. She’d been longing for this kiss, and much more, from the moment she’d first seen him storm into Club Prave. She hadn’t been with a man in so long.
I want you now. Even his voice in her head filled her with strange, realm vibrations, one after the other, heightening the passion that flowed through her like music.
You’d better just take me home.
But his mouth moved over hers like he had no intention of stopping, his tongue plunging in and out, making all sorts of promises.
She couldn’t help what happened next as she turned into him, sliding her other arm around his neck.
He pulled her hard against him and dipped low to caress her bottom, pressing her hips into what was hard and ready for her. If she’d been in doubt about his size, she felt everything right now, that he would fill her up and then some, which weakened her knees even more, then flooded her mind with new doubts about how easy it would ever be for her to leave Bergisson.
He drew back, his eyes glittering in the dark. “Let’s go.”
She didn’t remember the ride, only that her nose kept sniffing the leather of his uniform and the tangy male scent of his neck. By the time he touched down in front of his house, she’d started sucking on his neck and he’d pulled her against him once more.
*** *** ***
Ethan didn’t know how he was going to separate from Samantha, but Finn’s voice asked telepathic admittance.
He drew back from her about two full inches, unwilling to release her, when Finn pathed, I followed you just to make sure Ry didn’t have a secondary plan in place. Take her inside. We’ve got this.
Maybe it was the amusement in Finn’s voice, or the trace of masculine sympathy for Ethan’s current plight, but Ethan finally relented. I’ll check in later.
No. Check in tomorrow evening. I’m telling you, I’ve got this. Your Guard is well-trained, the best in the Nine Realms. We can do without you for one night, you love-starved bastard.
Did anyone ever tell you that you can be a real dick?
Just my wife, at least once a night.
Ethan was still undecided until Samantha found his neck again and once more started to suck just over his vein. Did she know how that made him feel? Maybe. Probably.
Oh, hell. Call me if you need me, no matter how small the problem Got it?
Yes, Mastyr.
Ethan chuckled and ended the pathing call.
He lifted Samantha’s chin and she left his neck with a small smacking sound. He kissed her, then scooped he
r up in his arms. “I’m taking you to bed. Now.”
Her eyes opened wide. “You sure? Now? What about your men?”
“I just cleared it with Finn.”
She drew in a soft breath. “Well, then.”
Chapter Five
Ethan carried Samantha up both short flights of stairs, through the sitting room and down the long hall in the direction of his suite. Fortunately, Vojalie and her family were settled in one of the south suites off the family room, a good distance from his west-facing bedroom.
He trembled, as much from what was about to happen as by the reality that he’d never wanted a woman in his rooms before the way he wanted her.
She’d drawn close again and had her lips on his neck, tonguing his skin, then sucking. He wanted those same lips down low and doing the same thing.
He shuddered.
She’d feed him again. He knew it without having to really think about it. He could feel her heart pounding heavily, her veins full of what he needed. He wanted to be moving into her slowly this time as he pinned her shoulders to the bed and drank from her, his hips curling with each thrust to keep the whole act perfect and coordinated. He wanted to come with his mouth drinking down her essence.
His personal frequency vibrated heavily now and the part of her that was fae responded so that in the center of his being, another layer of sensation kept him hard, worked up, and on fire.
He shoved open the door to his suite, then kicked it closed behind him.
The room opened up to either side, but he headed for the open shower, in a large alcove between, flanked on one side by an indoor garden. The cool, humid air brought Samantha away from him and turning in his arms.
“This is your bathroom? Your shower?” She turned to stare at him. “You have a garden in here?”
“I do.” He started stripping out of his Guard uniform, dropping the coat on the hardwood floor, then easing out of his shirt.
Her eyes flared. Her frequency stroked him first then her hands followed as she splayed her fingers over his abs then slowly moved up, covering his pecs to rise and fondle his shoulders. Leaning into him, she sucked his left nipple, then his right, then back and forth until his eyes rolled in his head and he groaned.
If just her touch, and her lips flicking each tip, sent this much desire through him, what would the rest be like? She leaned into him, sucking harder. You taste like war, she pathed through his mind.
He groaned all over again.
He reached over her back and found the bottom of her shirt and started to pull upward. She drew back and lifted her arms overhead. Not waiting, she got rid of her shoes and jeans, the rest of her female gear.
For a split-second, he debated whether to attack her or take the time to lose his boots and leathers. Like the smart man he was, he got rid of the last hindrance to both the shower and her body.
He cranked up the jets and as he got the temperature just right, he turned to find her eyes wide once more as her gaze drifted up and down his ass.
“Ethan, you’re magnificent.” She moved toward him and he stayed right where he was. Again, another sign of his basic intelligence.
She dropped down behind him and started kissed his left ass-cheek, then shifted to his right, then went lower until she was kissing the backs of his thighs. He spread his legs, water pouring down his chest. Her fingers drifted over his balls and in front to stroke upward as she fondled what was getting way too hard.
The whole time, a vibration worked over his skin from her touch, something very realm, but which he’d never experienced before. This was something uniquely Samantha.
His blood rose. A half-fae with more power than most of the full-fae he knew.
A woman who had with one feeding, ended decades of suffering. His stomach no longer cramped and he felt whole and strong.
But he needed to calm down.
“Let’s change things up.”
As he turned, she rose up off her knees, her light blue eyes darkening with passion. Her fingertips grazed the front of this thighs. He put his hands on her shoulders. “Will you scrub some of the battle sweat off me?”
She nodded, found a bar of French-milled soap in the tile inset, and set to work. She foamed up her hands, handed him the bar and began to rub in circles over his neck and chest, his shoulders and arms. Down she went. He closed his eyes as her hands covered every inch of his skin, even down to his toes.
“Turn,” she commanded. “And give me the soap again.”
He obeyed, and had the pleasure of feeling the rest of him lathered up, from ankles to ass to the breadth of his back, and beneath the long length of his heavy, wet hair, until she was done.
He turned in the spray of the shower to face her.
With a crooked smile and the soap in her hand held palm up, she said, “Do me.”
He smiled, he couldn’t help it. “With pleasure.”
*** *** ***
Samantha had slipped into a place she’d never been before, a part of herself undiscovered until now. For one thing, her body sang, that was the only way she could explain it. She knew the realm-world was a world of frequency and vibration, but now she experienced a part of that reality. His frequency flowed over her in waves, like the softest touch caressing her skin with continual erotic pulses, while deep within, she felt the response of her own fae frequency, reaching for his vibration, entwining at times, engaging.
But there was another part that had more to do with her human experiences in that right now she felt irrationally free of inhibitions with a man who was just shy of being a stranger to her.
She’d had sex with more than one of her boyfriends, but it had never been like this. Of course, Ethan was beyond the norm, so far beyond what she’d known that she was sure only the realm-world could have produced such a man.
He smiled, that extraordinary smile of his, made even broader because his thick curly hair lay wet and flat against his head, setting his features in beautiful relief; his cheekbones powerful, his jaw firm, and the indentation of his chin inviting her tongue.
She almost leaned up to take a swipe, but suddenly Ethan’s hands, full of lather, were planted on her breasts. Her back arched, which thrust her chest forward. Ethan leaned in, his big hands covering and fondling her, his fingers rising to peaks and tugging on her now-firm nipples. The lubricant of the soap made the sensation soft, fiery, and sensual all at the same time.
She closed her eyes, her hands balanced on his hips so she wouldn’t fall. He massaged harder and harder and she pressed into him, until her hips undulated and her internal well pulled on what she needed to be there, the sooner the better.
He slid one hand low and he soaped her between her legs, rubbing slowly and carefully. He took pains to rinse her off as well. “I want you in my bed.”
The words came out like a command, which tightened her abdomen and her breathing hitched. He dried them both off carefully with a thick tower, then cupped her face and kissed her once, afterward searching her eyes. “Am I pleasing you?”
She gave a soft cry, stunned that he would be concerned, then threw her arms around his neck, plastering herself against him.
He responded, surrounding her with all that muscle and strength, his arms overlapping her back.
For a heady second she swore she could stay like this forever, in the circle of his caring embrace and the strength of his warrior’s body.
He chuckled, which became a jarring motion against his chest. “I take that as a yes.”
Yes, she pathed, sliding her thoughts over his.
He met her gaze again. I love that you can penetrate my mind like this.
She nodded, still clinging to him. All this faeness that I’m discovering. It’s amazing.
He lifted her off her feet and in that odd dangling position he kissed her repeatedly as he carried her into his sleeping area that also opened up to the large enclosed garden. While still holding her, he pulled back the comforter and laid her down easily on his bed, as though sh
e was a feather, another sign that he wasn’t human, that he had more physical strength than she could imagine.
She thought he would stretch out on top of her, instead, he caught her calves, one in each hand, and pulled her to the side of the bed. Her body went lax knowing full well what he meant to do.
I love your landing strip, penetrated her mind, as he dropped to his knees, black like your hair. Then he went to work. She closed her eyes and gave herself to the sensation of Ethan’s soft, moist tongue as he laved her folds, teased her lips, and flicked the center of her, where the pleasure was most intense.
Soft coos and moans left her throat and as he increased the pressure and speed, her hips rose and fell, over and over, her well clenching with need. He worked her slow, then fast, then slow, prolonging the moment and the experience, but ushering her steadily toward the pinnacle.
His left hand held her in place as he supported her bottom, but his right hand began a lengthy exploration of her thighs and mound, her abdomen and upward to fondle her breasts. All the while his tongue licked and pleasured her.
At the same time, his vibrations rolled, another layer of sensation so that her mind became lost, falling deeper and deeper as ecstasy hurtled toward her, sharpening the pleasure where his tongue touched and flicked until the orgasm rolled through her.
She cried out, but he didn’t stop. He kept flicking until the waves of pleasure rose repeatedly, taking her to the heights again and again. After the last of her cries left her throat, she settled down and her hips relaxed back into the bed.
He looked up at her, his smile crooked. “Good?”
Her back arched as she reached down for him. “Unbelievable. The waves you sent through me, reached deep inside here…” She pressed her lower abdomen. “And here…” She drifted her fingers up to her heart. She laughed softly and held her hands up to him. “More?”
He rose up from his kneeling position and with his hands around her waist he told her to hold onto his arms. Doing as she was instructed, he lifted her easily farther up on the bed.
When he moved upward to join her, she spread her legs so that his knees could go between. He made an approving grunting sound, which made her laugh. And this was something she hadn’t expected with Ethan, the good will and laughter, that he found things amusing and didn’t mind when she did as well.