by Bonnie Vanak
“Then stay!”
“I can’t!” Moisture sparkled in his eyes. He swallowed hard and fisted his hands. “Gods, I want to stay, I need you like I need my next breath. But those dark creatures of evil must be destroyed. I need you, but the world needs you more.”
“We can fight together. You can teach me.” She reached out to him, her hands glowing white. Dismayed she dropped them.
Kieran shook his head. “See? You have little control over your powers. They are embryonic. You need Xavier to show you how to control them. You cannot be the warrior you were destined to become if I remain here. I have not the means of showing you how to fight with these powers.”
“Kieran, please don’t go.” She began to cry, her heart tearing apart. Her anchor, her rock, was slipping away beneath her frantic grasp. “How can I survive without you?”
“You can. I would get in your way, be a distraction you cannot afford, Ella-mine.” He smiled, but a tear slipped from the corner of one eye. “I would spend more time making love to you than showing you how to fight. And I lack the ability to train you with these powers. You will be able to do wonderful things. You can destroy evil with the flick of a finger. Or heal injuries. These abilities…they are beyond me.”
“We can learn together.” She was desperate, fighting for any means to keep him at her side.
“I belong to the Winter Kingdom. I made a vow to the Winter King to remain with his family and guard them. It is a vow I cannot break, Ella-mine.”
“Then I’ll go with you!”
He picked up her hands and kissed them. “That is not why we went on this quest to empower you. I love you. I will always love you, forever.”
“I need you, Kieran. I love you so much. Please, don’t go.” Her voice rose in a hysterical pitch. “Damnit, you’re abandoning me, cat!”
He kissed her passionately, and then released her. Kieran lifted his arms to the sky. Tears streamed down his face. “Take me home,” he chanted.
He vanished.
For a long while, she remained in the parking lot staring at the space he’d occupied as she sobbed, feeling as if someone had broken her in half.
She’d loved him, opened her heart to love Kieran, the wild, free jaguar shifter.
And lost him.
15
Winter was so damn cold without Kieran.
She had spent three months of earth time training with each wizard from the Brehon, most of her time with Xavier, the Crystal Wizard. Three months of honing her powers, learning to harness them when needed.
Three months of missing Kieran terribly. Three months of raging at Kieran, releasing her anger as the immortal wizards taught her how to use her magick.
Today, as a blanket of newly fallen snow coated the ground, she worked outside the condominium complex with Xavier. Dressed in a form-fitting bodysuit similar to the kind worn by ice speed skaters, Ella didn’t feel the cold. She could have been naked and it did not matter, for the Crystal Wizard had taught her how to regulate her body temperature.
The last task on her checklist was using the power of mystic energy. Tossing energy from her hands that could make large objects invisible, required the most concentration. For the past several days, she’d struggled with this magick. That bastard Kieran kept invading her thoughts. Kieran with his engaging smile, his wicked kisses and his protective nature.
Focus, Ella.
“Exactly as I taught you. See empty space where the building sits. Air and nothing else. Focus on one small item instead of the entire structure so the energy you direct will spread outward,” Xavier murmured as she stared at the building.
Taking a deep breath, Ella flung a current of pure white energy at the building.
Suddenly nothing was there. Not even the flower pot remained.
“You made the entire building vanish.” A wide smile split Xavier’s face beneath his black beard. “Good job.”
Ella released the breath she’d held. She’d accomplished the most difficult task of her training.
“Now make it appear again.”
Ella envisioned the building in her mind as it had stood, the dark brown siding and roof, the balconies. The complex’s building reappeared.
“Excellent. You did it!”
A touch of pride filled her at the wizard’s praise. “Now what?” she asked.
“You’re ready. Our work with you is finished.”
She tried to squelch a rise of panic. He was leaving her alone. Facing the unknown. “I don’t know if I am ready.”
Kindness shone in his eyes. “Ella my dear, you are. Don’t worry. You won’t be alone. The goddess will assign someone to you to aid you on your next quest. It will be someone who will make a perfect partner.”
The only perfect partner she’d envision was Kieran. Giving a shrug to hide the tumult of emotions raging through her, she asked, “Male or female? Shifter or Fae?”
“You’ll see.” He dropped a kiss on her cheek. “Danu will send someone to you soon. Your first assignment will be locating the next werewolf of the Wyld. Thank you for accepting the duties you have, Ella. My heart is lighter now, knowing you’ll be aiding the Brehon.”
His gaze twinkled. “And I do like your sense of style.”
Her gaze dropped to her lime green body suit with the pink stripes on the sleeves. Ella laughed. Waving a hand, Xavier vanished.
She was truly alone now.
Ella went into the condo Xavier had gifted her and fished a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
She drank and then returned outside.
For the first time in months, she was alone and had time to think. She pulled off her boots and socks, relishing the feel of the icy air against her bare feet. Then she regulated her body temperature as Xavier had taught her.
Feet cutting through the snow, she walked alongside the river. She had purpose and a reason. Ella understood her mission to protect and defend innocents. But she missed her big cat, the man who’d made her laugh, who kept her grounded and feeling safe and cherished. She missed his touch, his kisses, making love with him.
Ella turned a corner and nearly collided with a nude man.
Kieran. She blinked, willing this to be real.
“You’re not here.”
“I am real, Ella-mine. Danu sent me. I am your new partner.”
Her jaw dropped. “What?”
“Danu requested that the Winter King to release me from my obligation to him. They agreed I would leave soon as your training is finished.”
“But…”
He winked. “I thought you’d like me best this way, the way we first met.”
“You bastard,” she breathed. “You left me, damnit.”
Screaming, she raced forward, pounding at his chest, releasing all the rage pent up since he’d disappeared from her life. Kieran took the blows, doing nothing, saying nothing.
Then, exhausted, she raised her tear-streaked gaze to him. “You damn cat. If you ever leave me again, I’ll turn you into a litter box.”
Kieran smoothed back her hair. “And I have no doubt you could. I’m here to stay, Ella-mine. I agreed to leave my home, everything I know, because you come first. My life in the Winter Kingdom was empty without you.”
He held her tight, showering kisses all over her face, her lips, her neck. She felt as if she were being devoured with love.
“I missed you, dear goddess, my life has been hell without you,” he muttered between urgent kisses.
“I missed you so much. I love you and my life is so lonely without you,” she whispered.
“You are the only reason I’m here, Ella-mine. Winter is cold, and I love it, love the snow, but not as much as I love you. My world is barren without you in it.”
Then he stopped kissing her and merely held her, burying his face into her hair. For a moment she rested against him, overjoyed to feel his hard body against hers, his heart beating fast. Breathing in his scent of winter and spice. Her wolf howled with pleasure. She had focused on her training wi
th the Crystal Wizard, learning to use weapons, to use her powers to fight evil, but her heart had been empty.
And lost.
“Kieran, I have something important to tell you.”
He gazed at her tenderly. “What, sweetheart?”
“I’ve decided against having children. For now. I asked Xavier to give me birth control that will last and be very effective.” Ella struggled with her emotions. “Even if you were in my life, I would not have a family. I’m needed more as a warrior for good.”
“I know, sweetheart. You are.”
“You need… a family again,” she whispered. “A woman who can give you offspring.”
“No. I do not. I need you more,” he said, his voice husky. “I need you as much as I need to breathe, Ella-mine.”
Kieran bent his head, nuzzling her neck, delivering slow, sensual licks. “You taste as I remember. Divine.”
A different need rose in her as she rubbed against him, feeling the steely length of his erection.
“I have gone three entire months without sex.” His gaze glittered as he lifted his head. “I could never have sex with another woman now that you own my heart. Ella-mine, I am on the brink of losing control.”
Lightly he bit her neck, and a deep growl rumbled through his chest.
Her breath caught. The mating frenzy. But she was stronger now, and equally eager and impatient.
“Yes,” she whispered.
Claws emerged from his fingertips. A ripping sound ensued as he tore off her bodysuit, while never touching her skin. Ella stared in amazement, her nipples hardening to diamonds from arousal, not the cold.
“I need to fuck you, hard and fast. Now,” he grated out. “Right now. Where’s your place?”
She pointed to her condo.
He picked her up as if she weighed nothing, ran inside, kicking the door shut with his foot.
The jaguar backed her against the wall. Kieran slid his fingers across her wet, aching cleft, two quick motions.
Ella whimpered with impatience.
He held up his fingers, glistening evidence of her arousal. Gaze locked to her, Kieran fisted his cock, using the moisture from her body. She opened her legs wide and braced herself as he lifted her by her bottom.
A single, hard thrust, a gasp, and he entered her. So thick and long, she’d nearly forgotten how wonderful he felt inside her. Ella squeezed around him, moaning with pleasure.
Sweat beaded his forehead. A growl ripped out of him. “Fuck! That feels so fucking good. You okay, Ella-mine?”
She could barely recognize his voice, deep and animal-like with sheer sexual need. “Yes, do it!”
Snarling, he began to move harder, deeper, penetrating further than she’d thought possible.
“Yes, yes,” she cried out as he thrust hard and fast into her. Pistoning his hips, slamming into her, each slide of his slick, hard cock sending her spiraling higher and higher.
And then the barb on his penis hit her most sensitive spot. Ella shrieked, her orgasm making her clench tight around him.
Throwing his head back, Kieran shouted her name, and then he bit her neck as he climaxed, his hot seed shooting deep inside her. Another orgasm slammed into her.
Gasping, she shuddered as he went still. Spent, wrung with exhaustion, she collapsed into his arms.
Kieran slid his penis out of her. “That’s only the beginning, Ella,” he growled. “Bedroom. Now.”
They raced into the bedroom. Kieran all but threw her onto the mattress. Bending down, he ran a thumb along her lower lip. “By the time I get through, my cock will be hard inside you once more and my name will be screaming from your lips.” A dark intensity lit his eyes. “I’ll be right back.”
Shortly after, he returned carrying an ice bucket brimming with cubes, and a large tube of lotion and a box. He set them down on the nightstand.
“Xavier left a gift for you in the kitchen.” Kieran held up the tube.
Her breath caught. “Massage oil. Did he know?”
“I don’t care.” Kieran gave a slow smile. “Lie back.”
“And do what?”
“Let me do the work, for now.”
Heat flared where his fingertips brushed her bare skin. With deft skill, he slowly ran his palm across her trembling belly. Ice crackled as he reached into the bucket and removed a single cube. He put it halfway into his mouth. Kieran ran his tongue around the rim, each stroke slow and deliberate.
Pistoning the cube in and out of his wet mouth, his heated gaze met hers. Ella felt the room temperature soar.
Kieran removed the cube. “That’s what I’ll expect you to do with my cock. When you put my hard cock in your soft, wet mouth, like I did to the cube.”
The tingle raced lower, sending a rill of heat into her groin.
“And this is what I’m going to do to you, when I spread you wide, and put my mouth on you again, Ella-mine.
Water dripped from the melting cube. His tongue ran around the cube’s rim, flicking hard and fast, warmth stroking between her legs timed to each brush of his tongue.
A shallow gasp choked from her throat. The movements of his tongue stopped. Coldness met her flesh as he ran the ice over her bare skin. A thin trickle of water drizzled over her chest, down to pool on her breasts and abdomen.
Removing the cube, he licked the droplets pearling on her chest. After setting down the ice cube, he straddled her hips.
His knuckles brushed over the slopes of her breasts. Ella’s gaze met his as he sat back on his haunches.
Something cracked at his tender expression. “I’ve missed you so damn much, Ella-mine,” he told her.
Then he slid her finger into his warm, wet mouth. Kieran sucked, flicking with his tongue.
Each slow, sensual stroke of his velvet tongue intensified the tingling sensation in her groin. Her breath hitched as their gazes locked, his dark and intent.
Kieran released her finger it with a loud pop. “I can’t wait to have the taste of you beneath my tongue.”
Ella’s breath hitched.
He opened the box. When he turned back to the bed, his hands held velvet ropes. Before she could move, he was on her. Damn, the jaguar was quick. Suddenly she found herself spread eagle, wrists and ankles tied to the bedposts by velvet ropes. Ella jerked at her restraints. They gave way a little, but she was trapped.
How he yearned for her, her scent kicking into his nostrils with delicious peaches and honey. He leaned over her and kissed her trembling abdomen, feeling her skin warm beneath his mouth.
Kieran continued to kiss her, working his way up her tummy to her breasts, his tongue darting out to lave a pathway to her collarbone. He reached the sensitive juncture of her shoulder and delivered a slow, teasing lick.
And bit gently.
She jerked backward at the sting of his teeth, heat beginning to flush her skin.
He wanted to fuck her from behind, the plump halves of her heart-shaped ass cushioning his hips as he drove hard and fast into her. With a low growl, he curbed his desire and concentrated on arousing her.
Kieran sprang off her body, watching disappointment chase across her lovely face. He reached for the tube, uncapped it and squirted a small amount into his palms.
He had a small surprise for Ella, but now was not the time.
Very gently, he laid his palms against the cool flesh of her abdomen. Ella jerked against her velvet restraints.
“Shhh,” he soothed.
“What is this?”
“Heated massage oil. It warms as you rub it into the skin.” Kieran bent down and licked a dollop off her belly.
He rubbed small circles over her abdomen, working his way up to her breasts. Kieran palmed her breasts, flicking his oiled thumbs over her nipples. They softened beneath his ministrations, then the peaks crested again.
He flicked his thumbs over the pearling buds. Then he bent his head and took the right one into his mouth.
Sweet cherries flooded his mouth, along with the delicat
e taste of her skin. The rich scent Ella flooded his senses. With expert skill, he flicked his tongue over the cresting bud, then swirled around the taut nipple. He suckled her gently, inhaling the fragrance of honey flowing from her core.
Soon.
Kieran released her nipple with a slow pop.
She blinked and wriggled her naked body. The curls at the apex of her thighs glistened with moisture seeping from her core. The scent made him want to snarl and plunge into her.
Kieran left the bed, applied more oil to his hands, and returned to her.
“Lie still, and no more questions.”
His hands settled on her hips and he began long, slow strokes down her legs.
He paid extra attention to her feet and her perfect, small toes. Kieran ran his oiled hands along the inside of her calves, then up the insides of her splayed thighs.
Teasing, light strokes, darting near her core. Then as her skin warmed, he straddled her body.
“Get ready. This time, I’m going to make you hot, sweetheart. Hot as you can be.”
His fingers went to her wet core, sliding back and forth as he kissed her breasts. Then he licked one taut nipple as his fingers continued to work hot magic.
He suckled her as he slid a finger across her wet slit. A growing pleasure built anew. A tension swirled in her groin as he stroked slowly, culling more moisture.
Ella gasped, writhing, her hips jerking up eagerly. She twisted and writhed against her bonds. He released her nipple with a soft popping sound and raised his head.“Stay still,” he commanded.
“Kieran, please, I need you to fuck me. Now!”
“Now?” Unsmiling he regarded her. “You like the idea of my big, thick hard cock sliding into your pussy, all nice and tight, feeling me fill you. Wouldn’t you, Ella-mine? Making you all hot inside?”
Not ceasing his motions through her slit, he sat back. His thick cock bobbed heavily. With his left hand, Kieran began to stroke his long shaft.
“Think of me inside you, Ella-mine. I’m covering you, you’re naked beneath me and helpless to resist. I’m ready to fuck you.”
His hand slid along his thick shaft, as his fingers played with her, making her squirm and nearly scream.