Song of Midnight Embers

by Dana Marie Bell

  Oh, holy hell.

  Greer shuddered as she took his cock into her mouth, the wet heat driving every thought out of his head. Only the pleasure remained, sinking into him until he couldn’t think beyond coming in that sweet mouth. She tortured him, licking him slowly, swallowing him down until she choked, learning the length of him before she began bobbing her head. She teased the crown, lapped at the hole and drove him crazy with soft, sweet touches to his balls.

  He would give her anything, do anything, if she’d just stop playing and let him come.

  “Mollie.” He whimpered as she pulled off him, the gleam in her eyes not boding well for that whole coming in her mouth thing. “Please?”

  She shook her head, her blond hair just long enough for the tips to brush his stomach. He ached, damn it, needed to feel her wrapped around him. Without a word she straddled him, her ass resting just above his cock. She bent down and kissed him, her wet pussy grinding against him.

  He lifted his hands and took hold of her breasts, kneading them, tweaking the hard peaks until she was squirming. If she was going to drive him demented, he could do the same, show her how she danced under his hands.

  But that wasn’t what she allowed him. She took his wrists and pushed his hands down until they rested next to his head. “Let me do this.” She rubbed the tip of her nose against his. “When you claim me, I’ll dance to your tune. This time, you have to burn.”

  There was something in her gaze that warned him that she was serious. She needed to love on him, to mark him, and somehow he’d almost messed that up.

  “All right.” He took hold of the edges of the pillow. “I’m yours, Mollie. Always.”

  She shuddered, her eyes lighting up with her inner fire. Her skin began to glow, her elemental self coming to the fore at his submission. “Thank you.”

  And that was when the true torture began. He’d thought she was killing him before with her tongue, but this time, this time she took it to a whole new level.

  Flames danced across his skin, there and gone so quickly he barely registered the burn, the ache, until it was gone. Soon he barely felt it as she devoured him, licking his nipples, her nails scratching down his chest to his stomach and farther. She was touching herself with one hand, dragging her fingers through her curls, the sight enchanting him.

  She pushed up and back, and he could feel her entrance, her pussy wet and hot as she took him in. “Oh, Greer.” She looked down at him, her fire rippling across her skin yet never scorching the sheets. She meant to scorch them in a different way, and he couldn’t be happier.

  “Mark me, Mollie.” He clenched the pillow edges tightly, the flames dancing across her skin now flowing up and down his own. The exquisite pain of their lovemaking was now a part of the pain of her fire, and he understood why she needed to be the one in charge.

  Fire could warm, and fire could burn, but it would be Mollie who decided which it was. If he couldn’t take it, if he pushed her off because of the pain, the mark would never be his. She had to be the one making love to him, had to know that he’d stay and take whatever she gave him. It was part of what she was, the sweet warmth of her heart and the raging inferno of her will. His Mollie was a warrior as well as a friend, a lover, a companion. He needed to accept that part of her just as his tree had had to accept her.

  And when this was done, he’d be marked as hers forever.

  So Greer lay there, allowing her flames to dance across his skin while Mollie sank farther and farther down his cock until their curls met. She’d taken him completely, body, heart and soul.

  She placed her hand on his right shoulder and began to ride him, using her other to pleasure herself. They were engulfed in her fire, the embers that had always burned between them now aflame.

  Pain and pleasure mingled until he couldn’t tell one from the other. He was startled when he realized he’d begun to glow with her fire, his skin alight with flame. They were two ethereal beings, dancing together to a tune as old as time itself, burning with their passion for one another.

  He was going to crest soon, his cock throbbing inside her, his balls aching, his spine tingling. “Mollie. Please.”

  She nodded once, sharply, as she gasped out her own pleasure, the clenching of her pussy driving him over the edge.

  “Holy fuck,” Greer ground out as her fire coalesced in one spot, under her hand. All of that heat was now pouring into him as he climaxed. The ecstasy was so intense he feared he would black out, the fire within and without burning him to ash in a white-hot moment of blinding rapture.

  When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to see he hadn’t, in fact, been turned to ash. He breathed out a sigh as Mollie collapsed on top of him, still shivering from the aftereffects of their joining.

  He glowed from the inside out, but her fire would never harm him, never burn him again. It had accepted him as hers, granting him immunity from the heat of her flames. Instead, the burn would give him pleasure, drive him insane with need.

  “Fuck yes,” she said with a sigh as the shivers finally subsided. She kissed a small burn mark he hadn’t noticed until then.

  He ran his hand up her side, grabbed hold of the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss that almost got him going again. “Fuck yes,” he breathed out, smiling with delight.

  She’d claimed him. No one could ever take her away from him again, not even himself and his stupid jealousies and noble intentions.

  She moved her hand, and he finally saw the mark she’d left behind. It glowed, dimming as he watched until it looked like a normal black tattoo of a flame on his skin. But Greer knew enough about fire elemental mating rituals to know that it would ignite for their need, giving Greer exquisite pleasure when they fucked.

  “Mine,” she whispered, tracing the flame with her fingertip.

  Greer nodded, ridiculously content. He finally had her right where he wanted her. “Yours.”

  * * *

  She glanced over at her mate, her lover, and saw how he stroked the mark she’d left behind. He smiled, his expression joyous as the fire flared beneath his fingertips. He’d been unable to leave it alone from the moment they’d woken, stroking it throughout the morning while they waited for Lore to arrive. Mollie could feel that, the tug of her own fire responding to her mate.

  Her mate. She’d bonded him to her, made him her own, and if his expression was anything to go by, he was thrilled.

  No more doubts. Never again. He knew what he meant to her now. He could feel the heat of her desire every time he touched it, the warmth of her regard there on his skin for all to see. In time, that heat would be banked, an ember ready to flare at a touch, a word, always bright as they grew into their mating. But for now, their newly made passion could light a room.

  Lore strode into the Throne, distracting her from the sight of Greer caressing her mark. Lore was still in uniform and had some of the town’s psychics with him. “I hear you guys came up with something when you went to see Dr. T?”

  Greer stood, his hand falling away from the mark. “You could say that.”

  Mollie stood next to him, on the side with the mark. “The blood I went to destroy came alive and tried to kill us.”

  Lore nodded. “I heard. Are you both all right?”

  “We’re fine.” Greer took hold of Mollie’s hand. “We kicked that thing’s butt.”

  “Good.” Lore gestured for the psychics to step forward. “So, you both know Brian Cunningham-West, right?”

  Brian, Parker’s Renfield, waved his hand. As a physical medium, Brian was familiar with séances, but had been in the most danger during the séance. Ghosts and entities could touch him and harm him much easier than anyone else, a fact the demon had used to its advantage. The demon had tricked Brian, imitating a lost child, and the soft-hearted Renfield had given in, allowing the demon to touch him a
nd speak through him. When the others had tried to pry the demon loose, it had dug its claws into Brian. Because Brian was a physical medium, those claws had been as real to him as Noah’s would have been. The protections inherent in a séance should have kept him from any real harm, but they hadn’t been enough. Worse, at least to Brian once he recovered, was that through harming Brian, the demon had managed to latch on to Selena’s powers a second time, corrupting her magic once more. It had taken an exorcism to pry it loose from the witch doctor.

  Brian’s right arm had been irreparably damaged during the séance. The tendon had been shortened during surgery, causing him to lose some mobility. He was pale, his blond hair getting a little shaggy and his blue eyes rimmed with red. Brian was still recovering from the demon’s attempt to overtake him. If Mollie had spirit sight, she’d no doubt see Greg hovering somewhere nearby, nagging his husband to take it easy.

  Brian sat cross-legged in the middle of the Throne. “Hi, everyone.”

  Mollie hid her wince. The poor guy sounded so damn tired, but she knew better than to say anything. Sweet Brian had a spine of steel. Nothing she could say would pull him away from their task.

  “You look like hammered balls.” Greer strode toward Brian, ignoring the other mediums surrounding them. “Let me take a look and see if they’re really squashed or not.”

  Brian laughed, the sound echoing through the forest. “Man, Greg wants you to know he’ll haunt you if you go anywhere near my balls.”

  “Bring it, Casper.” Greer kneeled at Brian’s side, his hand hovering over Brian’s right shoulder. “Hold still for a sec, would you?” He hummed softly, and for the first time Mollie understood some of what he was doing. His power reached into Brian, feeling for the pain, finding those bright red spots of inflammation and soothing them. He redirected the flow of blood back to normal paths, allowing the damaged area to cool. It wouldn’t last, but it would help for now. Only time would take the pain away permanently.

  Brian sighed in relief as the pain diminished. “You’re better than ibuprofen.”

  “Yup.” Greer stood. “You’re going to stay here and coordinate the effort, I take it?”

  Brian nodded. “We’re pairing a telepath with each medium. Lore will stay right here as well, just in case something goes wrong again.”

  “Are you worried about what happened at the séance?” Mollie remembered it vividly. Brian’s pain, the way he’d glowed with both bright light and dark, sinister red, had terrified her. There’d been a battle for his soul that day, and she didn’t want Brian to ever have to go through that again.

  “A little.” Brian winced and rolled his right arm. “But Greg is here, and so is Lore. It should be all right.”

  Lore tapped his forehead. “I can talk to Greg, so if he notices something’s wrong with Brian, I’ll cut his connection to the telepaths.”

  Mollie blinked. Having a psychic with more than one power was rare. “You’re also a telepath?”

  He smirked at her, the expression smug and annoying. “Something like that, yes.”

  Before Mollie could question him further, Greer stood and took her hand again. “Time for us to move.” He turned to Lore. “Let us know where we’re needed. I can get Mollie across town in a matter of minutes.”

  Lore nodded. “Will do. And do me a favor, all right?” He scowled at them. “Don’t die.”

  Mollie saluted him crisply. “Yes, sir!”

  Lore grunted out a laugh and waved them away. “Get out of here. We’ve got this covered.” He looked around. “Mina’s here?”

  “Yup. She’s sleeping with Dragos.” Greer smiled sweetly as Lore glanced at the ground. Most people knew vampires went to ground if they were caught in the dawn outside their homes. He must have thought Mina had gone to ground with him.

  Mollie wasn’t going to enlighten him. Lore wasn’t a dryad’s mate, and as much as she liked him, she wasn’t about to give away one of her mate’s major secrets and open up the Oak Palace. “We’ll see you later.” She, too, smiled sweetly at Lore, well aware he was confused as hell.

  “Where to first?” Greer picked her up in his arms, and she found she couldn’t resist placing a kiss on his mark. He shuddered, his eyes closing to half-mast. “Naughty. I like that about you.”

  She giggled, ridiculously pleased with herself. “We should check in with Ash and Selena, see if they’ve found anything.”

  “On our way, then.”

  The journey was a blur of trees and buildings as Greer came near to breaking the sound barrier. She was seriously contemplating some sort of helmet, like a motorcycle one that would protect her face from branches. And ugh, who asked for a bug gut facial?

  She was still spitting out bug parts when they came to a halt in front of Ash.

  Ash burst out laughing, something the slightly dour dryad rarely did. “What the hell happened to you?”

  Mollie wiped some goo off her face and glared at him. “I took the Greer express.”

  “Then why is he clean?” Selena pointed at Greer with a confused look.

  Greer just shrugged. “I’m more of a babe magnet than a bug magnet, right, love bug?”

  “You suck.”

  “Very well, or so I’m told.” He stroked his mark, his gaze heating as he stared at her.

  Mollie blushed. “Shut it.” She turned to Selena. The other woman would be more sensible than the two idiots giving each other a high-five next to her. “Have you found anything?”

  Selena shook her head, gesturing for Mollie to follow her. “Listen, I’m worried about something.”

  “What?” Mollie glanced toward Greer and Ash. The two men were talking quietly, but she knew she and Selena had the lion’s share of their attention.

  “There’s something not quite right with Greer.”

  Mollie stared at him, but he looked just fine to her. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s on the inside, not the outside. He’s changed, somehow, become darker inside since...” Selena glanced at her. “Well. You were dating Carter.”

  “I was not.” Mollie was tired of going over this. She was so done with people assuming she and Carter had done the Monster Mash on her living room carpet. “We were looking for whoever was stealing the blood samples.”

  “And it turns out they probably weren’t being stolen at all.” Greer’s arms were around her waist, his chin resting on the top of her head. “I bet they crept out of the lab in the middle of the night, got out through the air vents or something and made their way around town where they’d be able to spy on us.”

  Greer’s calm acceptance seemed to do what all of Mollie’s protesting hadn’t. Selena backed down. “Good point. That’s more than likely the answer to that mystery.”

  “As for this darkness you see in me, it’s been there all along.” Greer gestured toward Ash, who was nodding in agreement. Both men appeared amused. “I mean, c’mon. Everyone expects Ash to be the biggest bad in the forest, right?”

  “Noah might actually hold that title, but I’m not going to say that in front of him.” Ash’s grin was amused. “He might be our future brother-in-law, but that doesn’t mean we have to pump up his ego or anything.”

  “But when it comes to stalking something, that would be my gig.” Greer shrugged. “Almost losing Mollie just brought it more to the surface.”

  “In other words, he’s not as afraid to let his inner Altaïr out.” Ash ducked as Greer swung at him. “What? I know how many times you played that game.”

  Greer sniffed at the mention of the very popular assassin game. “I prefer to think of myself as Ezio, thank you very much. He gets all the girls.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Anyway, we think we found something.” Ash was all business once more, the humor gone as his hands clenched. “Selena senses blood.”
>
  “Ah.” Since Selena didn’t sense earth-bound blood, it could mean only one thing. “Where?”

  “There.” Ash pointed to a lovely little cottage just across from them on the tree-lined street. “Charla Moody’s house.”

  “Shit.” A powerful white witch, she’d helped Selena during the exorcism and had been one of the witches who was part of Ash and Selena’s wedding. “Did anyone contact Gideon?”

  “Selena told him to keep with his own search. She’s got this one covered. He told her to call if anything went wrong.”

  “If we can.” Greer scowled, thinking of the blob monster. “Hopefully we’re dealing with something small here.”

  “I think we are. Selena? What’s your sense telling you? Are we dealing with a drop or a blob?” Greer really hoped it was a drop.

  Selena’s pretty brown irises disappeared, her eyes becoming filled with her power. “It’s small, and it’s still. It’s watching and waiting.”

  “So Charla is a target?” Greer stared toward the white cape cod with the steeply sloped roof. Dormered windows highlighted the second story, and the bright red shutters matched the front door. The brick chimney matched the brick of her front patio and walk. She’d planted bright flowers around the perimeter, and a white picket fence added to its charm. There was a one-car garage on the right, the garage door also painted red. It wasn’t a huge house, but it would take time to search it. “We need to warn her.”

  Ash nodded and took Selena’s hand. “Let’s go.”

  Selena’s eyes returned to normal. “She knows me. Let me talk to her first.”

  Greer nodded. He, Mollie and Ash would deal with whatever they found, with Selena acting as their bloodhound.

  It was Selena who knocked on the front door, with the others surrounding her, backing her up. When the front door opened, Charla seemed surprised to see them.

  “Hi, Charla. We need to talk.” Selena took a step forward, entering the home without waiting for an invitation.

  Greer followed suit, winking at Charla as he passed her by. The woman was too pale for his liking, so he decided to try and keep things light. No need to scare her half to death...yet. “You’re not in trouble, so unclench.”