by Claudy Conn
He didn’t use magic to take off my clothes, so I felt them flung away from my body. I was lost to his passion, and all the while I drowned in his kisses—kisses that took over my nerve endings, my blood, and my mind. All I knew was that I never wanted it to stop …
I wanted more, more kisses, more touching, more Danté.
He kneeled over me, naked except for his gold torque. His long, auburn hair was a tawny mass around his handsome face, and his huge stallion rod danced as he gazed slowly over me and whispered hoarsely, “Beautiful woman … you were made for this … perfect for this …” Then he lowered his face between my thighs, spread them so that he could nibble at leisure, and I arched with the pleasure he gave me.
His hands went under me and grabbed a firm hold of my ass, and he pulled me into his mouth. He licked and nibbled there, and he tongued my clit until I cried out his name and pulled at his hair. He raised his head, and his voice was low and husky. “Slowly … I want this to last, love … I want to make you go off over and over …”
And I did.
He moved up my belly, licking and kissing until he reached my nipples, where he suckled and fondled and suckled some more, teasing me until I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer. I pressed my hands against his chest, and suddenly he had me in his arms and we were rolling over until he was on his back.
I started kissing his chest, licking at his nipples and then further down to his belly, and then I had that huge rod of his in my hand. I loved stroking it, licking it, kissing, and then sucking at it—sucking it in and out, hearing his primal sounds of pleasure, reveling in his groans of raw desire. Suddenly he said my name, and then he pulled my arms and situated me on top of him as he moaned low in his throat. “Ride me, beauty … ride me now …”
And I did.
I had wanted him inside me, but even as I rode him like he asked, even as I felt that stallion dick of his fill me and rub just the right spot so that I was screaming with pleasure and climaxing, I knew a naughty need to tease and pleasure him in other ways. I lifted off him, and even though he growled and grabbed to put me back, I turned for him and wiggled my ass. “Want this, baby?” I asked.
He did.
And he slammed into me with that talented rod. It didn’t take long after that for him to make me explode with a pleasure I had never experienced before Danté.
The way he moved and played and kissed, pumped himself into me, became a part of me, had bonded us in a way that fused my heart to his with secret threads. When he touched and stroked and danced inside me, I knew myself his for all eternity …
And then I heard him moan, and it was a hoarse, low, and primal sound. His voice when the words tore out of him was raw with hunger. “You feel so right—everything about you fits me, completes me … enfant, I have never felt this way …” And then he was driving himself into me harder, faster, saying my name over and over, and telling me how beautiful he thought I was. Then, as though sensing the moment in which I was about to go off again, this time he allowed himself to do the same. I have to note that our lovemaking was perfection …
Only one thing was missing for me. I wanted to hear him say he ‘loved’ me. I believed that he did. I wanted him to know it, acknowledge it, be happy for it …
He made love to me for hours on those quilts under the midnight’s dark blue velvet sky, and then he shifted us to my bedroom, where he held me as I drifted off to sleep—still waiting for those words that didn’t come.
* * *
Danté and I were having coffee on the terrace, and Sally was happily working in the kitchen sneaking knowing glances our way. She looked as happy as a young girl with a new set of clothes for her doll.
“We did quite a number on those beasties yesterday,” I said, content for the moment, proud of our accomplishment, not thinking about the future, or for once, Gaiscioch. Then Danté said his name, and I felt myself tense with the old need.
“We did well only because Gais wanted to test our measure. Do not underestimate him, enfant … he is capable of a great deal. He is a Seelie Fae … not a Royal, but a Fae who has lived longer than our queen …”
“So what are you saying? He doesn’t have the power of a Royal—does he?”
“I think he has achieved more than the usual power a non-Royal can attain. Breslyn and I believe that Gaiscioch has a portal he means to open on what the humans call Halloween—our Samhain. We also believe that yesterday he sent out the lowest castes through the river portal only to see how many of us it would take to eliminate them and how long it would take to do so.”
“Why? How will that help him? He doesn’t know if we used all the power available to us.”
“He knows how long it took for Aaibhe to close the portal. He believes now that he knows how it drained her. It is our opinion that he has a Seelie orb and that he viewed the battle and watched Aaibhe as she closed the mouth of the portal. We believe he does a great deal of observation with this orb of his. Z, we have to accept that he has a more powerful and larger portal he means to open on the eve of Samhain, and that closing that particular portal will drain our queen considerably. I think he believes he can snatch her in that weakest moment, even with one of her princes standing guard. We know he must have something up his sleeve, if he thinks that, because while he is mad, he is not and never has been a fool.”
“Yes, but will Aaibhe be weakened so much that she will be in danger?”
“I am afraid if the portal is as large as we suspect, closing it will indeed drain her for some hours. However, our queen has a few tricks up her dainty sleeve, but you already know her aunt, Daoine Queen Mab, well enough to know that ‘snatching’ Aaibhe is not something Gais could do … unless Aaibhe wills it.”
“Will Queen Mab help with closing that portal? Where will he open this portal?”
“Two questions I don’t at the moment have an answer for. However, we strongly suspect he will not open one portal, Z, but two—two portals, and we believe Gais will open them both simultaneously. One will be much smaller than the other. Gais will want us divided, distracted. We believe the larger of the two will be opened somewhere in Inverness and the other, smaller one in Ireland … probably near Dublin.”
“What are we going to do? And if you have teams set up, I am on yours.”
He touched my chin and frowned. “Right at my side … don’t you know that yet? Don’t you know I won’t let you out of my sight?” He shook his head. “The only way you will be out of my view will be if you go off willy-nilly as you too often do, Z.”
I smiled and looked at his hand, now covering mine. “Go on … there is more, isn’t there?”
He frowned. “I also suppose I had better keep you with me when I investigate not only this situation but any that arise. It is hardly what I want, but you are a trouble magnet, and I don’t see any other way of keeping my eye on you. Better I suppose to have you at my side, rather than leave you to your own convoluted devices.”
“Yes, yes, you have finally seen the light, but where are we going? Accompany you where?” Now I was excited, and then a question presented itself to me. “How do you know so much about Gais—were the two of you once … friends?”
He looked at me as though I had suddenly grown another head. “How could you think that? I never liked him—ever. Breslyn and I always thought him an arrogant bastard, and there is no other way to describe it. He was, however, the queen’s dear friend, and he was on the Council.”
“Hmmm … and as insightful as she is, she never saw it coming?”
“We often lose sight of the truth when friendship or love is involved,” he said softly and flicked my nose.
I eyed him. What exactly was he trying to tell me? Was there something here I didn’t want to hear? I changed the subject. “So now what?”
“To the MacClennys’ place—it is time we had a chat with them.”
“How will you manage that? They will be on guard. They must know by now that I was the one that discovered them at
the shed.”
“Precisely. They will be on guard, and they will be extremely nervous. People give up quite a bit when they are nervous.”
“I don’t think they are at the head of the coven, though.”
“No, they are not. I have my own suspicions about that.”
“Tell me.”
“Not yet, enfant, not yet.”
“Do you think they will tell you?” I shook my head over this; I didn’t think so.
“What I think is that this coven, and these Satanists, are dedicated to helping Gais only because of what they think they can achieve in the new world he has promised them. Your parents never picked up on the cult here in the area because probably until recently, until their new leader arrived on the scene to take them forward, they were just playing the game without any real power.”
“So this new leader of theirs … he has whatever it is that gives them power?”
“They always had the pit, a witches’ pit, but their leader—a warlock—must have the artifact that opened it.”
“Wow—who could it be?”
“We’ll see. For now, we’ll go question the MacClennys.”
As he started off towards the garage, I skipped alongside him and took his hand. He squeezed mine and put it to his lips. I know Sally was looking out the window, and it made me giggle to think of her smiling. She had been so hoping I would find someone and smile again …
“It isn’t a funny situation.” Danté frowned at me, always serious, always looking to practicalities.
“I was laughing because I can imagine Sally’s expression watching us.”
“Oh,” he commented, straightening as a soft smile curved his luscious lips. I wanted to pet him all the time and couldn’t believe we had come from the snarling two we’d started out as to this …
“I think,” Danté said as he pressed the garage button and the door lifted, “that Gais is using various magical mortals, some of them Gypsies, to aid him to disguise and hide the artifacts he needs on this side, to open the portals for Samhain. The mortals will not be able to tell us anything of any import, but we do need to round them up and stop them from helping him.”
“What will we do with them?”
He grinned wickedly. “We may not destroy them if they are human, but we can and will detain them and confiscate our artifacts.”
I considered this for a moment before something else popped into my head. I looked him in the eye and asked, “What about your redhead? Did she tell the Council anything?”
“She is not my redhead, and, yes, she confessed to helping Gais by giving him information that she learned during Council meetings, but unfortunately, Gais is not stupid. He told her nothing of any consequence.” My Danté sighed heavily. “However, at least we now have the mole amongst us out of the way. Come then, my enfant … we’ll take the BMW in your garage. I like that vehicle, and this time, I will drive.”
I laughed and rushed to the passenger side of the car; he grinned and was there immediately opening the door. I laughed and said, “I can open my own door.”
“No question of that, but I like doing it for you.”
That was another thing I had discovered about my big prince—he was extremely affectionate and gentlemanly, and that had surprised me. He liked to hold hands when we walked. I’d find him reaching to touch me when we were conversing. He’d stroke my cheek softly when I was agitated, and his manner was so very caring. I had not expected that.
Very surprising, his genuine display of affection—I had not thought his big ol’ warrior self would be capable of the open attention.
* * *
My reflection in the window stared back at me, and I could see I was no longer the Fae that I had been. I am Gaiscioch of the House of Ulder, not Royal, but respected in times long past … in Danu and then later in my beloved Ireland.
My Fae eyes were undergoing a change, taking on the darkness of the black magic I had been steeped in. The gray streak in my hair … had taken on width, and I saw a stranger in the reflection staring back at me.
One day, when I brought the Fae back to their former glory … My brethren thought I was a traitor, but one day, they would thank me. Just now I knew they abhorred my name, but soon they would revere it.
Just now they thought I mean them harm; I did not. I needed to kill those who stood in my way, but once the four Royal Houses were destroyed, they would thank me. I would rule them firmly but with kindness. And one day, after I had humiliated her and dragged her through the streets of Tir, Aaibhe would be mine.
Morrigu thought she would sit beside me, but when it was over and I no longer needed her services, I was going to eliminate the grasping, needy bitch. Why ever had the Dark King allowed her to live? How could he have put up with her when he had no need of her?
They thought I was mad, and perhaps I was a little …
I had lived longer than my queen. I was eighty thousand years old, and I’d never drunk from the Cauldron to cleanse my mind and forget. I had no one I could trust with my memories, and therefore chanced madness to keep them. So, yes, perhaps I was a bit mad, but I was clear-sighted all the same.
Mankind had to be enslaved, and those who would fight me would be eliminated. Would that my fellow Fae would see this … and stand beside me instead of against me. Humans were useless, pitiful creatures with no life to speak of. They destroyed my beautiful earth and misused everything that came their way.
Outside my window in this awful world everything was dark and barren. Oh, how I hated this land of mist and fog and grotesque beasts. It palled on me. It was a vacuum that throbbed with death. It was a world of misshapen, leafless trees and lifeless terrain. Even at that moment slithering things I shuddered to call Fae, Dark Fae, were scavenging for food. The Dark King had left this realm behind for good reason. In his efforts to create life, he’d only created creatures that ate away at his lovely realm and left it as it was now—a hellhole where his freaks fed upon themselves and still had multiplied beyond imagination! How I loathed this realm …
It was all so different than my beloved Isles of Tir, where my estate stood regal and elegant and my manicured gardens fascinated the eye—and where the creek I loved so much bubbled through my land. Green and vibrant was the home I left behind on Tir—my Tir, a land surrounded by sandy pink beaches and aqua waters. How could I bear much more of this wasteland, when Tir called to me?
Hatred filled my gut and spewed instructions that I could not adhere to—to do so would only ruin my plans. I had to control myself, but there were times when I was not certain I could. Still … victory was ahead, and I could almost taste it. It was on my tongue and in my mind’s eye, and I needed to hold onto it, revel in it and grow …
This bleak place the Dark King called his Dark Realm was a breathing hell. It pulsated with vile creatures with a ravenous hunger to escape and destroy the world I would rule. I would use them, and then once I had this universe under control, I would imprison them once more …
Morrigu … I had once thought I might let her live. However, she had killed any compassion I might have felt for her. Compassion? At times I thought I had not lost it altogether. She said she loved me …
Love—she knew nothing of love. She was obsessed with me—nothing more. She sickened me with her sex games, with her constant demands. I’d never thought I could tire of a beautiful woman so easily, so quickly, but I was heartily sick of Morrigu, and this last game of hers had nearly cost her dearly. I nearly took her life …
I’d lost interest in her … in the sexual pleasures she used to afford me, but she never tired of sex and babbling conversation. She was petulant when I didn’t give her attention. Earlier, she had been more than petulant; she was spiteful.
I would not interrupt my session with the four Royal princes to entertain her, and she would not leave the training room. She began flirting with the Royals, who I knew she had been with before I arrived in the Dark Realm. I was not jealous. However, I did not like to sha
re. I enjoyed group sex when I was the only male …
Morrigu had started her game to tempt me, to get a rise out of me, thinking I would either join or carry her off; she didn’t care which. It had all begun casually enough, with her flirting, and then she was touching first one prince and then the other, taking out their cocks and stroking them.
I felt my eyes twitch as I watched her. She kept looking my way as she pulled off the gown she wore and stood naked and rubbing herself against one of the Dark Royals. They were handsome, each one as handsome as any Seelie Fae, but they were devoid of empathy, compassion, emotion, and moderation.
One of them had thrown off his clothes and sat on a wooden chair, and she situated herself on him and began to ride …
The other had her from behind, and the third put himself in her mouth. The fourth took care of himself while he waited his turn.
“Join us,” Morrigu called to me. I sneered at her, but she simply rocked herself harder on the prince she rode.
I shifted out and came here to my suite to stare out on the world I loathed. I knew she had been sneaking about with the princes those last few days. I didn’t give her enough of what she needed … attention.
She had yelled out at me before I left her to her ‘darlings’, “Fine … go—I am certain my darlings will entertain me …” She glanced at all of them in their turn and added, “Won’t you … sweets?”
My first feeling now when I thought of Morrigu was that she needed killing. If I hadn’t needed her skills with the artifacts, she would have already been dead. She was the only one who knew where the artifacts the Dark King squirreled away in this realm were hidden, and she had only given me two in all these months …
Do I need any more? I have all that I need to open the portals. Perhaps I could kill her now?
No, my better sense told me no. However, she would be my very first kill when Tir and Aaibhe became mine.