9781950890996_TXT_eBook

by Barton, Kathi S.

  “Touch her and you will die.”

  He looked at Charlie when she drew her sword from the air and said the same about Dominic. Then Dominic did the strangest thing he’d ever seen anyone do, at least involving Charlie. Dominic pulled her into his arms and laid a big kiss on her mouth. The strangest thing was that Charlie didn’t seem to mind all that much. There’d be nobody that would have believed it either. These two were all ready to lay claim on the other.

  Who would have figured that it would have taken a bigger to claim the heart of Charlie O’Farrell, the meanest woman to have ever been born? Also the strongest and prettiest. Not counting his own lady wife, he realized he should be thinking. Looking over at her, she didn’t look none too pleased with him again.

  Dominic ran them off. He told them that should they need anything from them they’d come calling. He was sort of pleased with that notion. To have a bigger, especially Dominic, in his house would be a great thing for him. It wasn’t until they were near home that something occurred to him.

  “The king, O’Reilly, he’ll be so pleased with what we’ve done that he’ll have us over for dinner. The expense of it all will be on his head.” Hannah asked him what he was going on about. “Did you see what he ate today? Aye, you did. You was sitting right there with them. He eats a great deal. Even for a wolf, I think. He’ll be hungry too.”

  “You mean like you are all the time? Sham, I haven’t a clue what it is you’re speaking about.”

  Hannah went into their home. She’d be cross with him for a bit and a minute, so he decided to head over to see the king, to tell him of all that he’d been able to do today. He’d be so pleased.

  Sham had it all worked out in his head by the time he was shown to the biggest room in the castle. At least he’d been told it was. Since no one would allow him any deeper into the place, he hadn’t a clue what the rest of the place looked like. Perhaps, and he’d always thought this, he was in the smallest room in the palace.

  There were bathrooms, of course, he realized. Small little rooms with only a place to relieve himself and to wash up. That room was even bigger than his bedroom at his home. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to have a walk around the place.

  “Sham? Did you hear a word that I said to you?” He asked O’Reilly when he’d spoken. “Just this minute. Did you hear me?”

  “I heard you. I don’t know why you think I’m not paying you any mind. I do, so’s you know. I’m very up on everything you say to me.” O’Reilly nodded. “What is it you wanted to talk to me about?”

  “I didn’t want to speak to you. I was told you were here and wanted to speak to me.” Sham said that he must have summoned him. “I did no such thing. You’re addled, I tell you. They told me that you wished to speak to me.”

  “I think you’ve been mistold on that. I was just telling Hannah that you will want to have a dinner in my honor because you— Holy jingle bells, they’re mated.” O’Reilly told him that of course he and Hannah were mated. He’d married them. “And a lovely service it was too. Did I tell you that Hannah loved all the flowers? That was right nice of you do have them all bunched up for us. Even though we’ve been married for right near a hundred years now, I can still smell them blossoms. I surely can.”

  “I’m so glad that you told me that.” Sham told him it was that nice. “Thank you. Now, if you’ve nothing else to tell me, then you should be going. I was about ready to take a little snooze. You should too, Sham. Nothing better than a nice nap.”

  Sham was near about home when he realized that he’d forgotten something. It’d been important too. At least he thought it had been. He picked up some pretty flowers for Hannah, thinking that if he had forgotten something to do, then she’d be so overwhelmed by the pretties that he’d brung her that she’d not give a tinker’s whistle about it. She was a good woman, his Hannah. He’d not take a golden coin for her. No sir. She was his forever.

  “Well? Did you tell him?” He said that they’d had a nice talking to. “That is no more an answer than you thinking that pretty flowers would soften my boinking you on the head. Did you tell the king that Charlie and Dominic are together or not?”

  He didn’t have a good answer—not even a bad one. Instead of answering her at all, he shoved the pretties in her hands. Sham never saw the spoon move—never saw Hannah move. He just found himself on the floor with a hurting head and flowers all over his body. Then a bee went and stung him on his nose.

  “Durn woman.” Sham looked around to make sure he was alone. He didn’t think his poor head could take another hit to it today.

  Chapter 2

  Charlie knew there was no hope for it now. Dominic might as well have announced it to the world that he’d claimed her. Telling either Sham or his wife was the same as taking an ad out in the paper. She looked at the man as he sat across from her, staring at the fire sparks.

  There wasn’t anything about him that made her think that he’d be a mean man. He was a wolf, sure and good, but he was also a good looking man, very muscled and strong. Dominic looked like a well-formed carving, someone who didn’t need any kind of exercise equipment to make him look like he did. She realized that he’d said something, and Charlie asked him to repeat it.

  “I was asking you how much you know about your parents. Though I’d not want to refer to them like that if I knew that they had it in their head to kill me off.” Charlie told him that she didn’t have any memories of them, as she’d not really had a good look at them. “So you were very young when they offered you up to this demon?”

  “Aye, a wee one. Newly birthed. I was saved by a witch.” She could trust him. She knew that much. “‘Tis wrong, the day of my birth. It was sooner than they thought. ‘Tis the day after tomorrow. I will be two hundred years old that day.”

  “We’ll celebrate in style once we get back to normal. Not that I have any idea what normal is, but we’ll get it. So, would you mind telling me what is so important about the day of your birth?” Charlie stood up and went to where he sat. Sitting on his lap, having his arms around her, was something that she’d never experienced before. She wasn’t even sure why the thought of doing it seemed so real and right to her.

  On some level she was happy that he’d been chosen for her. He’d be there with her on a great many things, she realized. Leaning back on his chest, she was glad she couldn’t see his face when she told him what she had found out.

  “Their names are Will and Dorcus O’Farrell. Not married, as Sham guessed, but brother and sister. They had it in their heads that they’d offer up children of theirs so that they’d have all the power and coins of my kind. The littles. I’ve not figured out why they got this notion, but that’s something that they did.” Dominic asked her if she knew the demons. “Nay. There were so many, I’m told, that would say they were one thing and be another. But they offered me sisters up for the magic, you see. But for what, I’ve not a clue. The witch, Rosa, was there when they were to toss me in the water. Now, I don’t know the all of it, mind you. Just what I’ve been able to bunch up on my own. But I think I’ve enough to know what’s what in this.”

  “Rosa, did she tell you this story?” Charlie tried to leap off Dominic to tell him that it weren’t no story, but the truth. “Settle down. I believe you. I meant only to ask a question about her. To me, story and truth are the same thing. I’m sorry about that. I’ll try and remember it from now on. What do you know about Rosa?”

  “Nay, Rosa died that night. The earth told me that she leaped into the water when she saw what they were about. They’d tied a magical rope around me and tossed me to the deepest part of the fast moving water. With no thought for herself or what bringing me ashore would mean, she was knocked around a great deal and was harmed.” Dominic asked about her. “Hold your noddle. I’m getting there. When she got me to shore, they stood there with blades and magic. Taking them to us, they cut us to ribbons. Ros
a, saving me, took the worst of it. But I was only a minute and a bit from dying too. The cuts to meself were bad, and the water hadn’t helped me none. Calling out to the earth to safe us, Rosa gave me a great gift of her magic.”

  “That’s when Sham and Hannah found you.” Telling him that was right, Charlie thought of the rest of the tale she’d found. “Please tell me the rest. I really want to know so that I can figure out what we’re up against.”

  “I believe that the other two, they thought we both were well and good dead. But even while she lay dying, holding onto me and feeding me her magic, I was gaining strength. She gave it to me rather than saving any for herself. It was a powerful gift the magic I got. And since I was old enough to understand it has been coming to me bits at a time. Also, I was able to understand what I had right away, so I could protect myself. And to hide from the people that birthed me, Will and Dorcus.” He asked her if she’d seen them since that time. “Nay. I didn’t know what they looked like, but I could have smelled them. I didn’t go after them for fear, I guess, of them trying to finish what they started. As for the magic, some of it that I got, it was to be able to shift into whatever I wanted. Pull things I might need from the air, like the blade from earlier. I’ve been good at figuring things out as well. Oh, when I found the rope they used to try and kill me, I sniffed it and found their scent, and that of the person who made it for them.”

  “Another witch.” She said it had been a gift from one of the other demons. A gift that had been given to them when they gave up a child. “Is it like a puzzle then? They give up a child, a monstrous thing by the way, and they’d get a gift to be able to kill the next child, right?”

  “It took me nearly a season to figure that one out. Yes, you be right. A blade was forged for the first child. They needed only to kill her on the earth and let the blood soak into it. The gift for that was a hot enough fire to burn the next child before it could take a good breath. The gift they received then was a pair of wings. A large bird took the babe to the sky and let it go. That was when they received the rope. One that would bind me up and take me to the bottom of the water so that I’d drown.” Dominic held her tighter and she let him. “They received their gift for me being drowned. It was an endless pot of gold that would be theirs until they were ready to die. I don’t believe they ever had enough coin even for an endless pot. I’ve not an idea why that thought accompanies the endless coin, but it comes when I think of them.”

  “What happens if this demon finds out that he’s been duped?” She knew the word, but it took her a moment to understand what he meant. “I mean, he would have known at some point, right?”

  “Duped. Yes, they’ll all know, if there ever was a demon. I heard that they said there was one for each babe. But as for sure about it, I know not.” She turned in his arms then. “The others will have to forfeit as well. I mean, the three before the last one. The demons, from what I was told, had to give up a bit of themselves in order to make the entire process work. If one of them finds out, he will not say anything to the others for fear of it getting around that they made a pact with humans. It’s against the laws of the land here. Littles know better than to deal with any creature that’s not a little that is able to cross though the portal that leads to here. Also, this is important, they used babes to make this pact work. For that they could be destroyed. Babes are innocents, and an innocent canna be used for bargaining nor magic. Of either kind.”

  “You mean for good or bad magic.” Charlie smiled at him as she nodded. “Okay, first things first. It would be great if we knew if the people who had you really were talking to demons, or if they were just off their rocker. I think that’s a given, but we’ll see what we can find out from that. All right?”

  “Yes. I know of one witch that might be able to help us, but she is very old and set in her ways.” Dominic told her that he might know of someone as well. “I’d rather bypass my help if we can. Who do you know that you think can help us?”

  “My sister-in-law, Rayne.” She could feel his erection beneath her, and moved to adjust him to a better position. “You keep that up and it’ll be a while before we leave this area. And as much as I’d like to roll you into the grass and take you, I think that we’re in need of answers sooner.”

  “Are you sure?” She could tell that he wanted her. So when she rolled her hips over him again, she laughed when she found herself on her back and him tearing at her clothing. “I guess you’re not sure.”

  “I’m sure of one thing. You’re mine.” The kiss wasn’t like the others they’d exchanged. This one was hungry. Hot, and so sexy that Charlie had to lift his head from hers so as not to be burnt by it. “I have wanted you since the moment I looked into my refrigerator and saw you there. All I’ve been able to think about is how you would taste. If your mouth was warm and soft. I want you, Charlie. More than my next breath. But if you’re not sure, now would be a good time to tell me. Before there is no returning from us being one.”

  “I’ve had sex before, so I know what I should expect. But I have a feeling that it was nothing more than that. Sex. A coming between two people with a need.” Dominic told her that it would be forever with him. “I want you, Dominic. Take what I offer freely to you.”

  She was naked before he was. Her body had never been anything that she took pride in as a woman. But the way that he looked at her, like he’d never forget a single curve or mark, made her feel beautiful and loved. Touching her fingers to his hard nipple, the urge to take it into her mouth made her head spin.

  “Christ, yes. That’s it, Charlie.”

  She nibbled hard on his nubbin. Before she could get enough, if that was even possible, he pulled away from her and moved to take her breast into his mouth.

  Nothing in either world could have prepared her for the feelings that he gave her. His teeth scraped over her nipple in a way that seemed to send electrical charges throughout her entire being. When he suckled at her breast, taking all of her into his mouth, she held him to her, not sure if she could beg him to stop or to keep going. Then he moved down her body.

  His tongue was doing strange and amazing things to her navel. She felt his hands massage and sooth her flesh. When he nipped at her hip, Charlie screamed out her release so that the birds scattered to the sky. Every time she came she was sure that it would be the last, that it was the best she’d ever had.

  As his mouth worked its way back up her body, nipping then soothing her flesh from the tiny wound, Charlie begged him for time. For what, she had no idea, but when he was at her womanhood, his hot thick cock there at her entrance, she looked up into his eyes and saw an emotion there that she thought never to see on a man’s face as he looked at her.

  “You love me.” He took her hand to his mouth and kissed her there, telling her with his touch that he loved her a great deal. “I love you, Dominic. I’ll be honest, I dinna want to. Aye, I thought me to have no love in me at all. But then you came into my life and changed everything. Take me, heart and soul, Dominic Winchester. Make me wholly yours.”

  There was nothing easy about him taking her. Dominic filled her in places that she’d not known she was empty. Her heart beat harder for him, managing the love and everything else that he gave her in one taking. As he made love to her, not just her body but her whole self, she felt things in her shifting, her mind settling and her memories moving.

  Sharing. They were sharing everything. Magic as well as what they’d gone through. From the moment that he’d been conceived until this very moment. The love of his family was there. The friendship of so many. Then she came.

  Lights, colorful and bright, danced beneath her lids. Her body bowed up and seemed to become one with his. As soon as Dominic came, giving her his everything, she held onto him as they were lifted high off the ground, their bodies becoming a part of all that was around them.

  As they settled back to earth, both of them came again and then held each
other tightly. Charlie was positive that she’d died, and not one single part of her cared. Holding onto Dominic, she knew that this was only the beginning. Whatever else came their way, they’d overcome it as one. They were one, and would be for forevermore.

  When Charlie woke there was a fire roaring in front of her. A thick blanket covered not just her body, but her nudity as well. Dominic was speaking to someone—a female. It wasn’t until she was dressed that she realized who it was.

  Sasha of the Dale was sitting cross legged by the fire. When she joined Dominic, Charlie could feel that they were getting on well. Instead of waiting, as she was sure she should have done, she sat down and drew her blade, stabbing deep into the ground. It had the desired effect. They both turned to her.

  ~*~

  Dominic had been talking with Sasha for the last hour or so. She’d been telling him some of the things he’d be able to do now. Also, some of the things that his mate had been doing. Without anyone having any idea what she’d been about, she’d been caring for a center that cared for infants and children whose parents were gone or sent away. He’d thought that he couldn’t love her anymore, but now he knew better.

  “Sasha was telling me about the things you have set up in the other world. For those less fortune. That’s an admirable venture you’ve taken on. I thank you for that.” Charlie told him wasn’t anything. “I’m sure that to the people you help, it’s a great deal. You should talk to my family. They’d be more than happy to help you out more if you’d allow it.”

  Dominic could tell that she was upset. Taking her hand into his, Dominic was surprised by the strength of the squeeze, then the feeling of defeat. He could understand the first feeling—she might well be jealous or upset with him for suggesting she needed help. Defeated? Not her. Not ever.

  “I’m sorry.” Charlie started to rise but he stopped her. “I’ve only just woke, and I have meself a terrible head pain. If you could give me a moment.”