“Me?” She was about to ask why and it hit her. “You’re a man in black.”
His brow arched. “A who in what?”
“Man. In black,” she answered slowly, because he probably was suffering a brain injury or something. Guess the invisa-bees hadn’t been all that helpful after all.
He sighed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“A guy from the organization that has been hunting me down for years,” she said, her voice raising. “The same goons who have come for me over and over, trying to toss me in an unmarked van?”
He snorted.
“I don’t find that funny. I’ve seen movies. I know what happens when you get put in an unmarked van.”
“What happens?” he asked, faking distress.
She knew he was teasing her with his questions. Still, she couldn’t help herself. Oddly, she felt comfortable around him.
“They fish your body out of a river after showing unflattering pictures of you all over the media in hopes someone has spotted you. In reality, you’re already swimming with the fishes.”
“And they told you they were going to kill you?” he asked, still looking amused. “Interesting.”
“Like serial killers inform you of their intent.” She huffed, waving a hand in the air frantically to get her point across. “They claimed they just wanted to talk. Pfft. Do I look stupid? No way was I going anywhere with them.”
“So you evaded them three times,” he mused.
“I did.” She almost asked how he knew, but had a hunch he was with them. “I went to the police once for help.”
“How did that work out for you?”
She bit the corner of her lip. “They held me in a cell, and when they opened it, a guy from one of the groups who tried to take me was there. He’d bailed me out. That is pretty twisted, don’t you think?”
“Not if he was really trying to help you.” Eadan shook his head. “And what did you do then?”
“Faked being sick. When they went for help, I ran. No way was I letting a group of nutjobs steal me away to take me apart in tiny pieces and dissect me.”
He laughed. The entirely too sexy jerk actually laughed at her. “You mean a member of the group who has been trying to get you, bring you in safely, and tell you about the actual bad guys?”
She stilled. Wait. The men in black weren’t the enemy? How could that be? She’d spent so long believing them to be the ultimate threat. Dare she believe Eadan? Jimmy would tell her to trust her gut in this situation. He’d say she had to follow her instincts. Her gut said Eadan was on the level. That he was being honest. And years of drawing him, sketching every detail of his face, left her feeling a bond to him. One she didn’t want to see broken now that she knew he was actually a flesh-and-blood man, not just a figment of her imagination.
“Oh. So they aren’t the bad guys?”
“No. Well, the majority of them aren’t. It’s complicated. Suffice to say, I’m not a bad guy.” He began touching the walls of the container. He hissed and pulled his hand back. “Lead.” She watched him as he jerked on his chains. “I’m betting these are lead laced as well.”
Stories Jimmy used to tell her of other types of supernaturals came back to her. Her eyes widened. Excitement raced through her. “You’re a faerie!”
He responded with a slight laugh. “I am.”
“That is so cool,” she said, sounding very child-like. She didn’t care. She’d always wanted to meet a faerie. “Are you a Trooping Faerie?’
“Am I a what?”
She smiled wider. “Can you fly?”
He paused in his search for a way out. He faced her direction. “Do I look like a pixie to you?”
She eyed him. “Well, no, but I’ve never seen one, so maybe.”
“They’re smaller than me. Much smaller.”
“And they can fly?”
The look he gave her made her blush. “No, they don’t fly like in the normal sense of the word. They levitate and can suspend themselves in midair for a period of time. I guess it gives the illusion of flight.” He huffed. “Why are we talking about them again?”
“I thought you were one.”
He shot her a hard look. Oddly, it just turned her on. Under normal circumstances her temper would have gotten the better of her and she’d have added to someone’s injuries. Not this someone. He was different.
She just wasn’t sure how or why.
Flashes of how it felt to touch him washed over her. She had to put her thoughts on something else and fast. The next she knew she was blurting out, “How old are you? Are you, like, a thousand? A friend of mine told me he knew some faeries that were pushing a thousand.”
Eadan exhaled slowly. It was evident he was trying to be patient with her. “I’m going to be thirty-one soon.”
Some of her elation waned. “Great. I dreamed up the baby faerie.”
“Baby faerie?” he questioned. “Do I look like a baby to you?”
Hell no. He looked like he’d be a killer in bed. Something about him oozed sexuality. Even beat up he gave off a vibe that said “once I take you, you’ll never want another”. She swallowed hard, remembering the feel of his chest. “Um, no. Not really so much.”
“And for the record, we prefer the term Fae to faerie.”
“Sounds more manly. I can see why,” she said, before thinking better of it.
He snorted and then went all the way around the container, to no avail. She suspected his eyesight wasn’t quite as good as her shifter one was, so she didn’t bother pointing out that his mission had been a lost cause. They were locked in.
“So,” she started, “what is it your organization wants with me, Eadan?”
He returned to her and sat again, looking tired and sore. “We’re called PSI.”
She merely listened as he continued on.
“We deal in paranormal security and intelligence. Intel came in on you,” he said softly. “It led us to believe you might be a child of the Asia Project.”
“Asia Project?” she asked. She’d heard Jimmy mention it once in passing to one of his contacts.
“Bad guys doing bad things to babies, hoping to make super soldiers, or the at least, the next wave of super humans.”
She was quiet for a while as she let what he said soak in. “And you think I’m one of these babies from the Asia Project?”
“We know you are,” he said. He watched her in a way that made her feel as though she was the sexiest woman put on the face of the Earth. Not the street rat she really was. “We were able to track down your adoption records.”
She shook her head. “Not possible. My adoptive parents got me from a backwoods orphanage overseas. The place had a fire. All its records were destroyed.”
Eadan touched her hand with his and heat shot through her. “PSI swept in during the fire, grabbing what they could and reconstructing as much evidence and information as possible. They took the copies and got rid of the rest. They needed to protect your identity and the identity of others like you who were funneled through the same orphanage.”
There were others like her? Others who didn’t know what they were or why they were this way? She turned her hand, taking Eadan’s in hers. “Did you find them all? The others?”
He shook his head. “No. You’re the first one from this orphanage we’ve been able to locate. And you’re hard to pin down long enough to bring in and tell everything to.”
She blushed. “In my defense, I thought you people wanted to dissect me or leave me in a river.”
“No. We don’t do that sort of thing.” He held her hand and lifted it, his chains rattling. “We gave that up some time in the early twenties.”
Sensing he was joking, her lips twitched before giving in and smiling. “You hear this from the old timers?”
“Oh yeah, they sit around talking about the good ole days.” He met her gaze. “When you could just toss whoever you wanted in the river and be done with them.”
“Glad I missed out on that,” she said.
He stared at her for the longest time. “You’re too thin.”
She knew. It’s not like I can help it.
“I never said it was your fault,” he said, surprising her.
She tipped her head, watching him, wondering if he’d really read her mind.
“I’m going to get you out of here and then I’m going to feed you.”
She grinned. “Sounds like a plan. But I did have a banana before you so rudely walked in on me getting cleaned up.”
He flashed a wicked grin that screamed sex. What was with him? Every action he did in some way made her think naughty thoughts. “I’d say I was sorry but… And I saw your work with that apple. Impressive,” he said.
She laughed and it felt good to do so after so long of finding little joy in anything. She understood their circumstances were not a laughing matter, but it beat crying her eyes out. That wouldn’t fix anything. As soon as she thought about tears, she found some wanting to come. She looked away, hoping Eadan’s eyesight wasn’t good in the low light.
He held her hand tighter. “Inara?”
“Hmm?”
He caressed her hand with his thumb. “Tell me about your sketches.”
She froze. He knew about them? How? “I don’t want to talk about them.”
Eadan kissed the back of her hand and warmth continued to spread throughout her. Now wasn’t the time to develop wet panties for a guy she’d just met. Now was time to hold her shit together, figure a way out, and go to ground again. As Eadan planted another kiss on her hand, she got the feeling she wouldn’t go anywhere without him.
She pulled on her courage and leaned her head against his shoulder. “I don’t know why I draw you. I just do.”
“How long have you been doing it?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Since forever. What does it mean?”
He said nothing.
She groaned. “I sold a few. Naked ones.”
“There are naked drawings of me out in the world?” he asked.
She shrugged and was about to comment but decided against it. Didn’t seem important now considering the mess they were in.
He put his head to hers and they sat in silence for a while. She was upset he didn’t answer the question, but got the sense she might not like what he had to say if he did, so she left it alone. Besides, it felt good to be near him. She ran her other hand over his shackle. “The lead, it stops you from being able to use your magik?”
“Yes.”
“And it burns you, doesn’t it?” she asked, seeing his skin now looked raw where the shackles touched.
“I’m fine.”
Guilt assailed her. She opened her mouth and words came flooding out, “When you were out cold, I was petting your chest. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. You try not touching you.”
Chapter Six
It took all of Eadan’s control to avoid laughing at Inara’s obviously sincere apology. She’d touched him that way? He was pissed he’d missed it. The very idea of her hands on his body made his cock stir to life again. Eadan had to fight to keep from kissing the back of her hand. It was enough she was permitting him to touch her. He didn’t want to push too far.
He should stop and look for another way out, yet he couldn’t seem to pull himself from her side. For the moment, he was where he needed to be.
“Are you mad?” she asked. The vulnerability in her voice moved him. “That makes me one of those creepy people, doesn’t it?”
“Tell you what,” he answered, looking for words to set her mind at ease. “Let’s get out of here and you can pet me as much as you want, okay?”
“Promise?” She blinked. “I mean, um, I’m good. It’s all good.”
Hell yeah, it was fine with him if she petted him. She could rub him all over. He’d welcome it. But as much as he wanted to remain in contact with her, they needed out of the container and fast. Helmuth knew enough to put him in lead-laced chains and a lead-lined box. That meant he fully understood who and what Eadan was—that he was Fae.
And that meant PSI had a mole. Helmuth’s men shouldn’t have been expecting him. Yet, clearly they were.
Dammit.
Inara tugged on his hand, returning his full attention to her.
“When you were out cold, and I was petting you, it suddenly felt and sounded like hundreds of bees were buzzing around us.” She turned her face away from him. “And your head healed when it happened.”
Eadan gasped. Her Fae side had responded to his, as a mate would. She’d healed him without realizing what she’d done.
She is my true mate.
“I’m your true what?” she asked.
Eadan grinned. She could read his thoughts. As a mate should be able to. Though, she didn’t seem to have registered she had. He’d seen this happen to couples before. Sometimes, they tried to rationalize what was happening before admitting to the strange and wonderful.
Grabbing her and holding her close before claiming her as a Fae male would was all he wanted to do. Their current predicament demanded he postpone that desire, however difficult that may be. It was especially hard because Eadan’s line of Fae derived power from sex. It intensified their gifts.
She looked at him and tried to pull her hand free from his. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why it happened or even really understand what happened.”
He kept hold of her hand, bringing it to his lips once again. He kissed it and noticed she closed her eyes, leaning in to him more. That was a good thing. It meant they trusted one another on a baser level. It was elemental, as it should be. “Inara, you healed me. Like a mate would.”
“A mate?” she asked.
“We can talk about that later.”
A confused expression covered her face. “How could I heal you? I’m not magik.”
“You’re more magik than you realize,” he responded.
Skepticism entered her green gaze. “No. I just touched you and then…then there was a buzzing. It increased when—” She looked to the floor, seeming entirely too interested in it. “Never mind.”
He fought the urge to grin. She was sexually shy and he found that endearing as all get out. Since his line of Fae were sexual by nature, it was refreshing to have a woman like Inara near him. There was an innocence about her that made him question Jack’s statement that she might be romantically linked with James Hagen.
His temper began to rise but he held firm, refusing to allow it to ruin the small exchanges between them. “The buzz grew when you were aroused, correct?” he asked, already knowing the answer to his question.
She groaned. “Yes. Fine. It did. What does that mean?”
“That we can heal one another through sexual energy.”
She jerked her hand free from his and stood. He made no move to go after her. She needed to feel safe with him. He understood that. He’d read what little had been in her file. She’d had a rough go of it. Life hadn’t been kind and he was guessing he’d probably never get all the gritty details out of her. He’d give her all the time he could, considering their situation, to come to terms with everything. He sat still, watching her move, memorizing the sway of her hips, silently wanting them swaying above him as she rode him.
She twisted and looked at his wrists. “The lead, it hurts you, right?”
“I said I was fine.” Eadan didn’t want her concerned with him.
“You lied,” she corrected. “You’re not fine.”
She had him there. He nodded.
Inara approached him slowly, as if she were prey nearing a predator. Her actions were cautious. He remained in place, knowing it helped her feel in control of the situation. She moved to her knees and reached out a tentative hand to him. Her fingers skimmed his wrists and her bottom lip began to tremble. As moisture coated her green eyes, his chest tightened. The struggle within her was evident. She wanted to help him but was scared of what helping him might mean. It was too much for anyone, especially some
one her age. He couldn’t blame her.
“Inara, I’m fine. I’ll heal this on my own at some point. I don’t want you to do anything you don’t want to do.” He meant every word he said. He’d rather have his hands fall clean off than cause her a moment of emotional or physical pain.
Because she’s your mate and that is what mates do for one another.
“I could heal you though, right?”
He pressed his lips together a moment. “I don’t want you doing anything you don’t want to—”
She launched herself at him, knocking him backward. He fell with her in his arms. He absorbed the impact of their bodies hitting the floor. The feel of her body pressed to his caused him to gasp, opening his mouth to hers. Her lips met his and Eadan’s eyes widened as she thrust her tongue into his mouth. He gave up trying to reason with her and simply gave in to her kiss.
She purred and the sound drove his lust into overdrive. Power began to build around them. It shouldn’t have been able to, with the lead chains and lead-lined container, yet it was.
True mates.
The power latched on to Eadan’s and blended with it, intensifying everything on his body, making him feel her even more. Her hands were everywhere at once, tugging at his shirt before pushing it up his torso as best she could. The fucking chains restricted both their movements.
Their tongues intertwined, driving the sex lust onward. Grinding himself up against her mound more, he could sense her nearing culmination. Damn, his woman was fiery and responded to touch beautifully.
Magik continued to beat at the air around them. Had Eadan been free from the chains, he knew his power would have removed their clothing already. It could do that and so much more.
Inara pushed down on him, her jaw going slack. “Ohmygod!”
He knew then she was coming. The power around them grew to epic proportions. Eadan tried to control it in some fashion but couldn’t. The next he knew it felt as if tiny strings were threading between them. Try as he might to stop it, he was powerless in the face of the sex magik. They were true mates and they were doing what true mates did when they shared power—they were forever cementing the bond between them. Should he actually slip his cock into her and share his seed with her, they would be husband and wife in the eyes of the supernatural community. It would be an unbreakable bond. Already they’d laid the groundwork for it. Already they would forever be tied to one another.
Tactical Magik Page 6