by Audra Hart
When we go inside we discover that we have more visitors. Valliant and a couple of his sons have returned from searching for Mulder. They found him, trapped in a binding spell along a dead end path of an abandoned ley line. Mulder is raging against the blond witch that led him off and trapped him there. My heart hammers in my chest. Damian leads me to my chamber and takes me into his arms.
“What about that man upset you?” He demands gently. “Are you afraid of him?”
I smile. “No, Damian. You didn’t scent any fear did you?”
“Not exactly… at least not until he started talking about that woman. Why does the woman worry you?”
I close my eyes and gather my thoughts. I have handle this carefully. I must convince Damian to keep this from Morna. She’s not ready to hear it, and I am not absolutely certain that I have all of my facts straight. “Let me go get Elias and Fionn, I want to tell all of you at the same time.” Damian is confused by my answer, but he just nods and sits on my bed to wait. He’s willing to follow my lead in this, and I find that a hopeful sign for our future.
I return quickly with Elias and Fionn. Elias smiles at Damian warmly. “Hey, kid. How you taking everything? It’s a lot to take in, isn’t it?”
Damian nods, but takes my hand into his and smiles at me in such a way that I momentarily regret Elias and Fionn being with us. But I know it’s a good thing, because Damian and I aren’t ready for that… yet. I drag my eyes from Damian and look at Elias and then Fionn, who is watching me intently. I put up a buffer spell and the two Spell Weavers look at me in surprise with questions in their eyes. “Well, guys, did you hear Mulder talking about the blond witch?”
Elias nods uncertainly. I get the feeling he’s wondering exactly how much he can tell me. I knew it! He knows about Val!
“I think I know who that witch was…” I notice Elias smiling and I say, “Elias, you know too, don’t you? And I suspect my suspicions that her involvement isn’t what it appears to be are correct as well.”
Elias nods, “Breena, tell me who you think the witch is.”
“Valgullveig of Vanaheim.” I see admiration in Elias’ eyes. But it’s obvious that Fionn and Damian have no idea who that is. “Morna’s sister.”
“What the fuck?” Damian blurts out.
“No, shit, kid. What the fuck? Indeed,” mutters Fionn. “Morna has another sister?”
“Yes, Valliant’s oldest child with the Vanir witch Gullveig.”
“Why is Morna’s sister going around attacking Gateway Guardians?” Fionn asks, obviously confused.
“I am not positive, but I think someone else is controlling her.”
Elias nods. “I am positive that she‘s being controlled. I can’t tell you anymore and you will just have to trust me on this. We can’t help her or tell Morna because the one controlling Val will find out and Val’s life won’t be worth anything to her and then the Dark One will destroy Morna’s sister. We have to help protect Morna and others, but also protect her apparent enemy. It’s a fine line to walk.” Elias looks at me and grins before he says; “I am not surprised that you figured this out, Auntie.”
“I suspected, the Elves confirmed. But I am not positive that we can completely trust the Elves either,” I say.
“So, who can we trust?” Damian asks.
“Only the Spell Weavers that we have assembled here, Morna’s father and probably the Stone Breakers.” Fionn pauses and looks at me and then Damian, “And I guess we can trust you too, kid. You would die before you would betray Breena or Morna for that matter. You are bonded to Morna like I am bonded to Breena and she is bonded to me.”
“I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I am glad of that bond between you and my mate,” Damian says looking more than a little surprised.
Fionn chuckles. “Yeah well, let me be honest with you, Damian Summers. I love Brenna. I have loved her for centuries. Way more than she loves me. And if I thought I had a snowball’s chance in hell of getting her away from you, I’d take it. But I know I don’t. And I want her to be happy more than I want her for myself. So you better be good to her.”
I am staring at Fionn open mouthed. I had suspected, but to have Fionn say it is shocking and painful. I hurt for my friend. My heart aches with his pain. “Shit!” I mutter. I move to stand in front of Damian, with him at my back as I reach out to take Fionn’s hand. “Dammit, Fionn, why did you let it get this bad?”
He snorts derisively, “Like I had a choice, Breena? Goddammit, baby, I can’t help who I love any more than you can. Did you really think that I have been trying to make love to you for six centuries because I am just a horny bastard? Did you think I always insisted on sleeping beside you just because I wanted a warm body next to me?”
I shake my head no and wipe away the tears pouring from my eyes. “I guess not. Goddammit, Fionn MacLeod! You, you should have stayed away. You knew I had a mate out there somewhere…”
“I know, baby. I am an idiot. But I am also bonded to you, so it’s not like I had a choice. I can’t stay away from you. On some level, you knew too. But you couldn’t send me away, because you are bonded to me as well.” All I can do is nod and wipe my tears away.
“Wow,” Elias says. “This true mate and bonded protector shit can be hell, can’t it? I hope I never get caught up in this crap.”
I look at Elias and want to tell him that it’s too late, that he’s already met his true mate. The bonds are forming even though he isn’t consciously aware of it. But I say nothing because it would make him run scared and make the whole process that much harder.
I notice Fionn look from me and then to Elias with a shocked expression on his face and I know he was reading my mind. “Goddammit, Fionn, stay out of my head, asshole!”
Elias starts laughing, “Maggie said one of our circle was becoming a telepath, and I suspected it was you Fionn. Now I know I was right. I have been guarding my thoughts around everyone. At least now I can relax a little.”
I look at Fionn, “Sorry, caraid, I didn’t mean to give away your secret.”
He shrugs and says, “Let’s just keep it in this room though, okay? I don’t snoop in other’s heads and I don’t want everyone being uncomfortable around me. Breena is the main one I really need to know what she’s thinking.”
“Lucky me,” I snap sardonically.
Damian looks at Fionn like he’s a science experiment gone wrong. “Stay out of my head,” he snarls.
“No fucking way, vamp! You are the only one who can really hurt my caidir.”
“What’s that mean?” Damian demands.
Elias smiles and says, “Damian, it means cherished one.”
Damian smiles, “I can live with that. If the dog cherishes her, he won’t hurt her.”
I shake my head and mutter, “This is dangerously close to a pissing contest.”
“Yeah it is. Pretty cool,” Elias grins. “I never thought I would see old Fionn MacLeod meet his match when it comes to being a cold, calculating smart-ass.”
“Well, enough of this shit. I have guard duty tonight,” Damian says gruffly. He then gently turns me around to face him and leans down to kiss me. And like before, it’s a kiss so full of passion and promise that I can’t help but respond to it. He lifts me up in his arms and without any thought to our audience, I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist and kiss him back with everything that’s in me. When he finally ends the kiss, I am breathless. “If you need me, mon amour, just whisper my name. I will hear you and come to you.” And then he sets me on my feet and leaves the room so fast even Fionn isn’t able to see him go.
“Hells Bells, for a punk kid he sure knows how to push my buttons,” Fionn mutters.
“I don’t think it was your buttons he was pushing,” Elias says wryly.
I am still struggling for coherent thought and can only smile stupidly because of the languid desire coursing through my body. “Shit, baby, I am going to find Amber or Shira.”
That snap
s me out of my daze. “No, Fionn. The Greek said some crazy stuff is going down at home. You need to steer clear of that place.”
“Well, what do you expect me to do?” He snaps. “You smell like one of my kind who’s preparing to breed. I want you so bad I can’t think straight, and I obviously can’t have you… so what do you suggest I do? Go find that little seer and play with her?” Elias growls at that and I shake my head no. Fionn chuckles, “It’s not your fault, baby. It’s the beast in me.” And then he teleports back to New Orleans.
“Crap, how did I let things get this bad?” I mutter as I sit down on my bed.
“Fionn never showed you his true feelings?” Elias asks.
I shake my head. Then I frown, “I don’t know. Maybe. I am afraid I was so lonely I didn’t see what was right in front of me. It’s only been recently that I began to suspect he might have stronger feelings for me than I had for him. He‘s one of the few people who can shield his feelings from me. I just never realized until now that he was doing it so much of the time.”
“Where did he go?”
“There’s a biker bar near my place in New Orleans that a bunch of Immortals hang out at. They aren’t like us, they are daemons, weres, demons, hunters, a few wraiths and ghouls just to make it interesting… It’s a rough, and violent place. But there are women there who are always eager for a man like Fionn. He goes there to blow off steam.”
“Why doesn’t he go someplace he might meet a woman he can actually make a relationship with?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“Maggie says he finds love in a triad. He’s a dragon descendent.”
I snort. “That’s not very likely since the dragons are extinct.”
“Are they?” Elias asks. “I mean think about it; Shifters, Changelings, Stone Colds and Ghouls are all descendants of the dragons. And I can definitely see him in a triad. It would probably take two women to deal with him.” Elias chuckles at me when I roll my eyes and puts his hand on my shoulder before saying; “Auntie, the most important point is this; he has a true mate or mates out there somewhere. You know Rinda’s mom never gets it wrong. So, take some comfort in that.” And strangely, I do.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
I awaken the next morning to Damian lying beside me watching me sleep. I sit up and cover my mouth, worried about morning breath. “Don’t hide from me, mon cher. Your breath is fine.” I smile weakly at him, resisting to urge to kiss him because I don’t really believe him that my breath is fine.
“Have you been watching me sleep for long?”
“Nah, just a couple of hours.”
I roll my eyes. “Leannan, isn’t that kind of boring for you?”
“No way. Nothing about you is boring.” I can feel his sincerity and read it in his eyes and it stirs my passion for him but I am still unnerved by his comment.
I snort at that. “Damian, a great deal about me is very boring. It’s just new. This thing between us, I mean.”
“Perhaps, but I think five hundred years from now I will still like watching you sleep.” He smiles playfully. “You were dreaming about me.”
“I know, I always do.” I can’t help it, I blush because my dreams about him tend to be pretty hot. I suspect the dreams I was having were pretty racy because I have that achy, needy feeling that follows most of my dreams about him.
“You are a little scared of me, though.”
“Not scared of you, exactly. I am scared of what you make me feel. There’s a difference, Damian.” I can see he’s not really buying it, so I push him back onto the bed and straddle his body to kiss him. I break the kiss feeling breathless and desperate to claim him as my mate. “Damian, you make me feel carnal and wanton. I want to mount you and ride you hard! I have never, ever felt this way. And yeah, it kind of scares me. Feeling this way makes me wonder about myself.”
I sit up and weave a buffer spell around my chamber, weave the iron-lion on my body and pull my tank top off. Damian groans and covers his eyes. “God, mon amour. Don’t do this to me! You are so beautiful and I am afraid of hurting you.”
“You won’t hurt me. I have woven a spell on my body to protect me.” I can see he doesn’t look convinced so I manifest a dagger and move stab it into my hand, but it won’t penetrate the barrier.”
“What the fuck?” Damian demands.
“Iron-lion spell. My body is hard as iron. You can’t hurt me unless you really, and I do mean really, try. Your teeth won’t penetrate the barrier. I am nearly as strong and as fast as you with this spell. I am perfectly safe with you.”
“What if you drop the spell, like you did the hiding spell?”
“Won’t happen. An iron-lion spell won’t drop until the weaver releases it on purpose. It remains on the weaver’s body even if they are injured and lose consciousness. A hiding spell involves a different kind of balance because it affects others, uses elements of the environment and requires constant attention, so it can slip if the Weaver’s concentration wavers. But the iron-lion only affects the Weaver‘s body and it remains intact through battles, whatever. It won‘t slip. I promise,” I assure him softly as I stroke his cheek lovingly.
Damian is looking at my breasts, clad only in a lacy blue bra. And then he looks back up at my face. “I can touch you and kiss you, I mean really kiss you without hurting you? Even if I lose control I won’t hurt you? Because I am not sure that I can be as gentle as I should be with you.”
“You won’t hurt me, leannan. Touch me, kiss me. Claim me, I am yours,” I whisper huskily.
“But it’s so soon after you met me. I don’t want you to regret it.”
“I won’t regret it, and it isn’t so soon. I have been yearning for you for centuries, Damian Summers. I need to claim you. You are mine!”
My words push him beyond his worries for my wellbeing and he instantly has me on my back beneath him and is kissing me deeply. I moan deep in my throat because he tastes wonderful. He’s possessing me, dominating me, making me his. But I am not passive, I am giving as good as I am getting. I can feel his need, it’s as ravenous as my own. I can feel his wild emotions raging through him and his hard cock pressed against my thigh. I shiver at the evidence of his arousal and marvel at how much I want to feel him inside of me.
I can feel the sharp edges of his razor like teeth. His venom makes my mouth tingle and my blood boil. My core clenches tightly and I worry that I will come before he ever he touches me there. “J'ai besoin de toi, mon amour,” He breathes against my mouth.
“I need you too, my love,” I assure him. His cold mouth moves down my body, kissing, licking and even nibbling tenderly at my willing flesh, leaving a trail of fire from his venom and my need. He deftly unsnaps my bra at the closure between my breasts and reverently pulls the fabric back before he cups each breast tenderly in his hands. His hands feel cool, almost cold against my skin but they still ignite a raging inferno in my blood. “Yes,” I moan as he sucks a nipple into his mouth and teases it with his tongue and teeth before suckling gently.
“Breena, you are so beautiful. Je veux être à l'intérieur de vous. Mais je veux vous goûter d'abord.”
I can’t help it, I have to laugh. “Slow down, leannan. My French is not that great.”
He pulls off of my breast and smiles, “I said I want to be inside of you, but I want to taste you first.”
I growl, “Oh hell, lover, I thought that was what you said. Yes!”
Damian chuckles and murmurs; “Bébé, you are so beautiful,” as he moves his mouth down from my breasts onto my belly as his fingers catch the elastic of my plain cotton panties and he slowly pulls them off of my body. He parts my legs and settles between them with his hands on my hips. He leans down and nuzzles my mound, inhaling deeply of my scent. He kisses me there and rasps; “You are so beautiful. I love this tiny triangle of pretty red curls.”
I giggle, feeling glad that I opted for the martini and not the totally bare since he likes the sparse curls. “I got a wax while
I was in Chicago. I wanted to be beautiful and smooth for you.”
Damian groans and trails his tongue over my nearly bare mound. “Your skin tastes so sweet, mon amour.” He gently cups my core and whispers, “You are so wet here. I can smell your arousal, baby. I want to taste you here.”
I raise my knees and part my legs even wider in invitation and he growls as he gently exposes my clit with his deft fingers and leans in to lave my hot, swollen sex. I moan loudly and wind my fingers tightly in his long, silky hair, trying to pull him closer to my center of need. “Yes, leannan,” I growl.
He moves to grab my ass with both hands and lifts me off of the bed so that he can look up into my eyes as he pleasures me with his mouth. He is watching me closely to see that I am pleased with what he is doing. I brush my fingers through his hair at one point before I close my eyes and lie my head back on the bed to savor the sensations he is creating in my body.
When his tongue slowly circles my clit and then repeatedly swashes over it in exactly the right way, I fight to stop my orgasm. Damian pulls his mouth off of me long enough to say, “Come for me, mon amour. Do not hold back.” It’s a command. One I suspect I will be helpless to ignore.
He deftly repositions my legs so that they are resting on his shoulders and his face is buried in my core with his head nestled between my thighs. “Come for me, baby,” he growls against my flesh before he resumes laving my clit unmercifully.
My body eagerly follows his command and the orgasm that rips through me literally pushes me to brink of unconsciousness. I hear his growl and feel his tongue slip inside of me to lap up the proof of my orgasm. He finally moves his mouth when I think I can’t take any more.
He’s looking up into my eyes and I am overwhelmed by the passion and tenderness I see there. He leans in again and kisses the swollen lips of my sex tenderly. “I hope you liked that, mon amour, because I will certainly be wanting to do that again, and often. I may never get enough of eating your sweet cunt.”