Touch of Fire

by Michele Callahan

  “You’re welcome.” The gruff voice behind her made Kayla smile as she leaned over to inspect the tiny new life in her hand. This place was weird, but amazing. Awesome. Incredible.

  Maybe missing her beach vacation wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

  The yellow and green little ones came back down to greet their new sister as Kayla set her gently back down on the table and the three buzzed around each other and their mother with excitement. Their mother was about eight inches tall, and all three of her babies were curled around her legs now, clinging like human toddlers would.

  “They’re beautiful. Congratulations.” Kayla smiled at the tiny mother, who smiled back.

  “Thank you. I knew you were a witch. That’s why I came to Magic. I need your help.”

  Kayla was about to protest, but the arm around her waist tightened and she held her tongue in shock. He’d been holding her, and she’d allowed it. It had felt so natural, so right, she hadn’t even thought to protest. Until he spoke again.

  “Princess, I am Xander, son of Thetis and master of fire. I am not a witch, but I can take you to them.”

  The fairy beamed, and little sparks of light jumped off her body into the air around her. “Thank you! I am Glitter. This is Daffodil and Spring. And…” She paused, looking at the bright red little girl, then back up at Xander. “Well, she was not born with a name. Since you breathed the magic of life into her, you must name her.”

  Xander stiffened behind her and Kayla couldn’t help but smile. Xander reached down and held out his hand. Kayla wasn’t surprised when the tiny red creature climbed into his hand and wrapped her tiny arms around his thumb in what was, for her, a full-body hug.

  “Flame. Your name will be Flame.”

  A burst of light flashed around the little body and Xander laughed as the tiny fairy took off flying in a mad dash around the room, just as her brother and sister had done before her. Flame’s laughter filled the air and her siblings jumped off the table to join her.

  “Now you see why I needed to be inside. They are nearly impossible to control at this age.” Standing on the table, their mother sighed with relief. She wore a simple dress that fell to mid-thigh. Her feet were bare and her hair was a glittering flow of white down her back that fell nearly to her ankles. The princess was one of the most beautiful things Kayla had ever seen.

  Kayla stepped out of Xander’s hold, but didn’t protest when the arm around her waist was immediately replaced with his large hand wrapping around hers as she knelt down to be eye level with the fairy princess. “I’m Kayla. It’s lovely to meet you.”

  Princess Glitter smiled and bowed deeply, her shimmering wings protruding several inches into the air on top of her back. Kayla ached to touch one of them, but thought better of it. That might be rude, and she had no idea about fairy etiquette.

  Xander kept a watchful eye on the little ones zipping around as he spoke. “Can I drive you home, Princess?”

  The fairy stood to her full height and threw back her shoulders. “No. My people lived in a beautiful garden for hundreds of years, but big human machines destroyed our home a few days ago. I’ve been flying as fast as I could to get here before the children were born. I need a new garden, a protected place, or my children will not survive the night. I came to Magic to ask the witches for help.”

  “I see.” Xander nodded gravely and Kayla felt her eyes widen as she finally came down off the adrenaline rush of helping the new mother, and processing all the strange things she’d seen and done in the last few minutes. Xander smiled as the tiny red fairy landed on his shoulder like she owned him. “I believe you need to speak to Topper. Or to a member of her family line. They are all very powerful witches.”

  “Topper?” Kayla had been grinning at the tiny red fairy, but her smile faded and she turned to face Xander. “I met Topper. Purple hair?”

  He grimaced. “That’s the one. Although, I have also seen her with blue hair, and pink. She’s unpredictable, and likes to stir up mischief, but she’d be the one to ask.”

  Translate all. So, that hadn’t been her imagination! Maybe that was why Kayla now stood here talking to a self-proclaimed master of fire and a fairy.

  A sexy master of fire who was looking at her like he wanted to master something else entirely.

  Me.

  Lost in his heated gaze, she didn’t notice how close his lips were to hers until it was too late.

  Chapter Five

  From the moment he’d sensed Kayla’s arrival in town, he’d been unsettled. A buzzing in his head made thinking difficult. Magic flared in his body in unpredictable waves of hot and cold, heat and desolation, longing and need. He kept his hands on her now because touching her helped him control the fire burning its way through his rational mind like a blow torch cutting through paper.

  Kayla was his and he had a very primitive urge to throw her over his shoulder, carry her off to his bedroom, and tie her to his bed where he would take his time exploring her body and learning how she liked to be touched. He’d read dozens of books on the sexual act, on courting a woman, on modern dating and the internet. But she’d frowned at him when he’d read her a love sonnet. What else had he gotten wrong when it came to human women? Would she like the flower garden and water fountain he’d built for her inside his home? The large, soft bed where he planned to spend hours making love to her?

  He’d never tried to court a woman before, never cared. That was part of his curse. No woman had ever interested him until this one.

  This one was his. Forever. All he had to do was convince her to stay.

  Flame, the wee little female perched on his shoulder, made him feel protective and very, very big. She was no bigger than his smallest finger, yet when he’d touched her small, lifeless body, he’d felt the emptiness inside her form, the empty hole where magic was supposed to be.

  So, he’d filled her up, shared his connection with Mother Earth and shared his fire. Now the wee little fairy was not only going to grow into a powerful being, she would always be loyal to him, part of his family. Almost like a real daughter.

  The thought was humbling, but as happy as that thought made him, his complete focus was on the woman who turned to stare up at him and ask him about the local witch. Topper was powerful, and full of trouble. But everyone in town loved her, and trusted her. Xander figured hundreds of magical creatures couldn’t be wrong.

  “I met Topper. Purple hair?” Kayla’s green-and-brown eyes focused on him and he felt the full effect of her undivided attention for the first time.

  He held back a groan of pure need and tried not to stare at her full, pink lips. Her gaze held compassion and intelligence. Her skin looked softer than the finest silk. Her hair flowed around her shoulders in soft waves he ached to feel slipping through his fingers. He wanted to taste her now. “That’s the one. Although, I have also seen her with blue hair, and pink. She’s unpredictable, and likes to stir up mischief, but she’d be the one to ask for help.”

  Kayla looked confused and he couldn’t resist temptation for another moment. Holding her gaze in case she needed to move away, he lowered his head slowly, so slowly, until his lips pressed to hers. Kayla didn’t pull away, instead her arms wrapped around his waist to pull him closer and she opened her mouth to let him in.

  He stopped thinking then, stopped holding back, and gave in to the fierce desire to taste her. He took what he wanted, exploring her mouth, learning the soft cushion of her curves pressed to his hard body. He couldn’t get enough, tilting his head to stroke deep inside her mouth with his tongue as he advanced and retreated, daring her to answer his passion with fire of her own.

  When her hips were pressed to his, her abdomen crushed against his erection, and her breath as labored as his own, he thought to take her inside to his bedroom and claim her. But Glitter had other ideas.

  “Excuse me?”

  When he ignored the little fairy, she flew up to land on his shoulder next to her daughter and tugged on his hair. “Hey!
Excuse me! I need to go see Topper. Right now!”

  Annoyed, he broke off the kiss to find Kayla in a daze, staring up at him with a dark pool of desire in her eyes, lips damp from his kisses, and a look on her face that said she didn’t want to stop any more than he did.

  Another hard tug on his hair acted like a bucket of cold water over both of them.

  If what the little fairy said was true, he would have to wait to claim his mate. He’d heard about certain types of wee folk who needed to anchor to something living, something solid in the world, like a tree or a flower patch, to stay grounded in Earth’s magical energy fields. The new young ones would be especially vulnerable to the fade. Although little Flame most likely wouldn’t need a tree or pond to anchor to, she seemed to have attached herself to him.

  “All right. Let’s round up your babies and go find a witch.” He glanced down into Kayla’s upturned face. “Will you accompany us?”

  “I wouldn’t miss this.” She smiled, and he knew he was well and truly lost. The magic of the heart stone was singing through his veins until he felt like a tuning fork that never stopped ringing. But more than that, the magic had brought this woman to him. Kayla. She was his. Meant for him. Perfect for him. She hadn’t batted an eyelash at talking bunnies giving birth and then turning into fairies. She’d already proven herself to be kind, gentle and compassionate, as well as one hell of a kisser. It wasn’t just his mother’s magic making him fall in love with her.

  *.*.*

  They found Topper under a raincloud standing beneath a brightly striped red-and-yellow umbrella. The witch was wearing bright yellow puddle jumper boots, a yellow rain jacket, and a frown. It wasn’t raining anywhere but in a fifteen-foot circle around Topper, who stood stomping in mud puddles. Her hair wasn’t purple at the moment, it was bright red to match her umbrella, and she had a huge frown on her face. She was mumbling about staying away from someone named Lacey and letting her handle things. Something about a lizard man and things being too dangerous.

  “Topper. We need to talk to you.” Xander called out to her from where he stood next to Kayla on the edge of Topper’s small storm. Glitter was sitting on his left shoulder, and the three little ones were draped around their mother, crawling all over his ear, into his hair, and tickling his neck with their fluttering little wings.

  Topper smiled and walked toward them. Thankfully, the storm didn’t move with her. When she stood on the edge, just inside the cloud of rain, she peeked up at him from beneath her umbrella. “What is it, fireman? Do you need me to take sexy nude photos of you for a fundraising calendar?”

  “No.”

  Her shoulders slumped but she shrugged. “No? Well, then, I’m a bit busy. A couple of aliens landed and the Fates have me keeping an eye on things.” Her eyes glowed brightly for a few seconds and even he stepped back. The witches in this town were frightening. As far as he could tell, they were each one as powerful as his own mother. But his mother, being a goddess, had them beat in immortality. Or at least he thought so… “How old are you?”

  A small hand smacked him in the shoulder and he turned to a frowning Kayla. “Never, ever ask a woman her age. It’s rude.”

  He shrugged. “I wanted to know.”

  Topper giggled. “Old enough to know how to turn you into a toad.”

  Kayla stepped forward. “Topper, please. We came to ask for help for the fairies. Their home was destroyed and they need a new one.”

  Topper snorted and waved her hand to shoo Kayla away. A bolt of lightning hit the ground behind the witch and both Kayla and Xander jumped back. “You don’t need me for that. Xander already built it. Just like I told him to. Go away. I’ve got bigger fish to fry.”

  Topper wandered off and Kayla turned to stare up at him. “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “What is she talking about?”

  Xander had a suspicion he knew exactly what the witch was talking about, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t want anyone in his house except his mate. He did not need a fairy princess and three toddlers running around the place. “I built a garden for you.”

  “For me? How could you have built it for me? I’ve only known you an hour.”

  Stupid. He shouldn’t have said that. But then, he shouldn’t have read Shakespeare to her on the sidewalk either. “Never mind. I built a garden and a fountain at my house. I also built that odd room we used to help Glitter and her babies.”

  “The exam room?”

  “Is that what it’s called?”

  Kayla put her hands on her hips and it was adorable, like a kitten trying to growl at a bear. “If you don’t know what it’s called, why did you build one?”

  “Because the Fates told Topper to tell me to build it. The garden, too.”

  Kayla threw her hands in the air and walked back toward his parked truck. “This town is crazy!”

  “I know.” He followed her and held open her door before handing Glitter and her babies to Kayla for the ride back to his home. The babies flew around, tugging on their mother’s hair like puppies pulling on their leashes. Glitter had used her exceptionally long hair to magically create a tie around each of the babies. Her wild hair was all that kept them from getting lost until they could be grounded. Until then, they could just fly off and try to fend for themselves, which was not a good idea. “Let’s go home and I’ll show you the garden.”

  Glitter settled on Kayla’s lap, her babies settling around her. Xander tried not to notice the way Kayla gently stroked the little ones to get them to settle down, or the way she spoke to Glitter, as if the tiny princess were one of her very best friends in the world. He was jealous of an eight-inch fairy and a little green fellow named Spring who was, at this very moment, enjoying Kayla’s soft touch on his tiny cheek.

  Xander wanted that soft touch. He wanted Kayla to talk to him like a friend, and laugh, and pet him.

  He wanted Kayla to pet him? No. He was not a dog.

  That was it. He had officially lost his mind.

  They were halfway home when Kayla’s hand stilled on Spring’s head and she stiffened in the passenger seat. He glanced over, worried, to find her sitting straight up with a shocked expression on her face. “Stop! Stop the truck!”

  Xander slowed down on the small, two-lane road and waited. There was no traffic in this town so he didn’t bother pulling off to the side of the road. “What is it?”

  “Did you see them? Did you? Here.” Kayla gently lifted first Glitter then each of the babies with her in her hands. “Take them. I have to get out. I can’t believe this! Incredible. I have to check it out.”

  “No. Wait.” Xander tried to protest, but his hands were full of round-faced fairy babies and Kayla already had her door open. She swung it closed as if on an afterthought and it didn’t latch all the way. Frustrated, he settled Glitter and her family on the seat and drove a few feet off the side of the road. He parked, but left the truck on so the climate control system would stay on for the little ones. “Stay here, Glitter. I’ll be right back.”

  “We’ll be here.” The fairy crossed her legs and sat down on Kayla’s seat to wait for him. “Can we have some hip-hop music please?”

  “What?”

  “Hip hop. You know, so we can dance.”

  Fingers already wrapped around the door handle, he turned to her. “Seriously?” He thought fairies would prefer Mozart or Beethoven. Flutes and harpsichords and stuff like that.

  Glitter rolled her eyes and he shrugged, pointing to the stereo system. “Those dials change the station and the volume. Help yourself.”

  He left a sparkling Glitter as she flew up to the radio, but he wasn’t worried about her. He was worried about Kayla. Who was completely out of sight. “Kayla? Where are you?”

  The area was dotted with dried-out bushes, a few patches of grass, sage and twisted trees that struggled to survive the dry, desert climate. Red rock formations lined the side of the road. She must have disappeared behind one of them. There wasn’t any
foliage large enough for her to hide behind.

  “Kayla!” Heart in his throat, he scrambled around the first red rock, envisioning her facing off with a scorpion or rattlesnake. Or worse, whatever dangerous alien Topper had been talking about that crash-landed outside of town.

  Scrambling over rocks and shrubs, he finally heard her voice. Relief flooded him as he cleared the last small rise and found her standing next to one of the most beautiful creatures he’d ever seen in his life.

  He’d heard of unicorns, he really had. But he’d never seen one before.

  The beautiful white stallion was standing still with its enormous head in Kayla’s hands as she reached up to touch the creature’s horn. “You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Is this your family?”

  The creature neighed and whinnied at her and she spoke with him as if she were talking to any other person on the planet. Behind him, a large unicorn female and two young colts pranced and danced across the desert.

  The unicorn lifted its head in an up-and-down motion that made Kayla smile and pat him on the cheek, and Xander felt like the outsider at the circus. He was the son of a goddess, cursed since birth, surrounded by magic and the ability to control fire, but this woman was turning his world upside down.

  “What are you doing?” Xander was hot, and miserable, and felt like he was going to spend the rest of his life chasing after this unpredictable woman. She noticed everyone and everything around her, touched them, talked to them. Everyone but him. He ached for her, body and soul. He was the reason she was here! His heart stone magic had summoned her. She was supposed to fall in love with him. Not fall in love with every strange magical creature in this town.

  The unicorns raced away to the sound of Kayla’s laughter, flying across the desert faster than any horse could have moved. Kayla laughed with wonder as the family disappeared into thin air.