by CJ Ellisson
"I know that. But I think you might be surprised. Who knows what the shadows have in store for you, they’ve already chosen your companion."
"Very true, and a beautiful one at that. I couldn't have picked better myself."
She blushed and looked down. "I think it means more to me that your powers welcomed me, like mine welcome you."
"Which is a great thing, too." He took a sip of his coffee, savoring the steaming brew as it slipped down his throat.
"Yeah, it is. Still, it's not written in stone, Jace, when you're tired of me, just let me know, okay?"
He had no intention of ever getting tired of her, even if he eventually succumbed to her mothering and forced him to eat a breakfast and a lunch. He told her his thoughts on the matter.
She laughed. "Look, Jace, I'm a high impact girl, just be happy I won't be getting you to go for a run with me in the morning."
He felt his expression change to horror. "A what?"
"You think this package maintains itself?" She grinned. "No way, not at my age."
Ignoring the comment about her age, as he'd learned was the best course of action for all women, he shook his head. "But running? It sounds so...energetic. The only way you'll catch me running is if I'm being chased."
"I might have to chase you then. But honestly you don't think seven-hour shifts, fourteen sets between two rooms isn't energetic? You have seen me dance."
"Well that's sexy. I can be energetic for sex and passion, I'm all for that. But running just doesn't sound too appealing."
"It keeps me in shape," she said and shrugged, draining her drink, a rosy glow coming to her cheeks.
"I can see that. I've benefited from it." He winked at her, sluggishly drinking the coffee. "So, how would you like to enter the poker tournament with me? As lucky as you are, we'd be a great team."
She shook her head. "No, no, I'll just be the arm candy, thank you. I'm not risking anything."
"Are you sure?"
"It's not my bag, not to mention it's totally against the rules."
"Oh, yeah? Do I get a rule book?"
"Wish it were that simple. Just trust me when I say you'll need all the luck you have now, and if I try to use it, it will negate everything, and possibly our arrangement. I don't think you want that."
"How could it do that?"
"A Jenai cannot use her powers for herself. Our luck doesn't work for us, only the man we give it to."
Well, that explained a lot. "So, that's why you didn't want to play last night?"
She nodded. "I had touched you already, conscious of the luck effort from myself."
"So, the game wouldn't have gone too well, then?"
"You would have lost every hand because of me. I didn't want that. It might have shaken your confidence."
"Well, yeah, it definitely wouldn't have gone down well."
"No, it wouldn't have. And if I was going to mess up your night I was going to do it on my terms, especially if you knew what I was, and you did."
"You're not playing a hand then, but you'll come and watch?" He didn't know why it was so important to him that she was there with him, but it was.
She smiled and nodded. "Damn right I will, I'm a great diversionary tactic, though I will have to go back to my place and get some clothes."
"Well, we drove your car here so it shouldn't be too hard getting you back. I will miss that dress, though."
She grinned and blushed. "What part, the easy on off or the way I look in it?"
"Well both," he admitted.
I'm sure you want to be rested for the tourney. My place? Then back?" She said as she licked her bottom lip, catching the very last of the drink she had finished.
He smiled at her, "Sounds good to me." He drained his coffee and called for the check.
* * *
Sydney lifted her leg high in the air and slipped her dainty foot into the stocking in her hands and slowly smoothed it up her leg, arranging the top of the thigh high so the silver lace would peek out a little as she walked. She enjoyed Jace's eyes bugging out when she did so, and had decided that as long as she was going to be with him, she would only wear them. The dress she had picked out for herself hugged every curve. It was slinky, sexy and silky, the crème color splattered with auburn and sienna up the one side, the other had a slit to her hip. It always made her feel sexy, the stroke of it like a tease against her skin, though she was anticipating the caress of Jace sliding it off her skin more than moving around with it on.
They had gone to her place and picked up a suitcase full of her favorite lingerie, jeans, T-shirts, her cowboy hat, her spurs—an item Jace insisted they bring along—and a wide assortment of shoes. She wasn't sure how long she was going to be with him, so she also grabbed her beta fish and some makeup and hair products as well, hoping she wouldn't see the apartment for a while.
Jace walked out of the bathroom, now clean shaven, and fiddling with his cuffs. He looked fantastic, the pants he had chosen hugging his legs enough to let her know that he wasn't wearing underwear, as usual. She was on the verge of drooling, watching him fix his collar now that his cufflinks were in, and sighed. He was hers, for now, and she would take advantage of the man wrapped in that pretty and dashing package as soon as she could.
She stood and fixed her garters, smoothing her dress down and stretched. "Darlin', you clean up real nice," she said and shook her hair out.
He grinned wolfishly at her. "You think?"
She walked over to him and grinned. "Hell, yeah. Lord knows I'm going to have to watch the other girls in the room."
"Oh, you'll have no problem with them, it's the other card players you'll have to watch." He kissed her on the cheek, his hands moving over her waist and down her ass before his fingers made it to the edge of the dress slit.
She smirked. "Oh? See, I'm thinking I'll have to watch those harpies because they will want a piece of you, and you're mine tonight. Why would I have to watch the players? So they can eye-fuck me?"
"God no, Peaches." He looked her over. "Well, they might, but you're all mine. We'll just have to see who's playing, like I said it's all crooked and a lot of them don't like losing."
"Any idea who is going to throw in? Or did you get a list?" She giggled and turned, rubbing her ass against his groin, then bending and picking up a pair of strappy crème colored opened toe pumps.
He groaned, watching her. "There's a list all right, but it was early on in the sign up so the tables weren't full. There were a few major players already on, most likely wondering who paid the banker enough money for the game. Tied in with them are the regular losers, they never stay in for more than a few hands but they keep on playing. I play with them mostly every month, and a few I know from the small tables."
"Anyone in particular you don't like? I mean, if you're telling me to watch the players, then I should have a list of who might be an issue, don't you think?" She smiled and sauntered away from him to the full-length mirror, grabbing a few small combs and putting her hair into a moderately elaborate 'do as she watched him behind her.
"There'll be no trouble, love, I'm just saying that the girls pose no threat to you." He moved up behind her, taking her waist in his large hands and pulling her back against him. "If you want one to be wary of. watch out for Frank Malone, he's a tallish guy, dark hair and grey eyes. He thinks he owns Vegas." He kissed her neck, trailing behind her ear. "But I wouldn't worry about it."
Sydney shuddered, truly enjoying the feel of his soft lips on her skin. She rolled her hips against him again and tilted her neck to give him more room. "Then I won't. Are you sure this outfit isn't too risqué? I mean, I don't wanna look like you paid me to escort you."
"You don't? Well, where's the fun in that? I love the dress, and I can't wait till I'm taking those stockings off with my teeth." He nipped at her neck playfully.
She sighed. "Neither can I, baby, it will be quite a way to celebrate your winning." She smiled and closed her eyes, savoring his attentions.
> "Oh, it will be, but I'll have to win it first. Now come on, I don't have time to be sitting around discussing women's fashion all day. Let's get your sexy ass out to the car." He stepped back, slapping her sharply on the ass.
She gasped. "Anything you say darlin'... you're the high roller, after all." She watched him grab his jacket and shrug into it, then hold up her shawl. She let him wrap the material around her shoulders. He looked hopeful, and she knew he didn't have to worry overly much. He was going to win, their combined magic too new and potent. The Shadows on her back pulsed and slithered and she giggled, feeling as if they agreed with her.
Chapter Five
Sydney giggled as she watched Jace stretch off the bed. It had been a very good night, the qualifier over, Jace once again holding the invitation to the main tournament in his hands, grinning like a Cheshire cat. She knew he was going to win, he had an affinity for the cards, but her luck gave him that extra push. He'd won the majority of hands, even with his shitty ones. She had noticed something about him, he played balls to the wall, extremely reckless and on the edge and she could feel the rush he got in the tiny tendrils of the shadow scar. It pulsed when he was on, shifted against her, caressing her when he won the hand and was relieved. The mark was an extension of him, and she was grateful for it. She had her suspicions about the mark, about what it really meant to both of them as a couple but she had kept her mouth shut earlier and she would continue to do so until they were confirmed.
The game itself only lasted an hour before Jace was declared the winner, and she had sat at his side in her Valentino dragon dress, a slinky shimmery frock that he had overlooked when they were at her place the day before. She was sexy and stunning and she had the eye of every player there, and a few scowls and an unfriendly looks from the other women in the room. They looked at Jace like fresh meat, but it didn't matter. He was Sydney's, and she walked in with him and left with him, whereas some of the women changed hands in the room at the end of the tourney.
His only real competition, a haggard looking fellow by the name of Frank had rubbed her the wrong way. He had watched her intently, and it gave her a very unsavory feeling. During the entire hour of the competition, Frank’s gaze only left her when Jace was either calling or raising the bet. Jace had won the invitation in a final hand that ended up being between only Frank and himself, that was down to the wire, the bet well over fifty-thousand. He had bluffed Frank well, and she was proud of him. Frank on the other hand seemed rather pissed off that Jace had a royal flush that beat his full house, and left quickly, a mere nod of his head at them with a look that was full of malice. Sydney was sure they hadn’t seen the last of him, though how he would get into the tournament now that the qualifiers were over was anybody’s guess.
Jace whooped his excitement, tossed the invite on the bedside, and sat up, grabbing for her and kissing her soundly. She could feel his contentment in the shadows of the room, his powers proving they were pleased as well.
Upon leaving the room he had spirited her back to what she now referred to as their suite, and thanked her properly, at least twice already, once as he undressed her, then again in the wonderful shower stall. Making love to Jace was epic, and she again felt there was a reason.
She shifted against him, wiggling into his lap and sighing as his hands found the shadows on her back. "Gods, I love when you touch that."
"Me too, it feels good." He kissed her again, stroking her mark.
It was light, energy caressing her hither and yon. The man's hands could be felt everywhere on her body, the shadows magnifying it that much more. "I'm so proud of you, Jace. You work those cards like you work me."
"Well, I hope that's a good thing." He laughed, kissing her shoulder.
"Everything you do has so much passion," she said, looking into his eyes as she shifted and sunk down on his waiting cock, purring as he filled her once again. She realized she only felt complete when he touched her, when he was moving inside her and whispering delicious things in her ear. She knew the idea of living apart from him wasn't going to work. She wanted it all, the man, the life with him, any life he chose for them. Dancing wasn't important anymore, he was.
Grasping her hips, he worked her up and down his shaft, forcing her into a rhythm. "You as well...you and I aren't so different, you know." He whispered into her ear as he kissed her neck.
She shuddered, her body taut. Jace knew what to do to her body to bring her to her zenith quickest, and he was generous with it. In such a short time, he was so intoned to her needs, to her body. She moaned and kissed him, letting herself enjoy him once again. She came minutes later, arching in his grasp as he leaned her back and captured a nipple in his mouth as they jutted up, begging for his attention.
"Mmmm. You're perfect, Sydney. Truly perfect." He bucked harder up into her.
She sobbed and gasped as his body dominated her, his lips like hot brands on her skin, marking her flesh as his and his alone. Jace was exactly what her body always wanted and what her heart needed. He was a man of passion, and had an unbridled zest for life. "Jace, goddess, save me…" she moaned as he nibbled on her flesh, biting her breast just hard enough.
"Fuck yes...God, Sydney, she ain't saving you now. You're all mine," he grumbled into her as he bucked harder and harder into her, his body speeding up viciously as his desire almost reached his own completion. Every movement he made was more desperate with need.
"Jace, oh..." She shuddered and arched again, her body awash with sensation. She moaned as she came for him, her defenses down. She was his. She was...
A small tap on the door was all the warning they had before it came caving in on them, splinters flying everywhere. Jace jumped, shielding her with his body against the wooden shrapnel. Still joined, he grabbed her and glared toward the door, practically growling—his body tense and alert.
Three figures walked in through the ruined door, two short stocky men that she'd never seen before entered first, the last man trailing behind them keeping his distance. It was the man that Jace had put out last; the one he'd said was fixing the game. He looked angry while the other two, clearly the hired muscle, looked as if the whole thing didn't affect them. One of them had a nasty looking metal rod and the other held what looked like a shotgun, one that had been altered to make it smaller. Whatever it was, it was pointed straight at them. The room was dark, overly so as the shadows around them grew more viscose.
"Now, Jace, my boy, that was my ticket you just stole, and right out from under my nose," the player, Frank if she remembered correctly, spat out nastily.
Jace's arms around her grew tighter, as if to shield her from harm's way. There was nothing he could do, though, no way to escape. They weren't sitting in direct shadow and it had taken almost everything out of him to move them the night before, and that had only been a few feet. She looked in his eyes, seeing no hope of escape for now.
He cleared his throat. "Frank, that's my ticket, I didn't steal anything. I won it. I believe you were there at the time."
The words had barely left his mouth when the two men descended. The steel pole came smashing across Jace's face, spraying his blood over her. The one with the gun grabbed her and pulled her off him, breaking the link which had moments ago been the only thing in the world they'd both cared about. Jace fell face first on the floor, seeming all the more vulnerable for his nakedness. He moved his hands, gathering them under him to lever himself up into an upright position.
"No," Frank said with barely a look to the pole man, "I think you should be lying down for your insult." The man brought the pole across Jace's back, the sound of crushed flesh echoing sickeningly through the room. "You cheated me, Opacus, a decision I'm sure you'll live to regret...if I let you live, that is." He checked his watch. "I wouldn't be hoping for hotel security if I were you, either, I bought us some time to chat."
Sydney grabbed a sheet and looked at Frank. "Just leave him alone," she said with seething hatred. Jace did warn her, but she didn't think it was go
ing to matter. She was wrong.
"Alone?" He turned his attention to her, Jace's beatings paused momentarily. "But why, little Genie? We've only just began to talk, and I do have so much to say to your little boyfriend."
Jace gasped from the floor, "It's me you want...leave her..." He struggled to breathe, blood bubbling out of his mouth. "Outta this...nothing to do with her."
"Nothing, Jace, my misguided fool? Nothing at all? Well, I tend to disagree...if it weren't for the little luck bearer we wouldn't have this at all. You'd never had cheated me...isn't that true, dear?"
Sydney tried to play it cool, not knowing how it was that he knew, and she figured he just suspected. If that was the case, she wasn't letting on. "Excuse me? Jace didn't cheat. What, you think because a woman is with him that she's what, his dupe? What was I doing, the mirror trick? Or maybe the old Vegas roll out?" she asked, giving names of gambler tricks she had seen on a few gems from the Hollywood-style Vegas.
He reached in and slapped her hard, snapping her face around. "Don't play with me girl...you think you're the only one in Vegas?" He sneered. "It just so happens that you seem to be a little more willing to share than my bitter whore of a wife." He nodded to the thug with the shotgun, who stepped and leveled his gun at her chest. "It's filled with poison, my dear, one that will undoubtedly take care of your immortality. I'm afraid there's not enough room in the casinos for the same scam twice. That prize money IS mine."
Sydney seethed and spit blood on the floor. The bastard knew, married one, yet he was here claiming that she wasn't making good on their arrangement. "She can't keep it from you," she said, her eyes on him.
"She does as she pleases...and she's become very good at twisting my needs to her own satisfaction. But enough about me. Goodbye, Sydney my dear, it's a shame to extinguish such a bright star." He smiled cruelly.
"Wait! No!" Jace rasped from his blood-soaked place in the carpet. In the distraction he'd managed to get onto his knees. He looked horrible, his hair was soaked in his own blood and his eye was distorted beyond recognition, but his gaze burned with conviction. "No…look, just take the ticket. You have it."