“I want to taste you.” He gripped her hips with both hands. “You steal from me what I most want.”
Rhiannon smiled. “You can have your turn next. But first I get to taste you.”
With a groan he allowed her to slip between his thighs, her body brushing over him as she moved lower. She looked up at him and smiled again. With her eyes fixed on his, she slipped him into her mouth.
His hips bucked up in reaction. “Gods above,” he managed to get out.
Her mouth was warm and when she softly sucked, he let out a loud groan. He buried his hands in her silky hair and held her while his hips bucked up to meet her. She took him so deep. And the way she watched him while she slid him in and out of her mouth, he knew he would climax soon.
“I am going to come,” he said in a voice so rough he almost didn’t recognize it as his own. Rhiannon sucked harder and pleasure radiated through him. The intensity of the pleasure grew within him until he felt as though his eyes had crossed and his mind had fled.
His orgasm arrowed through him, to every limb of his body, to every hair on his head. By the time she stopped, he was so sated he thought he might never move again.
She grinned as she crawled up to lie beside him. “Is my warrior tired?”
His lips twitched and he rolled her so that her head was on the pillow again. “This warrior is always ready for a good battle.”
Rhiannon’s head spun with the quick movement as he moved her onto her back. She still tasted him in her mouth. What he was doing to her now. Good goddess!
He knelt between her thighs and slowly made his way down her body. He stopped to suckle her nipples and she sighed with pleasure. It felt so good. Beyond good. Freaking out-of-this-world good.
She raised her hips in an invitation for him to move to where she wanted his mouth. He bit each of her nipples and kissed the spot between her breasts. He skirted the bandage on her chest and moved his lips to her belly button. When he darted his tongue inside, she moaned. It felt as if her navel was connected to her core, and she felt a small spasm in her channel.
He slid his hands beneath her ass and he raised her so that her center was level with his mouth. She held her breath as she watched him close his eyes and inhale.
Just lick me, she cried out in her mind.
He looked up at her with an amused expression and she wondered if he had just heard her thoughts. After all, he could talk in her head.
But then she could no longer think. She could only feel. Soft growling noises rose up from his throat as his tongue stroked her. He delved into her channel then swiped his tongue back to her center. She squirmed and cried out as he paid special attention to that hard, swollen nub. He swirled his tongue around it and softly bit.
This time Rhiannon’s cry was more of a shriek when she came. Warmth burst through her body, waves and waves of it as he continued to nip at her. Her orgasm caused her entire body to shiver and her heart to thump like crazy against her breastbone.
Just when she was going to beg him to stop because the pleasure was too much, he rose and braced his hands on the bed to either side of her breasts.
“Are you ready for me to make love to you?” He pumped his hips so that he slid back and forth.
More shivers passed through her. His rich Irish brogue made her even hotter.
She reached around him and scratched her nails across his back. “I can take anything you can dish out, warrior.”
Keir kissed her hard enough to make her head spin. He raised his head and sat back on his haunches between her thighs.
He moved close enough to place himself at the entrance of her channel, just sliding in a tiny bit and causing her to groan for more.
He slipped his arms under her knees and moved her legs so that her ankles were around his neck. This was one move she’d never experienced before.
Keir slid inside her. She gasped at the power of his thrust and how deep he’d buried himself inside her.
Incredible. It felt so incredible.
Still holding her ankles around his neck, he began to move in and out of her channel. His hips were tight between her thighs.
“Jeez, Keir.” She could barely talk.
She cried out in frustration when he stopped. “Did I hurt you?” he asked.
“No.” She thrust her hips up, trying to take him inside her. “The way you’re taking me. It just feels so good. Goddess, it feels good.”
His expression was one of supreme satisfaction. Her skin was slick with perspiration and she watched a droplet of sweat roll down the hollow of his throat and splash onto her belly.
“Look at how I am taking you.” His voice was like sandpaper over wood.
Her gaze traveled to where she could watch him slide in and out of her core. The sight of him taking her like this made the sensations in her belly intensify, wind tighter and tighter.
“Look at me,” he said.
She slowly swept her gaze from his six-pack abs to his muscular chest, strong shoulders, and to his harsh features. Her eyes met his dark ones and she caught her breath at how he was staring at her. That possessive expression he had whenever he was with her, yet something more. Like his feelings for her went beyond merely wanting to possess her.
The look in his eyes was enough to hit Rhiannon hard where they were joined. Her already sensitive channel clenched down on him at the same time a whoosh of heat shot through every fiber of her being. Her cries came with deep pants as she struggled to breathe. The orgasm was so intense it stole the breath from her.
He raised his head and groaned—more of a growl—as his hips rammed against hers, hard, several times before he stopped and held himself still. He shut his eyes and she felt the pulse of him inside her as he came.
When the last spasm had passed, along with the last throb, he rolled them over onto their sides so that they were looking at each other.
Keir’s lips met hers in a gentle kiss. He drew away from her and said something softly in Gaelic that gave her chills.
Her eyes met his. “What did you say?”
A smile actually formed on his lips. “One day I will tell you, but not yet.”
28
The Great Guardian stood in a garden in Otherworld, a beautiful place filled with roses, pansies, poppies, daffodils, tulips, orchids, and other flowers Rhiannon had never seen before.
At this moment the Guardian was tending to a single, large purple bud that looked as if it would flower soon. The lone bud perched atop a great, thick stem, and the bud almost had a sparkle to it.
A breeze tugged at the Guardian’s diaphanous white robes and tendrils of her long hair. Sunlight touched the Elvin woman’s features causing her celestial glow to radiate from her so much so that her expression was difficult to make out.
“It is time.” The Guardian didn’t part her lips, but Rhiannon heard her clearly in her mind. “Arrangements have been made. You and Keir must come at once.”
The Elvin woman stretched out her arms and the glow became so intense Rhiannon couldn’t see the Guardian’s form any longer. The brightness faded away until all Rhiannon could see was the bridge and the meadow.
* * *
Rhiannon blinked as the vision faded away, and reality came into focus. She had her palms flat on the scarred Formica table in the kitchen of Enchantments and she was staring at one of the walls.
She shook her head to clear the fuzziness in her mind.
“Vision?” Hannah said in her cultured voice. “Or daydreaming about that barbarian D’Danann warrior?”
Rhiannon turned to look at Hannah, who sat on the other side of the table, just off to the side. She wore her usual arrogant expression. Of course she looked perfect from her glossy brown hair with the shock of blonde hair framing her face, to her expertly applied makeup, to her tailored clothing. No one else was sitting at the table but her, and she hadn’t been there when Rhiannon fell into her vision.
“It doesn’t concern you,” Rhiannon said, before glancing across the k
itchen to see Cassia look at her.
The half-Elvin witch raised an eyebrow.
Rhiannon took a deep breath. “In my vision, the Great Guardian told me it’s time for me and Keir to go.”
“Where?” Hannah asked, tapping her perfectly manicured nails on the table. The noise always irritated the hell out of Rhiannon and she was sure Hannah knew it.
Rhiannon fought to keep from making a smartass remark. “To Otherworld.”
“Really.” Hannah leaned back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. “Just the two of you?”
“Yes,” Rhiannon snapped. “Why do you care?” she added and then felt childish. She took a deep breath. She was acting childish.
“My divining has told me that I’m to go to Otherworld in the near future.” Hannah unfolded her arms and got to her feet in a graceful movement. She reminded Rhiannon of a tigress. “But I don’t think it’s to go with you on this journey.”
Thank the Ancestors.
Rhiannon didn’t say a word as Hannah pushed open the door to the shop. For a moment sounds of customers in the café and store carried into the kitchen. All went silent when the door closed behind her.
Rhiannon sighed as she stared at the doorway. “Why does Hannah drive me crazy?”
“I think one day you’ll grow to value your Coven sister more than you can imagine.” Cassia’s voice drew Rhiannon’s attention as the half-Elvin witch walked over to her. “We’re not all what we appear to be on the outside.”
“I suppose,” Rhiannon rubbed her palms on her skirt. “But Hannah loves to push my buttons.”
Cassia’s expression became more serious. “I think it’s time we gather everyone together to talk about—”
“Later. When we get back from Otherworld.” The legs of Rhiannon’s chair scraped the floor as she got to her feet as fast as she could. “I’d better get Keir.”
“What guidance have you, Guardian?” Keir said as he and Rhiannon rose from a bow.
They had just walked over the bridge in Golden Gate Park and had reemerged on the transference stone in front of the Great Guardian. It appeared as if she had been waiting.
The Guardian glowed from inside, like in Rhiannon’s vision, and like she had the first time Rhiannon met her.
“Now that you have performed the tasks you needed to, it is time to meet with the Mystwalkers and Drow.”
A breeze picked up and caused flowers at the Guardian’s feet to lean as if pressing kisses to her bare toes as she continued. “The Mystwalkers and the Dark Elves take family bonds seriously, and they will battle to protect their own.”
“Mystwalkers, perhaps.” Keir scowled. “But the Drow? They do nothing that does not benefit themselves. And the war between Elves and Fae—it runs too deep.”
The Guardian gave a gentle smile. “Our peoples have been divided for far too long. Perhaps with a new alliance some of these prejudices will be lessened.”
“I bet it’s hard when you all live so long.” Rhiannon sighed. “You can’t simply forget something that’s been ingrained in you forever.”
With a nod, the Guardian said, “This is true. But the time will come when differences must be set aside for the greater good.”
The Guardian turned her peaceful gaze on Keir. “You, Keir D’Danann and Mystwalker, must speak with your mother and her rebel faction and ask them to fight in any way they can.”
Keir shook his head. “They cannot come in contact with saltwater and must be near freshwater to survive. All that surrounds this San Francisco and the island where the Fomorii and other beasts hide is the ocean and the bay.”
“Yes,” the Guardian replied. “However, they can create weapons of much use to you.”
The thought of meeting his birth mother caused a strange ache in Keir’s chest. Who would this woman be when he met her? Would her people help him, a half-D’Danann bastard they didn’t even know?
Rhiannon studied Keir and the conflicting emotions on his face. She knew the feelings he experienced right now—because she felt the same way.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what was coming next. “You, Rhiannon D’Anu and Elvin, must go to the Drow King,” the Great Guardian said as she turned her attention from Keir to Rhiannon.
Rhiannon’s heart beat faster and her throat was dry. “What do I say? ‘Hi, Dad. Nice to meet you. Can you help me and a bunch of friends in a war we’re fighting against an evil god and a goddess, and a bunch of demons that you happened to have helped set free?’”
The Guardian smiled. “You will find your way.”
Rhiannon couldn’t get used to the idea of her father being one of the Dark Elves. A bunch of them had betrayed Copper when the door to Underworld was opened, setting loose Ceithlenn.
“What’s his name?” Rhiannon asked.
“King Garran.”
Rhiannon’s heart stopped and her eyes widened. “Oh, wait a minute. No way. Garran? He was the betrayer. He helped set loose that bitch of a goddess. My father is evil!”
“No, he is not.” The Guardian stroked Rhiannon’s upper arm with her fingertips, and her beautiful wildflower scent floated on the breeze to Rhiannon. “Yes, at the beginning he worked with Darkwolf to open the door under the promise that he and his people would be able to walk in the light again. A promise Balor made through the essence of the eye.”
The Guardian’s voice was kind despite the words she spoke. “When he saw the manner of evil that was being released, Garran ordered the Drow to fight against Darkwolf and the Fomorii. Garran had his people side with Copper, Silver, and the Tuatha D’Danann, and lost his own brother to protect them.”
“The fact that he was on Darkwolf’s side at all is unforgivable.” Rhiannon clenched her hands into fists, her heart clenching just as hard. “I won’t have anything to do with him.”
The Guardian raised her fingers to caress Rhiannon’s face, and some of her tenseness slipped away at the Guardian’s touch. “Like the D’Danann, the Drow are a neutral race. They do what they think is right for their people but do not involve themselves in the concerns of others if they do not believe it to be the natural order of things.”
Rhiannon shivered as the Guardian cupped her cheek. “Garran chose what he thought was right for his people. When he realized he had chosen wrong, he tried to right that wrong.”
“But he didn’t.” Rhiannon’s tone was bitter. “It’s not right at all. Everything’s so screwed up I don’t know if it’ll ever be right again.”
“Give him the opportunity, Rhiannon D’Anu and Elvin.” She smiled. “He is a good being.”
Rhiannon closed her eyes and felt the warmth, the magic of the Great Guardian’s touch. Could she forgive her father for so much?
“He saved Copper’s life,” the Guardian said softly.
Rhiannon opened her eyes and swallowed. “He did?”
The Guardian let her hand slip away from Rhiannon’s face and simply gave her gentle smile that warmed Rhiannon through. “Indeed. And did it occur to you that if he could walk in the sun, he could finally see you, and get to know his own daughter? Darkwolf could scarcely have chosen a more beguiling—and cruel—promise with which to tempt Garran.”
Rhiannon pressed her fingertips to her forehead. “So much. There’s so much to think about. Too much.”
“Rest, Rhiannon D’Anu and Elvin, and Keir D’Danann and Mystwalker.” The Guardian stepped back. “I will send you directly to Keir’s home using the transference stone upon which you arrived. Tomorrow the Faerie Queen Riona will guide you back to me. She has ties of sorts to both Mystwalkers and Drow.”
“Thank you, Great Guardian.” Rhiannon bowed from her shoulders, as did Keir, who also thanked her.
Keir and Rhiannon washed the morning’s dishes. He felt such pleasure having her at his side as they ate breakfast and took care of the morning chores. They had made love through the night and Keir was certain he would never get enough of her.
“I’m scared, Keir,”
she said as she looked up at him. “I don’t know if I can do this—meet my father.”
He rested his arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “You will do what your heart tells you to.”
“What about you?” Rhiannon clenched a drying cloth. “What about your mother?”
He sighed and moved his arm from around her shoulders and braced his palms on the countertop. “I do not think I will know until I meet her.”
A light rap at the door caught Keir’s attention and he dried his hands on a rough cloth.
“The Faerie Queen?” Rhiannon asked as she set down her own drying cloth.
“Most likely.” He strode to the door and opened it to see Queen Riona.
Her long black hair lay behind her shoulders, baring her naked breasts, and she had propped her tiny hands on her hips. “You took long enough.”
“My apologies,” he said, and she looked surprised before she fluttered into the cabin, her lavender wings sprinkling purple dust as she traveled through the living room and approached Rhiannon.
“So you are King Garran’s daughter, Rhiannon D’Anu and Elvin,” Riona said, her lips pursed and her arms now crossing her chest.
Rhiannon didn’t know what to think of this tiny being. “Does everyone know?”
“I do not believe Garran is aware that his daughter is here, in Otherworld.” Riona smiled. “When you do meet him, hearing of the Drow King’s surprise will be a pleasure to all of us.”
Rhiannon wasn’t sure quite what to think about that statement. And did she want him to expect her or not? “You won’t be there?”
“It is unfortunate that I cannot.” The queen flew to perch on Rhiannon’s shoulder, crossed her legs, and began swinging one of her feet. “The D’Danann are the only Fae who can survive the Drow realm.” She shuddered. “It is not a place for the rest of us.”
Rhiannon had to crane her neck to see the Faerie who sat so regally on her shoulder, yet swung one of her feet in a relaxed manner. “What’s he like?” Rhiannon asked, half afraid of the answer.
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