by Jeff Hale
I shook my head then finally turned my eyes to him. “Not a clue. That’s why I asked you, since you called me it too.”
“Are you sure I called you Guin?” Aerick’s tone suggested confusion, but the expression in his eyes gave me the idea that he was trying to step around the question. There were little yellow-orange embers in them and once again I almost got the feeling that I wasn’t talking to Aerick, was talking to someone else, but he was sitting here right in front of me. How could it be anyone other than Aerick?
“Absolutely positive,” I answered firmly.
He kept looking at me, then he shrugged. “Huh. I haven’t a clue, then.” He reached out to touch my face with a finger and I flinched back involuntarily. He froze with his hand in the air, then after several moments, his expression changed to one of sorrow and he let his hand drop. “I’m sorry, Kat, for what happened last night. I don’t know what got into me, other than I was upset about Serena and when you told me you loved me, I kind of just snapped.”
I thought ‘snapped’ was a bit of an understatement. “You almost raped me, Rick,” I whispered. “I don’t know why you stopped, and I’m glad you did, but you got all sorts of weird last night. I could always talk to Val, or Lucien, about it. They might know what’s—”
Aerick’s hand came up, lighting fast, gripping my face hard. I saw those little sparks in his eyes flare and terror induced adrenaline began to pump through my system, followed confusingly enough by an almost painful stab of desire low in my belly. I whimpered softly and he let me go. I was going to have bruises on my face for a short while before my shifter regeneration took care of them.
“Shit.” He exhaled heavily and shook himself. “I’m sorry, Kat. Just, don’t say anything to anyone, all right? I know what they’ve said, don’t think I don’t. They suggested killing me, didn’t they? If you can’t fix me? If they think I’m a threat? Don’t lie to me.”
I wasn’t about to straight up lie to him. “Yeah, they did. Val and Lucien both.”
His eyes suddenly filled with sad resignation. “And you agreed with them, didn’t you?”
“No! Rick, no. Never,” I protested truthfully. “I could never hurt you, no matter what. You know that.”
“Then you can’t say anything to them! They’ll just think I’m too messed up!” Aerick grabbed my hands in both of his and held on for dear life. “You say you love me, Kat, don’t let them kill me! Please don’t let them!” There was desperation and terror in his eyes now and I could feel tears starting in my own.
I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him in a hug, pulling him so tight against me that it felt like I was trying to pull him into me. I caressed his back with my hands and made little soothing noises in his ear. “Don’t worry, Rick, I won’t. I promised I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you, and I meant it.”
He just let me hold him for several minutes, the two of us rocking together, then one of his hands came up into my hair and wound so forcefully in it that it made my scalp sting and drove a tiny gasp from me. His head moved, so that his lips were against my neck, warm as he sucked lightly on the sensitive skin, sending a line of heat down between my thighs. The pain from my scalp seemed to heighten the sensations of the pleasure I was feeling, and when he suddenly bit into my neck hard, hard enough that I was sure he drew blood, the pleasure/pain was so intense that my back arched and a moan escaped me. His free hand went down to caress me through my jeans, making me shudder against him, then, with a swipe of his tongue across the tender flesh between his teeth, he let me go, leaving me wanting.
“Rick?” I panted, my hand going to my neck. When it came away there wasn’t any blood. Maybe he hadn’t bitten me as hard as I had thought. My body ached, wanting him to touch me again.
“How long have you known about the magic, Kat?” he demanded, as though he hadn’t just had his hands on me.
“What?” It was hard to think, confused as I was now over his actions.
“The magic. I saw it, in the bathroom. How long have you been able to do that?”
Fuck. I had almost forgotten about it, or at least had hoped that he had. I sighed, feeling my body finally start to cool, and chewed my lip. “Since we were together.”
He gave me a calculating look. “As in, right-after-the-Barrier-fell together?”
I nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me then?”
I shrugged. “I was afraid to. I didn’t know what was going on and… I just felt like I should hide it, I’m sorry. Besides, I didn’t want you to know how I found out.”
“Why not?”
I bit my lip again, then decided to just tell him. “Do you remember when I went to visit my da in Reno? With Darien and Alex?” He nodded. “Well, on the way back into town, Henry stopped us and forced us to that warehouse of his. He was pissed at Darien over a shifter breach of etiquette.”
“Is that the time that Henry almost killed you?” Aerick asked, his mouth twitching a little as if to hold back some emotion.
“How did you know that?” I was surprised.
“Darien mentioned it to me, before the fight with Henry, that Henry had tried to kill you once.”
“Oh. But yes, that was the time. I was so scared, and I couldn’t shift because Henry wouldn’t let me, it’s a shifter Alpha thing. Anyway, I suddenly turned into this little yellow dragon and scared the hell out of—”
“Did you just say you turned into a dragon?” Aerick was looking at me with speculation and something else in his eyes. Avarice? I wasn’t sure.
“A little one.” I nodded and measured about an inch with my fingers. “Do you know how I did that?”
“No,” he answered abruptly. He lifted a hand to my face and I forced myself not to flinch as he held my chin gently, wanting only to feel him touch me. He turned my face from side to side, studying me. “Who else knows?”
“Just those who saw it. At Henry’s, and most of them are dead, and when I was in Germany. Some super powerful shifter named Grimm. And Darien and Alex. No one else.” I didn’t mention Talon. Aerick seemed upset enough that I hadn’t told him, and I didn’t want him mad at his familiar.
“All right. And you can do the stuff I saw with the air. Anything else?”
“Electricity. I almost electrocuted Darien once when I was upset,” I admitted. I could have sworn I heard him mutter, “Too bad you didn’t succeed,” but I didn’t question him. He and Darien had a longstanding dislike of each other due to me.
“No one has trained you?” he pressed further.
“A few sessions with Ms. Haid, but that’s it,” I said. I still felt bad that I had bailed on my sessions with Bianca, but we hadn’t been getting anywhere.
“We’ll have to fix that. When I get out of here,” Aerick gestured around the room, “and this is all said and done, I promise I will train you.”
“Really? Not like it matters much. It’s just a few little sideline powers anyway.”
He ran an all too brief caress down my cheek. “Sometimes, little Kat, you can be so naïve. Anyway, I’m going to take a shower. Why don’t you go get us some breakfast?” He stood and walked off to the bathroom.
I just stared after him. He seemed so different. Then again, what did I expect? He’d been tortured and abused and god only knew what else. If he was acting like the normal Aerick, then I wouldn’t need to be here with him. A person couldn’t go through what he had, seeing what he had, and come out the other end the same. I needed to cut him a little slack. When I came back down with our food, he was in my room again, prowling it as though looking for something.
“What took you so long?” he demanded as I set the tray with the food on the coffee table. His voice sounded different again and I was starting to suspect it had to do with his mood. His eyes were free of the flames again as well.
“I spoke with Lucien briefly,” I told him. “Don’t worry, I just told him that you were finally talking to me, nothing else.”
“Just talked?” He sat down on the c
ouch and pulled the lid off of one of the plates, then grabbed up his fork and shoveled down a portion of eggs while he waited for my reply.
“Yeah, just talked. What else would we do?” I asked in bewilderment. His attitude had changed again, this time to one of suspicion.
Hid didn’t answer me, just finished wolfing down the eggs, following it with half a bottle of orange juice. I sat down across from him and began on my own food.
“Have you ever been unfaithful to me?” Aerick asked out of the blue.
“No!” I denied around a mouthful of bacon. I quickly swallowed it. “I told you, Rick. What Nina told to Dave that he then passed on to you? Those were lies. I don’t cheat.”
“What about now? Is there someone out there who you fancy? Someone other than me?” He watched me, waiting for my answer.
“Does it matter? You’re in love with Serena,” I pointed out somewhat bitterly. Here Aerick was acting like a jealous lover all of a sudden when I knew he only had eyes for another girl.
“Of course it matters! You are mine, remember that! The thought of another man touching you, kissing you—” He broke off suddenly, his eyes closing and his teeth clenching. “I would have to hurt someone.” His eyes shot open and he stared right at me.
My appetite fled and I put down my fork. Something was wrong. He’s broken, remember? Just let it go. He’s worried and insecure right now. “I love you, Rick, you know that. As for being yours? Always, Rick. That will never change.” I wasn’t sure where Serena fit into all of this, but maybe what had happened to her, to him, what he had seen, maybe it had convinced him that he couldn’t be with her. And if he couldn’t have her, then there was… me.
Me. Always second best. Always in her shadow.
I sighed and curled up in the corner of the couch, watching him finish his food. When he was done, I asked, “So, what do you want to do today?”
“What do you think?” he snapped back at me, standing and glaring at me.
“You can’t, you know that.” I gave him a sympathetic look, then gestured towards the television. “We could watch some movies. Or, if you want, you can talk and I’ll listen.”
“Talk about what?”
I gave him my most patient smile. “Anything you want. Maybe about what happened to you? To Serena?”
Aerick closed his eyes and swallowed hard, his lips compressing to a thin line, then he whispered through clenched teeth, “I’m not ready to talk about that yet. If at all.”
“Are you sure?”
“Don’t push me, Kat. You might not like how I’ll react.” He was suddenly right in front of me, leaning over me threateningly. “Remember what happened last night.”
My reaction was instinctual as fear coursed through me. I snarled and slapped him. Hard. The sound of my hand connecting with his face echoed across the room, followed by the sound of his laughter. The laugh was full of dark amusement, sending little warning tingles up my spine. So much for not hurting him.
“There’s my Kat, fighting back.” One hand shot out to grab my hand, while the other went to rub at the crimson mark on his cheek. His eyes sparked with tiny yellow-orange flames. “You should do that more often. I kind of like it.” He caught my free hand as I made to hit him again. “And admit it… you kind of like it too, don’t you?” He yanked my hands up above my head, painfully stretching my arms.
But he was right, I did kind of like it. When I had slapped him, my inner kitty had relished that little bit of violence on my part, and she had been behind the attempted second slap. I’d had a pretty strong leash on the thrall but there was something about how Aerick was acting, something about the look in his eyes, that was making it much harder for me to keep it in check.
Before I could say anything in answer, he kissed me. Not a soft, loving kiss, but one of possession and dominance. Despite the force behind it, I melted into him, moaning into his mouth when he brought his body down on mine on the couch. He tugged my hands farther back as I tried to break free to touch him, making me gasp in pain, then he moved his lips next to my ear.
“I’m going to fuck you, Kat, in so many ways, and I doubt you’ll enjoy it,” he whispered in my ear, voice full of malevolence. I stiffened against him, fear returning, and he bit my ear hard enough to force a whimper from me that was half pain, half pleasure. “Or maybe you will. Either way, there isn’t anyone here to stop me doing whatever I want to you. And you’ll just let me, because you don’t want to hurt your precious Aerick.”
He went back to kissing me and I could feel lust course through me, strong, but his words had my head spinning almost as much as his touch. Was he right? Would I just let him do whatever he wanted because I didn’t want to hurt him? Or worse, would I let him just so he would touch me? The thoughts cooled some of the desire I felt and I struggled underneath him, turning my head away.
“Stop it, Rick. This isn’t you,” I said, trying to wriggle away.
“Of course it isn’t,” he replied, laughing lightly and running his tongue along my jaw. He maneuvered his knees so that they were on either side of my hips, holding me down to the couch.
“Rick, get off me. We’re not doing this!” I bucked my hips to try to dislodge him.
He transferred my wrists to one hand, then used his free one to slap me, rocking my head into the side of the couch. It was the cheek that he had broken, the area still tender even though it had healed overnight. I tasted blood as the inside of my mouth cut against my teeth.
“Yes, we are,” he insisted darkly, his fingers running lightly over the bruised side of my face.
I began to fight him in earnest, as best I could with my hands restrained and his weight holding me down to the couch. His fingers moved from my face to my throat, wrapping around my neck to choke me as I stared up at him and tried to breathe. He let go of my hands so that he could pull at my jeans, and I fought with the hand that was strangling me, batting at him ineffectually. I brought the rest of my body into it, kicking my legs, trying to shove him with my knees, and all the while he just smiled down at me sadistically.
“Why don’t you just shift, kitty Kat? You’re fighting it, I can see it in your eyes, they’re so dark now. I can still fuck you while you’re furry. Might even be entertaining,” he taunted.
He was right; I could feel my Aspect wanting to break free, but I wasn’t sure of what would happen if I lost control of her, and lose control I would. Instead I pulled on the lines of power that were different from my shifter powers, used what little that Bianca had been able to teach me, to pull the power into me, then push it out through my skin.
Aerick’s body jerked for a few seconds as mild electric shocks coursed through him, then he let out a chuckle and licked his lips. “Do it again, baby, that got me all tingly.” He yanked at my jeans and I felt the button tear free, then his hand slid inside as I felt myself growing weak from lack of air.
Before he could do much else, he suddenly inhaled sharply as though someone had gut punched him, then his face screwed up in pain and anger, his head twisting to one side. “Fucking bastards,” he muttered in frustration. He began to move the hand in my pants again, only to have his whole body twitch once, violently. “They both still care too much about you,” he gritted out. “I’ll have to fix that.” Aerick shuddered suddenly, letting out a labored breath of air, and his hand fell away from my neck.
I just lay there limply, sucking air into my starving lungs, as Aerick sat astride my hips, his chin resting on his chest as he trembled. He carefully removed his hand from inside my jeans, and after a minute his eyes came up, clear again, first going to my throat, then to my cheek. A tear spilled onto his cheek, sliding down towards his jaw, and he leaned forward to bury his face against my breasts.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he mumbled into my chest. “I’m trying not to let him hurt you, but he’s too fucking strong! You need to get out of here, Kat, you can’t fix me.”
He sounded so miserable and despondent that I felt my heart clench pai
nfully. Leave him? When he needs me? The thought was unbearable. “I can’t, Rick, I won’t.” I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him to me. “We’ll get you through this, you’ll see.”
He sat up and wiped at his face. “I think it’s too late for me, Kat.”
“It’s never too late, Rick. Nothing you say will make me leave, so just stop, okay?”
Aerick swung his leg to the floor, the scooted off of me and stood, leaving me feeling suddenly cold. He let out a harsh breath. “I’m really tired, so I think I’m going to go lie down for awhile.”
“All right. Sleep will probably do you good. Do you want me to lie down with you or…?” I left it open.
“No. I need you away from me.” He must have seen the hurt that crossed my face. “It’s safer for you, Kat. The further away from me the better. I don’t want to fail you too.”
“Rick?”
He ignored me, walking out of the room and through my bedroom to the adjoining door. He didn’t even look back at me before he slammed the door behind him.
_____________________________________________
I took a short nap myself, then spent the afternoon playing some games on my laptop. I was checking my email when the adjoining door opened back up and Aerick came through it. He had showered again and changed his clothes, his hair still slightly damp. He’d opted for dark jeans and a black t-shirt, but his feet were still bare. The look he gave me when he saw me on the computer was one of suspicion.
“Who are you talking to?” he demanded, striding up to stare over my shoulder at the screen.
I closed the laptop lid. “It’s my personal stuff, Rick.”
“In other words, things you don’t want me to see,” he said rudely, reaching for the laptop.
I put my hand on it and he gave me an imperiously angry glare, his body tensing as though he wanted to strike something, or someone. I glared right back, although I felt a chill of warning go up my spine.