“I see.” He cleared his throat. “Listen. About earlier tonight... I shouldn’t have let you wander alone in the woods like that. If something had happened to you...”
April cocked her head to the side and eyed him quizzically. “Wander alone in the woods? I don’t understand why that concerned you. It’s what I do. I’m a fairy, remember?”
She hiccuped and this time her body rose a foot in the tub. Unnerving. A reminder she wasn’t an ordinary human woman. He arched a brow. “Hard to forget that fact when you keep levitating every time you drink.”
April giggled. “And to think just a few hours ago I was ready to quit.”
“Quit?” He frowned. “Quit your mission?”
The mirth in her eyes extinguished. “Quit everything. I told the Council I was a failure and they should send someone else.”
His worst fear was confirmed. As quick as a passing breeze through the treetops, April could disappear. Forever. And that had come oh so close to happening.
Careful, his inner voice screamed. Warning—don’t get too involved.
Chulah took a deep breath. If Hoklonote released Nalusa, the shadow hunters would be in peril. So would the Fae, according to April. And even if they did capture Hoklonote and the Fae found the spirit of the betraying elder—even then, April would return to her kind and he would be left alone.
Always alone.
Slow down.
He grabbed a towel and placed it on the sink counter. “I’ll let you finish up while I cook us some breakfast.”
“Okay. I always forget to eat and drink unless you or Steven remind me.”
She stood.
His breath caught. Creamy skin glistened and shimmered. The pink buds on her breasts peeked through the white bubbles.
The curtain of bubbles slowly, slowly slipped down, exposing more peach-toned skin. The womanly curve of hips, the soft mound of stomach, the pale curls at the apex of her thighs.
Chulah couldn’t move. Not for all the money in Alabama.
A Mona Lisa smile hovered on her lips and her eyes darkened. She either felt the same or recognized his desire.
One exquisite leg stepped out of the tub, then another. April came to him, as inevitable as the eternal ebb and flow of the tide. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and her warm, wet body pressed against his.
His hands glided down the damp surface of her back.
Silk.
She pressed her lips to his own.
Careful... The hell with that. Chulah cupped her ass and squeezed the soft orbs of flesh. His erection was swift and painful, aching for release. April wiggled against him, her sex naked and wet.
“I want you,” she moaned.
The words roared in his head like a tropical hurricane. She wanted him. To hell with future repercussions. All that mattered was this moment between man and wom— “Hey, wait a sec.” How to word this? “Can a...um, fairy have sex?”
April moved his hand from her ass to her breast. “Doesn’t this feel real to you?” She guided his hand lower. “And what about this?”
The soft folds of her core were slick with a dampness different from the rest of her skin. A heated liquid that revealed she desired him as much as he did her. Chulah inserted a finger and she moaned again.
“You’re so damn tight,” he muttered. “I don’t want to hurt you.” Another thought stopped him cold and he withdrew his hand. “Are you a virgin, then?”
“Only in this realm,” she breathed.
He released a strangled sound—somewhere between a chuckle and a moan. Leaning his forehead against hers, he tried to steady his harsh breath. In his world, a virgin was a virgin. No shades of gray there. “Is that supposed to reassure me? I don’t know what to make of it.”
She put a finger under his chin and lifted it so that he looked directly into her pools of blue eyes. Another mysterious, feminine smile lit her Cupid’s-bow lips. “It means I’m emotionally ready. With the added physical benefit of being delightfully...taut.”
“I won’t hurt you,” he promised.
“Maybe I want you to. A little.”
She was going to be the death of him. Chulah grabbed the towel and gently patted down the rivulets of water that streamed down her perfect body. He also rubbed her scalp and long hair until it was no longer dripping wet. “Ready?” he whispered, flinging the towel to the floor.
“Been ready.”
He gathered her into his arms and lifted her. April’s delicate pixie body was lightweight. So light that a flutter of anxiety twisted his gut.
“You’re not going to break me.” She ran an index finger over his lips. “Trust me.”
In this, he had no choice. There was no denying himself the pleasure of possessing April. He had to have her.
At once.
Chulah carried her into the bedroom and carefully laid April on his huge four-poster bed. She looked so small that he again hesitated.
April took his hand and beckoned him to lie beside her. Quickly, he tossed off his T-shirt and made short work of unzipping his jeans and pulling them off, along with his boxers. She licked her lips.
“Having second thoughts?”
She shook her head. “It’s just...you’re so big. I wonder if it will, you know, work.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll take it slow.” It might kill him, but he’d do it. Chulah lay beside her and stroked the delicate curve of her jaw and neck. Again, the electrical magic stirred between them. If touching her did this, what would it feel like to actually be inside April?
His hands roamed to her breasts and he caressed the tight buds. April groaned, reaching down to stroke his erection.
Chulah took a shaky breath.
Slow, he reminded himself. Go slow.
He placed his mouth over one of her nipples and April writhed against him.
“For queen’s sake,” she cried brokenly. “It feels so good.”
Chulah raised his head. “We’re just getting started.”
“The hell.” April cupped his balls and a wild current of desire ripped through his reserve.
Slow, slow, slow. She made it damned hard. Chulah again sucked a nipple and inserted a finger into her hot core, picking up where he’d left off in the bathroom.
“I want you now,” she demanded.
She was ready for him. More than ready, as was he. “Next time, more foreplay,” he promised.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
Her echo of his exact thoughts made him smile. It would be good between them. More than good. The chemistry was amazing.
Chulah entered her, careful to take it as slow and easy as her tight passage allowed. She gasped and her hands dug into his shoulders. He stopped. “Did I hurt you?”
“I’m not sure.” She wiggled her hips beneath him. “I think it’s okay.”
Chulah didn’t move as she adjusted to the new sensation. Sweat broke out on his forehead, but he commanded his body to obey his promise. Years of training as a shadow hunter had taught him restraint and patience.
She moved against him. “Keep going.”
“You sure? Because if—”
“Move,” she whispered. “If it hurts, I’ll tell you.”
Move he did. Over and over until she joined him in each thrust, as seemingly desperate for release as he.
He knew the moment April came apart in his arms. Only then did he allow himself to fully give way to the explosive need that raged in his body.
The world could have split in two, but all he was conscious of was the euphoria of releasing himself in April.
Ah, shit, that reminded him... “I forgot to use a condom.” Regret harshened his voice.
“It’s okay,” she reassured him. “It’s not like you would pick up any kind of STD from a sort-of fairy virgin.”
He snorted. “But I don’t want to get you sort-of pregnant.”
She raised up on an elbow and regarded him soberly. “Really, you don’t need to worry. The odds are in our favor.”
<
br /> “It only takes one time,” he noted drily. “That’s a fact of human biology.”
“Then let me give you a fact of fairy biology. We can conceive. I’m evidence of that, but it’s rare.”
“You sure?”
April sat up, pulling a sheet over her body. “Positive. The pure Fae frown on human liaisons, especially when it leads to a baby, but a minority have pointed out that it should actually be encouraged since we can’t propagate our own species.”
Chulah tugged at the sheet. “You going shy on me?”
April blushed, but released her hold on his bed linen. “This is serious,” she said with a mock frown. “I’m trying to explain why pregnancy shouldn’t scare you.”
Okay, that was at least three times in this conversation the word pregnancy had been batted about, a definite killer of after-sex glow. Chulah sighed and sat up. “You haven’t explained anything except that fairies can’t reproduce fairies. Interesting, but it’s all apples and oranges.”
“I’m getting to that part.” She slapped his arm playfully. “Anyway, female fairies can conceive but it often takes years or months of trying. Even then, the odds of producing a healthy child are slim.”
“Good. But even so, next time we take precautions.”
“Agreed. Although...” She paused a heartbeat. “If I had children, I would want them with you.”
Whoa. This was happening too fast. Way too fast. His world didn’t move at warp speed like this. His existence was orderly, neat and quiet. At least it had been ever since he’d been old enough to leave home and his passel of noisy half siblings and needling stepmother.
“April,” he drawled, fumbling for the right words. “This is too—”
“—fast,” she supplied. “I get it. I’ve known you for years but you’re only beginning to know me. It’s okay. I understand.”
“Really?” He searched her face, but her gaze was steadfast and patient.
“Really.”
He wanted to jump up and shout “hallelujah” but he had enough sense to realize that was pushing his luck on her understanding nature.
She quirked an eyebrow. “Now, about that breakfast?”
Permission granted to leave the bed. Still, Chulah took his time getting up and donning his tossed shirt and jeans. “I have one specialty. Biscuits with sausage gravy.”
April shrugged. “No offense, but it all tastes the same to me.”
He stared as she put on one of his old cotton shirts and a pair of long johns he wore during freezing winter hunting nights. Her silver-and-purple hair tumbled in ringlets down to her hips. Damn, she looked sexy as hell.
Breakfast could wait.
He went to April, drawing her lithe body into a bear hug and whispering in her ear. “We could go again, you know. Unless you’re too tender?”
A loud, insistent rapping sounded at the front door. Somebody in the heavens must hate him.
April grinned. “Better see who that is.”
As if it could be anyone but Joanna with yet another problem to dump on him. Chulah strode through the hall and into the kitchen. The knocking grew even louder, cracking the dawn’s silence like a gunshot. “Coming,” he yelled above the din. His stepmother better have a damn good reason for this rudeness. He jerked open the door.
It was not Joanna.
Chapter 11
Steven’s face was red and he breathed air hotter than a dragon. Licks of his carrot-top hair flamed like an out-of-control fire.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” He pushed his way inside. “You couldn’t have let me know?”
Chulah shut the door behind Steven. “I don’t know how to get in touch with you. Do you even have a phone?”
“Um, no,” he admitted. “I should check into that.” He frowned again. “You still could have run over to tell me.”
The little man had a lot of nerve barging into his house and scolding him like he was a misbehaving child. But Chulah bit back his annoyance. Steven was only concerned about April, and she needed a champion. More than one.
“Now you know she’s safe, feel free to leave.”
Steven folded his arms. “I’m not going anywhere. I have bad news.”
“What’s wrong?” April stood in the hall doorway, his clothes dwarfing her small frame. She looked thoroughly his. In every way.
Steven tossed a quick, irritated glance at him over his shoulder.
Chulah smirked. Served him right for busting up their round two. The morning had been going so well until he dropped in.
“We should talk,” Steven said, hurrying to her side. “Alone.”
“Whatever it is, you can say it in front of Chulah.”
He couldn’t help smirking again at Steven’s loud harrumph. “It’s Fae business. None of his concern.”
“If we’re going to work with the shadow hunters, they need be in on whatever’s going on. That’s only fair, Steven.”
He ran a hand through his hair. “All right. But I don’t like it.”
So April had the same problems with Steven as he did with his own friends. Both sides too stubborn and mistrustful to cooperate.
“So what’s the news?” April pressed. “I just visited the Council and queen an hour or so ago, so it can’t be too serious.”
“You’re dead wrong.” Steven drew a deep breath. “Our queen has been captured.”
* * *
April swayed. Such a thing was unheard-of. “Impossible,” she whispered.
“It’s true. All is chaos. They sent a messenger to tell me. Seems they couldn’t enter the cabin to contact you—what with all the salt surrounding the borders.”
“Was it Hoklonote?” Had to be. Who else would dare attempt such a crime? Or have the knowledge to do it.
Steven ran a hand through his rumpled hair. “No one else could have infiltrated our realm but Hoklonote. And all because of that damned traitor. When we find him...”
Chulah’s brow furrowed and he raced to the front door.
“What is it?” April asked.
“I smell smoke.”
He threw open the front door and she and Steven followed him outside.
Across the road and a mile farther down, a single thin column of smoke wafted from a neighbor’s cotton field.
“I didn’t see that when I flew here,” Steven said, puzzled. “Must have just happened.” He turned to April. “Chulah can call the fire department. We need to return to our own realm.”
Red-and-black flames burst upward, spreading rapidly to the cotton plants. Mature white blooms crackled as a wave of fire swept the land. The field of white was transformed to a sea of orange. It writhed and hissed like a giant snake.
Steven pulled at her arm. “Let’s go. That’s not our problem. We have more important matters to handle.”
“That’s no ordinary fire,” Chulah said tersely.
Steven dropped her arm. “What do you mean?”
“It’s spreading too fast.” He hustled back in the cabin and grabbed the cell phone on the kitchen counter, deftly pressing numbers. “And there’s no logical explanation for a fire in the middle of nowhere. Not like we’ve had lightning storms or campers in the area.”
“Arson?” April suggested.
“I know Jeb. He’ll lose his ass on this cotton crop. And hard to imagine he has enemies... Hello? I’m reporting a fire at—”
“I don’t like this.” Steven frowned. “We should leave.”
“You go. I’m staying with Chulah.”
“Your place is with our own kind. They need us.”
When it suits them. But now wasn’t the time to argue. She listened as Chulah called Tombi, alerting him to gather the hunters. If there was ever a moment to convince Chulah’s friends to help the Fae, this was the opportunity.
Steven jerked at her arm. “You’re coming with me.”
“Stop it. I said no.”
“If Hoklonote is truly behind this, it’s too dangerous for you to go near the fire.”
Her anger at Steven dissipated under his concern.
“I’ll be with her.” Chulah tucked his phone in his back jeans pocket.
“Thanks, but that’s hardly any consolation.”
How rude. April poked Steven’s side.
“The lady said no,” Chulah said firmly. “Be right back.”
He entered the house, no doubt to grab his weapons.
April spoke quickly. “Think,” she said. “He called the other hunters. It’s my chance to convince them to work with us. I can help more here than in Fairy. You go and see how bad the damage is there and if you can help them on that end.”
“I don’t like it.” He folded his arms and glared, looking like a disgruntled leprechaun.
“You know I’m right. So go and stop wasting time. I’m safe with Chulah.”
Steven sighed theatrically. “If you’re sure...” He touched the fairy’s cross pendant at his neck.
“Not here.” She glanced around. Nobody had shown up yet, but fire trucks blared in the distance. “Walk around to the back of the cabin in case anyone’s watching.”
“All right. Damn it.” He stomped toward the backyard and she held a hand to her mouth to hide a smile.
“Something funny?” Chulah asked.
April dropped her hand, chastised. “No. Wait for me to get on shoes and dress in something more appropriate.”
Chulah’s eyes focused on the fire and his lips tightened in a grim line. “Hurry.”
April hustled inside, slipped on shoes and found one of Chulah’s flannel shirts that would cover her more modestly. It was the best she could do.
“I’m ready,” she announced, bursting out the front door.
Chulah took her hand. “Stay by me unless I’m in danger. I can’t worry about you while I’m investigating.”
“I wouldn’t leave you—”
He placed a finger on her lips. “Promise me.”
Her throat went dry at the smoldering concern in Chulah’s deep brown eyes. Heat flushed her skin as she remembered those same eyes devouring her naked body such a short time ago.
She nodded. After all, he didn’t say she couldn’t remain with him in Fae form. One way or another, she’d be by his side. Like always.
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