Storm Mistress

by Rivers, Brandy L

  He dodged away when she playfully slapped at his arm. “Be right back.” James headed for the office and came back a moment later, tossing her purse to her.

  Toryn grabbed her arm and winked back at James before dragging her out the door.

  “Hungry?” Toryn asked as he hurried down the street.

  Swallowing back her first response, she nodded.

  “Thai?”

  “Mmm, yum. Let’s do it,” she taunted.

  That wicked grin played on his lips, sending a shiver through her as they walked into the restaurant.

  She pouted. “You’re a damned tease.”

  His lips grazed her ear and she gasped as he whispered, “It’s not a tease. Sometime soon I will prove it to you.”

  Not soon enough, but she managed to keep that to herself. They took the booth at the back and she sat across from him because she was tempted to climb into his lap. Hell, even that was too close after watching him all day. Tiffany and Lana were both right, he barely took his eyes off her, even as the Mage.

  The waitress came over and took their order. Once she left, he asked, “It didn’t freak you out to see Scotty and Lonny in familiar forms?”

  “No.” She grinned, but then her eyes went wide, her mouth falling open. “Please tell me that I haven’t done anything with any of them in another guise.”

  “No, definitely not.” He shook his head vehemently and she raised a brow in question. “I wouldn’t let them if they had tried. Lonny and Scotty know what I want. I don’t discuss you with Remus, but I don’t think he knows my true feelings, because they would keep me from you.”

  “Why?” Isa frowned.

  “Your father would tell you that I’m not for you.” He half-smiled. “Though, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t want who he does approve of.”

  His look told her Remus, and she refused to think about that. “Please tell me there isn’t an arranged marriage in the works.”

  Toryn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “There are ways around it, and I’ll do whatever is required to ensure you’re happy.”

  That was easy. He simply needed to be with her. Her supposed groom to be could go to hell.

  * * * *

  His phone rang, giving Toryn a distraction, until he saw who it was. “Remus,” he answered coldly,

  “Henroyld wants to move forward with Isadora’s awakening. Who’s it going to be?”

  His mood went straight to shit. “Isa already knows the basics, but she’s not ready for that. I’ll fill her in as she gets comfortable with the idea.”

  “That’s not your call, Toryn. The king wants it done, so either you will or I will. Unless you want one of your flunkies to do it for you.”

  Nice deep breaths. He needed to control his emotions, or he was going to murder Remus. Fucking old school bastard, who didn’t value the right to choose. “You know I won’t do that, and I won’t let you either.”

  “You have no choice. It has to be done. She needs to learn, and there is no faster way.” The bastard acted as if it was nothing more than a walk in the park.

  “It’s not that simple.” Toryn took another deep calming breath, but couldn’t hide his flaring temper so he stared out the window.

  “You are to bring her to your place tonight. I will have Henroyld brought out to oversee the awakening. She will be there.”

  “Don’t make me question your loyalty, Remus. We are to protect her at all costs, not harm her.” He hung up the phone and damn near crushed it.

  “What the hell was that?” Isadora whispered harshly.

  How the fuck was he supposed to explain that her piece of shit uncle wanted to have sex with her, force her if necessary, and possibly in front of her damned father? He gripped the table and strived for calm and collected, but failed miserably. “Remus thinks it would be best to force the knowledge on you now.” The emphasis on force scared her and he saw it on her face. “I won’t let him harm you, and I would never dream of hurting you. I swear on my life, I will not let anything happen to you.”

  “Is that what Evan was sent to do?” She was taking it so much better than he ever expected. The fear fell away as she narrowed her eyes and squared her shoulders. “Did Evan have something to do with Remus? That asshole did say he knew Evan.”

  And she was too smart for her own good, but he was going to have to tell her eventually.

  His knuckles were white where he gripped the table. “I believe that was Evan’s purpose. Yes, Remus knew Evan. I don’t know the motive and I don’t have proof he hired Evan.”

  “Fucking bastards, both of them,” she snapped viciously.

  “Indeed.” Toryn took her hand. “I hope you don’t mind a nice quiet evening at the cabin tonight.” It was the best he could do for now. He needed to finalize the details for the meeting with the queen’s emissary. No matter what happened, Remus wasn’t going to touch her.

  Desire flashed through the anger in her eyes. “That sounds good to me.” The low sexy tone tore at his control.

  Keeping his hands to himself was going to be torture. He desperately needed to find a way to keep the awakening from being a horrifying experience. Toryn wasn’t sure that was possible for any changeling.

  He squeezed her hand. “You’re going to be all right. I promise.”

  “I know. I have you, my knight.”

  Chapter 17

  By the time Toryn pulled into the garage at the mountain cabin, Isadora was beyond confused. Since dinner, he’d been quiet brooding, things he wasn’t normally. The entire trip was tense.

  She snatched up her backpack and stormed inside. Toryn didn’t even have the car shut off before she slammed the kitchen door.

  He said the awakening would give her the answers she needed. Answers Remus wanted to force on her. Said sex, or intimacy, brought it on. If he wanted her, why the hell wouldn’t he touch her?

  Isa hoped she wasn’t about to make a really big mistake. She wanted him, and it only made sense to do this now, with the man she trusted. The man she loved. She stared out the window, facing away from the door, trying to shore up her courage and confidence.

  Even his footsteps were hesitant and tense as the door shut. Was he confused too?

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

  Biting the bullet, she spilled it, “You’re confusing the hell out of me. Do you, or don’t you, want me?”

  He swallowed hard, took a deep breath and a few more hesitant steps. “Yes. So bad every damned drop of blood is in my cock. I don’t want to rush this though.”

  “Won’t it work if it’s consensual? What are you afraid of?” She closed her eyes, fearing the worst.

  “It will work, but it’s a lot to adjust to. It’s not right to dump so much on you.”

  “Why?” She whirled around, pinning him with a glare. “You said you wanted me. Was that a lie?”

  He slammed his hand on the counter with a pained expression. “Damn it, Isa. It’s not that simple. I want you. Never doubt that, but the awakening is more than sex. You won’t trust me by the time we’re through.” He clutched his hand over his heart and looked away. “You won’t.”

  “Why? Fucking tell me why not!” she spat the words out.

  There was an edge of anger to his tone when he looked back, his chest heaving. “I was someone else back there. Someone you wouldn’t understand. Things are different here. It’s so much easier. I don’t have to be that person anymore. There’s no one forcing my hand to do things I don’t want to do. You’re lucky you haven’t had to deal with the politics yet.”

  That brought her temper down a few notches. “You don’t want to go back. Do you?”

  “No, when we go back, it’s unlikely you would stay with me. Not that the chances here are much better, but at least here, politics aren’t involved, yet.”

  Yet? He kept throwing that word out there like a warning or a threat. And politics? Most of the fairytales she knew involved Faerie kings and queens.

  “Wh
at? Are you some sort of prince?” She laughed, but he looked ill.

  “No.” He shook his head and came toward her slowly. “I’m the king’s assassin. Or was, before he sent me to protect you.” He looked up at the ceiling. “If your father had any idea of my true feelings, he would never permit me to stay.”

  Her eyes nearly fell out of her head. “You mean I’m the princess?” She laughed out loud but not like it was funny. “That’s fucking hilarious. Me? A Faerie princess?”

  Toryn grabbed her shoulders and she froze, her eyes locking on his. He glared back at her. “Yes, and this is exactly why I want to find the right way to explain things to you.”

  She was right back to the boiling point and got in his face. “Fuck that! I’m not going back. I’m not a princess. They can take the crown and shove it up their asses. They sent me away.”

  “Why do you think they sent me to protect you?” he growled through gritted teeth. With every breath their chests brushed. “We all have to go back at some point.”

  “Hell no. I make my own decisions. Not some asshole king who threw me away when I was a baby. Not when he sent me to live in hellhole after hellhole with the vilest scum.”

  He shook his head and squeezed her tighter. “If you knew the reasoning, you would understand why I was sent to watch after you. Why it wasn’t safe to raise you in Faerie. And why you won’t be safe until all of your power is unleashed.”

  “Then what are you waiting for?” she yelled in his face. “If this solves even half of the problem, why wait?” Unshed tears burned her eyes.

  Anger laced with pain filled his voice, “You want a taste? You want to see how the fabric of your reality begins to tear when you lose yourself?” His gaze was so intense that she took a step back, right into the table.

  With a startled gasp, she challenged, “Yes, damn it, just do it!”

  He growled a warning, “You’ll have to tell me when to stop, before you get to that point where you slip over the brink. A taste so you realize this is much more than you expect.” Toryn didn’t give her a chance to think or react. His mouth was on hers and he didn’t hold back.

  This kiss was hot, electric, consuming. She couldn’t think, could only feel. Her pants were shoved around her ankles and she was pushed back on the tabletop before she realized she was bare to him. Toryn opened her legs with a hot caress. She should have been startled but she wanted, and needed, him so desperately she didn’t care.

  His mouth rained wet hot kisses down her throat as her shirt and bra were thrust up over her breasts. Big hands cupped the mounds, his thumbs circling over her nipples wrenching a moan from her. “Toryn, please.”

  “Please what?” he growled against her collar bone.

  “More, now, more!”

  Sucking in one nipple, he pinched the other until she cried out. His free hand caressed down her body and covered her sex.

  “Oh Toryn, yes,” she panted as his fingers found her swollen bud. Her eyes fluttered shut as he pushed her back, his kisses trailing down, down, down. She felt his breath on her thighs.

  “So beautiful, Isa.” He licked her from asshole to clit and back again until she cried out. “You taste so damned good,” he groaned.

  He sucked her bud and her back arched as she moaned, “Please, oh please.”

  She opened her eyes and the room rippled around her. Toryn yanked her to the edge of the table, his tongue plunging into her and sharp pleasure burst through every cell. The pressure built until erupting in white hot bliss.

  Her world shattered, the pleasure drowned out reality and she found herself standing at the top of an ancient tower in a gown of strange golden material. The dress was torn, her hair in tangles. A giant black dog charged up the stairs and straight for her.

  Isadora raised her hands and pulled lightning out of the sky. The beast’s eyes burned with the flames of hell and it had several rows of dagger-like teeth. She stretched out her hands, forming a net of pure energy that she flung. The beast flipped, end-over-end, off the tower.

  “Isa, watch out,” Toryn screamed in a strange language. She turned in time to see a scarlet dragon fly up the other side of the tower. Its mouth opened to breathe a pillar of flame. Toryn tackled her to the ground, blocking the inferno.

  * * * *

  Isa woke up screaming and Toryn’s heart crumbled into a million pieces. When she slipped into the dream state, he redressed her and laid her on the couch. There was no way to know how long she would be out, and the process wasn’t over. It had only begun.

  “I’m sorry, Isa. I tried to warn you.” The words were ripped from him but he held back the sob. He leaned against the table, afraid to go anywhere near her, sure she must hate him.

  “Toryn?” She sat up, looking around franticly, until her eyes landed on him. “Oh, good, you’re all right.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “Shut up, and come here.” Her voice shook, but then moaned. In pain? Or pleasure?

  Scared to death, he rushed to her. He was still too afraid to touch her. “Talk to me. Are you all right?”

  She licked her kiss-swollen luscious lips and stared at his mouth. “Better than all right.” Her voice was husky and breathless, her eyes darkened with lust.

  “You woke up screaming,” he accused.

  Embarrassed, she frowned. “I thought you were being roasted alive. That’s why it was such a huge relief when you were fine.”

  “What?” He stared at her, completely baffled.

  She shrugged. “You saved my life, in the… future, I think.” She shook her head. “You pushed me out of the way and took the flame from the dragon.”

  “Oh,” a smile formed as relief washed over him, “I would hardly flinch.”

  Staring back at him, she wrinkled her nose.

  “Flame isn’t a problem for me.” He grinned. There was hope, she also saw them in together in the future. “Are you okay? Really?”

  “Very.” Her tongue swept over her bottom lip as she took a shaky breath. “Sorry I freaked you out.”

  He brushed his thumb across her mouth. “I don’t know exactly what you saw. The awakening is different for all of us and that was only the beginning.” Doubt crept back in.

  Isa ran her hand up his side, igniting passion so strong he nearly let go of his last few threads of control. “I thought I could stop you before you slipped over,” he admitted as he took a step back, out of her reach. Guilt washed over him, the memory of his awakening rolling to the forefront. “You were with me and then you were unconscious. I didn’t expect it to happen so fast.”

  Isadora closed the distance, pressing her body against his. She ran her hand up his chest and then around the back of his neck. “I’m fine.” Her eyes burned with desire. “I don’t remember ever feeling that incredible.”

  “Isa,” he murmured, caressing her face. So trusting, but she had no clue what would happen if he went through with this. Resisting her was the hardest thing he’d ever done, but the way she looked at him made it damn near impossible. “That was only the beginning. I can’t guarantee your experience will go that smoothly.” He tried to move away, but she followed, pressing herself closer.

  “Toryn,” she purred, “can you honestly say there is a faster, or easier way for me to learn the rest?”

  Yeah, she had a point. He shook his head.

  “You want me.” Her free hand drifted down, cupping his straining length, eliciting a groan from his lips. “And I want you. So why not?”

  His control was evaporating. “Are you sure you can handle what you learn? That you won’t hate me once you’re awakened?” Not that she could possibly know, but he needed reassurance.

  “Only one way to find out.”

  She kissed his lips softly, but he gently pushed her back.

  “I won’t blame you, Toryn, and I won’t hold your past against you.”

  How can she be so confident?

  Her mouth covered his as her other hand trailed down his chest and abs to his be
lt.

  He kissed her back with a whimper. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “You won’t,” she promised. “I trust you, Toryn, completely.”

  The last tendril of resistance disintegrated as she freed his throbbing erection and gripped him in her hand. He swept her up and carried her to the bedroom before tossing her on the bed.

  * * * *

  In a single movement, Toryn had her boots and pants off. Sitting up, she looked into his burning blue eyes as she yanked his jeans down, running her hands over his strong thighs. His clothes fell to the ground. He pulled her shirt and bra off, then his.

  Toryn was breathtaking. Smooth pale skin over hard muscle, but he was still too far away from her. He licked his full lips as he looked down at her, taking her in.

  Moaning in anticipation, she wrapped her hand around the base of his cock. She’d been imagining it for years, but nothing prepared her for the beautiful thick length.

  “There’s not a single thing about you that I don’t crave,” she murmured, as she licked him from balls to crown and circled his ridge with her tongue.

  With a groan, he pushed her back on the bed, crushing her to the mattress. His skin against hers was heaven. Nipping her ear with a sexy growl, he entwined his fingers in hers and pinned her hands above her head.

  “Slow down, Isa. Enjoy it. I’ve waited too long to rush.”

  He kissed her deep and slow, until she was crazy with need. She was soaking wet when he slid his hand between her thighs.

  “Not slow, please not slow,” she cried even as he pushed a single finger deep inside. “Oh, don’t make me wait,” she pleaded.

  His thumb rubbed her clit in slow circles that made her head swim.

  “Please now,” she begged but he ignored her, kissing his way down her body.

  “Wait.” He sucked at her nipple, his tongue swirling and teasing. “Just wait.”

  She was already on the brink, and then he pushed another finger inside her. “Stay with me,” he breathed before licking her navel. Her back arched as his fingers curled, hitting her sweet spot. She couldn’t talk, couldn’t think, waves of pleasure crashed over her, colliding with others and causing bigger ones to flow back. Then his mouth was between her thighs, licking her clit while his fingers worked her.