Fae

by Jennifer Bene

  Not like he had certain things on his mind at all.

  Fae recovered more quickly from the shift this time, noticed their location, and immediately shifted her body weight higher so he would lean back onto the bed. When he did she was neatly straddling his waist, and he didn’t mind that at all.

  “Nice landing.” He grinned up at her, and he was grateful for the streetlights coming through the windows because he could see the smile on her face as she looked down at him.

  “Thanks.” She leaned down and placed a kiss against his lips, and he could feel her fingers against his stomach as she started unbuttoning his shirt. He held his breath and clenched his fists to his sides. He wasn’t going to rush her in this, after all, they had forever. She pushed his shirt open and placed small kisses across his chest, even over the dark sword mark that represented Gormahn’s hold on him.

  When she pulled at the arm of his jacket he sat up and slipped the shirt and jacket off and threw them both over her shoulder to the floor. Her grin was wicked as she dragged her nails lightly over his chest and down his stomach. Then she pulled her own jacket away dropping it behind her, and he heard the distinctive double thump of her shoes hitting the floor. He kicked his Converse off and laid back down, watching her reverently as her fingertips dipped under the bottom of her sweater and she slowly pulled it over her head.

  Inch by inch her skin was revealed until it passed over her head and her auburn hair tumbled back over her shoulders.

  His breath caught in his chest. “You are beautiful, Fae…”

  Instead of the smile he had expected, she flinched, and fear swirled in his stomach that she’d changed her mind.

  He was about to stop everything when she spoke softly. “Neala.”

  “What did you say?” Kiernan propped himself up on his elbows to be closer to her, and she crossed her arms over her bare stomach.

  “My name isn’t…” She winced and brought her eyes back to him. “My name isn’t Fae. It’s Neala.”

  “Neala?” He repeated and she nodded slowly, looking away from him again. He grabbed her chin gently and made her look at him. “You got the name Fae from a master, didn’t you? Because you’re Faeoihn.”

  “Yes, and I just thought before we did anything else, you said you wanted to do this right, and -”

  “I’d love to call you Neala. Neala is perfect,” He smiled at her. Neala meant female champion and he couldn’t imagine that her parents could have chosen a better name. “I feel incredibly honored that you told me.”

  “Can you say it again?” She smiled back at him, and he laughed quietly.

  “Neala.”

  “By the gods, it’s been so long since I’ve heard that.” Fae, no, Neala leaned over him, her auburn hair a curtain around them. “And it sounds better than I remember from your lips.”

  “Oh really?” He tried to play it casual, but that was practically impossible with his hard cock pressing against the juncture of her thighs, still wrapped in tight fitting jeans. She leaned down and her hands moved up his sides, over his shoulders and into his hair. He could feel her nails on his scalp as she tilted her head and kissed him deeply, and he returned the kiss with every ounce of wanting he’d experienced since he’d first laid eyes on her. Kiernan’s hands slid up her waist and he suddenly appreciated their stop to buy the dark green lace bra that met his palms. His mind flipped back to earlier in the evening, to several days before, to the hundreds of years before that, and he was still in awe that she was there in his arms and her lips were pressed against his.

  She pushed herself up, her hands splayed across his chest and she smiled down at him. “Yes, it really does…” Her hands moved down the muscles of his stomach to the waist of his pants, and his stomach tensed underneath her touch, his cock kicking against the zipper that confined it painfully.

  “I am trying so hard to be a good guy right now.” Kiernan rested his hands on her hips, and she took that moment to grind herself against him. He groaned, and she grinned at him.

  “Stop trying, Kiernan.” Neala took his hands, sliding them up her sides to cup her breasts. He took the invitation, rolling his thumb over the nipples pressing against the lace. He growled and sat up, sealing his mouth over the little buds through the cloth. Her back arched forward and she shifted in his lap, another growl escaping him against her skin as he was unable to keep quiet with her there.

  “Little minx, you are about to make me stop playing nice.” He grinned as he sat up, pinching her nipple lightly between his fingers.

  Her mouth spread into a smile. “I don’t need you to play nice with me.” Neala’s fingers slid into his hair, but this time she tightened her fist, making his scalp light up with a sting that had him hissing air through his teeth.

  He growled and lifted her into the air again when he stood. She let out a surprised yelp as he dropped her back onto the bed and her hair fell around her in a halo. Her cheeks were already flushed making her blue eyes vibrant, and lips darker. He paused to let his eyes move over her, but he didn’t miss that she was doing the same. In moments they were naked and Neala moved back across his bed, and he followed her, climbing onto the bare sheet. He caught her thigh in one hand and yanked her back towards him, ending up under him as he leaned forward. Pushing her thighs apart, he growled low as her pussy was bared to him. Before he’d even thought about it he’d bent his head down and licked up her slit, parting her lips to let him taste her.

  Neala gasped and arched off the bed. “Holy shit, Kiernan!”

  He had to fight the urge to laugh as he settled down on his stomach, trapping his hard cock against the bedding because he was going to be here a while. When she tried to snap her thighs shut around his head, he grabbed her knees and spread them wide. There was no way she was going to keep him from doing this, from hearing her scream his name in pleasure as she came, and this time he wasn’t just going to feel her in his arms, he was going to taste her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Seattle, Washington

  Neala gasped as his tongue found her clit and her hips lifted against his mouth, a stream of muttered curses leaving her lips as her fists gripped the bedding.

  Holy fuck, he’s good at this.

  Her body was tense as she fought the urge to press her thighs against the sides of his head in an effort to stop the overwhelming waves of pleasure, or hold him exactly where he was so he could push her over the edge. He moaned against her skin and it made her moan back. It had been years since someone had done this, and she wanted to press her hips harder against his talented tongue, but then it would suddenly be too intense and she’d jerk back. His fingers tightened on her thighs hard enough to leave bruises, but she didn’t care. She was close, so fucking close.

  “Please, please, Kiernan…” Neala was begging, and she never begged, yet somehow with Kiernan it was good. The growl it summoned from his chest was hot enough, but then he thrust two fingers inside her, curving them to brush against that bundle of nerves that had her lifting off the bed. His mouth followed her though, concentrating on her clit as his fingers worked their magic. She was begging, whimpering nonsense into the air above her as she arched her back and felt that delicious tingling covering her skin, making her shiver. Another tug on her clit and a crippling wave of pleasure crashed through her, and she screamed his name.

  Then, she shattered.

  Behind her eyelids was a fireworks show in the darkness, and her body was caught in the riptide the orgasm had brought her. Then he was on top of her, his cock brushing against her, and his dark eyes were asking.

  She nodded, spreading her legs, “Please?”

  Kiernan kissed her and then thrust himself inside her in one hard movement that sent a ripple through the both of them. She could taste herself on his lips, and their moans met against their mouths, warm and vibrating as his weight dropped over her. His hips began to piston between her thighs, and she let herself fall into the heady pleasure of feeling full and fulfilled.

 
She was so wet, and every thrust stretched her, aching as he bottomed out, a small cry escaping her each time. He broke the kiss and kissed down her neck towards her shoulder, his teeth scraping her skin, and she held his head to her letting him know it was okay. He thrust even harder and bit down on her shoulder, pinning her in place with the powerful grip on her hip, and his teeth pressed to her skin. She moaned, arching under him as the sensations compounded one on top of the other.

  He relaxed his bite and whispered against her skin, “Neala,” and she felt like she was glowing, but for once she actually wasn’t. He knew her real name, and he was saying it. He was calling her Neala, like she was a real person, like she was a lover. It had been centuries since she’d even thought of herself as a person, and hearing her own name in her head was like accepting she was different. Free.

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and his lips met hers, the kiss difficult to maintain as he continued to drive himself deep. She broke it and raked her nails down his back, grinning at the way his breath hissed just before he dipped his head and trapped a nipple between his teeth. The searing ache combined with the pleasure to make her scream, and he laughed against her skin as his tongue soothed the pain he had created.

  He was perfect.

  No one had ever treated her like this.

  Like it was on cue, his kisses moved up and across her shoulder blade, his tongue flicking out against the skin of her neck until he was hovering over her lips again. “Is tusa an leath eile díom”.

  You are the other half of me.

  Neala felt her heart ache at hearing their language, and what he meant with it. She bit her lip against the next cry that tried to escape her lips, the pleasure beginning to overwhelm her again. That delicious tension coiling at the base of her spine to leave her gasping and whimpering in his ear, and it was clear he loved it as he growled and picked up the pace, and switched back to English. “Think you can come for me again, Glowworm?”

  She grinned and dug her nails into the skin of his back, and he bit down on her shoulder in retaliation. The thrill of him pinning her to the bed beneath his weight, her thighs spread wide for him, for someone she cared about, who cared for her, was too much – the orgasm hit like a tidal wave, drowning her in sensation and he moaned against her skin and spread his knees on the inside of hers to thrust harder, deeper.

  Then he joined her, his seed spilling inside her with a warm rush and a low groan against her ear as he collapsed over her. He mostly caught himself on his elbow, but he was all muscle, and she wasn’t bothered at all by the way his hard chest pressed against hers. They were both catching their breath, and she laid gentle kisses across his shoulder hovering above her, whispering between each one, “Is tusa a rún mo chroí.”

  You are the secret of my heart.

  He turned and kissed her hard, his tongue meeting hers as she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss as they poured out the things there were no other words for at the moment. Then he placed one more gentle kiss to her lips and slid from her, moving to lie next to her.

  Heavy breaths filled the silence in the room as he shifted them to lay the right way and he pulled her to his side, his arms hugging her tight. “I’m not sure how I survived without you,” he whispered against her hair, and it brought tears to her eyes.

  She turned her head to kiss him again and then laid her head on his chest, facing him and twining their legs together. His heartbeat was still fast, matching hers, but as his chest rose and fell more steadily it evened out. “Thank you, Kiernan.”

  A soft laugh came from him and he kissed her hair. “I should be thanking you, álainn.” Beautiful. Neala smiled, and he squeezed her tighter against him.

  They lay there for a while, her head spinning with the magnitude of what had happened in the span of a day or so. Everything that defined her existence was upside down. Two thousand years of beliefs flipped on their head because she was in bed with a Laochra, he hadn’t summoned the bands to claim her even when they slept together, and she was pretty sure she was falling in love with him. Her damaged, sometimes light, sometimes dark, warrior.

  He fell asleep first, his breaths quieting and his grip on her slackening. She stayed cuddled against him, reveling in the heat from his skin. Looking up at his face, she smiled at the relaxed expression on his face – completely at peace. Neala grabbed the sheet with her foot and pulled it up over them, cuddling down next to him and breathing out slowly. Somewhere between one hypnotizing beat of his heart and the next, she fell asleep.

  Her dream was vivid, loud, and overwhelming. She was in a market somewhere in the Middle East and people were pushing their way past each other in brightly colored clothes. They spoke a hundred different languages, ones she had heard in her long life, but oddly she had no fear among all of the people. She didn’t give a second glance to anyone she passed, male or female, because she was searching for someone. It was claustrophobic having to push through them, but she finally came to a small square that had a few inches of breathing room.

  A fountain stood in the corner, tumbling crystal water that shone in the sunlight, and standing in front of it was Eltera. It was actually her! The goddess, in all her golden glory, in the same dress she’d worn the night Neala had become a Faeoihn.

  “Eltera!” she cried, and tried to push towards her, but Eltera shook her head slowly and pointed to a different place on the square.

  Standing at the entrance to another long row of stalls was Kiernan, bare-chested and smiling at her. He looked incredible in the sunlight, and she found it was easy to get to him through the crowd, but just before she got to him his face changed, contorting in pain. He put his hand to the dark sword over his heart and when he pulled his hand away there was blood.

  So much blood.

  He raised his dark eyes to hers and they flickered, black, then green, then black again, and his lips parted like he was going to speak. She reached out for him, trying to scream his name over the din in the market – but then he collapsed to the ground.

  She gasped herself awake, knocking Kiernan back from her when she jerked to a sitting position. When she looked over at him he was wide awake and scanning the room for what had woken her up, his body tense. Once he was sure they were alone he ran a hand down her back as she hugged the blankets to her chest.

  “Fa- Neala? What’s wrong?” He sat up before gently touching her chin and turning her head towards him. She faced him and saw the dark vines that were coiled all the way up to his shoulder, a hand’s width away from the dark sword over his heart. She reached out and traced the end of the vines and then laid her hand over the sword, disbelief crippling her that she hadn’t noticed it the night before.

  “I had a nightmare. I think Eltera sent it to warn me since you hadn’t said anything. The vines are too close to Gormahn’s mark, Kiernan. Why didn’t you tell me?” Neala could feel the worried tension in her face, and he smoothed the wrinkle between her eyebrows with his thumb.

  “I have a few days yet, and I didn’t want to leave you alone.” He gave her a reassuring smile, but it didn’t quell the sick turning of her stomach. “Plus, I think we’ve used the last couple of days quite well, don’t you?”

  “Be serious for a minute.” She frowned at him, tracing the end of the vine closest to the mark. It was like her eyes were playing tricks on her, because it almost seemed to be growing by millimeters before her very eyes. “You have to fix it. Promise me.”

  “I’ll contact Cole in a day or so, I promise.” He smiled at her and leaned forward to kiss her, but she stopped him, pushing him back.

  “Today. Contact Cole today.” There was an ache in her chest as she remembered the lost and pained look on his face from the dream. Eltera was sending her a warning and she had to listen to it. Nothing she had dreamed had ever felt so viscerally real.

  “It’s not an emergency, I swear. I still have time and I’d like to spend another day with you.” He brushed her hair back from her face and then laid his ha
nd against her cheek.

  “And what if you don’t? You’re not going to be able to protect me, or be with me, if you’re dead.” Neala pulled away from his hand. She wasn’t going to drop this, or let him distract her. Not with his gorgeous body, and not even with the fact that he somehow pulled off bedhead like he’d done it on purpose.

  “Okay, you win. I’ll call him today… but later. Can I kiss you now?” Kiernan grinned at her and she stopped him again.

  “Message him now. Please.”

  He sighed and leaned back to grab his phone from the bedside table. As he stretched his muscles shifted under her skin, and she forced a breath to remind her why it was important that she wasn’t under him again already. Kiernan tapped away on his phone and then the edge of his mouth tilted up in a cocky smirk. “There. Happy?”

  Fae looked at the phone as he held it up: Want to go bar hopping again?

  “Yes. I am,” she mumbled, and he leaned forward to press his lips to hers. His kiss was like a balm on the ache in her chest as it simultaneously eased the turning of her stomach. Neala climbed onto his lap, straddling him, which snagged his attention because they were both still very naked.

  “Listen to me, Kiernan, this whole thing between us only just started. We haven’t even had a chance, I just don’t want you to –” She stopped talking when he leaned forward and pressed another soft kiss against her lips.

  “Nothing will happen. I’ve avoided Cole’s messages enough anyway, he’ll be ecstatic I want to go out with him again. I promise I’ll take care of the vines.” Kiernan started kissing her neck, speaking between each touch of his lips to her skin. “I really don’t regret a minute that I’ve waited though.”

  “Oh, really?” Neala grinned as he kissed across her shoulder. His attitude this morning was infectious and she felt a lightness bubble up in her chest with his promise sealing her concerns away. When her eyes moved down to look at him she realized she had been so distracted by the memory of the nightmare that she hadn’t even noticed she was still glowing from Eltera’s touch, and the light was reflecting on his skin, lighting up each little line of muscle and making him look delicious.