The Dark

by Cheyenne McCray

  This had never happened before. He had never crossed the line between instructor and student.

  “Daire.” Swirling sensations tingled in her belly. She had a hard time forcing any words out as she felt his warm breath against her lips. “What—”

  “Long I have waited for you to reach your ascension.” His gaze met hers again and the look in his eyes was more than desire. He kept her wrists pinned over her head using one hand and his shirre as he brought his other hand to her face and cupped her cheek. “Long I have desired you, Cassiandra.”

  Cassia’s usual calm centeredness evaporated as tingles raced through her from head to toe. Tingles of awareness, even a thrill, at being looked at like this by a man who wanted her in a sexual way.

  At the same time, panic rose up within her like spiraling butterflies trying to escape her chest. A male had never expressed such blatant sexual desire for her before. It had always been forbidden—

  Daire smiled. His white-blond hair trailed over her cheek as he brushed his lips over hers.

  For the briefest flash of thought, Cassia imagined the dark-haired human cop, Jake Macgregor, between her thighs, and his mouth covering hers. His stubble would be coarse against her fair skin, his kiss hard and filled with need.

  Her eyes widened and she gasped. Jake—why was she thinking of the human?

  Why now, when she was about to receive her first kiss? From an Elvin man revered amongst her kind, a man she had known from the time she had begun training with the shirre and in other hand-to-hand combat exercises, centuries ago?

  Daire raised his head without kissing her, and she didn’t know whether to be relieved or disappointed. He studied her for the longest of moments, his expression now serious. “After your ascension, you will be mine, Cassiandra, as it was always meant to be.”

  He pushed himself up, releasing her wrists from beneath his shirre. Stunned and speechless, she let him take her hand and draw her to her feet. His grip was strong, his palm smooth, his fingers long as they wrapped around hers. She felt like she might tip over, the way her head was spinning.

  Daire brushed a few blades of grass from her hair before lowering his head and moving his mouth to her ear. “Tonight,” he whispered before drawing back, giving her one last smile, and heading toward the Elvin city.

  Kael, Cassia’s white wolf familiar, bounded out of the forest with a low growl. “What is wrong, mistress?” he asked in her mind as he trotted up to her.

  “Nothing,” Cassia replied to Kael in her thoughts, then shook her head. “Everything.”

  Kael eased to her side and she slipped her fingers into his thick, white fur. He was large for a wolf, his shoulder blades as high as her waist. “Did Daire injure you?” her familiar asked. “I have always said he is too rough in your training.”

  “No. He is never too rough.” Cassia watched Daire walk away as she gripped Kael’s fur in her fingers. “You are always far too protective.”

  Kael gave the wolf equivalent of a “Humph.”

  Daire moved so fluidly. He was perfection. His broad, muscular chest led to narrow hips and strong thighs that had just been between hers. Long, white-blond hair that reached his shoulder blades, spilling over smooth, golden skin. Leaf green eyes and elegant but very masculine features. All a woman would want in a mate.

  Her lips parted. To complete her transition she was to be intimate with an Elvin male. She’d never experienced sex—as the soon to be only female Guardian, it had been forbidden to do so before her time.

  That the Great Guardian had apparently selected Daire to take Cassia through her transition tonight had caught her by surprise. She hadn’t known what to expect, who would be chosen for her. Knowing now that it was Daire who would be inside her was comforting, yet not.

  She clenched her fingers tighter in Kael’s fur as she tipped her head back and looked at the clear, blue sky before closing her eyes. Images of Jake filled her mind.

  The San Francisco cop was handsome in a hard, rugged way. He equaled Daire in height, well over six feet, but Jake looked more powerful physically, even though it was doubtful he could best an immortal like Daire. She knew from observation that Jake would never back away from a challenge and would not go down easily.

  Images of Jake thrusting inside her, his hard, naked body melded with hers, made her knees weak.

  The tingle of her magic sharpened right before she felt it shoot away from her.

  A tree branch cracked, its loud snap echoing through the forest. Bless it. She had to gain control over her magic or the Dryads would be coming after her for damaging their trees.

  Cassia looked in the direction Daire had been walking. Her cheeks burned and she brought her fingers to her mouth. No male could have been picked who could be more appealing to her among the Elves than Daire.

  But only one man filled her thoughts now. Jake. She had always been drawn to him, even though she had kept an emotional and physical distance as she had with all males.

  It had become such an automatic thing—to separate herself from men, as she was forbidden to be intimate with one.

  But now she felt a sense of freedom she’d never experienced before. She could lie with as many men as she chose to.

  The idea held merit.

  But not truth. She wouldn’t choose to have sex with just any man.

  Likely, Daire would lay claim to her and she would be expected to take him as a mate. She shook her head. He might be the one to take her through her transition, but that didn’t mean he could claim her or her heart.

  Cassia’s belly churned as she stood upon a dais in her chambers, surrounded by handmaidens preparing her for the ceremony. She felt so light-headed she was certain she was going to pass out.

  Where was the calmness, the centeredness that had been a part of her for so long that she couldn’t begin to think of losing control?

  Peaceful. Serene. The calm in the center of a storm. That was what she was known to be by the members of her Coven and the Alliance.

  Or rather what she was thought to be.

  Right now she was the storm, far from being calm. As if to prove the point, a burst of gold magic shot from her fingers. A vase across her bedroom exploded.

  Two handmaidens close to the vase squealed in surprise. Pottery crashed to the floor and flower stems and blooms scattered across the polished wood.

  “My apologies,” Cassia said, feeling a little sheepish and frustrated at the same time, tension making her shoulders ache. She couldn’t let her growing magic get out of control like that again.

  She had just finished bathing in an orchid-scented bath, followed by the royal handmaidens rubbing rich oils of the same scent onto her skin.

  Kael sat on his haunches off to the side, watching with what appeared to be a wolflike frown. “Why can I not accompany you after your ascension ceremony?” he said in her mind.

  Cassia’s cheeks heated as she thought about what was to happen after the ceremony and she bit her lower lip. “Daire and I will leave…alone.”

  Kael gave a low growl and another one of the handmaidens jumped.

  Mistress Jaya glared at Kael. “Why you allow that beast to follow you around is quite beyond my understanding.”

  Kael gave a mental growl that only Cassia could hear.

  Elves, Light or Dark, did not have familiars. The Elves thought of Kael as a trained protector, like humans had guard dogs.

  No one was aware that Kael was actually a familiar that Cassia could communicate with via her thoughts, nor did they realize he had strong magic of his own.

  When Cassiandra was born, Kael came to Cassia’s mother and communicated via mind-speak that he was to be the princess’s familiar.

  Her mother was the only other being who could communicate with Kael telepathically—when Kael chose to do so. Cassia’s mother had accepted Kael as she did all things she believed to be preordained—as if she had expected him. And she probably had.

  The handmaidens continued to fuss with her dre
ss and clucked their tongues in disapproval when she shifted on the dais she stood upon.

  “Jaya, please stop calling him a beast.” Cassia looked into the Elder’s dark blue eyes. “He is my friend.”

  Kael gave a sound of approval in Cassia’s mind and looked somewhat appeased.

  Cassia’s hands trembled as she smoothed her palms down the fine material of her filmy white gown. When touched, the highly prized fabric felt like rippling water beneath her fingertips.

  “Princess Cassiandra—be still, please.” One of the royal hairdressers patted Cassia’s hair before weaving in more strands of rare aquamarine diamonds the same shade as Cassia’s eyes.

  Her throat tightened and her skin tingled. She had been waiting centuries for this day. How could she be nervous?

  Well, for one, she had no idea what she was about to face. The Great Guardian performed an ascension ceremony only once every thousand years, and the whole thing was far too secretive for Cassia’s tastes.

  Not to mention she was the Great Guardian’s only daughter. The Guardian had borne all males until Cassia, four hundred and twenty-five years ago.

  With her usual cryptic responses and mysterious air, the Great Guardian hadn’t filled Cassia in on every detail. She hadn’t explained why it was so important to complete Cassia’s transition with a male of worth as soon as possible.

  Among the Light Elves, descendants of the Great Guardian, the most powerful of their kind, were not allowed to reach their full potential until they reached four centuries and twenty-five years of age. Like her brothers before her, as she waited, Cassia had been placed in an Otherworld to guide and serve where and when needed—where Halfling Elvin children lived.

  In her case, she had been sent to the Earth Otherworld, where she served the D’Anu witches, descendants of the Ancient Druids—four hundred years today.

  She had traveled from one Coven on Earth to the next, as the witches aged and she did not. She had assumed the identity of a bumbling apprentice witch in most cases.

  When the Guardian visioned that Cassia was to go to the San Francisco Otherworld, to serve yet another Coven, Cassia had again taken on the identity meant to keep attention from her.

  In the San Francisco Coven, however, she had revealed a part of herself too soon—that she was more than she appeared to be. But she was nearly at her age of ascension, and some of the changes in her could no longer be disguised anyway.

  Just thinking about her friends in the Alliance made Cassia realize how badly she needed to get back to the San Francisco Otherworld and aid in whatever manner she could. Once her ascension was complete, she would be able to assist them in ways no one would have anticipated.

  Cassia felt more bonded with her current Coven sisters and the Alliance than any other group of people she had served. The fighters in the Alliance were incredibly fierce, and they faced such overwhelming odds.

  Dear Anu, what are they dealing with at this very moment?

  I can’t help them right now, so it does no good to worry. She raised her chin. Tomorrow or the next day I will return.

  Cassia sucked in a deep breath as another royal assistant tugged and arranged the fabric so that it draped perfectly from the aquamarine diamond broach on Cassia’s right shoulder and across her breasts.

  The material then dropped to reveal her left shoulder, the curve of her breast, and down to her waist until the white fabric reached another large aquamarine diamond pendant.

  The material would part along her left leg when she walked, baring it to her hip, and her back was not covered.

  The cool breeze sifted through the trees outside the palace window and brushed her bared skin. She shivered more from the fact that she was nervous than the chill.

  Soon she would be in front of a group of Elders, royalty, and others held in high regard among the Light Elves. It was a rare, sacred ceremony that few were allowed to attend.

  Cassia almost groaned aloud at the thought of so many people being at her ceremony. Her cheeks heated like they had earlier when Daire had almost kissed her.

  She had to squeeze her eyes shut when an image of Jake replaced Daire’s face. She forced both images away before opening her eyes again.

  What would they call it on Earth? A crush? No that was too juvenile. Perhaps an infatuation? All she knew was that she desired Jake so much she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

  Don’t want for what you can’t have, Cassia.

  Concentrate on the ceremony.

  Accept that Daire will take you through your transition and likely be your life mate.

  Cassia had not yet been born when her brother Nik’s ceremony took place a millennium ago. Of Cassia’s siblings, Nik was closest in age.

  Considering the Guardian had been alive countless millennia, even bearing one child every thousand years, she had many sons. Nik was the only brother she was remotely close to, and even then she barely knew him.

  Of course, double standards applied even in Otherworld, and her brothers had not had to remain virgins before their ceremonies.

  Another zap of magic almost escaped her. She had always hated the fact that men were not kept to the same rules as women. And being the only female descendant of the Great Guardian, those around her had been even more protective and watchful.

  “It is time.” Kellyn, a red-haired Elvin maiden who was Cassia’s dearest friend, took Cassia’s hand and helped her down the steps from the short dais.

  Kael moved to Cassia’s other side, and she stroked his pure white fur. Kellyn gave a deep nod before leading Cassia through the palace in the trees, Kael remaining at Cassia’s side.

  The polished wood was smooth and familiar beneath Cassia’s bare feet as she walked beside her friend. Neither spoke, and even Kael was quiet in her mind. It was as if they both knew Cassia couldn’t find words to say anything at all at the moment.

  Cassia’s skin tingled as a sense of the surreal made her feel as if she were outside her body, watching as she passed high arched windows with vines and flowers twisting through them.

  They entered a great room with several Elvin women prepared to guide Cassia through her ascension. She had the strong urge to turn and run as her chest and belly squirmed.

  Instead, she continued, her head raised high. She was the daughter of the most powerful being in the Elvin world, and she would present herself as such.

  The Elvin females drifted to stand on either side of Cassia, their blue robes swirling around their bare feet. Kael refused to budge from Cassia’s side.

  The deafening silence made Cassia want to shout to break it. She reached deep for her calming center and held onto all the peace within that she had spent centuries cultivating.

  But the wild strength of her growing magic was becoming harder to contain, and she had to fight to make it behave.

  When four women lined up—two to either side of Cassia—they took a step back so that Cassia and Kael would lead them. Kellyn bowed to Cassia before slipping away and leaving her alone at the head of her attendants.

  Despite herself, Cassia trembled as she walked slowly from the great room, through the archway, and into the gentle sunlight.

  She stopped at the top of the many stairs leading from the palace to a courtyard. Stretched out in front of her was what seemed like a vast number of Elvin faces, but there were probably fifty at most.

  The orchid and grass-scented breeze tugged at the material of her gown, pushing it aside at the slit and baring her leg to her thigh.

  A slow murmur rolled through the crowd when she appeared and she swallowed hard.

  Cassia kept her chin raised, but Daire caught her eye as he stood at the base of the steps. He was glorious, handsome beyond belief, in a robe as green as his eyes, his white-blond hair gleaming in the sunlight.

  “Kael, you must go now,’’ she said in her thoughts as she glanced down at the wolf.

  Kael gave the slightest of nods, then silently padded down the steps and moved to the side of the crowd. />
  Complete silence filled the courtyard beneath the tree palace. Cassia’s heart tripped as if it had tumbled down the expanse of stairs before her. She felt the Great Guardian’s presence and caught her pure wildflower scent the moment her mother appeared.

  Cassia tried to still her trembling as she turned to her right and faced her mother. She was so beautiful it almost hurt to look upon her. Her hair, even blonder than Daire’s, tumbled to her feet, and her white gown flowed like liquid down her body.

  She had known countless millennia, yet her appearance was youthful, flawless. But her blue eyes—her eyes showed wisdom that Cassia couldn’t begin to fathom—wisdom born of time immemorial.

  The Guardian’s presence was awesome, even to Cassia. She knelt and lowered her head, as did every other Elvin man and woman who surrounded them.

  “Rise, my daughter.” The Guardian’s voice rang clear and true. “Today is for you.”

  When Cassia straightened and looked into her mother’s eyes, the Guardian smiled, sending joy to Cassia’s very core.

  “All, rise,” the Great Guardian said, and Cassia was aware of everyone obeying without hesitation.

  The Guardian was known by no other name, except “Mother” to her biological children. Cassia often wondered if the Guardian had ever had another name.

  When the Guardian reached for Cassia’s shoulders, Cassia started to shake so hard she was afraid her knees would give out. But when her mother’s hands rested on her upper arms, calm and peace flooded Cassia’s being.

  Cassia stopped trembling and her belly no longer clenched. The magic that had been pinging wildly inside her slowed and she contained it with ease.

  “It is time for you to receive your birthright.” The Guardian’s voice softened and she spoke so low that only Cassia could hear. “You will feel great pain, pain beyond anything you have known.”

  Cassia’s eyes widened and a knot formed in her belly. She hadn’t known about the pain part. The ceremony was so Anu-blessed buried in mystery. And it was probably different for her than it had been for her brothers.