Prince of Flight

by Mandy M. Roth

  Lark took her time cleaning up the back room, enjoying being near Keonae and his friends. She hadn’t been able to have anyone close to her for long, so friends weren’t an option for her and she had no family left to speak of. She filled her tray full of empty bottles, and Keonae turned and tried to take it from her.

  “I’ve got it,” she said.

  He scowled. “I dislike how hard you have to work.”

  Sachin approached, pool stick in hand, the men having started another game at some point. “Hmm, if only a prince would come along and sweep her off her feet.”

  Keonae lifted a middle finger and held it up, never moving from her side.

  “I have a wife who does that for me,” said Sachin. “She is far better looking than you, old friend.”

  Lark laughed. “Keon, let him be. I’m not into princes and fairy tales anyway. I’m more based in reality. You know, where you’re hard-pressed to get a guy to phone you back come the next morning.”

  Sachin paused. “I suspect you will have no issues getting him to return your calls.”

  Lazar stepped closer. “The problem may be getting him to leave you alone.”

  Rossi snorted.

  Keonae groaned. “See why I rarely allow them around people?”

  She winked. “I think they’re great.”

  “The more you get to know them, the more your attitude will change. They are like boils on the asses of all around them.”

  She broke into a fit of laughter and pressed tighter to him. She knew he had a funny side. He’d shown it to her on occasion. It was rare but there. “Boils on the butts, huh?”

  “Most certainly.”

  His brother shook his head. “Keeping it sophisticated, I see.”

  Keonae flipped him off as well.

  Lark hadn’t felt this happy, this light and free from her worries, in years. She twisted against Keonae, unable to hide her joy any longer. She wrapped her arms around his neck and went to her tiptoes, her lips meeting his. The kiss wasn’t chaste but remained this side of too dirty. That didn’t stop need from slamming into her. She wanted him fiercely.

  She drew back, her gaze moving over a shocked Keonae. She touched his lower lip. “I have a few things left to do to help close up and then we can blow this Popsicle stand.”

  His brows met. “They sell frozen treats on a stick here? It seems an odd choice for such an establishment.”

  She paused and then laughed at his odd sense of humor. “Sometimes I’d swear you were born on another planet.”

  “No. Not another planet.” His expression turned guarded as he caressed her cheek. “Hurry with whatever you must do.”

  “I will.” She darted away, knowing if she didn’t make a clean break from him right then and there, she might never. Her common sense told her to keep going, run right out the front door of the bar and don’t look back. That she’d bring a mountain of trouble to him—the kind he wouldn’t walk away from, no matter what kind of badass biker dude he was.

  The things of nightmares sought her out. They weren’t human. They didn’t leave witnesses, and they were ruthless. She’d managed to dodge them for the past few months, staying on the move, but deep down she got the sense they were close on her heels. And she knew if she dared to stay on much longer, she’d fall for Keonae and might never leave.

  You’ve already fallen for him.

  She tried to make a move for the door, but her gut clenched, heat racing over her as nausea rose quickly. Her entire body racked with pain and she whimpered, unsure what was happening to her.

  Warm, strong arms wrapped around her waist, drawing her back against a frame she had already come to recognize as Keonae’s. The pain, the wave of sickness, all of it washed away from her almost instantaneously with his touch.

  He put his mouth to her ear. “Who threatened you?”

  “W-what?” she questioned, her mind unable to follow as her body sparked with desire for him. She might burn alive if he didn’t make love to her and soon.

  “I felt your fear, your pain,” he said, his voice low, deep, menacing, yet she didn’t fear him. He’d never harm her. She knew that deep in her bones. Another sure fact hit her—he would have her and she would never be the same. Neither would he.

  She was a mess he didn’t need. The darkness that followed her around would catch up to her. It always did, and Keonae would be in its crosshairs. She didn’t want that.

  Didn’t want him hurt. Not because she couldn’t control the magnetic pull to him. She couldn’t seem to get one foot to move in front of the other so that she could step out of his grasp. He felt so good. So right.

  Running her hands over his arms, Lark closed her eyes briefly, enjoying his touch. She couldn’t remember a time when she’d allowed another to comfort her in such a way. “No one threatened me.”

  “But I felt your pain.”

  Felt my pain?

  She turned her head, looking over her shoulder at him, and he eased a hand up, just under her left breast. Her nipples tightened to diamond-like points and she shook with wanton desire for him. She’d managed to control her attraction to him for nearly a month. Why was she suddenly having issues?

  Stop touching him.

  Hell, stop being touched by him.

  Her body ignored her mind’s ravings. It wanted him to touch her more intimately and it wanted less clothing between them. She writhed against his form, the feel of his erection digging at her backside. A growl of masculine triumph came from him and she bent her head awkwardly, unconcerned with how uncomfortable the action was.

  His lips grazed hers and fire shot through her body, giving her the answers she’d sought. The reason why she was having such a hard time resisting him all of a sudden. As her gaze eased over his lips, it all became crystal clear. They’d kissed and it had apparently weakened her resolve to him. For some reason, the action had left her a mind-numbed sex addict with a singular focus.

  Him.

  “Keonae?” asked Sachin, his voice off. “Is all well?”

  Keonae jerked her tighter against his frame. “She is trying to make me believe so, yet I felt her pain, old friend. I felt her fear as if it were my own.”

  Lark tried to focus on what he was saying, but she couldn’t, not with him touching her. Stirrings of lust guided her actions as she continued to rub her body against his. It was animalistic and she couldn’t find it in herself to care. She laid her head back against him, noticing how perfectly they fit together. It was as if they were made for one another.

  He jerked her tight to him, his hips thrusting against her backside, leaving no room for doubt. He was as turned on as she was. And nothing on the man was small by anyone’s standards.

  She gulped.

  He growled again, nipping at her ear. “I want to be in you, ta’konima.”

  The men all sounded shocked by whatever Keonae had just said to her. She was too caught up in the lust to pay it much mind.

  “Oh shit,” said Rossi, his voice barely there. “This is big. What do we do?”

  “For now, assure he does not do anything foolish,” said Lazar. “He is still being driven by testosterone from the human boys threatening her. In this state, he could cause her harm without meaning to.”

  “I vote you grab him,” said Rossi, a note of concern in his voice. “I like my body parts attached.”

  “Ever the brave one,” said Lazar mockingly.

  Sachin stepped closer and Lark became vaguely aware that Lazar and Rossi were on the other side, as if they were all flanking Keonae, preparing to do battle of some sort.

  Sachin lifted his hands. “Keonae, look at me. I believe mating heat as well as warrior ways of old have you in their grasp.”

  “This is not good,” said Rossi, clucking his tongue. “Not good at all.”

  “Give her to me slowly,” pressed Sachin, his hands up. “We only wish to see to her safety.”

  Keonae growled and she understood the warning he was giving his friends. If they tr
ied to take her from him, he’d react with violence. He’d already shown her there was far more to him than she’d thought. Her mild-mannered biker had a temper and the juice to back it up. There had been enough violence already. No more needed to occur. Not over her.

  She turned in his arms, his hand twisting her t-shirt as she went. She touched the sides of his face. “Keonae?”

  He trembled under her touch. “Who threatened you, ta’konima?”

  “Ta whata?” she questioned, unable to look away from his penetrating gaze.

  “I stand by my first oh shit,” said Rossi.

  “Now who sounds local?” asked Sachin.

  Rossi grunted. “Is she his?”

  Lazar stepped closer, lifting his hands in a sign he meant no harm. “I would say so, yes.”

  Keonae squeezed her tighter to him.

  She gasped. He was hurting her, but he shouldn’t have been able to. She wasn’t like other women. No. Far from it. “Stop coming closer. You’re making him worse.”

  The men froze.

  “Keonae, you’re hurting me.”

  His grip was iron-clad. She tried to pry free, but that only served to make him tighten his already tight grip.

  “Ouch.”

  His gaze snapped to her and he blinked, coming out of whatever hold he’d been under. He released her quickly and took a step back. “Lark, I didn’t mean to.”

  She remained in place, watching him closer, a sinking feeling coming over her. He shouldn’t have been able to keep her in place. He shouldn’t have been able to inflict pain on her. Yet he’d done both with ease. The only people in her life who could do something similar weren’t really people at all. They were monsters. “How did you hurt me?”

  Puzzled, he simply stared at her. “I held you too tightly.”

  “That isn’t what I meant,” she said, easing closer to him. She looked him up and down, noting his size, how incredibly fit he was—how fit they all were. It was there, niggling at the back of her mind, so close yet just out of reach for her.

  Think, Lark.

  All of her instincts kicked in and the hair on the back of her neck rose as she began to put the pieces together at an alarming rate where she’d been blind to them before. She wasn’t a fool. She knew there was more to the world than most humans understood. She knew very little was as it normally appeared to be, yet she’d had blinders on with Keonae for weeks. She’d let her pull to him outweigh her better judgment.

  His inhuman strength, their accents, their ability to drink in such quantities without seeming affected in the least, and their sometimes strange speech patterns. Not to mention their size.

  Giants.

  How could she have missed it all when her life depended on her being alert? She’d never missed signs before. She always recognized the demons that hunted her.

  Always.

  But not with him.

  Not with Keonae.

  “I know what you did. What I don’t understand is how you could hurt me. How did you have enough strength to cause me pain, Keonae? What are you? Are you something more than human?” she asked, desperate for him to dispel what she was fast beginning to believe was true.

  He was one of them.

  The bird men.

  He shook his head. “I do not understand.”

  Lazar sniffed the air and gasped. “Smell. It is so faint it almost isn’t there.”

  Sachin took a deep breath and his gaze snapped to her. “You are as we are? You are of the bird shifters?”

  Lark’s heart sank and she took a giant step back from them. She was an idiot and her stupidity would cost her life in the end. “I’m nothing like any of you.”

  She turned to run, but Keonae caught her, lifting her effortlessly, holding her to him. “Let go of me!”

  “Lark?” he asked, sounding hurt and perplexed.

  She didn’t struggle, even though she knew she could put up a good fight. She’d done so many times in her life with the birdmen. How had she let him get so close to her? Why hadn’t she noticed he was different? More to the point, why wasn’t she terrified of him?

  Why do I want him to fuck me?

  Sachin eased closer slowly. “Old friend, she is as we are. Do you smell it on her? It is so faint I would have missed it had Lazar not caught it.”

  Rossi gasped. “Cursed Magaious, she’s a shifter?”

  “Yes, bring down the wrath of the bird gods upon us for taking their names in vain,” snapped Sachin. “That is sure to make it all better.”

  “What? I slept on a hard stone floor, have had nearly no sleep, and my wife may or may not let me in our bed again because I impregnated her. To top off my day, I find out my brother’s woman is a bird shifter masquerading as a human.”

  Keonae lifted her high off her feet. “She is no such thing. Stand back.”

  Sachin remained in place. He did his best to appear as though he was no threat. “We mean her no harm, Keonae. She is afraid of us. Do you sense that upon her?

  “She was hurt and in pain,” he said, sounding bewildered. His pain reached through her, as if it were hers, as he’d described happening to him on her account only moments before.

  It broke her heart. He was no threat to her. She understood that. She lowered her head and confessed to him. “I was thinking of running away. Of taking off and leaving without telling you goodbye. The idea of leaving you hurt me, Keon. It made my body ache. You felt that. My fear of leaving you.”

  He tightened his hold on her and she whimpered. He released her and she faced him, seeing the hurt evident on his face. “You wished to run from me?”

  “Maybe. I don’t know,” she said honestly. Her thoughts were scrambled. “I can’t help the way I feel about you, and all of this was so intense all of a sudden. Then I started to worry about them finding me again and what they’d do to you.” She snorted. “I didn’t know you were one of them. You don’t smell like them to me, so I didn’t recognize it on you—and I think the little bits I did see, I chose to ignore because I’m attracted to you. I’ve never been attracted to one before. Ever. Normally, they make me want to vomit. They smell of death, evil, rotting flesh. They’re monsters.”

  He just watched her, saying nothing, the pain still showing.

  “What others?” asked Sachin.

  “Perhaps my kind,” said Lazar. “The falcons have been known to be viewed as monsters.”

  She glanced at him. “No. You smell sweet to me. Almost too sweet, but sweet all the same. Well, not Keon. He doesn’t smell sickly sweet to me. He smells perfect. They don’t smell sweet at all. They smell like road kill. I’m not great with scents like they are. It takes me longer to smell things.”

  “I know not what roadkill is,” said Sachin.

  Rossi gasped. “She’s talking about vultures. Lucy made the same comment when I came home after looking into a recent attack. I had engaged with a vulture, getting his blood on me, and upon my arrival home, Lucy said I smelled like roadkill to her.”

  All the men stepped closer to her, and Keonae didn’t look like he was planning to attack them. He still looked hurt by her confession she’d been thinking of leaving him.

  “Keonae, I thought about going, about taking off, but the minute I took one step toward that door with the intent of vanishing, everything on me hurt, and I thought I was going to be sick. You touched me then and it all went away.”

  Sachin rubbed his chin. “Your pull to him is great?”

  She nodded.

  “As is his to you,” said Sachin, still worrying his jawline.

  “True mates?” asked Lazar, sounding concerned.

  Rossi nodded. “I’d wager yes. We could also consult the Oracle. Though, I have my suspicions it enjoys toying with us all.”

  She shook her head. “What are you all talking about?”

  Sachin offered a reassuring look. “We believe you may be created for Keonae. His match in every way. The woman he is destined to be with. The woman he will sire children with.”r />
  Chapter Seven

  Keonae looked upon Lark, the need to wrap his arms around her and spank her at war within him. How dare she think to run out on him! Did she not understand the pull he had to her? The craving he could not seem to sate?

  He glanced to Sachin, thinking on what he’d said. Keonae’s eyes widened. He took a giant step back. “She cannot be.”

  Sachin grinned. “We all suffer the same reaction, old friend. Denial simply wastes time you could be spent loving her. Would you rather not be in bed, filling her with your young ones?”

  “You would be an expert on denying your feelings for your mate,” said Rossi. “And on little ones. You have how many now?”

  Sachin offered a cross look.

  Rossi laughed. “Hey, I’m not wrong.”

  No. He wasn’t. Sachin had denied his feelings for his mate far longer than Keonae. None of that changed the fact that Lark could not be his mate.

  “She is not my mate.”

  Lark crossed her arms over her chest and lifted a brow. There was no mistaking the clear offense she’d taken at his comments. “I may not understand everything going on here, but I have a feeling a true mate is someone special. Are you saying I’m not special?”

  Rossi snorted. “Talk yourself out of this one, brother.”

  Keonae touched his scarred face. “She is stunning. She is a ray of light. She is good and pure. I am hideous. A monster with the taint of wars and death upon me. The bird gods would not shackle her to someone such as me. They would give her a man of honor, of means, of character.”

  Sachin rolled his eyes. “So you are saying they would gift her a man who at great cost to himself fought to protect his kingdom, who is a prince by birth, wealthy beyond measure yet lives like he is poor, and a man who would lay down his life for those he loves?”

  “Yes,” said Keonae, reflecting. “That. They would give her that in a mate.”

  “He is describing you,” Lazar said.

  Keonae took another step back. “She is so beautiful. To be selected as my true mate and to get me—a hideous monster. I’m a beast and she’s a beauty.”