by Runaway Fae
When he would have turned away to continue his search for a convenient person to do exactly what the mugger was doing, he stopped. This was a defenseless old woman, and his former self would have been concerned. He realized the effect that the evil inside was having and decided to use this as his first test in deliberately fighting against what felt natural.
Liam lifted his hand toward the man, thought better of it and walked over. He grabbed the mugger by the collar and slung him against a wall. Unaware of how rough he was being, he pummeled the man until the old woman grabbed his arm, begging him to stop. Liam blinked, coming out of his single-minded attack. He turned, saw the old woman’s purse on the ground and picked it up. She held out her hand with a tremble of “thanks” on her lips. Liam tucked the purse in his trench coat, and pivoted to head back up the alley.
He was nearly back at the motel when it occurred to him that he had behaved worse than the mugger had. The evil had greater control than he realized, that even when he didn’t use his magic, he behaved like a Darkling. If he returned to the room holding an elderly woman’s purse, Shauna would be all over him. With a sigh, he turned back. When he found the old woman speaking with a policeman and the would-be mugger on a stretcher, Liam tossed the purse out toward them before, cloaking himself in the shadows so that he was invisible to the humans.
A paramedic strode by and Liam reached out a hand, allowed it to materialize and lifted the man’s wallet. He flipped it open, found just enough cash for he and Shauna to get to their next stop as well as eat, and tossed the wallet to the ground.
He trudged back along the street toward the motel where Shauna was waiting. Tonight had not been a victory. While he had deliberately stood against evil, he had created it also by what he had done to the mugger. It was beginning to look like he would never overcome. Possibly the best thing for him to do was to secure Shauna in a safe place and then go away. At least then he couldn’t hurt her any more than he had.
As he strode, he became aware of someone following him. His heightened senses didn’t so much as hear a sound, but felt someone nearby. He stopped, turned and without a thought stretched out his arm. Pulled from the shadows of invisibility, the Darkling flew through the air as if it was magnetic and he was a giant magnet.
Liam pulled the creature toward him, with fingers wrapped around its throat. “Why are you following me?”
“Master, please. Don’t kill me,” it sniveled.
“Don’t call me master. What do you want?”
“I was voted to find you, master. Now that Darcy is dead, we don’t have a leader. We need to know if we should retaliate on the Fae attack. Shamus has betrayed us, and we can’t let that go.”
Liam sneered. “And why should I be your new leader? I’m not a Darkling.”
“Be serious, master. What should we do?”
Liam shook it, finding satisfaction in its disorientation. “I said, I am not your master. I am not a Darkling. You need to fight it out amongst yourselves, because I’m not leading you!” He paused, thinking. “How did you find me?”
It shrugged, as if it were a matter of common sense. “I tracked your magic signature, of course.”
Damn! If it was as easy for this simpleton to track him, it must be of little effort for the Fae to do so. He needed to get back to the motel. He tossed away the creature and turned on his heel to hurry back.
The Darkling called out behind him, “Master, I smell the sweet scent of Fae. They’re cooooommmming!” Its laugh was mocking. So much for him being its new leader. The respect was sorely lacking. Liam considered turning back and ending its life, but he had to get to Shauna before her cousin did.
“Forget it,” he growled. With Shauna in his mind, he moved into a vortex and a second later, he appeared in the room with her. He got the shock of his life. Shauna was fresh from a shower, and did she ever look good enough to eat.
Shauna looked up at him and screamed, clutching the towel wrapped around her incredibly sexy body. “Liam, you scared me! I thought we weren’t using magic. You’ll get us caught.”
His gaze didn’t waver beyond the swell of her creamy breasts peaking out above the towel or the long legs bared beneath it. He tilted his head in wonder and the towel was snatched from her fingers to land against the far wall.
“Liam!”
When he didn’t respond, she lifted her chin, gave him a sassy grin and put her hands down to her sides. Liam took in the full naked length of the woman he’d been wanting in his bed for years. He closed the gap between them to place a hand on one of her breasts. With the pad of his thumb, he plucked at one taut nipple, feeling himself go hard. They would taste good in his mouth, he guessed. But the memory of what the Darkling had said came flooding back to dash cold water on his desires.
He stepped back and waved a hand so that she was fully dressed. “We must go now, Shauna. The Fae are near.”
She gasped but didn’t argue. The little they had to their names was gathered and soon they were out on the road again, neither knowing their next destination.
* * * *
Shauna flopped on the bed and kicked off her shoes. “I can’t believe we found Joe. I mean, in all the places we could have stopped, to come to his diner. What are the odds?”
Liam frowned. Shauna already knew her protector was jealous. And just because Joe happened to be one of the hottest men she’d ever seen—well, apart from Liam, of course. Still, somehow she enjoyed getting a little of her own back when Joe had immediately begun flirting with her. She didn’t flirt back though. There was no sense in setting Liam off.
He grunted, “Who ever heard of a Fae named Joe?”
She giggled, feeling relief for the first time in days. Hitchhiking, hiking across paved and unpaved roads, meeting all types of people. Some kind, some not. She had begun to see just what a privileged life a princess led. The human world was not all it had been trumped up to be in her bedtime stories as a child.
“He’s lying low, grumpy. Just like we are. Whatever crime he committed to run away from Faeland means he can’t use his magic any more than we can.”
Liam sat at a desk rummaging through the backpack he had picked up in their recent travels. “That’s another thing. What crime did he commit, and why doesn’t he tell us?”
Shauna yawned, standing to head for the shower. “Same reason we didn’t tell him why we’re running. Be happy for once, Liam. Joe owns that diner and he bought our lie that you are an elf. We now have jobs to support ourselves.”
“What’s fortunate is that Joe is too much of an idiot to know that elves are no more blue than Fae are.”
Shauna rolled her eyes and continued into the bathroom. As she stepped beneath the soothing jet of warm water, she couldn’t help but be reminded of the time in their first motel when Liam had used his powers to remove her towel. She had never been so turned on in her life, and had they not had to flee that city, she would have given herself freely to him. Now, she hesitated, had done so every night since then when he looked at her with the suggestion in his eyes.
Liam was not the only one questioning their future together, as she was sure he was doing. As they had stood on the side of the road, waiting for anyone who was brave enough to pick up a hooded man of six foot-five inches and a woman, Liam had practiced what he said and was pushing down his evil magic with little to no success. He believed there was still some Fae magic inside him. With his dark skin and the red and black twined magic she had viewed from the day she first saw him alive after believing him dead, she had to doubt of its existence. Liam’s spells were always with dark magic. His eyes were always black, and he frequently looked angry, like he was battling losing control twenty-four hours a day. How could she believe they could have a future together?
Once she had insisted only on friendship with him, and now she ached for so much more. How she loved him, wanted desperately to give her virginity to him. A princess—especially a Fae princess—always kept herself for her husband. If Liam was not
destined to be her husband, then what did she have? A life of loneliness or perhaps an affair or a few. If she was no longer going to live the life of a Fae, why keep the traditions?
“Then again,” she wondered aloud as she soaped her flat belly, “if I am going to take a lover, why not let it be Liam.” Or is that wise? Ugh! She was frustrated with her indecisiveness, but couldn’t force herself to settle on a decision.
“Maybe I can help you decide.”
She screamed and touched a hand to her head in fear. Someone was speaking in her mind. And then she realized she had heard Liam’s voice. Leaving the water running, she stepped out of the shower covered in soap and grabbed a robe. Barely finished knotting it, she stomped back out to the room. Liam sat on the side of the bed looking guilty.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Liam?” she demanded, hands on her hips and water dripping into her eyes.
He held up his hands as the black was seeping out of his eyes. The evidence was clear that he had been using his power. “I’m sorry, Shauna. I heard the shower and was imagining you in there, wondering what you were thinking. Before I knew it, I was inside your head. I was as shocked as you are that I was able to actually speak inside your head and that you heard me.”
“You’re going to blow our cover! I don’t want to move again.” She was surprised by a small sob and covered her mouth.
Liam crossed to pull her into his arms. “Baby, I’m so sorry.”
She lay her head against his shoulder, never in her imaginings of leaving Faeland did she think she would miss it so much, or her people, especially her mother. Every day, she longed to open a portal to step through even if it was just a moment to let her know she was okay.
“You can’t do that,” Liam whispered.
“Stop, Liam. Please.”
He sighed, and it sounded like despair. “The harder I try to suppress it, the more powerful it gets. I was never able to speak in another’s mind. And there are other things I can do.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t want to think of it now. Let’s just pretend for a minute that everything is normal, that I’m not losing myself to darkness, and that you know what you truly want.”
“Easier said than done.” She slid her hands up to hook behind his neck, while Liam unknotted her robe. She allowed him to pull her naked body against his hard length. “Not yet, Liam.”
“You’re killing me, Shauna.”
“I’m sorry. Soon, I promise. Soon.”
Chapter Nine
Liam in the kitchen grilling burgers was a sight to behold. It was also not conducive to controlling his magic. Each time he burned himself, he used his mind to thump the stove or toss a pot against the wall. Shauna was also finding it difficult to juggle waiting tables and rushing to the kitchen to calm her companion. She figured Joe was beginning to question the wisdom of hiring the two of them.
“Liam, you have got to calm down and stop using your magic. You’re going to bring the Fae down on us,” Shauna scolded, hand on an apron-covered hip.
The black in Liam’s eyes did not lessen. “Tell that to this stove. I was not trained to cook, Shauna, and I’m tired of being burned.”
She moved to his side and took one large hand in her own. She kissed the roughened skin of his palm, feeling the tremor that rocked his body. “Try harder. For me?”
He nodded, but his gaze had moved to the gap in her uniform, which revealed her cleavage. Shauna, in the mood to tease him, ran a hand along the collar of the dress, her head tilted to the side. His eyes were black onyxes when he pulled her up against him. Shauna gasped at the hardness pressed between her legs as Liam molded her against him. Her feet hung in the air, but not for long. She wrapped her legs around his waist, craving so much more. She knew she shouldn’t tease him, but Liam angry, and with eyes like his was so hot.
His mouth came down on hers and they kissed slowly, tenderly, each drinking in the passion of the other. Feeling bold, Shauna pulled back and began kissing along Liam’s face until she reached his ear. She ran the tip of her tongue along the pointed edge, sending quivers of delight through her own body and feeling Liam’s reaction.
“Shauna. Baby ....”
“I know.” She looked up at him, stroking his cheek. “I want you so much, I could strip naked right here. But then you knew that didn’t you?”
“I’m not reading your mind, if that’s what you mean.” She saw that the tension had ebbed from his brow, neck and shoulders. At least rubbing against each other and kissing had calmed him. But this couldn’t be a habit or she’d lose her mind. Liam’s eyebrow raised in suggestion. “So, wanna go back to our cheesy motel room?”
She giggled, but before she could answer Joe barged in. “Are you two working or having sex on my stove?”
Shauna dropped her legs from Liam’s waist and tried to get down. He held her in place. “We’re making love, and you’re interrupting us.”
The two men began arguing back and forth. Shauna had no idea why Joe put up with Liam since obviously neither of them could stand the other. She dropped to her feet and ducked beneath the men to head out to the restaurant. As she poured a customer’s refill of coffee with one hand and wiped the counter off with another, the jingle of the bell above the door caught her attention.
A man so tall he had to turn his head to miss hitting it on the doorjamb and so broad-shouldered he needed to twist sideways to enter, stepped inside the diner and scanned the patrons. Shauna sniffed the air. The unmistakable scent of a goblin permeated her breathing space, and nervousness crept down her back. She knew there was no danger the goblin was working with the Fae in tracking her and Liam, but what could he want? Goblins were money-hungry. The expression “he would sell his own mother for a nickel” had started with them and crossed over to other peoples in various worlds.
She swung away to place the coffeepot back on its burner, and spotted a pair of thick glasses on the shelf beneath the counter. She slipped them on. If an inter-dimensional alert had gone out for the capture of Liam and herself, along with a reward, she wouldn’t put it past the goblin to try to collect. Better that he not recognize her. As an added measure, she pretended to scratch her head, but instead tugged a few more locks of hair down over her face. She had pinned it up as required for the job, but allowed it to hang loose to cover the tops of her ears.
When Shauna was sure she was properly covered, she turned back to face the door. The goblin was inches from her nose. She prayed the other saying was true. Goblins’ sense of smell was almost nil. He wouldn’t pick up on a Faerie’s sweet scent.
“May I help you, sir?” she asked with a dismal half-smile.
The goblin grunted, “No, you may not! Where’s Joe?”
Shauna rolled her eyes, wanting nothing more than to fry this creature where he stood with a bolt of lightening. He had better be glad she was in hiding because if there was one creature the Fae hated other than the Darklings, it was goblins. Where the Fae were generous and giving creatures, caring for nature and the world around them, the goblin would just as soon smash a flower or a child under its great smelly feet.
The goblin was in disguise, appearing like a human. Their skin was naturally a sickly green with large eyes and saggy skin. Since it didn’t use magic to disguise his features, she assumed it wasn’t in hiding, but it was up to no good, something to do with money, she didn’t doubt.
Joe stepped up behind her, lightly touching her arms. “I’ll take care of it, Shauna. Thanks.” Unless she was mistaken, Joe had looked terrified as he headed in the back to his office and shut the door. If he was about to betray her and Liam, she wanted to know about it. She followed, tiptoeing to the door to listen.
Pressing her ear up to the door produced nothing except a dull whirring sound. She remembered Joe kept a fan in his office because the stove could get very hot and heat up the entire back of the diner. While she considered boosting her hearing to catch the goblin and Joe’s conversation, a football behin
d her alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t alone. Before she could turn around, a hand clamped down over her mouth.
Shauna uttered a muffled scream and kicked back at her attacker. She produced a ball of fire in one hand and prepared to hurl it at the guy’s head. That is, until Liam laughed in her ear. The fire dissipated, she stopped struggling and when his hold loosened, whirled in his arms. “You jerk.” Then she gasped. “You laughed!”
He shrugged, “People laugh.”
Shauna wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her head against his chest. “Not you. You are always angry.”
“I’m thinking it’s the smooching with you, baby. Don’t you want to keep improving my mood?”
She rolled her eyes and smacked his hand. “Be serious. This is not the time, Liam.” She lowered her voice. “There’s a goblin in there with Joe.”
He glanced at the closed door. “Are you sure?”
“Positive.”
When Liam looked like he was going to intensify his own hearing, she shook her head and tugged on him. “Liam, you’ve been using your magic enough lately. It’s no wonder we haven’t been found.”
As if on cue, she and Liam smelled the sweet scent of a Fae at the same time. He came from the kitchen, sword raised. Liam shoved Shauna behind him but she didn’t stay. She glanced around looking for a weapon. If she didn’t get something in Liam’s hands to fight with quickly, he would use his magic and likely pull down more Fae on their heads. A recently open portal left a trail.
Boxes of canned goods littered the hall leading to Joe’s office, along with tablecloths, a large bag of rice and a broom. For a moment, she wondered if Liam should toss the rice, but thought better of it. If it broke, they’d have to explain, and it was better to end this fight quickly. She snatched up the broom to press into Liam’s hands. “Don’t use your magic, Liam.”