“You have it. But I need a boon from your heart keeper first.”
Dorothy had heard enough. “What part about me being in the room are you testosterone-filled Oscar statues not getting?” Kansas choked on his wine, but Dorothy was just getting started.
“I think Kansas is right, and you need to tell me everything about Aunt Glen and this unmaking thing.” She glared at Z. “And if I’m somebody’s heart keeper, I think I should know about it before—no offense, Your Kingship—some stranger.”
The king laughed, a sensual sound that distracted her momentarily from her rant. “Oh I like her, Kansas. I see what you mean. Come, sit with us, have something to eat. You must be starving, especially if you’ve taken on our wizard here.”
Z wasn’t sure what to do. Here he’d just declared himself in front of his best friend and sovereign, and she’d acted like he’d stepped on her cat. He knew this wasn’t the most opportune time to declare himself, her aunt did want him dead. But it wasn’t every day a wizard pledged himself to one woman for the rest of his life. A little appreciation would be nice.
Instead, she was sitting on the other side of the table, snuggled up to Kansas. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He cared for Kansas greatly, and there was no doubt his presence had changed the king. His Majesty had never been happier. But the secret looks and affectionate touches that came from Kansas and Dorothy’s long acquaintance were driving him crazy.
He wasn’t used to jealousy. He’d always had his most pleasurable sexual experiences with multiple partners. And he’d always believed he couldn’t be happy with a single gender. Perhaps it was the newness of the situation. His father had never found his match, though even for an elder wizard, he managed to enjoy himself on a regular basis. Z would have spent his life in that kind of blissful ignorance, if only he hadn’t gone to Earth. He took a large gulp of his wine and tried to tune into the dinner conversation going on around him.
“I knew you were into spells and crystals, but I had no idea that when you said you were a witch, that you were really a…a witch witch. Aunt Glen though, she always made me nervous, her being the GW doesn’t surprise me at all, although I would have cast her as the grumpier one.”
“Oh stop.” Dorothy hit Kansas, laughing as he shuddered. “You’re just upset that she always caught us whenever we were up to no good. She said you were a bad influence on me.”
Kansas sobered. “Yeah, well, you should’ve seen her face when she found me in the consort’s chair in the palace. She was in disguise as a Glider, you understand, so I didn’t recognize her. She pretended to be fascinated by the fact that I was from Earth. When she wondered aloud where the palace wizard was, I mentioned he was at my place in California. How would someone from Oz know where Venice Beach was, right?”
He ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “Anyway, she went crazy then, and lost her disguise. She was so mad that I’d sent Z in such close proximity to you. It all just sort of escalated from there.”
“It’s not your fault, Kansas. She would have found out eventually.” The king gripped Kansas’s chin and pulled him in for a soft, loving kiss. Z glanced at Dorothy. She didn’t look upset, in fact, she was smiling. Well, that was okay then. His mind cleared and, suddenly, everything clicked.
“It’s not me.” They all turned to look blankly in his direction. “I’ll explain later. If you’ll excuse me, I have a message to send on the wind.” The king nodded, and Z knelt by Dorothy’s chair. “I’ll be back soon.”
She attempted indifference, but he could see that she wasn’t sure she was okay with him leaving. He leaned in and kissed her, tugging on her lower lip with his teeth, tempting her to open for him. He felt her relax into him and fought his smile. She could argue all she wanted, her kiss was telling him everything he wanted to hear.
Dorothy gripped his braid and groaned when he pulled away. He saw her blush the moment she realized where they were. Z winked at her and stood quickly, turning on his heel and leaving without a backward glance. If he got one more look at her adorably embarrassed face and sparkling green eyes, he’d never be able to leave.
Her heart grew heavier with every step she took away from the king’s tent. She’d left them after a few hours of reminiscing; when it finally became clear Z wasn’t coming back. She decided to find Emily, to assuage her guilt for leaving her stepsister alone with a group of randy equines.
Seeing the families huddling close to the fires outside their tents, people who should be safe and warm in their own beds, and knowing that it was because of her aunt that they weren’t as painful.
Aunt Glen had basically raised her. Other than that one attempt at normalcy, her mother was a gypsy, far happier traveling and finding herself than taking care of her daughter. Glen had blamed herself for spoiling her. It wasn’t a mistake she repeated with Dorothy. But still, Dorothy always knew she was loved.
How could she reconcile those memories with this reality? That her great aunt was Glenda, there really was an Oz and that Dorothy was in love with a wizard. Desperately in love. And scared to death that love may not be returned, or that she might lose it before it had a chance to grow. Especially if she wasn’t up for the challenge.
The king had told her everything. How he’d ordered retreat after the initial resistance, not just out of concern that his subjects could get too deeply embroiled in their battle, but out of respect for the GW. He’d also told her of the spell of unmaking. Told her what his people had been before Aunt Glen had started the era of Transformation. The truth had blown her away. Not only because of what the Crow Warriors were before, but because of the power her aunt must have to have been able to perform a spell of that magnitude.
“Miss Dorothy!” It was Braxim. And he looked a little frazzled. “Miss Dorothy, I need you to come with me right away. It’s Emily.”
She didn’t need to hear another word. She ran beside him toward his family’s tents, seeing Emily right away. Her stepsister was huddled in a large blanket, looking pale as a ghost, staring blankly at the fire. “Em? Honey, are you okay? What happened?”
Dorothy glared at Braxim when Emily didn’t even glance up. She sat beside her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. “What did you do to her?”
Braxim folded his large body beneath him, leaning forward earnestly. “Nothing! I swear I did nothing to harm her. We came back to the tents and…well, she wanted to…” His face crumbled, looking absolutely miserable. “I thought she liked it.”
“Oh Lord.” Dorothy took Emily’s face between her hands, forcing her to make eye contact. “Emily, damn you, talk to me. Did he hurt you?”
“What? Dorothy? What are you doing here?”
She looked so exhausted, so fragile, that Dorothy stood, pulling Emily with her, determined to get back to Kansas and see if they had a doctor somewhere in the camp. Surprise jarred her when Emily ripped herself violently away. “No!”
“I just want to get you somewhere safe, Em.”
Emily turned to Braxim. “Can you leave us alone for a few minutes?” He stood immediately, his bare human torso bowing toward her, expression besotted. “Anything for you, Miss Emily.” He walked away to stand guard, his tail to them. She sat and Dorothy joined her, utterly confused. “What’s going on?”
Emily blushed, wrapping the blanket more tightly around her before she spoke. “I’m not sure how to explain it. All I’m certain of is that this is definitely not a dream, and if it isn’t, then I…I…”
“You what? It’s okay, Emily. This has been a huge culture shock for you. It’s okay to freak out a little.”
Rubbing her sniffling nose with a corner of her blanket, Emily’s expression was a bit incredulous. “A huge shock for me? But not you? Why aren’t you freaking out? And what exactly did you do to those bird guys? Braxim said you had the same powers as the wizard. The wizard.” She shook her head, laughing a bit maniacally. “Like that’s any crazier than me having a night of—”
A light bulb flashed o
ver Dorothy’s head. “You slept with Braxim, didn’t you? Is that why you’re freaking out? Did he hurt you?” She lowered her voice. “Did he force you?”
“God no.” Emily’s blush deepened. “He didn’t force me to do anything. Didn’t force me to have orgasm after orgasm as they all took turns with their hands and tongues all over my body. Didn’t force me to accept him, to slip into that special saddle of his. Oh, Dee! A saddle!” She dropped her head into her hands, sniffling again.
Dorothy patted her sister awkwardly. “This isn’t exactly a normal situation, Em. You were caught up in the moment. And Braxim is a very handsome guy.” Who just happened to be a centaur. “But you’re okay? I mean it all, well, worked out?”
Emily snorted. “Yes. It’s just this wasn’t the way I was planning to spend my weekend. And I certainly wasn’t expecting to like it so much. To want to do it again.” And there it was. Dorothy smiled.
“Braxim obviously feels the same. He came looking for me, he was so worried about you.”
“He was?” Was that hope in her cynical step-sibling’s voice?
“He was. I think he’s worried you don’t like him. You were looking pretty bad when I first got here. You should spend some time with him. We might only be here a few more days. Long enough for me to try to reason with Aunt Glen.”
“I’m so confused. Your aunt is here? How come?”
Dorothy stood, straightening the long white shirt Kansas had retrieved, along with a pair of men’s pants, for her. “It’s a long story, Emily. Are you going to be okay if I leave now?”
Emily joined her, walking toward the edge of the Equus tents where Braxim stood silent vigil. “I’ll be fine. I think I just needed to talk to someone. To talk to you.” She gave Dorothy a spontaneous hug. “I don’t know why you’ve been so nice to me. I’ve always been so jealous and nasty to you. I don’t deserve you as a sister, but I’m glad you are.”
She was in a new world with strange creatures. Her missing friend Kansas was married to the king, and her aunt was trying to kill all the wizards and turn everyone into straw. Yet it was this moment, this embrace from Emily and her kind words, that blew Dorothy’s mind. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
She left her sister standing beside Braxim, who looked as though he’d just won the horse-man lottery.
What a world.
Wandering through the groupings of tents, she tried to get her bearings. If she could get back to the king’s tents, maybe she could find Z. How long did it take to send a message anyway?
“You shouldn’t be here. Why the king doesn’t make an example out of you, I’ll never know. But I’m not afraid to do it for him.” The growling male voice sent a spike of fear through her gut. Dorothy spun around, realizing the voice was coming from behind a nearby tent. She moved closer.
“I don’t belong to their clan anymore, Lorn. You know that.” The female’s voice quavered, but pushed on. “Leonard and I are—”
“An abomination. A pussy Felix and a Glider who can’t fly. They don’t want you. We don’t want you. No one would miss you, little Fenna. No one at all.”
Dorothy peered around the corner. A flightless Glider? Wasn’t Fenna the one Kansas had told her about over dinner? The one who’d saved him? That cat guy was huge. The tiny little Glider didn’t stand a chance by herself. She had to do something. “I would miss her.”
The Felix whirled to face her and Dorothy sent out her power, the wind whipping around Fenna, ruffling her feathers to lift her high in the air. Fenna spread her wings instinctively, and they took her out of sight over the campsite, with a little extra push from Dorothy. She only hoped she landed softly.
“Human bitch. You shouldn’t have done that.”
Uh oh. Before she could call the wind he had her by the throat, pressing her against the nearest tree with his terrifyingly large claw. His sharp teeth glinted in the moonlight. “You are pretty, aren’t you? All this bare, pale skin. Pale as cream. Will you taste as sweet?”
He shredded her shirt with his other claw, and Dorothy panicked. She had to calm down, had to use her power. Fear had scattered her focus. The wind picked up a bit, raising his hackles. “Oh I heard about you. I bet you won’t be able to call the wind if I knock you out cold.” He raised his paw above his head.
“She might not, but nothing will save you from me if you do. Then again, nothing can save you from me now.”
Relief had her sliding boneless down the tree as she watched the Felix hovering, angry and helpless, in the air. He noticed the wizard, and he flinched. Z’s smile was sinister. “You know what I can do and yet you tempt death by touching what is mine.”
Was it possible for fur to pale? “I didn’t know she belonged to you, my lord. Please forgive me.”
“And Fenna? Do you claim ignorance of her protection as well? I think you should be begging the Makers for a quick death instead of lying to the king’s wizard.”
Dorothy gripped the shreds of her shirt against her breasts, gasping while the feline writhed in agony, tortured by some unseen force. She studied Z’s expression. She barely recognized the playful sensualist she’d come to know. He was a force of nature, cold as the frozen wind, and just as deadly. The Felix screamed, crying and pleading for his life. But Z wasn’t listening. She jumped up to stand in front of him.
“Z, stop! You’re killing him.”
His eyes were drawn to her, icy amber and full of rage. “Did I misinterpret? Interrupt a romantic tryst?”
“Don’t be such a jackass. You’re no better than the wizards my aunt warned me about. Send him to the king to be punished, throw him in a hole, but don’t use your power to kill him.” Her words seemed to get through the haze that surrounded him, and the Felix fell to the ground, whimpering apologies as he crawled into the crowd of warriors that had gathered at his screams. They took him away, and the gawkers wandered off, leaving Dorothy and Z alone.
He was staring at her in a way that unnerved her. “What?”
“I went to the king’s tent to find you, only to learn that you had gone wandering alone through a camp filled with rough warriors. If Frayne was any kind of a friend he wouldn’t have let you go.”
Disbelief dropped her jaw, and she crossed her arms defensively. “Are you kidding me? Kansas let me go because he knows I’m a grown woman, a grown witch woman, and I can take care of myself. Besides, if I’d waited for you, I would have been old and gray by now.” So there.
“If you had any sense of self-preservation, you wouldn’t be alone at the edge of the woods with a known seducer of women.”
She tilted her head, studying him. Was he joking? His lips had a slight quirk, but the rage in his eyes had changed to something even more dangerous. Lust. And determination. He was looking at her as if she were prey.
And she liked it.
“What I wouldn’t give for a handful of chocolate rum cake right about now.” She chuckled, backing away slowly, closer to the tree line.
He watched her like a hawk. “I can think of something that tastes even better.” He tensed, and Dorothy leapt into action, sprinting into the forest with a shriek.
Chapter Six
She made him crazy. A few minutes ago he’d been willing to kill because Lorn had dared to touch her, tried to hurt her. Now he was determined to run her to ground, claim her in a way that would leave no doubt whom she belonged to. Running through the woods like a horny adolescent, and loving every second of it.
How did she do this to him? And how had he ever lived without her?
He slowed down. Her long red hair was like a beacon, catching the light of the moons, but he didn’t want to make this that easy. The chase was too much fun.
Dorothy tried to catch her breath quietly. She was kneeling behind some strange flowering plant, hoping nothing was poisonous, while she waited for him to pass. She’d draped the her tattered shirt on a low branch going in the opposite direction, but she knew he wasn’t fooled. She was counting on it.
Ever
since they’d left his cave she’d wanted more of this, more of him. She didn’t want to think about her aunt or the Gliders, though she made sure to stay within the safe parameters of the base. She could still see the tents from where she knelt. She wasn’t insane. Well, not overly so.
Determined footfalls sounded on the other side of the bush, and her heart stopped. She shifted slightly, ready to take off again, when he rounded the plant and grabbed her ankle. “Gotcha.”
Dorothy jerked her leg, trying to shake him off, but he covered her with his body, pinning her to the ground. “You dropped your shirt.”
He cupped one of her breasts, and she huffed out a laugh. “You could always give me yours.” His cock pressed between her spread legs, and she felt the heat, even through their clothes. “A gentleman would.”
The hand slid down her belly, easily undoing the laces of her borrowed pants. “I’m not a gentleman. I’m a wizard. How about we just take these off instead?” He gave a yank, pulling her pants down to her knees, leaving her open to him.
“I think people at camp will stare if—”
He opened her mouth with his and thrust his tongue inside. Her neck strained to reach more of him. She tried to turn and face him fully, but he was having none of it. His hips pinned her in place, and his kiss took her breath away.
He lifted his head. “I’ve caught you, sweet Dorothy. Surrender.” He pressed his hand between her shoulder blades, lowering her chest to the ground. She shivered, but not in fear. She wanted this. Needed to be taken the way she knew he wanted to take her. She tilted her ass high, spreading her legs as wide as they would go with her pants snarled at her knees.
“Yes.” Z caressed her hips, spreading her ass cheeks as he studied her. “This might be the most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen. And I can see everything. Your pink, wet pussy. Your soft, round ass. And it’s all mine. Only mine.”
Her forehead dropped against the ground in shock when she felt his tongue trace a line from her clit to her ass. He rimmed the tight ring of muscles, and her legs trembled at the sensation. “Oh God.” Two long fingers stretched her sex and his thumb pressed her clit as he tongued her. It felt wicked and forbidden. And damn good.
Surrender Dorothy Page 5