Enthusiastic to be helping and feeling like a part of their team, she went off to the northern area where the forest was located. Roxie scanned with a guard named Kolt, a middle-aged panther shifter who wasn’t as friendly as Urban but pretty thorough at his job, too. She then ventured further at the edge of the forest near the cliffs, looking up at the sky and watching the clouds turn gray, indicating the rain that was to come.
Unable to resist, she went to stand at the edge of the cliff itself, watching the waves crash below and feeling the wind whipping her hair. She closed her eyes and let it wash over her, a sense of belongingness filling her.
The wind eventually turned chilly, and she allowed herself to shiver before letting her magic coat her with some warmth. The air seeped in, steadily turning colder as she kept standing there. Ice coated her magic and turned the grass to frost.
Roxie stilled.
Brazil doesn’t get snow in these parts.
Fear took hold and gripped her like a vice, but she slowly let it in and hid it somewhere safe inside her. She took a deep, quiet breath, ignoring the icicles creeping at her feet.
Then she turned to look at the man—no, fairy—creating it.
“Hello, Roxie.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The niggling feeling at the back of his neck didn’t disappear, even while Urban and the other guards confirmed that the perimeters were still well protected and they didn’t encounter anything odd. It stayed with him as he listened to the woes of a housewife whose husband left the clan and never returned, as she wanted a search party created so she herself could punish him for causing her such misery.
Isaac had to explain once again that while he protected the clan, anyone could leave whenever they wanted—but that didn’t mean he was going to go out of his way to have them come back. Unless there was a particular reason for the leave and he was properly informed, anything else was a breeding ground for traitors and such, which he didn’t want his place infiltrated with. The rules were there for a reason, and that was to make sure security was tight, and no attack would ever come to them.
He thought of Roxie, who had been amazed at first at how things were so simple there as compared to the Autumn Court. He could tell she’d been suspicious of it at first and wondering if there was some kind of game-playing going on under the carpet, but he let her observe and come to realize on her own that the only game-playing here wasn’t the vicious kind. Sure, he had some tension with authorities and a long-standing coldness with Dylan until their recent incident, but it had never been the kind that dealt out cruel, unprovoked punishment.
Urban appeared a few minutes later to give out the mission report, and Isaac half-listened. Then, the niggling feeling still there, Isaac finally shifted to his panther form and made a dash for the back, sprinting outside the cave and into the forest to let some stress out. His instincts were rarely incorrect, and it was telling him now that shit was about to hit the fan and he wasn’t going to like it.
The last time his instincts had been going at it screaming at him was when they were in Winter Court, and the Winter King’s—
Isaac stopped dead in his tracks as the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
He sprinted before he knew it, tracking her scent and something else that was all too familiar and horrible. The scent took him to the cliffs, but she was no longer there. He saw the trickles of ice on the grass and felt the chill in the air, but he shook it off and kept tracking. There was no scent of blood, which meant she was still alive.
He hoped to hell she still was.
Isaac knew her enough to know she wasn’t going to lead the Winter King to the heart of the panther clan, which meant only one thing: she led the fairy outside.
He cursed inside his head as he ran faster. Her scent kept getting fainter, overpowered by the rich scent of ice. He followed it as quickly and quietly as he could, doing the usual things he did when tracking prey. But this was more important than prey, and he’d never forgive himself if he let her down.
Half an hour later, the scent steadily got stronger again. Finally, he burst out of the forest and arrived in a large clearing that was well away from his territory, filled with rocks and dead trees. A circle of ice stood inside the clearing, and in the middle of the circle were Roxie and Asha.
Unbidden, a flash of a similar scene flashed in his mind—his brother, Jason, and his head guard, Clay, with a bubble of magic surrounding them as they were about to kill his sister, Isabella. Isabella had been restrained then and unable to fight, but Roxie was just standing there now, her eyes intense on Asha. There was magic inside the circle, going higher and higher and filling the air with an electric charge.
Not about to make the same mistake of barging in and getting electrocuted like before, Isaac quietly padded to the side, careful not to touch any ice particles. He crept behind Asha.
“Mr. Hart. Isaac Hart, isn’t it? I’m sorry. I didn’t really get your name when we were playing.”
Asha’s brittle voice filled the air with chill. Giving up the stealth, Isaac shifted to his human form and kept his eyes on the Winter King. “What are you doing in my home?”
“Taking Roxie, of course. I won’t take you because you were a prisoner and had to escape—there’s logic there, and I can always take another non-fairy to play with. But she disrespected me, and I won’t stand for that. She needs some time in my ice cells.”
Over my dead body.
Instead of saying it out loud, Isaac slid his gaze towards Roxie instead. Roxie didn’t glance his way, her eyes pinning Asha in place and her hands glowing. Isaac looked back at Asha, who wasn’t moving at all except for his head.
She was using her magic to contain him.
“Doesn’t look like she wants that, Asha.”
Asha’s name being said so easily had the Winter King going rigid, though his face was still expressionless. Isaac was torn between taunting him further and trying to find a way in, and he tried to ease off his restless energy by circling the circle and watching them both. The ice frosted over the ground, and Isaac shifted back to his panther form and toed it, watching his claws freeze. Some murmuring was going on inside, with Roxie as calm as ever and Asha steadily getting angrier.
Then Roxie spoke louder.
“Isaac?”
“Yes?”
“Remember when you made me feel so unwelcome here that all I could do was stay in my room? You and your people were so hostile and treated me like a prisoner.”
Isaac paused, eyeing her. Her words were steady, and so was her tone, but the statement itself was a lie—in fact, it was the total opposite of how she was treated.
“I don’t like it here.”
She was trying to tell him something.
“And I’m going to go with Asha once we drop our magic. He’ll treat me better. I don’t want you to come here or attack any of us because of your pettiness. I want you to let us go. Do you understand?”
A faint smile came out of Asha, visibly surprised but pleased. His body moved, indicating she’d removed her hold on him. “I don’t think an animal would understand.”
“He will.” Roxie smiled. “He’s an idiot, but he understands. Let’s go, Asha. I’m tired of this place.”
In response, Isaac bared his teeth. Then his panther head nodded, and he stepped back as he watched Asha remove the circle of ice and the energy that came along with it, and—
Isaac leaped, lunging for Asha’s throat. The Winter King spun in his direction, unleashing a burst of magic that put up an ice shield right in front of Isaac and stopped his momentum. He used the ice to jump up and kept leaping in Asha’s direction, going higher and higher as the ice went higher, too. He bared his sharp teeth and jumped down when he was at the very top, claws out and ready to strike.
Asha blasted him with ice spikes, which dug into his abdomen before he snarled and evaded the rest. He managed a swipe at Asha’s shoulder, and the Winter King’s gaze flared in fury. He released more of his m
agic, and Isaac felt pain hit him everywhere. A glow surrounded the king as Isaac landed on the ground, unsteady, but still sprinting to attack. Ice crept in his bones, coating them hard and making the beat of his heart slow down. He gasped when it fisted and had his ribs cracking.
Roxie shouted the Winter King’s name, then—
“I curse you, Asha Snowborn. You and your winter creatures will never step foot in this world again, and you will never cause harm to any non-fairy ever again.”
Asha scoffed and whirled in her direction, his perfect composure cracking. “You think an ordinary fairy like you could stop me? When your own mother couldn’t?”
Roxie lifted her chin. “I’m not an ordinary fairy. I’m half-human.”
Asha’s eyes widened. His cool expression transformed into disgust, and he stepped in her direction, lifting his hands in the air. Isaac felt the ice leave his blood, and he slumped on the ground and stared at them, no longer able to move.
Roxie lifted her hands up and met Asha’s magic, screaming as it burned her. Her knees buckled, and she went down on all fours, blood pouring out of her hands. Isaac watched her golden glow disappear and leave her body completely, turning her hair darker and her eyes black. Asha kept going at it.
He was going to kill her.
But her curse remained true, and he didn’t get to kill her. Instead, he was dragged back by a huge force. Then he was down on his feet and being pulled continuously, the magic being lifted out of him in the process.
A portal appeared, sucking him in. Then it was gone in a flash, and the magic taken from the Winter King burst in the air in a massive sea of frost before exploding in crystal shards all around them.
Roxie screamed again, her magic spent. Isaac made one last lunge in her direction using whatever strength he had left, shouldering her fall.
Then darkness surrounded the air.
*****
When Isaac woke up, he found himself in his bed in the cave and the pain gone. He sat up instantly, looking down at the bandages that were wrapped around his waist before he looked around. Urban was just about to leave the room, but he stopped and stared before returning.
“You really should be resting—”
“Where’s Roxie?” Isaac interrupted.
Urban didn’t blink. “In her room. The healers treated her wounds, and they were just…gone a few minutes later. Whatever happened—”
“She protected the damn place from a psychotic fairy is what happened,” he snarled. Then Isaac was shoving the covers off him and standing up, swaying in his spot as he did so. But it disappeared quickly enough, and he looked at Urban’s fascinated expression sternly.
“You’ve proven that you’re worthy of the position, so I’m putting my trust in you to take care of everything today. Is that clear?”
Urban still didn’t blink, though it looked like he really wanted to. He eagerly nodded. “Of course. I will.”
“Good.”
Then Isaac was leaving his room and crossing the halls with only one thing to do: to give Roxie a piece of his mind.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The door opened just as Roxie wondered how he was doing, and he barged in with a life force that was both menacing and intimidating. She stifled the urge to take a step back at the fire in those light blue eyes, burning brighter than ever as he pinned her with an angry gaze.
“What did you think you were doing?” were his introductory words, which had her blinking. But before she could talk, he continued speaking, and it was such a contradiction to his usual cool, calm self that all she could do was stare. “Using your magic like that on someone more powerful than you? He could have easily snapped your neck in pieces with his frost, and you would have been dead in an instant.”
“I was trying to get him to leave, but he wouldn’t. So, I urged him into that place and did the best I could.”
“By getting yourself trapped in his damn ice circle?”
“That was his doing, and I counterflowed it. You should know better than to accuse me of causing a ruckus when all I wanted was to protect your home.” While she said the words, her eyes drank him in, checking for wounds and finding none. She sighed an inward breath of relief that she’d managed to extend her magic enough to him to keep him safe, even while he kept talking in that angry, vibrating tone.
“I never accused you of causing a ruckus,” he bit out. “But who was going to protect you when you were so busy protecting everyone but yourself?”
Roxie absorbed the words and lifted her head high. “You came. You protected me.”
“You damn about nearly died in there. And you called me an idiot.”
“Maybe because you are an idiot,” Roxie snapped. “And it worked, didn’t it? I thought my magic couldn’t take it, but it did. I’ve never cursed before because I didn’t think I could. But I did. I handled him. We handled him. Now, this world is safe, and he can never come here again. Now are you going to call me an idiot back?”
“No. You’re brave and beautiful and so goddamn annoying that I can’t think straight whenever I’m in the same room as you.”
Her breath stopped at his words, stunning her completely. Then it hitched, and he heard, and those eyes flared again—but it was no longer anger she was seeing there, and the sheer intensity of the hunger that slid in his gaze had her heart pounding louder than it had ever been.
Isaac pounced before she could do anything, backing her against the desk beside the bed and crashing his mouth against hers. It was hard, and it was full of the same hunger she sensed inside him, and Roxie did the only thing she could do at the moment.
She opened her mouth instantly. Then she kissed him back, letting him feel the desire running inside her from trying to stay away from him for so long. She opened herself up to him heart and soul, running her tongue down his lips before it collided with his, where she tasted his primitive scent. He groaned in response, a shocked sound, and she swallowed it and urged him to take more.
He did. He took what she offered and more, his hands running all over her skin like he missed her terribly. She felt her back hit the mattress and eased to the center, pulling him in until his body was pressed on top of hers and she could feel his hardness all over.
The kiss went on and on, with an intensity that threatened to consume them both. They let it, no longer holding anything back as their hands flew—and so did their clothes, and their sanity, and everything else. His mouth cruised, and his tongue licked every inch of her skin until she found herself slowly losing her mind at the pleasure that heightened in her veins. Her core throbbed as he finally went down on it, where he used fingers and tongue to take her up another step and make her moan out in pleasure—then, his name, as she came apart so quickly.
But Isaac didn’t stop, bringing her up to that edge again. Wanting him to feel the same intensity she was feeling, she pushed him back before he could bring her to a second orgasm and straddled him. His long, hard body glistened with sweat, and she cruised her mouth down and explored every inch, getting intoxicated with his taste. Incoherent sounds came out of his throat, low and sexy and turning her on. Finally, she took his pulsing cock in her hands, rubbing playfully. Then she took him into her mouth and tasted him there, feeling a certain kind of power more addictive than her magic as she felt his control leave him bit by bit.
“Baby…Roxie…Roxie…”
She licked him and sucked him hard, wanting him to find that peak of pleasure. She yelped in protest when she felt herself being lifted and yanked back up on top of him, their gazes meeting.
“I wasn’t done—” she began—but the words trailed off into a shocked moan when she felt him plunge his cock inside her core in one swift movement.
“I want this,” he rasped, pulling her down to kiss her mouth again. “I want you.”
Her heart melted, and so did her body. He murmured words to her about how tight and wet she was, but she barely listened as she moved on top of him, setting a rhythm that had him hitting
her pleasure point in soft whispers. Then it was impossible to stay slow as need took them both and drove them to act quicker. He pounded inside her at the same time she bounced down on him. His hands squeezed her breasts and flicked her nipples, making her ache beyond belief. Then he sat up and took her with him, capturing one nipple in his mouth. At the same time, his thumb rubbed at her clit while his cock kept thrusting in, and she lost it.
Her second orgasm sent Roxie flying, then falling, clinging to him as it racked her body and left her vibrating. He swallowed her moans and kept kissing her like he could do it forever and not get tired of it. Then he was quickening his thrusts again, and a few minutes later, she felt it—his body going rigid and bucking against her. Pain hit her shoulder as he bit her before he eased it with his soothing tongue.
Then he was spilling his seed inside her and following her to that flight of pleasure.
*****
They went at each other two more times that day…then plenty more times as the days went on. Roxie couldn’t get enough of him and knew the feeling was reciprocated, and it felt like she discovered something new about him each time that she didn’t see before. When they didn’t have sex, they just spent time together, talking and exploring the world and each other. Roxie stayed by his side as he dealt with some clan issues, and he stayed by hers as she tried to restore the magic that was lost in her battle with Asha.
Soon, it was no longer just sex for her.
Roxie didn’t stop, even while warning bells rang in her head, telling her she was bound to get hurt eventually. But what was her choice? She couldn’t stop what was happening between them no matter how she tried, and she certainly couldn’t stop her heart from who it chose to love.
And it chose to love him—all of Isaac, the good and the bad, the panther and the man.
She understood the feeling wasn’t reciprocated, and it was a risk. But she’d rather take this risk than wonder all her life, and cherish this moment with him before her time was up.
Isaac (The Clan Legacy Series) Page 9