by Dee, Bonnie
“I have an idea,” Trent whispered in her ear. He turned her within his arms and kissed her. A deep, hungry kiss in which he more fully joined their physical and essential bodies, taking the excess energy from her essence into his stronger Protector core where he easily stored it.
The kiss was so deep, so hungry, so sexual, she grew wet and Trent got a hard-on. She wasn’t sure Trent could keep from throwing her to the ground and taking her in front of everyone. And, truth to tell, she would welcome him into her body and to hell with everyone else.
But her lover had absolute control. He eased them out of the voracious kiss, soothing her with nonsense words and stroking her tense back.
We’ll take time to make love later, baby—when we don’t have an audience.
I look forward to it, my Consort.
How? she asked when he’d finally calmed them both down.
He understood her unspoken question, proving he was now fully in her mind. The body joining would come later, she would see to it.
“Protectors are made to store energy for later use.” He smoothed her hair from her face. “I suspect it is the reason all Talisman always have a Protector consort. You, my love, can process and change the energy from kinetic to potential, but you can’t store it.”
“Works for me.” She tugged him to her and kissed him, tasting the sizzle of the power he’d just absorbed. “As long as it doesn’t hurt you.”
“It won’t.” He leaned his forehead against her temple and nuzzled her hair. “I also suspect we can generate energy if needed.”
“How?” she asked, her brow creased.
He laughed. “I’ll show you later. I read the Book of Sorhineth when I was growing up. Since I was only half-Terran, I hungered for the heritage I only shared half of.”
“You’re all Terran now.” At his curious glance, she added, “You are the Consort to the Air Talisman. In my book, or any book, that makes you all Terran, no matter your birth. And you’ve always been all man.”
Trent smiled. “I love you so much.”
“Ditto.” She stroked his stubbled cheek. “And I did read the Book. I seem to remember the union of mind-body-spirit. I can’t wait to test it now that you have your amulet.”
As they’d been talking—and kissing—the Terrans in the room had encircled them, a mixture of awe and disbelief on their faces. Glances flew between her and Trent’s torsos. The amulets spat colored sparks and glowed white-hot. And they had obviously heard Gaia’s call to arms when Trent’s amulet appeared. A supernatural voice drowning out the roar of a tornado was always memorable—and shocking.
The head of the KOTE Hurricane Response Team approached them. “Mrs. Brody—”
“Call me Autumn, never Mrs. Brody. Mrs. Brody is … no more,” she said.
“Autumn … I’ve never seen anything like that,” he said, “it usually takes a full team to equalize pressure of that magnitude. We were barely keeping ahead of it, in fact, were failing miserably. The monitors indicate that you shut down the supercells feeding the tornadoes.”
“It’s the prophecy,” an older Air Keeper shouted out. “Didn’t you hear the voice, man? Look at the amulets. She is the Air Talisman and he is the Consort.”
The Terrans murmured prayers of thanks to Gaia. The feeling in the room was one of hope and joy.
The director reached for a phone. “I’ll inform KOTE headquarters in San Francisco of the Air Talisman’s arrival. Donovan Callahan needs to know as soon as possible.”
“They probably already know,” the same elder said from the back of the room. “The Book writes the history as it happens.”
“I’ll call them anyway,” the director said. “We need to figure out how to best use Autumn and Trent’s partnership to our advantage.”
“The storm hitting this area has already been downgraded to a Category 3 with just what they did a short while ago,” another Terran offered, checking his monitor. “If she can get to where the main pressure imbalances are occurring in the Atlantic, she might be able to shut these storms off completely. We can control what slips through before that, but it is the train effect and the magnifying aspects that are hampering our Keepers’ and Protectors’ efforts.”
“Autumn,” Trent said, his arms enfolding her within his strength, “you up for this? If not, I’ll take you away.”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “But I’ll do it. I have to … this is what I … we … are meant to do. All our lives have led to this point in time. I will not fail the faith Gaia has placed in us.”
“Then neither will I,” he said. “I love you and will always go wherever you go.”
* * * *
Tuesday, 1 p.m. (PST), Sisters, Oregon.
“That’s great news, Claire.” Donovan spoke into the phone as he waved Brenna and the others, including Lily and Carr taking a much needed break, over to the speaker phone. “We’re holding our own here. Keep me updated. If I can get away, I might fly to the Gulf to meet Autumn and Trent.”
“Trent says Brody will send assassins after them,” Claire said. “Right now they’ll be okay since they’re heading out to the Atlantic to control the atmospheric conditions feeding the hurricanes.”
“After Autumn and Trent get the hurricanes under control and stabilize the Gulf’s weather conditions, have them go to San Francisco. We can protect them from Brody better there.”
“Okay, uh … is Mark there?” Claire sniffed audibly, then blew her nose. Loudly.
He and the others chuckled. Mark grinned and grabbed for the phone. Mark’s love for his Terran lover shone from his eyes.
“Yes, and he’s about ready to clock me if I don’t hand over the phone and give you two some privacy to do whatever it is you two do on the phone all the time.”
Mark snatched the phone and flicked off the speaker phone. “We don’t do whatever, boss. We have phone sex.”
Donovan laughed, snuggling Brenna snuggled against his side. She said, “We need to try that sometime.”
“What?” He looked down at the top of his wife’s curls lying against his shirt. He nuzzled her. “Whatever?”
“No,” she kissed his chin, “phone sex. Sounds like fun.”
He laughed. The two couples moved away from Mark, already crooning love words to Claire over the phone.
Donovan turned back to the business at hand. The Gulf Coast was under control—for now. Obviously, the Air Talisman and her Consort thought they could fix the imbalance in air systems. Claire’s report had included a report from the KOTE director of the Gulf Coast weather facility. The report had been extremely optimistic that with the Air Talisman’s help the Air Keepers could keep the lid on the worst of the storms and damage. To the humans, it would look like an active hurricane season and not something extraordinary.
He was more concerned about Lily and Carr and the situation here. Between the volcanic outpouring of energy and the energy transmitted by the grinding of tectonic plates and slippage faults, they had to deal with forces far exceeding those of windstorms. “Lily?”
She looked at him, weariness in her eyes, in her whole demeanor. He worried they were putting too much pressure on her, literally and figuratively. Even as he thought it, Carr wrapped Lily in his arms and a glow suffused the two of them, an aural nimbus of pure white light spreading from their bodies for at least two feet in all directions.
Donovan gasped when the heat from the bright light touched him. He stepped away, taking Brenna with him. “What is that?” his wife said. “It burns—but in a good way.”
“Carr is supplying me with energy.” Lily turned into her lover’s body and the range of the light doubled. “It’s amazing. He senses when I need it and just gives.”
“Instead of resting, you’ve been using energy all the time we’ve been standing here.” It wasn’t a question. With a new certainty, Donovan realized he hadn’t noticed the minor temblors routinely swarming the Sisters’ area since they arrived on site.
“Yes,” Lily said. “
I’m trying to stay ahead of the tectonic build-up in the hope we can keep the pressure off the volcanoes. The other Keepers are mimicking my technique with the two northern Sisters, and it is helping somewhat. I’m taking the brunt of the pressure from the South Sister.”
She turned a worried glance to the three volcanoes looming over the small ski town. “The pyroclastic blast from any one of those three will take out this area and make it a wasteland as Mt. St. Helens did to a part of Washington back in the late 20th century.”
The four of them stood in silence, staring at the majestic peaks until Mark joined them. He handed the sat phone to Donovan. “What’s wrong?” He swept a glance over them and then to the volcanoes. “Are things worse? Or better? I haven’t felt any shaking for quite a while.”
Lily shook her head, the grim look on her face telling Donovan all he needed to know. “Your strategy isn’t working is it, Lily?” he said.
“No. I sense a great amount of pressure from magmatic intrusion under the southernmost Sister. It’s increasing. It will blow unless we can stop it.”
The South Sister was the youngest of the three and was not considered extinct, Donovan knew. It had last erupted around 50 B.C. This portending eruption demonstrated just how much out of balance Earth was.
Lily swayed and Carr swept her into his arms. “Let’s go back to our luxurious canvas abode, baby, and get comfortable. I want you to, um, rest—and absorb energy before we need to knock that mother down.”
Lily blushed.
“We’ll maintain the established perimeter, Carr.” Donovan rushed to reassure them and spare Lily any more blushes.
Brenna pinched him on the ribs and whispered, “You’re embarrassing her, you moron.”
Mark turned his head, choking back a laugh. Donovan wasn’t sure if it was because Brenna had upbraided him or because Carr glared at the two of them on Lily’s behalf.
“No, it’s okay, Brenna,” Lily said, her eyes fixed on Carr’s chin. “It’s not like everyone doesn’t know what … we’ll be, um, doing.”
Brenna glared at the two men standing with her. “Men are…”
“Pigs?” Donovan suggested with a grin.
“I was thinking of Neanderthal throwbacks,” Brenna said, “but pigs work for me.”
Donovan noted Lily smothering a smile against Carr’s throat.
Carr said, “This whole … thing has been hard for Lily. Now, me, I’m of the pig or throwback mentality.” He waggled his eyebrows, then let out a grunt when Lily punched him in the side. He laughed, kissing the top of her head and striding off toward their tent.
Morrissey joined Donovan and the others. “They gonna to be okay?” the older man asked, staring after the couple.
Donovan held Brenna closely. “I hope so—for all our sakes.”
* * * *
Carr placed Lily on the air mattress provided for their comfort. He much appreciated the silky sheets and thick blankets added to the makeshift for Lily’s sake. So far in their short acquaintance, he’d made love to her on the astral plane amongst the dirt and upheaval of a violent Midwestern quake, in a cold, damp cave, on an airplane, and in a tent on a volcanic ground zero. Maybe later, once they finished their roles here, he could find a luxurious suite of rooms and make love in a real bed, with room service, and a spa-like bathroom. He wanted to pamper Lily, protect her from the brutality and harshness of life—even if only for a day or so.
“Carr?” She stroked a finger along his jaw line. He shivered. Such a light touch, yet his cock was as hard as titanium steel pike. “It’s all right, darling. Your lovemaking is special no matter where we are.”
He stripped her, suddenly starving for the touch of skin-to-skin even though it had only been a half hour since they last made love. “You’re reading me more easily.”
“Yes.” She arched upward so he could unhook her bra. Her breasts rubbed his chest, moving his amulet. Sparks flew from his pendant to hers, adding small flashes, all colors of the rainbow, to the white nimbus surrounding them. “The more we touch, the stronger the connection gets.”
As she processed a surge of seismic energy, he urged her to relax into the bedding. Stroking her tense jaw with one hand, he unbuttoned his denim shirt with the other. He needed to maintain contact with her body; he’d found that since the mating on the plane the thought of being separate from her in any way was abhorrent.
He opened his mind and sought hers. It had always been easy to touch her mind, but she was correct, it was easier now—since they joined their bodies and completed the trinity.
Leaning over her, braced on his elbows, his shirt spread open, his naked chest touching her full, firm breasts, he whispered against her lips. “I read you, baby, whenever I need to. I’m trying to give you some privacy.”
She raised her arms and encircled his neck. “What am I thinking right this minute?”
Carr grinned widely at the lascivious pictures in her mind. He picked the uppermost one. “Oh, hell yeah. I’m gonna eat you up, baby.”
“A man after my own heart … and other things, too.” She winked at him, raising her face to meet his lips.
*
Lily’s husky moan came from the back of her throat. After Carr had finished feasting at her lips, he moved down her body for the main course. What the man could do to her clitoris and labia ought to be declared a crime.
Another firm circling of her labia with a final suckling of her clit had her arching into his mouth. “Blessed Gaia, Carr! I can’t take any more. Come into me!” Four orgasms without insertion were more than enough. She needed her man inside her.
Carr lifted his head, his silver eyes gleaming from between his thick, dark lashes. His mouth, nose and chin were covered in her juices. He licked his lips, humming his pleasure, then dove for another licking of her slit from bottom to top. She shrieked as he held her down for another round of tongue lashing, this one throwing her into a fifth orgasm sans cock.
He raised his head slightly. “Be more explicit, baby. Just what do you want?”
She raised her head and glared at his wickedly grinning countenance. “Carr! You know.” A nip to her clit had her squealing, the aching emptiness in her womb escalated another level. “Damn, you … you sadist … fuck me!” She tugged his hair in an attempt to pull him from her throbbing, overly sensitized clit.
He just shot her an ornery grin and proceeded to tongue-fuck her to another soul-shattering orgasm.
The way they were going, they should be storing enough energy for five volcanic eruptions. But in reality, she sensed with all that was Earth Talisman in her, the energy they produced was being used as fast as they generated it. Her Consort knew what he was doing. He was saving the big finish for the big show.
I’ve got your back, baby. Trust me. But that still doesn’t excuse you for not verbally asking for what you want. Talk dirty to me.
Fuck me isn’t dirty enough? Since when?
Carr moved away from her highly aroused and well-loved folds, his mouth still awfully close to her tender opening. “Not specific enough, Lily—and it wasn’t what you were imagining when I grabbed those thoughts out of your head. So until you learn to ask for what you need—it’ll be Consort’s choice. Look in my head and see what that entails, sweet baby. I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize the act. But you still have to ask for it.”
He winked at her as he sat back on his knees and pulled her legs up over his shoulders.
“Carr … please … wh-what are you doing?”
She held her breath when he stroked the head of his penis over her moisture. She waited for him to enter her aching sex, filling her and taking away the internal need he’d aroused.
But instead he teased her. One. Two. Three times. He merely dampened his glans, sticking it into the vaginal opening an inch or so, then withdrawing it as her muscles clenched to hold him. Using his fingers, he spread the copious moisture over her anus.
She touched his mind and saw his very graphic intent. “Carr!” She
grabbed the bedding and lifted her head. “No!”
He grinned. The fiend knew her protests were just that … protests.
When she’d told him to come into her, the images in her mind had been of anal sex. Damn this connection, it had brought consequences she’d never imagined. She never would’ve asked for anal loving, but her subconscious wasn’t as hesitant or shy—or as much of a coward.
With a low animalistic groan, she arched. Just the thought of him shoving his penis up her ass threw her into a mini-orgasm.
“It’s okay, baby.” He massaged her butt cheeks before holding her still for his penetration. “It’ll be fine. Just relax. We’ll go slow.”
With her legs securely over his shoulder, he balanced her weight, then released her ass cheeks. He used the heel of one hand to massage her clit while he stretched her anal opening with one, then two, lubed fingers of his free hand. Somewhere the man had found lube. Had he planned this? Had she been thinking about it ever since he first made love to her?
“I’m in your head, baby. Always, even when you don’t sense me. Your wishes are my pleasure.” He rubbed her clit. Her sex clenched, preparing to erupt into yet another orgasm.
“I’m going to fuck your sweet ass, baby. You ready?”
“Oh, blessed Gaia … just … do it.” She reached for him, anchoring herself by grabbing his thighs.
“Do what, baby?” He nudged the head of his cock into her small rear opening. He paused, allowing her to relax. “That’s my girl, let me in.” He petted her labia, flicking her clit with a finger. “What do you want, Lily? Ask me for it.”
“Fuck me.” She arched upward, attempting to thrust his cock into her tight channel even further. The head throbbed inside her anal ring as her muscles tried to relax enough to let him in and keep him there. Her whole body pulsed in anticipation.
“Fuck what, baby?” He shoved inside, just a bit past the anal ring, then began to withdraw. He groaned and threw back his head as she clutched at his penis with her strong rectal muscles.
“Say it … be explicit,” he said through gritted teeth. Sweat poured down his face and chest. He held her still, not allowing her to move an inch.