books 1 - 3

by Ella J. Smyth

  Honi pulled his shirt over his head, exposing miles of copper skin. Adi felt even more pasty than usual compared to the gleaming perfection that was his chest. She wasn’t going to feel self-conscious now, she decided with irritation. Surely he liked her—otherwise she wouldn’t be here. While she was still busy arguing with herself, she missed him sliding his pants off his long legs. When she looked up again, her mouth dropped open. This wasn’t the first time she’d seen him naked, but somehow he looked different in daylight. More vulnerable, but no less gorgeous. Her gaze ran up his muscular thighs, his erection pointing straight at her, a perfect V separating his lower from his upper body.

  Adi swallowed, her mouth gone dry. Funny that, because she felt wet between her legs. She shifted a little, just to enjoy the friction of her jeans through her panties. She was weak with want, and after taking a few deep breaths, she beckoned to him with her index finger.

  “Do you need an invitation?”

  He growled and jumped on the bed. His mouth descended on hers, and she couldn’t help a moan working its way from the back of her throat. He smiled against her lips before using his tongue more aggressively. Her arms came around his neck, and she pulled him tighter. His weight pressed her against the soft covers, and his hips rocked against her. She pushed her pelvis against his and pulled a load groan from him.

  Dizzy with desire, she pushed him away. “Let me take my clothes off,” she whispered urgently. Honi sat back and watched her with dark eyes as she quickly stripped. Their eyes met, and her breath stopped for a moment at the look of utter want on his face. “You got a condom?”

  He nodded wordlessly and reached around her into his bedside cabinet drawer. She took the little plastic square out of his hand and tore it open. Honi lay down and waited. Adi stopped for a second before deciding her next course of action. Honi had his arms crossed behind his head now, and his grin made her bristle. She developed a sudden urge to wipe the smugness off his face.

  Adi held her hair back and moved between his legs. She kept her eyes on his face as she licked a long stripe from his balls to the tip of his cock. Now it was her turn to smile smugly when a surprised grunt tore from his lips. Before he could recover, she had slipped the condom on his erection, sat up and impaled herself.

  She felt utterly wanton and in control as she slipped down and his hardness entered her. Holy crap, that felt good. When he was all the way inside of her, she stopped. He didn’t look smug anymore, more like he was having a religious experience. His head thrown back, mouth slack and open, his eyes scrunched up, he looked like a wet dream come true. His skin was so much darker than her own as he held on to her hips, and she loved the contrast.

  Time to get this show on the road. She lifted herself a little and slipped back down. A long moan rumbled through his wide chest. She felt it through the palms of her hands resting on his rib cage. It was like they were connected in a feedback loop of lust. Every noise, every moan coming from Honi turned her on even more.

  His hands grabbed tight, and with little effort, he lifted her up before pulling her down hard. This time it was Adi’s turn to groan. He felt amazing, hot, hard, hitting her just the right way. And then she lost it a little bit. As if a switch had been thrown, she began to move. A hundred thoughts shot through her head, only to be burned by the raging fire inside of her. Every time she had been afraid, or irritated, or angry in the last week, it didn’t matter anymore.

  The more she rose and fell, her thighs burning, her fingers clawing into his skin, the more her mind emptied. Honi was panting now, and his hand lifted to touch her breast. When he gently pinched and pulled her nipple, a shot of lust ran like lightning down to where they were joined. He pulled again and she fell forward onto his chest, breathing hard.

  “You drive me crazy, sweetheart.” Something twisted in her stomach at hearing the term of endearment. This was the first time she had ever been called that. She hesitated for a moment, then decided she liked it. Her lips sought out his again, and this time, her tongue invaded his mouth, licking, exploring, tasting. Honi grabbed her hips, his hands so large that his fingers nearly covered her ass. He moved faster and faster, and Adi knew he wouldn’t last much longer.

  She sat back upright and shifted her hips, chasing her own high. An ache, like a tickle that had gone on too long, rose between her legs. She gasped and brought her middle finger towards the source of the sweet ache, rubbing furiously. She rode the feeling higher and higher as his movements acted as a counterpoint. Her mind a white blank, her whole body tensing up in anticipation of her release.

  Honi’s grip tightened even further, hard enough to cause bruises on her fair skin, before his upper body lifted off the bed. His face contorted in ecstasy, hissing, “Jesus, Adi,” and his cock twitched inside of her as he came hard. The way he said her name, the pleasure she gave him, his tight grip, pushed her over the edge.

  She pulsed around him as liquid fire ran through her entire body. The orgasm tore through her, from her pelvis to her fingertips, and she surrendered to the ecstasy. She threw her head back, mouth wide open in a silent scream, before collapsing onto his chest. Without hesitation he wrapped her in his arms, and she shivered through the aftershocks, safe from the outside world. He felt solid and warm, and his heartbeat lulled her into a doze. They could deal with the stickiness and awkward feelings in a little while, she decided before drifting off.

  Honi looked up at the sky and frowned. The sun didn’t offer much warmth today. He really hated spring days like today, the sun burning down one minute, then disappearing behind cloud fragments, and the temperature dropping. There was always a tinge of moisture in the air, and he couldn’t wait for the steady temperature rise that would precede summer. Right now another curtain of black crept up on the sun and he shivered. Adi would feel even colder when she came out of her trance.

  Honi was proud of her. She had achieved a lot in the last few days. She could now cut out background noises and distractions to a point where he clapped his hands right by her head, and she didn’t flinch. She still couldn’t maintain a state of deep relaxation for more than half an hour, but it was a major improvement.

  When he had begun teaching her, she had twitched so much that little spasms had run up and down her limbs. Now she sat on the damp grass, stoic like an old photograph, eyes closed, posture ramrod straight. Only her hair moved a little when puffs of cold air drifted across from the pond.

  Today was a big milestone, even though Adi didn’t know it. John’s words of warning were always on his mind. Every time he remembered the last conversation he’d had with the shaman, he nearly bent double with sudden anxiety, a leaden feeling that pressed down on his lungs. He knew Adi’s time was running out. John hadn’t been able to tell him any details—when, where, how—but it didn’t matter. Every morning Honi woke up with one thought in his mind: something was coming for Adi, and it was up to him to prepare her. At night he clung to her—during the day he drove her hard.

  But today he wanted to push her training a lot further. Honi had arranged to meet a friend at the college cafeteria. Sammy was one of the few students he had gotten close to since he arrived here, a friendly young man with gangly limbs and a calm demeanor—attributes reflected by his spirit animal. Honi hoped that the little fox, its fur as red as its owner’s hair, wouldn’t respond aggressively to Adi’s presence. He couldn’t tell Sammy the truth, other than that Adi was suffering from some kind of social anxiety issue. Sam had accepted the explanation with a shrug of his shoulders.

  Honi started when his phone alarm went off and he walked quickly over to the motionless girl.

  “Hey, Adi,” he said as his hand caressed the side of her face. “I’m hungry, do you want to get some lunch?”

  Adi’s eyes opened slowly and as he watched, she pulled herself out from wherever her mind had wandered to. She gave him a sleepy smile and said, “Sure. Just give me a moment, I feel a little out of it.”

  Honi sat down next to her and put his arm a
round her to share some of his body heat. The girl snuggled up to him like a cat, her head bumping against his chin. He looked down at her and felt yet again a surge of protectiveness, tinged with contentment. All too soon, Adi stretched and helped him to his feet, suddenly eager to eat.

  “Honi!”

  Honi moved aside to let Adi go first, then turned towards Sammy’s voice and lifted his hand in acknowledgment. When they sat down opposite the redhead, Sam smiled at Adi with open curiosity.

  “So, you are the famous Adi,” he drawled.

  Honi rolled his eyes, grateful that Sammy hadn’t used air quotes. He had never introduced his one-night stands to his friend, but it wasn’t that unusual for him to hang out with a girl. Was it? Maybe it was. Adi and Sam were talking animatedly, comparing classes and professors. Honi realized he hadn’t really seen Adi interact with other students since he’d met her. There was so much he didn’t know about her.

  Taking in the highlights of her auburn hair and the intelligence sparkling in her eyes as she threw back her head and laughed at something Sammy said, Honi felt a shot of longing. He knew their time together might be short, but he would try his damnedest to keep her with him.

  Sam’s fox was as laid-back as Sammy himself. Honi saw a red tail curled around the young man’s foot but didn’t draw Adi’s attention to it. He wanted to see whether her training had made any difference in how the creature reacted to her.

  “Hey buddy, would you order three specials? I’m paying,” he said, pulling his wallet out.

  Honi watched Adi carefully as her eyes automatically tracked Sammy. There it was. She looked scared for a moment but then closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. When she opened them again, they flashed in irritation but not fear.

  “Thanks for warning me! I thought for a moment that maybe they were gone.”

  “Sorry.” Honi shrugged. “That’s not how it works, you know that. I wanted to see if they reacted differently to you. So far, so good.”

  Adi visibly calmed herself. “Next time, tell me what you’re planning. I don’t appreciate surprises.”

  “If I warned you, it wouldn’t be a surprise, would it?”

  Before Adi could reply, Sammy sat back down. His fox lounged on his shoulder, the long white-tipped tail slung casually around the student’s shoulder, giving him the appearance of a 1950s film star. Adi and Honi exchanged amused glances.

  Honi was still caught in the gaze of her whiskey-golden eyes when the color drained out of her face. His attention snapped to Sammy, and his breath stopped for a moment. The little cute fox seemed to have doubled in size, fur standing up and ears back on its head. Teeth bared, its tiny body coiled like a spring, it hissed and spat at Adi. She pressed herself back into her seat, as far away as she reasonably could.

  “What’s going on, guys?” Sam sounded alarmed and his shock mirrored Adi’s expression.

  “Breathe in and out. Come on Adi, remember what I taught you. If you calm yourself, it will too,” Honi said, trying to get through to the panicked girl. Adi’s wide eyes were fixed on his face as he breathed with her. It worked—the color returned to her face and her breathing slowed. Honi held her gaze, moving subtly to block her view of the still-enraged spirit animal.

  “Does she suffer from panic attacks? My cousin has those.” Sam was trying to help and Honi didn’t have the heart to tell him to shut up. Then he saw movement from out of the corner of his eyes. As if in slow motion, Sammy reached across the table to touch Adi’s hand. Honi knew what was going to happen if they connected, but he just wasn’t fast enough to stop his friend.

  The fox seemed to have waited for the opportunity. Sammy laid his hand on top of Adi’s, and the spirit animal jumped straight at the girl. It sank its fangs into Adi’s arm and bit down hard. Adi screamed and jumped up, shaking off the feral creature as hard as she could. Then she ran out of the cafeteria, tears streaming down her face.

  “What did I do? Did she cut herself?” Sammy’s voice was baffled and worried. Honi got up quickly, promising to explain later, and followed Adi. The fox had bitten her badly—Honi had seen drops of blood on the table.

  Outside, Adi sat bent over on a bench, still crying. Honi sat down next to her and gently straightened her arm. “Let me see?”

  Adi held out her arm and Honi frowned when he saw blood seeping through her sleeve. “We’ll have to bandage it. You might even need stitches, although I would be hard to explain the bites.”

  Adi pulled her arm back and shook her head. “It’s not that deep, and the bleedings already stopping.” Then she turned towards him. “I thought you said if I could control my emotions, the spirit animals wouldn’t attack anymore!” Her voice got louder towards the end, and Honi flinched a little, inadvertently shushing her.

  “Don’t you dare shush me! You promised you could teach me how to deal with these… these pests! It’s getting worse, not better!”

  “I’m sorry! I don’t know why it didn’t work! Maybe we need to train harder…”

  “We? I keep hearing ‘we’! You’re not the one getting attacked and bitten and…” Adi’s voice was getting angrier. Honi had no clue what to say. He’d been so sure that the creatures were reacting to Adi’s emotions. Teaching her to calm herself had seemed the reasonable thing to do.

  “Look, I’ll talk to John and ask for more advice. Maybe there’s another way—”

  “You know what? You do that,” Adi interrupted him again. The anger had been replaced by cold determination, as if she had come to a conclusion that didn’t include him. Honi didn’t like this side of her at all. He steeled himself for the rejection he knew was coming.

  “Come back to me when you have new information. In the meantime, I’ll just deal with this myself. See you around, Honi.”

  The finality of her parting statement, the cold look she gave him when she left… he shivered and pulled his head down. He needed to talk to John double-quick and hope that the shaman had some new information, anything that would help them. Right now, it seemed that all the work they’d put in had been for nothing.

  9

  Adi ignored the comfortable booths at the back of the restaurant. Feeling a little vindictive, she asked to be seated at a table for four, large enough not to feel crowded, exposed enough to make Mrs. Worthington feel uncomfortable. She sat down and looked around.

  At this time of day, Umberto’s was the only place in town that served better food than burgers and pies. It was busy and bustling with students and office workers on their lunch break. The smell of garlic and the piped-in Italian pop music made her smirk. Grandmother would hate this.

  A tall, olive-skinned waiter with a harried smile approached the table. She ordered a bottle of water and watched him leave appreciatively. Not as sexy as Honi’s, but nice butt nevertheless. She sat up straight and frowned. She couldn’t stop thinking about the young Mekui’te, and when she did, she remembered the look on his face when she walked away.

  Expecting him to solve her issues had been a mistake. She regretted losing her temper with him, but she’d learned long ago that leaning on others didn’t help in the long run. As if on cue, the door opened and the forbidding face of her father’s mother ripped her out of her thoughts.

  Mrs. Worthington’s husband was Senator Worthington, and it was a never-ending source of irritation that she wasn’t allowed to carry the title herself. Adi had heard her introduce herself as “Mrs. Worthington, Senator Worthington’s Wife,” as if her marriage had elevated her to a social stratum far removed from everybody else’s. As a young girl, Adi had never heard a word spoken about her paternal grandmother. After she’d moved to the US, she’d found out why.

  The old lady smiled graciously at the hostess, but the second she spotted Adi waiting for her, her face slipped back to its dour factory setting. “Adalwolfa,” she greeted her granddaughter with a barely perceptible nod.

  “Grandmother,” Adi replied, equally without emotion. Every time she met that woman, she briefly hoped t
o connect on a familial level, and every time, that hope was dashed within the first few seconds.

  She sat back, arms crossed in front of her chest, and waited. She had lost her appetite and shook her head when the waiter looked at her questioningly. Her grandmother ordered a salad, “no oil, just lemon juice,” and a glass of white wine. Then they sat, watching each other warily, until the food was served.

  Eventually Adi cracked. “So why did you want to see me? You’ve hardly developed an interest in my studies since we last spoke.”

  Grandmother put her fork down and responded icily, “There is no need to take that tone. You know I’m concerned for your well-being.”

  Adi hmphed, then regretted the childish response when Mrs. Worthington glared at her. “Really, Adalwolfa. You are my granddaughter, no matter how unwisely your father chose.”

  Adi looked up and glared back. “Since you brought it up, let me ask you, what was your issue with my mother? I never got to the bottom of why you’re so hostile towards my family.” She raised her eyebrow and sat up straight, determined to get an answer to the question that had bothered her for years.

  She had never asked the question directly. When her parents were alive, they’d evaded the subject, and she had been too young to articulate her confusion. Other kids had two grandmothers who loved them. She had Oma-Adi, but her dad’s mom might as well have been dead. She was never mentioned.

  Later, when she’d moved to the States, her paternal grandmother, despite her coldness and hidden hostility, was the only connection to her father. She also held the purse strings until Adi came of age. So Adi had never come straight out and asked directly. Until now. Her stomach clenched as she waited.