Fae Unchained (The Mage Shifter War Book 2)

by Ann Denton

  I decided to push off the thinking. Philosophy could happen when I was old. But I had to get out this nervous, frightened, furious energy that kept swirling around like shoes in a dryer, kicking my ribs from the inside.

  I changed and headed to the gymnasium, which was dark. But the pool lights were still on under the water, reminding me a little of the late-night swims I used to take at home. That had been one of my few moments of reprieve, after the tutors were gone and my parents were off at some function or another. I’d loved going down to the pool and doing laps, faerie style, wings propelling me from above and skimming my body along the surface.

  I shoved down the nostalgia as I climbed slowly into the cold water. Instantly, goosebumps rose on my skin and I started to shiver. Perfect. The cold and the exercise would exorcise my thoughts, compel them to leave.

  I was finishing my twentieth lap when I heard the squeak of a door opening. I stopped swimming and touched down in the three feet of water at the shallow end to see who it was.

  Fucking Drake stood there in black swim trunks. And no shirt. The blue ripples of the water lights danced across his abs.

  My swim was officially ruined. The calm I'd found from sliding through the water was gone.

  I waded over to the steps and climbed out of the pool. I didn't bother to reach for a towel from the stack by the wall since I was just going to shower off anyway. Instead, I fluttered my wings to get most of the water off of them, incidentally splashing Drake with a few drops. I put a hand on my hip as I stood there, the rest of my body still dripping wet and clad in nothing more than a purple bikini courtesy of my go-bag, which included bikinis for some reason—thank you, Bodie.

  Irritation flooded me as I stared at Drake, the stupid, peace-killing interloper. Why had he picked the pool? Why had he picked this very moment? He was a damned dragon, for fuck’s sake! Shouldn’t he go swim in a volcano or something?

  Drake's eyes scanned down my body slowly and I didn’t miss the fact that his cock twitched beneath his swim trunks. His eyes narrowed before flashing back up to mine; his face stiff and angry, like he didn't enjoy the fact he’d been turned on and then caught.

  Well, I don’t like it either, Buddy. I hated the incessant tension that filled the air between us. Like he constantly expected me to sneak up and stab him in the back. Unlike him, I didn't do shit like that. If I was gonna kill him, I’d watch his face while I did it.

  But the errant thought made my throat tighten. I wasn’t quite sure how deeply mired I’d become in this new criminal underworld, but I was not going to allow myself to kill for hatred. Survival? Yes. Hatred? No. That made a person into a beast of a totally different color.

  Drake’s jaw twitched as if he’d sensed my thoughts about murder and then deliberately misinterpreted them, just like the fucker often did my words.

  The reality was, I didn’t hate him for what he’d done. I hated him for who he was. That damn, smirking, arrogant, know-it-all quality about him just chafed me raw. I liked to be dominated in bed, not out of it. I gave him a fake ass smile. "Pool's all yours."

  He just grunted in response.

  Caveman. Ugh.

  I hurried toward the locker room, ready to be away from Drake. I was so fucking done with the arguing and the stress. The MP was nothing compared to all this. That was the entire reason I'd wanted to hit up the pool—to chill the hell out. Well, that, and I was also hoping the sight of me in my bikini would tempt Easton and Bodie into another three-way. A devious grin crept onto my face.

  But Drake called out just before I could escape through the orange locker room door.

  Damn it all. Why couldn’t he just ignore me like he used to? Like when I asked questions and he didn’t even bother to answer? My heart began thumping out an answer to that question, but I didn’t want to hear it.

  I turned slowly, highly aware of my long, glistening legs and how cold the air was on my nipples. I wanted to be someplace else, anywhere else. And yet… I didn’t.

  "Aubry. There's something I want to bring up with the team later." He scratched his side, which made me hyper aware of his six-pack and that tiny line of black hair that had haunted more than one of my dreams.

  He strode toward me casually, or as casually as Drake could manage with that giant tree branch shoved up his pompous ass. He was still quite a few feet away when he stopped and shoved his hands into his trunk pockets.

  Fuck. I think he paused to adjust himself. So his hard-on wouldn’t be so obvious. I tried not to let my eyes flicker south to confirm my thoughts.

  I narrowed my gaze, waiting for him to speak, but he just cleared his throat and flicked his gaze away from me, like he couldn't stand the sight of me in the bikini. Was he pissed he was turned on? Or maybe it was guilt?

  Nah. That fucking lizard is too cold-hearted to feel anything. He probably just realized that my nipples could cut glass. It’s probably making him uncomfortable.

  For some childish reason, that thought made me smirk.

  "There are a lot of Portal Potions nearly finished here," Drake finally said. "I can get Larry and Tony to finish them up and then I can portal to different Mage Council houses around the globe. I can try to find another jewel."

  His words bashed my heart in like a set of brass knuckles.

  He wanted to repeat exactly what he’d already done? No, not even what he’d done—what he’d tried and failed to do? What the fuck had happened to being unpredictable? What was wrong with him? Did he have a death wish?

  The dark look in his eyes made me worried that he might. But even with that, I couldn’t tamp down on the rage he’d invoked in me.

  "What? No!" I immediately stormed over to him, glaring up at the tall, muscular fuck. "Do you even hear yourself? Do you know how idiotic that plan is? I thought you were the thinker, but what the hell? It’s like the wheel’s spinning but the hamster’s dead in there. That is the stupidest fucking thing—"

  "We need a jewel so we can hide permanently. This?" he gestured at the college in general, "is just temporary. We can’t man guns on the rooftops forever. And going to a Mage Councilor’s stash seems to be the only way to get one. They’ve clamped down on transporting the damn things and—"

  "There’s no way in fuck the guys will agree to this!" I wouldn’t let them.

  "They will if you back me," Drake said quietly.

  A whole new round of emotions set off like fireworks inside of me. Whizzing shock. Sparking fury. Shrieking despair. He wanted me to manipulate my mate bond? Use it so he could get his idiotic, masochistic way?

  "Fuck no!"

  Drake shoved a hand through his black hair, yanking on the ends. He was frustrated as fuck. Good. That made two of us.

  "Why do you even give a shit, as long as I get it done?" he growled.

  I stayed silent, anger seething in my veins as I tried to sort out the answer to his question.

  Why do I give a shit?

  "What’s your fucking problem with everything I do?" He took a step closer, but I held my ground, clenching my fists at my side.

  "Everything you do is reckless and stupid!" I spat.

  "Who the fuck cares?" he shouted, throwing his arms out wide. "My pack is dead! There’s no one left to worry about me!"

  "Yeah, well, I worry about you, you stupid Horntail!"

  I swallowed hard. Fuck me. I hadn't meant to say that out loud. He'd made me so mad that my filter had burnt to a crisp.

  "No. You don’t get to worry about me," he growled as he stared down into my eyes. "Not after what I did."

  "You don’t get to tell me what to do." I stepped up into Drake’s face, enjoying how his eyes flashed gold. Pissing him off and defying him gave me this twisted sense of satisfaction and I clung to it, embraced it, fanned the flames. "You aren’t my alpha. Or my mate."

  Those last words cracked open a gash in me that was as long and deep as the Grand Canyon. I almost couldn’t breathe.

  "Thank god for that," Drake’s tone was sarcastic, bu
t his body told me he didn't believe his own words. His chest heaved and a smoke ring escaped his lips.

  Clearly, I’d cracked him open, too, just as I had myself. Why were we always doing this to each other? Why did we love to hate and hurt one another so much?

  My heart thudded wildly, and my nipples tightened further under my swimsuit, sending a zinging electric feeling all the way down between my thighs. I could feel the anger radiating off of him, the need to dominate me pouring through his veins like liquid fire, and that instantly made me wet… and pissed off. I should not be getting wet for this asshole.

  I jabbed a finger into his rock-hard chest. "You couldn’t handle me as a mate, anyway, Maleficent."

  "I wouldn’t want to, you praying mantis—you’ve already bitten off the heads of both my friends." He stepped closer and my finger slid up his pec. His body was so hot that the sweat rose off him like steam.

  Every nerve ending I had was screaming for me to kneel—not because Drake was my alpha or my mate—he wasn't—but because his fury turned me right the fuck on, and my submissive side wanted to come out to play. To take his anger and watch it transform into control and orgasms. So, so many orgasms.

  That sweet apple cider smell invaded my senses once more. And now that I knew what it was—his alpha pheromones trying to subdue me—I couldn’t help but slip just the tiniest bit into sub space. He needed me—needed to control me—because everything else in his life was out of control.

  My eyelashes fluttered and I lowered my gaze, pressing my breasts forward like a good little sub presenting herself for her master.

  Wait.

  My eyes snapped back up.

  My master? Drake? Fuck no.

  The rational side of me was pissed that I’d looked down. To make up for it, to take back some of that control, I reached out and grabbed his dick—which was hard as a fucking rock.

  Big mistake. Huge mistake. It was massive… the mistake.

  Drake gripped my shoulders and spun me around. He shoved me against the locker door, smashing my cheek into the painted orange wood. "You don't touch me without permission."

  "Yes, sir."

  I couldn’t help it. It just... slipped out.

  He growled, but it quickly turned into a groan of barely contained desire.

  And that's when I knew…

  Neither of us could resist any longer.

  15

  Drake

  The moment the words ‘yes, sir’ slipped out of Aubry’s luscious mouth, I knew I was a fucking goner. I’d held back my sexually aggressive and dominating nature for so long that I thought it might kill me. The tension between us had built until it was as thick as my cock.

  But not anymore.

  I reached around her hip and threw open the locker room door, shoving us both inside. I pushed her across the cement floor and toward the opposite wall. My legs moved like they were demon possessed, never stopping until I pressed Aubry's chest and right cheek up against the cold metal of a long row of silver lockers.

  I pulled her arms up behind her back and made her clasp them like a good little submissive. She did it willingly, which was just as much of a fucking turn on as her ‘yes, sir’ had been.

  Mine, my beast growled. The sight of a helpless princess roused my dragon. Damsels were his favorite.

  Aubry gasped, whether it was from the chill of the metal or from my actions, I wasn't sure, but I reveled in it just the same. My dragon reared his horny head as the room filled with the scent of her arousal, and I felt my eyes burn as they flashed gold and horns sprouted from my hair.

  Down boy, I warned him darkly. A puff of smoke shot from my nostrils, but I felt my eyes cool off.

  My gaze traced over her figure from behind. I loved her hair. It was so long, perfect to wrap around my hand and pull. And her legs were willowy but had enough curve that when I ran my fingers over her ass, I could dig in.

  I did just that, playing with the hem of her bikini bottoms, teasing her as I studied her. Her skin was pale. And those wings. I couldn’t even say why they turned me on so damn much. My dragon loved them. He practically fucking purred at the sight.

  Part of me wanted to order her to strip, but there were two big problems with that. One, she was already mostly naked, the buildup of anticipation would be lost. And two, I was so fucking aroused I was nearing the point of madness, and I didn't have the patience for that fucking shit.

  My fingers raked up her sides, leaving long pink lines in their wake. The hiss that escaped her parted lips and the involuntary roll of her hips, told me all I needed to know. She was into this. She wanted this as badly as I did. Needed it... as badly as I did.

  I yanked on the strings of her top and ripped it away, replacing the purple triangles with my greedy hands. She moaned as I found her nipples and squeezed, rolling them out into deliciously hardened peaks. Just touching her after I’d been thinking about it for so long, denying myself for so long, sent my mind into a golden haze.

  Jesus. Fuck. This was... everything.

  I swallowed hard and shoved that thought as far away from my conscious mind as I could. Now was not the time to read too far into things. It would never be time for that. Ever.

  I smacked her ass hard, using it to clear my head and enjoying her yelp before I asked, "Sensation play?"

  She nodded.

  Yesss.

  "Pain?"

  She nodded again and my cock jumped. I pushed it roughly against her as I shifted one nail on my right hand into a sharp claw. I raked it down her side, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to leave a beautiful pink trail showing where I’d been.

  She gave a whimper and I could smell how wet it made her, so I repeated the process on the other side. Then I used my claws to slowly slice the back half of her bikini bottoms to ribbons, striping her ass before I shifted my hands back to human and untied the swimsuit and dropped it to the floor.

  "Please," she begged. "Please."

  I returned to kneading her breast with my left hand, and with my right, I grazed down the lean plain of her stomach, past her hip bone, and into the hot, creamy folds of her mouthwatering cunt.

  Fuck me, the scent of her arousal was inebriating. Like catnip. No, crack. No, catnip on crack. It had been driving me wild since the night I’d spent on Bodie’s couch, tossing and turning because that damned red rug in his room had been laced with her cum. I felt my eyes flash with heat once more as my fingers slipped in and out of her. A growl rattled up my throat and another puff of smoke escaped my lips.

  I wanted so badly to force her onto her knees and fuck her mouth as she gazed up at me with wide doe-eyes, like a lost, wounded animal. But I couldn't risk it. I wouldn't let her lips anywhere near my body for fear of inducing the...

  Again, I swallowed hard and buried my thoughts like I’d buried the bodies of my victims. The worthless criminals who couldn't follow through on their promises to me. Or mages who’d taken sadistic pleasure in hurting others.

  No, I was just going to have to fuck her from behind. Spread her ass cheeks and sink my dick into that tight pussy over and over again until I broke her, and maybe keep going even after that.

  I fingered her for a few seconds more, rubbing her clit with my dripping wet fingers, relishing the desperate sounds coming out of her throat and mouth. Even though she tried to suppress them like a good little sub, I hadn’t ordered her to keep silent yet because those sounds alone edged me.

  Her whole body quivered beneath me. Aubry’s soft wings pressed against my chest and teased my nipples, and those desperate sounds she made started turning into dangerous moans. She was gonna come soon. The air was damp with her desire and need. But I didn't want to give it to her. Not yet.

  So I slipped my hand back out of her and stepped back to stare at the breathtaking view of the most fantastic ass I'd ever seen. Small, but plump and so fucking round, I just wanted to bite the hell out of it.

  But I couldn't. I wouldn't allow my lips anywhere near her
body, either.

  Goddamn it, this was frustrating.

  My fingers gripped her hips with enough force to leave bruises as I prepared to lift her up and lower her down on me, like my own personal blowup doll, an object I would use again and again for my sadistic pleasure. But before I could get her feet off the ground, she spun around and glared up at me.

  Oh shit. Was she pissed? Had I gone too far? Fuck, we hadn't even discussed safe words, and that was one of the most important rules in a dom-sub relationship. Not that that's what this was... a relationship. Not at all.

  Shit.

  My heart hammered in my chest where sweat beads slowly rolled down my skin and evaporated into steam. My flames flared up internally, ratcheting up the heat so it matched my discomfort.

  But Aubry’s glare—the one I’d come to love and hate all at once—morphed as she moved her hands. Her soft fingers replaced those droplets of sweat, gliding up my abs and pecs with a gentle determination. I glanced down at her, relieved to find the glare had morphed into a devious little smirk. Her fingers kept trailing higher, over my shoulders, and around the back of my neck. Our faces way too fucking close for comfort, but I couldn't seem to move. She had me paralyzed, completely entranced by her touch.

  Damn it all.

  Was she part fucking siren? I didn’t do this shit. I didn’t get entranced. I fucked. Hard. But I couldn’t move because she had me so damn tangled up in feelings.

  "I want to watch your eyes turn gold when you come," Aubry said.

  She leaned in, about to bring her lips to mine, when finally, my wits came crashing back. A kiss could be an irreversible curse for us both.

  I grabbed Aubry’s throat and smashed her back into the lockers, making sure I didn't actually choke her hard enough to scare her. I knew I hadn’t scared her at all when her tongue came out and wet her lips. Those goddamned plush lips…

  "Don’t you dare top from the bottom," I hissed. Was she one of those subs who got off on being naughty and then punished? I smacked her ass hard three times.