She bit her lip and blinked, suddenly overwhelmed by the belief that she’d disappointed him somehow, and when he tore his gaze away and fixed his eyes on some distant point, her heart lurched.
“Why did you sing that?” he choked.
“I—I couldn’t help it. Sometimes singing is like a stress response, I guess. Did you not like it?”
His big chest rose and fell with a deep sigh and he returned his gaze to her. Deva clutched at his arms, grateful for the continued contact that grounded her despite the uncertainty of what he might say next.
“I loved it, but I don’t deserve it. I am not the man for you, Deva. I’m only your guardian. Besides, isn’t there something between you Ozzie West?”
Deva pressed her lips together, but relaxed her grip on his arms, running her hands up and over his biceps and back down as she considered how to respond. The contact on its own felt good, and she liked how he looked at her even though his aura was wild with conflicting emotions. He liked the contact too, which was apparent to her on many fronts. Despite his wavering aura, he hadn’t stopped holding her and his eyes kept drifting back to her mouth, his aura spiking bright red-gold each time.
Not to mention his sarong did little to conceal his arousal, even under the water.
“You know I am part ursa, right?” she said. “And ursa females choose their mates. And they rarely choose only a single male. I don’t see why I can’t choose you both if I want.”
Llyr’s hands shifted toward her low back as if he wanted her closer, though his words were a contradiction. “I am not saying you can’t have more than one. Just that one of them shouldn’t be me. I am here to serve you however you need, but I made a vow to Neph that I would not indulge myself with you. Your nature . . . well, it’s because you are part ursa, really. Do you even know what that song signified? What you were really asking for?”
“Love?” she asked.
“No, Deva. Not just love. I have heard turul mating songs before, and the one thing they all have in common is a promise to bind one’s soul to another. To do that requires the two people to join their bodies. To make love so deeply their souls meet. Your song was a promise to me, and I can’t accept that promise because I made a promise to your father that precludes it. I will guard you and help you through this ritual however you need, but that’s where my role must end.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, at the lack of conviction in his voice combined with the comfortable, familiar way his thumbs drifted back and forth over her sides through the waterlogged fabric of her dress.
“Then why did you kiss me?”
Llyr chuckled and shrugged. “You looked lost, and I needed you to stay focused on the moment. Ozzie isn’t here. I can tell that bothers you. If kissing you keeps you grounded, I’d do it again. In fact, I will do anything short of actually fucking you, as long as you keep things in perspective.”
“Why not that? What if fucking is what I need to keep things in perspective?” She was grateful for the cool water surrounding her lower body; she might have overheated otherwise.
“Because we don’t know how much of your ursa nature is tied to your fertility. Short of waiting for you to hit estrous, we have no way to tell.”
Her brows lifted as she realized what he meant. How much did he really know? “But you aren’t an ursa . . . I thought it was pregnancy that was the risk. If you can’t get me pregnant, why worry?”
He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “We don’t know I can’t. My link to you is like a blood meld, so we have to assume it works the same as one where pregnancy is concerned. You’re a complete mystery to us. All we know for certain is that you can reach all those humans out there if we feed you enough power.” His brow twitched and he dipped his head. “Speaking of which . . . get ready for another surge.”
Deva nodded and closed her eyes, focusing on her link to the bloodline. The entire lower half of her body began to tingle a moment later, and she gasped when a wave of raw power rushed through her lower limbs even more swiftly than before. Her muscles tensed and relaxed, leaving her pleasantly euphoric as even more of the bloodline emerged, a web of brilliant little lights that filled her mind.
“I need to be deeper, I think,” she said, keeping her eyes shut and focusing on the unyielding low-frequency hum of magic that seemed to be part of the water now. “Support me under the water.”
“Whatever you need,” Llyr said, sliding his hands up her back and shifting his body forward to hold her suspended just beneath the surface as she lay back. “Put your legs around my waist. I’ve got you.”
She let him guide her until her entire body save her face was submerged. She stretched her calves around his hips, which forced him closer between her thighs, and hooked her ankles together at his low back. The change in position provided a more complete connection with the water and the current of magic.
“How is that?” Llyr asked, his voice a low rumble partly muffled by the water that lapped over her ears.
“Better, but I still don’t have enough for a complete connection. We’re halfway there, though. I think . . .” She bit her lip, hesitating to admit something that had occurred to her as the water seeped through her gown. The fabric was completely saturated, but she could still feel a void in magic where it covered her skin. She felt ridiculous for freaking out over it earlier.
“I meant it when I said I’m here for you, Deva,” Llyr said. “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it.”
“I don’t need you to do anything.” She kept her eyes shut to maintain the courage to tell him. “But I think I need to be naked.”
Before she could chicken out, she mentally dissolved the conjured gown. At her back, Llyr’s hands warmed now that there was no dress separating his skin from hers. He remained dead silent and statue-still, and Deva slowly opened her eyes, uncertain what she would see.
Llyr’s eyes were a maelstrom of whirling energy, his aura a vivid red. She couldn’t see his hips from this angle, but didn’t need to. The hard ridge of flesh pressed between her thighs was a searing reminder of how she affected him.
“Are you all right?” she asked. Her voice seemed to snap him out of some sort of trance and his eyes cleared to a vibrant, placid aqua. He smiled.
“Never better,” he said and lifted his brows. “Decided the dress was overrated, did you? After all that fuss earlier.”
The teasing tone made her smile wider and she used her hold on his hips to leverage herself into a sitting position. “I never realized how much easier it is to absorb the magic through my skin.”
“Dragon skin is like that,” Llyr said. “Especially the erogenous zones. A dragon’s horns and his cock absorb power even more easily than his hands.”
“How do you know so much about all the other races?”
“Thiasoi training when I was young. We were forbidden from mating between the races before, but not from enjoying sex with each other. We had to understand where the limits were so we could avoid crossing the line.”
“So you also know that you can’t impregnate a dragon unless she’s marked you and wants to bear your child.” She had also been educated in all the races’ various differences, but only in an effort to become better acquainted with her own nature.
He gave her a quizzical look. “True . . . What are you suggesting?”
“Nothing at all. Just making sure we understand each other.” She gave him a sweet smile and leaned in to kiss him, enjoying the warmth of his body now that there was no barrier between them, save the waterlogged sarong around his hips.
Llyr’s hands slid up her back and he eagerly returned the kiss, his enthusiasm still at odds with his cautious language earlier. But one thing she had learned about the nymphaea was that they were by nature a hedonistic race, so it should come as no surprise that he would happily indulge in the pleasure of a simple, harmless kiss. As long as she kept things in perspective.
When they broke away, she had the urge to sing again, but stifled it and sighe
d instead.
“What is it?” he asked, so acutely attuned to her moods through their blood meld. She had liked that quality at first, but regretted it now. She didn’t want to give him another reason to dismiss her growing affection for him.
“This feels nice,” she said, slipping her arms around his shoulders and laying her cheek against his chest. Her legs hooked over a big, smooth root that created a ledge past which the Source’s waters cascaded to another pool below. The water rushed over the tangled roots in a constant current, the sound of it inspiring another verse of her song for Llyr. Between them, his erection throbbed in time with the pulse in her naked core and the beat of her composition clarified in her mind.
Even though she knew the arousal could be nurtured and teased into something more pleasurable, she enjoyed the steady warmth that flickered between them. His aura was brighter now, his arousal a magnet for even more magic that as yet remained bound up in his restraint. Even though she couldn’t easily see her own aura, she was certain if she looked there would be evidence of the same. Though she knew her task today relied on absorbing as much of that power as possible, she savored the slow burn that lingered between them and how it kept her musical muse primed.
He was her protector for today, but what about tomorrow? Perhaps after this task was completed and they were away from the overbearing scrutiny of her parents, she could convince him of the sincerity of her song. Yes, she still loved Ozzie, but she felt like she had barely scratched the surface of her capacity for love and wanted to explore every possibility there was. Besides, Ozzie wasn’t here.
“It feels incredible,” Llyr said, dipping his head to press a gentle kiss to her shoulder. “Are you ready for the next phase? They are waiting, and I believe you said you were only halfway to having enough power.”
She sighed and reluctantly pulled away from his embrace. “I’m ready. Hold me like before,” she said.
He nodded and splayed his fingers at her back, leaning forward as she arched until her torso slipped beneath the water again. This time he pushed his hips into hers and his cock pressed tighter to her core, the texture of the gauzy fabric between them a rough reminder of the promise he’d made her father. She inhaled sharply at the rush of sensation, but said nothing, only smiling up at him.
Llyr smiled back, though this time it seemed forced. His eyes swirled with both desire and the same uncertainty she felt tangled up inside her.
Deva sang again, but she kept the song light and unfocused. When she closed her eyes, however, she saw a pair of faces juxtaposed, and two songs merged. Ozzie’s stormy gaze had haunted her dreams for the past year, reinforcing her certainty that they were bound together somehow. With her body lit up at Llyr’s touch, a fresh, new desire took hold. The desire to have them both bound to her this way, both their hands and mouths on her, her body awakening under their ministrations. With the two of them, she could almost fool herself into believing that finding a soul mate was possible even if she didn’t have a soul.
Chapter Seven
Power surged into Deva like an immense wave crashing over her and she let out a cry, her eyes flying open.
Llyr stared down at her, his uncertainty replaced by a look uncannily similar to the look Ozzie had given her the last time she had seen him.
“I feels wonderful, doesn’t it?” he asked. “The power they’re sharing with us.”
Deva nodded and closed her eyes again, relaxing against Llyr’s strong, supportive hands.
For the first time that day, she honed her focus and really felt the magic flooding through her. Within all that power, she found the love that created it and the abundance of pleasure that gave it potency. Of all her parents and aunts and uncles—of all the nymphs and satyrs and dragons and ursa and turul who had come into the Haven to participate in the festivities—they all understood that they could love without limit and accepted that as inevitable. She had witnessed as much with her own eyes when seeing her mothers with her fathers, but for the first time, she felt how much power there was in the bonds they had created with their mates. Those bonds were the source of all that power, not just the Nirvana they produced when they joined together.
She could have the same. And when this was over, she would take Llyr with her to the human world and make it her mission to find a love like that for herself. Whether it was only with Ozzie and Llyr, she didn’t know, but she would start with them.
Even though she was born without a soul, that didn’t have to limit her. Perhaps all it meant was that she had no limits. Her possibilities were as endless as the threads she followed through the bloodline in her mind, and she intended to explore every single one.
Gradually the most recent surge of power subsided, leaving her with the steady flow of lower potency power that had increased to a steady current as the day wore on. She was glad for the slow build of it, at least. It had given her time to acclimate to the sensation of becoming a conduit for all that magic. Not to mention the experience of Llyr’s enticing proximity.
She sat up again, taking a deep breath as her hips settled against his. “Is this all right?”
He slipped his hands down her wet back, the gentle glide sending a buzz of warmth between her thighs. The intensity in his gaze told her the intent of his touch was far from casual.
“More than all right,” he said, dropping his gaze to her breasts, then down to where her legs were spread across his hips, her core tight against his fabric-covered erection.
Deva’s pulse picked up at this change in his demeanor. It was as though some of the tight restraint she’d witnessed in him earlier had dissolved.
“I don’t mean to distract you . . .” she said, her breathing too shallow for more conviction. She’d meant to make a joke, a tease reminiscent of his earlier comment about distracting her.
“My sole purpose today is to focus on you, Deva. Nothing you do could distract me from that . . . Quite the contrary.” He rested his hands on her hips and gave the slightest squeeze and pull, forcing her tighter against his arousal.
Deva let out a soft gasp and pressed her hands to his chest. Her eyes widened at the blast of pleasure that tore through her despite the rough texture of his sarong.
Llyr groaned, his brows twitching with the return of that desperate conflict she’d witnessed before.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
His fevered gaze drifted over her once more. “You are beautiful. I’m glad you got rid of the dress.”
“So am I. It’s ridiculous to wear clothes in the water, anyway.” She slid one hand up to rest on his shoulder and trailed the other down his stomach to the top of his sarong. “You should get rid of yours too.”
“Are you sure it won’t distract you?”
She bit her lip and smiled. “I think I like this kind of distraction. It makes sense. Is that strange?”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, his tension easing and a more genuine smile spreading across his face. “Not at all. Your dragon nature craves the contact. It’s instinctual, I think, considering the circumstances. Why don’t you lie back again and sing? We should have another surge of power soon.”
“Sing . . . the song I sang for you before?” Her pulse raced with hopeful anticipation.
“Yes. Sing me that song again. Your turul nature is clearly the strongest. I’m wondering if we can take advantage of that strength to awaken your dragon power more. Consider this an exercise.”
She lifted an eyebrow at his suggestive tone. “What exactly do you plan to do to awaken my dragon power?”
He grinned. “Lie back. You’ll see.”
Nearly breathless, she did as he asked. Llyr glided his hands up her back again and leaned over to support her as she let her torso sink beneath the surface once more. Once stable, she arched her back until her breasts emerged from the water. Llyr’s breath gusted hot against her sternum, making her nipples ache for contact. They tightened to hard peaks when she glanced down to see his gaze fixed on both dark m
ounds.
Just as the newest surge of power flooded into her, Llyr dipped his head and captured one stiff bud in his mouth.
Deva let out a soft cry and pushed up into him, reflexively grasping at his head. After a few seconds of delicious torment, he released her breast and glanced at her with one brow raised. “Good?”
“Yes. So good.”
“Sing for me again,” he commanded, then lowered his mouth to her other breast and flicked his tongue across the pebbled peak.
Deva expelled a breath, then filled her lungs in an effort to focus. She began the song once more, softly at first, still a little hesitant after Llyr’s earlier reaction, but his continued teasing of her breasts allowed her to forget everything but the desire, love, and happiness that the song represented.
The pleasure of his touch perfectly complemented the flood of power from the water, and when another surge arrived, she trailed off, her voice disappearing into the canopy above as she focused on the increasing number of threads visible in the bloodline with each fresh inundation of magic.
Once it subsided again, she remained relaxed in Llyr’s grip, enjoying the languid teasing of his tongue on her breasts too much to move.
He pulled back a moment later, and she sighed at the reprieve from constant attention and opened her eyes.
“How close?” he asked.
“Closer than before. We aren’t there yet.”
The blue whirlpools of his eyes flitted down her torso and back up. “And you . . . How do you feel? Did you enjoy feeding your dragon nature a bit?”
“Yes. Is . . . is that all it is?” she asked, hoping that he would tell her no. As much as she’d enjoyed everything he’d done, she knew there had to be more. Her body’s awakening had begun the year before, but until today, she’d never known how good it could feel to surrender to someone else’s attention. Someone who desired giving her pleasure as much as she craved receiving it.
She tightened her legs around his hips and her core spasmed at the tilt of his body.
Fate's Fools Box Set Page 5