Fae Captive (The Mage Shifter War Book 1)

by Elle Middaugh

  I moaned as more heat pooled between my legs. "Please, Bodie," I gasped, swimming in a haze of lust. "Please fuck me. You’re my mate. My only mate."

  With a growl, he quickly flipped me over until I was gazing up at his dark silhouette in front of a big, full moon. "Say my name."

  "Bodie," I whispered.

  He thrust into me and kept pumping this time. "Say it again."

  "Bodie."

  He rocked into me harder and faster until I could barely breathe, until I was so close to coming my head started to spin.

  "Say it louder."

  "Bodie... " I moaned with a bit more force. It was a warning of sorts, letting him know how close I was to coming undone.

  "Louder, baby."

  "Bodie!" I cried, cresting that delicious peak and tumbling down the other side hard. "Oh, fuck, yes! Bodie, yes!"

  Again, I writhed and twisted as if he were wringing the very soul from my body with his cock. My back arched and I came up off the rock, clawing at the hard stone beneath my fingers. Bodie reached down and wrapped a muscular arm around my waist, holding my hips flush against his own as he pushed deeper and deeper inside of me. Sweat glistened on his intense face, his eyes glowing a brighter and brighter gold as his pleasure built and built.

  He suddenly stood, wrapping both arms around my waist and lifting us up. The breath flew out of me and my legs wrapped tighter around his waist so that I wouldn’t fall. Bodie chuckled. One hand curled around my ass, holding me up and digging into my crack, while the other hand reached up and rubbed that erogenous spot on my wing.

  "Come for me one more time, baby. I'm almost there."

  He didn't have to tell me twice. I clenched all around him as another orgasm wrecked me, tearing me apart before gloriously piecing me back together. His eyes flashed gold and suddenly he pumped fast, slamming me up and down on him where he stood. Then he was growling—roaring—his pleasure echoing off the silent tree trunks before being muffled by the cascading falls.

  Fuck. Yes. I knew his eyes would glow when he came.

  When we were finally finished, panting as we held each other tight, I couldn't help but stare into the eyes of... my mate. A man I was falling in love with. My captor.

  I glanced up at the top of the waterfall where we'd stripped and discarded my chains.

  As good as this was, as perfect as it felt, would I still stick around if those chains weren't going back on?

  If I had my freedom and my freewill, would I choose Bodie and the shifters, or would I run away and never look back?

  21

  Drake

  My best friends were too fucking distracted to listen to reason, which meant, if we were gonna defeat the mages, I was gonna have to do it alone. And I needed to do it fast. I had a council member hunting me down. With the amount of power and resources behind him, I was sure it was only a matter of time before he found me. My clock was ticking. I needed to make the most of whatever time I had left. I needed to get a mage jewel. Now.

  I opened the upstairs bedroom window of the cabin and climbed out onto the ledge. The old wood creaked under my weight. I leaned out as far as I could before I shifted, trying to avoid punching any holes through the walls. Then I flapped my wings and took off into the night sky, leaving Bodie, Larry, and the pixie behind.

  And Aubry.

  The snooty little princess had my guys wrapped up in knots. The only good thing I could say about the situation was that it appeared she hadn't done it on purpose; so she hadn't quite fallen to mage levels of evil yet. That was her one redeeming quality.

  That, and her ability to pull off a lie. That first time she'd bluffed about being able to cook, I'd actually believed her. A small grin broke out across my face as I remembered her salty attitude after I'd complimented her burning skills instead of her cooking skills.

  She always bit the corner of her lip when she got annoyed. It made me want to grab her, pull that bit of lip free, and tell her that I had something else she could do with that smart mouth.

  Fuck me. Having her around twenty-four-seven was clearly distracting me too. The three of us had always taken our pleasure elsewhere, and left it there. None of us had ever brought a girl back to the crew before. Just went to show that having a woman in the mix messed up our dynamic. I couldn't even be all that pissed at the guys when half the time seeing Aubry in those chains made me so hard I had to go punch things for hours just to get my blood away from my dick and into other places.

  Focus, you stupid reptile, I cursed myself.

  I caught an air current as I made my way back toward the light blotted streets in the distance. Los Angeles gleamed in the darkness, as if it were a mage jewel itself.

  I swallowed hard, realizing what I’d have to do—go for one of the mage jewels at a council member's house. According to Larry, they each had one. Most of the mages lived in different parts of the world. With their fucking Portal Potions they could just teleport to wherever they needed to be in moments.

  Only two members lived in Los Angeles.

  The first option was Triton Vale, who was fucking hunting me. I'd bet my left nut his place was jerry rigged full of magical traps.

  The second option was Aubry's parents. From what I'd heard, they were too busy scrambling around trying to find Aubry—the only people on the Mage Council actually concerned with finding her—and setting up her cousin as Chief Enforcer in the interim.

  With all the distraction surrounding them, they would be the easier targets. And because of my research on Aubry's background, I knew exactly where they lived and what spells they used to guard their home, making it even easier.

  I headed west toward L.A., but landed before I got into the city. Too many lights. Instead, I shifted to human and pulled out my phone. I called an Uber. Then I called Larry. If I made it out of there, I was gonna need to meet up with him. If I didn’t... someone needed to know where I’d gone, so the guys would at least be able to learn the truth.

  "Don’t you think you should tell the others?" Larry asked.

  "Nope." I responded bluntly. "People will need them."

  I hung up the phone before he could say anything else or I could change my mind. I chucked it out the window of the Uber, smashing it hard against the pavement below.

  My driver’s eyebrows went up in the rearview mirror, but my death-glare silenced him.

  Or so I thought.

  He asked, "Um, man. How you gonna tip me?"

  For the first time in days, I laughed. Of course, that’s what he cared about. I took a twenty from my wallet and handed it up to him.

  He gave me a head nod. "Thanks."

  I turned, looking back out the window without responding. I needed to visualize the layout of the mansion. I hadn’t looked over Aubry’s file in weeks, not since the negotiation had gone south. But I remembered her parents having a first floor bedroom. If I could get past the mage spells to get in there… I’d be in business.

  The mage jewel we’d stolen from that shipment belonged to a mage who’d been moving across the globe for this very reason. Mage jewels were typically well protected by their keepers; the council had the most powerful jewels and keepers around. Their mastery of magic would ensure their mage jewels were harder to touch than a dragon’s dick.

  The joke that my father used to make had flown into my head out of nowhere, but I blinked, refocusing on the traffic blurring by outside the car window, and shoved it away just as quickly. It was a distraction. Just like any thought of the guys or Aubry. This job was going to be difficult. Probably the hardest I’d ever attempted.

  I’d be lucky to get past the Confusion Spell that I was pretty sure surrounded the stone. That kind of spell was intended to make you forget what you were doing, who you were, and where you ought to be. It made people into sitting ducks. The Summersets could wake up in the morning and find me sitting on their marble floors, drooling on myself.

  Damn it, Drake. Get a grip. I wasn’t typically this full of imagination. Possibiliti
es. Negative outcomes. Where the fuck is this coming from?

  A little voice in the back of my head told me it was because of Aubry.

  That infuriating little fae. Somehow, she’s made me soft. Somehow, she’s made me worry about getting fucking hurt. But why? Stupid. This was stupid. I wasn’t like the other two. I wasn’t fooled by her looks. Those would fade. I wasn’t hamstrung by her. Not a fucking chance.

  Her furious face popped into my mind—that sexy, deadly glare she’d given me the moment she’d realized I was working out and she couldn’t. No! Erase. Erase.

  I scrubbed a hand down my face and took a couple deep breaths, trying to center myself again. My leg bounced against the shitty fabric of the backseat, creating a small plume of dust.

  Doubt could sabotage me before I even got started on the mission. Instead, I started thinking about goals and the steps I’d need to take in order to reach them. First step, getting into the area by pretending to be a tourist.

  "Where’s Hugh Hefner’s house?" I asked the Uber driver, trying to sound casual. Pretty sure I just ended up sounding like an irritable dick. "You know, the one that sold after he passed?"

  That got the driver’s lips moving; it always got the locals talking. Whether they liked him or not, the humans always had an opinion on the Playboy mogul. The driver rattled on, which gave me time to nod as if I gave a shit, but also time to think of my next few steps. As soon as we drove by the mansion that used to be the Playboy Palace, I tapped on the window. "You can let me out here."

  The driver stopped mid-sentence and pulled over on the side of the road. I climbed out and pretended to care about the fancy gates and the big house beyond, until he drove off. Then I hurried down the street, past a tour guide who was using a bullhorn to spread gossip and a paparazzi with a camera waiting for someone to leave their house.

  The Summerset’s place was just around the next corner and two houses in. It was a big, three story white mansion. I knew the fae had a ton of money. Their glamour let the sneaky shits just walk into any bank and pretend to be anyone. The unethical ones cleaned out human and shifter accounts on the regular. I wasn’t sure if Aubry’s parents were the ethical or unethical type, nor did I particularly give a shit. They were hateful assholes, either way. Especially for what they did to their own daughter, refusing to negotiate at all—even if word on the street was they were supposedly looking for her now.

  I stepped behind an old cypress tree and studied the house.

  Fae only had elemental magic, so I wasn’t too worried about the kind of magic they might use directly against me if I actually encountered them. Particularly summer fae, since I’d be fighting fire with fire. The spells around the stone were going to be harder.

  I lingered by the cypress and let out a low growl. Immediately, I heard footfalls pad toward me and barks sound. They had dogs. Okay. I could deal with that. My eyes scanned the fence surrounding their property and the overhang on the pitched roof. I counted at least three cameras.

  I pulled out another burner phone and dialed. A shifter buddy of Easton’s answered. I gave him the address and said only one other thing. "Cut all the electronics."

  "Gimme half an hour," he replied.

  I paced for that half an hour, walking to the far end of the block and tossing the burner phone into some rich asshole’s yard before I walked back. I checked my watch every thirty seconds, growling whenever the damn dogs got too close.

  Eventually, it was time. The sky was finally dark enough and the streets were clear of tourists when the lights on the Summerset house winked out.

  I shifted into dragon form.

  It only took two seconds for the dogs to run away whimpering with their tails tucked between their legs. I huffed out a laugh in my dragon form, which resulted in a puff of smoke. I cracked my neck, and swung my wings in a circle, giving myself one last deep breath before I squatted down and then launched into the air.

  Fae were tricksters. That was one stereotype about their race that ran true no matter who the fae was. Their downfall was thinking they were more clever than I was. Dragons were sharp-witted too, and as a bonus, we knew all about treasure.

  If I were an arrogant ass fae who loved to revel in his own cleverness, and I had a glowing jewel to hide… I knew exactly where I’d keep it.

  I glided up and over an air current, and then dived. Not for the house—for the pool. The giant, kidney shaped body of water was beautiful in the moonlight. The underwater lights that would normally illuminate the space like some magazine-worthy oasis were all out. Except for one, glimmering under the water at the deep end.

  Bingo.

  I dove down, tucking my wings to streamline my descent and hopefully avoid any unnecessary splashing. I’d smash the pool wall, grab the jewel, and be back in the sky before the Summersets could even make it outside.

  I broke through the surface of the water and seconds later I was in front of the glowing light. The yellow beam was misshapen because the jewel behind the cover wasn’t a perfect circle. It was chipped. My claws smashed the cement wall once, twice, a third time. But the cement didn’t crumble.

  The water currents swirled around me as I stared at the jewel, which was just out of reach.

  Of course, the fucking mages had probably reinforced the wall somehow. Damn it! My plan to smash and grab wouldn’t work. I might have to melt the thing out. But to do that, I’d need another breath. I shoved off the bottom of the pool and swam toward the surface.

  But I just swam and swam and swam.

  What the everloving fuck?

  I tried not to let myself panic. I tried to think through what might be happening. The water was endless… just like those pouches Larry made for us. Aw shit! I was stuck inside a goddamned Expansion Spell.

  Where the fuck does all this extra water come from though? Are they pulling it from the entire damn ocean? I wondered as I stroked my arms through the water, not feeling any closer to the surface than I had just a minute ago.

  I stopped swimming. I had to think.

  This was why we hadn’t gone after any of the damn council members’ jewels. This right here. My breath was slowly giving out, and I didn’t want to have a damn fae leer at and lord over my fucking corpse when it washed up.

  Think!

  Expansion pouches only had one opening. You could only get items in and out of one hole. Even if you cut a slit in the pouch, nothing would spill out.

  This pool, then, only had one exit. And even though I’d entered from the surface, those water currents had swirled as soon as I’d touched the far wall. Fuck. I wouldn’t put it past a damned fae to somehow magically spin that expansion spell around and mix shit up to ensure the opening no longer faced the direction I expected. Fuck them and their cleverness.

  Goddamn it!

  I turned around and swam toward the fucking pool floor, feeling like an idiot.

  My lungs squeezed harder and harder, begging for a breath, as black flecks started to swim before my eyes. I could almost hear Easton’s eulogy, because Bodie would never give one. "Drake was my friend. And he was a good guy. Until he decided to be an idiot and sneak off by himself."

  The throbbing in my temples from the water pressure... the heaviness of my wings under the water... I started to become conscious of every tiny bit of it. I was almost out of time.

  The last few bubbles escaped my mouth as I neared the mage jewel. Almost to the bottom, I told myself. But even my internal voice sounded weak, labored. I swam, but my strokes weren’t strong enough. I could feel my mouth start to open. My lungs were about to fill up with water and drown me.

  Right here. In some dickheaded fae’s pool. And I won’t even get to tell the guys I’m sorry.

  I won’t even get to tell Aubry how endlessly annoying she is.

  Because my body was going to betray me.

  I tried to shift back to human, to see if I could buy myself another second, another swimming stroke. But I couldn’t. I was too weak to shift. The magic didn
’t even start.

  One more stroke, I told myself weakly. One more before you open your mouth.

  I forced myself to push through the water one last time despite the burn in my chest, despite the desperate need for oxygen in my body. My clawed hand reached out to brush against the bottom of the pool.

  I at least had to know if I was right.

  But my claws scraped against nothing. Only air.

  Air!

  Hope and adrenaline filled me, giving me just a tiny bit more energy. I gave three more weak strokes before I burst through the illusory bottom of the pool, dropping through thin air a few feet before my dragon hit onto the hard concrete below.

  I was in some kind of underground room. A set of stairs went up at the far end. It wasn’t too different from the place we kept Aubry. My mind appreciated the irony even as my lungs rasped and took in deep, gulping breaths of pure, sweet oxygen.

  Holy fuck.

  My heart started whipping me as hard as I’d ever whipped any sub during a sex session. Asshole, asshole, idiot! I could hear it shouting with every beat. My entire black scaled body lurched as my heart lashed out and my lungs struggled to suck in enough air.

  That’s why it took me a second to hear the fae descend the stairs.

  I spun around, but I was too late. Fire engulfed my body and my face. As a dragon, the fire didn’t bother me. The fact that the fire stole my precious oxygen did. At least I’d gotten enough to regain my senses. Enough that my mind was functioning again.

  So when I dove back into the water, it wasn’t to escape. It was because I’d just realized how a fucking fire fae would retrieve a mage jewel.

  I floated in front of the plastic light cover and opened my mouth. Fire spewed from my glands and turned the water into a steaming, hissing, boiling mess. Slowly, the plastic contorted under the heat, bubbling until I could reach a claw underneath it and rip the fucking thing off.

  Tossing the cover aside, I reached into the little mage-made grotto. I grabbed the jewel and held it close, tucking it into my claws. Then I used my wings and legs to propel myself back to the bottom of the pool, and I burst through the surface.