Property of the Fae

by Laxmi Hariharan

  Anger whips through me. I lower my head and grit my teeth so hard that pain shoots up the side of my jaw. “Fucker hurt you.”

  “My fault.” Her voice is hard, shorn of all emotion. “Seemed I was convinced that I deserved it. That it was I who’d invited first my father then him to treat me the way they did.”

  I stalk around to stand in front of her.

  “Maybe it’s me. I seem to attract a certain type.” Her gaze rakes down my features.

  A nerve throbs at my jaw, “Don’t compare me to your ex or your father. Or anyone else for that fucking matter.” I draw myself up to my full height. “By the time I am done with you, Fire, I can promise, you will have no regrets.”

  “Ego much?” She raises her hand to my cheek, and I snake out my arm to circle my fingers around her wrist.

  I shouldn’t touch her, not after what she told me about her past, but hey, wave a red flag at me and that’s exactly where I head for. Discretion? Meet me. Your nemesis.

  “I am not one of your schoolboy crushes.”

  Her eyes gleam. “You are far more dangerous, Soldier, which is why—”

  “—You should let me treat you the way you deserve to be.” I brush my thumb over the delicate skin of her wrist.

  “Oh?” Her tone is polite. “How might that be?”

  “Let me kiss you and protect you. Fuck you and break you. Mark you and keep you safe so no one can ever hurt you again.”

  “No one except you?”

  A cold feeling grips my chest, and I push it away. “I don’t deny there may be pain involved.” Nice one. Acknowledge that you are going to hurt her; but at least no one can accuse me of being dishonest, right? Since when have I been so upfront about my feelings? Oh! Wait, that would have to be since I met her. She makes my insides churn in such a way that I am tempted to lay out all my feelings, a-n-d, last I checked, I still had my balls.

  I crack my neck, choosing my words carefully. “Besides, that’s narrowing the odds a lot, don’t you think? A known devil is better than an unknown enemy after all?” Taking refuge in clichés? You are so screwed, motherfucker. Might as well go all in. “Let me cherish you the way you have never been before.”

  Cherish. Huh, did I just say cherish?

  Her breath hitches; her pupils dilate.

  Okay then, guess it was the right word. Who’d have thought a few letters strung together could have such an impact? Who’d have thought I meant every single syllable? Not me. Didn’t see this coming, nope.

  Didn’t think I’d feel so much for one tiny woman, in such little time. Nor fight it with everything in me either.

  She swallows, and my gaze falls to the pulse fluttering at her throat. So delicate. So beautiful. So fucking vital. I want to gather her up and cradle her close to my chest, as I thrust into her and take her and bring her to climax over and over again. How can one female invite so many contradictory emotions in me? A low growl rumbles up from me.

  Her gaze shoots to my ears. “So what they say about the Fae is true?”

  I tilt my head.

  “Your ears elongate when you experience high emotion?”

  “Good guess.” I bare my lips, and my canines drop. “Don’t ask me that inevitable question of what other part of me sharpens when I am aroused.” I can’t stop the smirk that curls my lips, but hey, I am allowed, right?

  She shakes back the hair from her face. “I will admit, I am curious.”

  I draw my brows down.

  “You Fae are skilled at controlling your body’s reactions, so they don’t betray your emotions.” She nibbles on her lower lip. “Hence—”

  “Hence it means that I am not attempting to hide anything from you. Given everything that has transpired between us, you have to admit, it’s time to drop the final pretenses, too, isn’t it?”

  She tugs on her arm, and I let her go.

  She doesn’t skitter away. Awesome. Progress.

  “I am not sure I like the direction of this conversation—” She raises her shoulders then lets them drop. “That’s not going to stop you from telling me what’s on your mind.” Her breathing goes shallow. “Is it?”

  A gust of wind crashes into my back, then falls away.

  I keep my arms at my sides. I can’t touch her, not after what she told me. I can’t not show her how it can be between us, especially after what she shared with me. Fuck this. Going around in circles and overthinking is not my style. It’s best to be upfront and come clean. If we have a hope in hell of any form of relationship…and not that I have experience of them. Well, it’s a big fucking zero, me having held down any kind of extended intimacy with any of the women. She hates me already—ding-ding-ding…and that’s a new record I’ve set in just how quickly I’ve screwed up my chances of having a semblance of intimacy with her.

  All the more reason to say it all, get it off my chest. Get off other parts of me too while I am it. What? You thought I was going all sweet and caring? Nah. Not my style. I want something, I take it. Damn the consequences. This black-and-white approach works much better for me. No complications, see? Besides, nothing I do is going to salvage me in her eyes, not after I grabbed her and stole her away.

  “Fact is that I’ve never had such a primal reaction to any female before.”

  “You mean you’ve never carted them off from a public place, only to spank them and have them fall apart, then proceed to spill your closest, deepest, most intimate secrets?” She twists her lips. “Me neither.”

  My heart thumps.

  Warmth floods my chest, and I don’t get it. A few seconds ago, I’d been all set to let her go, allow her to walk away…no, I am lying to myself. There is no way in hell I can let her leave. The physical force inside me pushes against my chest. Urges me to tell her, just do it already. I square my shoulders. “I want to take you, Fire, consume you, own you. I want your heat to burn away the filth that taints me. To wipe away all those memories, that bitterness inside me. I need you, and it’s not only physical. It’s more than that, an emotion I cannot give voice to. It’s something that comes from within.” I squeeze my eyes shut. “I want to break you, Fire, I want you to submit me, to put you back together and find myself through you all over again. If you’ll let me.”

  5

  Jess

  His words send a ripple of apprehension down my back. His tone is so filled with feeling, his voice so tortured, that goosebumps flare on my skin. I want to tell him that I understand, that I know what it is to have your feelings catch you unawares. That I feel the same, yet I can’t. I stay rooted to the spot.

  He cracks his eyelids open; his blue eyes glitter with purpose. “Does that surprise you?”

  Yes. “N…no.” I wring my hands.

  “Do I scare you?”

  No. “Y…yes.” I look away. I need to leave, get away from him. I tried that already, and see how that panned out?

  “That second time, it was you who stopped me from transforming, right?” I gnaw on my lower lip, then turn back to look down at the river far below. “How did you do that?”

  He pauses a beat. “I reached out to you on the psychic plane, identified your presence, then slammed down a barrier between your psychic and physical self.”

  Anger churns my guts. “So easy for you, eh?” I snap my fingers. “You wanted to hold me back, so you did.”

  “Do you blame me?” He rakes his fingers through his hair. “You’ve been baiting me from the moment you saw me. Why?”

  I blink. Umm…okay wasn’t expecting him to ask me that outright. “I didn’t bait you.”

  “Bullshit.” His shoulders go solid. “You distracted me during that fight with Dante.”

  “Didn’t mean to.” I set my jaw.

  It seems every muscle in his body coils tight. The tension between us ratchets up.

  “You’re doing it again.” His voice drops an octave.

  It tugs at my nerve endings. Every pore of my skin seems to snap to attention. I am waiting. Waiting for what?
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  “I have no idea what you mean.” I toss my hair. The wind picks it up and flings the long locks at him. The warmth from him shimmers all around me. We are not touching, and yet his essence envelops me. His shadow. His feelings. How can I be so tuned in to this man when I barely know him?

  “Liar.” His big arms swoop down to grip the railing on either side of me and bracket me in. He's all around me, and he's still not touching me. And I want him to. And I don’t. Not after what he did the last time.

  “You still haven’t answered me.” His voice resonates from above me.

  It pours over me, calling out to me to turn and plaster my skin to his. To rub my aching breasts against his chest. To drop to my knees and bury my nose in that throbbing, swollen part of his, then take him into my mouth and… My thighs clench. Moisture flows between my legs. I’m getting off on this man, and he’s right here, right in front of me. So what’s preventing me from giving in to him?

  I duck under his arms and walk to the other end of the balcony.

  “You caught me off guard the first time." I turn my face toward him. "This time, let’s see who wins.”

  His eyebrows knit.

  I bare my teeth in the semblance of a smile. My heart pounds.

  His gaze widens, all the blood drains from his face, and he flings out a hand. “Jessica, don’t—”

  I grab the railing, swing myself up, then spread my arms and dive over. The river rushes up to meet me.

  I fall into myself, draw on that secret shifter self and yank my energy, up my spine. It floods my cells, surges through my blood and roars out of my pores. The scales push out of my skin and my neck elongates. My nails slide out and curve into claws. I hurtle headfirst toward the surface of the river.

  The water glistens, the white of the spray rushes up to meet me.

  A spray of droplets grazes my belly, and a wave of water roars up drenching me. I snap out my wings, and pull up, toward the skies.

  The wind rustles through my scales and I slice through the breeze.

  Nothing like the terror of not being able to fly to make you appreciate it.

  I rear back my head and screech.

  The sound ricochets off the surrounding cliffs and pours over me. I soar toward the expanse of sky above; it's color as blue as his eyes. Damn it, so not what I should be thinking about now.

  I flap my wings and let the breeze surge through my scales.

  My heart hammers, my pulse thuds. All my muscles tense. This is what it’s about. Being alive, to be able to give in to my basic instincts, to be as close to my real self as I can.

  The wind slams into my chest then fades.

  The dark clouds roll in, and I glance up. There’s a shadow silhouetted against the sun. The outline grows bigger, blocking out the sun. I can discern the shape of shoulders, a large body—a man’s body, streamlined as he heads for me. His arms are outstretched in front. Is he flying? No, he's teleporting but at a low enough speed that I can see him approach.

  I can’t see his features. I don’t need to; I know who it is. Only one man can go face to face with the most powerful shifter race. Only one Fae male can hurtle on a collision course and not blink.

  The wind dies completely.

  I let out a squawk. I open my wings and beat out to capture an updraft. My breath wheezes in my lungs. My scales fold in close to my chest. All my instincts heighten. I flap my wings, and again. I am being pulled back, back. I begin to lose altitude. No, I cannot lose this, no way. I snap out my wings. Bunch every single tendon in my body and shove back against the wind.

  The atmosphere tears through my scales.

  Heat flares over my skin.

  I rear up and sparks of red and white erupt from the edges of my wings. I keep going and aim for him.

  His arms are stretched out in front as he nears me. He’s close enough for me to see that his ears are pulled back; his hair streams behind him. The wind screams in his wake, leaving puffs of clouds. He looks animalistic and yet human, and so very Fae. So feral. A beast trapped in human form. He looks fiercer than any shifter I have encountered. He looks like my mate.

  My body trembles.

  My wings quiver and I lose altitude.

  He follows me, down, gaining on me. My gaze locks with his. I should glance away but I can’t.

  I should try to fly, but something inside stops me.

  Every part of me is tense, and yet there’s also something else. There’s a need, a yearning that springs up from deep inside. It can’t be. He’s not my mate.

  He’s close enough for his fingertips to brush my wings.

  I tilt my head and break the connection.

  Screeching out a cry of warning, I twist my body away from him. I flap my wings, once, twice, then swerve to the side. The air around me whistles by, yanking me back. There's a heavy weight on my chest, a heaviness around my neck that continues to grow and drag me back. I don’t need to look back to know he’s on my tail.

  The atmosphere lightens.

  Coldness gushes over me. Every single spot of heat from my body has been pulled out and replaced with…uncertainty. Loneliness. I need to get away from him. From whatever his nearness is doing to me. I tuck my wings and dive down. Down, plummeting toward the river. The sunlight glistens off the waves and blinds me, then drops away. I tuck my wings close to me and keep flying. So it’s a mistake. I am not stupid; I don’t want to die. But I will not lose to him. I cannot. Everything in me wants to rise to the challenge. Yet the innate need to survive grows in my chest.

  It pushes against my rib cage, growing bigger, filling my chest, my throat; it overpowers me. Tears leak from the corners of my eyes. Only then do I realize that I am crying. The sobs flush over my body, ripple over my skin. I tug on the amber energy that laces my blood, tucking it near my heart. The energy coils back, my wings retract, and my scales draw in. I plunge for the surface of the water and fling out my arms. My human arms.

  6

  Tristan

  Her body shimmers; sparks tear back from her skin. Her wings draw in, her neck retracts, and it’s the most glorious thing I have ever seen. My shifter transforms to her human shape, her hair streaming behind her. Her body plummets toward the river. Fear grips my insides.

  I draw in a breath, and adrenaline laces my blood.

  The air around me thins, and I suck in the oxygen around me and teleport. Her fingertips graze the water, and she goes through it. I lunge after her and grab her around her waist, then swim upward. Reaching the surface I break through the water and take in gulps of air.

  The hair on the back of my neck hardens. I project out my telekinetic energy, and a portal opens. As we hurtle through it, geometric designs scream past me. The psychic breeze tears at my hair, and my eyes water. Then my atoms fall back into place.

  Even before I step out of the portal I am walking across the floor. I pause at the foot of the bed and loosen my arms. She falls on the bed, and the mattress springs back. She bounces once, her arms outstretched, and the drops of water from her body arc through the air, catching the light coming from the window.

  Her hair streaks out over the covers. She coughs. Then lays there, chest heaving.

  Strands of her hair cling to her forehead, her cheeks, over her shoulders, and curl around her breasts. Her naked breasts. She’s transformed back without her clothes this time. Which means either she was too disturbed to pay attention to it or…subconsciously she wants me to see her naked. Not that I am complaining, not when her nipples stand out; the red of her areolae glistens with moisture. Water streams down her waist, pooling at the apex of her legs. Drops sparkle amidst the thatch of dark-blonde hair, trimmed into a strip over her pussy. Heat flushes my skin.

  Her lower lips gleam pink; the bud of her clit peeks through between them.

  My mouth waters, heat rushes to my groin, and I don’t need to look at myself to know I am hard. My dick strains against my wet pants.

  “Here, my face is up here,” she drawls. But her voice
is breathless.

  Fear twists my guts.

  She almost tried to kill herself again. And I don’t understand why. Or perhaps I do…more than she’ll ever know. I know what it is to reach the end of your tether when your life as you know it is over. When you are faced with so much uncertainty that the only thing that seems right is the ultimate end. And that angers me. No one is allowed to feel that way. She isn’t allowed to feel this hopeless, not as long as I am here.

  “You going to say something?” Her tone pitches higher, and her belly quivers.

  I shake my head.

  Don’t take my gaze away from the object of my fascination. Her beautiful clit. The mound at the apex of her thighs that calls to me. The intensity of what I feel for her worries me. If I go down this route, there is no turning back. Already I am so taken in by her, her scent, the touch of her skin, the silkiness of her hair, all of it reaches out to me.

  I want to tie her down and possess her until she can’t think of anything else but me. And that’s wrong, all wrong for me. She’s all wrong for me. If I give in to my feelings, that will only complicate things further. I brought her here for one reason only. To teach her a lesson. Temporary pleasure, that’s all it is. Showing her who is stronger in this relationship. It’s time to set some boundaries. “You wanted to run away again, Fire?”

  “Are you surprised by that?” She juts out her chin.

  “You’d prefer being free, to being with me?”

  “Yes.” Her voice wobbles.

  I swivel my gaze up to her face. “Liar.”

  “Second time you’ve called me that." She presses her lips together. "It doesn't sound better this time either.”

  I narrow my gaze, and she flushes.

  “Okay, so it does turn me on when you see right through me.” She pushes up from the bed and supports herself on her elbows. Her breasts thrust out. Beads of water trail down her neck “Doesn’t mean you know what I am going through.”