“I’m thinking the blue one.” She pushed through the various dresses in her wardrobe, each of them a pale pastel colour. She knew that it made her fade into the background a bit, especially when compared to her sister’s bolder choices, but if she was honest, she liked it that way. Aella rolled her eyes.
“Why don’t you borrow one of mine?” She asked that almost every time. While there was a couple of years between them, they were the same size, and almost identical apart from Lia’s blonde hair and Aella’s dark brown. Even their eyes were the same moss green, a result of their dryad heritage.
“Would this one not do?” She ignored Aella’s question and pulled out a pale blue backless dress. The neckline was high, and the skirt of the dress fell down to her feet like a waterfall. When she’d tried it on in the shop, it had almost looked like the ripples on the top of a stream when she’d moved, and despite its conservative nature, she’d felt beautiful.
“Least its backless.” Aella wrinkled her nose and leapt to her feet gracefully. She didn’t look back at her sister until she got to Lia’s open bedroom door. “One day I’ll convince you to go bolder.” She flicked her hair over her shoulder, a move that Lia had never been able to replicate, and left, probably to spend her time primping. Lia sighed again, holding the blue dress up to her body so she could see it in the mirror. Hanging the dress over the top of her wardrobe, happy with her decision, she collapsed on her bed and picked up the book she’d been reading. She had a few hours before the reception started and there was no way that she was going to spend all of them getting ready. She’d only read a few pages when the story dragged her in and she soon forgot that anything else was going on around her.
It wasn’t until the light faded, and it became too dark for her to make out the words, that she realised quite how much time had passed, leaving her with just half an hour to get ready. She knew she could do it, but that didn’t stop her cursing her stupidity; rushing getting ready was never fun.
Luckily, this wasn’t the first time that Lia had left herself short on time before a big function, and she quickly donned her dress. The silky material felt good against her skin, and she was pleased to see that the dress looked as good on her as it had when she’d bought it. She braided her hair into a fishtail plait that fell over her shoulder and almost to her waist. She kept her makeup simple with just a small amount of liner around her eyes; she’d done it like that since she’d discovered how much she hated the caked on feeling a lot of makeup brought on. All she needed now were some shoes. Grimacing, Lia made her way to the rack in her wardrobe which contained dozens of pairs of shoes in various colours and styles. While it would have been most women’s dream to have such a large collection, looking at them filled Lia with dread, and it took several minutes of forced contemplation for her to settle on a pair of pale gold sandals. It wasn’t quite going barefoot, but at least they didn’t have heels. She gave herself an appraisal in the mirror, happy with how the outfit looked, but there was one final touch she needed. She walked towards the corner of her room, where a small cherry blossom tree was growing from the floor. Most people would probably think she was somewhat eccentric for having a tree growing from the floor of her room, but as a dryad, she needed her tree near her in order to ground her. Lia wasn’t all that sure how the magic worked, but having their tether near them was important to all kinds of nymphs, not just those linked to trees. She also wasn’t sure what would happen if she was too far away from it for too long. She was sure that a nymph somewhere must have tried it, but whenever she’d asked her father about anything to do with their powers, he’d just clam up and not tell her.
“Xylia!” Her father’s voice boomed through the halls, making her jump; she hadn’t been expecting to hear anyone calling her full name. She’d started going by Lia when she was just twelve, thinking Xylia sounded pretentious and that wasn’t how she wanted people to see her. Now, the only person who ever called her Xylia was her father, and even then, he didn’t call her it often.
“Coming!” She shouted back, reaching up to pick one of the tree’s flowers. The one she chose was so pale that it almost looked white, and she tucked it into the tie of her plait, the delicate scent comforting in a way that she couldn’t explain. The cherry blossom was a tradition that she’d started when she was a little girl, feeling like she was close to her tether made her feel more at ease in social situations, and while she’d grown out of some of that, there was a still a part of her that dreaded them.
3
Kem straightened his tie, feeling uncomfortable in his full tuxedo. He often wore a shirt and tie for work, especially when there were client meetings happening. For some reason people seemed to have more faith in their accountant if they were wearing a suit. The more likely reason for his discomfort was the reception itself. He was a shifter, and had been born to run free, to be outside and not forced to sip champagne and make small talk. Of course, the other reason was his impending meeting with the woman he was expected to marry.
Glancing around he spotted Aaron Dentro, the man he was fairly certain was the leader of the dryad nymphs, and therefore Aella’s father. Though Aaron was taller than Kem was, he was slender and had an inborn grace that Kem was sure came from his nymph heritage. Next to him, were two young women, and while he couldn’t make out their features from this distance, his eyes kept drifting to the blonde, her hair tied up in a style he wasn’t able to name, and draped over one of her shoulders. Where most of the women in the room were showing a lot of skin, her dress was more demure in comparison, and yet there was something about that that appealed to him. She was slight, and even standing still she exuded natural grace, making Kem think that she was a nymph like Aaron and the other woman next to him. There was little doubt in Kem’s mind that the other woman was Aella; she had the same dark hair as Aaron did, and the way they were positioned told him that they were familiar with one another, and when he’d researched Aaron earlier, he’d noticed that the man had been single since the death of his wife. He didn’t even seem to take dates to events such as this one.
He gulped nervously and made his way over, his eyes still skipping back towards the blonde woman despite his best efforts to keep his attention on Aella. He was still too far away to make out her features, but something told him that he knew her, and a small voice within him was whispering that he’d finally found Lia again. He shook his head, hoping to rid himself of the false hope that was welling up within him. Glancing back, he was disappointed to see that the blonde woman had disappeared in the few seconds it had taken to clear his head, but he’d also been noticed, and wouldn’t be able to go looking for her. Aaron motioned him over and he forced a smile.
“Aella, I want to introduce Kemnebi Davis, he’s the panther alpha’s brother,” Aaron introduced as Kem got to the two of them. He nodded once in the man’s direction, wondering briefly how Aaron knew who he was. Kem couldn’t recall meeting him before, but then paranormal social circles tended to be fairly small, and it wasn’t impossible for the man to have found a description, or photo, from someone. Kem turned to take in the woman next to him. Her dark hair was curled into perfect ringlets that reached just below her shoulders, brushing the top of her strapless burgundy gown. But it was her face that had Kem doing a double take. It was heart shaped, with a pair of moss green eyes looking at him through kohl rimmed lashes; a face that was both startlingly familiar and strangely discomforting.
“Lia,” he whispered before he could stop himself. The green eyes looking at him darkened, and Aella’s lips pursed in anger. “It’s nice to meet you, Aella.” He corrected quickly.
“Charmed.” Her voice dripped with disdain, and he didn’t blame her. Especially if she’d heard him call her another woman’s name. Next to them, Aaron frowned, though it seemed to be directed more at his daughter than it was at him, which made Kem suspect that he hadn’t heard his slip.
“Aella is my eldest daughter, and the only storm nymph born in three hundred years.” Aaron’s pri
de in his daughter was evident, but all Kem could focus on was the revelation that Aella had a sister. That, plus the striking resemblance she shared with the woman that haunted his thoughts, had Kem convinced that his gut instinct had been right, and that the blonde woman was really Lia. “I’ll leave you two to get acquainted.” He retreated back to mingle with the other guests, leaving him alone with the clearly angry Aella. Receptions like these were often held with the intention of improving the alliances between the various Paranormal Councils, and he probably had important people he needed to talk to.
“So, a storm nymph?” he asked after a moment of awkward silence. He wasn’t sure whether the fact that she hadn’t walked away yet was a good thing or a bad one, but either way it worried him; he wasn’t any good at guessing what women were thinking, and Aella seemed more temperamental than most. Even if he had just met her.
“Yes.” She snapped, her lips remaining pursed.
“Are they rare?” He didn’t really want to engage her in conversation, what he wanted was to search for the blonde that he was certain was Lia, but he had to at least be seen to be making an effort, especially as he’d spotted a couple of the Shifter Council members around earlier. Plus, there was a small part of him that was curious. He knew that nymphs were tethered to nature, and that it was rare that they were anything less than peaceful, but he’d never heard of a storm nymph before, and from the fire burning in Aella’s eyes, he figured that there was a good reason for that.
“Very. Yet you seem completely uninterested.” Her pursed lips turned into a pout and it dawned on him that the reason for her anger was rooted in jealousy. Even if he didn’t know her, he was sure that men often threw themselves at her feet, and yet here he was acting as if she was boring him.
“I’m sorry.” His mother had brought him up better than this and he knew that he needed to fix the bad impression he was making. “I thought I saw a woman I’ve been looking for.” He knew it was the wrong thing to say the moment it came out of his mouth, so he wasn’t surprised when Aella huffed and pushed past him, probably to find someone more interesting to talk to. Dazed, Kem began to search the room, looking for the blonde woman again.
“Kem…” he could swear that the whisper came from the alcove behind him and he pivoted on the spot, using every part of his inbuilt balance to stop himself from falling. He took two steps towards where he was sure that the voice had come from, but there was no one there. He drew back the velvet curtain that hid the alcove from the rest of the room, but didn’t find even a trace of anyone, except for the slight scent of cherry blossom, only discernible because of his increased sense of smell.
4
She wasn’t sure what had made her say his name, but as soon as it was through her lips, Lia knew that she had to leave. Things could have gotten dangerous if she’d stayed. She’d spotted him coming across the room, and something about the way he walked had called to her. He wore an expensive looking suit, which was somewhat at odds with his short dark hair and beginnings of scruff on his chin. Even from across the room, she could feel his attention on her, and she knew that she had to disappear before he reached them. But seeing him talk to her sister, even though she could hear exactly how badly he was doing that, had caused anger to well up inside her, and that was when she knew that she had to get out of the room.
Very few people had ever seen Lia angry, she’d become good at hiding it over the years, especially since Aella’s temper was so prominent. And so, no one knew her secret. It had made itself clear about eight months ago, when Aella had been in a particularly foul mood which had turned into cruelty. Instead of standing up to her, all of those around her had begun to pander to her every whim and it had been too much for Lia. She’d fled to her room, the anger controlling what she was doing, and that was when it had happened. She’d researched it since, away from the eyes of her father and sister, and had only been able to come up with one explanation; but it didn’t seem possible. True, there hadn’t been any other men in her life since her night with Kem, but they’d met in a normal club; it didn’t seem likely that he was paranormal, and even less likely that he was her mate. There was no denying the facts though, for the first twenty-seven years of her life she’d never once exhibited any signs of shifter powers, nor should she as there weren’t any shifters in her family tree. Yet, somehow, she was now able to shift into a panther. Well, able was a strong word. It seemed that she could only shift when she was feeling a particularly strong emotion, like tonight. Somewhere deep within, she’d known who he was to her from the moment she’d spotted him, perhaps even from the moment they’d met in the club, but she wasn’t sure what to do about it. It wasn’t like she could just march up to him and ask if he was her mate. That just wasn’t the way things were done. Or at least, it wasn’t if you were like Lia.
Luckily for her, the reception was only being held a few doors down from her home, and she all but ran down the dark street behind the buildings, with the hope that she’d be able to creep in through the backdoor and avoid anyone seeing her. If she wasn’t careful, then sneaking away from the reception could cause a minor scandal by insulting the host, and from what she understood, there was already a fair bit of uncertainty in paranormal politics at the moment.
From the corner of her eye, a shifting shadow caught her attention and she reacted on instinct, a low growl escaping her throat as she did. Her anger hadn’t lessened since leaving the reception and, even as new to this as she was, she knew that it was dangerous for it to be so close to the surface.
“It is you,” a deep voice sent shivers down her spine in an entirely pleasant way.
“Kem.” Her voice was hoarse and she licked her lips automatically. If she remembered rightly, and she did, this was the same way that he’d made her feel before.
“Lia.” He stepped away from the wall of the house backing onto the backstreet and moonlight fell on him. He’d taken off his tie, and the unbuttoned shirt suited him much better, giving him a simultaneously smooth and rugged look. Without thinking, Lia took a step towards him, her hands smoothing over his chest and up towards his collar. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” his voice was low and she could hear the tension in his words.
“Why not?” She looked up at him and found that the dark eyes meeting hers were filled with the same intense attraction she was sure was in her own. A low rumble came from Kem’s throat and she almost purred in return, the sound making her feel more contented than it should.
Lia wasn’t sure which of them moved first, but she found her body pressed against his, and his lips claiming hers in a soul stealing kiss. She’d fixated on their night together often enough to know that their previous kisses had been passionate, but the memory faded in comparison to this. Kem nipped at her lip, causing arousal to flow through her and she pressed her body further in to his. She cursed inwardly at the amount of clothing between them, but all thoughts were quickly whisked away as he kissed and nipped his way along her jaw, before nibbling on her ear. A low groan slipped from her and a low chuckle vibrated from Kem.
“Come with me,” she whispered hoarsely, and grabbed his hand, pulling him down the remainder of the backstreet and into the garden. Knowing her father and Aella weren’t likely to return from the reception any time soon, and that there was no one else around, she broke character and pulled Kem back towards her as soon as they were inside the fence and away from somewhere they could be stumbled upon.
“I’ve been looking for you for so long,” he murmured between kisses, the words sending vibrations through Lia’s skin and making her heart flutter.
“How did you know it was me?” she asked breathlessly, pushing his suit jacket down his arms. It fell to the ground with a soft thump, but neither of them paid it any attention. Her hands moved on to the buttons of his shirt, and he did nothing to stop her. Instead, his hands went to the tie behind her neck, and the gentle whisper of his fingers only turned her on more. He drew her back into a deep kiss before answering.
5
Kem couldn’t believe his luck; not only had the blonde woman really been Lia, but she seemed to want him as much as he wanted her. Or at least, she did if the look in her eyes was anything to go by. Her moss green eyes had darkened, turning almost black with desire and he smiled to himself, pleased with the effect he seemed to be having on her.
“Please,” she whimpered, trailing a hand through his short hair, but not doing anything to force him to continue his attention to her nipples. She hadn’t held back this much a year ago, but then they’d both been drinking, and while paranormals tended to have the ability to clear their blood of alcohol, they could choose not to. Unfortunately, choosing not to stopped it from working until they were sober again.
The Paranormal Council Complete Series 1-5 Page 2
