by Amy Patrick
The rush of the surf accompanied his call in perfect harmony. “Ryann…”
I moved toward the music of his voice and the balmy night as he continued to sing my name to me—damn him! Nox knew how his voice affected me, and he was using it against me tonight, though he’d promised not to. Again.
Stepping onto the balcony, I saw him. He stood against the railing looking out, his back to me. I didn’t approach him. I said nothing. He already knew I was there, and he knew why I was there better than I did. He’d tell me when he was ready.
Nox turned toward me. His face was shadowed, but I still saw the gleam of his otherworldly hazel eyes. I inhaled sharply and audibly before I could stop myself. I could only hope he hadn’t heard it. I hated for him to think the sight of him could affect me like that, even for a moment.
His night-dark hair was haloed by the reflection of the moon on the water behind him. He wore a snug t-shirt and a pair of loose, white, gauzy pants that reached his bare feet. If it had been the first time I’d ever seen him—if I didn’t know for certain he was a Dark Elf—I would have thought he was some kind of Heavenly being visiting our planet to weigh the fates of our eternal souls.
At the moment it seemed more likely he had originated from an opposite sort of place. A place where dark beauty like his was born with the sole purpose of tempting someone to forget there was an afterlife at all, any consequences that anything existed beyond the moment at hand.
The ocean breeze lifted my thin white nightgown, alternately billowing it about me like a feather-light sail then plastering it against my figure. The light fabric already left too little to the imagination. I didn’t want to think about what it revealed when the warm night wind molded it over my body.
“I’m here.” I finally spoke to break the loaded silence.
“Yes you are.” Nox’s heavy-lidded gaze drifted over me. I didn’t need a special gift for reading other people’s feelings to interpret that look. Either he hadn’t indulged his sexual appetite with Robin… or he had—and it was that voracious.
Uncomfortable under his keen scrutiny, I looked away from him and folded my arms across my chest. “So… what did you want?”
“I think I wanted to talk to you about something, but now I can’t seem to remember what it was.”
“Well, okay then, I guess I’ll go back to my room.”
I turned to go, but he crossed the balcony and touched my arm.
“No. Stay. I do want to talk to you. How are you feeling? I can’t believe you were drugged. I’m so sorry.”
“Well. It was my own stupid fault, not yours. And I guess I should thank you for what you did.”
His mouth formed a slight close-lipped smile. “There’s no need to thank me. Protecting you is my job. I only wish I’d done it a little better, gotten there sooner, before that scumbag had a chance to put his hands and his filthy mouth on you.”
I waved a tired hand through the air. “It’s okay. I barely remember it—apparently one of the lovely after-effects of keta poisoning.”
“Well, I remember it. In detail. That guy won’t be coming back to the Viper Room anytime soon—I’ll tell you that.”
We stared at each other silently for a moment. Finally I spoke up. “So, is that what you wanted to talk about? Or is there something else? I’ve had a really crappy night, and I’m exhausted.”
Nox used a finger to tip my head back, giving him a clear view of my face in the light from the bedroom. “You’ve been crying. Are you sure you weren’t injured?”
I twisted my chin out of his light clasp. “No. I talked to my family tonight.”
“Oh.” He nodded in understanding. “Homesick?”
“Yes, but that’s not the main problem.” The main problem was that Lad was moving on for good—not that I could discuss it with Nox. “It’s my mom. She’s—oh never mind—I don’t even know why I’m telling you this.”
“Because you need a friend right now. And I’m your friend.”
Was he? In this whole crazy-big city, he was the only person I really knew. I did need a friend, but could I really talk to Nox about something as personal as the death of my parents’ marriage? My father being drunk at six a.m.? The end of our family unit once and for all?
Allowing myself to think about it all again was re-starting the waterworks. Nox’s astute glance told me he’d spotted the telltale moisture in my eyes. I turned away from him and walked to the balcony railing, staring out at the ocean and night sky.
“I think my mom got engaged to her new boyfriend.”
Nox’s voice behind me was level, full of concern. “That must be strange for you—a big change. I never met him—do you dislike him?”
“No—I mean I haven’t met him in person yet, either. We’ve talked on the phone. He’s okay I guess. A bit overeager to be my ‘friend,’ but he seems like a pretty good guy. It’s just… well… this is going to sound stupid, but I guess I was holding out a tiny bit of hope my parents would still get back together…” And here come the tears. Wonderful.
I swept my fingers under my eyes, trying to remove the evidence of my wimpiness, but the choked sound of my voice gave me away. “… hope that maybe love really can last a lifetime. But now that’s just… it’s over.”
Mom and Daddy. Lad and me. Over. I sniffed and wiped my face again, feeling childish and highly exposed.
Nox didn’t respond at first, but when he finally did, his voice was close behind me, soft and gently comforting. “It can, you know. I’ve seen it.”
“Seen what?” I sniffled again, swallowing the uncomfortable lump in my throat.
His hands came to rest lightly on my shoulders. They were large and warm and gentle. “Love. It can last a lifetime—it does where I’m from.”
As good as his touch felt, it wasn’t good to allow it here and now, late at night in his room while I was emotionally torn open. I shrugged off his hands and stepped to the side then turned to face him.
“You mean in Altum, with the Light Elves? I guess so. But you don’t believe in that, do you? You’re a Dark Elf. You guys do things… differently. You don’t bond with one person for life like the Light Elves do.”
He crooked an amused grin at me. “Why is it you think you know everything about Dark Elves… and about me?”
I gave him the oh please look. “Are you saying Dark Elves have lifetime mates as well?” I shook my head, baffled. “What about all the celebrities hooking up with girls in the fan pods and all the groupies? What about you? If it was the same for Dark Elves, you’d have the mark.”
I’d learned from Lad that when a bonded Elven pair is forced to part for good, for instance if one of them died, the one left behind would bear a visible mark of mourning for eternity. It was the reason Grandma Neena’s hair had gone completely white in her mid-twenties when she was widowed.
“Ryann… are you trying to get me to kiss and tell?” Nox teased.
My face went hot in spite of the cool night air. “No… I uh… assumed you had… been with a lot of girls. I mean, back in Deep River, and now here…”
His grin widened and one eyebrow lifted. “Well, we know what happens when we assume, don’t we?”
I rolled my eyes and folded my arms across my chest again. “So you’re actually trying to tell me you’re not having sex with these girls? With Savannah back in Deep River? With all those groupies? With Robin, whose tonsils you were inspecting with your tongue up on stage tonight, who just walked out of your bedroom? I suppose you two just had a nice little fireside chat in here?”
He lifted one dark eyebrow, the side of his mouth quirking in apparent amusement. “Yes. That’s what I’m telling you.”
I stared at him, incredulous. “What about the blonde from the other night? She was telling everyone about your amazing bed.”
“Which she saw from across the room. We had some ice cream and played Xbox.” He gestured toward a large TV with a gaming setup inside the room.
I stood with my han
ds on my hips, shaking my head. “Suppose I actually believed that horse puckey—why exactly would you have beautiful young girls in your house—in your room alone and not have sex with them?”
He smiled. “You’re in my room alone with me, and I’m not having sex with you.”
I dropped my chin and gave him a get serious look.
He released a long sigh. “Because I’m only going to bond with someone once, and I have to choose carefully. Dark Elves and Light Elves are different in some regards, Ryann. But not in that one. I’m not saying these other celebrities, like Vallon Foster, are altar boys, that they’re all playing Xbox and watching movies with their fan pod members like I’ve been doing. But I can guarantee they’re not sleeping with the girls. I assume they’re enjoying their fan pods… in a different way.”
At my look of obvious confusion he continued. “There are… certain things you can do to give and receive pleasure that do not trigger the bond. I’m sure there are plenty of, shall we say lesser offenses, going on behind closed doors in their mansions. They never clarify in public how far they’ve gone or haven’t gone with their groupies or any of the women they meet and invite home. People assume they’re having orgies or one night stands, and they don’t correct those assumptions.”
“And the pod members themselves can’t set the record straight because they’re glamoured.”
“Exactly.”
“So then, these girls think they’re having sex with celebrities they’ve never actually slept with?”
“Maybe. There’s no way they could really know the difference—glamour is like the ultimate roofie—the girls have no reliable memory of what happened the night before. For instance, a girl I bring in here only knows she was with me. Her imagination fills in the blanks. She might assume we’ve had sex and probably couldn’t tell for sure… unless the girl was a virgin herself.”
Unless the girl was a virgin herself. Something about the phrase grabbed my attention and was now bouncing around in my brain.
“Nox—you’re saying you’re a… virgin?”
“Well, I didn’t say it…”
But his eyes were saying it. The vulnerable set of his mouth was saying it. And common sense was saying it.
If the rule for Dark Elves and Light Elves really was the same… then Nox would have been bound to the first girl he’d slept with. And as soon as he’d broken the bond by sleeping with another girl, his hair would have gone pure white overnight. He had to be telling the truth.
I went back into his suite and stopped in front of the fireplace, pondering the absurdity. The flames danced as if they were laughing at the very idea of it. Nox Knight. High School Hero. Rock God. Virgin.
The possibility had never crossed my mind. Now I couldn’t get it out of my mind. What did this mean? What about those times when we had kissed and things had gotten super-hot super-fast?
Unlike Lad, who’d always stopped us just as things were getting good, Nox had never put on the brakes, never even downshifted into less intense making out. As far as I could tell, he’d been pressing the gas pedal to the floor, trying to push things toward can’t-turn-back-now territory with me. But why?
He came up behind me on the furry rug, not touching me, but standing very close. “Can I ask you a question?”
I turned to face him. The reflection of the fireplace in his hazel eyes made him look like the Devil I’d believed he was until a few moments ago. It was hard to shake that impression of him so quickly.
“What?”
“How did you feel when you saw me going off after supper with the blonde the other night? And when you saw me kiss Robin up on stage tonight?” He paused. “Were you jealous?”
The words “of course not” came out of my mouth. Unfortunately, the word Yes sprang into my mind loud and clear, and I was with one of only two guys I knew in the world who could hear what I was saying, even when I didn’t say it aloud.
A satisfied grin spread across his face. “You were.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“Yes you did. You said it in the Elven way. And as we both know, it’s impossible to lie that way.”
Embarrassed and feeling somewhat violated by his mind-reading, I spun away from him again, staring into the flames as if they held the secret to life.
I was jealous, too.
The thought came to me as clearly as if Nox had spoken it aloud. I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and took a deep breath. Oh no. What was happening here?
He swept my hair to one side, and his large hands settled on my upper arms. His voice was soft and low as he spoke close to my ear.
“I was. That’s why I jumped off stage and followed you two out of the club. I didn’t realize at the time he’d drugged you—I just couldn’t stand to see you going off with some other guy. At first I thought you’d jumped into a cab with him, and I was about to—I don’t know—steal a car or something and go looking for you. Then I heard your scream from around the side of the building. When I saw him pinning you up against the wall with his filthy mouth on your throat…”
Now Nox brushed my hair to the other side, and I realized he was studying my neck, looking for signs of damage. I knew when he spotted the hickey because his low growl filled my ear. He didn’t say anything about it directly, though. Instead, he lowered his face until his lips barely came into contact with the ugly bruised spot, brushing it with the lightest of pressure.
“You smell good,” he whispered against my sensitive skin, his hot breath making me shiver, even though I was warm in the radiant heat of the fireplace. “So sweet. I like your shower gel—is it vanilla?”
I nodded, unable to answer him and unable to move. Unable to breathe. A fire had started in my belly that made the blaze in the fireplace look like a matchstick. This is bad. Maybe Nox had the glamour of super-strong persuasion in addition to music? But no, I feared it was something much worse. Lad had mentioned some Elves had sexual glamour.
Wouldn’t that just make the most perfect rock star? A hot Elven guitar player and lead singer with the double-whammy of musical and sexual glamour? He’d be unstoppable. He’d own the world. He’d certainly own any girl he set his mind to having.
And, at the moment, his mind seemed to be set on me.
Chapter Fifteen
First Loves
Again, his lips brushed my neck, this time with more pressure. I shivered, and his large, warm hands coasted up and down my upper arms, soothing away the chill bumps. Nox kissed a path down to my shoulder then back up to the sensitive spot behind my ear.
All the while I stood perfectly still, my chest rising and falling rapidly and my heart pounding wildly, while the rest of me felt incapable of movement.
Was this sexual glamour? Or was it just Nox? Maybe it was a rebound reaction to the news about Lad and Vancia tonight. Maybe it was the natural culmination of weeks of being in each other’s presence in a strange situation full of pressures and unknown threats. Mutual attraction to be sure. Mutual loneliness as well?
Whatever it was, it was filling my belly with warmth, injecting my limbs with the urge to turn around and lift my arms to him, wrap them around his neck and kiss him back.
Perhaps sensing my reaction or growing impatient with my lack of response, Nox dropped his hands to my waist and turned my body, bringing us face-to-face. “Ryann,” he whispered.
I thought he was about to ask permission to kiss me.
He didn’t.
That wasn’t Nox’s style. He brought a hand up to cup my jaw and the side of my neck and pulled me in for his mouth to claim, taking the kiss he wanted. And oh how he kissed. He licked and sucked and pulled at my lips, tilting his head to the side, angled even closer. The scent of his skin filled my nostrils, the soft sound of his urgent breathing sent my pulse into erratic rhythms.
Pulling away slightly, Nox spoke against my mouth. “God, Ryann, you taste so good, you feel so good to me. I want you so much.”
I nodded, wanting him, too. I couldn’t
deny it. He was so beautiful, so intoxicating. His touch was maddening, and the way he kissed me made me feel desired, wanted. Lad no longer wanted me, but someone did. And that someone was right here, staring into my eyes.
Nox must have read my nod as some sort of agreement because he scooped me into his arms and carried me toward the bed, which as advertised, was enormous. The out-of-body sense of peace and rightness lifted a fraction, allowing a sliver of rationality to slip in, followed by a thrill of alarm.
What are we doing? This is getting serious.
Nox set me gently in the center of his bed then backed away as if admiring the sight of me there. A dreamy smile spread across his face, and his eyelids went heavy as he took me in with an unmistakable look of hunger.
“Look at you,” he whispered and blew out a long, slow breath. He lifted the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head in one movement, letting it fall to the floor.
Oh help. His body was amazing. What was I going to do? On one hand, I was right where I wanted to be. My heart was doing cartwheels, cheered on by every hormone in my body. But as he crawled across the bed toward me, the panicky feeling grew.
If he kissed me again and started touching me, I might not have the willpower to stop where it would lead. And if I didn’t, things were going to get very permanent between us very fast. As in tonight. At least it would be permanent on his end. He was Elven, and if what he’d said was the truth, sex was a one-person-for-life thing, for Light and Dark Elves alike.
“We can’t,” I managed to choke out, just as he reached me.
The hand Nox was sliding around my waist stopped. “Can’t what?” Now the fingers resumed their seductive stroking, gliding over my wispy nightgown to my hip, thigh, down to my knee and pushing underneath so his palm made breathtaking, fire-sparking contact with my skin as he kissed my neck and collarbone and dipped his head lower.
Ohgodohgodohgod I knew I had to say it fast, or it was never going to be said. Pressing my palms against the mattress beneath me, I scooted myself away from him.
