They shook their heads frantically. She was not about to let them off so easily.
“It sounded to me like you had a question. Did anyone else happen to hear what these two boys were mumbling about?”
Peer pressure was a wonderful thing. She loved to use it to evoke cooperation whenever possible. The men would band together, united in submissive silence, as no one wanted to be the rat who threw the pimple-faced kids under the bus. It would establish her role as leader instantly. Men were so wonderfully predictable at times.
The asshole, however, surprised her. He cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“I believe the first young man wondered if you left your leather whip in your suitcase,” he said. “And the other asked if we ought to call you Lianne, or if you prefer something more formal, like Mistress.”
The horror on the faces of the young techs proved that the asshole had, indeed, heard their whispered conversation. They probably thought they were being clever to insinuate she was some kind of dominatrix. They didn’t look so clever now. One looked like he was almost going to cry, in fact. Poor idiot kid. They’d be more respectful toward her after this.
The asshole, though…now he concerned her.
She shifted her glare to him. “And who are you? I don’t recall running across you in the personnel files.”
“I’m a consultant,” he said, and she detected the dark tones of a slight Russian accent. “Nicolai Stefanya Vladik. You can call me Nic.”
“All right, Nic. And since you’re so eager to help us answer the young tech’s question, what do you suppose I like to be called?”
He narrowed his silver eyes and contemplated her. “Here on the job no doubt you expect to be called Ms. McGowan. In your private time, though, I suspect you prefer something else.”
Yep, asshole. His eyes were already undressing her; she could feel it. Hopefully he had a good imagination, since that was the closest he was ever getting to the goods.
“Well, nobody here is going to find out about that,” she said sweetly. “From this point on, there is no private time, gentlemen. When you’re not in the lunchroom or in your beds, you’re on the job, twenty-four-seven. Got it?”
The men who had worked with her before rolled their eyes and nodded. The others grumbled. The asshole smiled.
“I’m always on the job,” he said. “In the office, in the lunchroom, or…wherever I happen to be applying myself.”
An uninvited little thrill coursed up then down her spine. Damn, but those silver eyes of his…they did things to her she really did not need right now. At all. And was that the jagged hint of a dagger-shaped tattoo she saw peeking out from the man’s collar at the broad, bronze nape of his neck? What kind of consultant was this, anyway?
Hell. She flew halfway across the world to this frigid, rocky wasteland to play Queen of the Bitches for the sake of dear Dad and this is what she was stuck with. It would figure.
Assholes with tattoos just happened to be her weakness. This was going to be a long, miserable assignment.
Chapter Two
The sky was a dramatic wash of wispy blue clouds and the cold yellow glow of early morning. Raea fluttered her wings, Fairy Dust glittering around her as she stretched out the stiffness in her limbs. Not that they hadn’t been getting a workout.
For the past three days, she and Kyne had been hiding here in this cabin high on a densely forested hilltop, hidden by special magic she still did not quite understand. They’d been safe from anyone who might happen to be out hunting them, and no doubt someone was, considering she’d helped break Kyne out of his interrogation cell at the Fairy Council meeting hall. It had been too easy to forget about all of that, though, and make the best of their time together here.
By the Skies, they certainly had made the best of it. Passion had ruled them night and day, and Raea’s body still hummed from the pleasure she found over and over again in Kyne’s arms. A lifetime of giving in to these forbidden wonders could never fully satisfy her. Still, she knew they couldn’t hide here forever. Kyne would wake soon and they’d have to discuss their future.
And perhaps elements of his past he’d not yet been willing to talk about.
A sound in the doorway behind her alerted her to the fact that this time had come. Kyne was up, strolling out onto the wraparound porch of the cabin to join her in the dewy morning air. She smiled at him and his wings unfurled, barely clearing the door frame.
The Sizing Dust they had used still lingered over him, his fairy body holding to this human size longer than Raea’s did when she was influenced by the powder. She was tiny in comparison to him now. Her toes wriggled as she swung her legs, sitting on the porch rail in her usual fairy form.
“I can never get over what a giant you are,” she said. “Too bad the powder wears off on me so quickly.”
“It’s all right,” he said, breathing deeply and yawning. “We’ve still got a week’s worth in that little pouch.”
A week. They could continue this way for a week, avoiding their lives and loving each other. But then what? Without the precious powder, their activities would be cut short. Literally. Kyne’s fairy body was unique; when he reached his climax in the heat of their passion, he grew to human proportions. Huge, massive proportions that still took her breath away every time. Without their supply of the Sizing Dust, Raea would no longer be able to be with him that way.
“We can’t wait that long to go back,” she said. “This has been wonderful, staying here with you this way, pretending we don’t have a care in the world, but you know it can’t go on like this, Kyne. We have to go back.”
“No, I have to go back. You need to stay here, where it’s safe.”
“Forever?”
“No, of course not. Just until…”
“Until what? We don’t even know what we’re really hiding from.”
He was silent at that. What could he say? So she continued.
“Besides, the powder will run out. Whatever we do and wherever we go, we need to find more.”
Now he smiled. “You mean you’re not done with me yet?”
“Not by any means.”
He leaned against the railing beside her, and she realized his body was changing. He was reverting back to his usual form. She smiled, watching him shudder as if with a chill and then shrink with a puff of golden mist. He plopped down to sit beside her.
“And now we are equals again. Are you certain you still have no regrets, Raea? I should have never involved you in this.”
“I’m not involved in anything I didn’t run into willingly,” she assured him. “But don’t you think it’s time we try to find out just exactly what it is that we did run into?”
He sighed. She knew he would not welcome this discussion, but it couldn’t be avoided. Strange things were happening and the only way to get to the bottom of them would involve dredging up the history Kyne would much rather ignore.
“You want me to go find my father again, don’t you?”
“I think we’re going to have to. I don’t know what the Fairy Council has been plotting, or what that strange machine we found at the base of the mountain is for, but it seems that your father is involved in all of it. I’m afraid if we want to learn anything, we have to start there.”
“You keep saying ‘we.’”
“That’s because we’re in this together, Kyne.”
“No. I’m in this. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me? I’m sorry, did I miss something? Who were you with when the council sent Swift to take you into custody? And then who came sneaking into the hall to seduce you out of confinement? And who has been climbing all over you like a raging wild animal ever since? Me, Kyne. It’s me. You’re not alone anymore, and neither am I.”
His amber eyes searched hers, and she could see the concern that filled him. She loved that he worried for her, but she worried for him, too. Someone back at their Fairyrealm had been plotting against him and she wanted to
know why. Fairies and humans were in league and that could only spell trouble. Somehow she and Kyne had to uncover the truth.
“Please, Raea,” he said, laying his hand over hers. “Don’t make me drag you into more danger. Let me keep you safe. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I need you to be safe.”
“You think I’d feel the least bit safe if you went off and left me here, alone?”
“I’d rather have you alone than dead,” he declared.
The words rattled inside her. Did he really think things were quite that serious? Of course, certain members of the Fairy Council had been behaving mysteriously, and those two fairies they’d seen in the forest three days ago had clearly been up to no good…but was this truly a matter of life and death?
“You think it might come to that?” she asked softly, stroking his cheek and letting the warmth of his skin seep into her fingertips.
“I won’t take any chances, Raea. I have to go look into this alone. I just couldn’t live if I let something happen to you.”
“Then you know exactly how I feel, Kyne. I can’t let you go, not now. Whatever you do, I’m doing it with you.”
“I can see we’re going to have an argument over this,” he said, clutching her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.
“I’ll win it, of course. You know I have my ways.”
“Don’t be so sure of yourself. I’ve got a few persuasive tricks of my own, if you recall.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to be especially convincing, won’t I?”
“I’m not going down without a fight,” he said with a crooked little smile that assured her they weren’t talking about investigating the council right now.
“You’re not going down?” she asked, flashing him her own wicked grin and letting the glittery aura emanating from her speak for itself. “Then you know I will.”
She fluttered up off the railing and hovered before him, raking her fingertips over his solid form and slowly sinking lower, lower, until her lips were perfectly positioned. Oh yes, he was going down, all right. And she was going to take him there.
Their argument might be on hold for right now, but one thing was certain. They were going to need more Sizing Dust again very soon.
Look for More from Serena Gilley!
Available Winter 2014
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Contents
Cover
Title Page
Welcome
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
About the Author
A Preview of By the Magic of Starlight
A Preview of Licked by the Flame
Look for More from Serena Gilley!
Newsletters
Copyright
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Susan Gee Heino
Excerpt from By the Magic of Starlight copyright © 2014 by Susan Gee Heino
Excerpt from Licked by the Flame copyright © 2014 by Susan Gee Heino
Cover design by Christine Foltzer
Cover photo copyright © Getty Images / Famke Backx
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Forever Yours
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First published as an ebook and as a print on demand: August 2014
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ISBN: 978-1-4555-8447-5 (ebook edition)
ISBN: 978-1-4555-8457-4 (print on demand edition)
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