by Michele Hauf
Matilda cawed and swooped low, brushing Valor’s hair with a wing tip. It hadn’t been a warning, but rather a touch of reassurance, so she persisted. Kelyn drew from her in increasing intensity. Her vita flowed out in vibrant violet energy gleaming with iridescent sparkles, and it flowed in through Kelyn’s pores, brightening his skin and causing his sigils to glow.
Fingers growing stiff above her lover’s chest, Valor’s breaths segued to gasps. A moan preceded her dropping beside him onto the forest floor.
* * *
Eyes closed, Kelyn came to, knowing that, once again, Valor had brought him back to life. Perhaps this time he wouldn’t have died. He’d been knocked unconscious by the shove through the portal and landing on some particularly hard tree roots.
He’d been shoved. Back to a realm...that he could no longer deny was his home.
He’d acted terribly toward Valor in Faery! Tricking her into running off without him. Sacrificing his bond to Matilda. But it had been the wings. They’d been tainted by the demon’s blood. A Wicked One. And the seductress. She had been another Wicked One according to Malrick.
He’d had the audacity to defy the Unseelie king. And now he felt regret for all of it. He had been out of his mind, acting like someone else. So he’d deserved that shove. And he was thankful for it now.
But could Valor forgive him? And Matilda? Where was the kestrel? And the witch? He’d drawn on Valor’s vita, the rich, warm energy of her being, to surface to consciousness.
Kelyn pushed himself up and away from the tree root. Looking to the side, he found Valor collapsed next to him. He carefully tugged the hair away from her face and bent to press his mouth to her forehead. She was warm and he felt her pulse at her temple. Alive, but weakened by him?
He gently shook her shoulder. “Valor!”
“Huh?”
“Blessed Herne.” He bowed his forehead to hers. “I think I took too much from you. I’m sorry.”
“No problem.” She shook her head, weak, but alive. “You can always take what you need from me. Whew! That did take a lot out of me, though. Might need to sit here a bit and catch my breath.” She looked him over, from his face to his chest to his wrists.
All his sigils glowed brightly, at his chest and about his wrists. His wings even sparkled, and he pulled one forward to stroke it and see that the ichor flowed through his veins circulating through the shimmery fabric.
“They’re good as new,” he offered. “The Unseelie king did this for me. And that would have never happened without you.”
She smiled up at him. “You mean so much to me. I know you wanted to stay in Faery, but so many people need you here in this realm.”
Kelyn nodded and whispered, “I know that, lover.”
“But you were forced back here. You’re not here because you want to be.”
“I’m going to be okay,” he said, hugging her as tightly as she hugged him. “That was the tainted wings talking when we were in Faery. I promise that I want to be here. With you. No one else but you.” He tilted down his head to kiss her forehead. “I’m sorry for how I treated you in Faery, Valor. It was...”
“The wings. They were blackened with evil magic. We both know that. But, uh, what’s up with kissing some Wicked chick?”
“I chanced across her in the Wilds. I didn’t kiss her. I mean, I wanted to. I think she was working some kind of enchantment on me.”
Valor shrugged. “It’s cool.”
“No, it’s not. And I didn’t kiss her. In fact, she tried to rip out my tongue.”
“Probably what I would have done if you had kissed her,” she offered nonchalantly.
“I’ll never kiss another.”
“Really?”
He knelt before her and kissed her, there beneath a beam of perfect moonlight that highlighted them upon the stage of lush moss and loam. Curling his fingers into her hair, Kelyn pulled her closer, wanting to never lose grasp of her again. Or to even think he could survive in a world where she did not exist.
Not only had she helped restore his wings, she had given him back that wild crush for the woman who had fascinated from afar. And now he had her. No woman had ever felt so right in his arms. Or at his mouth. Her soft, lush lips were meant for his. Her breaths bled life into him, and her heartbeat kept his racing.
“Mmm...” She broke the kiss, bowing her forehead to his. “I’d love to continue this, maybe even have sex with you. Right here. Right now.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” he said. “We did have plans, if you remember.”
“I do. But besides feeling like I’ve run a marathon, there’s the thing about me—a witch—being in this forest.”
“Forgot about that.”
“I will never forget.” She glanced aside to the massive tree trunk, which appeared firmly rooted into the ground, but one never knew. “I think I should skedaddle while the skedaddling is good. But where’s Matilda?”
“I...I don’t know. I think I’ve lost her.” Kelyn pressed a hand over his chest where it ached to even consider the friendship he had so callously handed over in a greedy grab for his wings.
“You didn’t know the cipher connected the two of you like that. Did you?”
“I knew it was a bond between us. It was the first thing she ever brought me from Faery. I shouldn’t have been so stupid.”
“You would never have gotten back your wings.”
He bowed his head.
“You’ll have to earn back her trust. Give it time. You are a kind man, Kelyn. Matilda knows that. And I have to believe you had no other choice to get back your wings.”
“Maybe,” he whispered.
He felt Valor shiver mightily and remembered her urgent need to get out of the Darkwood.
“Right. Matilda, I honor you!” he called out. “And I will do everything in my power to win back your trust. Good friend, I thank you for your guidance into Faery. Please feel my love!”
Somewhere, high above, Matilda cawed. And Kelyn smiled. She wasn’t swooping down for a greeting, but she had replied. It was a start.
“We’d better leave,” he said.
“Sure. But you might have to help me walk out of here.”
“Say no more.” Kelyn stood and, still holding her about the waist, flapped his wings. “You ready for this?”
She laughed and hugged him. “Oh, yeah!”
* * *
They soared through the forest and up through a clearing in the leafy canopy. Clutched against Kelyn’s body, Valor couldn’t be afraid of this flight. Instead, she spread out her arms and laughed with joy as they crested the treetops and took to the open air. His wings carried them swiftly through the sky. She’d never once considered flight in anything other than a dreadful airplane.
Why had she waited so long?
“This. Is. Awesome!” she yelled.
Kelyn joined in her joyous laughter and swooped low over the treetops so she could touch the leaves as they passed over. The air brushed her skin and left behind a wondrous shiver, and she left all her worries behind in the Darkwood below.
“Can we do this more often?” she asked as her lover veered toward the big barn in the distance.
“As often as you like. You’re the first woman I’ve ever taken on a flight. You’re the only one I’ve trusted. I love you, Valor.”
“I love you!” she shouted.
Clasping her firmly, he rolled them so Valor felt the leaves brush her hips and shoulders, and then they spun upright again, taking the air like birds. Or faeries.
Matilda whisked by them, teasing with a caw that she was faster, and Kelyn laughed and shouted thanks to his friend.
“I’m going to have to start incorporating flight into my air magic,” Valor said. “This is amazing!”
“Ho
ld on! We’re heading in for a landing.”
Banking to the left, Kelyn descended lower and swept down toward the gravel drive. They landed before Blade’s barn. The brothers, in their human forms, stood waiting to greet them. They were thrilled to see Kelyn had gotten his wings back.
“That didn’t take long at all,” Blade commented as Kelyn tucked down his wings. “Less than an hour.”
“Less than an hour?” Valor shook her head. “It was more like half a day.”
“Faery time,” Kelyn said. “You gotta love it. Hey, do either of you guys know anything about Mom and the Unseelie king?”
Stryke whistled and searched the ground as if something near his boots suddenly fascinated him. Blade crossed his arms high over his chest and shrugged.
“You both know something. That’s crazy.” Kelyn shook his head. “I met him. If he and Mom had a thing...” He didn’t want to think about it now. And besides, that had been before their dad met Rissa. He hoped.
Valor yawned and Kelyn got the hint. Much as he’d love to tell his brothers about the short but wondrous time he’d had in Faery, he could save it for another day.
“We should go,” he said, putting an arm around Valor’s shoulders. “We have things to, uh...”
“No explanation necessary,” Blade said quickly.
“Yep.” Stryke kicked at the stones on the gravel drive. “See you two another day.”
Furling his wings back and tucking them away, Kelyn grabbed Valor’s hand and they strode to the car.
Chapter 27
Kelyn strolled through the forest behind his house. Valor skipped ahead, dazzled by the moonbeams that seemed to light her path. She didn’t even notice the hand-size night moths that flittered by or that the underbrush harbored curious hares, ferrets and smaller animals.
Everything he had lost was now back! He took in the world like a blind and deaf man who had regained those missing senses. He could read the air and earth as he had done since he could remember. It would rain tomorrow, for the humidity combined with the color of the sky told him so. The oak tree to his right had lived for seventy-five years and had many more years ahead. And he knew the elk family that often lingered outside his home was grazing about a quarter mile away, closer to his father’s land. The earth seemed to rise beneath him and welcome his every footstep, marking each step he took as familiar.
As well, he felt the ley-line energy. Two such lines crossed ahead at the clearing. Ancient and ever sending out vibrations, the lines hummed in the sigils at his wrists, veering him slightly to the right until he stood directly on top.
Tapping a fingertip against the violet sigil below his left pec, he turned his finger around the circle design, testing his magic. Ahead, the fallen branch that blocked Valor’s path lifted into the air and landed in a crop of thick brush.
Valor glanced back at him. He gave her a thumbs-up. Yeah, he had his magic back, too.
The witch turned and raced toward the clearing he’d told her about. No witches disallowed here in this woods; she was as welcome as she was in Kelyn’s heart. And, actually, this forest was his heart. Why had he believed that Faery would welcome him with open arms and that he actually belonged there?
Here was home. Standing alongside the most amazing woman he had ever known.
With her long brown-and-violet hair streaming behind her, Valor shouted in awe as the mossy clearing opened before her as if stage curtains were being pulled back to reveal the glorious set. She bent to tug off her boots and tossed them aside, then wandered across the moss as if testing new carpeting.
An emerald hummingbird buzzed up to Kelyn. He nodded. “She’s cool. Just excited.” The bird fluttered off. He’d sensed its uncertainty, but as quickly as it had left, it returned and hovered around Valor as she stood in the center of the clearing and gazed up toward the tree canopy. Moonlight sparkled on her face, hands and bare feet.
“This rocks,” she said as he gained her side. “That bird is so cute! I never see hummingbirds. Wow.”
Orbiting her a few times, the bird then zipped away toward the tree canopy, its wings flashing in emerald winks.
Each footstep across the moss released fresh and verdant perfume. Combined with the dry oak and pine resin, and the subtle sage that wisped in Valor’s hair, the night smelled abundant and welcoming. Kelyn bracketed his lover’s face. Excitement lived in her deep brown irises. And trust. Yes, he was thankful that the Unseelie king had forced him back here to the mortal realm. How he would have missed staring into her eyes had he remained in Faery.
“You are so beautiful, Valor. Breathtaking,” he said. “I’m glad I gave my wings away for you. And I’m glad I trusted you enough to work with you to get the spell ingredients. And I’m glad that you fell in love with me. I love you.”
He kissed her, deeply, abidingly. Every sigh, laugh and tear she put out he wanted to be there to receive it, enjoy it, wrap his arms around her and be the man she needed him to be. A man who did, indeed, see her as a real woman, not one of the guys.
Her fingers glided down his bare chest to his waistband. She unbuttoned his jeans, which alleviated the pressure on his erection. They both knew the reason for coming out here tonight. There was nothing more either wanted right now than to make love. Faery-style.
He pulled off her T-shirt and bent to kiss each breast. How her body undulated to meet his kisses, to show him how good his touches felt to her. And her moans spoke a language of passion.
“This moss is cushy and thick,” she said. “Almost like a bed, if you get my hint. Oh, don’t stop that. I like it when you do that.”
He put an arm behind her back and pulled her close as he sucked in her nipple through tight lips. She squirmed sweetly. Using his free hand, he pushed down her leggings and she wiggled them off. She attempted to push down his jeans, but his hard-on prevented it from being a smooth action, so he stopped what he was doing and shoved them down.
“Wait!” Valor said as he aimed for her breasts again.
He stepped back, spreading out his hands in question. How the moonlight danced over her pale skin! It was almost as if she were coated with faery dust, it was so soft and magical.
“Wings out, lover boy. I came here for the big reveal.”
“This isn’t big enough for you?” He shook his hips to waggle his cock.
“Oh, it is. I’m talking wings, faery.”
“You’ve already seen them.”
“Oh.” She crossed her arms over those delicious breasts. “Fine. I guess you don’t want me to touch them. You don’t want me to run my tongue all over them, either? Suit yourself.”
The witch didn’t actually think she could stand there, naked, and expect him to pass on such an intriguing challenge?
“I’ll bring them out for a kiss,” he coaxed, wanting to play the teasing moment out longer.
She shrugged. “Seems like me touching your wings is an advantage for you. So I should be the one getting something for that. Yes?”
Her logic was...almost there. And the little quirk of smile at the end of her statement made him wish it had ended with her snorting laughter. Man, he loved her laugh. He’d get it out of her before the night was through.
Bending and falling to his knees on the soft moss, Kelyn kissed her belly and glided his fingers over her skin. Up, toward her breasts, where he lightly brushed her nipples and stirred a wanting gasp from her. Her long hair swung over his knuckles and he swept it purposely across her breast.
Then he kissed her mons, tickling his tongue within the soft nest that topped her sex. She wobbled a bit, but he caught her hip with a sure hand.
“You want to stand for this?” he asked and gave her hip a little shove with two fingers.
She toppled backward, and as her feet gave out, he tapped the sigil at his hip, which activated his air
magic. A sweep of wind caught Valor and gently cradled her to lay her on the moss.
“You trying to show me up?” she asked.
“Admit it. That was impressive.”
“Eh.”
He blew out a mock-frustrated breath. “You are one hard woman to please. Guess I’ll have to go deeper.”
He bowed over her and moved his tongue along her sage-scented folds, and with his fingers traced her salty wetness. She spread her legs, inviting him in. With a leisurely sigh, she splayed her arms up over her head and wiggled her hips. Settling in.
He knew she loved it when he tongued her clit quickly, so this time he worked slowly, tasting all of her in long sweeps, then using more abbreviated yet intense pressure, memorizing her tiny whimpers and noting each specific tilt of hip or tense of thigh muscle as his tongue mastered her breaths.
If all he had to do for the rest of his life was make Valor happy, sign him up for the long haul. He’d never tire of her moans, her giggles and that awful yet strangely sexy snorting laughter.
“I love you,” he said. A kiss to her thigh and then a deep tongue kiss to her clit. Pushing two fingers inside her, he curled them forward.
“Oh, yes,” she growled.
A good clue she was ready to come. He made all his touches more focused, intense and so slow...
With a shout and a clutch at the moss by her hip, Valor orgasmed, her mons thrusting against his hand until she shivered and settled into the wild carpet with a gasp and a sigh.
Overhead the hummingbird flittered. And a family of chipmunks watched from within a fallen log. Kelyn smirked at that. They had an audience.
“Again?” he asked and licked her swollen clit.
“Give me a few minutes to catch my breath. And quit stalling! Let out your wings, lover. I want to see them.” She sat up, tugging up his head by his hair as she did so. “Time for me to show you how much I love you.”
He was good with that. “You ready for this?”
She nodded, her grin curling into a wickedly gleeful giggle.
