“So I made the reservation, and here I am.”
Quinn squeezed the hand Corbin still had wrapped around hers and searched his face to gauge his thoughts. His expression was guarded, but when his eyes met hers, the corners of his mouth crinkled up on one side. He was telling her without words that, while her story made him sad, he was happy to have her sitting next to him now.
Quinn turned to Gus and said, “I immediately embarrassed myself in front of Rose and Miss Benny.” She looked at the older woman, who just smiled encouragingly at her, and continued, “but they didn’t seem surprised at all that I was here or even so much as ask additional questions about how I managed to, hands-free, rip tree roots out of the ground before babbling and passing out. It makes me wonder if rescuing wayward mutants is not out of the norm for them.”
Miss Benny said nothing but pursed her lips against a smile and Corbin snorted, probably because he was one of those wayward mutants himself. It seemed to Quinn that there were a lot of mysteries there at Happ House, and she wondered if her particular puzzle was just one of many. She would have to keep her eyes open; until then, she had another question she needed to be answered.
“How is it that I drove off the side of the road, narrowly missed hitting a deer, and ended up with my car belly down in some tall grass where you just happened to be sitting?” Quinn asked with uncharacteristic firmness. “You could have told me at that time who you were and that you knew who I was. You could have said any number of things to help me, to calm me, but you let me get back in the car and drive the rest of the way in a clearly unstable condition. Please tell me that you didn’t cause me to go off the road. Please tell me that I am not some kind of weird little nature science project for you.”
She was so irritated and overwhelmed with trying to come to grips that her dreams were actually her reality. If there was someone that was deliberately withholding information from her, she was just going to not like them very much at all. Her body was electric, and she felt supercharged with energy. If she got angry, she felt like this sometimes, so she tried not to let herself get angry. Nervous and scared little Quinn was ok, but upset Quinn made accidents happen and things got messy. The room felt heavy and smelled like thunderclouds on a summer day. The old man’s eyebrows rose up so high in surprise that they may have come close to leaping from his face altogether. Corbin squeezed her hand tighter, and she felt her heartbeat start to slow a bit. Corbin’s hands felt nice. He made her feel not so angry anymore. Corbin was a drink of cold water on a hot day when the air conditioning didn’t work. Corban’s touch was a sweet relief. Quinn sagged against him a little in her chair. She didn’t know when it had happened, but somehow she was almost snuggled up in his lap at the table. She was too happy and calm at his touch, though, to let herself be embarrassed.
The heavy rain scent in the air had dissipated from the room, and the snap crackle of energy that Quinn had experienced, like a live wire under her skin, was gone, almost like it had never been in the first place. Miss Benny and Gus both wore matching smug expressions, as if the last thirty seconds had just answered any questions they had about Quinn’s identity or motives. The old man didn’t look scary anymore. Instead, he looked interested. He opened his mouth, and suddenly Quinn wanted to hear every word he had to say, her irritation and gloom from before suddenly swept away by an unknown wind.
“Thank you for that little display, young lady,” the green man said. “I have come to a conclusion about your possible origin story.”
Origin story sounded like something that a superhero had, and Quinn was no superhero, but she was interested, so she waited patiently for him to continue.
“A little backstory, for the peanut gallery,” Gus paused to take hit from his home-rolled cigarette and Quinn saw something she hadn’t noticed before. Instead of blowing the smoke out when he exhaled, spreading it around the table and room, it curled out of his nose in ringlets and went straight up in a lazy spiral, disappearing as it went up past his head. There wasn’t even the smell of tobacco in the room, not like she had detected in the air outside when she had met him the first time. How considerate of the people in the room, Quinn thought. I wonder if he does that on his own or if Miss Benny makes him?
The green man continued, “As far as the encounter on the side of the road, I didn’t make you run off the side, no matter how much you would like to blame that on me. That was your stupidity. And before you throw any more of that supercharged sass at me, let me just tell you there isn’t anything in your wild arsenal that I can’t handle, so just calm down.
“I didn’t say who I was because you were not in the frame of mind to handle it, and your state was so raw that I thought it best you continue on your way and get where you needed to be. The rest would follow in time, and it did. Like calls to like, and you found where you needed to be.”
Gus leaned back in his chair and took another puff, “As far as what you are, I would be hard-pressed to put my finger on exactly where you energies lie. I originally guessed nymph. One, because of your seeming affinity with plants, and two, because of how quickly you inadvertently bewitched our young raven here.”
Quinn didn’t like the word bewitched, and from the mutinous look on Corbin’s face, he didn’t really either. He still hadn’t said much at this point, but he was looking for answers as much as she was.
“In the old days, long before there were so many humans on this earth, different types of magic were really just different bloodlines passed down. Magic wasn’t something one attained, it was something you were born with based on your family. Powers were hereditary, based on your species, and they remained pretty pure for the most part.”
Quinn wondered just how long ago the old days were. Was he talking decades or was he talking centuries? Or was he talking longer than that?
“Then came industry, and humans were taking up more and more space. Industry thrived, populations boomed, and the places where the magic folk existed began to dwindle. We have our own spaces, but they are connected to this world as well, so as the humans took up more and more space, our own began to get smaller. As people began to travel quickly from continent to continent, so too did the fae. I use the term fae because it is probably the one most recognizable to you, but it is not all encompassing. Fae is simply a term that includes different varieties of magical folk. Depending on who you meet, they may not mind it, or they may be offended.”
“So how does this affect me and knowing what bloodline I come from?” Quinn asked. She wasn't combative, she was genuinely confused.
“Well, I’m getting to it. Basically, when our space dwindled, our population decreased as well, and the number of young born of pure blood began to recede exponentially. Entire bloodlines were in danger of extinction, so interspecies pairings started to become more the norm. It was out of necessity actually. Even that wasn’t a fix for the problem; integration became necessary for survival, especially for those living in densely populated urban areas. The only way to survive was to assimilate ourselves. There are very few purebloods left anymore anywhere, really. I’m not even a pureblood.”
Quinn waited for him to elaborate on that particular point but he didn’t. He just kept plowing through his story, blunt and to the point, like it seemed like he did everything. Quinn, now feeling very relaxed, leaned into Corbin more and laid her head back against his chest and shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her tighter and rested his chin on the top of her head. She caught Miss Benny looking at her out of the corner of her eye, the older lady smiling and dabbing at the corner of her eyes with a little white lace handkerchief.
“For the last several hundred years or so, many of the fae have even been breeding with humans.”
Everyone at the table looked up at the old man, but the only one who looked surprised by the news was Quinn. Miss Benny’s face had a neutral expression, and Corbin just continued to nuzzle his face in Quinn’s hair, comforting her.
“It’s a tricky business when one of the f
ae mates with a human because you are sharing a part of yourself with someone who could very well be your downfall. With technology being what is now, and information being shared at the speed of light, mating with humans is a dangerous thing indeed, but not unheard of. There are more things on this earth than you know, but now is not the time or place for those conversations. Most species are very protective of their young though, so it is a matter of concern that you suffered the way that you did. I don’t understand why your parents didn’t just teach you, why they left you to doctors instead of cultivating your natural attributes. Halfling children have it harder than most, and must learn self control at a young age.” Gus stopped talking and stroked his beard absently, his thick gray brows knit together and a frown on his lips.
Quinn could answer this question, although she could hardly see how it was relevant. Her foster parents couldn’t have helped her because they were one hundred percent human and didn’t know how to deal with what was happening to her. They couldn’t know that magic existed or that their daughter had the blood of nymphs and who knew what else running through her veins. Quinn was an orphan, and when she told them as much, Miss Benny and Gus sat up with a start, concern etched on their features. Corbin caught wind of the change immediately and tried to question the two elders, but they refused to elaborate on the subject, the old man just stating, “The fae don’t abandon their young, girl. Family is everything to the fae folk. The perpetuation of the species, in whatever form it manifests, is of the utmost importance.”
Quinn wondered briefly about what kind of birth parents she had, but to be honest, she couldn’t blame her foster parents for what had befallen her. No one could have predicted the turn of events that summer at the cabins when she was sixteen. They had done their best for her and raised her in a loving home for as long as they could. It wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t handle a coming of age halfling daughter with magical powers when they didn’t even know such a thing existed. In fact, now that she had the comfort and calm of Corbin’s arms around her, surrounding her with a cocoon of peace, she could reflect back and be grateful that it hadn’t been worse. At least she wasn’t still living with them and haunting them with an illness they couldn’t cure.
Miss Benny was the next one to speak, and she cleared her throat delicately to get everyone’s attention. “I am glad you are here, Quinn, and Gus here is willing to help you gain control and be comfortable with your natural abilities, but unfortunately, that is not the only thing we have to discuss tonight. Tell her the rest, Gus.” Miss Benny gave the old man a knowing look, and Quinn noticed that the older woman’s hands were trembling slightly as they twisted her handkerchief. It was a very telling movement, and Quinn understood what Miss Benny was feeling quite well, as she had experienced it for so long herself. Miss Benny was afraid.
The walk back to the cabins was silent with neither Quinn nor Corbin talking, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Quinn’s lack of speech was her way of digesting the huge amount of information she absorbed throughout the evening. Finding out that you were mixed blood halfling, that there was an entire world of magical creatures both good and evil and sometimes in between, and that one of them happened to try to kill her when she was a teenager and possibly again was a lot to freaking handle. Quinn was proud of herself. The nervous, cowering young woman from just twenty-four hours ago was gone, and in her place was a thoughtful, if solemn, young woman preparing her plan of attack.
The biggest proponent of fear was the unknown, and Quinn had gone so long without knowing anything that she was afraid of virtually everything. Now she had answers though, and her silence was just her way of taking the time to fill in the pieces. Still, she had taken the whole evil familiar and dead ravens thing in stride. A lot better than she previously would have, for sure. When Corbin had asked her how she could be so nonchalant about it, she could only reply,
“It makes sense.”
And it did. Quinn had been dreaming of these things for so long that simply knowing they were real and not a figment of her imagination was a huge step in the right direction. If all of this was real, then her powers were real too, and she was more equipped than most to deal with this type of calamity. Quinn had spent the last ten years doing her best to avoid hurting someone, but now she didn’t have to. That was freeing enough to outshine any other shadow of the moment.
She could tell Corbin was worried about it though. She could tell by the way he hadn’t let go of her hand as they walked the short distance from the main lodge back to the guest cabins and by the way he walked close enough that his leg brushed hers every so often as they strolled. Every time he did that, electric tingles went shooting through her body, starting at the point of contact and radiating to the softer places, causing shock waves across her breasts and between her thighs. She had no idea what she was supposed to do when she got to the door and was starting to panic. She knew what she wanted of course, but she didn’t know how to ask for it or if she even had a right to.
Quinn walked up the three steps that lead to the front door of cabin twelve, and when faced with opening the door, she stopped and turned around slowly. Corbin was about five steps behind her, but instead of stopping to say goodnight, he kept walking. He kept walking up the three porch steps and right up to her. He didn’t stop until she was backed up against the still closed door and he still pushed forward, pressing himself against her gently but firmly, with his hands on the door frame on either side of her. He moved his body over hers until Quinn could feel him pressing against every part of her from her chest to her knees. Her knees started shaking; there was more man touching her right now than had ever touched her in her life, and she greedy for it, but she didn’t know what to do. He lowered his head as if to kiss her, and she almost whimpered in disappointment when instead, he pressed his forehead to hers, and his face was so close, she could feel his even breaths on her cheek he just looked at her, the intensity of his gaze demanding eye contact.
“I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered into her mouth, his breath forming the words on her lips like a kiss.
“I don’t know what I am supposed to do. I’ve never done whatever we are doing right now.” She waved her hands in the air, “I’ve never done this before.”
Corbin looked down at her with a masculine grin. His hands were still at either side of her, braced on the doorframe. Quinn’s hands, however, apparently knew exactly what they wanted to do and were currently winding their way under his faded black shirt and up his chest, fingers grazing the short, crisp hair there. Her hands may have been attached to her, but clearly they had whore minds of their own because she didn’t even know that she had done that.
“Let me rephrase that, then,” Corbin laughed low, his face still so close to hers that she could taste his words on her tongue. “Let me inside.”
To the cabin or to me? Quinn thought wildly because hell yes to all of that. Then rational thought was gone because he did kiss her then, and it was nothing like the previous twenty-something had been. Nothing at all.
His mouth was hot and demanding, first licking, then sucking, then biting her lower lip. He was hungry, and his passion was eating its way into her body through her mouth. She opened her lips wider to take everything he had to give her, for they had both waited ten years for this, and pretenses be damned.
She had latched onto him like a spider monkey by now, and both arms were wound around his neck, fingers running through the black silk of his hair, her lower body bumping restlessly against his as she tried to get even closer to relieve the building pressure. He chuckled darkly into her mouth, and the sound of it was so simultaneously sensual and wicked that she moaned in frustration. Why was he so good at this? It wasn’t fair.
The door fell open behind her as Corbin twisted the knob and moved her backward, over the threshold. There was no sense staying on the porch and pretending they weren’t going to be having sex. That was definitely happening. He wasn’t going to make her ask for it;
he was going to do exactly what she needed and take charge. She had no doubts he would stop if she told him to, but it wasn’t a question of whether she wanted him or not. She might not have been able to say the words, but she could show him with her body.
With a strength she didn’t know he possessed but took her breath away all the same, Corbin grabbed her under the rear and lifted her until she wrapped her legs around his waist, which put the most sensitive part of her directly in contact with the hardest part of him. It felt so good she couldn’t take it, and she started grinding against him, cursing the two layers of denim separating their bodies.
He let go of her mouth and moved his lips down her neck, creating a trail of fire with his mouth as he went. Pausing right over the spot where her neck met her collarbone, he bit down, not gently, but not hard enough to break the skin. There would probably be a bruise there tomorrow, or Quinn hoped so anyway.
Quinn was pretty sure her panties had dissolved; the moisture from her arousal surely had destroyed them. Spontaneous panty combustion - that was probably a thing. His hands were still holding her up, but she wanted them everywhere. Her breasts ached with need, and she didn’t know how to find the words to tell him she wanted his attention there next, so she pulled her t-shirt over her head and flung it into oblivion behind her. With a swiftness that only a woman who wears one every day can achieve, she one-handedly unclasped her bra and tossed that aside as well.
Corbin arched his dark brows at her shamelessness, then grunted in approval. His attention was now squarely on her breasts, the pale, plump globes turning rosy under his stare. He was clearly a fan, and the knowledge that Corbin liked looking at her body gave Quinn a different kind of confidence. The kind of confidence a woman has in the bedroom, which was entirely different than the confidence she carried elsewhere. Quinn lowered herself down from her perch and slowly undid the snap on her capris. She was slim in the hips, but they were cut to fit, and she had to shimmy a bit to get them down and off. She stood there, clad only in a pair of black cotton bikinis, and looked at Corbin. Her panties may as well have been made of candy for the hungry way he was staring at her, like she was food. And she wanted to be eaten. She really did.
Northwoods Magic (Northwoods Fairy Tales Book 1) Page 11
