Carlo thrust Nanshe away and leapt for the Fae. He froze in mid-air, muscles clenched, teeth bared. A shocked gasp filled the silence.
“It’s the portal. I’ve stopped him for now, but barely. Get him calm.”
Fighting against the control, Carlo swung to the final member of their party, Lennox. He’d forgotten about the threat behind him until the mage spoke. He snapped his teeth at him.
The Trinity Council member didn’t back down. He lifted his palms at his sides, fire sparking, his white hair alight with embers. “Don’t test me, wolf. I may not be a shifter, but I could burn you away if you push.”
Carlo was stronger.
“She is mine.”
“What the hell, Carlo? We know that. No one is trying to take your mate.” Teague held out his hands in a placating gesture.
Carlo shook his head. What is wrong with me?
“It’s the magic in the portal, the Chaos.”
Lennox lowered Carlo to the ground, and Nanshe pressed her fingers against his face, forcing him to look down at her.
“It’s reacting to your fear.”
It doesn’t need my fear to do anything to me.
“I’ve never seen the Chaos Realm react like this. Bring about fears, sure but not interact. Look.” Lennox motioned to the portal, even as he stepped closer. It was no longer just purple and blue with the center of black. It now had dark red and gold pulsing through it.
Kallan stared. “What?”
“Carlo, I told you it’s not what it seems. Please.”
“What?”
She sighed. “Stay calm, control your emotions, and it will settle.”
Lennox looked over at her. “How does a wolf have control over how a portal reacts?”
Nanshe turned in Carlo’s arms, smiling in silence.
“Ah, you can’t answer that, but we can tell there is importance here.” Lennox eyed Carlo executively. “I’d like to see more. Do as your mate suggests.”
Carlo breathed deeply, pushing out the lust, anger, and fear as best he could from his veins. He couldn’t get the emotions to disappear, but they just simmered below the surface instead of consuming him.
And damned if the portal didn’t change.
It smoothed back to its original state, electric magic sparking around the edges.
“By the Goddess!” Lennox exclaimed. “It is as if he can control it, influence it at the very least.”
Lennox was sharp enough to look to Nanshe, and still she only smiled.
Carlo groaned. “Bullshit.”
Teague crossed his arms, his armor glittering in the light of the portal. “You can’t believe your own eyes?”
All of them were ready for war. Kallan and Teague wore armor that matched the flecks in their eyes, enhancing their power. Lennox donned all red, from trench coat to the leather jerkin and soft suede pants underneath. The only ones who hadn't changed were Nanshe and Carlo, but Nanshe didn’t need it, and Carlo’s wolf was his weapon and protection.
“I can see the portal just fine, but I don’t believe I can change it. I think it’s reacting to me,” Carlo argued.
Kallan rolled his eyes. “Fine. Let’s go. My Tether holder wants his Fate back, and I will make sure it happens. We need to go through. We’ve spent enough time here.”
“Let’s go, then.” Of course, even though he said it, Carlo didn’t move.
“Oh, for Goddess’s sake.”
Before he knew what was happening, Lennox pushed him from behind, and Carlo tumbled into the portal.
“I am here.”
Carlo could feel Nanshe, but his body was airy, a wisp of what it would be in the physical world. Her connection to him was more sensed, a brushing through his soul. His wolf shifted, needing something to latch on to as the surrounding Chaos tried to seep in.
He couldn’t see the others as he fell. He screamed, but the sound only slammed back at him, smacking his face and ripping his skin. But he had no skin, right? The pain, though, was real.
“You have to relax, Carlo.”
I won’t let this shit in, Nanshe. I can’t.
She sighed but didn’t say more. Her essence wrapped around him instead. “Then I’m sorry. This is going to be a bit hard to deal with on the other side.”
Goddess, but he felt her. The warmth of her skin, the sweet taste of her on his tongue. Every one of his senses centered on her. He couldn’t understand how it was happening. She merged with him, her soul licking across his.
Soft lips on his cock.
Nails digging at his back.
They swirled together, hovering and locked as one with the dark hell of fear surrounding them. But he didn’t notice it. Not anymore. Her heavy breasts filled his hands, pert nipples pressing against his palms, begging for attention. And with a thought, he shifted and sucked her in.
Nanshe’s cry at his ear was beautiful music vibrating in his bloodstream. How could one make love without a body, without sight? But they were. Her skin was supple and slick as he ran his hands along her, memorizing her form. The indent at her waist, her flaring hips, the length of her toned legs. She was more beautiful than any woman he’d ever known.
And he knew her.
The wealth of her pain, the way her loneliness spanned years he could barely comprehend. But at her core, so deep he was amazed at the touch, was him. Different names, different essences, but him all the same.
Carlo gasped around her nipple, wanted to examine those memories, but then she shifted and he lost his mind. Heated, silky skin wrapped around him, her arms around his neck, legs around his waist, and he took her mouth.
Soul-searing kisses were described in books and played out in movies, but he knew the reality of it. It was sadness, need, hope, happiness, pain, and support all wrapped into one. He ate at her lips, pulling deeper, sharing his fear, his moments of being lost in the Chaos. He shared with her everything he could, opening in a way he’d never done before.
In this moment, without the outside world pinning him down, and the Chaos held at bay, he was simply Carlo. Nanshe clawed his back, pulling him closer, and their hearts beat as one, a steady thump to anchor them in the miasma.
His cock swelled, his heavy balls drawing tight between his legs. He needed her closer, tighter. And without a word, she knew. She knew. Wet, vibrant heat surrounded his cock as she sank onto it, lowering herself in small increments. He thought he moaned or bellowed as he gripped her hips and slammed her the rest of the way down. At least, he heard it in his head.
But there was no sound, nothing to interfere with this moment.
She rode him, aided by his harsh control. They came together—veins, bone, and blood. Wild. Shifter. Chaotic. His wolf howled, her magic screeched, and they ran into each other, enjoying the pulsing power passing back and forth between them. He let his wolf lead, as he had no fear.
And with a simple thought he was on top, lifting her legs and hooking them on the inside of his elbows so he could slam into her. Their bodies slapped together, yet it was muted, buffeted by the vibrations of their souls in time with their movements. He knew where to touch, where to taste.
Carlo tweaked her tanned nipples between his fingers. Laved her clit with his hot tongue. Squeezed her ass in demand. All of it happened at once, the mind making it real. They were impossibly connected. Her pussy clamped around his cock, but her mouth was there too, sucking at the tip, her tongue dancing under the head. Impossible yet possible. Nanshe raked her nails over his nipples and her teeth were at his throat.
Fuck, he could taste her on his tongue.
The unimaginable ability of their coming together was layered, faceted by their needs and desires. How could anyone deny this? Fight against it? He wanted to yell her name, wanted to hear her scream his.
And so he did.
Nanshe!
“Carlo!”
Soundwaves danced within his skull, swinging into focus the sounds he’d been missing. Right there, in his head, he heard her whimpers, the soft, w
et music of her mouth around his cock, the glide of his thick cock within her.
All of it danced over his senses.
This was madness.
“Stay with me. Give me everything I’ve ever wanted.”
His wolf couldn’t deny her, couldn’t stop the mewling cry of acceptance and mirroring need. Cinnamon and earth. The dirt and the air. They were opposites yet tied to each other. He couldn’t separate where one started and one ended.
When the Chaos had taken his mind, the world was scary. He was trapped in the darkness, watching what went on from his shackles and unable to interact. If he was angered, he hurt others. Sad, he wailed and cried until he could barely breathe. Happiness was laughter until he choked, afraid he wouldn’t breathe again. Every simple emotion or reaction was exacerbated until he hated to feel anything.
Primo controlled those emotions, pulling them—and him—like a master puppeteer.
And oh, how Carlo had danced.
“It doesn’t matter.”
Nanshe clenched on his cock, dragging him from the memories, the fear, and back into her heat. He was once again pumping into her, muscles bunching in his back with each thrust. He pushed harder, chasing that connection again to wash out the bitterness of the past.
Honey danced on his tongue, sweetening the taste until he could stand the moments in his head. Carlo swallowed it down, using it to soothe the aching pounding of his heart.
“Let me.”
They flipped once more, falling endlessly, yet it happened in seconds. She lifted, straddling him, and he palmed her thighs. Her tits bounced as she moved up and down on him, harder and harder. Pleasure spiraled up his gut, filling his belly and up to his heart. From that point, it spread, suffusing every cell.
More, Nanshe. Fuck yes.
The words were unnecessary, but he said them anyway. Shared with her how much he wanted her. Nanshe swirled her hips, sliding up and down his length faster than humanly possible. The friction warmed him immensely, a heat that had him gasping.
Every layer of their lovemaking wrapped into one until explosions set off throughout his body and Nanshe screamed. Glittering stars burst apart in the sky. With each shock they came, their pleasure rebounded into one another through the melding of their beings, their souls.
Bodies disappeared, and they were once more turned into mists, there and yet not. If climaxing were a sound, even that slithered through them, vibrating their cells. Carlo cried out again, sending another wave over them until Nanshe answered.
And then they were real, slamming into the ground. Carlo wrapped his arms around Nanshe to cushion her fall, the hard earth alien after the magnificent sense of what they’d done. Carlo blinked, trying to bring the world into focus, but things were too bright.
“Carlo? Nanshe?”
That voice. It was familiar. Important.
Carlo frowned. “Who are you?”
“What?”
“Give him time. He’s coming out of the Chaos.”
He was coming, all right. Even the word sent remembered shock through his body, and he groaned.
“Nanshe, can you explain this?”
She shifted, her heat still on top of him. “The Chaos Realm was hard for him to traverse. The Fae and the humans both got this place wrong. The In Between is the buffer space separating Aesop from the Land of Humans. The Chaos Realm is the border of the In Between on both sides. It can be as broad or as thin as necessary to get through.”
“That explains why we’ve been here much longer than it took you to get through.”
“Yes, Lennox. It took longer to help Carlo traverse safely.”
Carlo shook his head. The world was righting itself. He recognized who’d spoken, starting with Kallan, then Nanshe, and Lennox.
“I think I may be able to help.”
Soft, sweet notes swelled around them, and Carlo’s wolf quieted to listen. When he looked up, it took him another headshake before he realized it was Teague. He was singing to him. The more Teague sang, the clearer the picture became, until he realized he’d landed in a muted area of large trees with leaves he’d never seen before. They were lined with a dull gray color with the inside black. The ground was black as well, the grass the inky color of midnight, but softer than the sharp edges appeared.
“The In Between?”
“Yes, Carlo. We’re in the In Between. We need to make one more shift to Ashes before we can plan our attack against Skuld to get Asherah,” Nanshe explained.
“What?”
But he didn’t get to answer. Another portal opened, and they dropped through it too fast for him to even react.
Fuck, but he hated the Chaos Realm.
Well, maybe not. He’d had the best sex of his non-existence in that space.
Too bad the second trip didn’t come with that perk.
Chapter Ten
Carlo didn't exactly understand what was going on, so he just continued moving forward. He still was trying to get over coming out on the other side of the Chaos Realm portal Nanshe had created.
It took enough time for him just to get stable on his feet, that his wolf was snarling and snapping inside him to get out. Man, he really fucking hated the Chaos Realm, regardless of when it touched him. No matter if Nanshe tried to keep him distracted, it was still hard for him to handle.
Kallan looked over at him, shaking his head, and even Lennox was cautiously watching him, likely wondering what was going to happen. He could see it on both the men's faces. The only one who showed no response was Teague.
Carlo could be grateful for that.
There wouldn't be anybody there to make fun of him for what he was going through.
Nanshe shrugged and looked over at him. "Couldn't exactly do what I did the last time to get you through this."
Carlo laughed. "Well, I can't exactly argue with that. It would have been nice. But I can't do that."
Lennox cleared his throat. "For now, at least we can focus on getting Asherah back. What, exactly, is going on with her?"
Carlo didn't know the answer to that question either, so he took stock of where he was and what was going on around him. The muted area was still just shades of blacks and grays, and he couldn't quite make it out. How the Fae could look at this place as being more beautiful than the human world made him wonder how drab and dreary Encantado must have looked to them.
Carlo looked to Nanshe. "Is this how the Fae world looks? Do you know?"
Nanshe shook her head but didn't say anything, not a peep. This was how Carlo knew she could not give him the answer. What he didn't know was why would it be important—what the Fae world looked like or not—but they had enough on their hands for the time being. Now was not the appropriate time to try to figure it out.
"Where are we?"
Teague looked around for a moment at Carlo’s question. "I remember this location from when I came through with Heath and the others. If I'm right, we're not too far from the Forgotten Tower."
Carlo lifted one eyebrow. "And the Forgotten Tower belongs to this Skuld you told us about."
"Yes," Kallan answered. "She does own the Forgotten Tower. It's a tall, black monstrosity, and she usually has it heavily guarded. The last time we came close, we fought a golem and those damn filthy Hollows you saw in Encantado."
"Golems," Carlo mused. "No one has seen golems in years."
Teague laughed. "Well, we saw them just recently, and she packs a mean punch with them. It took all four of us to take one down, and it still was a tough go. Let's hope she doesn't have any of those bastards protecting her right now."
Carlo couldn't deny he absolutely agreed. He would hate for Skuld to show up golems because he only had Lennox, Kallan, and Teague to fight alongside him. As powerful as Nanshe was, Carlo didn't really want to see her in battle. And even if she was, if they were faced with more than one, Carlo knew it'd be a tough fight to get through.
"Do you think she may be holding Asherah at the top of the Forgotten Tower again?"
/> Carlo looked to Kallan at his question. "Well, you can hope she doesn't. Because if she's in the top of that tower and Skuld has her trapped with runes, we're going to have to figure out how to get her out, since we don't have Heath with us."
Kallan groaned. "That's right. He got her out by using his blood and putting it within her, so they share that."
Carlo stopped walking. "I had a question about that before, but it wasn't the time to ask. If he gave her his blood, but he's not a vampire, where does that come from? Why would he have given her his blood, or is that something you do with blood runes?"
Teague shook his head. "It's a lot to explain, but the Unseelie Fae are different. They're sort of what vampires came from. The Unseelie Fae can feed on blood, but they don't necessarily need it. It's why they have the pale skin, and they're different from the others. Normally, they only feed from their Fate. By feeding on each other, they grow in strength. That is why he was able to give Asherah his blood. But they're much different from the vampires that need blood to survive. Let's just say, the Unseelie are at the top of the food chain."
Carlo chuckled. He couldn't deny the Fae had a great sense of pride, and it wasn't much different from the wolves’ pride. That, at least, he could get behind.
"Fine. At least that question is clear, but we need to scope further to see how we're going to get in.”
Nanshe lifted a hand sheepishly. "Well, we could just portal directly inside." She winced. "I know you don't like using the Chaos Realm, but we went through the last portal so fast you didn't get a chance to truly react to the Chaos."
Carlo’s heart shuddered. As much as he knew her words were right, he was not looking forward to going directly into the Chaos Realm again. He would rather go in there as least often as possible.
Every time the Chaos bled in, it licked over him and grabbed on as a lover would. It was like an old friend that wanted him to stay around and didn't want to see him leave. Carlo wasn't sure he wanted to know how much that friend needed to be around and what that would do to him if he got involved with it.
He shook his head at Nanshe. "For now, we'll walk. Depending on how close we are, we should be able to get there fast enough."
Mated to the Chaos (Portal City Protectors Book 5) Page 8
