Artistic Vision

by Dana Marie Bell

  “My strength is your protection, my heart is your shelter, and my arms are your home. I shall serve you in all of those ways that you require. I pledge to you my living and my dying, each equally in your care.”

  Akane could feel his power wrap around her, and she gloried in it. Her mate was strong, strong enough to tame the dragon, strong enough to banter with the Hob. The warm caress of it was like bathing in liquid gold, and she longed to lap it up.

  “Yours is the name I whisper at the close of each day and the eyes into which I stare each morning.”

  Akane opened her eyes to see the last of the darkness fall to Shane’s light and smiled. The Vow was almost complete. Now was the final step. When Shane finished the Vow his Sidhe magic would kick in, binding their life forces together for all eternity.

  “I give you all that is mine to give. My heart and my soul I pledge to you.” He lifted his hands to cradle her face between them. “You are my Chosen One. You are my Mate, and you are bound to me for eternity.”

  The bands of light surrounding them reared back, then speared into Akane’s body in a rush of power so dizzying she almost fainted. She could feel the joining of their souls as Shane’s magic twined around hers, completing her. The rush of power tingled along every part of her, pushing her into one of the most intense orgasms of her life. She shuddered in Shane’s arms, her dragon song winging through the night sky. When he kissed her, drinking down her pleasure, it merely added fuel to the fire.

  Akane rode the wave, barely hanging on to consciousness, Shane’s soul and hers now forever one.

  Robin watched Leo Dunne sleep and smiled. The man’s wounds had been easily treated, painful but not life threatening. Bres had fled, his tail between his legs, his redcaps decimated by one man. And that man had not been the Hob. He almost gave in to the urge to laugh out loud at the memory of the look on Bres’s face when he realized what, and who, had taken out every single redcap save one.

  Gods above, he loved this family. Would Aileen consider adopting him? He tried to picture what it would be like to have someone so loving and overprotective of someone like him, but he couldn’t seem to wrap his brain around it. No one, not even Oberon, felt the need to protect the Hob. At best, to most he was a carefully honed weapon.

  Small arms wound around his neck from behind. Robin held perfectly still, unsure of why Ruby was choosing this moment to hug him. She rested the point of her chin in his shoulder and gently kissed his cheek. “You know, I saw something interesting tonight.”

  Robin’s heart pounded. Dear gods, no. If Ruby had seen what he truly was, that would put paid to the rare, uncomplicated friendship the human had offered him. “Did you now?”

  “Uh-huh.” And she whispered into his ear exactly what she’d seen.

  Robin closed his eyes and waited for the rejection sure to come. He’d lived through it before, many times, but never had the thought of it hurt more.

  Instead of the rejection he’d anticipated, the little human pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. “You look like hammered shit. You need to get some sleep, Rob.”

  He drew in a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding, the relief almost dizzying. She wasn’t going to send him away, protect her family from him. He was giddy with the knowledge that, for once, he could stay. “Didn’t you know Robin Goodfellow never sleeps?”

  She chuckled. “Yup, and pigs are going to fly out of my behind any minute now.” She glanced behind her at her rear end. “Yup, aaaany minute.”

  He laughed softly. “Your mate is extremely lucky his is a true bond, or I’d steal you away from him.” He would, too, if he didn’t know pretty Ruby would wither and die without Leo Dunne. The thought sent a shaft of pain through him.

  He would have loved her so well.

  “No, you wouldn’t.” He turned to contradict her, but wound up speechless at the tender look on Ruby’s face. “She’s out there, waiting for you, and she’s going to be everything you ever dreamed of and more.”

  He swallowed, unwilling to show even Ruby his vulnerable side. He reached for arrogance instead, never far from him. “Yes, she will be.”

  Ruby just tugged his hair. “Get some sleep before your head explodes.”

  He winced. She had no idea how close to the truth that simple statement was.

  Shane barely managed to close the studio’s outer door before Akane was on him, kissing him like she’d been starved of his touch, his taste for weeks instead of hours. Her teeth worried at his neck, drawing blood. Her purr thrummed against his skin, drawing a groan from him. Damn, he wanted her purring while she sucked on him, taking him deep inside her mouth. He wanted to feel that vibration, that absolute sound of want she was making right now.

  “Gods, Shane.” She lifted her head from his neck, her dragon eyes wide, her pupils blown. “It was like bathing in liquid gold.”

  Uh oh. Shane slung his new wife over his shoulder and padded to the bedroom. “Claws to yourself, woman.”

  She huffed out an offended breath. “You’re not the one I want to rip to shreds.” She reached down and cupped his ass cheeks, her talons cold against his skin but her palms warm. “I just want to eat you all up.”

  He repressed a shiver. His cock twitched, hard as a rock. He placed her on the bed, careful of her wings. “That can be arranged.”

  Shane hissed as she darted forward, her tongue enthusiastically lapping at the head of his cock. Endearments and encouragement in the Sidhe language began pouring from his lips when she finally took him inside her mouth.

  Then she began to purr.

  Shane couldn’t stop himself. He grabbed both sides of her head and began to thrust in and out of her welcoming heat. Her fist wrapped around the base of his cock, stopping him from accidentally choking her, but otherwise she let him have his way, purring encouragement around him until his head fell back and he poured himself down her throat.

  Akane leaned back and licked her lips, very much the dragon that got the gold. He had to laugh at the satisfied expression on her face. “Dare I ask, was that good for you too?”

  She snorted, smoke curling from her nostrils. “Get your ass down here, Jethro.”

  He grinned. He loved it when she called him that. “Anything for you, Miz Akane.” He lowered himself over her, forcing her onto her back. It was too soon for his cock to rise, but he was going to see to it she enjoyed herself thoroughly before he took her. He stroked one finger along her golden horns, enjoying the ways he shuddered beneath him. “Can I get you to come just by doing this?”

  She turned dazed eyes up to him. “Wanna find out?”

  He gripped both horns and began stroking up and down, enjoying the hard, cool feel of them between his fingers. Akane moaned and writhed under him, her hips jerking up against him. She bit her lip, her hands clutching at his ass in desperation.

  Shane began to rise to the challenge. His wife wanted to get fucked, and Shane was more than willing to oblige her. He bent his mouth to hers, kissing and nipping at her fullness, loving the way her pupils dilated in sheer pleasure. The only thing his little seer was seeing was him and what he was doing to her.

  Akane spread her legs, enticing him into her wet heat. She grabbed hold of his wrists, stilling his fingers on her horns. “Do it, Shane. Fuck me.”

  “I thought you wanted me to make you come like this?” He stroked her horns again, grinning when she gasped. “Well?”

  She snarled and yanked at his hair, the sting strong enough to bring tears to his eyes. “Fuck. Me. Now.”

  “As you wish.” Shane slid into her, his hands gripping her horns to hold her steady. Or so he told her. “I wouldn’t want you to think I was trying to disobey and get you to come just by stroking them, right?”

  She growled. “Stop and die, Shane.”

  He kissed the tip of her nose. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.”

  She didn’t even know what it meant, but she looked up at him with love. “Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.”

  Shane
began to move inside her, desperate now to feel her come around him. “My heart is within you,” he translated. He wanted her to know exactly what he said to her, what she meant to him.

  She cupped his jaw. “My heart is within you.” She gasped, shivered and came, squeezing his cock like a vise.

  He kept his movements smooth, nowhere near ready to come. “A grá, mo saol.”

  She panted beneath him, a small smile on her lips. “A grá, mo saol.”

  He shuddered as the Gaelic phrase dripped effortlessly from her lips. “My love, my life.”

  Akane’s eyes cleared. She gazed up at him, her expression fiercely possessive. “My love. My life.”

  Shane jerked, startled, as his orgasm tore through him, blinding him to everything but his wife’s brilliant, loving gaze.

  Akane held Shane as he panted, exhausted, above her. His back was slick with sweat, his hair, that beautiful red-gold hair, darkened still by his run-in with Black Court poison. Her jaw clenched, cold fury overriding everything else. Shane belonged to her, and someone had almost taken him. “I almost lost you.”

  “You didn’t.” He lifted his head, the weariness he’d fought to pleasure her deepening his blue eyes nearly to black. Dark circles ringed them. He’d made love to her without his Seeming, but his vibrant colors were dulled. A faint scar remained from where Jaden had first cut him, a vivid reminder of what had almost happened.

  “Sleep, love.” She caressed his hair, smiling when he leaned into her palm. “Rest. I’ll protect you.”

  He smiled against her hand. “I know.”

  The utter confidence in his reply, the complete faith in his gaze almost undid the fury.

  Almost.

  “When do you go hunting?”

  She blinked. “After.” He tilted his head, but the yawn he’d been fighting ever since he came broke free. “After I’m sure you’ve rested.”

  Shane kissed her gently. “I just Bound you. You should be exhausted.”

  She allowed her brows to rise arrogantly. She was a dragon. She could go days without sleep if she absolutely had to, but she’d pay for it by sleeping for days on end.

  It was worth it, for Shane.

  “Ruby was out for days when Leo Bound her. From what my parents tell me it was one of the strongest Bonding rituals they’d ever witnessed. Akane? I think ours was just as strong.”

  Ruby was human. Akane was not. “Our lives are one now.” She could feel him inside her, his exhaustion threatening to drag her down too. “I need you to rest, Shane.” She licked his chin, tasting salt and Shane. “Rest for us.”

  For just a split second his expression was shocked before carefully blanking once more. “Oh.”

  “What?”

  “I just understand what something meant, that’s all.” He rolled off of her, leaving her cold. “Good night, a ghrá.”

  She sniffed. “You’re evil.” Now she was going to wonder all night what he was talking about.

  “I know.” He pulled her into his arms and she curled around him, kept her mate warm when exhaustion proved too much for the hybrid to hold off any longer.

  Akane almost blew a raspberry, but the man had finally fallen asleep, truly asleep, for the first time since he’d been taken. She rubbed her hand up and down his side, enjoying the feel of his warm skin. He’d been so cold when she’d first found him she’d been afraid he’d never be warm again.

  Akane stopped, frowning when she noticed something on her arm. She lifted her hand and had to stifle a gasp. On her forearm was a golden spiral triskele, three joined, glittering swirls of light bound in the center by a single symbol. The center of the triskele was a dragon curled around a golden human form. The arms of the triskele rotated away from the dragon and her mate, the golden spirals glittering in the light like a Sidhe’s skin. Akane smiled at the sign that her mate accepted her protection until she got a closer look at the figures.

  The tiny human figure held a dagger in one hand and a shield in the other.

  Akane tsk’d. Why was she not surprised? “Stubborn man.”

  Shane shifted against her, and Akane held her peace, afraid she’d wake her sleeping mate.

  Shane woke to the knowledge that his wife was no longer in bed with him. “Damn it.” He shifted, stretching before he opened his eyes. “Akane?”

  Silence. His wife was gone, probably out hunting the ones who’d harmed him. He wasn’t surprised. She’d been ready to hunt last night, but his exhaustion and her need to protect had overwhelmed her need to hunt. Shane slipped out of bed and headed for the shower, eager to get the dirt of the day before off his skin. He turned on the bathroom light and reached for his toothbrush. His mouth tasted like an open sewer grate. He had the feeling if he lit a match and blew he’d breath flame like his lover.

  His hand froze as he got his first good look at himself. “Son of a bitch.” Shane reached up and fingered his hair. He’d forgotten to slip his Seeming back on the night before, and now he was seeing the effects of the poison Klaussner had pumped into him.

  “Akane’s going to freak.” His hair was definitely a shade or two darker than it had been, the gleaming copper tarnished. The gold dust of his skin had also darkened, shadowed by poison. He blew out a quick, shaky breath of relief when he realized his eyes had remained the same sapphire blue as always.

  He started the shower, hoping against hope the last of the darkness would wash off, but no such luck. The water was disturbingly clear of fae grime. The only thing that washed away was the dirt of the circle he’d fried in and the blood that had seeped from his wound. Shane fingered the cut, grateful Akane had figured out the solution before it had been too late. If she hadn’t burned out the parasite he’d be heading straight for the Black Court and a life of horror as Bres’s bitch.

  Still, the one thing he’d expected to happen hadn’t yet. He was glad the initial ordeal was over, but if his vision had been correct then something else still needed to occur. Something painful.

  Shane was still marked, but it was faint, a hint of what could have been. If Akane had delayed at all he’d be forever tainted, yearning for darkness in his soul. A daily battle within himself he could eventually lose, giving the Dark Queen access to his visions and an edge given to no other court. Access to possible futures was something the Seer made sure was either withheld completely or given to all courts equally. If the Dark Queen could have a sane seer at her command it had the potential to take the animosity between the courts and force it into open warfare.

  Shane shivered, a chill racing across his skin at the thought. He upped the hot water, hoping to drive the coolness back, but the shivers intensified. Something stabbed him behind his eyes, the vision painful, eager to be built of glass, metal…and blood.

  Oh. Shit.

  Another vision hit, this one even more violent than the first one. Shane’s back bowed, his head aching, his hands twitching. He had to bring the vision to life. He had to.

  The vision switched, changed into a new one, and Shane realized what was going on. It had finally hit, and now Shane would have to do his best to ride it out. If things went well, the prophecy would be fulfilled. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if it did not. The possibilities were endless, the visions of what could happen in the worst case scenario, torturous.

  He reached out and turned off the water, knowing only one thing could warm him now. He stumbled out of the shower, the visions strong, grasping him in iron talons. He barely had the presence of mind to dry himself off before he staggered into the studio, naked and almost blind. He headed for the vault, seeing in sharp flashes what he had to create, the knowledge of what was to come etched in his mind and twitching through his body. His hands reached into bins over and over again until a pile lay on the worktable, the same table he’d first Claimed his mate on.

  Shane’s hands and thoughts flew, piecing together something he hoped never came to pass, because if it did Shane would have more than his own blood on his hands.

>   * * *

  Chapter Nine

  Akane sipped her hot chocolate and grinned at Duncan. “How’s Jaden?”

  Duncan glared at her, his gray eyes bloodshot. He shifted slightly on his seat, a look of discomfort crossing his face. “Enthusiastic.” His mouth twisted into a reluctant grin. “And Shane?”

  She snickered. She could guess why Duncan was sitting uncomfortably that afternoon. “Excellent.”

  Duncan shook his head. “You and Jaden are hunting tonight, aren’t you?”

  She nodded, all humor fleeing at the reminder of what was coming next. “Constance and Hobart need to be taken care of.”

  Duncan sighed. “At least Tristan agreed to feed us information.”

  “He did?” She’d been a bit distracted, but she should have been informed of this. She hadn’t slept yet. Luckily she wouldn’t feel the effects for a few days, after which she’d be forced to rest whether she wanted to or not.

  “Yes. It seems he wants to try and save some of the clan, but he’s not sure how many will be willing to follow him.” He toyed with his mug, his expression bleak. “I think he’s going to try and re-form the Clan within the White, with himself as the Clan leader.”

  “That won’t work. Glorianna would never allow that.” Tristan was in no way strong enough to lead even the remnants of a clan as powerful as the Malmaynes. The loss of the clan was going to hurt the White.

  “He thinks because he’s acting as her agent he’ll be able to persuade her. He may be right too.” Duncan smiled as Moira came into the room and dropped beside him. “Good morning.” He shared a sweet kiss with his wife. “How’s our Blade sleeping?”

  “Like a baby.” Moira grinned over at Akane. “How’s our artist this morning?”

  “Last I checked he was snoring.” Akane grimaced. “His coloring is off.”

  Moira tilted her head and stole a sip of Duncan’s tea. “How so?”

  “Everything’s…darker. His skin, his hair. Everything but his eyes.” His beautiful, sapphire eyes remained the same, thank the gods.