by Kiki Howell
His breath rushed from deep within his throat. “Your touch, it possesses magic, both human and otherworldly. I could never find the words to explain how this feels.”
He grabbed her then, crushing their bodies together as he brought his mouth down on hers, claiming her for his own.
She arched her back, pushing her soft curves into him as passion surged through her.
Pulling back just for air, she breathed out, “I feel I could conjure a thousand spells right now. I’ve never felt more powerful.”
“Try not to hurt me...well, too much.” He flashed her a sultry smile; a lethal move even if he didn’t realize it.
Scooping her up, he gently placed her on the bed. For a brief second, that could have been an hour, he towered over her as he simply stared at her sprawled form.
Her fingers curled into the comforter as she let her shaky legs fall open, exposing herself in invitation
“No words, not to describe this beauty,” he exclaimed as he lowered himself to the bed. He crouched between her thighs like a tiger poised to attack. His palms pushed down on the inside of her thighs, opening her more. His heated breath met her skin first and sent a shiver up through her body. Her pulse increased, making her heart thud in her chest.
He laid a soft, full-lipped kiss on her restless, desperate clit.
She swallowed back her scream as he merciless flicked, lapped, and explored her most intimate areas with the tip of his tongue until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Her climax, an earth-shattering barrage of heat and electricity swarming her body, and the sound of candles igniting all through the room with a pop and a woosh made her open her eyes. She realized she had her hands out, visible light emanating from them.
“This isn’t where I get burnt again, is it?” he asked in a shaky, but coy laugh.
“No, but I think I could have some fun. Trust me.”
“I do.”
Kneeling between her legs, he remained perfectly still except for the heaving of his chest. She brought her hands to hover over his thick erection. A telltale drop of pearly white arousal beaded from the tip.
“I’m trusting you,” he huffed, sucking in a deep breath.
She laughed. The tiny pulses making her insides tremble also made her giddy. Letting the warmth of the light at her palms move the air, she started a pattern with her hands. Creating gentle winds around his cock, she let the softest of breezes create sequences of pressure, massaging his reddish cock head and the taunt length of skin.
He half groaned, half growled, but encouraged her to go on.
Increasing the heat, the light, and the air compression, she caressed him without ever touching him until the veins down his length bulged. Moving back, she stroked his sack with the same loving caresses until the noises coming from him were more than even she could endure.
She took him in her mouth, her lips encircling his shaft and sliding downward as much as she could, and palmed the cheeks of his ass.
He jerked at the moist, heated contact, and let out an animalistic cry.
Suddenly, he tugged his manhood from her mouth, pushing her backward and falling on top of her.
“You will be the death of me, enchanted lady, and I will glory in the coming of it. Pardon me for saying so, so soon, but I think I’m in love with you, and it's the most terrifying thing I’ve ever delighted in.”
His voice soothed her, swirled every emotion and sensation she had into one of pure joy, pure peace.
He glided inside her, inch by maddening inch, his gaze on her face as. He stretched her to the limits of pleasure, filled her not only physically, but mentally and spiritually, on every plane of her being.
“No apologies. Ever. I’ve fallen hard and fast for you, too,” she admitted.
After a simple pause to play it smart, they joined together again. They moved with each other, bewitched each other to the peaks of pleasure and back again.
Magic, the word fell short. Her every experience so far didn’t come close to the sorcery of this one.
Yet, just as she snuggled into his embrace, melting in the afterglow, a cool breeze swept through the room extinguishing every candle, breaking every bulb, and leaving them in utter darkness.
“No storm does that,” he shouted as he pushed her behind his massive frame, sheltering her from unseen danger between his body and the backboard of the bed.
She reached out her hand in front of his chest, and let her light, shaky and dim, but useful, give them a glimpse around the room.
“You see anything?” he barked at her.
“Yes. Shadows. Long and demonic. Claws scratching down the walls bringing a thick, dark blood dripping from the rips in the wood. You can’t see or hear any of it?” she asked, her voice shaky and high-pitched.
“No! What do you hear? What should I do?”.
“They moan and screech, horrible horror-show stuff, as they circle us. It’s as if they’re performing some sort of satanic ritual you’d see in an old movie. Wait. Let me see if this works.”
She touched him then, let down a guard she hadn’t known she had in place until this moment, letting him into her thoughts.
He gasped, stiffened, and then pushed his back against her some more.
“Shit. Can they touch you? Are they hurting you?” he growled.
“No. I think they’re only projections, but I can’t say for sure.”
She hated the way her voice shook as much as she hated these beings for taking the warmth of her lovemaking away from her with their cold and slimy presence.
“Is this Darcaryn?” he demanded.
“No. I know the feel of his magic. The group somehow knew my defenses were down. They’re striking out, trying to make me doubt myself. I’m sure of it. Fine show, huh?” She ended with a stiff, short laugh.
“Sure. Can you do something?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I’ve moved elements, not banished demons. What do you fight pure evil with? Air? Water? Earth or fire? I fear they’d like fire and water would only piss them off,” she half joked even as she re-evaluated her options.
“Love,” he stated so matter-of-factly that it just made perfect sense.
“Turn from them and kiss me then,” she demanded.
“What?”
“Just kiss me. Focus only on me. I can use our combined emotions. You’ve given me an idea.”
She removed him from her thoughts and extinguished the light in her hand. Scrambling for purchase upon his face, she gripped his cheeks as she brought his mouth to cover to hers. She forced her passion, everything she felt for him, though scary in its own right, to the surface. As Darcaryn had unintentionally taught her, she drew his energy from him, , and with it, his love.
She reached her hands out to her sides and let the power of every ounce of energy they’d created blast from her fingers.
Light flashed. Energy collided and hissed. The entities around them screamed as if in pain. Heat and cold slapped at their exposed flesh.
Aedan turned to circle her body protectively with his.
It didn’t matter. He’d trusted her. Because of that, she’d been able to build upon their joined emotions, to power her magic with them, and to keep it going even after their kiss had ended.
Tiny explosions went off around them, mingled with the sounds of torment as the light show forced her to close her eyes again.
All at once, something slammed into them and knocked them down onto their sides. It shoved them off the bed.
He coiled his body around hers, taking the brunt of the fall as he cried out. Not in pain, but more a war cry.
Everything stopped.
“You okay?” He released her as the candles remained lit, their only source of light since the bulbs had all burst.
As he looked her over, all she could do was nod her head at first.
“You okay?” she questioned once her voice returned.
“Sure,” he grunted, letting her know his movements actually hurt.
&nbs
p; “The way you protected me—”
“You doubted I would?”
“No. Never. Just another thing to experience it,” she marveled.
“I love you. I don’t care if I’ve only known you for a week. I’m saying it. I’m not wasting another moment with fear or hesitation.”
“I love you, too,” she cried out.
“Hell of a first time?” he joked.
“I’m sure we’ll never forget it.”
“Listen, Kyna, maybe you should go back to the US, get your mom and fly away somewhere. Just keep moving until Darcaryn and I get your aunt back, figure this all out. They’re haunting you, and I’m a smart enough man to know when I’m outmatched. I can’t fight things I can’t see or understand.”
“You just did, or at least helped me to. No! I won’t go. I won’t run. Together, you the brute force, and me the magic, we’ll fight them. Look at the team we just made. And, where did that love idea come from?” she wondered out loud.
“I’ve read a lot. I don’t really know. Your question sparked some line in a book I’d read,” he shrugged as he spoke. “Let’s get you off the floor. You’re shivering.”
Cuddled under the covers with her strong protector, she fell into a fitful sleep.
Chapter Thirteen
WAKING UP, WARM and cozy, she felt Aedan 's hand on her shoulder, and his legs pressed down the length of her back. She realized he must be up already, watching her sleep. At the same time, it dawned on her that the sheets were the wrong color. She’d fallen asleep on silky white and awoke on cotton red. Startled, she turned expecting to see Aedan, only to find Darcaryn sitting beside her, smiling like a devil with a virgin to sacrifice.
“What the hell? Where’s Aedan? Where am I?” she spat abruptly as she thought to look down and see if she wore clothing.
Last night she’d fallen asleep naked in Aedan’s arms. A small inkling of relief rushed through her as she found herself garbed in her white nightgown. She still had to wonder how she got it on. She simply couldn’t remember a thing past falling asleep in Aedan’s arms.
“Calm down. Everyone is fine. Aedan went to get a shower this morning, and I got you out of there. You know, I gave you something to calm you down, but maybe I didn’t give you enough,” Darcaryn posed thoughtfully.
“How? Where am I? You drugged me?” she demanded.
The heat of her anger woke her up. The hairs on the back of her neck rose. Even clothed, she gripped the blanket, the one from her bed, wrapping it tight around her.
“You’re in a castle owned by the society. It poses as a hotel, helps filter money and give certain people a place to stay when needed. Your aunt is here and anxious to see you.”
“My aunt? She’s okay then?” Kyna questioned.
“Perfect, actually. She’ll have quite the story to tell you once you dress for breakfast.”
“I don’t understand. How did I get here, Darcaryn? Exactly?” she demanded.
“Simple slumber spell. I got you dressed in that beautiful sheer nightgown I first saw you in. Then, I wrapped you up in a blanket and carried you to the car waiting out front. I have to say you are simply amazing, though. Beautiful. And, I forgive you for sleeping with Aedan.”
“You’re sick. What the hell? You dressed me! You spelled me! And, you kidnapped me, again! Now you tell me my aunt is here and fine. What’s going on, Darcaryn? The truth! And, for your information, I love Aedan!” she screamed. The sheer volume scratched her throat.
“You’ll soon change your mind,” he countered as if she’d told him she loved oranges.
“What, another spell? You’d want someone to love you spelled to do so?” she growled.
“Wouldn’t be the worst thing, but no, I think you’re going to like all that’s offered to you here.”
“Doubtful,” she huffed.
Her mind remained dizzy from the abrupt change to how she assumed she’d wake, wrapped in the protective arms of her lover. Instead, she’d opened her eyes to the demented wizard who’d chosen to kidnap her, and in the castle of a society she’d been told wanted to use her.
“I want to see my aunt...now!” Kyna stormed.
She crawled from the bed as gracefully as she could wrapped in a blanket. The idea this monster had seen her naked nauseated her, made her want desperately for a shower. At the same time, she couldn’t get out of this room fast enough.
“Did you bring clothes for me?” she demanded. She forced the words out as she swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise from the burn in her stomach.
“No, but I got you some. There are several beautiful gowns your aunt bought for you in the armoire. Pick one out,” he offered, puffed up like a peacock.
“She picked out gowns for me? What the hell are we going to, a breakfast ball? And what was she doing picking out clothes for me? I thought she was kidnapped, being held in some dungeon somewhere?”
“Get dressed, silly witch, and all of your questions will be answered. I’ll not explain another thing. Pick a gown,” he demanded. With the last statement, his fake play nice voice had turned to tyrannical.
“You leaving while I dress?” she snarled.
“I’ve seen every inch of you. No need for modesty now,” he barked back.
He was dressed in a black suit today, his hair brushed, practically styled as it hung in big, soft curls far past his shoulders. His face flared red to match. Lips pursed, his eye twitched as he stared at her. With the beard and the hair, he looked like a Jesus impersonator, although she more expected him to grow red horns.
“Underwear?” she barked, despite her sore throat. A small price she paid for a little satisfaction. “Do I even have underwear?”
“No need, love. Just pick a damn gown and let’s go.”
He jumped off the bed, gripped her arm, and dragged her to the armoire.
With him huffing down her neck, she opened the wooden door. Determined to not let him get to her, to get dressed and get some answers, she grabbed the first gown, trying not to focus too much on the fact they were all one hundred percent black. There seemed to be a dozen in there, but she had no time to shop now. As quickly as she could manage, pushing all concerns of him seeing her from her mind, she whipped her nightgown over her head, and threw it in his face. Then, she stepped into the gown while he recovered from the surprise cotton attack.
“You bitch. I won’t tolerate such nonsense from my bride to be.”
He grabbed and yanked her by her hair, pulling her to him until her chest bounced off his.
Then, he kissed her. A quick, horrible, painful hit of his dry, hard mouth against her lips.
She clutched at her unzipped gown as her stomach rolled from the slimy magic that tasted like tar and hissed in her ears.
“Don’t ever do that again!” she screamed. “What the hell is wrong with you? You were at least a nice guy before. What’s your perverted issue today? And, bride? Excuse me? I’ll never be your bride!”
“Sorry,” he yelled, then sucked in a deep breath. With a much calmer, lower voice, he apologized again. “Sorry. A lot has changed for me since I last saw you. For one, I know you slept with Aedan. The sounds coming from your room last night, they tore my heart to shreds. That changes a man. But, right before that, these men, the ones I work with in the society, they summoned me. When I got here, they took me to your aunt. I’ve been played a fool for years. But, once I got the truth, or at least the version they deemed for me this time, I sort of like my part in it. Our part in it. But then, I came back for you, only to find you with Aedan.”
“Were you the one who attacked us last night?” she asked, fear clutching her heart.
This wizard posed an actual threat now. She’d always known she couldn’t trust him, but this new, more arrogant Darcaryn, one with an axe to grind and a new plan, he terrified her. She began to mentally prepare herself for whatever he had in store for her.
“No. Honestly. I didn’t haunt your sexual encounters with that ass of an ex-SEAL
. Your amorous activities didn’t fall into their plans either. No one expected you to fall for the bodyguard, however cliché that is. We thought you better than to fall for a human, all muscle and no magic.”
Her thoughts fell to her hero as Darcaryn moved to zip up the back of her gown. It took everything in her not to strike out at him rather than have him touch her.
The slippery bastard used the moment to run his fingers over her back.
Biting her tongue, she reminded herself that one gathered more bees with honey. Or, was it ants? Whatever! She grew determined to play their game, take a lesson from her aunt, and play along to gain information. To a point, that was. No way in hell would she marry Darcaryn.
“You truly look beautiful,” he offered.
She thought of the last time a man had said that to her, and how different the time had felt.
“You must come,” he urged, tugged on her arm like an abusive man, with anger, and without concern for her body. “They won’t be kept much longer.”
She took his arm to keep the peace and to hurry this show along.
A ball formed in the pit of her stomach as she walked along the twists and turns of the hallways and staircases, her black sequined gown swishing on the floor, against the walls, and over the steps. She felt like a prisoner being led to her last supper.
They entered a large dining room, full of empty tables and chairs except for one. Among the group of six seated men, she spotted her aunt. The woman calmly sipped something from a dainty teacup until she spotted Kyna.
“Oh, Kyna! How lovely you look,” the woman exclaimed as she rushed from her seat to hug her.
“You made friends with your enemies?” Kyna ventured, confused at the scene before her.
The woman ignored her words and sat back down at a huge table of food. Maybe the woman truly played her same game. Work with the enemy. Gather information. Then, bring the suckers down. Each man seated there wore elaborate clothing, a touch gothic for her taste, but obviously expensive, nonetheless. Silver and diamonds glistened under the huge chandeliers against their all-black attire. A wishful symbolism of hell and ice, she mused.
