by Aneesa Price
She snatched her hand away irritably. “I had a long night and I’m tired. Go away. I need to sleep.” She peeked up at him, despite the dark room, she could see him vividly. It was painful to move a muscle, open her eyes, so she quickly shut them again and lay still.
Raulf laughed softly but it sounded like canon balls going off in her room and she winced.
“Sorry. Forgot that your hearing is nearly as sensitive as mine.” Raulf maintained a steadfast belief that his powers were superior to those of vampires. “You’re not sleepy.”
“And you’d know because you’re suddenly possessing my body,” Anais snapped at him.
Raulf grinned, possessing her body was a pleasant thought to have in the morning. “What you have, Anais, is a hangover. Your first, I believe. Courtesy of an after-dinner vurricane-fest.”
“Fuck vurricanes. I’m never touching that vile toxin again!” She cursed the drink as Raulf continued to grin.
“Famous last words. I’ll remind you of them when you have your next hangover.” Raulf continued attempting to take her hand, which she continued to pull away.
Anais didn’t think that any over-indulgence in alcohol would be part of her life in future. It had seemed like a good idea at the time and they’d all enjoyed a couple, especially when it helped lift the concerns they’d been carrying around for a moment. Today, it was so not worth it though as the fog struggled to clear and her head pounded.
“I need sleep.” Anais reiterated and unsuccessfully tried to kick him off the bed. The movement was painful; every muscle she used seemed to resonate with an aching prick in her head. He didn’t budge. As he’d grown in height and build he must’ve grown in strength too. She kept forgetting that he was an alpha and a full grown man.
“You need the hangover cure.” Raulf picked up the vile-smelling, gross-looking liquid Miss Suzette had concocted in batches for the women this morning. The smell made her want to wretch.
“Come on now, cher. Be a good vampire and drink the stuff,” Raulf urged. “It’ll help the sick feeling and the headache.”
Anais narrowed her eyes at Raulf, “I’m onto you. I’ve seen the others, you included, try – I repeat, try – to drink that stuff. No amount of ‘cher-ring’ me’s gonna get me to swallow that!” She pointed at ‘the hangover cure’ as Miss Suzette had labeled it.
“And it worked for us.” Raulf pulled out the trump card, “You need to be at your best to deal with your witch guests.”
“You play dirty,” Anais growled louder in frustration, and moved slowly, very, very slowly into an upright position so that she rested against the head board. The pillows uncomfortably bundled in the small of her back hardly registered with the hangover as its competitor for discomfort. “Okay, I’ll drink the stuff and then you go. Deal?”
“No deal,” Raulf shook his head sympathetically. “I’m under strict orders from Miss Suzette. She’s tending to the others and I’m to stay here, see that you drink the yummy cure and then have some toast and tea before you go back to sleep. She’s got her hands full and wanted one on one attention for you because of your new job as witch-sitter.” He smirked and she glared. “And I’m the happy nurse.”
“Fuck off, Raulf,” The brute was enjoying her current situation. As soon as she felt better she was going to whack him over the head a few times to see if it improved the workings of his grey matter!
Raulf tsked, “Such a dirty mouth. Be nice or I’ll force-feed it to you – I’d rather you be pissed off with me than my aunt.”
“Oh, give me the darn stuff. If it helps me get rid of you and get back to sleep, it will be worth it.”
His lips curved, “You’re entertaining when you don’t feel great.” Seeing a retort about to escape her lips, he held up his hands in surrender, “Truce. I’m sorry for ragging you. Let’s get that stuff into you.” He came slowly forward and gave her the brew, sip by wretched sip so she didn’t bring it all up over her Egyptian cotton bedding. Anais was touched by his gentleness, so she dutifully complied with his administrations.
“It should only take a few minutes to help the worst of the hangover,” he offered that hope. “I think we should wait for half an hour and then you can have the toast and tea.”
Anais shimmied down under the sheets again “Don’t talk about food. Makes me want to puke.”
She was utterly adorable when grumpy and as cute as it was, he was worried. She’d been grumpy a lot lately and it wasn’t like her at all. It gnawed at him. He didn’t want one of his best friends in the world to be so bogged down emotionally. “Flip over, Anais, I’ll give you a massage. It will help those stiff muscles I felt yesterday and relax you while the brew works.” God, what was he doing? It was hard enough to see her looking all rumpled and sexy in her underwear and now he volunteered to platonically put his hands on her – fucking masochist!
Half-way through the turn, she realized her state of undress. Blushing, she pulled the sheets up to her chin. “Sorry, I didn’t realise I was in my underwear. I guess I was too out of it last night to get into PJ’s.”
Raulf chuckled, “I’m not sorry. It’s a view a guy can appreciate.” He gently nudged her on her side. “Turn around, let me help you relax.” At her hesitance to let go of the sheet, he tugged it gently. “I’ve already seen what’s there before you pulled the sheet up so don’t be a prude.”
“I’m not a prude,” Anais bit back. Irked by being called a prude, she kicked all the sheets off and flopped inelegantly onto her stomach. Completely ignorant of the reaction she was having on Raulf, she briefly acknowledged that the brew was working; she was glad that she could move around easier – and the tingles she felt around him were nearly at their normal elevated levels.
Lord have mercy, thought Raulf. She was even more perfect than what he’d imagined. Tantalizing scraps of black lace barely covered her, making his fingers ache with the desire to rip it off. Inhaling deeply, her scent hit him; a combination of subtle spice and jasmine. The breath was supposed to ground him. With that failed attempt, he called on his alpha and fed off the control it reluctantly offered. The wolf wanted to play with Anais.
Anais moaned as he began working, kneading at her back. “That’s bliss. You have magick hands, Raulf.”
“You say the best things.” His tone was playful but he was heating up. His wolf howled with need. Gritting his teeth as her skin became warmer, more pliable he focused on the job at hand; working his way down her spine to where it met her perfectly shaped rear. Fuck he ached for this woman. No, don’t think ‘fuck’ he mentally berated.
Moving down to her feet, he began massaging there, thinking it safest to move his focus away from more tempting places. It didn’t help. It just gave him a better view of the rest of her as he worked his way up her legs. Anais was aroused, he could smell it. The wetness pooling between her legs assaulted his senses inciting his wolf to howl in frustration. It was self-inflicted torture but years of repressed lust for her impelled him to continue touching her.
Gently, slowly, he continued the rhythm he set in loosening her muscles as he made his way up her thighs. The higher he went, the wetter she got and the more he smelled her desire, increasing his own. When he moved just past the point of her that was throbbing, he reached out and touched her perfectly shaped bottom, a hand spanned across each delectable cheek. Anais let out a moan of pleasure.
“Magick hands, Raulf.” The words slipped out. One part of her was screaming against this obvious seduction and another wanted it, ached for it involuntarily making her push into his large, warm hands.
Anais turned around and looked at him with raw lust, her red eyes telling. Pulling her into his arms, he continued his gentle assault and kissed her. Soft lips met firm as he drank her in through the kiss, fueling the passion between them.
Anais fell into the moment, ensnared by those kisses. It was as though her very essence was being drawn into what they were doing. Instinctively, her arms pulled him closer, crushing her breasts to his
chest. She began to move, rubbing her breasts against him, enjoying the friction of soft breasts in lace against the hairs covering his chest. The kissed, moved and sank deeper.
Raulf had waited for this moment for longer than was comfortable, biding his time until she was ready. He hadn’t expected it to be today but the wait had been worth it. More than worth it - she was magnificent. She made him ache like no other woman had before.
“I want you, Anais. I’ve wanted you for so long,” he said in between kisses, hungry, demanding, filled with emotion.
The spell broke. Sensibility won. “Wait!” She put a hand on his chest to stop him. “We need to stop.”
“Why?” he asked looking at her straight in the eye. “I can smell that you want me, want this.”
“I know. The scent is all over the place.” Taking a deep steadying breath, she explained, “I do want you, Raulf but we can’t.”
The endearment didn’t soften the blow. Dragging his hands through his hair, he propped against the headboard waiting for the explanation. “Why?” he repeated.
Anais was battling the same frustration but she had to do what was best for them. “I do want you.” She repeated and met his gaze hoping he’d see the bridled desire and remorse evident in them. “But your friendship means more to me than a quick bout of hot sex. Friends are hard to find when you’re a vampire or a wolf. I couldn’t bear to lose you and not have you in my life.”
“I think we’ve gone beyond friendship today, Anais. I have enough faith in our friendship to believe that this is more than a quick bout of hot sex and that we can overcome obstacles to our relationship when they arise. We’ve known each other for so long that we’re well accustomed to each other. We know each other as best friends and now I hope we’ll know each other as lovers too. We can be so good together if you’d just allow it.” His voice was filled with disappointment and hurt.
“We don’t know that for sure.” She moved up next to him and took his hand. “I just don’t want to mess what we have. If it’s more than sex to you, are you telling me that you’re ready to settle down into a long-term relationship with me Raulf?”
“I want you, admire you and have loved you as a friend for my whole life. A more intimate relationship between us will cement that, not harm it.”
“I’ve always known you to be a romantic.” Anais commented. “When you’ve lived as long as I have, you no longer belief in those fairy tales. You still have some growing up to do and when you do, it will strip away that romantic naivety.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.” His voice held the fire of angry frustration and fear of loss. “You’re just too scared to open up, to share. I would never hurt you. I’m not your ex.”
“Of course you’re not my ex. But we can’t guarantee the rest. I know you would never intentionally hurt me and neither would I you. But we could still hurt each other unintentionally. If I were to hurt you like that, I couldn’t live with myself.”
“You’re hurting me now.” Physically, his need was still throbbing and emotionally, his heart was breaking while he heard her shatter his hopes and dreams with every word. Exasperated by her obstinacy, he gripped her arms, fixed his eyes on her. “Look at me and tell me that you don’t want this, that you don’t want us. Tell me that you don’t want what we can have. Love, togetherness and family.”
“I can’t give you family. I’m a vampire.” Better to break his heart while he was young and had time to find happiness than later when it was less probable.
“I don’t need children, Anais. You know that’s not what I’m speaking about. You’re being deliberately obtuse and difficult. You’ve already given me family. My family is here, in this house and the pack.”
“And the pack needs a leader with a partner that can stand at his side. As alpha you need heirs to pass the sovereignty to.”
“That’s just tradition and I’m the alpha so I can change it. There is no explicit law that states that I have to mate with only my own or that an alpha is only born of another alpha. I can even recruit an alpha from another pack – there are packs where an alpha is forced into submission by another because of bloodline.”
“I can see that you’ve thought of this before.” Anais shook her head. “For that, the hurt I’m causing, I’m sorrier than you could know but I’m still not willing to spoil what we have with potential, not certain, long-term romance.”
He pleaded to her, through the pain, “Give us a chance, Anais. I know we’ll be good together and happy. I can make you happy.”
“No, Raulf, we’ll make each other miserable in the end. I don’t want a romance between us.” She hated herself for the pain she was causing them.
“You’re lying. I can take your fear, your self-depreciation and your closely guarded heart as excuses but I won’t have you lie to me. That is what will damage this friendship you claim to honor so much – lies.” Hurt flashed to anger turning his eyes feral; the wolf was angry. He stormed out, the echo of the slamming door reverberated across the room.
Anais groaned. This was infinitely worse than the hangover. Courtesy of ‘the cure’, the hangover was gone to be replaced by a more excruciating ache – for him. She fought the urge to run after him. It was better for him to be hurt and angry now than to hate her later. A soft knock at the door yielded her self-depreciating tirade. She hastily straightened the sheets. “Who is it?”
“Sophie”
“Come in.”
Sophie came in and felt the remnants of desire in the air. It felt like wolf and vampire with a low undercurrent of witch. Well, well, well. There’d been some interesting developments here. Grinning, she turned to tease Anais and stopped when she saw her face, felt the anguish. With the look on Raulf’s face as he stormed from Anais’ room and the guilt reflected on her friend’s face, Sophie connected the dots. She’d console their wolf later, for now; she crossed the room to her friend.
“Oh, Sophie, what a mess!” Anais sobbed into her friend’s arms.
Sophie knew that the pain came from ghosts of the past and fear for the future. There was more to it than Raulf but Anais wasn’t ready to hear it yet or to open her heart to understand it so that she could love and be loved. For now, she’d just hold her friend. “It’ll be okay, Anais. Things will work out.” Sophie comforted, not truly believing the words herself.
Chapter 7
Conall lounging in an over-sized velvet chair, observed the flagrant goings-on around him with disinterest, while contemplating Yves’ extension of friendship and the ladies of Papillion. He studied the swirling multi-colored fae beverage. He couldn’t pronounce the drink’s name any more than he could Sylvain’s true name. The fae were powerful, ancient and secretive and their language was no exception; known only to its kin.
They were in the bayou fae hollow, one of many such fae dwellings throughout this and other worlds that comprised the court of Sylvain, King of Fae and was bespelled so that none other than those invited knew of its existence.
To other creatures, human and supernatural, nothing made sense in the dwellings of the fae; they were a species, magick and entity unto their own. The bayou hollow, for one, did not resemble anything remotely related to its environment. There was none of the hot humidity in its climate, no mosquitoes, no gators – unless that’s what you wanted. It was each individual’s Utopia and therein lay the danger – the old lore was true in that many people became ‘lost’ in the world of fae. The activities and physical environments within a court were just as staggering, catering to the preferences of the faeries living in it. One fae home could be a snow-covered resort-styled mansion and another’s could be a beach hut on the sand of an island.
The space they currently occupied looked like an ancient Turkish harem, with a huge steaming bath taking centre stage where Sylvain was receiving erotic caresses by females of other-world beauty. Jewel colors of fabric alleviated by the lush green of plants that shouldn’t be flowering indoors, light of the sunny outdoors present indoors,
oversized furniture for them to sink into and tables groaning under the weight of food and drink. Unlike vampires and witches who possessed human DNA, the fae creatures completely comprised of magick who used their magick unashamedly to live their lifestyle in hedonistic pleasure.
“After all these years it still astonishes me when I visit the court.” Conall looked over to where Niul, his life-long friend, was prostrate on cushions scattered around the steaming pool. Unfortunately, Conall grinned, Niul had been in Ireland too long and his skin was gleaming luminous white. “It’s a pity you can’t get a tan there Niul. Looking at you is hurting my eyes.”
“Sod off, Conall, I’m not as vain as you to self-tan myself with magick,” Niul looked daggers at him for interrupting the attentions he was getting from the beautiful fae, Siarrinah. Unfortunately for Niul, Siarrinah took offense at his wondering attentions – even for the brief retort at Conall so she stormed off, leaving Niul with a tan, with the swish of her hand and an unattended erection.
Conall rolled his eyes, as beautiful as it was the fae court was too fickle to entice him permanently. Sylvain was about to get friskier with the women than Conall was comfortable to witness and he decided that it was as good a time as any to interject. He linked with his friend’s minds and sent them a message to stop and re-group to discuss their assignment.
“You’re no fun. There used to be a time when you’d have joined us, Conall.” Sylvain sent back.
“Aye,” grumbled Niul into the mind link. “After being in a house of gorgeous women that cannot be touched, it’s a crime that you’re manipulating so that we stop.” He got up and moved to sit on one of the cushions surrounding the low table next to Conall.
“I’m sorry my friends,” Conall replied, grinning at the discomfort obvious from t heir bulging crotches and not feeling sorry at all. As petty as it was, it was gladdening to know that he was not the only sexually frustrated man in the room. Anais’ attraction still puzzled and irritated him. He waved Sylvain over, “We have to discuss our observations of last night and our next steps. We’re on a mission for the Goddess, remember?”
