by Scott, Amber
Then Elijah stopped. He eased out of her, backed away. But he was too far gone as well. She could see it in the shaky way he positioned himself above her. She could hear it in his shuddered breathing. She saw it in his eyes.
He wanted her as much as she wanted him. And she was glad he’d stopped. Because now she could run her hands over his cock. He removed his shirt and jeans. She boldly stared at his naked body. Broad, muscle bound shoulders, a tapered waist, his narrow hips and bulging legs. He looked like some glorious medieval winged warrior come to steal her away.
Elijah returned to her, laid full length against her, weightless, so that the heat between them surrounded her along with his wings. His skin was smooth and his muscles rippled under her touch. She reached down and grabbed his cock. Elijah inhaled. God, he was so hard and his dick throbbed in her hand.
She wanted more.
Pushing at his belly, she nudged space between them and scooted downward. Her tongue found his navel. She encouraged him to position above her so she could take him into her mouth. He didn’t hesitate, clutching the headboard as she ran her mouth over the engorged tip. Elijah growled. His eyes held to hers transfixed. Oh, how she loved that guttural sound, that primal gleam.
All because of her.
She took his cock deeper into her mouth, into her throat. He was so long and so hard, it was difficult to manage, but she craved blowing his mind.
Sadie’s mouth watered and she closed her eyes and worshiped his cock with her lips and tongue. Elijah jerked back with a hiss, pulling free of her mouth. He brought her up. “What?” she asked. “Did I hurt—.”
His mouth crushed hers in a deep kiss.
The oblivion he’d nearly brought her to came rushing back. Elijah kissed her. She tasted the tang of her juices, the flavor melding with the salty taste from his cock. Deftly, he moved her beneath him and positioned his shaft for entry. Her body throbbed in anticipation. He cupped her face, kissed her forehead. Trembling, he eased into her. Sadie moaned, opening her legs wider, arching to meet him. God, he felt divine. Indescribable fullness and sheer satisfaction. Elijah rocked into her, pressed and thrust, building the tension taller and wider.
She met each thrust with eager hips, stunned this could be so real yet so wondrous. Her hands dug into his back. His wings tickled her arms. She couldn’t deny the pleasure any longer. Sadie cried out.
A wave of orgasm pumped through her.
“Oh, God.” Another wave pulled her mind and body under, washing her in bliss.
“Sadie,” Elijah said, raining kisses on her face and neck, driving into her with sure strokes. “Love.”
She clung to him and writhed. Again, she cried out, the release so sweet she thought she might die. Elijah kissed her, stifling her cries, and groaned into her mouth. She tasted his minty breath. His body plunged impossibly deep, then he stilled.
Her orgasm pulsed, his cock throbbed. He shot his seed into her and a thousand brilliant stars seemed to sparkle between them, fading into the soft dusk of her mind. Sadie let the sensations lull her into sleep.
*
By the time Elijah caught his breath and his heartbeat slowed to a respectable rate, Sadie was asleep. And she was snoring. He would have laughed if not for the risk of waking her. Instead, he allowed himself one gloating grin and eased his body over. Covering their entwined bodies, he cocooned her into his arms.
He had no idea what to do next. No, that wasn’t true. He knew what he should be doing that very moment. He should be strategizing with Holly and Lyric, asking Astrid about Sadie’s change.
Never in all his centuries had he experienced such acute pleasure.
The world had literally disappeared. He’d felt, tasted, heard, seen, and known nothing but Sadie.
How long before someone came knocking?
He should be getting the hell out of there. He couldn’t. His attraction for Sadie reached beyond the physical. He needed to touch her and while worry over the fact rapidly gathered deep in his gut, he indulged the need.
Then there was Monica. She needed to be interrogated. No, bad choice of words. He couldn’t place why but he felt so bone deep that she was not an Illeautian. But Charity was up to something. Why tip them off in the changeling’s direction if she’d been after Monica, too?
He doubted Monica knew much of anything about the immortal realm she’d evolved into.
Had Charity followed her as she followed Sadie? He wanted to chalk it up to a feeder needing a turmoil fix. Charity and her feeder minions clearly thrived off their flock, but a little extra for fun wasn’t a stretch.
Sadie stirred in his arms, her snore became more of a snarfle. He stroked her hair, buried his nose in her honeysuckle scented tresses. In the end, he’d come undone over nothing more than a simple human scent. Simple yes, but on her, heavenly. Standing there, wet and clean, hope shimmering in her eyes. His body tightened at the memory.
He should be up, moving, getting things done.
But he couldn’t. Not yet. Two more minutes. Then he would leave her side. Then he would force himself back to reality.
Until then, he wouldn’t think about Sadie’s adoration for him vanishing, or imagine how difficult fighting his attraction could become. He wouldn’t lie to himself and believe in the impossible. Once she fully changed, her feelings would, too.
Besides, he didn’t want love, possible or not, so why think of it? Just because her body and mind had transformed didn’t mean she wouldn’t have the same limited human beliefs and values.
He could not love her.
If she were awake, he would not be lying here, smelling her hair, memorizing the curve of her body in his arms. He would be gone with a kiss on the nose and the kindest possible explanation. A thank you and a promise that it would never happen again.
It couldn’t happen again.
Because if for some strange reason her attraction for him didn’t die, he would never be able to give her what she used to hope for. He would not be able to give her love. Not human love and not immortal love. The former was flimsy fancy and the latter simply risked too much.
Look at Crusoe.
Look at what happened to him. To Holly. To all of them. All over some misguided intention, some skewed interpretation of emotion.
She’d always be a little human. She no longer needed relief. He couldn’t exploit her.
Elijah felt his time with her coming to a close. He snuggled Sadie closer one last time, inhaling her aroma deep into his lungs. Then he steeled himself and carefully got off the bed, left the room and removed the possibility of this ever happening again.
~ ~ ~
Chapter Nineteen
At night as a girl, standing in her nana’s bedroom in the dark, a breeze fluttering gauzy lavender curtains open as Sadie peered up at the stars, she’d imagine herself grown up. She played the game often, smelling the summer air, feeling the natty curtains.
When Dr. Meyers once described her diagnosis as her mind being trapped between two sheer curtains, Sadie remembered that childhood image. It gave her a strange sense of destiny and comfort under the weight of clinical labels. As though, as a child she had seen her future.
Sadie dreamed it again. In her dream, the curtains changed from dusky lavender and the summer night had no chirping crickets or distant, moaning train. The lavender turned bright lilac and the curtains became clingy plastic. The stars changed to buzzing florescent bulbs overhead.
Sadie awoke with a gasp, jerked upright in Elijah’s bed. “Momma,” she said. The sound of her own voice anchored her back to reality. She was grown, safe.
Her mother was gone.
Sweat trickled down her back making her aware that she had no clothes on. She swallowed, letting the vise of the awful dream loosen. Daylight streamed in. She was alone. She glanced about, looking for some proof that Elijah had been there, if not now, at some recent point in time.
Last night’s memories flashed over her. Her whole body remembered. Heat washed her cheeks an
d chest.
She found fresh clothes. A good splash of cold water to her face, a tooth-brushing and she felt rather normal. Nothing looked any different. Maybe she glowed a bit, but certainly not so much that Holly or the others would notice.
What if they already knew?
She didn’t like stepping out into the unknown. But it was that or stay in this room all day. Again. That, she could not do.
Finding no one in the main rooms, Sadie decided Holly’s room would be a logical last place to look. First, though, she was hungry. Two buttery pieces of toast later, she resigned to going to Holly’s room. Elijah wouldn’t leave her here alone. Monica had to be here somewhere, too. Curiosity had replaced her worry over the woman’s arrival.
“There you are,” Holly said behind her as Sadie raised a hand to knock.
Sadie swung around. “Hi. Um, I’m looking for Elijah. Have you seen him?”
“He’s gone. Lyric and he are trying to dig up more on Charity.”
“Charity?”
“A feeder. Might want to kill you.”
“Oh. Okay.” Heat spread over Sadie from the inside out making her want to squirm under Holly’s piercing eye. “Is Astrid around?” At least she could try to get a more detailed diagnosis.
“No.” Holly entered the bedroom. “You and Monica here are all mine today.”
Sadie walked past the room’s threshold and paused. Monica sat cross-legged on the white silk covered bed in lotus pose. Her eyes were closed. The sheer white color dominated the room. As she sat, eyes closed, the white rippled over Monica’s skin until her whole body, hair and all, matched. She seemed to vanish.
“Impressive, Monica,” Holly said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And it’s good timing. Tapping in to your skills will be our theme today, ladies. Now, Monica, if you can bring yourself back to normal, please follow me to the foyer.”
Skills? Sadie knew then and there that she could do nothing like what she’d just witnessed. Great. Flawless stunning beauty to contend with and unheard of talents, too? She followed Holly, squaring her shoulders despite her insecurities.
She would not be jealous of this new woman. There was no reason to. She’d not only spent the night in the arms of her dream lover, she also…well…she didn’t know. She was also smart. A talented artist. Besides, this wasn’t a competition.
Plus, Elijah would not have brought an enemy among them.
Holly led them up two flights of stairs. When they rounded the south corner, Sadie guessed they were heading to the empty, large windowed room Lyric had called, “the box”. The shape of the room along with the wood-covered floor and beige walls reminded her of cardboard.
“Elijah asked me to bring you both up to date. Then we will start delving into talents and skills and whatnot.”
“Sounds like a corporate team builder gone wrong,” Monica said, coming to stand near a window. She leaned against the far wall, then became it. “Don’t tell me. There’s a trust exercise after lunch.”
Holly wrinkled her nose. “Yes, well, if things go well, we might create a sort of team between us. Elijah feels the more we have working to locate Crusoe or the Book, the better.”
Monica snorted. Sadie frowned. Holly snapped her fingers, effectively snapping their attention, too. She opened her hand and a flame burst to life above her palm. Whatever sarcasm had lingered in Monica’s expression vanished. “Very cool.” Nodding her approval, Monica dropped her wall act. “So, what can you do?”
Sadie blanched. “I don’t know yet.” Nothing? She could dream about Elijah? Follow him like a puppy in a library? Hold onto him mid-air for dear life? “Elijah seems to think I’m a messenger but I’m not clear on what that means yet.”
“It’s a medium. A conduit for between the past and possible futures.”
“What else?” Monica asked Holly.
Holly shrugged “Depends on the messenger, I suppose. In truth, I’ve never known one. None of us have.”
“Um-kay, so how do you know she is one?”
The question Sadie feared asking again and again. The one that haunted her. What a relief to have it out in the open. The lilac beauty was growing on her. She certainly didn’t seem interested in pleasing Holly. Or anyone else.
“Once you’ve crossed realm lines, Monica, you’ll know as well. But until you’ve pierced that barrier, you’re only seeing the human side. Sadie will lead us to Crusoe. She might even prove or disprove the Book of Sorrows’ existence.”
“And thereby expose the Illeuatians,” Monica said, then took to toying with her lips with her fingers. “So, what am I?”
“Nothing like us,” Holly said and her gaze swept over Monica. “I suppose chameleon is as good a description as any, unless we find you have additional gifts. It’s similar to shifters, except not into an animal. But you should know, there are no immortals that can do what you do.”
“Stop,” Monica said dryly. “I’ll start blushing.”
Sadie understood why Holly focused on Monica first. They each manipulated energy to create what they did. Within a an hour Monica learned to hold her “mimic” for a longer duration and Holly declared more than once, with enough practice she would also be able to move while mimicking, without detection.
Monica and Holly’s skills boggled the mind. At some point, Holly’d shoved a few items into Sadie’s lap and instructed her to hold each, close her eyes and let them speak. Speak? As if that’s all it took. She tried, she really did. But the sock said foot. Foot led to ankle and soon she was daydreaming about Elijah kissing hers. Had she dreamed the whole thing?
The blank paged book reminded her she should be journaling and that her appointment with Dr. Meyers was tomorrow! Double crap. Heather would freak if she didn’t make the appointment. How many new calls and texts had blown up her cell phone in the last thirteen hours? But would Elijah deem it safe for her to go?
“Sadie?”
“Huh?” She glanced up. Holly looked expectant. Monica looked amused.
“Are you getting anything?”
Sadie lifted the sterling silver crucifix in her palm and gave a half-hearted nod. “A little.”
Holly’s eyebrows quirked. She turned back to Monica. “Keep trying.”
Was she paranoid or did Holly less than like her? Sure, Holly was more than helpful, especially whenever Elijah was around, but friendly? Not exactly.
Elijah thought Sadie had changed. But she had no more psychic awareness than before. Unless sex dreams of him counted, but those weren’t new. After last night she had more to lose than ever. She’d drunk from the fountain and still thirsted.
Monica snapped her fingers in Sadie’s face. Sadie’s scalp tightened, heat flashed over her. “What is it?” Sadie said.
“It isn’t working, is it?” Monica gestured to the crucifix in Sadie’s palm and sat next to her with a loud huff.
“Where’s Holly?”
“Getting more water.” She shook the bottle in her hands for emphasis. “So? Am I right?”
“Nothing. Not a speck.” Sadie sighed. “How do you do it?”
“I don’t know. I sort of want it to happen and then it does.” Monica leaned back. “What do you think is really going on with all this?”
Sadie grimaced. “What do you mean?”
“I mean between vampire dude, miss sparky and angel guy, why do they need us?” She drank and Sadie waited. “Let’s be honest, transformed or not, we aren’t like them. Holly doesn’t merely control fire, she can make your blood boil. Then there’s Lyric. He can make you believe whatever he wants. If you don’t know he’s feeding you images, how can you know what’s real? I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust any of them yet. Besides, we have no real reason to care about their cause, do we?”
Why would Monica stay if she didn’t trust Elijah? Or care?
“I don’t know,” Sadie said at last. It was true. She still wasn’t clear on what would happen next. Especially now. Sadie couldn’t seem to tap into messenger p
owers. Although, Holly hadn’t exactly devoted much time with her so far. She was a part of something now. Beyond the transformation. She’d begun to think all the events in her life as leading her here. “I suspect it might be one of those good for all mankind things that we’ll want to be a part of.”
Monica snorted. “Yeah. Okay. I’m here because I was caught following you, mimicking a werewolf. Actually, because freakos were following me following you. If not for that, they don’t need me.”
Sadie stared back, speechless. Did this creature have any idea how unique she was, how much good she could do? “Why follow me?”
“I knew you were like me. A changeling.”
“And that whole chasing me in the dark?”
“Yeah. Sorry ‘bout that.” She drank again. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m not leaving here or anything. But as far as I can tell, Elijah’s the only one I trust,” Monica said.
Possessiveness breathed into Sadie’s heart. But what was she supposed to say? Screw you, he’s mine? Monica snapped her fingers and another bottled water appeared in her hands. “How’d you do that?” Sadie took the bottle. Condensation dripped onto her hand.
Monica gave her a wry smile. “Like I said. I wanted it.”
“So you just think ‘bottled water’ and one appears?” Sadie could do nothing but seduce Elijah so far. She couldn’t even shock him anymore.
“I know, right? And Holly’s off fetching some.” Monica laughed. “I thought of how I didn’t want to walk to the kitchen and wished it could appear when I snap my fingers.”
“Wow.” Envy whispered through her. “Why didn’t you show Holly?”
Her high-glossed lips catching the light, Monica gave Sadie a look that said, duh.
“What else can you do?” Sadie asked, wondering if purple lip gloss would make her look like art, too.
Monica stood up. “I don’t know, but I figure if I try whatever my imagination can come up with, I might find more.” She reached a hand out. “I think you’ll be able to do something if you try it that way, too. You have to realize, there’s nothing to be scared of. If you fail, so what?”
