by S. E. Smith
“A walking stick and a possible weapon, just in case,” he replied. “By the way, all of my jeans have a hole there for some reason. ”
Gem immediately looked down at his ass again and groaned – loudly. His low chuckle showed that he had known she would look. He even had the nerve to wiggle his butt.
“You are a very strange and disturbed male,” she growled, glaring daggers at the center of his back.
“Yeah, but the women I’ve dated tell me I have one cute ass,” he retorted.
“I’m sure they were sadly mistaken,” Gem grumbled in a haughty tone as she followed him down the dark path.
“You’ll just have to find out for yourself, won’t you, Princess?” he laughed as he continued down the path.
The forest quickly closed in around them as they moved away from the coastline. Gem warily glanced around her. She could feel a dark presence. It felt as if they were being watched. Swallowing, she shook her head. The first stone had warned her to be careful of the river. She knew it would take them at least half an hour to get there.
“Tell me about the place you come from,” she asked, stepping over a large root.
Ross glanced over his shoulder with an unconscious grimace of unease before turning back around. He swung the long stick in front of him, knocking away any cobwebs that might be in the way.
“What do you want to know?” he asked in a nonchalant tone.
She gritted her teeth. “I don’t know… Perhaps, what it is like would be a good start,” she muttered.
“It’s a place,” Ross replied, glancing at her again. “You know, fog, rain, trees, water, mountains, fog, fog, rain, fog, rain, cold, and did I mention the fog and rain?”
Gem bit back a chuckle. “You might have said something about that,” she admitted. “I take it that you don’t care for rain and fog?”
“Or the cold,” Ross said. “I have plans. I’m moving to Hawaii or one of those nice Caribbean Islands, though they have to deal with hurricanes. Hawaii has them as well, but not as often. So, I think Hawaii is where it will be. A nice little place near the beach. ”
“What is so special about this Hawaii? Does it not have rain and fog? Is it warm?” Gem asked, stepping up so that she could walk beside him.
Ross glanced down at her and grinned. “Darling, you can LIVE on the beach there it is so warm. Sparkling water, sexy ladies, palm trees, sand, sun; it is paradise on steroids as far as I’m concerned,” he replied with a sigh.
Gem scowled. “We have sun, sand, and sparkling water here,” she replied. “I don’t see what is so special about that. ”
Ross laughed. “Yeah, well, in Hawaii, I don’t have to worry about people getting turned into stone or islands in the sky falling down to annihilate everything. ”
Gem waved her hand in dismissal. “When we get to the palace, we will find my father and mother and then that will not be an issue. We also have trees,” she added.
“Yeah, but do you have the sexy ladies?” Ross asked, raising his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive movement.
Irritation flashed through her, and she curled her fingers into her palm. She had to bite her tongue to keep the retort she wanted to make from escaping. He was a lot like Ashure Waves! He should have landed on one of the Pirate ships.
Sexy ladies? What in the hell does he think I am? Unattractive? she thought in aggravation, not knowing why it bothered her.
“We have a few,” she finally answered in a stiff voice.
Once again, she couldn’t help thinking that he wasn’t the kind of man she would be attracted to under any circumstance, especially not when there were more important things that she needed to deal with – such as saving her people and the Seven Kingdoms from utter destruction. Still, it rankled that he seemed oblivious to the fact that her essence weaved into his in a way that only a mate’s could. The thought that someone so annoying, aggravating, and rude could be her mate was enough to make her want to scream.
There had to be some kind of a mistake. Maybe once the Sea Witch’s spell was broken, the link between them would be severed. She really hoped that was the case because if it wasn’t, there was no way she could promise that she wouldn’t send a few rain clouds, a frigid wind, and a hefty dose of fog to surround him while he was finding the sexy ladies.
“Well, since you’re the only one here at the moment, I’ll have to take your word for it,” he teased.
“If the place you lived was so distasteful, why did you stay there? Surely with a boat, you could have traveled to this Hawaii if it meant so much to you,” she retorted.
Silence greeted her question. When it continued, she glanced up at Ross’s face. His expression was closed, and all signs of the teasing humor that she was beginning to associate with him were gone.
“Sometimes life gets in the way of your dreams,” he finally said, stepping ahead of her as the path narrowed. “Stay behind me, Princess. I need you to watch my back. ”
Gem slowed and moved behind him. A concerned frown creased her brow. She wondered what had hurt him in his world. Staring at his back, she watched the glowing bands of her essence dance around him as if wanting to whisk away his pain.
Lost in her thoughts, it took Gem a few moments to realize that this part of the forest was much darker than it should have been. She glanced around. The trees were dead and a foul smell hung in the air.
“Is it always like this?” Ross murmured, glancing uneasily at a tree as they walked past it.
“No, it was not like this before,” Gem murmured. “Here, use this. ”
Gem focused, pulling together the thin streams of light that fought to filter down through the trees. Pulling it into a ball, she handed the dimly glowing orb to Ross. She did it again so that she could have one.
“Yeah, right, I forgot you could do cool stuff like that. I guess it saves on buying batteries,” Ross muttered, staring at the orb in his hand for a moment.
“Batteries? What are…? Oh!” Gem cried in surprise when the ground shook violently under their feet.
“Hold on! What’s going on?” Ross muttered, releasing the orb to turn and grab her around the waist.
“The Isle is sinking. We only have a few days at most before it happens,” she said.
“Are you sure we have a few days?” he asked as another quake, this time not as strong, shook the ground again.
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with concern. “N… No, not completely,” she admitted, gripping his forearms to keep from falling. The orb she had released when she grabbed him briefly floated between them before moving off.
They held on to each other tightly in the dark, their faces scant inches apart, until the world stopped quaking a minute later.
“You, Princess, are just as dangerous as this island,” he muttered, staring into her eyes.
“Why… Why do you say that?” she stuttered when she realized that he was pulling her closer instead of letting her go.
“Because the ground is shaking, the air smells like rotten eggs, I swear there are eyes in the trees, and all I can think about is kissing you,” he stated in a gruff tone.
“Even if I’m not a sexy beauty from your Ha-wy?” she asked in a slightly haughty voice.
Ross chuckled, leaning closer. “It’s Hawaii; and yes, even then. There’s something sexy about a woman who can create a floating flashlight just when you need one,” he murmured a breath away from her lips.
Gem was trying to decide whether or not he had just insulted her when he pressed his firm, warm lips against hers and the thought vanished. He touched his tongue to her bottom lip and she instinctively opened for him. A soft groan slipped from her when his tongue swept inside her mouth and tangled with hers. She slid her hands up his forearms, wrapped her arms around his neck, and tilted her head so he could deepen the kiss.
7
The kiss was amazing. Every cell in his body was alive, the feel and taste of her was beyond hot, and Ross couldn’t figure out what in the hell w
as wrong with him. All his thoughts were centered on one thing, and it had nothing to do with getting home.
No, they were on this deceivingly delicate female who could kick his ass with a wave of her hand if she so desired. He had been doing everything in his power to irritate the hell out of her in an attempt to put up a wall between them, but the wall was made of a child’s clay instead of bricks, and now he was kissing her.
He decided right then and there that the few brain cells he had before he fell off his boat must have washed out of his ears. This was dangerous, and it was crazy. He was caught in some bizarre dream world on a heroic quest to save a magical race and their mythical world, and he was kissing a beautiful princess. His tongue was stroking her tongue, her soft breasts were pressed against his chest, she was making these addictive, barely-audible sounds, breathing him in as if she couldn’t get enough, and he was doing the same – and he was definitely not going to worship her with his touch and have his wicked way with her in the middle of their quest because it was wrong on so many different levels.
He was the last person in any world to be considered heroic. He had never given a damn about anyone except his mom, and even then, he had kept a healthy emotional distance between them. He’d had to, once upon a time, because he’d been too little to protect her when she’d clearly needed somebody to. But, just now, when the ground shook and Gem gasped, all he could think about was protecting his powerful companion, like some silly fairy-tale knight, stalwart and true, and then before he knew it, he was pulling her into his arms and kissing her.
The world could have ended and he wouldn’t have noticed. For just a few stolen moments, it felt like there was an obscenely large breach in his protective wall, and everything felt absolutely incredible and he wanted more. What the hell was she doing to him?
Their soft moans reverberated in the quiet, reminding Ross of the fact that they were in the middle of an enchanted forest. He shivered and reluctantly released her lips, running his tongue along her bottom lip one more time for good measure before pulling back to stare into her eyes. He frowned when he realized that something was different.
“Either you are growing or I’m shrinking,” he muttered. Gem quickly conjured the floating orbs of light so they could see better.
Ross tried to take a step back and almost fell on his ass. Gem grabbing onto the front of his shirt was the only thing that prevented him from sprawling on the ground. He harshly cursed when he realized that his feet were sinking into the soft mud.
“I can’t get my feet out,” he growled, grimacing when he tried to pull his leg up. “For crying out loud, this is what happens when you distract me!”
Gem flashed him a look of annoyance. “When I distract you?” she asked incredulously, grabbing his arm to try to pull him out. Ross twisted back and forth in an effort to break at least one foot free of the mud. “The stone warned of the first major obstacle near the river,” she declared, trying to push her feet more firmly into the solid ground on her side while she pulled him. He grunted at the strength of her grip. “Technically, we are not that far from it,” she huffed, “and I have been looking for traps this entire time, but in case you forgot, a few seconds ago, we were a little busy!” The only thing that happened when she tried to pull him out was she ended up closer to him. She emitted a startled squeak when the ground beneath her feet became soft. The mire was growing.
“Let go and back up,” Ross ordered, releasing her.
Gem staggered back several feet and stared at him. Ross glanced around, tightening his lips when he felt the thick ooze slide over the top of his boots. It was almost to his knees now.
“Get me a thick branch or vine,” he said, remaining as still as possible.
Gem nodded, turning in a circle, and frantically looked around. The stick he had been carrying was nowhere to be found. She hurried over to a tree and pulled on a long, thick vine. It snapped and fell around her. She picked it up and dragged it toward him.
“Catch,” Gem said, throwing one end to him.
Ross grabbed the end of the vine. Unfortunately, it turned to dust in his hands. Gritting his teeth, he pulled more of it toward himself, but the faster he pulled, the more it dissolved.
“The mud must be enchanted,” Gem exclaimed.
Ross watched her turn around and hurry back down the path. She soon disappeared around the bend of the trail. The mud crept up to his waist and he was forced to lift his arms higher. If they became stuck, he would be in some serious trouble. He was about to call out to Gem when she reappeared with a long branch.
“Here, try this,” she said in a breathless voice.
Ross wrapped his hands around the end of the branch and held on. Gem dug her heels into the soft soil and pulled. For a moment, Ross felt a shift in the mud and could feel himself moving upward instead of down. Hope flared inside him until he heard a loud crack, and Gem fell onto her butt.
“Oh, for crying out loud. Really?” he swore. The branch disintegrated in his hands before he could toss away the broken piece. “Can you find something that won’t break? Like a boulder or a crane or something?”
“I’m trying!” she snapped, rising to her feet and wiping the dirt off of her backside. “The curse has made everything near the ground brittle and whoever cast the curse has made it immune to my ability to change the elements, but I… I can talk to things, not things enchanted with the dark curse, but, I can talk to something that is not cursed,” she added with a grin.
Ross followed Gem’s gaze. High above in the top canopy where the sun was shining brightly, the leaves were still green and lush. He glanced at Gem when she began softly whispering and waving her fingers. Small sparkles of light floated up into the air, swirling and twirling as they rose higher and higher. When the sparkle of magic reached the top thick vines, where they were green and healthy, they began to expand.
“Hurry, Gem. I think the mud knows you are up to something,” he informed her in a hoarse voice.
It was true, he could feel the mud sucking and pulling on his body, making him sink at an alarming rate. A shudder ran through him when some of it seeped down the back of his pants. The slimy mixture in such a private place felt – wrong.
“Come to me,” Gem breathed, holding her hands up. “Help me. ”
Ross lifted his hands as far as he could and took a deep breath when the mud reached his chin. He wanted to open his mouth and tell Gem that she had better sweet talk the damn plant a little faster, but he was afraid he would swallow some of the black ooze.
He held his breath and closed his eyes when his head was pulled under. Now, only his hands were free. To keep from panicking, he tried to slow his pulse rate by thinking of something calming, like the beach in Hawaii. This was different from the time he was thrown overboard, this was darker, thicker, and paralyzing.
Black spots began to dance in front of his eyes, and his chest started to burn. He fought to take control; He wanted to open his mouth to draw in a deep breath of air, but he knew that was impossible. Fear started to blossom inside him when the mud reached his wrists. He was almost out of time and oxygen. Flexing his fingers, he ignored the burning in his lungs and, instead, focused on the image of Gem right before he had kissed her. If he was going to die, he wanted her face to be the last thing he remembered.
The first touch of something on his hand made him think that maybe the mud had reached them. He knew that wasn’t it when the thing suddenly wrapped around them. Curling his fingers, he felt the sudden shift in the mud. Instead of sinking, he was being pulled upward. Fighting off the darkness from lack of oxygen, he knew that this was a make-it-or-break-it moment, whether he would live or die.
The moment his wrists were once again exposed, the vine wrapped around them. The further he was pulled up, the more the vines entwined around his arms. The second his head was clear of the mud, he parted his lips and pulled desperately needed oxygen into his starving lungs.
He kept his eyes closed due to the thick sludge r
unning down his face. He shook his head, trying to fling the oozing mess from his nose and mouth. It took almost five minutes before he was completely free of the mud pit and lying on the firm, damp soil of the forest floor.
When the vine released him, he pushed up into a sitting position. Shaking his head again, he wiped the mud off his eyes and opened them, scowling at his filthy clothes and body. He looked like he had been mud wrestling with a passel of pigs. He was just about to make that comment when he was doused with a torrential flood of warm rain from above.
Closing his eyes and tilting his head back, he let the warm water wash the mud from his face and hair. Now, all he needed was a good shower for the rest of his body. He opened his eyes again and flashed a mischievous grin. Impending death had a way of bringing out the humor in life. Rising to his feet, he pulled his shirt over his head.
“What – What are you… you doing?” Gem asked, waving her hands back and forth while her attention remained locked on his broad shoulders.
“Honey, I’ve got mud in places I don’t even want to think about. You keep up the warm shower for just a little longer ‘cause I sure as hell don’t want to be walking around with caked dirt rubbing between the cheeks of my ass,” he replied, dropping his shirt and reaching for the button on his jeans. He was already hard. Not all that surprising given the sexy woman standing before him who couldn’t take her eyes off his body. He wondered just how flustered she’d be at the sight.
He toed off his boots and pushed his pants all the way down. The water heated up a few degrees. He watched as Gem’s mouth dropped open. She continued to move her hands, but he had a feeling she wasn’t aware of it. Raising his arms, he scrubbed his dark hair until it was no longer gritty. Once he was done with that, he continued rubbing his face, arms and torso before moving lower.
“Watch the temperature, Princess. You’re getting a little hot there,” he teased with a knowing grin.
“What?! Oh, I’m sorry,” she whispered, her eyes following the movement of his hands.
