Heat and fire roared out of nowhere. "Reece!" she screamed as the orgasm engulfed her in a crashing wave of pleasure.
She tasted like straight white lightning as he drank her blood in searing, erotic mouthfuls. He could hear her heart pounding. She writhed helplessly in his arms, overwhelmed by a Maja's pleasure in feeding a vampire for the first time.
He knew just how she felt. Deliciously erotic as it had always been, the experience of taking a Maja had never been so intense. Maybe that was because the Maja he'd known had been too wary to surrender themselves, too conscious of their power to welcome any attempt to dominate them.
But he knew this was more than just a simple sex game, a bit of delicious kink.
This was Erin.
His beautiful, courageous, intelligent Erin, whom he'd come so close to losing. Erin, magnificent enough to attract a king's attention.
Llyr was right, Reece thought as he drank from her. She would make a magnificent queen.
Should he step aside, stop fighting, let it happen? She was right; the High Court would be unable to touch her once she was Queen of the Sidhe.
No.
As he felt her silken depths caress the length of his cock, his entire being rebelled at the thought of giving her up. He'd protect her, even if he had to take on the entire Round Table to do it. She was his, and he wasn't giving her up, not to Llyr. Not to anyone.
He loved her.
As that realization rolled over him, he stiffened, feeling the heat detonate in his tight, aching balls. Releasing her throat, Reece threw back his head in a bellow of raw need and determination. "Erin!"
And he knew as he emptied himself in her depths that he'd never let her go.
When Llyr walked out into the palace gardens, he wasn't surprised to find Janieda perched on the petals of a rose. But for once, she showed no interest in harvesting nectar, normally her favorite treat. Instead she sat with her tiny legs drawn up to her chin, an expression of deep melancholy on her little face. She looked up at his step and stood, stepping off the petal and growing to full size in a blink.
She met his gaze with her own rainbow stare. "Did you propose?"
He wasn't surprised she knew his plans. Janieda was far more intelligent and perceptive than anyone else realized. She'd told him once she chose to play the fool because it made others underestimate her. She'd have made a good queen if she wasn't so hot tempered and impulsive.
Llyr sighed, knowing he was probably in for a display of those less attractive qualities now. "Yes, I did."
Janieda studied him with that too-perceptive gaze. He'd long suspected she could read his mind right through his shields. "And she's considering it." She grunted in disgust, an odd sound in that high, musical voice. "Of course she is."
Llyr shrugged. "I caught her at a vulnerable moment."
"I should have let her die," Janieda growled as she turned to pace. "I knew from the moment I saw her in my vision that she'd destroy you. Then, when she escaped, I thought I had best warn you anyway." Bitterly she added, "What a fool am I."
Llyr sighed. "She won't destroy me, Janieda."
"Doom hangs around her, My liege." She turned to him, imploring. "Send her back to the Magekind where she belongs."
He moved to take her small shoulders in his hands. "You know as well as I do there's no evil in her, Janieda."
The fairy waved a dismissive hand and pulled from his light grasp. "Perhaps not, but she'll be your destruction anyway. Or at the very least, mine. She'll accept your proposal, and then you'll never touch me again." Her mouth pulled into a bitter line. "You'll not risk dishonoring your wretched queen."
"Janieda, you knew I would wed sooner or later."
"Yes!" She spun toward him, glaring at him. "But all I wanted was another century or so. Can't you give me that much time? She's immortal—she can wait."
Llyr sighed and raked his hands through his long hair. Janieda's passionate nature was one of the things he loved most about her, but it could also make his life extremely difficult. "One of the primary attractions of my offer is that it would keep the Majae's Council from ordering her death."
"Oh, let them kill her. It would solve a multitude of problems."
He shot his lover a chiding look. "Janieda."
"She's a threat, Llyr!" his lover exploded. "Can't you feel it?" Suddenly she froze. Her face went blank, eyes wide in an expression that made the hair rise on the back of his neck. "I see thee lying in thy castle, thy magic gone, drained away to her. And the great demon laughing at the terror of your people."
Llyr took a step back, feeling the chill spread over his skin. "No."
Janieda blinked, life flooding back into her face. She frowned, reading his expression. "I had another vision, didn't I? I don't… I don't remember this one. What did I say?" Sometimes when the future spoke through her most strongly, it left her with no memory of what she'd seen.
In this case, that was a very bad sign.
"Geirolf is going to be a problem." Llyr straightened his shoulders. He'd diverted Janieda's predictions before, and he'd do it again. He'd built a life from wrestling his fate in the direction he chose, and he wouldn't let her frighten him from his course now. "But I'll deal with it. As to Erin"—he focused on her face, willing her to listen, to yield to his will, to stop fighting him—"I need her as my queen, Janieda. I need her strength and her sense of duty, and I need the children she'll give me. And I mean to have them."
The fire bled out of Janieda's rainbow eyes, and her wings drooped. "Even if it costs us our love?"
Despite his determination, Llyr felt a shaft of pity. She really did love him with all the considerable passion in her small body. And in his way, he returned it, though he'd never felt the same blazing emotion he'd sensed in her.
He stepped close to her and lifted her chin. "I have my duty, love. No matter how I may feel about it."
She gave him the small, rebellious pout he'd always found irresistible, even when his better judgment advised otherwise. "I would have made as good a queen as she."
"No, darling," Llyr said gently. "You wouldn't have. Your heart has always been stronger than your head. And perhaps that's why I love you." He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers in a tender kiss.
Something told him it would be the last they'd ever share.
When he drew back, a single tear rolled down her fragile cheek. "The thing I hate about you," she said in a low, intense voice, "is your refusal to give me the comfort of a lie."
In a blink she was no bigger than his index finger. With an angry beat of her wings, she soared off.
As she flew past, he thought he heard a tiny sob.
Parker crouched in one of the clumps of thick foliage that surrounded the palace, stewing with frustration. He dared not go a step further for fear of running into the wards he could sense mere feet away.
The trail of his spell had led here, only to veer suddenly and wildly away. He strongly suspected it had been diverted by someone's magic. And now Champion and the little bitch were safely ensconced among a collection of magic users of some kind. They had a different feel to them than Erin had—some other species, perhaps, but he wasn't sure what. In any case, Parker knew they'd chew him up and spit him out if he were stupid enough to test those wards.
On the other hand, that was nothing compared to what Geirolf would do when he learned his sacrifices had slipped beyond his reach. Parker swore.
Just then, something glowing zipped past the wards. He ducked instinctively.
The tiny figure stopped in midair and screamed in pure rage. "That bitch! That thrice-cursed bitch is going to ruin it all!" She took a sobbing breath and called, "Ahern! Are you here? Come out!" She darted off.
Parker eyed her glittering path in speculation. "Well now. That's interesting."
He rose from his nest of bushes and slipped off in pursuit of the tiny glowing figure.
Erin lay still in the cage of Reece's arms, listening to his heart pound in concert with
hers. He covered her, a hot, lightly sweating blanket of masculinity. Though he braced his body on his elbows, she was acutely aware of his weight and strength.
She had never had a man take her like this, not even him. When they'd made love before, he'd always played the laughing, tender lover. But tonight he'd been a ruthless seducer determined to stake a claim to her, to possess her. To take her in every sense of the word.
And he'd done it.
He'd branded her senses and her body with himself so thoroughly her body seemed to resonate with his.
And God, it felt so good.
She found herself imagining what it would be like to stay with him just like this. To give herself up to him, to his stunning, dizzying passion. To become part of him forever.
He was right, she realized, with a bitter sense of desolation. She'd never know anything like this with Llyr, no matter how many centuries they lived together. She'd crave Reece for the rest of her life.
Love him for the rest of her life.
And that was why she had no choice. Ironically, the sweet, erotic interlude he'd just given her had driven that home. She'd lost one man. She had no intention of losing another.
"That was incredible," she said hoarsely, honestly.
She felt Reece smile against the curve of her cheek. "It was my pleasure." He nuzzled her neck, breathing deeply of her scent. The feeling of his lips against her throat made Erin close her eyes as her body instantly responded to his need.
"But," Erin said softly, "it didn't change anything."
Reece stiffened against her. "What?"
"You're right," she told him. "I love you. I need you. And I'm going to miss you for the rest of my life."
She was unable to keep her eyes off him as he rose from the bed, naked and glorious. Anger and frustration heated his eyes as he realized what she was driving at. "It's a good thing you can have me, then."
Erin sighed. "No. I can't." She rolled off the bed, aware that he was watching her with a hot-eyed concentration. "The king has asked us to join him for the evening meal," she said. She hesitated, then added steadily, "After that, he's going to expect my answer."
Reece clenched his fists. "Tell me you're going to say no."
"I can't."
"Goddamn it, Erin!"
"Reece, all the reasons I gave you earlier still apply! The fact that I love you, that I need you, doesn't do one damn thing to change the situation we're in."
"We can change the situation we're in! Yeah, if you'd gone insane, I might be in trouble with the Majae's Council now. Even men, I could argue that I'd had no choice except to take a chance. They're not completely rigid, Erin. That's why there's an appeals process."
"And what if you lose, Reece?"
"I won't!"
"But you could. If I marry Llyr, I won't lose. I'll have the power to protect you and kill Geirolf."
"At the cost of everything else we have! Since when did you become too big a coward to take a chance?"
"Since I got sick of watching the men I love die."
"Dammit, Erin, I might as well be dead, because I'll never be able to touch you again." Angrily he whirled away and stood rigid, his big fists bunched. "This is such bullshit."
"Losing David ended my career and broke my heart," she told him softly. "Losing you would rip out a chunk of my soul. And no, I'm not willing to risk that."
He looked over his shoulder at her, his eyes narrow. "Fuck that. You're rationalizing. This isn't a gallant act of self-sacrifice. You're just afraid to let go and open yourself up to me. You don't want to be hurt again. You'd rather live a millennium in a bloodless union with that damn fairy than risk letting yourself love me."
There was just enough sting in those words to make her wonder if he was right. She pushed the doubt away. "Reece, I want nothing more than to spend the rest of eternity making wild jungle love with you, but that isn't an option. The Council—"
"—is not made up of complete bitches who won't listen to reason. But that's not the issue. Not really. If it was, you'd be willing to take a chance."
"It's not just the Council. Geirolf ? Remember him? Demonic alien who wants to sacrifice us? Does any of this ring a bell?"
"Oh, it rings a bell, all right. But it's beside the point." Slowly he pivoted and began to stalk her. She resisted the impulse to back away. Barely. "The point is, I'm not just Reece Champion, I'm the American Champion. I'm always getting sent out on somebody's dirty little mission—the High Council's or the U.S. government's. Either way, people try to kill me on a regular basis."
She glared at him. "I wonder why?"
Glaring back, he growled, "You don't want to take the chance that I'm going to die out from under you like David did. But if you marry the Sidhe, you don't have to worry. You know you're not going to fall in love with him, so if he buys the fairy farm, what difference does it make?"
Erin clenched her fists. "Think what you like. I know what I've got to do. And I'm going to do it."
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
« ^ »
The fairy was talking to a unicorn.
Amused despite the effort of maintaining a shield spell to hide himself, Parker lay still on his belly. The whole situation reminded him of boyhood hunting trips in the Georgia mountains years ago, when his father had taken him bow hunting for deer. He'd learned to move silently and stay downwind of his prey on pain of his father's fist and his own hunger. Venison had been a welcome relief from the endless hamburger and macaroni that was all the family could afford. He'd taken his first buck at the age of ten.
Odd, he thought, how the thrill of killing never dimmed. Particularly now that he was hunting men.
Or a reasonable substitute, anyway.
"What am I going to do, Ahern?" the fairy moaned. She'd grown to full size, and now she was draped across the unicorn's bare back. The thin, filmy gown she wore draped deliciously over her ass, baring legs that were surprisingly long, though he doubted she'd have made five feet in heels. "He's going to marry that little bitch, and there's nothing I can do about it."
There was a lot of power in those two. Parker could almost feel it, despite the shield that kept them from sensing him. If he could kill them…
" 'Tis just as well," the unicorn said, in a deep, sonorous voice, like James Earl Jones playing Mr. Ed. "Thou hast no business coming between thy Liege and his duty. And taking a Maja to wife would smooth his path to an alliance with Avalon. An alliance he doth need."
Parker snapped to full alert, silently cursing the time it had taken to work his way close without being overheard. It sounded as though they were talking about Grayson.
But that was impossible. She'd barely been at the palace a day. How could she have wormed a proposal out of some fairy king that damn fast?
The fairy lifted her glowing pink head. "But she's tied up with Geirolf, Ahern! There's doom hanging over her. I can feel it!"
"Doom for thy Liege—or thy hopes?" the unicorn asked. "They are not the same, much as thee may wish t'were different."
Hell, they were talking about Erin! Parker ground his teeth against a vicious curse. This was all they needed. If that little bitch got herself a powerful fairy ally, there was no way Lord Geirolf could touch her. And to make matters worse, she and Reece had probably already alerted the Magekind, which meant the whole plan had just slid right down the tubes.
Fear slid over him as he imagined his master's reaction to that bit of news. Would it be possible to slip away before Geirolf found out?
"But Llyr loves me, Ahern!" the fairy said, interrupting Parker's frantic thoughts as she sat up on the unicorn's back. "And he doesn't care at all for that bloodless little human."
The unicorn heaved a deep sigh. "Thou wert always the most stubborn of my pupils. Have I not told thee that a king must follow his duty and not his heart?"
Hmmm. It sounded as though this Llyr had a thing for the little fairy. Now, that was an interesting piece of news.
Interesting enough, in fact, to sav
e his ass.
Thoughtfully Parker reached for the gun that hung in his shoulder holster. With the absent skill of long practice, he pulled back the slide and extracted the bullet from the automatic's chamber.
He thought he might have just enough magic left for one last spell.
Erin was going to accept Llyr's proposal.
Reece felt oddly numb as he watched the king lift her knuckles to his mouth and press a kiss there. He hoped a little viciously Llyr could smell his scent on her skin.
How could she do this to him? She'd responded to him as sweetly as any woman ever had. Yet ten minutes later she'd risen from the bed where he'd had the best sex of his life and cut his heart out without batting an eye.
Well. It seemed she'd become a Maja in every sense—all power-hungry ambition, just like all the other witches, with a heart locked behind a wall of ice.
He wanted to hit something. Preferably Llyr's perfect fairy nose. Bastard.
As Reece felt his muscles knot with the need to strike out, a ray of self-awareness pierced his jealous anger. Look at him. He'd always felt such contempt for men who couldn't accept a woman's rejection. Yet here he was, acting just as much the asshole as all the other needy bastards he'd ever looked down on. He had to get this under control.
Much as it hurt, Erin had a perfect right to choose whomever she wanted. He'd taken his best shot at changing her mind, but it hadn't worked. Now he was just going to have to suck it up and get on with business.
Reece heard the low murmur of her voice and looked around to see her blond head bend toward the king's. Pain stabbed into his chest. Somehow he managed to bite back the grunt, like a man taking a hard blow to the balls.
He'd lost every woman he'd ever wanted, ever needed, from his wife to Sebille. He'd thought Erin would be different.
It seemed he'd thought wrong.
Janieda pressed her face to Ahern's silken hide and watched a tear roll down her nose to fall to the ground a long way down. The unicorn was old and wise, and he'd been her confidant since her childhood, when he'd taken on the task of tutoring her in the finer points of magic she'd had no patience for. For centuries there'd been no pain she'd felt that his calming presence couldn't soothe.
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