by D. N. Hoxa
“Very well,” he said through gritted teeth. “Then it is settled. Satisfied?”
“Very.” A thank you was at the tip of my tongue, but I held it. You did not say thank you to a fairy if you didn't want to spend the rest of your life as a servant, because saying thank you, according to their fucked up logic, meant you owed them. And fairies had some pretty nasty requirements from what I'd heard.
Kyahen nodded slightly and stood up. “I shall send my fairies once you call for me if you do me a favor in return. Do not mix my company with such creatures next time.” He nodded at Aaron. What? “I do not like the sound of cracking teeth.” Speechless, I watched him make his way to the velvet rope where a waiter had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “I do trust you will not leave without enjoying a dance first. Unfortunately, I have business to attend to so I cannot keep you company. Maybe next time.”
Kyahen didn’t wait for my reply. With his ice-cold smile, he walked ahead and disappeared into the crowd even before I’d realized what he’d meant about Aaron.
And now, as if all of this hadn’t been enough, we had to dance. Kyahen had required it, and it would be disrespectful not to oblige him. He’d just agreed to help us, after all.
Reluctantly, I made my way back to the crowd, and the music filled me from head to toe again. Aaron was right behind me, and we stopped in the middle of the room, among the biggest crowd. He offered his hand and bowed down to me slightly, and silly me just had to smile. That was okay, though. He would pay later.
“Since we have to, we might as well do it right.”
Rolling my eyes, I bowed, too, before I took his hand. The next second, he had me pinned against him, his hand just above my hips and his face barely an inch away from mine. A gasp escaped me, one he couldn’t have missed but pretended to.
So we started to dance.
The heavenly sound of a violin made me swing my hips like it was all I wanted to do, even more so when I was guided by Aaron. He danced the way he moved: with the gracefulness and ease of a cat. The music moved our bodies around in perfect sync. His eyes never for a second left mine, and I held his.
We were so close—closer now. His breath blew on my lips, and I couldn't help but look at his perfect mouth every now and then. Amazing how I was surrounded with so much perfection and I still thought that he was the most beautiful thing in the room.
“The Elemental…is it not?”
Someone spoke from behind us. Aaron immediately tightened his grip around my hand. I reluctantly turned to see a silver-haired, grey-eyed fairy with his glass raised to us, a perfect grin on his face.
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Hear, hear my dearest! We have the Elemental among us tonight,” he shouted at the crowd. I pulled my fingers up in fists as anger slowly washed over me.
Abruptly, the music stopped. Now, everyone had only eyes for us. I even saw Kate’s scared face in the crowd somewhere.
The fairy took a step closer to me, all the while keeping his smile on like he was hoping to intimidate me. He didn’t—just pissed me off more. I smiled my evilest smile, and that made him stop before he invaded my personal space.
“Such beauty…I wonder if it is all just looks?” Even his high-pitched voice sounded perfect.
“Is it not?” someone else shouted from the crowd, this time a woman.
“And I hear we are to be at her service!” another male from the crowd said. “Outrageous!”
Come the fuck on. Why couldn’t they just leave me alone?
“If that is so, I for one will see what power you hold,” the woman shouted again. I knew exactly what was coming. Shit.
“Would you be so kind?” the silver-haired fairy said, bowing his head as he invited me to step forward so that the crowd could see me better. The whole room had gathered around us now.
“You don’t have to do this,” Aaron whispered in my ear. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
“I do.” If I was going to get out of there alive and with the deal still in my pocket, I had to show them. This was Kyahen’s doing, I was almost sure of it. He wasn’t done testing me yet. Like I said, fucking fairy.
They were expecting me to lower my head and run out of there on all fours. As much as I wanted to do that, I was not a coward. I wasn’t going to allow myself to be bullied by fucking fairies—their territory be damned. I was emotionally and physically exhausted from the longest day in history, but I wasn’t going to make their night. So I took a deep breath and stepped forward. Let’s play, fuckers.
The silver-haired fairy had a necklace that caught my attention. It was made of gold, in the shape of a triangle. Gorgeous. And perfect for a demonstration because I could not pick a fight with fairies like I’d done with the shifters at the bar.
“Such a beautiful necklace you have there.” The gold whispered to me slowly. I felt it as I felt earth. “May I?” I asked, ever so politely.
The fairy raised his brows and analyzed my face for a few seconds before he very slowly reached behind his neck and unlocked the chain.
Once he reluctantly put the necklace in my open palm, I stepped back, and with my eyes closed, I inhaled deeply. Fairies laughed, mostly women, but I paid them no attention. I tried to shut out everything else, too, and focused only on what was in my hand.
The gold’s vibe was strong. Strong and cold and…conceited. It was stubborn, too, but it was part of the earth. It was going to have to give in eventually. Problem was, I didn't have the luxury of time.
The laughter coming from the crowd grew louder. I tried harder.
The necklace was handmade, I could tell because I could feel exactly how it felt when it was liquid matter. So I focused on that.
“Star?” Aaron called, but I couldn’t let him distract me. I was opening up to the gold. My only hope was to let it connect with me instead of the other way around. Bu then something wet fell on my closed fist. The smell made my stomach turn. Blood. It was my blood.
My nose was bleeding.
“What is this, a circus?” someone shouted.
“I am already bored. We do not have all night,” said someone else.
I ignored my bleeding nose and the way my hands and arms had begun to shake. I was weak. I was tired. But I was going to do this. I would not let them get the best of me.
Melt, I ordered the triangle made of gold. My palm was still closed so I couldn’t be sure if it had worked or not. But unfortunately, I couldn’t keep this up any longer.
Another drop of blood fell on my fist, and another on the ground in front of me. I opened my eyes, terrified of what I would see. The fairies were going crazy. Some were laughing, some shouting, some looking at me as if I disgusted them.
This was it. I was going to either win over these fools, or I was going to lose them.
I opened my hand.
The room fell silent abruptly.
What had once been a triangle made of gold was now just melted gold, floating above my palm.
My smile couldn’t have been bigger. My knees trembled. Aaron wrapped his hand around my arm because he somehow knew how close I was to falling, but it didn’t matter. I’d done it. I’d showed them that I wasn’t just looks.
The fairies were no longer laughing. In fact, they did not look happy at all. I pushed Aaron’s hand away, and with a deep breath, I stepped closer to the silver-haired fairy. He wouldn’t even meet my eyes anymore.
The gold was no longer melting. It had gone hard again, only now it wasn’t a triangle. Just a deformed little piece of gold. And I put it right into the fairy’s half-filled glass.
Done.
“Time to go,” Aaron said from behind me, and this time, when he grabbed my arm, I didn’t try to move away. I rested my whole weight on him instead. The fairies could probably see. Screw them. I’d done my part. I’d showed them I wasn’t to be fooled around with.
Now, it was really time for me to go.
Nobody stopped us. As soon as we stepped outside, the energy of Necterram hit m
e again—harder because I was weaker. It could overcome my senses with a lot more ease, so I shut them down as fast as I could.
Aaron stepped in front of me when the door closed. He took off his jacket and began to wipe my face with its sleeve. I leaned away.
“You’re going to ruin it!” It looked so good on him, it wasn’t fair.
“And you’re still bleeding, Star. Hold your chin high,” he reproached and pushed my head up. I silently obeyed as he continued to wipe blood off my lips, chin, neck and hands.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, but I wasn’t. Not even close.
What the hell was happening? I’d had tiring days before. Was it the energy I’d used for the gold?
“Can’t believe you did that,” Aaron mumbled.
“Me, neither. But it had to be done.” And he knew it, too.
“Yeah, but gold? How did that feel?”
Butterflies invaded my stomach. Did he sound curious, and a little bit impressed, too?
Yes. Yes, he did.
“It felt pretty good. The gold was stubborn. Pretty conceited, too. It loved to show off.”
Aaron laughed, and the sound pulled at the corners of my lips. I had no choice but to smile.
“Conceited,” he said, shaking his head. “You talk about it as if it were a person.” He took a step back, and I took that as a cue to lower my head. My nose was no longer bleeding.
But I was dizzy. Very dizzy. And just like every other time, Aaron knew, and he linked his arm to mine.
“That’s how it feels to me. How all the elements feel to me.”
I realized I’d never spoken about my newfound powers with anyone before. In my world, people didn’t talk about magic or the power of shifting or stuff like that because everybody already knew. It was only I who didn’t know what exactly being an Elemental meant.
“It was a hell of a show in there,” he said in wonder, then, “I missed a drop.” He didn’t bother with the jacket this time. He wiped a drop of blood right above my upper lip with his thumb, once, twice…then somehow, his thumb ended up on my bottom lip.
Strange. Time was no longer moving, or so it seemed to me. My ears whistled as I watched Aaron stare at my lips like he wanted to rip them apart. In a good way. A very sexual way.
Maybe it was the fey glamor. Or maybe the energy that came off Necterram. Maybe it was the fact that he leaned closer to me with every breath he took, but I couldn’t help myself. My brain lost control of the rest of my body, and I leaned in and kissed him.
There were many reasons why I did that, I thought. But when he kissed me back with twice as much strength, all those reasons disappeared into thin air. His arms were around me, pulling me against his body, and it felt heavenly on mine. My tongue explored his mouth hungrily, in a rush, as if he were going to disappear any second now.
Fireworks in front of my closed eyes again. My arms wrapped around his neck tightly as if to tell him that I wasn’t about to let him go. His soft, warm lips started to trail kisses on my cheek, up to my temples and to my closed lids before they grabbed mine again. His tongue did wonders to my mind, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Soon, I couldn't tell anymore where he ended or I began. We were one.
I was fully aware that we were in the middle of a dead fairy wood, but I didn't care. Neither did Aaron. At some point, my leg wrapped itself around his hips, and his hand pulled my dress up until it was in direct contact with my thigh. We both moaned in pleasure, but his lips never stopped enchanting mine.
His warm, soft hand slowly traveled from my thigh to my ass and back to my spine, only to repeat the process. My knees were shaking again, but now, it was because of a completely different reason. His mouth was on my throat, and the sounds that left my lips were otherworldly.
And then someone behind us cleared his throat.
My heart wanted to beat out of my chest when we both jumped away from each other and turned to look at the fairy. The goddamn carriage was there, and we hadn’t even heard it approach.
Aaron grabbed my hand in his tightly. “Come on,” he urged, and without paying that stupid fairy any attention, he ran to the carriage. For a second, he looked like a teenager with a mischievous grin on his face, ready to get into trouble.
He pulled me inside and closed the wooden door, and before I had the chance to even look around, he sat down and pulled me onto his lap. A breath later, out mouths had found each other again.
My arms and legs wrapped around him eagerly. God, he felt so good. His soft lips played with mine, and his tongue continued to make miracles happen inside my mouth. The horse had started moving, but we didn't care enough to look at where it was taking us.
As I made myself comfortable on his lap with my legs spread to his sides, my center pressed to his hard erection, he groaned like a wild beast, and a moan escaped me, too. I felt like we were going to explode, and I couldn't wait for it.
My hands framed his cheeks as if they were trying to hold him there in case he wanted to escape. Lucky for me, it didn’t seem like he was going to. His hands slipped under my dress, and he roughly caressed my thighs up to my ass. The sounds that came out of me were going to make me blush later, I was sure of it. He grabbed my hips, his nails digging into my skin, and he pulled me even closer. I cried out in pleasure, and his response was the sexiest moan I’d ever heard.
My lips kissed every inch of his face as he pulled one hand from under my dress and wrapped his fingers around my throat before he slid them down to my collarbone, then reached my breasts. The whole world could probably hear our voices, but we didn't care who would be listening.
I couldn’t make myself move faster as I unbuttoned his shirt. When it was almost off, the hand that was under my dress touched the edge of my underwear. I forgot what I was doing when a single finger slipped under them. The rest followed. His fingertips touched my center, and I felt as light as the air surrounding us.
“God, you’re so wet,” Aaron whispered as he bit my bottom lip. “So fucking wet for me…” He pushed harder, the sound coming out of his throat dangerous and impatient. The passion that poured out of his skin was as wild as mine. His fingers played me like a fucking violin, and I couldn’t have told you my own name if you’d asked me in those seconds. But I knew his, and I called it out every other second, and that just drove him further and further until the feeling his finger brought devoured me completely.
“I want to be inside you,” Aaron whispered, and I gasped. I wanted him inside me all night long. “Now, Star,” he said and leaned his head slightly away. He searched my eyes as if to look for an answer. His eyes were red-rimmed and the ocean in them troubled.
Couldn’t he see how ready I was for him? How I wanted nothing more than this?
The last time, he hadn’t bothered to ask. No. The last time, he’d just run away.
Shit.
A heavy weight dropped in the pit of my stomach and took my breath away.
Last time.
What the hell am I doing?
I stopped. I froze. All the heat left my body the second I remembered what had happened the last time I’d let myself lose control with him. I’d given more to him than I had to anyone else, and he’d known that. He had known, and he’d run away from me for three days right after.
It had hurt, but hadn’t I already accepted it? Aaron and I couldn’t be. And like the fool that I was, I was doing this to myself again.
Aaron realized I had stopped moving, so he stopped, too. I reluctantly moved from his lap and sat across, just like I should have from the very beginning.
He was still breathing heavily, his eyes wide as he looked at me. His shirt was halfway unbuttoned, but he didn’t seem to mind.
I turned to the small window at my side and pretended to see whatever was out there.
“Star...” he started, but I shook my head and his voice trailed off. We had gone too far.
“You don’t have to run away in the morning,” I said, and to both my and his surprise, there was no hin
t of sarcasm in my voice. It sounded more like a pleading, which I hated, but that was how I felt. He always brought out the real me.
“I won’t,” he whispered. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Don’t, Aaron.” Don’t make me want to trust you again.
After that, there wasn't anything else left to say.
***
We were back in the mortal realm, and I couldn’t wait to be on my own. Getting rid of thoughts about how he felt against me, how his hands did that thing to me, how his lips devoured mine…it was all too much. I couldn’t remember a time when I’d been as horny as I was then.
And that pissed me off.
It wasn’t like me to lose control like that. He smiled at me, touched my lips and what? I threw caution to the wind and kissed him? Real fucking smart, Star.
I should’ve been mad at him! In face, I was mad at him. Mad for the way he’d acted around Kyahen, and I let him know exactly that. It was better than driving in silence and replaying every touch of his hands, anyway. I needed to blow the steam off.
“What the hell was wrong with you back there with Kyahen, anyway?” I caught him by surprise it seemed. That was a first. “You could’ve cost us the deal, you know.”
“But I didn’t,” he said, pressing his lips together. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
“But you could’ve,” I insisted.
Aaron laughed dryly. “I didn’t even say anything!”
I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t have to. It was like being inside your mouth, for God’s sake.” Lie. I hadn’t even heard him clench his teeth that night, but I’d heard him do it before. I could imagine it perfectly.
“Well, I didn’t think you’d hear, okay? I kept my distance,” he said and hit the steering wheel once. “And I can't believe you didn’t pick a fight with him like you did with Edison. You took all of his crap instead. Their words do not do your beauty justice,” he mocked, imitating Kyahen’s words.
My breath stopped midway, and I almost gasped. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was he...
“Are you jealous?” A dumbfounded smile took over my face as I analyzed his expression.
