Taunting Destiny

by Hutchins, Amelia

  “Ah, so naturally you think I'm evil.”

  “I’m not quite sure what to think yet, Ryder.”

  He stepped over the threshold and strode inside until he stood inches in front of me. “I already have you, Syn, and as you can see, the wards are not reacting to me. Still think I'm him?”

  I eyed the wards and looked back to Ryder. No strain showed on his face. Ristan stood with the naked shifter on my porch as Ryder's men stood on my dead lawn, watching the standoff. “But last time…?” I asked, looking up to meet his eyes.

  “Last time the wards must have reacted, because a Fae was inside the house. They hadn't been active for a while. Perhaps they reacted to the fact that a Transitioned Fae was inside their protection. Who knows why they reacted to me. Inactive wards are unstable at best. They had been left unattended and un-strengthened for a very long time. You’re smart enough to figure that out.”

  I hated when he was right and had to state the obvious. Especially after I’d just accused him of being the Horde King, based on theory alone…

  I crossed my arms over my chest as my body reacted to how close he was. “And him?” I leveled a glare at Mister Not So Fancy Pants. I also thought of the Fae who had abused and killed my parents. They had been Transitioned, which killed his explanation on the spot.

  Ryder's lips lifted as he turned and took in the naked Shifter. “Only you, Syn, only you could find a Shifter inside an animal shelter, and bring it home.”

  Ristan snorted from the doorway, and asked the Shifter where he now stood on the porch, a safe distance from the wards. “Explain how you ended up in the pound, Fido.”

  “I was caught by humans after a bad run of luck. Ended up with a few others that were trapped as well.”

  “Caught by humans?” Ryder asked, turning beside me until his hand touched my leg from his close proximity. I shivered with the knowledge of how good they felt inside my dreams, which caused him to look over at me with a knowing smile on his lips. I frowned and took a step further away from him.

  “Yeah,” my dog said, running human hands through his hair. “They injected me and a few others with something that killed most of us. The others had a really bad reaction to it. I eventually shifted to get out of the cuffs and, I was so sick, I couldn’t shift back afterwards.”

  Ristan and Ryder both looked at each other, and I had the distinct feeling I was missing something. “How many humans did you see?” Ristan asked after a brief second had passed.

  “A couple, they wore masks though. They called us castes, and, well, you know we don't consider each other castes, they kept saying we were test subjects.”

  “Oh my God! You watched me change!” I blurted out accusingly.

  He blushed and scratched his head with a guilty smile on his lips. “Sorry about that, but not sorry for what I saw.” He wiggled his eyebrows and smiled boyishly.

  Ryder growled low in his chest. “Take him home, Ristan. Eliran will need to look him over to be sure he is fine.”

  I watched the others sift out, which left me standing alone with Ryder, who I'd just accused of being the Horde King. He turned and smiled as if he could read my thoughts. “You're not the first to think it, Syn,” he said taking a step towards me.

  “What are you?” I asked, taking a step back and winced when I felt my back go flush against the wall that seemed to come out of nowhere.

  “You really want the answer?” he asked, moving closer until he placed hands on either side of my head. “You couldn’t handle it, and you're not ready to know. When you are, you won't need to ask me because it will be too late for you.”

  “Too late for me?” I asked before licking my dry lips.

  His eyes lowered to my mouth with liquid heat burning inside of them. “I want to fuck you, right here, right now, Syn.” Wow, nothing like Ryder whiplash when he wanted to change topics.

  I swallowed, and closed my eyes against the lust I’d seen in his. “Ryder…” his mouth crushed against mine and heat flooded my entire body, saturating my core. My hands came up to rest against his cotton shirt, planning to push him away, in a moment, right after I took what I needed…Who was I kidding?

  He made that deep rattling sound in his chest again as he growled deeply against my mouth. His hands slid down to rest against my waist as he lifted me up against his body. He was hard and ready. I moaned against him, but managed to pull away from his addictive kiss. “I still have a day, Ryder,” I reminded him in a whispered tone, trying to catch my breath.

  “Scared, Syn?” he whispered back as his eyes changed from gold to burnt amber. He was hungry, and it was making me wet with need.

  “To be with you? Yes.” I admitted it, which only made him smile. “You scare the shit out of me, is that what you wanted to hear?”

  “Because I make you want things, that you think you shouldn’t,” he replied.

  I glared, hating that he could read me so easily and effortlessly, as if I were transparent to him. I shook my head, reminding myself that he'd hurt Adrian. “Would it matter, Ryder? You don’t want to love me, you want to own me, and I don’t want that for myself. You don't actually care how I feel, and that doesn’t work for me. I'll show up tomorrow, but only because I don’t have a choice.”

  “You think that boy could bring you through the Transition, Syn? It would take him and about ten others to get you through it alive. That's how many we line up for the females when they go through Transition. And you're right. I like to own pretty things. I own you, and you like me inside of you. Or did I miss something?”

  “Go to hell, Ryder! I don't want to Transition at all! What if it changes who I am? What if makes me evil, like the Fae who killed my parents? Or worse, what if I change into some grotesque monster?”

  He smiled gently, and moved closer. “It won't change how you feel, or who you are. You could never be grotesque, either. Vanity isn't something you give a fuck about, so don’t start now. You're worried you will have to admit that being Fae doesn’t make you evil and that you will have to fuck in order to feed. There are other ways to feed, not through Transition, but after. You can lie to yourself all you want, but don’t expect me to buy the bullshit you keep feeding yourself.”

  “We don’t even know what I am! You have no idea what I will change into. No one does. You knew what you would change into when you Transitioned. I don't. Hell, Adam doesn’t even fucking know!”

  “Dark Fae. Adam is Dark Fae. His brands are fully developed now. He's your familiar, so my guess is that you are as well, which means I'm your Prince fucking Charming.” His eyes sparkled mischievously.

  I snorted. “My ass you are. You're not Dark Fae, Ryder. You may not be the Horde King, but you sure as hell are not the Dark Prince. You can sell that lie somewhere else, because I ain’t buying.”

  Chapter Six

  I showered and laid down, ignoring everything…or trying to, with my brain running at warp-speed. My dog had been a Shape-shifter and I hadn't even noticed—well, to be truthful, I didn’t have much to do with Shifters in the past, so it wasn’t as if I really knew what to look for. Everything I knew about them, came from a Guild textbook. According to Ryder and Ristan, I was starting to go through Transition, and I wasn’t going to be given an option about it. I wasn’t ready. I had barely processed the idea of being Fae. I hadn't gotten to the acceptance part of it or that I'd soon become a fully Transitioned Fae.

  I was starting to think it was like the stages of grief. I hated not knowing what I would change into, or, worse, who I would feed from for the rest of my life. I wasn’t the type to go from lover to lover. I wasn't a fucking ride at the damn carnival!

  Who the hell abandoned a child? Had I been bad, or born wrong? Had my real parents handed me off to my foster parents, or did my foster parents find me? The Guild was notorious for not wanting to have anything to do with the Fae, much less cooperating with them, until my ‘interview’ with Ryder. Suddenly, the Guild was BFF’s with the Fae, and now they were back to Gu
ild business as usual. Looking over happier memories with my parents they had to have known I was a Fae child, but why would a Guild couple knowingly take in a Fae child? Add that to the fact that my father had been in a very high position on the council, it only added to the confusion I was trying to sort through. I hated not knowing, and I couldn’t keep it off my mind. To make matters worse, if Mister Fancy Pants had been right, and telling the truth, there was a radical group of humans out there fucking with the Fae—and I’m not sure I could blame them for it, considering how much the Fae seemed to use humans.

  I rubbed my eyes and sighed. I'd bought a damn dog so I wouldn’t do this, and here I was doing it! My dog hadn't even been a damn dog. You couldn't buy this kind of bad luck. I wanted to blame it all on Ryder, because my life might not have been perfect before I met him, but I'd been in control of it, for the most part. Now, the only thing I could manage to control, was the on and off switch on my coffee pot!

  I'd put things together and accused Ryder of being the Horde King…as if I could put my foot any further into my mouth. He'd withstood the wards, walked right the hell through them. I turned and punched my pillow. I needed to get control, and I needed to do it quickly, before I was so far in that I couldn’t climb out.

  I closed my eyes again and, the next thing I knew, he was there. His dangerous, sinfully-beautiful, golden eyes laughed at me as he watched me. Gah! The man was taunting me inside my head, and what was worse, I wanted him. I wanted his hands touching me, his mouth seducing me…

  I felt myself falling, and tried to right myself on the bed, as if I'd drifted to sleep and felt that instant of falling through the air weightlessly. I landed, hard, on beautiful, gray and black mosaic tile, with water covering my hands and cascading around me. I spit water out, and tried to sit up. I pushed the water out of my face and eyes and let out a startled moan. I was staring right at Ryder’s dick.

  His deep chuckle made me look up further. I was in a thin Betty Boop pajama short set, soaking wet, on my hands and knees at his feet…in his fucking shower! “What the hell?” I growled, trying to get to my feet and slipping. Why the hell was he in the shower anyway, seeing that he could snap his fingers and be insta-cleaned?

  “You sifted—into my shower. I'm flattered, Pet.”

  I growled and splashed water. “I do not sift!” I totally had sifted and landed at his flipping feet!

  “You just did.” He smiled and held out his hand. I slapped it away and tried to stand up again and slipped. “And, to think, I'd almost forgone the shower for a quicker fix…and would have missed this.”

  “This isn't happening. Wake up, please wake up…” I closed my eyes and looked up again. Yup, his dick was still there. I squeezed my eyes shut again and counted to ten slowly. I exhaled and opened them to find Ryder at eye level watching me.

  “You look good wet…very enticing.” He smiled, and pulled me up with him until I was standing against his now growing erection. The only barrier was my pajama tank top and shorts. “First time this has happened?” he asked, with glowing amber shining in his eyes now.

  I nodded. I was pouting. I'd sifted. Into his fucking shower! “I'm a fucking Fairy. Dammit! Why does fucked up shit always happen to me? What, do I have a fucking sticker on my ass that says fuck with me?”

  His lips fought against the laugh I could hear bubbling in his chest. “Don’t fucking laugh! This isn't funny, Ryder. I can't have anything! I can't have friends, because I get them killed. I can't even have a fucking dog, because I attract trouble like no fucking tomorrow. I get the people I loved killed, and I don’t even know why. It's not fucking fair. You should have left me inside my mind, Ryder. This isn't fair.” I hated admitting this kind of stuff to him.

  “Done?” he asked. “I'm willing to check for that sticker now.”

  “I'm serious. I feel like I have to be strong every fucking minute of my life, because the minute I let my guard down, something bad happens. Maybe that’s why they ditched me, maybe I got them killed too.”

  “Who?” he asked, running his thumb over my chin as the shower cascaded water over me.

  “My real parents.”

  “Syn, I doubt you got them killed. Faery isn’t like the world you grew up in. Everyone fucks everyone over. They probably hid you because they had to, or maybe you were stolen by their enemy. It's not something you can just assume. I doubt anyone threw you away. Or that you got someone killed because you have bad luck.”

  I blinked at him, and looked up at the multiple shower heads that were situated around the lavish shower stall, then back at him. He was covered in soap, and he looked pretty damn hot lathered up. I spit out the water that kept pouring over me. “I ruined your shower.”

  “Oh, no, you made it very interesting. I can honestly say that I've never had someone sift into my shower and land so sexily at my feet before. Plus, you always remember your first sift, which means every time you think of yours…”

  “Peachy.”

  He threw his head back and barked with laughter, and then pulled me up and against him again, his lips touching my forehead softly. My hands settled on his muscled back and drifted down to his ass. I lifted my head, as he lowered his, to accept his kiss.

  It wasn't hard. His mouth was searching and tender which affected me more than if he'd been hard and demanding. He pushed me against the black slate wall and I allowed it, needing his touch. His scorching mouth was making it so I didn’t have to think. It was selfish, but he consumed and demanded everything inside of me. I had no time to think when I was connected to him, which was deadly and dangerous, considering I knew nothing about him.

  He picked me up, and I wrapped my legs around him. His hungry mouth deepened the kiss until a fire started inside of me, threatening to burn out of control. His hand pulled against the fabric of my tank top. He found my nipple and pinched it hard, making a moan leave my mouth, only to be captured by his.

  “Ryder, we got a problem,” Ristan called from beyond the other side of the etched-glass shower door.

  “Someone had better be dying, Ristan,” Ryder growled when he'd pulled away from kissing me.

  “They might be. You need to come see this.”

  “We will be right there,” Ryder called out as I slid down his hard body. He watched me with a smirk and then placed his hand on my arm to move me from beneath the water, so he could rinse off. I watched him, unable to pull my eyes off of his hands as they roved over his body. He was quicksand, and I was sinking.

  “Did you say we?” Ristan asked.

  I blushed from my head to my Paint Your Toron-Toes Rose colored toenails. I opened the shower door and stepped out meeting Ristan's eyes. “Don't ask.”

  “How the…did you sift into his shower?” he asked, bubbling with laughter.

  “I said don't ask! It wasn't my fault. I was sleeping!” I shouted as both men laughed even harder. “Real mature, just real fucking mature!” I walked out of the large bathroom and headed for Ryder's closet to grab a shirt, since I was wet, and my clothes were clinging to me like a second layer of skin.

  Ryder was behind me with a towel wrapped around his hips. I didn’t need to turn around to know it. I could smell his intoxicating masculine scent, and I wanted to turn around and take his stupid towel…just to touch him, to feel his skin against mine. Uhg! How was I supposed to think with that much sexual Fae standing practically naked behind me!?

  “Need some help dressing, Syn?” he purred silkily.

  “Not on your life, Fairy,” I quipped, and pulled on one of his t-shirts that flowed to my knees.

  “In my shower and wearing my clothes, all in the same day?” He laughed and dropped his towel. I watched as he used his magic to glamour clothing on with nothing more than a thought. Go figure.

  “Are you two done flirting yet? People are really dying,” Ristan said impatiently as he walked to the bedroom door.

  “People are always dying when I'm around,” I mumbled, tearing my eyes from Ryder.

&n
bsp; “Not like this. Never seen anything like what the healers are dealing with right now, Flower.”

  I swallowed and felt the blood drain from my face. “Pieces?” I barely managed to get the words past the lump in my throat.

  “No, but just as bad. I'll meet you two down there.” Ristan sifted out without waiting to see if we followed.

  I turned and eyed Ryder's brands. Thick intricate Celtic brands that were black in color and beautiful against his dark skin were beginning to pulse with his immense power. “Before we go, please tell me why you were torturing those people?” Ryder was quiet for a few moments, as though he were mulling through options.

  “I did not want to involve you in this. There is so much that you don’t know, that you are not ready for, and so much that we are still learning.” He shook his head and continued, “I didn’t kill anyone, Synthia. Not yet, anyways. Those men inside my house? They fucked with you. They not only gave Joseph the information needed to find you, they also told him what would probably break you. They signed Larissa’s death warrant. I don’t allow anyone to hurt someone under my protection. They got to you. I won’t let that go, and neither will Alden.”

  I felt my heart rise to my throat. I closed my eyes and shook my head in denial. “Was it someone high in the Guild ranks?”

  “From what we have been able to find out, more like a group of someone’s who didn’t like you or what you are becoming. We have been putting pieces together for a few days now, and we are still trying to confirm the information we are getting. Joseph didn’t torture it out of anyone, Syn…they willingly gave you up.”

  I flinched and nodded, wanting to discuss anything but this. Someone had betrayed me, had betrayed the Guild. “We should get down there.”

  “I told you that I would protect you. Even if you don’t need me to,” he whispered, moving closer and pulling me against him. “Some things are worth protecting.”