She was berserker.
“No!” Finn gripped her arm and twisted it behind her back. She heard the dagger clatter to the floor over her pounding heart. When he spoke again, it wasn’t to her. “I knew ancient Druids, Badger. Full-blooded and in their prime. I’ve seen powerful empathy and telepathy in those with this gift. I’ve never fucking seen this.”
Seen what? She desperately gasped for air, feeling as if a heavy weight was lifting off her chest. What had just happened?
She could hear Meru crying—had she done something to make Meru cry?—and Badger soothing her before she answered Finn. “Nor have I. For now, we know she well and truly has a gift that can aid her investigation…once she’s calm again. And I can help with that. A little of my tonic mixed with something special.”
Sheridan looked over in time to see Badger pass the shaking Meru into Bear’s protective embrace and reach into her substantial cleavage to pull out a small, silver flask. She made a halfhearted attempt to pull away from Finn, but his grip tightened, pressing her body against his in a way that made her moan softly. “What is the something in the special?”
Badger shook her head and unscrewed the top, walking toward her until she was close enough to hold it up to Sheridan’s pursed lips. “Just drink, Sheridan. Trust that I would never harm a descendant of Áine.”
She felt her shoulders relax. This was Badger, Linnea’s most trusted confidante and a loyal friend to Meru. She drank.
As she swallowed, she caught Badger’s whisper. “More clarity. More peace. More control.”
Finn growled, hearing it too. “Did you receive permission from the queen to pilfer water from Dagda’s Cauldron?”
“I have permission from the princess and the Guardian Mother,” she huffed. “And this is an emergency. That will have to smooth your ruffled feathers for now, Finn.”
“Is she okay?” Meru sounded concerned. Sheridan wanted to console her. Wanted to be the one to tell her everything was going to be fine, but she couldn’t. She felt too good. Felt as if she could fly.
A sense of peace and contentment turned her limbs into warm butter. She was with Finn. She was safe. Nothing could hurt her. She looked up at him through her lashes and smiled.
Finn’s expression was oddly suspicious. “Why is she looking at me like that? What else was in that elixir?”
The deep male chuckle behind her only made her smile grow wider. Bear was nice. “I think our warrior is finally loosening up. She’ll be no good to anyone but herself until she sleeps it off. Then she’ll be better.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me.”
Sheridan turned her head with difficulty, unwilling to look away from Finn’s beautiful eyes. Meru was standing right beside her with a stern frown. “We always tell each other everything. You didn’t have to go through this alone.”
“S’over?” Her lips were too thick to move properly. She should probably wonder why.
Badger seemed to be able to translate. “The clarity should give you the ability to see the illusion you made for what it is. The control should allow you to get rid of your monster and to use your gift the way you want to instead of allowing it to use you.”
That made sense. And it sounded like poetry. Sheridan nodded in sleepy thanks and reached up to pat Meru’s cheek with her free hand. “Safe now. M’good.”
Meru’s lips twitched. “You’re good, huh? You sound kind of drunk to me. But maybe that’s not so bad. You were always a fun drunk. I remember several Christmas parties where table dancing ensued.” Sheridan snorted and Meru covered her mouth with her hand, glancing away from her and up to Finn. “You better not let her go. I’m not sure she can stand in this condition. And don’t let her near any tables.”
“I’m not letting go.”
Heat flared to life in her belly at Finn’s words. He looked pained but sounded determined. It was a little bit adorable. “S’at a promise?”
He bared his teeth. “Oh hell.”
She wasn’t sure why that was funny. But it must have been, because everyone around her was laughing. Everyone but Finn.
* * * * *
He looked down at her as she slept blissfully in his arms in Ceri and Dian’s bed. He’d brought her here because—well, because he could think of nowhere else. And because she might want to see Kyle when she woke up.
In Danu’s name, when was she going to wake up?
This was Finn’s payback. His torment for not protecting her. For not thinking of Dagda’s healing waters sooner. It was the queen who controlled the use of the artifact. She alone chose how best to distribute the magical cornucopia that was the cauldron.
He should have asked as soon as he’d retrieved her from her captor. All those months she’d suffered alone… He should have asked.
But Druids with true knowing had never exhibited that kind of link to their subjects before. Never taken in the essence of something and made it real the way she had with Eonis. The way she had, right in front of him, with Hawk’s dagger. Until he’d walked through her dreams, he had no way of knowing what she was going through.
She’d been a police investigator. She’d profiled criminals. She’d never become one herself. So why now?
Badger believed it was brought on by exposure to their worlds—Fae and Archon—and by her trauma. The good instincts she’d been born with had been a pale reflection of her actual abilities. She would be able to do much more than imagine what had led someone to commit a crime—now she would be able to experience it.
It made sense, but still, Finn thought there was something more. He had been stretching his tracker’s senses as far as they could reach inside her, looking for an answer. A Fae answer. As far as he was concerned, that was the only plausible reason for…so many things that were not adding up about this woman. Up to and including his reaction to her. He’d been hard as a stone for hours, frustrated and in pain, but he knew if anyone tried to take her away from him, he would kill them. He would rather suffer beside her. Rather never find satisfaction or peace than be away from her.
She was his síorghrá. His other half.
Her taste, his possessiveness, even his determination to hold back last night proved it. Despite their deal and the fact that it had almost killed him, he’d held back. She might be a descendant of Áine, but there had to be more. So why couldn’t he sense it? It was almost as if there were something right at the edge of his inner vision. Stubbornly remaining just out of reach.
But what he felt wasn’t wrong. Sheridan was his. Now she just had to wake up so he could prove it to her. How much longer would he have to wait?
“She’s been fighting herself for months. Is it any wonder she’s tired?”
Finn shook his head with a sigh. “Dian, I didn’t see you there. Please, come in and enter my thoughts at will.”
Dian smiled and sat at the foot of the bed, pretending not to hear the sarcasm. “I sensed something strange when I brought her to witness the claiming, but I wasn’t sure what it was. I suppose it was the remnants of the Horde she’d been clinging to. Poor girl.”
Finn grew defensive on her behalf. “Sheridan is strong. She’s a warrior.”
The pale Dweller nodded. “Yes, a warrior. A cop.” He wrapped his lips around the word with a resounding pop, as if tasting the sound. “Even harder for her though, isn’t it? Growing up with two women whose heads were firmly in the clouds? She was—if Kyle’s memories can be believed—the only one around to take care of things. Fix the cars, call the plumber and most importantly, follow the rules. She became a cop to make sure those rules were enforced. Myrddin meant well, for an Archon, but to wake Meru, he ripped Sheridan’s security away. She was storm-tossed. And we know what happened next.”
Eonis.
“She blamed herself.” Dian’s voice was hypnotic. Riveting. “In her old world with all those rules, someone had to be punished. She blamed herself, so she punished herself.”
Finn pulled the warm, sleeping body curled up into
him closer, pressing his lips against her sweet-smelling hair. Poor girl indeed. If anyone understood a need for following the rules, it was Finn.
“Yes, you do have a lot in common.” Dian’s smile was somber. “I can see why you think she’s your one. You are the only other person I know who would punish themselves unnecessarily for something you weren’t responsible for. Something you had no control over.”
His brand. Finn lowered his lids to study Dian through his lashes. “Stay out of issues that don’t concern you. You are a Dweller living in the home of an exile. You know nothing about my problems.”
“And you are a prince in bed with a Druid in the home of an exile. An exile who has done more favors for you in the last two days than you deserve.” Ceri, carrying a tray loaded with three steaming cups of liquid, stood over the bed and made a face. “For all our effort, the least you can do is let my Dweller wander through your deepest, darkest secrets and fears. Other than pleasuring me, it’s his favorite pastime.”
“Too true.” Dian’s pale eyes were twinkling.
Finn felt the soft bursts of breath against his chest as Sheridan chuckled. She was awake? For how long? Had she heard what Dian had said?
“It’s about time you woke up,” he grumbled. Trying to hide his desires in front of the other two Fae in the room was a waste of time, but he was willing to try so he wouldn’t embarrass her.
Sheridan’s blonde hair was sleep-tousled, framing sensual but clear, hazel eyes. She looked better.
Finn mocked himself. She didn’t look better. She looked beautiful, adorable and entirely too fuckable to be on such public display.
He snarled when he heard Kyle’s thoughts from the other room. The human had decided to join them. To check on Sheridan. Finn wouldn’t allow it. Kyle didn’t get to see her like this. Didn’t get to imagine her waking up in bed with him. She was his. The rest of them be damned.
Dian stood quickly. “Ceri, I think it best we take Kyle for a stroll in the high caverns. You told me there was something you wanted to show him.”
“I did?” Ceri’s voice rose, pausing momentarily as she read her lover’s expression. “Of course I did. Finn, lock up on your way out. We’re taking Kyle on an adventure. We will see you for tonight’s festivities. Unless we decide to keep him to ourselves.”
Finn took a breath only after the outer door had closed behind the trio, leaving them alone. She shifted against him and he clenched his jaw, struggling for some semblance of control.
“They didn’t have to leave. Whatever Badger gave me, it worked.” Her words were sleep-softened and soothing. But he could sense it in her too. Awareness. Need. The same need that was making him ache. Making him burn. “I’m okay now, I promise. I won’t be going berserker or Horde on you any time soon. You can let me go.”
Did she think he was worried about that? That he was restraining her because of what had happened? She was touching him, couldn’t she feel what he was feeling? Didn’t she know?
“No.” He rolled on top of her, his erection pressing into the inviting opening between her thighs. “I can’t.”
But he needed to. He couldn’t take her, not yet. Not the way he wanted to. It would put her in too much danger. It would distract them both from what needed to be done.
She was breathless beneath him, desire darkening her eyes. “Finn?”
He wasn’t sure what came over him. The need to claim her in some small way, in any way, was driving him insane. He reached for her wrists and dragged them over her head so she couldn’t get away. He didn’t want to use his abilities. He wanted to feel her pulse pounding against his palms, to wrap his fingers around her soft, delicate flesh.
He rocked his hips against hers, her heat scalding him through their clothing. He could feel her body crying out for his. “Finn,” he rasped. “Not Tinkerbell. Not Faery Hood. Finn. You’ve been using my name more often of late. Could it be, Detective, that you finally know what you want?”
She struggled instinctively against his grasp, her hips bucking up into his in a way that made them both groan in pleasure. “Yes, damn it,” she gasped. “Did I not make it clear enough last night? I know what I want. Do you? And do you remember that whole Fae pact you made such a fuss about? The one you apparently broke by telling Meru? Because I’m getting mixed signals here, Fair—”
“I didn’t tell her about last night,” he growled before he kissed her. He couldn’t help himself, and he wasn’t entirely sure he could stop. Where had his skill gone? His experience? It was as if he’d never kissed another woman before Sheridan. As if he’d die if he let her go. Had he laughed at the Lycan’s reaction to his mate? Found Hawk and Val’s obsession with Linnea amusing?
He was a fool. One who had to touch his woman. Just feel her heat beneath his fingers before he let her leave this room. He lifted his head and growled, “Roll over, Sher.”
Her eyes, now more green than hazel, widened—but she obeyed instantly, her hip pushing against his hard cock when she turned and presented him with perfection.
Perfection encased in too much fabric. There was no time for buttons and zippers. No time for finesse, but still he resisted using magic to make it easier. His arms flexed and he ripped the seam of her jeans and the lacy nothing beneath it from waist to thigh, smiling in satisfaction at her shocked shout. Had she forgotten what he was? What he could do? The Vikings had nothing on a full-blooded Fae.
“Oh my God.”
“I won’t fuck you, Sheridan.” His voice was deep, hardly recognizable to his own ears. “Not the way we both want me to. Not until you’re ready. But I won’t promise not to do everything else.”
He dragged her hips upward until she was on her knees, her face pressed against her pillow and the tight curve of her ass displayed to his view. “I won’t promise not to fill your pussy with my fingers, to see how much you can take.”
Finn slid two of his fingers inside her in a deep, curving thrust, loving how her arousal instantly drenched his hand. How her hips rocked with the rhythm he set, silently begging for more.
“I won’t promise not to do this.” He licked the thumb of his other hand, pulling it from his mouth and lowering his palm to the silken flesh of her ass. He pressed the thick, wet digit against her in warning and she moaned at the unexpected caress. “Should I, Sher? Should I promise not to take your ass? Should I promise not to give you a taste of this? Not to fill you front and back? I know you’ve imagined it. Your dreams gave you away.”
He thought about her habit of driving him insane with her outspoken lust for Hawk and Val. She’d admitted she had fantasies about them as well. He felt his pulse tic on his jaw. He would never share her. It wasn’t going to happen. But there were other things he could do.
“No,” she groaned beneath him, making him pause. “No, I mean… Fuck. Please, Finn. I don’t want you to promise. I want you to… Please.”
Oh hell, she was begging again. His cock pressed painfully against his jeans as he pushed his thumb inside the tight sheath of her ass, his other fingers deep inside her sex. “I will not take you until you’re ready,” he swore through gritted teeth. His words a mantra to remind himself to keep control. “I will not bury my cock as deep inside you as I can get.”
He pushed deeper, barely hearing her cries through the haze of desire pounding in his ears…coursing through his veins. His skin felt tight and hot. His head was spinning as he watched her grip the willowy wood of the headboard for balance. Her back bowed as she rocked against him, faster and harder, taking everything he had to give. He loved the sounds she was making. The whimpers. Loved the scent of her arousal. The scent he now craved.
“I will not fuck you. I will not feel your snug pussy clench around me as you come. I will not fill this sweet ass and watch how perfectly you take me. I will not make you mine.”
“Finn. Jesus, you’re driving me crazy.” Sheridan shouted his name again, gripping the headboard so hard he heard the wood creak…and he felt it. Felt her find her releas
e against his hand, soaking his fingers.
His body demanded that he seek his own climax. Now.
Take her. Fuck her. Claim her.
“No.” He lifted his hands from her body and moved away with a speed he knew she would think was unnatural. Everything in him immediately rejected his decision to stop touching her. Everything but the knowledge that there would be no going back if he didn’t. He wouldn’t be able to let her go once it was done. And he wasn’t sure that was what she wanted. “We have to stop.”
“Stop?” Sheridan sounded out of breath and dumbfounded. “Oh no you don’t. Not again, buddy. What the hell? Was there some sort of fine print in our Fae contract about the prophecy affair not including actual sex? If so, I’d like to renegotiate.”
He felt his lips twitch. “Prophecy Affair? Is that what we’re calling this?”
“We could call it The Case of the Frustrating Fae and His Faulty Memory,” she grumbled. “You were in my dream, Finn. We… Well, it isn’t as if I don’t know how we’ll be together.”
But she didn’t. The dream had been incredible. Unbelievable. He knew reality would be more. “I only want to make sure—”
“I’m ready. I get it. I suppose we could be creative.”
He watched her get up on her knees, saw her flushed face as she turned and reached for his waistband. “What are you doing?”
She bit her lip, her dazed eyes attempting to focus as she slipped the buttons that had been digging into his sensitized flesh free. “I think the term for this is quid pro quo. You’ve gotten to watch me come. More than once now. But even in my dream, even when I felt you inside me,” she shivered, “I never got that chance.”
He made a sound of mixed protest and yearning, loving the feel of her hands, tender and feminine and surprisingly strong on his bare cock as she took him in hand. She laughed softly and he met her gaze. Clear eyes now, full of satisfaction, determination and desire. “We won’t break any promises or go too fast if I get to make you come, will we, Tinker Stud? Do you think I’m ready for that?”
Behind the Veil: 3 (Temptation Unveiled) Page 13
