The Marked Ones (Fairytail Saga)

by Munt, S. K

  ‘Tristan…’ Her tone was warning.

  He glanced at her, then grinned. ‘Yeah. Probably.’

  Ivyanne sucked in a breath. If he was that confident, then the audacity of his strategy was mind-blowing. How close had she just come to becoming a betrothed woman? ‘How can you be so sure?

  Tristan had the grace to blush. He shrugged again. ‘I’m good at it. Some people can sing, some can paint, some can design buildings- but I can make a girl’s body explode, over and over again.’

  ‘How?’ She demanded.

  Tristan smiled at her with shining eyes. ‘Partly because I’m built for it.’ He tugged on his boxer briefs, drawing her gaze. ‘And also, because I get off as much on the woman’s pleasure, as my own. I crave it Ivyanne-and I won’t stop until I’ve felt you come undone around me countless times.’

  Ivyanne tittered nervously, trying to look unaffected, though her mouth had gone dry. ‘Something tells me that you probably paint like Da Vinci too.’

  Tristan winked at her. ‘I wouldn’t say Da Vinci. My building designs are way better than my water colors.’

  Ivyanne groaned and sank back onto the bed beside him, weakened. ‘My virtue has been at risk since the moment I laid eyes on you, hasn’t it?’

  ‘And my heart has been at risk with you.’

  Ivyanne rolled her eyes. ‘Yeah right. I believe that you want me-and that you could tolerate being married to me for the pay-off of being king. But if you expect me to believe that I’ve succeeded in stealing your heart by pushing you away, when hundreds of women before me have tried everything and failed, then you must think I’m really gullible.’

  ‘I don’t think you’re gullible. I think you’re magnificent.’ Tristan’s finger lifted her jaw, tilted it towards him. The look in his eyes travelled through her, like warm butterscotch. ‘I’ve never wanted a woman the way I want you. When you push me away, you’re challenging me, and most women have never cared about themselves enough me to risk showing a backbone, which is ridiculous because I don’t want some hoop-jumping follower. Your sense of self, and your desire to do the right thing for your people despite the demands of your heart and body, astonish me.’ His lips brushed hers, tantalizing her deepest senses. ‘Right now making love to me would solve most of your problems. You’d have made your choice, Lincoln and Ardhi and Bane would have to throw in the towel, and you’d finally be able to experience what your body desires the most. And yet you don’t-because solving your own problems won’t bring you peace, if it causes someone else pain. It’s so generous.’ His eyes sparkled. ‘Frustrating, but generous. Throw in the fact that you’re beautiful, that you slay me with witty one-liners on an hourly basis, and that you stuffed two pissed off mud crabs into your apron tonight to save their lives….well…..what chance does a man have around you?’

  His words caused the sort of reflective pleasure within her, that she’d never been able to evoke from a mirror, and she melted, resting her forehead against his, reaching up and gripping his golden, bare shoulders, which felt tightly coiled beneath his satiny skin. ‘Geez…’ she whispered. ‘Talk about slaying a person. The gods were unfair when they graced you with that pretty face and a silver tongue.’

  Tristan ducked his head to gently kiss her knuckles, halting their movement across his shoulders. He kept his eyes trained on hers, and the lust within his expression made the muscles tighten deep inside her core. ‘I don’t want to flatter you with my tongue Ivyanne,’ his lips left her fingers, and when he leaned forward, landed on the underside of her jaw so that his hot, sweet breath coursed across the delicate skin there and caused heat to flush outwards from that point, across her body. Her face up in reflex, allowing him access, and her eyelids fluttered shut. ‘I want to explore you with it.’

  ‘Mmm…’ Ivyanne’s grip on his shoulders relaxed and her hands slid down to cup his jaw, pulling his face closer, giving him silent permission to continue his exploration. ‘I know if I was smart, I’d kick you across the room.’ She ran her hand down his shoulder. Every since she’d first seen him shirtless, Ivyanne had been desperate to know if his stomach felt as magnificent as it looked. She indulged her curiosity now, gasping as her fingertips glanced off muscles that felt like chiseled wood covered in silk. ‘But I can’t be very smart can I? A smart girl wouldn’t do this.’ Ivyanne stood from the bed and sat back down on his lap, straddling him, hooking her legs around his waist and pressing against him. Her body rewarded her with a wanton throb, and Tristan groaned, clutching her close. ‘Or this.’ Ivyanne reached up and pulled her wet shirt off over her head, dropping into the floor. She then reached behind her, fumbling for the clasp of her bra.

  But Tristan’s hand caught hers, stilling it. His eyes were wide. ‘What are you doing?’

  Ivyanne smiled. ‘Getting to know you a bit better. And taking you at your word. You said you wouldn’t take advantage of me until I accepted your proposal, so like the naïve fool that I am, I’m going to trust you to honor that.’ She cupped his face, smiling at his surprised expression. ‘You’ve been upfront with me, and forgiving of my mistakes, so it’s time I overlook your past and try and get a handle on what kind of future we might have instead.’

  Tristan groaned. ‘Dammit!’ He took her hips in his hands and lifted her clear, depositing her back on the bed next to him. He got to his feet, went to his suitcase and withdrew a shirt, tossing it at her. ‘Put that on. Now.’

  Ivyanne blinked, shocked. ‘What?’ Her face was burning with the rejection. ‘Why? You said-’

  ‘I meant what I damn well said. Including the part where you won’t stop me when it comes down to the crunch. You will agree to marry me, I will take your virginity, and then I’m going to feel like shit afterwards.’

  ‘Why?’

  He turned to her, his expression pained. ‘Because there’s something I need to tell you before we do this. Something about my past that I don’t want to interfere with our future.’

  Ivyanne clutched the shirt to her chest, feeling the heat of her arousal chill around her foolish heart. What on earth was he going to say?

  ⁓

  Tristan studied Ivyanne as she dressed in his pale blue bed shirt, running his index finger rhythmically across his lower lip, wondering if he was the stupidest man on the planet for choosing now of all moments to play true confessions. His body was aching for her, and knowing that the feeling was mutual was intoxicating.

  But she was naïve. She didn’t realize that giving him a inch, would lead to her handing him a mile. She still thought his rep was mostly talk, and was trusting herself to be able to say no when it counted. Which she wouldn’t. No woman ever had. He could warn her all he wanted, but the only way he could proceed with his seduction and not feel like hell afterwards, was if he cleared his conscience first. At least that way, when he succeeded in bedding her, she’d wake up to the same man she’d gone to sleep beside. Not next to a man keeping a secret he knew she deserved to know.

  Maybe she’d be okay with what he’d done with Adele. She ought to be, if she was as forgiving of his past as she claimed. But it would affect her-he couldn’t lie to himself about that. Ivyanne had never had been exposed to the dramas involved with dating- and she was going to be jealous when she found out that both the human she wanted, and the man she was considering marrying-had been with the same girl. It would probably even break her heart a little.

  Tristan sighed at the thought. He’d come so far, and he didn’t want to take three steps back now. But Ivyanne had confessed about her feelings for Lincoln knowing it might turn Tristan off. He had to reward her trust with a little of his own.

  ‘What is it Tristan? You’re freaking me out!’

  Tristan shifted uncomfortably. He’d never had a relationship and therefore, had never had to justify himself to a woman over another woman before, so he didn’t know how to go about it. He cleared his throat, and hoped for the best.

  ‘Well, as much as I can guarantee that the odds of us bumping into som
eone I’ve, uh, bedded, are slim to none in the future-there is one dalliance I need to warn you about, and it’s probably going to piss you off, because you know her.’

  Ivyanne’s eyes widened. ‘Are you serious? Who?’

  He swallowed. ‘Well….it’s actually kind of funny. In an ironic, small-world kind of way.’

  Ivyanne pursed her lips. Her eyes were already a more vibrant, jealous shade of green. ‘How small?’

  The sound of the sliding door screeching across it’s tracks as someone flung it open caused them both to jump. Tristan immediately tensed-from the moment Ivyanne had told him about Ardhi’s newfound powers and lurking, he’d been expecting a furious Ardhi to arrive on her tail.

  But it wasn’t Ardhi. A tall, seething, soaking man with wild eyes crossed the threshold, jaw tight with fury.

  ‘Really small.’ Tristan muttered. ‘Kind of like a fishbowl. And here’s the piranha now.’

  But Ivyanne hadn’t heard him. ‘Lincoln!’ Ivyanne’s voice came out in a half-squeal. ‘What are you doing here?!”

  Lincoln looked from Ivyanne to Tristan, pain etched all over his handsome features. He said nothing, yet his gait communicated his devastation succinctly. His shoulders lifted and fell rapidly, like he was struggling to breathe-and when he looked back at Ivyanne it was with mortally wounded brown eyes.

  ‘God,’ he whispered. ‘You are here. With him.’

  Tristan glanced at Ivyanne, and inhaled sharply when he saw Lincoln’s horror transform her. She sagged, looking remorseful. The atmosphere between her and her boss was thick with pain, so thick that Tristan felt like an outsider, a witness-of no consequence to either.

  She hasn’t got a crush. Tristan thought, everything inside him going cold and numb as he realized just how very alone he was at that moment. She’s in love with him! I’m not even here to her anymore!

  Tristan wanted to speak-to break the tension, and reaffirm his existence to the girl who had been warm in his arms just minutes before, and yet he was struck dumb by the knowledge that winning Ivyanne’s heart had just gone from challenging to almost impossible. He wanted her jealousy now, and her anger. Anything to confirm that she felt more for him than the lamp in the corner.

  But Lincoln was the one to break the spell. His gaze landed on the dining table, and the two mud crabs twitching within their bonds. His wide brown eyes went straight to Ivyanne.

  ‘You stole them?!’ He demanded, incredulous. ‘They’re worth forty dollars each!’

  It was such a ridiculous thing for Lincoln to say that Tristan almost guffawed.

  ‘I put the cash in the register-rang them up as a sale and everything- check it and see!’ Ivyanne said haughtily. ‘I could have just saved you a massive fine, you know!’

  ‘Okay you know what?’ Tristan regained the ability to move, and speak and so he jumped lightly to his feet. ‘I’m complaining to your father! You have got to be the worst hotelier in history! I mean seriously-you have no right to barge into my-’

  A hard blow to Tristan's jaw caused his head to snap to the left. Ivyanne screamed.

  The world tilted for a moment, but then Tristan came back to his senses. Lincoln had struck him-hard. Had he been human, Tristan would have been unconscious from it.

  But Tristan wasn’t human-he was as strong as two. He spun back to face the other guy, his sexual tension turning into raw fury so quickly that everything went a blurry shade of red. He took a step forward, and was about to KO the guy, when Ivyanne leapt between the both of them and shoved Lincoln away.

  ‘Are you insane?’ Ivyanne cried. ‘Lincoln get a hold of yourself!’ She turned back to Tristan. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Don’t even offend me by implying that this idiot just hurt me in any way Ivyanne!’

  She held the boys apart with outstretched arms and turned her face to Tristan’s attacker. ‘Lincoln this is wrong! Think it through! You have a responsibility as owner here, not to break into people’s room and assault your guests!’

  ‘I thought it through all the way over here!’ Lincoln spat, his gaze fixed on Tristan over Ivyanne’s shoulder. ‘I don’t care if he sues me! This asshole has already had Adele before-I won’t let him seduce you too!’

  There was a stunned silence. Tristan could actually hear mud crabs clicking in derision as the breath rushed out of him. Talk about being beaten to the punch! The defeated breath rushed out of him.

  Ivyanne whirled to face him, and the look in her eyes could have frozen a sunrise in it’s ascent over the ocean. Which is exactly what Lincoln had just done to their blossoming relationship. He didn’t need Ivyanne to speak, to know it.

  21.

  Ivyanne’s voice was poisonous when she finally broke the silence: ‘You….and Adele?’

  ‘You heard me!’ Lincoln glowered past Ivyanne and to him. ‘Taunt me about what you were going to do to Ivyanne, huh? Well now that you have, wait and see what I’m going to do to you!’

  ‘Just try it.’ Tristan stepped around Ivyanne, holding her off with one arm. His nose was inches from Lincoln’s. ‘I’ll break your pretty new face, asshole.’

  Ivyanne shoved Tristan’s upper arm, her face vexed. ‘Did you sleep with Adele? When? How?!’

  Tristan decided to speak up-it was too late to put the bullet back in the gun. ‘Last year.’ He spat the confession out. ‘We barely knew each other. It was a one night stand, and I didn’t give it a second thought until she approached me at the BBQ last night and asked me to leave.’ He shot Lincoln a dark look. ‘I was just about to tell you about it when he barged in.’

  ‘If you were going to fess up, it’s probably only because you were afraid I’d tell her first, like I threatened this afternoon.’ Lincoln countered.

  Ivyanne looked up at him. ‘Is that true?’ She asked coldly.

  Tristan sighed. ‘Does it matter? Ten minutes ago, you said you could accept my past, that you understood. Adele is probably the only girl I’ve ever been with who you’re likely to cross paths with. So if you can’t handle that, then this is about the lines you’ve crossed with Lincoln here-not a reflection upon my character.’

  Ivyanne winced. ‘Cheap shot, Tristan.’

  ‘You know what our boundaries are. You said it yourself tonight.’ He snapped, his heartbreak turning to anger in a way he hadn’t anticipated. ‘I’ve toed my line-you’re the one skitzing out over a man who’s feelings should be inconsequential to you! Don’t you dare throw it back in my face!’

  The guilt, and hurt, contorted Ivyanne’s face. She buried it in her hands, digging her fingertips into her hair, a sob escaping her, the sound cutting Tristan to the quick.

  ‘Why?!’ Lincoln demanded, reminding Tristan off his presence as he crossed the room, placed his hand on Ivyanne’s shoulder and forced her to uncurl so he could stoop to stare her in the eyes. ‘Why should you have to write me off? What kind of existence are you twisted up in that negates your free will? It goes against every human right there is and I won’t be a victim of it! Nor can I let you!’

  ‘Lincoln it’s none of your business!’ Ivyanne protested. ‘How many times do I have to say it?’

  ‘It is my business, because it’s coming between me and the girl I want, and affecting my life. I deserve to know what I’m up against here and I’m sick of you lot lying to me!’

  ‘Back off pal!’ Tristan snapped, protectiveness for his species overwhelming him as Lincoln belittled what he could never understand. ‘Ivyanne’s entitled to her privacy, and you only think it’s your business because you’re making it so! I’ll let you curse me out to your heart’s content, but I won’t have you insulting our lives, just because you don’t understand them!’

  ‘And I don’t care to anymore!’ Lincoln gave Ivyanne his full focus. ‘If you want to be with me then walk away from this loser and be with me! I just kicked Adele to the curb for you! Now it’s your turn!’

  Ivyanne’s mouth fell open. ‘That’s what you were fighting about? You left her...for me?’ She looke
d horrified.

  Lincoln stepped into her, lifting her face. ‘I swore I would, didn’t I?’

  ‘If I asked you to.’ She pointed out. ‘Which I didn’t.’

  But Lincoln smiled. ‘Your lips didn’t. Your eyes did.’

  Tristan felt like he was going to hurl. ‘Well Link, as smooth as the international date-rape slogan sounds coming from your lips, I think you best stop talking now.’

  Lincoln scowled at him, before turning back to Ivyanne. ‘Is this really what your oh so protective parents want for you Ivyanne?’ He demanded softly. ‘They’d prefer this player over me?’

  ‘Actually...’ Tristan beamed, dropping an arm onto Ivyanne’s shoulders and pulling her snugly against him. ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Shut up Tristan!’ Ivyanne sniped, shrugging him off. She turned back to Lincoln. ‘And you too Link. I can’t deal with this, not now. Please just go, okay? I’m sorry for what Tristan did, but it doesn’t change anything for you and me.’

  ‘I don’t believe that.’ Lincoln whispered, looking hurt. ‘I’m sorry to have dragged you into this Ivyanne, but you had to know. You’re upset now, but you’ll come to your senses and when you do, I’ll be waiting for you.’

  ‘Well you’re in for a mighty long wait man, because her senses are going to be what makes her ride off into the sunset with me.’ Tristan declared, earning a dark look from the other man.

  ‘Is that so?’ Ivyanne whirled on Tristan. ‘I don’t even want to look at you right now, much less ponder leaving this place with you!’ She looked from him, to Lincoln and back, sagging. ‘Actually you know what? You can both get it up for Adele-so why don’t you go wrestle over her instead?’

  Tristan’s heart sank. She was jealous all right, and clearly didn’t know how to handle it. ‘I don’t want Adele Ivyanne, I want you!’

  ‘Now that you’re done with her.’ Ivyanne snapped, regarding him coolly. ‘Which is why I’m so pissed. You knew who she was last night at the party, and yet I didn’t have a clue that you’d met her before. You were so completely unaffected by a woman you’d shared your bed with that she barely registered on your radar!’ Her lip curled. ‘Would that have been me tomorrow, if I’d made love with you tonight? Would I have given my virtue to a man who’d forget my existence in the morning?’