Bain led her deeper into the gardens through a hedge maze that led out into a large, grassy area. Bain set his jacket down on the grass and sat next to it. He patted the material for Izzy to sit next to him. She smiled and sat.
Bain lay back in the grass, and Izzy followed suit. Bain took her hand and slid his head close to hers in an effort to gain the same line of sight that she had. He wrapped his hand around hers and traced the Big Dipper with her finger in the air.
“The Big Dipper, as humans tend to call it.”
“That’s the one and only one I can ever find.” She smiled and laughed softly.
“We call it Ursa Major or the Big Bear, but yeah it’s the Big Dipper and there’s the Little Dipper.” He gestured to the smaller set of stars creating the same shape.
Bain then moved her hand to the right and traced out a triangle with two bright stars at its base. He drew a line down from each of them, to two other bright stars, with another, slightly dimmer one between the two, and then followed down to two other stars.
“That’s The Hunter,” Bain whispered.
“Orion?” Izzy asked softly. She was pretty sure people referred to Orion as The Hunter.
Bain nodded and continued to point out constellations and tell Izzy the stories behind them. Most of them were of Greek origin.
“They’re the same stories I remember from Mythology back in seventh grade.” She was surprised they would share the same legends.
“They are the same stories; we share the same skies. The Fae grew alongside your Human World and at one point in time, we grew with the humans.”
“So what happened? Why don’t we know about your people now?”
“Because humans evolved and western religion, fear, and hate began to taint your species against anything different from its own. Wars broke out, and my people made the choice to return to our world and protect our people. Some felt humans should become slaves to our will and needs, while other preferred to come back to our lands and leave the humans to find their way to acceptance again.”
Izzy could feel Bain’s eyes on her as she mulled over his words. It sounded just like human nature; fearing what they don’t understand, and fighting because of that fear, but she continued to stare at the stars instead of saying anything. One star in particular caught her eye; it was bright, out shining all the twinkling spots around it.
Finding that particular star as a good of an excuse as any to veer away from the poor decisions mankind was notorious for making, she asked, “Is that the Northern star?”
“Ah… the one thing we see differently. Yes, it is the same as your Northern star, but we call it the Immortal Heart here.” Bain’s gaze was locked on the star, and now Izzy was drinking in his profile.
“Tell me about it,” she said softly, staring at the bright star again.
Bain smiled. “The Immortal Heart belonged to a very special Fae—our god of sorts. The story is of his love. She died in the first major war between the Dark and the Light. When Ekon found her dying and, Jelena—one of the three Immortal sisters—came for her, Ekon begged that she give Estrena back to him. Jelena could not, but rather than take her to the Underworld, where Ekon could not gaze upon her beauty any longer, she turned her into our brightest star, to always watch over him. Over the centuries he spent without Estrena, he never took another woman. He had loved Estrena far too deeply to ever hold another. When Ekon was on his death bed, Estrena came down, a star floating from the skies to our land, and took him home with her.”
Bain turned his head then to look at Izzy. She had a twinkle in her own eyes. “That’s beautiful.”
Ah hell, Bain couldn’t take it. He wanted to hold her, to touch her, to finally kiss her. It had taken every bit of strength he had today not to slip his tongue past her parted lips and kiss her until he was dizzy, drunk off her spicy scent and taste. He reached out to cup Izzy’s cheek, anchoring his fingers on her neck. He dropped his lips to hers. Izzy’s lips parted, as she offered no resistance to his move.
With her soft lips parted, Bain slid his tongue beyond the plump, subtle curve of her mouth. With each little twist, he deepened the kiss and Izzy met his hunger. She moaned softly as he pulled her tongue into his mouth and sucked gently. Izzy ran her fingers through the silk strands of Bain’s blond locks and pressed her breast hard against his chest.
Finally, she thought as she gave up every inhibition she had and melted into his touch.
Bain rolled them over so he lay half on top of her. His hand gathered the silk fabric of her dress, slowly pulling it up to her hip. He ran his rough, battle-ready hand up and down her thigh, her softness a welcome feeling to his fingers. He wanted to feel more of her. Bain slid his hand under her bottom and pulled her hard against him. When she moaned into his mouth, he knew she’d felt his erection; he was hard as stone for her.
Every inch of him wanted to be covered by her skin, and every inch of his hard flesh wanted to slide into her slow and steady. He could make love to Izzy for hours, no rush. He would keep her in his bed as long as she would let him and when she thought she would want to move, he’d make love to her again just to keep her with him a little longer… Such new thoughts to him. He had never cared to keep a woman, but this sweet, stubborn human had pushed her way into his heart and caused a deep need his body readied itself to satisfy.
Izzy rocked her hips gently against his harden flesh. My God, she wanted him, every broad, sexy piece of him. She wanted the wicked promise of satisfaction Bain offered, but she also wanted the slow, passionate man that hid behind all the arrogant, bold, confidence that washed around him. She knew it was there; she’d glimpsed it multiple times in the past few days. She was falling for everything about this man.
A throat cleared, silencing Izzy’s thoughts and moans, while pulling a growl from Bain as he tucked her face into the crook of his neck, hiding her from the intruder’s view and pulling her dress back down her leg.
“My apologies, Master Bain, but Meriah is here.”
Bain sighed, lowering his mouth to Izzy’s ear. “I’m sorry; I have to go see her. Niles will escort you to your room. I can’t keep her waiting.”
Izzy’s heart froze. Her eyes were sad and thankfully hooded as Bain stood and gently pulled her up with him. Was he seriously going to walk away from her right now? To go see another woman? Meriah was definitely a woman’s name.
“Niles, escort Miss Moreno back to her room, please.”
The intruder nodded and smiled sympathetically at her. Izzy forced a smile, hoping to hide her hurt and disappointment.
“I’ll come see you when I’m done. I’m sorry, Izzy.”
She didn’t meet his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve had enough excitement for one day. I think I’ll turn in for the evening.”
Bain watched as Izzy walked off with Niles. Was she angry? Yeah, couldn’t say that he blamed her. Niles had shitty timing. He was certainly going to be feeling an ache because of it.
Bain spread his wings and flew off to meet with Meriah. She always waited in the chapel. It seemed she felt most comfortable in the place others went to accept and mourn those who were now residing in her realm.
Chapter Twenty
Izzy snuck past Bain’s door, fighting the urge to fling it open and give him an earful. She’d spent the past couple hours fantasizing about where their grassy romp could have led and steaming over why he had left her, with Niles to escort her back to her room.
Who the hell was Meriah?
Had she been throwing herself on a man who belonged to someone else? Talk about a bastard if that was the case. She didn’t believe in falling into these kinds of situations with someone else’s man. Cheating was unacceptable, no matter the circumstances, and if the Fae had an open policy when it came to lovers, she definitely couldn’t get on board with that.
She had thought she heard someone at her door about an hour ago, but when she peeked out into the hall, there was no one there.
&nb
sp; Wishful thinking maybe.
Izzy remembered how to get back to the living room. At least there, she could put in a movie or something. There was little to entertain her in her opulent room, other than a giant bed.
Izzy sighed.
It seemed relatively quiet as she made her way down the hall, so she didn’t think she’d be disturbing anyone. Bain had said Uriah and Kale were gone, which meant there was only Bain and Lothar who might possibly be using the living room. She smiled as Garcia followed behind her. He’d stayed close, but was still the curious cat she’d always known. He had explored, only returning to her room about an hour before she and Bain had left for dinner. Garcia had made himself comfortable on the raised bed Darnell had brought in for him. The sweet man had even brought in beautiful, carved crystal bowls for Garcia’s food and water dishes.
“Here we go, Garcia. This is their living room, behave yourself.”
Garcia sat at her feet, his green eyes shrewd as he meowed at her.
Izzy smiled and opened the door to the cracking of a hard break on the billiards table. She stopped in the doorway, contemplating turning around, but Uriah’s gentle eyes caught sight of her before she could change her mind and turn away.
“Isabelle, come in.”
Izzy inched into the room, closing the door behind her, Garcia watched the men briefly before making his way to a fluffy rug that sat in front of the fireplace.
“You wanna join us? You can play winner. It won’t take me long to beat Uriah.” Kale grinned, allowing his fangs to peak out.
He wagged his brows at her as he slammed the cue ball, hitting the purple and yellow ball, sending them slamming into opposite corner pockets.
Izzy laughed. “I don’t think so. It will take you mere seconds to beat me, but if it’s all right, I wouldn’t mind hanging out.”
Uriah dipped his chin. “Of course, make yourself comfortable. There is a fully stocked bar and plenty of books and movies.”
“Sounds good, thanks.”
“Are you having trouble sleeping?” Kale asked as he took his next shot.
Izzy shrugged. “Yeah, I guess.”
Uriah was up. Kale made a quick trip to the bar, pouring two shot glasses full of a clear liquid. He set one next to Izzy where she had perched herself on a bar stool next to a tall table, where she could watch them battle it out.
She eyed the liquid, and then lifted her narrowed gaze to Kale. “What is it?”
Kale smiled. “Patron, it might help make you sleepy.”
She grabbed the shot glass, taking the smooth tequila like a champ. “Or get me drunk.” She smiled.
Kale laughed. “You like tequila?”
“I think it runs in my veins. I have family from Mexico.”
Kale laughed and lifted his shot glass to take his drink, before retrieving the bottle of Patron and a tumbler with ice, and what Izzy guessed was brandy for Uriah.
“So I thought you guys were in Los Angeles tonight?” she asked as the two sat with her, their game forgotten.
“We were; the problem has been neutralized,” Uriah explained.
“Wow, that sounds like a very political way of saying something like we ‘killed the issue’.”
Uriah smiled at her. “We did not kill them, but they are back in Darion’s land.”
“So what kind of Fae was it you were after tonight? More luck eaters?” she joked.
Kale snickered. “No and you will either enjoy this or hate it, but we were after vampires tonight.”
Izzy’s eyes went to the side, catching Uriah’s sheepish grin, and she couldn’t help but push his shoulder. “Vampires are real!”
Uriah laughed. “Yes, they are, and that is why Bain hates being confused with them. He despises the creatures.”
Izzy snorted. Whatever, he could get over himself.
“Hmm… I can’t believe they’re real. Bain made such a fuss about humans needing to broaden their horizons, but vampires are real.”
Kale filled her shot glass again. “Most people would be frightened by the idea of vampires being real.”
“If I was frightened by everything I didn’t understand, I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here drinking with the two of you. Just because something or someone is different then you, doesn’t mean your first instinct should be to fear them.”
“That is very wise,” Uriah agreed, setting his glass down and taking aim on the billiards table again.
Izzy spent a couple hours hanging out with Uriah and Kale. They even convinced her to play a round of pool on Kale’s team. She didn’t do too badly, but he cleared the table for their team. She had slowed down on the Patron. She knew it was a good call when all her thoughts kept straying to one Immortal in particular, who was going to be sleeping in the room next to hers.
She and Garcia padded off, leaving Kale and Uriah to continue their battle over who was better at slamming balls… She giggled to herself. Okay, maybe she should have declined that last shot.
“Izzy? What are you doing?”
Izzy turned to see Bain coming up fast behind her.
Izzy raised a brow at him. What was he doing? Was he just getting back?
“I was visiting with Uriah and Kale, and now I’m off to bed. What are you doing?”
“I was with Lothar.” He took a step closer to her. “Damn Kale,” he muttered.
“What?” she asked, resting her hands on her hips.
Bain lips twitched. “He shared his vice with you.”
“Yeah, I had a few drinks with them. I wasn’t tired, so I went to the living room, and he and Uriah were in there playing pool.”
“I know, I was with Lothar when they returned. I thought you said you were going to bed?”
Izzy narrowed her eyes at him. “I did, but I was restless. I thought it was fine if I walked around here.”
“It is fine, but I would have come back if I’d known you weren’t sleeping.” He took another step towards her, wrapping his arm around her waist.
Izzy wanted to step back, wanted to push him away, wanted to be pissed that he was even touching her, but her traitorous libido flared to life with his proximity.
Bain dropped his lips to hers, but Izzy turned her head before they made contact and whispered, “Who is Meriah?”
Bain stiffened against her, and for Izzy, that was answer enough. She pulled out of his embrace.
“Come on, Garcia,” she called, hurrying the last few steps to her sanctuary. Izzy forced herself not to look back as she shut her and Garcia in her room.
“What did you say to her?” a sarcastic voice asked from behind Bain. He whirled on Kale, a frustrated growl escaping his throat.
“Whoa there, big guy, calm down.”
“I am calm, but I don’t know what I did,” Bain said, dragging his hand through his hair.
“She’s upset and confused,” Lothar said as he rounded the corner.
“No shit,” Bain said sarcastically.
Lothar grinned. “What happened?”
Bain shrugged.
“You must have some clue.”
“Everything was good… really good, until Niles interrupted us.” Bain had that wicked smirk, cocking one side of his mouth up a little higher than the other.
Kale rolled his eyes.
“What did Niles say when he interrupted you?” Lothar asked.
“That Meriah was waiting for me.”
Kale let out a howl of laughter. “You can be so fucking thick sometimes.” He patted Bain’s shoulder and moved on past him and Lothar. “Good night, brothers.”
Bain glared, and then turned to Lothar.
“Bain, I realize that actually caring for a female, as I can sense you do for Isabelle, is new to you, but think about it. You two were having a good time—as you put it—and you leave because someone tells you another woman is waiting on you. How do you imagine she felt? What if it had been reversed and she left you because another man was waiting on her?”
Bain sighed, and closed his ey
e. Damn it, Kale was right… he really was thick. He never considered that Izzy had no clue who Meriah was. Damn, he was an idiot.
“Well?” Lothar pushed.
“He’d probably be in the field, searching for his family jewels right about now.”
Lothar chuckled. “Go talk to her, and I do mean talk to her. This is confusing for her; I sense her wariness in this situation. I don’t know if it’s because you’re not human, or if it is just that she hasn’t cared this much for someone. Regardless, you need to explain to her who Meriah is.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“You really don’t believe in knocking, do you?” Izzy mumbled around her toothbrush as Bain let himself into her room.
She watched his gaze drop to her ass from his reflection in the bathroom mirror. She couldn’t help but smirk.
Izzy washed her mouth out and turned to face Bain. He stood in the middle of her room, simply watching her. Izzy popped her hip to rest on the frame of the bathroom door. She wasn’t in her sexiest of pajamas, but he seemed to appreciate the view nonetheless. Her midnight blue, boy-short panties and her white and blue jersey tee with its giant double zeroes stretched tightly across her chest were sexy in their own way.
Bain cocked a grin at her as his gaze slowly devoured her; she felt like prey to this perfect predator.
“We should talk,” he finally said as his gaze met her eyes again.
“Your eyes are glowing,” she whispered.
Bain strode towards her. “That happens when I’m hungry,” he murmured in her ear as he pressed up against her. “And you, sweetheart, spark a deep hunger in me.”
He dropped his lips to her neck, laying gentle kisses between nips and licks of her sensitive skin. Bain wrapped his arms behind her, taking hold of her ass and lifting her up. On reflex and desire, Izzy wrapped her legs around Bain’s waist, a small moan slipping past her lips as she rocked her hips and rubbed against him. She was acting like an animal in heat. Bain’s lips moved up her neck and followed her elegant jawline until their lips met in a dizzying kiss.
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