There was a nervous edge to his laugh, one she’d never heard before. “Me? Look at you.” There was a hint of a smile curving those utterly kissable lips as he sat down beside her.
Blushing, she hid her face behind her knees. “You’re full of shit. I was nearly killed. No doubt I look like hell.”
“You don’t. You never do.”
“Don’t flatter me just because you’re my best friend. If I look half as bad as I feel, I’m a mess.”
He put his hands around her calves, sending a tingle all the way to her scalp. “I am not lying. You are beautiful, Isadora. You always are.”
She froze, unable to argue with the blatant sincerity staring back at her.
He swept the hair out of her face and behind her ear in a gentle motion. “You are the one person I’m afraid to disappoint. The one person I would do anything to please, no matter what that might be. You don’t know how badly it scared me to see you crumpled on the floor. He meant to kill you.” Toryn’s voice broke and she saw the tears in his eyes.
Hell, she was so stunned she wasn’t even breathing.
When she didn’t say anything, he nodded to her bowl. “Eat your soup. You need the strength. Then we can talk.”
Maybe she was in shock, because she nodded and took a sip without argument. It tasted so delicious she groaned her appreciation. The soup was hearty and gamey, but she couldn’t name any of the ingredients. The warm meal had a calming effect as it went down and managed to settle her stomach. She watched him as she drank the rest quickly. The pain melted away.
The dynamic between them shifted, moving them together. Then she remembered Leon. A fresh wave of guilt washed through her.
Setting the bowl aside, she asked, “So what happened? Why did you bring me here?”
Toryn visibly shuddered. “Evan managed to break out of jail. Don’t ask me how, because we haven’t figured it out yet. I have people investigating. The first time I noticed him was when you tried to climb the barricade. The look in his eyes, the way he picked you up…” His voice stalled as his eyes squeezed shut. “He nearly killed you, Isa. Seeing you that way, it changed everything.”
“But why… why didn’t I… you know?” she wiggled her fingers and he did know because he’d seen her do the lightning thing a few times. More strangely, he seemed to understand it, but they didn’t discuss the phenomenon. No one else believed unless they saw it themselves, and even then they were inclined to rationalize it away.
He stared back at her with guilt in his eyes. “He cast a spell to block your magic. Evan knew what you are and came prepared this time.”
Her mouth fell open. “How the hell did he know? What the hell am I?”
Frustrated, she slammed her hand down on the table and caught it badly. “Damn it,” she cried, cradling her hand to her chest.
“Isa,” he chided. Shaking his head, he took her hand and kissed her wrist where she hit the table’s edge. His lips lingered and he spoke a word that she had never heard, but knew, and the pain faded. She swallowed hard and looked into those vibrant blue eyes. His tongue darted playfully over her flesh.
Startled, she jerked her hand away as the burning shiver ran through her.
“I uh…” She shook her head, trying to clear it and grasp one question of the dozens flooding her mind. She remembered the way he was with Leon, not to mention countless other men, and blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “But you prefer men.” The jealous note in her voice mortified her.
That wicked grin played on his lips. “I never said I prefer men. However, it’s a lot harder to imagine you when I’m boning a dude.”
Her jaw probably hit the ground. “What?”
“You couldn’t possibly know how embarrassing it is when I call out ‘Isadora, oh Isa’. Especially when it’s someone who knows you.” He gave her a sheepish shrug. “That mistake rarely happens with men.”
She remembered her near slip with Reese.
Shaking it off, she glared at him. “Stop fucking with me. It’s not fair. I was nearly killed and now you’re toying with me.”
* * * *
Isa was so damned adorable with that shocked look on her enchanting face, he couldn’t be offended she didn’t immediately believe him. After years of pretending to be friends, and distracting himself with nearly anyone who would have him, her disbelief made sense.
“Isadora, trust me. I want nothing more than to prove it to you. However, now is not the time. I’ve waited this long, a little longer won’t kill me.”
He would wait until the end of days if there was a chance she could return even a splinter of his love. His visions said she could, that look on her face now declared it was possible. Maybe Leon and the guys were right.
“Besides, I need to explain what happened and what’s going on. We have a lot of ground to cover.”
Understandably rattled, she shot up and hastily walked to the liquor cabinet. Grabbing an unmarked bottle, which was full of clear liquid, she filled a glass. Her brow was wrinkled as she worked through what he was saying. From experience, he knew this meant she would drink every last drop if he let her.
He was on his feet, closing in on her before she could put the glass to her mouth.
Toryn warned, “I would go easy on that, if I were you.”
She flipped him off and gulped down the contents without another thought. She brought the tumbler down hard and challenged him with a smirk. “Mmm, so yummy.” She giggled. “That was delicious.”
Well, the night is about to get really damned interesting.
He hoped he had the strength to keep his hands to himself. No matter what, he would not take advantage of her.
Her eyes darted around the room, catching on nothing he could see. “What is that stuff?”
“You won’t believe me if I tell you.” He took another cautious step forward, his hands up and outstretched. The last thing he wanted to do was scare her. She was about to embark on a trip between realms. He kept inching forward. “You are going to want to sit down, Princess. Please, sit for me.”
* * * *
Okay, maybe Toryn had a point because all the edges lost their shape, and colors flared brilliantly before bleeding together. The air seemed to have a life of its own, shimmery and smoky all at once.
Isa looked up and couldn’t stop staring at Toryn, who was covered in a sparkling silver haze that stretched toward her with his reach. She backed up and fell right into the big comfortable chair she always sat in. Swallowing hard, she stared up into those burning blue topaz eyes and saw his desire.
She whimpered with need, and that was humiliating. She had to be imagining the lust there. They had always shared a magnetic connection but this was a million times stronger. She didn’t trust it.
As much as she needed to go to him and plant her lips on his, she knew she had to get away or do something monumentally stupid.
In the light of day, she was going to realize how this was all some crazy dream. Right?
The temptation to push him down on the ottoman, straddle him, and take him right there was damn near irresistible. The colorful maelstrom swirled around them, seeming to draw them closer. She couldn’t move. She was paralyzed by fear, desire, and obviously insanity.
Maybe he was playing with her, because he walked right up to the chair, placed his knees against the cushion, between hers.
To keep me here?
That sent a chill straight through her and it didn’t help when he bent over her, his hair brushing her face. He pulled the ottoman up to sit directly in front of her. Toryn looked her dead in the eyes. Entranced, she couldn’t pull her gaze away.
“What did you do to me?” Her voice shook nearly as badly as she did.
“I warned you about the faerie wine. You should never drink that much your first time.”
“The what?” If she hadn’t been sitting, she might have fallen from the shock. “That’s a myth, it’s not real.” She only remembered fairy tales about crazy adventures w
hile drunk off the substance.
He spread his legs, his knees pressing against her inner-thighs. She looked down at her little suede hot pants. His gaze followed and her eyes snapped back up to see the full blown lust that she never expected to be directed at her. She froze as he licked those lips, his eyes trailing back up her body.
Toryn shook his head and looked back at her with the guiltiest expression she’d ever seen. “We’re talking. Nothing more. I am a gentleman.” There was doubt in his voice, in his expression, but she knew he meant what he said. She couldn’t remember a single time he lied to her.
Every fiber of her being craved for him to put his burning hands on her thighs, opening them to get at what she so desperately needed him to penetrate.
With a quick, startled movement, she brought her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, hiding her corset and cleavage. She was suddenly so self-conscious that she wanted to shrink down and hide in the cushions.
It didn’t help that she also had the strongest desire to put both hands in his thick luscious hair and pull his face to hers so she could kiss him like he had never been kissed.
“Oh fuck.” Her eyes nearly fell out of her head as she tried to stop the erotic mental images rolling through her brain. “Explain fast, before I lose control.”
He gave her a sympathetic look. “Don’t worry. I won’t take advantage of you, Isa.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about,” she squeaked.
He stifled a laugh. “In a nutshell, you are a faerie and so am I. Ten years ago, I was sent to protect you, and your identity from everyone, even yourself. Evan changed the agenda when he tried to kill you. Now what you don’t know might hurt you, so we have some talking we need to do.”
She felt like Alice tumbling down the rabbit hole. Nearly hysterical, she laughed. “Faerie? I’m… no, we’re faeries? What? Am I going to sprout wings and shrink down to the size of a butterfly?”
“No.” He smirked. “You aren’t a pixie. You have a ton of natural magic under the surface. You won’t understand your potential until the awakening. You easily pass for human without any glamour.”
“Pass?” She glared at him.
He shrugged. “Ever wonder why you always seem to glow to anyone who is even slightly sensitive to Others?”
She laughed hard. “Others? Glow? Me? I don’t glow,” but even as she denied the claim, she could recall countless times where people told her as much. Now, he glowed—he practically radiated light.
Holy shit, why am I rationalizing the crazy talk?
“You do. In fact, would you like to see yourself through my eyes?” he asked sweetly. Then he licked his sinfully curved lips and she wasn’t sure how to answer, because she really wanted to cover his mouth with her own.
Shaking herself, she breathed, “What?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes, of course.” It was herself she didn’t trust.
Toryn took her face with gentle hands and said something in a strange, yet familiar language. Somehow, she knew he whispered, “Close your eyes.” Too stunned to question, she did as he asked.
Then she was abruptly in that rundown old diner in Santa Monica. She looked down at her hands, but they were Toryn’s. It was the ring he always wore. He sat in the back, waiting for someone he was sent to protect. She walked in, bathed in golden light with the most radiant aura of swirling reds and grays—anger and sadness. Even her forced smile warmed him as he watched her make her way to the back room.
Her shiny black hair was tied back in a silken ponytail. Dark make-up brought out her dazzling emerald eyes. Her lips were red and looked as soft as rose petals. One of the waitresses directed her to his table and she nodded, but stopped in her tracks when her eyes met his.
The woman before him was radiant, mesmerizing, absolutely breathtaking.
His heart pounded in his chest, his blood rushing. He was lost to her as a slow smile curved her lips. Finally, she moved toward him.
“Hi, I’m Isa. Can I get you something to drink? Or food if you’re ready.” Her musical voice captured his heart and soul.
The scene faded as he took his hands away. She stammered, “That’s how you see me? Even now?”
He smiled sweetly and put his hands back on her face. Besides being disheveled and her smeared make-up, or maybe because of those imperfections, he found her impossibly beautiful. Now her aura swirled with so many shades, he was having a hard time deciding what she was feeling.
Pulling his hands away, he attempted a smile. “Now do you see how hard it has been for me to pretend you’re nothing more than a friend? I’ve been going crazy, trying to fake interest in anyone.”
She was having a hard time wrapping her head around everything. After years of denial, accepting he could have really loved her all this time was difficult. “You do know love is more than beauty, right?”
“With you, Isa, it’s about everything and only about you. You’re everything I want and need. Just you. I hate it when you see other men, but I suck it up because I couldn’t reveal what I am or what you are, and well…” he trailed off and looked out the window with a frustrated growl.
“And now it doesn’t matter?”
“Evan was fae, and he was sent to force the awakening on you. To bring all your dormant talents to the forefront.”
“What?” She blinked, her brow wrinkling.
* * * *
Of course she didn’t understand. How could she?
She was confused, stunned, but not nearly as afraid as she should be. Toryn was the last thing she needed, but he wasn’t strong enough to leave her alone, not if she wanted him. His heart, his life, his very soul belonged to her.
He gave her a dark look and tried to explain what he knew wouldn’t make sense, especially in her inebriated state. “Certain things are… amplified, intensified after the first time you are intimate with another fae. Some humans even have more natural abilities strengthened after being with one of us.” He half-laughed. “You would know where you are from, and so much more than I could possibly explain, all from one intimate act.”
Her eyes blinked wide and her mouth fell open before she snapped it shut. Then she squeaked, “Please stop with the sex talk before I do something we both regret.”
That sliced him deep. He growled, “I wouldn’t dare do anything to you while you’re so shaken up, or drunk off that damned wine.”
Tears sprang to her eyes and she blabbered, “I know you wouldn’t. I didn’t mean to imply you would. I’m just…” She shook her head and covered her face. “I know better. It’s me. I fell for you that night you walked with me on the boardwalk, patiently listening to me break down after a hellacious day.”
That broke his heart, he shouldn’t have snapped at her. With a softer tone, he rubbed his hand up and down her calf. “The wine makes it hard to resist the awakening, but I wouldn’t do that to you. Never like this. When we share that, I will have the real you. It’s hard enough to adjust without this fucked-up situation.”
“I trust you, Toryn, completely.” She sniffled, still not looking at him. “Why did Evan want me dead? He seemed so gung-ho on fucking me.”
Toryn wished he had all the answers. For now, he explained the best he could. “You nearly killed him last week. Left a couple nasty burns on his chest in the shape of your hands, and literally froze his muscles. It’s why he didn’t make another move for you that night. My best guess is that he wanted revenge. He wasn’t used to being turned down.”
Her gaze finally swung back to him, and she looked ticked, but he couldn’t blame her. “So some bastard was sent to rape me, to ‘awaken’ some dormant talent? Why me? I’m an orphan.”
And now they were getting to sticky territory. She was already on information overload, and he didn’t want to lay on too much at once. “You were sent away for your own protection, Isa. Your family is important. After they heard what your piece of shit boyfriend was up to, I was sent to protect you, keep you s
afe. That’s why I showed up in Santa Monica.”
“Important family?” She laughed bitterly as she shook her head. “They threw me away when I was a baby.”
“It’s not that simple. For now, digest what I’ve told you, before I give you too many details. You already have a lot to take in, but we’ve only scratched the surface.”
“Fine. Then what happened at the club? He grabbed me by the throat and slammed me into the barrier like a sledge hammer. I remember the flash of light and you screaming something in that strange language.”
“Your light faded, the spark was gone for a moment. I thought you were lost.” His throat constricted and he had to close his eyes to keep the tears in. “I blinded everyone as Vinnie shot Evan. Wiped their memories, and the rest of the band cleaned up the mess.” He wouldn’t mention Remus yet, though even without proof, he was convinced that prick had something to do with it. “Don’t worry about how. Right now, the important thing is that no one thinks we played, and believe Evan attacked Vinnie. He was killed by the bouncer, and that’s all they remember.”
* * * *
Isadora could hardly wrap her head around everything. Evan was dead. Vinnie shot him, but she had the feeling Toryn would have liked that honor. Probably should have scared her, but it didn’t. She found it sexy he was so grr about Evan.
Besides, she would have liked killing him herself.
And last week. Thinking about what would have happened if Toryn hadn’t shown up sent her stomach on a revolt. She shoved past Toryn and ran for the bathroom.
Isa fell to her knees in time for her stomach to eject everything, possibly even her organs. Toryn was right there behind her, holding her hair back. His hand smoothed up and down her spine, His touch managed to comfort her. Tears streaked down her face as she clung to the toilet.
Despite her misery, she was acutely aware Toryn saw the bruises, the scratches, everything. He took care of her that night, made her feel safe. He was doing everything he could to make her feel safe now.
Storm Mistress Page 9
