Queen of the Magnetland (The Elemental Phases Book 5)

by Cassandra Gannon

  Mara’s body clenched at the harsh demand. Her breasts tighten, her breath coming faster. It was so hard to think. “This is still a bad idea. You were just in the hospital. You could injure yourself.”

  “This is the best idea I ever fucking had.” He corrected, pulling her clothes off. “Christ.” He stared down at her bare breasts. “I have missed seeing those.”

  Her whole body clenched at his intent expression. He’d never sounded so desperate for her before. Demanding, where he’d once asked. Reveling, where he’d once apologized. Mara stared up at him, breathing hard.

  “Why Chason, of the Magnet House, you really aren’t a gentleman.” She whispered seductively.

  His eyes gleamed. “Just noticing that?” He agreed, pressing her backwards onto the grass. “But you’re a hell of a lot more than just some tedious lady, yourself. In fact, I’m starting to think you’ve been trying to lead me astray right from the beginning. Who instigated that kiss when you were ninety-one and then left me with a crippling hard-on for weeks?”

  Mara leaned into his touch as he rasped his thumb across her nipple. “Well, I was trying to seduce you.” She admitted readily. “I didn’t leave, though. You sent me away. I was perfectly willing to Phaze with you right then, but you wanted to be all moral.”

  “I was an idiot.” Chason’s tongue traced the valley between breasts. “But you knew that Kahn was coming to get you before I could do anything too irreparable to your sweet little body. You were just being a vixen.”

  A vixen.

  Mara liked the sound of that. “Alright, you win. We’re doing this.” Even though it was absolutely not in his best interest, she found herself grasping the waistband of his doctors’ scrubs and jerking them down. “But, if you reinjure yourself, I’m going to be pissed.”

  He grinned at her. She never remembered Chason ever grinning before.

  It was beautiful. He was beautiful. His body was thinner and harder than he’d been before… but somehow even sexier.

  Mara found herself smiling back at him as she helped him get her pants off. “You really are a crazy man, you know that?”

  “I know. I’m okay with that, though.” Once they were both naked, his body moved over hers. He paused, tilting his head. “Did I tell you I had another memory sharing?”

  “So did I.” Did they have to discuss it right now, though? “I saw my funeral and that horrible Lansing threaten you and that you felt left out from my birthday party. I’m sorry. I never meant to exclude…” Mara bit back a moan as he started kissing his way down her body.

  His lips sealed over her nipple and she lost all coherent thought.

  “Oh!” Her hands came up to twist in his hair, trying to keep him there. The deep pulls of his mouth caused every nerve ending in her body to go up in flames. “Chason…” It was a sigh of total bliss.

  He liked that reaction.

  Purple eyes flashed up to hers and then he was sliding downward, again. Across her stomach, her navel, kissing her… everywhere.

  “Oh yes.” Mara shifted her legs so he could drop his head between them. She bit down on her lower lip as his tongue swirled out and touched her aching flesh. How absolutely decadently bad he’d become. “I love you so much.” She whispered.

  The words were all the encouragement he needed. Strong hands gripped her hips, dragging her closer, opening her to his kiss. Mara’s whole body bowed in his grasp. She automatically tried to shift free, overwhelmed by the sensations, but he was holding her still. She was completely at the mercy of the Magnet King. All she could do was feel.

  “Oh, Gaia.” Mara stared up at the trees and tried to hold on. She wasn’t going to last. He was so damn talented. It felt so good. She was so close. “Chason, I’m going to,” she swallowed, “I’m going to come if you don’t stop.”

  He didn’t stop.

  If anything, his mouth grew more insistent. He’d been a soldier for centuries and he didn’t intend to surrender his new territory. His tongue plunged deeper, a low growl vibrating through him.

  Mara’s fingers left Chason’s hair to grip the ground, trying to anchor herself. “Chason, I’ve never come this way.” She’d never come without him inside of her. It felt very, very wicked to be out in the open with his head between her thighs and on the verge of a huge orgasm. So huge it frightened her. Her energy was going crazy.

  He knew it, too. His teeth scrapped over her throbbing knot of nerve endings, deliberately sending her over the edge.

  “Chason.” Her eyes closed in bliss as spasms shook her body. It felt better than anything she’d ever experienced. It was all she could do to hold onto her screaming powers before they escaped her completely. She automatically pulled back on them as they tried to reach Chason, even as she rocked against him.

  Chason lifted his head, looking very determined. “You’re going to let go.” It was a vow.

  “I did…” She trailed off with a gasp as he dragged her under him. The hard length of him brushed her core, his own powers touching her everywhere. Just like that she needed him, again. “Please.” She undulated against him, trying to bring him inside of her.

  Chason didn’t allow it. He dipped his head so he could speak directly into her ear. “I saw a movie theater.” He licked the side of her neck.

  Mara tried to focus through her passion. “Movie theater?”

  “I saw you going to the theater in the memory-sharing. Something with ‘Tarzan’ and ‘jiggling’ in the title.”

  Uh-oh.

  Mara felt herself turning bright red. “I can explain about that… Chason!” His name came out as shriek as he flipped her onto her stomach.

  “It wasn’t a film that needed a lot of explanation, princess.”

  Her whole body throbbed in pleasure as he moved behind her. They’d never tried this before, either. She was shocked and incredibly aroused by it. “What are you doing?” She panted.

  “Taking you.” His dark voice was so erotic Mara almost came just from the sound of it.

  She reached for him, only to have him somehow capture both her wrists in one hand. Chason stretched her arms over her head, holding her still. Mara automatically tried to tug free and he didn’t let her go. The old Chason would’ve released her. This Chason just tightened his grip and pinned her against the forest floor without a hint of reserve.

  “You’re captured, princess. On your knees.”

  She slowly did as he asked. It felt hot and dirty and submissive and better than anything she’d ever seen in a movie. “I’m not sure kings are supposed to do this with their captives under Council law.”

  “The Council can go find their own captives.” His free hand tested her body from behind, opening her. Doing whatever bad things he wanted. He chuckled as she squirmed in his grasp. “You like that?”

  It wasn’t ladylike, but she bobbed her head. “Yes.” His finger slid even deeper and she whimpered. “God, I really like this game.”

  “Oh, baby, I’m not playing.”

  Mara gave a sound of pure lust as his body drove into hers with one hard thrust. Just that fast she was teetering on the biggest orgasm of her life. Her body felt like it was starving for him. “More.” She threw her hips back to meet him.

  “I should have taken you like this on our Phazing day, or out on the lawn today, or hundred thousand other times. You are mine.”

  “I know.” She turned her head to look at him. “And you’re mine.”

  “I’m yours.” His head dipped to kiss the nape of her neck, his voice going stark. “Don’t leave me, again. I’ll die without you.”

  “I won’t.” She was dying herself. “I’m so close, Chason. Just a little more.”

  “Beg me.”

  “What?” She met his wicked gaze and she swallowed hard. “Was that in the movie or are you just being bad?”

  “I have no idea.” He slowed his strokes. “I just know I want to hear it. All my life I fantasized about you begging me to take you.”

  She stared at h
im, loving this. “Please.”

  “Louder.”

  “Please, take me, darling.” She smiled at him. “Take me now and I promise to take you later.”

  “Fuck, yes.” Chason groaned. He hit some magical spot and Mara exploded.

  Her hand twisted in his grasp, clenching his fingers as she climaxed. Holding his hand, her palm pressed against his. “Chason!”

  She vaguely saw his expression light with triumph and then all she could do was feel. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over her, her body melting into his. Her energy swirled free, more than she’d intended to let loose. It touched his, wanting to get closer…

  …and he grabbed it.

  His powers didn’t just brush hers as they usually did when they Phazed. They locked onto her energy and didn’t let go.

  Mara gasped in shock as her climax grew even bigger. More of her energy had been swept up into their greater whole. A lot more. Almost all of it. It felt wonderful.

  It terrified her.

  She instinctively tried to pull back and Chason cursed.

  “No!” His hand tangled in her hair, keeping her eyes on his. He was the ruthless new Chason and he wasn’t going to let her escape. His energy touched every piece of her, trying to close the last distance between them. “No, give it to me, Mara. Give me all of it.”

  Mara hesitated, feeling tight and exposed and needing… more.

  His purple gaze stayed on hers. “Just let go, princess. Don’t be afraid. We were made for this.” His energy tugged at hers enticingly.

  She gave uncertain cry, poised right on the brink of something so big and so real that it scared her.

  “Believe in us. Fight for us. We can do this together.” His voice changed, becoming a vow. “Let go and I will catch you, Mara. I swear it.

  Mara met his eyes.

  Chason stared back. “Trust me.”

  She bit her lip and… let go.

  For the first time ever, her energy poured out without restraint.

  “Yes, yes, yes.” Chason seized every drop of it with his own powers. “Mara!” He bellowed. He came deep inside of her, driving her own orgasm even higher.

  Mara screamed in pleasure.

  Magnet energy met Magnet energy, combining into something bigger than she’d ever imagined. It was bright and beautiful and magical. Like the fireworks they’d danced under on their Phazing Day. It was huge and complete and the way it always should have been. No space or distance between them. Just Mara and Chason: a united whole. It was what she’d always wanted.

  Honestly, it was… perfect.

  Mara laughed with wonder and collapsed against the forest floor, blanketed in the amazing new sensations and Chason’s spent body.

  So that was Phazing.

  ***

  Chason lay on the soft grass of the Light Kingdom’s vast forest and listened to the quiet sounds of silence. It was a miracle not to hear the constant noise in his head. To know that everything around him was real. To not hate being alive.

  He turned his head to look at Mara.

  She was the miracle.

  Mara’s mouth curved, her black eyes still glowing with the millions of multicolored sparks that had lit-up when they Phazed. She was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. And now he had all of her.

  “I think I lost the movie you got me somewhere between here and the store.” She gave him a shy smile. “Gene Kelly just doesn’t hold a candle to you.”

  “I’ll steal you another copy.”

  “Buy me another copy.”

  Her righteous determination to protect the humans’ property was adorable. “Buy.” He agreed. He would literally have agreed to anything she asked. Even with the wound in his chest that had nearly killed him, Chason had never felt better in his life. “The gap in our energy is gone.” He pointed out, because it was and it was important that she feel it, too.

  “I know.” She whispered. “It feels… better.”

  It felt whole. Like they were finally as they were always meant to be. Complete and solid and one.

  “Don’t leave me.” He couldn’t stop saying it. “Not ever again.”

  “I won’t.” She hesitated. “Would you really have still wanted me if I wasn’t your Match?”

  “You know that I did. Either way, you and I would’ve been naked and happy sometime today.”

  She liked that. “I’d want you either way, too.” She arched a brow. “But, I like you best just the way you are now.”

  Obviously. She’d held back from the old, honorable Chason. He’d seen it. The new not-quite-sane version of her Match, she gave everything to with barely a moment’s hesitation. He asked for trust and she just handed it to him, body and soul. She’d decided that he was worth the risk. Worth all the mess and struggle and fight.

  It was humbling.

  “I’m sorry, I held back before.” Mara continued. “It was my fault. All of it. I was scared and I…”

  “I don’t think we were ever a Match before.” He interrupted seriously. “That’s why you held back and why we never quite fit. The people we are now are the real Match. You were waiting for me.”

  Black eyes met his. “I’ve waited for you my whole life, Chason, of the Magnet House.”

  “I love you, Mara.” There was just nothing else he could say.

  “I love you, too.” She gave him a kiss. “Now, take me home, so I can get some real clothes.”

  She’d just called the Magnetland “home” without even thinking about it. Chason’s heart turned over in his chest. “I brought you here, because I thought it would make you happy.”

  He’d never been to the Light Kingdom before. That had been a huge personal failing. He’d been jealous of the land’s hold on Mara, instead of trying to share it with her. He looked around and realized that it was beautiful. An endless rainforest stretched out in all directions, the light filtering through the leaves and casting delicate shadows on the soft ground.

  Of course Mara would come from a place full of life.

  It occurred to him that they could take some seedlings from this jungle and replant them in the Magnet Kingdom. Lansing had ripped out all his mother’s trees, but Chason could put them back. He could repair what had been destroyed by neglect. Something new could grow, combining his homeland with Mara’s. His mother may have liked that idea.

  “I’m happy anywhere with you, darling.” Mara sat up and stretched. “But, while I love the Light Kingdom, there are all kinds of bugs here that I now feel in my hair.” She ran a hand through her dark tresses. “Also there’s no running water.” She sent him a pointed look. “We need to have hot water back in the Magnet Fortress, by the way. I grew with ‘rustic’ accommodations and I have no desire to ever live without electricity again.”

  “I’ll have it fixed immediately.” Chason promised.

  There was so much he needed to have fixed in the Magnet Kingdom. Luckily, he had a very organized and determined queen to help him do it. Mara was going to wish she could just go back to planning parties, once she grasped that she was now an equal partner in ruling their mess of a kingdom.

  Chason stood up and grabbed his pants. “I don’t think it’s safe for you to go home, yet. Not until we know what Vandal wants from you.”

  Her mouth thinned. “I’d almost rather he just show up so we could kill him.”

  Chason smiled at her tone. Mara’s dark side was such a delight.

  “It’s not funny! He shot you, Chason!” She blinked back tears. “I won’t be satisfied until Vandal pays for what he did to you. There was so much blood I thought you were going to die right there in my arms.”

  “I’m sorry.” He quickly sobered. “You’re right. We’ll make him pay.” Chason would gladly kill the man for making Mara cry, but first he had to find him. “Do the other Light Phases know Vandal’s alive?”

  “I doubt it. He was Banished long before I was born. I don’t think anyone left has even met him. We can ask Kahn, though.” She bit her lower lip. �
��I need to see my cousin as soon as possible, before someone else tells him I’m alive. If Kahn hears it from anyone but me, I don’t know what his reaction might be.”

  Chason could certainly guess. Kahn, of the Light House wasn’t known for his level head or tempered responses. “I don’t think anybody has the guts to show up here and try to tell him that you aren’t dead.” He pointed out truthfully. “He scares people.”

  “If everyone just saw how sweet Kahn is under his grouchy exterior, they’d know he isn’t nearly as intimidating as he seems.”

  “Keep telling yourself that.” Chason leaned down to kiss the top of her head. “I’ll go get you some clothes and we can talk to Kahn, alright? Don’t move.”

  He jumped back to the Magnet Kingdom.

  ***

  Mara laid back on the grass and let out a contented sigh. Her energy had never felt so complete. So right. Connected with Chason’s powers, she felt like the missing pieces of her life had been filled in and that everything was… more. She was so happy and so satisfied. Finally, her life was coming together and she was….

  Mara’s thoughts trailed off, her attention riveted on the dense foliage of the three hundred foot tall trees. Glowing words, written in Light, appeared on the green canopy, repeated thousands of times as far as the eye could see.

  Vandal.

  His message was the equivalent of taking over every television station and blaring a commercial at full blast to reach at single viewer. From the power of it, she could tell it was being broadcast over every kingdom at once. And there was no missing his target audience.

  Queen of the Magnetland,

  I have your cousin.

  Come to the Sacred Ruins and fulfill your destiny or Kahn will perish by my sword.

  You have one minute to comply.

  Chapter Seventeen

  There is a certain element of style in all the pagan things.

  Henry James- “A Little Tour in France”

  Kahn stared at Mara.

  Mara stared at Kahn.

  All in all, their reunion could’ve been handled in a better way. For instance, with Kahn not standing in some futuristic purplish energy cage thing. And Mara not wearing grass stained hospital scrubs while facing down an armed lunatic. And maybe with someone else there to help break the news to Kahn gently.