by S. E. Smith
In other females, the patterns were faint, dull even, with no movement. The majority of the time the patterns were almost invisible, even to the warriors. Hell, even his boss, Passion, had them. Because he was used to seeing the patterns, he rarely paid any attention to them. But the patterns on Lacey, those patterns were impossible for him to ignore.
Legend stated that a warrior, unfamiliar with the ice world of Glacier, crashed into the frozen world after a great battle in space. The warrior struggled from the wreckage of his ship only to become lost on a frozen tundra. Near death, the warrior raged at the gods for not letting him die as a warrior should, in battle. Instead, his body would be forever encased in ice. A frozen statue locked on an uninhabitable world.
The legend told of how the Goddess, Icela, heard the warrior’s rage. Fascinated by his will to survive, she came to him out of the blizzard. She built a beautiful ice palace to protect him and cared for him. Over the weeks that followed, Icela and the warrior fell in love. He, with her gentle touch and she with his fierce nature that reminded her of the storms that raged over her world.
Icela knew that it was only a matter of time before the warrior would leave her. She knew that the warrior would not survive if he tried to stay, but she could not bear the thought of losing him either. As she feared, other warriors came for him. Unable to watch her warrior leave her, Icela, reverted back to her natural form… that of the swirling snow that covered the frozen planet.
When the warriors departed, Icela returned to the palace she had created. She moved through it in her natural form, unable to take the corporal form she had taken for her warrior. Loneliness and sorrow tore at her as she wandered the empty corridors. Not even the beauty of the ice crystals could pull her from the anguish pulling her apart.
“Why do you cry?” A voice asked softly.
Icela’s swirling form stared into the reflection of the mirrored surface of ice. Her eyes warmed and softened as the voice of her warrior reached out to wrap his husky voice around her. The sound filled the emptiness that threatened to destroy her and she reformed as the woman he knew.
“I thought my warrior had left me alone,” she answered quietly. “I could not bear the cold that I love so much after feeling his warmth wrap around me, melting the ice inside my heart.”
The warrior stepped closer so he could gently touch her shoulders. He slowly turned Icela until she could gaze up into his eyes and feel the warmth of his hands. Lowering his head, he kissed her with such passion that she was left gasping for breath.
“I could never leave you,” he whispered against her lips.
“You cannot stay,” Icela said with a shudder as she tried to turn from him. “Your body is not made for my world. It will slowly kill you. I… I cannot watch what I am drain the warmth from you.”
“I would rather have a few short weeks with you, than a lifetime without,” the warrior replied, refusing to let her turn away. He slid his fingers between her cold ones and lifted her hand to his mouth so he could press his warm lips to the back of them. “Together, for as long as we have. I have no other world to go to. Ours is gone. This is my world now, just as I am yours.”
Icela gazed into the warrior’s dark eyes. Her lips parted in wonder. Was it possible? Could she keep him? There might be a way if…
“Do you trust me?” She asked in a husky, anxious voice.
“With my life,” the warrior replied.
“I love you,” she whispered as she drew in a deep breath of icy air. “I love you, my warrior.”
Sealing her lips to his, she breathed the icy air of her world into his lungs as her hand lay over his heart. She felt his body stiffen in shock, but he did not pull away from her. She continued to breathe into him until the ice crystals that made up her planet flowed through his blood, changing the blood cells flowing through his veins.
Her hand sent icy shards into his heart. As she continued to kiss him, she felt his body begin to stiffen for a different reason… his skin frosted with glittering crystals. His dark eyes closed as his body slowly began to harden and change.
Icela swayed as she released his blue-tinted lips. Fear poured through her at what she had just done. Would her warrior live? If he did, would he forgive her for what she had done to him?
Raising her hands, she cupped his cold, stiff cheeks between her trembling palms. Her thumbs tenderly stroked his cheek as she waited. Indecision tore at her as seconds turned to minutes. Just when she was about to give up, his body shuddered and he drew in a deep breath before his eyes opened to look down at her.
Icy, blue eyes stared back at her with confusion and wonder. He raised his hand to touch her face. As he traced her smooth skin, frost coated her cheek as his fingers slid down it. Surprise darkened his features as he turned his fingers to stare at the tips that sparkled with ice crystals.
“What?” The warrior breathed in awe.
“Together, forever,” Icela said, reaching for his hands and gripping them tightly between hers.
His hands tightened around hers. “Forever,” he murmured, sealing his lips to hers.
*.*.*
Frost glanced over his shoulder as the large golden mammal barked. He frowned when she barked again, then sat looking at him with an expectant look on her hairy face. He swore it looked like she was grinning at him. With a shrug, he turned his gaze back to Lacey.
His breath caught in his throat as a hint of pale skin was revealed when the white shirt she wore parted as she walked to reveal the honeyed-colored flesh at her waist. She was finally walking toward the barn. He glanced down at the small pup at his feet. The pup stared up at him before it emitted a violent sneeze as the dust dancing in the late afternoon light brushed across its nose.
Frost put his finger to his lips as he stepped to the side. Joseph said if he kissed Lacey she would not be able to use her power against him. He needed to take her by surprise. Something told him that if he didn’t, he might end up in a worse predicament than before.
He grinned when he heard her talking to herself. This time, he understood the words she was speaking. He waited until she stepped through the door before he wrapped his hand around her wrist and turned her. He couldn’t resist answering her quietly muttered question.
“Yes, I was,” he whispered just before he captured the gasp on her lips with his own.
A soft moan escaped him as he deepened the kiss. He threaded his fingers through hers, securing them as she started to resist. He pressed his body closer so that she could not twist as he continued to kiss her.
He touched the tip of his tongue to hers as she parted for him. A shudder shook her slender frame as she began kissing him back. A wave of satisfaction swept through him and he released her hands so he could wrap them around her waist and lift her up. His hips jerked forward as her legs rose to wrap around his waist as he stepped closer and lifted her.
The position settled her heated core over his hard cock. He rolled his hips, pulling a moan from both of them. He broke the kiss long enough to run his lips down along her jaw as she threaded her fingers through his long hair.
Frost stilled and pulled back with a frown. Lacey’s warm brown eyes were closed, her face flushed, and her lips parted as she pulled in small gasps of air. Something was wrong. Something was very seriously wrong. He knew it the moment she opened her eyes and stared at him in shock.
“I don’t have long hair,” Frost bit out.
“You don’t have long hair,” Lacey said at the same time. She frowned and tilted her head to the side as she lifted a long strand. “You have… flowers?”
Frost’s left arm tightened on Lacey as he reached up with his right hand to touch his hair. A curse exploded from his lips and he quickly released Lacey. Stepping back, he frantically felt his head. He gripped one of the long stems hanging from it and pulled. He winced in pain as it came free.
Staring in disbelief at the green vine and bright pink flower, he crushed his fingers arou
nd it as fury built inside him. Those two boys lied! Kissing her did not keep her from using her powers on him. Kissing her… his eyes swept up to meet her amused ones. Kissing her turned him on like he had never been turned on before.
“What have you done to me this time?” He demanded in exasperation as he held out the crushed blossom in his hand. “Change my hair back.”
Lacey touched her swollen lips. A part of her wanted to be furious with the alien male for kissing her, but it was impossible to be angry with a man who had dozens of beautiful pink flowers hanging from his head and more about to bloom.
“I… I…” Lacey bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I swear I didn’t do this. It must… it must… Oh God! You’re blooming!”
Delicate laughter filled the dark interior of the barn drawing the attention of the puppies. Lacey leaned back against the door, holding her stomach as more pink blooms unfolded. The one at his left ear was too much for her after the way the day had been going.
She slid down the door to sit on the red-clay floor. The puppies, seeing her at their level, piled on her lap and outstretched legs. She squealed as she tried to keep them from licking her mouth as she laughed.
The anger Frost had felt melted in the warmth of her delight. His lips twisted in reluctant humor as he felt another blossom open. Shaking his head, delicate pink petals fell all around Lacey and the puppies. Each one dissolved as they hit the ground.
“If you didn’t, who did?” He asked as he threaded his fingers through his vine covered head. “And will it change back?”
Lacey wrapped her arms around the pile of puppies on her lap and gazed up at him. Her fingers stroked the soft fur as she studied his blooming head. Her lips lifted and her nose wiggled as yet more petals fell. It looked like the spell was already fading.
“You should be alright in a few minutes,” she observed. “Whoever spelled you isn’t very strong yet.”
“It must have been those two boys,” he growled, shaking his head again.
“Two boys?” Lacey asked with a frown. “You mean the twins?”
He nodded. “Yes, the two that look identical except for their hats and the lizard,” he grunted as he pushed a vine back that was beginning to shrivel. “They should be banned from riding their transport. They are dangerous.”
Lacey grinned. “They’re dangerous without it. Those two are incredibly strong for being so young and neither one of them has the fear gene in them,” she commented, pushing the puppies off her lap and standing. “So, how did you meet them?”
“They came up behind me when I was escaping from your local law,” he retorted with a sharp look of reprimand. “He was not very helpful, but they were. They said someone named Sean sent them to help me.”
Lacey’s lips pursed at the sound of Sean’s name. “Sean’s dead,” she said, turning and opening the door to the barn.
“I know,” Frost called out after her retreating back. “They said that as well.”
“Well, did they also tell you that he was my husband,” Lacey retorted over her shoulder as she walked stiffly back toward the house.
“Husband,” Frost repeated, stopping to stare at her rigid back as she swept up the steps and through the doorway of her dwelling.
Chapter 10
Lacey slammed the door behind her. Running her hands through her hair, she tilted her head back and screamed in frustration. She blinked rapidly as she drew in several deep calming breaths.
She would not give into the tears. She would not. She would not. She would not.
“Oh hell,” she croaked as they began to fall.
Walking toward the hallway leading to her bedroom, she stopped long enough to glower at the miniature alien gazing back at her with a hostile glare. Furious that he was the one that had started her day off so badly, she tapped the top as she stomped by.
“See if you want to mess with me, you jerk,” she muttered as she continued to her room.
Right now, she needed a good cry. She was so done with today. If she had known that her and Topper’s premonition would have turned out like this, she would have cast a sleeping spell and slept through the whole damn day. Now, she had two aliens, a nosy Aunt, her worried sisters, and the matchmaking spirit of her dead husband to deal with, she thought as she fell face first into her pillow.
*.*.*
Frost stood on the red-clay packed driveway staring at the front door to the dwelling. The mysterious Sean was her husband. Reaching up, he ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He paused when he realized that his hair was short again and back to normal.
“Well, at least one bloody thing has turned out right,” he muttered under his breath.
His eyes glittered with determination as he stared at the closed door. He had to find out what in the hell was going on! This had to be the most screwed up planet, with the most screwed up inhabitants, he had ever encountered.
Breaking through the shock that had gripped him when Lacey threw that last little bomb at him, he strode across the yard and up the stairs leading to the front door. He pulled the screen door open and gripped the doorknob to the front door. He half expected it to be locked so when it opened easily under the pressure of his hand, he stumbled as he entered.
Straightening, he turned and closed the door quietly behind him. The inside living space was now intact. His eyes swept the area, pausing on the small plastic container sitting on the end table next to the couch. Disbelief washed through him and he blinked his eyes several times as he stepped closer to look inside the sealed container.
He squatted down so that he was at eye level with it. Unable to believe what he was seeing, he rubbed a hand across his eyes and blinked again. A soft chuckle escaped him as he took in the furious image before him.
Taar, no bigger than the size of his index finger, snarled back at him from inside his plastic prison. It wasn’t just the fact that the huge Learian had been reduced to the size of a child’s toy, it was the fact that he was dressed in a pink flowery dress.
“Laugh now, Ranger. When I get out of here, I’m going to kill you and that witch!” Taar threatened.
Frost tapped on the side, knocking Taar back on his ass. This was better than killing the bastard. For once, the Learian was at everyone else’s mercy. His head jerked up when the soft sound of crying reached him.
“I will deal with you later,” Frost said dismissively as he stood. “Enjoy your prison, Taar. If you are lucky, I might just let you live and take you back in it.”
Frost stepped away from the end table and continued down the long hallway, following the sound of the sobs. Each one pulled on him as he stepped closer. He paused outside the door before gently pushing it open.
Lacey lay across the bed. Her shoulders shook as she cried into the pillow that she had her arms wrapped around. Regret that he was part of the cause of her pain swept through him.
He walked quietly over to the bed and sat down next to her. His fingers paused as he reached for her. Ignoring the sudden feeling of uncertainty and fear that she might reject him, he caressed her long hair and back.
“I am sorry for your loss,” he forced out.
He drew in a steadying breath when she slowly rolled over onto her side to look up at him with red-rimmed eyes. She brushed her right hand over her cheek as another tear escaped and sniffed loudly. A trembling sigh escaped her before she started to speak.
“He was killed three years ago in a bus accident. He was coming home from seeing his parents. His car… his car needed some work and was in the shop,” she said in a thick voice. “The bus had a blowout and the driver lost control. It was late at night so most of the passengers were sleeping. It… Sean might have survived if he had been on the other side of the bus. It happened… it was over before we even realized what was going on.”
“How can he still be here if he is dead?” Frost asked, sliding his hand up and down Lacey’s arm in comfort.
Lacey released anot
her shaky breath and rolled onto her back. She picked up his hand and studied it for several long seconds before she answered him. Spreading her fingers, she placed her palm against his. The difference between the two was significant, but what was even more amazing was how perfectly they fit together.
“You might have noticed that some of us are a little different,” she whispered. “We aren’t like other humans here on Earth. Over the last few centuries, more of those in the world that have unusual powers or are a little different have come to Magic to live. It is a place where we can be safe. We can live normal lives being who we are. Magic is a place where we can raise our families without fear of being persecuted for having the ability to do things others only dream about. Here, spirits who aren’t ready to leave can stay.” She paused as she studied their joined fingers. It felt so good to touch someone again. To feel the warmth of skin pressed against her own. “At first, I thought Sean’s spirit was here because I refused to let him go. I have loved him since the second grade. How could I go on without him? But lately… lately, I’m beginning to think it’s Sean that is the one who has decided to stay.” Her eyes moved to lock with his. She licked her lips as her gaze briefly touched his before moving back up to his eyes. “Topper says that Sean sent you to me.”
Frost closed his fingers around hers as he responded to her unspoken question. “The boys said the same thing outside of your law man’s office. They said Sean sent them to help me find you,” he replied in a husky tone.
“I don’t want to be alone,” she whispered, a slight pleading in her eyes. “Tonight, just for tonight, I don’t want to be alone.”
“Then, you won’t be,” Frost promised her.
What he did not add was that she would never be alone again if he could help it. He knew what she was thinking. She believed that he would leave her in the morning to return to his world.
