With a heave of his head, he picked the wolf up and sent it flying. It yelped in agony as it landed, tumbling through the leaves to slam into a tree trunk. He felt its magic rise, fighting his spell.
“I am no easy prey, you foul bastard!” Zephyr bugled in fury and charged, head lowered, another death spell sizzling on the points of his antlers. The wolf whirled and fled around the tree with a single startled yip. Vast satisfaction surged through Zephyr, and he pursued his foe, head still lowered. The wolf ran from him, weaving through the trees, forcing the stag to slow his furious pursuit as he followed. The creature disappeared through a pair of enormous bushes standing side by side. Zephyr had to stop to force his greater bulk through them.
A blast of magic exploded just beyond the thick brush. It was too late to stop.
The creature had transformed into an enormous werewolf. He held a double-bladed battle-axe in one hand, sparks spilling from the great gem implanted in the spiked tip. Zephyr planted his cloven hooves and tried to twist away, but the axe was already swinging.
The blade bit into the stag’s muscled neck, and the spell blasted after it. Zephyr felt it rip into him, dragging his power and essence from the stag and sending it funneling into the werewolf’s greedy brain. He fought the pull with all his strength, tried to shield, but the stag was dying, its blood running red as its legs buckled under it. Without the animal to anchor his magic, Zephyr couldn’t hold on.
The werewolf dragged him under like a riptide, slashed at him with the power the stag’s death had given him. Used it to rip him into pieces and keep what he wanted.
And then he hurled the core of Zephyr’s spirit into the dark.
Much better, Warlock thought, as the elemental ceased to fight his will. The notes he’d taken based on the cat’s memories had suggested the stag was vulnerable. And just as Smoke had suspected, without a human host’s intelligence, Zephyr didn’t have the resources to fight him off. The psychic core been comparably easy to discard, leaving Warlock with power and memories he could control much easier than he had Smoke’s.
Unfortunately, the cat was still a threat. There was no way to know what the elemental had learned while imprisoned in Warlock’s mind. He had to die.
And this time, Warlock was going to take care of the job himself.
Rising from the stag’s body, the Dire Wolf flicked the blood from his axe and opened a gate back to Mortal Earth.
Eva thoroughly enjoyed watching her parents’ gape as, suitcases in hand, they stepped through David’s dimensional gate onto the cobblestoned streets of Avalon.
“Jeez, it’s like somebody made Disney World into a bedroom community.” Bill Roman turned in a slow, delighted circle.
Eva laughed. “You know, I said the same thing. This place is really amazing, isn’t it?”
Charlotte elbowed Bill and gestured with her overnight bag. “Look at that castle, Bill. It’s gorgeous.” She turned to Eva. “They built all this with magic?”
Eva nodded, having repeated the spiel that Belle had given her the day before. “Belle said it takes a lot of power to conjure such enormous buildings. I gather it’s a sort of rite of passage. Build one of those, and you’re considered a real witch.”
“That’s amazing. Which one of them is yours?” Bill turned to David, whose stock had gone up considerably with her father.
He frowned, his gaze sliding to Eva. “I haven’t built a house here. When I’m in Avalon, I usually stay with the Pendragons, generally in house cat form.”
Charlotte’s dark eyes widened with sudden realization. “You’re Eva’s cat, T’Challa! Your hair is the same color, right down to the stripes.”
David laughed, a low, pleasant rumble that made Eva smile. “Yes, I had changed form during a dream, but because of my memory loss, I didn’t know how to turn back.”
Charlotte frowned. “Why’d you run out the door? Eva was really upset about that.”
His expression turned grim. “That was a miscalculation. I felt I was putting her in danger from the other werewolves, especially given that I couldn’t defend her in cat form. I thought if I left, the werewolves would come after me and leave her alone. What I didn’t realize was that they were watching the house.”
“And they damned near ate both of us,” Eva said, grimacing. “Luckily, he turned into a furry Hulk and saved my fanny.”
Her father blinked and stared at David, his graying brows on the rise. “How the hell did you do that?”
David shrugged. “Magic.”
Bill snorted. “Yeah, I figured that part out.”
“Actually, I have never assumed that form before, but Eva was in danger, so ...” He spread his big hands.
Bill gave him a long, considering look, then nodded in satisfaction. He opened his mouth to say something else, but a huge shadow glided across the ground. Automatically, they all looked up.
“Shit!” Bill half ducked, and dragged Charlotte behind him. “It’s a freaking dragon!”
“It’s only Kel,” David told him, watching the great beast spiral lazily overhead. “He’s one of the Knights of the Round Table.”
Charlotte frowned. “There was no Arthurian knight named Kel.”
“He’s a recent addition. Besides, the Arthurian legends are largely wrong.”
“Just like the stuff about vampires and werewolves.” Eva watched the dragon spread his wings and come in for a landing in a tower over the trees.
“If the dragon’s a knight, he must be able to turn into a human,” Bill said thoughtfully.
David nodded approval of his deduction. “Exactly. But unlike the rest of us, being human isn’t his natural state. He really is a dragon. He uses magic to assume human form.”
Bill exchanged a look with his wife. “Like I said, Disney World.”
While they’d been sightseeing, David had led them to the Pendragon house. Now they climbed the brick stairs as Charlotte and Bill gazed around with interest.
Arthur answered the door before they even had time to knock, a smile of welcome on his bearded face. “Gwen said you were coming up the walk. Come on in.” Today he was dressed in blue jeans, running shoes, and a T-shirt with a sketch of the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The lettering over the armless, legless knight read, “It’s only a flesh wound!”
Bill grinned at the shirt and affected an English accent. “ ‘Listen, strange women lyin’ in ponds distributin’ swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony.’ ”
Arthur threw his head back and roared with laughter. “I always loved that line. You memorized that?”
Bill chuckled. “Hell, I memorized the whole movie.”
“Oh, God,” Charlotte whispered to Eva as he waved them all inside. “Your father has found a kindred geek.”
Sure enough, the two started swapping lines from the “Dead Parrot Sketch” on the way down the hall.
Charlotte was, as usual, right. Two hours later they’d stashed their suitcases in the Pendragons’ guest rooms, had dinner, and settled in to get to know their hosts. The three women ate slices of tart lemon meringue pie in the dining room while the men bonded over Monty Python’s cockeyed version of the Grail legend. Deep laughter boomed through the house, along with chorused snatches of dialogue.
“What’s with all the pop culture?” Eva asked. “I noticed you folks seem to have DVDs of damn near every television show, movie, and music video ever made.”
Gwen snorted. “And you haven’t seen the Magekind’s main library yet. It takes up four buildings in the middle of town, full to the rafters. It’s like a magical Library of Congress.”
“You’re trying to stay caught up,” Charlotte said suddenly. Correctly interpreting Eva’s lifted brows, she shrugged. “I don’t get some of the references on TV either, and I’m just fifty-five. If I lose track ...”
Gwen nodded. “You can’t understand a people until you und
erstand their culture. You have to know why they believe the things they do if you’re going to change behavior.” She grimaced. “Which is why we’ve been watching a whole hell of a lot of Middle Eastern television these days. Not to mention hanging out in mosques in very heavy disguises.”
“Gee,” Eva said wryly, “why didn’t the CIA think of that?”
Charlotte frowned. “Why not just cast a spell on the bad guys? Tell them not to blow people up anymore?”
“Wouldn’t work. Well, it might have when the problem was only a couple of nutcases, but we didn’t know about them at the time. Once you get a big movement going, it’s like an aircraft carrier. Changing its direction is a bitch.”
Before a political discussion could get going, David sauntered in. “I thought you should know Arthur’s trying to talk Bill into following him around with a pair of coconuts.”
Gwen rolled her eyes and explained to Charlotte, “To make clopping noises for his imaginary horse.”
Charlotte’s eyes widened in horror. “I know. And Bill’d do it.”
“Oh, Lord.” Both women bolted out of the dining room to save their husbands from themselves.
The minute they were out of sight, David grabbed Eva’s hand and pulled her from her seat. “Quick, while they’re distracted, let’s go neck.”
Eva laughed as he hauled her toward the stairs. “Neck?”
“Snog? Do the horizontal mambo? Fuck like forest creatures?”
She dropped her voice to a horrified whisper. “I am not having sex with you in King Arthur’s house with my mother right downstairs!”
“Then we’ll gate somewhere else. I haven’t made love to you since yesterday. My favorite bits are turning blue.”
Eva snickered. She lost the smile as it occurred to her that her David—the David before he regained his memory—would never have told that particular joke. What other differences were there? And was this still the man she’d fallen in love with?
He shot her a sharp look, and she realized he’d picked up on her flash of doubt. His eyes narrowed before he regained his easy grin and kept right on pulling her up the stairs. His big hands moved in an elegant gesture, and a gate appeared at the top of the stairs. Eva, who was getting used to dimensional travel, followed him through it with hesitation.
Into sunlight.
The contrast between indoors and the brilliant streaming light blinded her for a moment, and Eva stumbled, blinking, to a stop. As she waited for her eyes to adjust, she became aware of the roar of ocean waves and the feeling of fine sand underfoot. Magic bloomed in a warm and tingling tide across her skin, and she realized she was naked.
Her vision returned at last, revealing a sweep of deserted beach with sand as fine and white as powdered sugar. A high granite cliff stood off to the left, spilling huge black boulders here and there across the beach and into the water. The sea flung foaming waves against the cliff and rolled up onto the beach, booming and hissing to itself.
“This is beautiful.” Eva released his hand and ran down to the water’s edge. A wave ran up over her feet, foaming and warm as bathwater. “Where the heck are we?” She cast a puzzled glance at the sun, which hovered somewhere well above the horizon. “When are we? I thought it was the middle of the night.”
“It is, back home in Avalon. We’re halfway around the planet. Little island out in the middle of nowhere Arthur and Gwen like to use as a vacation spot.” David joined her, slipping a muscular arm around her bare waist.
He was just as naked as she was, and she turned to enjoy the view. Golden sunlight spilled over his brawny shoulders and sculpted chest with its thatch of silky blue-black hair. His cock rose as she gazed at him, thick and rosy over fat, round balls veiled in thick curls.
He gazed at her with the same hunger she felt, his eyes flicking from her eyes to her nipples, down to her sex, then back up to her mouth. His eyes, so pale and bright in the sun, darkened with his need.
With a sigh of delight, she stepped into his kiss.
David’s mouth tasted of lemons and meringue with a tingling fizz of magic. She savored the lush warmth of his mouth as he lingered, his tongue sweeping inside, tracing her lower lip, teeth closing over it to gently tug.
He held her hands as he made slow love in slow kisses, fingers threaded through hers, warm and just slightly rough with sword calluses. They stood close enough that his cock rested against her belly, a length of urgent warmth. The erotic promise in the sensation teased a hungry growl from Fluffy. Eva ignored the bright burst of lust, too busy savoring the subtle pleasures David offered her like a gift.
At last he drew his hands from hers and began to touch her, a drift of fingertips along the line of her jaw, the sensitive lobe of her ear, the delicate cord of her throat, the hollow of her collarbone.
And then he went lower.
David traced a gentle swooping path along the rise of Eva’s breast, all the way down to the tip that jutted, so deliciously eager for his attention. His fingers circled the sensitive areola, teasing out delicious sensations. His eyes never left her face, watching her with catlike intensity as he drew out her heat.
His other hand slipped downward, tracing the muscles that quivered under the skin of her torso, lower and still lower until he found the soft nest of hair at the top of her thighs. Eva gasped as his fingers slid over the hot, juicy button of her clit, paused, then slid back again, seductive and slow.
The cock brushing her belly was now hard and hot as hammered steel, ripe with wicked promise. Eva captured it in her fingers and began to stroke, taking her time as she thought of how he’d feel buried inside her.
His eyes widened, blue as a gas flame, and a muscle jerked in his jaw as he fought to control his reaction to her.
Eva remembered how he’d used his mouth on her with such maddening skill. She wanted to do the same, wanted to make him crazy with need.
And then she wanted to make him scream her name as he came.
Dropping to her knees, she crouched at his feet and eyed the cock she held captive in her hand. She leaned forward and took him into her mouth, forcing herself to go slowly. Suckled hard in long draws, as if she was trying to suck a thick milkshake through a paper straw. He gasped and shuddered against her. “Gods and demons, Eva!” His eyes drifted closed, and he swallowed as if his mouth had gone suddenly dry.
Eva smiled around his cock and took him deeper.
He was weak. David shivered, feeling the wet heat of her mouth, the careful scrape of her teeth, the way her hand reached up to cup his balls. He’d had plans for this night, careful plans, and they did not include letting Eva suck him off. If anything, he intended to suck her off.
But her mouth felt so incredibly good. Her tongue rolled back and forth over the underside of his shaft before she withdrew just a little so she could lick and nibble the sensitive head of his cock. And the sensation was so exquisite, so erotic, like the sight of her as she knelt there, her hand cuddling his balls as she licked him, her tongue dancing and lapping over the round, rosy head. She pushed his cock up until she could lick down the underside, following the big vein there.
Gods and devils, it was sweet.
But she doubted him. Doubted he was the same as the man she’d fallen in love with just because he’d remembered who he was, what he was capable of. Remembered the life that had so often been a bitter, lonely thing.
Remembered what it had been like to stand in the center of his village with everyone he’d ever loved lying dead around him. Remembered what it had been like to kill the lover who had so thoroughly destroyed him.
That was why he’d spent so much time as Cat. Cat lived only in the present. Cat forgot the pain. Only the man remembered and suffered.
Until he’d forgotten it all and found the woman who’d offered him everything he’d lost, all unknowing. The woman whose lush, eager body and kind eyes had taught him love again.
So, tempting as it was, he knew he couldn’t just stand there and let her pleasure him. He had
to make her see that he was still her David.
So he waited, and the moment she drew him out of her mouth for another teasing lick, he bent over and swept her into his arms. She yelped in surprise and laughing protest. David sent the magic rolling ahead of him as he strode across the fine white sand. Guided by his will, the swirl of power became a big brass bed, canopied in thin lace that blew and danced in the salty sea wind. He lowered her to the mattress covered in fresh linen sheets and red rose petals. The scent of the flowers rolled up around them, mixing with the smell of salt and sea.
He spread her legs wide with impatient greed and buried his face between them.
“David!” she yelped, looking down along her body as he spread her pretty labia and began to lap in long strokes. “Isn’t it my turn to do that to you?”
“No.” He lifted his head and looked up her torso only long enough to capture her pretty breasts in both big hands. “It’s definitely my turn.” He gave the pink tips of her nipples a gentle tug and licked again, savoring the salty cream. His index finger found her sex and glided inside for a slow, driving pump.
She fell back against the pillows and arched her spine. “Okay,” she gasped. “If you’re sure.”
Her skin felt so deliciously warm and smooth under his exploring fingers, fine as silk. She smelled like pure, distilled femininity, musk and salt, and her delicate body twisted beneath his with erotic greed.
She threaded her hands through his hair, grabbing double fistfuls of it. “Please, David! Let me have your cock while you ... Oh, God!” Eva shuddered, a hard, racking quiver that ran from her head to her feet. He could feel her vibrate against him.
It was a demand David couldn’t quite refuse. He moved away just long enough to roll onto the bed with his head at her feet, then picked her up and draped her on top of him, her long legs bent to either side of his head.
Hungrily, he spread her delicate lips with his fingers and gave her a long, smooth lap, beginning at her clit and circling her opening. Then he thrust his tongue deep, listened to her helpless moan, and smiled as he licked.
Master of Smoke Page 25
