Night Elves 2: Dangerous Obsession

by Nelissa Donovan

  “I do not need to know, Earie. Your spirit knows. Your blood knows. I merely intend to provide you a ribbon to follow to your heart’s destination.”

  Darous’s amber eyes glowed and a tingling erupted through Eristta’s hands and feet. The sound of wind singing through a forest canopy filled her ears and Eristta watched as pinpricks of gold erupted throughout the oak’s many branches and twigs. Otherworldly warmth filled Eristta from head to foot and she breathed deep, recognizing superior elemental magick.

  The beings were not pixies. Or firewhits. Nor sprites. They were at once primitive…yet advanced. Like Eylnnie’an. And the Phoenix. A chiming of rippling leaves turned to the rush of frenzied wind and Eristta could only allow herself to be consumed by the gentle explosion of light and sound.

  “Trust them, Earie. They will take you to your heart’s desire.”

  “Darous! Come with me!” Eristta couldn’t fathom the idea of going alone. Of the possibility of losing her friend once again.

  Darous’s energy fluttered along the edge of Eristta’s danu awen. “I cannot go where you go, Eristta. This is something you must do alone.”

  “But I—” Before she could finish, golden light absorbed all thought, all intent, other than finding Red Claw.

  They flew on ribbons of color and light. Eristta could not make out a defined shape to the beings, but she felt their kindness, their wisdom. Within moments she slipped free of the colorful stream to land on the lush turf that had mere hours before, cradled her and Red Claw’s entwined bodies.

  A soul-deep pain filled her chest and Eristta narrowed her focus to her one objective: finding Red Claw. The doorway that had once allowed a mountainous dragon into the Summer Kingdome was now only a slash of green and quickly closing.

  Hurry, Elf, came the breezy, chiming voices of the rainbow beings.

  Sending her thanks, Eristta leapt sideways through the narrow fissure, unconcerned with how she would protect herself once inside. Of how she would track her love within the unpredictable currents of wild magick.

  The sides of the sacred portal scraped her shoulders as she passed through, but Eristta ignored the pain. Her feet thudded hard on the shadowed pathway. Instantly Eristta understood why traveling the portals was now forbidden. Wild magick bisected what used to be an expansive tunnel, bouncing from wall to wall, searching for an exit, or another energy source with which to collide.

  With quick words, she wove tight shields, and kept her attention sharp. Which is when she remembered…

  The pendants!

  Her hand went to her neck. Gone. Disintegrated when she passed them on to their rightful owner. Without the pendant’s magick, she was a ready target.

  “Faerie tits,” Eristta murmured. Sidestepping, Eristta moved forward, using her intuition and finely tuned perception to avoid the gyrating currents and move in the direction from which she felt the pull.

  Red Claw.

  She couldn’t risk reaching for him with her danu awen. Couldn’t risk leaving herself open. Even so, she felt him. His deep pain. His fury and fear.

  And he was not alone.

  She had sensed it when he’d saved her from Garethan’s spell.

  I’m coming, Red Claw.

  Chapter Eighteen

  It is her!

  The pure one comes!

  Turn around!

  “No!” It came out as a snarl. One barely recognizable as human. He’d tried to forget her. To wipe her from his mind and heart.

  He knew now it wasn’t possible. That it never was.

  He’d felt her the moment she crossed over. Her danu awen shined like a beacon amongst the fractured shadows.

  Eristta.

  As each second passed, there was less of Red Claw, and more of the combined nether energies. None good. None simply existing in an infantile stage of metamorphosis. No. These were narrowly focused, chaotic elements with one desire—to feed. To consume as much danu awen as possible.

  “I will not allow it.” The words bellowed from Red Claw’s aching throat, echoing through the living tunnel.

  She is closer!

  Bright! Her energy, so bright!

  She is ours…

  Red Claw’s head snapped to the side as he ran, sweat beading on his bare skin, his eyes, wild, as they scanned the portals that loomed ahead.

  Stop!

  Cease!

  She comes, she comes!

  “Red Claw.”

  A force unmatched held his feet and his body spun.

  Eristta.

  She stood before him, her sleek body bare and shining in the dim light. Her raven hair rippled softly in the unpredictable currents and her eyes burned bright silver. “Shaman. I have come for you.” She drew her kriss and held it out at her side, her expression a shrewd mask of determination.

  His legs shook with the effort to remain where he was. His heart rumbled with the effort to keep the energies in check. To not reach. To not grasp for her like a drowning man does flotsam. “Go,” he ground out, his lips shifting into a wicked sneer.

  She shook her head, her hair catching the spinning rays of colored light and reflecting them back in mirrored flashes. “We run no more, Red Claw.”

  With great effort, Red Claw forced his head around. Peridot eked from a narrow fissure to his right, and not knowing what else to do, he ripped his body free from the forces that held it and threw himself through the portal.

  He landed on the cool, damp sandy beach of a crystalline pool. As his gaze rose, Red Claw’s heart froze.

  No. No. No.

  His body jerked upright, and turned.

  In time to see his beloved step through the portal and into his nightmare.

  * * * * *

  His eyes—hungry. His body—beautiful, rippled with cold power.

  Eristta understood now, the honest depth of the young warrior’s vision.

  Her gaze slipped to the cerulean waterfall as it fell in silver sheets to break in misty swirls across the pool. She remembered the maiden’s mews of pleasure. The ferocious passion that consumed the pair. Her gaze cut back to Red Claw who stood before her, his body primed and pulsating.

  Without looking back, Eristta walked into the temperate pool, then dived, swimming across to the rock shelf on which the waterfall broke. She climbed up and stood beneath the cascading sheet of silver, then turned to face Red Claw, her eyes registering nothing but love and fearless passion.

  Inside Eristta was shaking.

  How can this be the right thing?

  Mato brushed her mind reassuringly. It is the only way. I cannot enter him with the energies present. He must conquer this on his own. His love for you is the strongest magick, Eristta. Believe…

  Eristta drew in a deep breath and pushed wet hair away from her face. Believe. There had been so many things she’d believed in that had dissolved in the face of an ever-changing world. So many things she had dreamt of, fearing they would never be. And the greatest—finding a soul mate—had become her truth, only to teeter on the brink of a depthless chasm.

  No. No more.

  She looked across the pool as she ran a hand over her belly then up to cup her breast. “Come, Red Claw. Come and find your pleasure.”

  There was no hesitation. The warrior strode into the pool and swam across with commanding strokes until he stood before her, his sienna skin glistening in the diamond spray. Eristta studied his face, forcing her body to stay put. Multiple emotions rippled across his countenance—creating a disturbing affect of alternating masks.

  It was in his eyes that Eristta detected a shard of her terran warrior. Of his pure, unadulterated horror at what was taking place.

  Believe.

  With a shaking hand, Eristta cupped his strong jaw and forced herself into his impassive arms. His flesh worked to pull itself away, while forces battled to draw her closer.

  It was like nothing Eristta had ever experienced. The foreign quality of it left her mind spinning, her body screaming for escape.

&nbs
p; But she stayed. Leaned in, even, wrapping her arms around his neck and bringing her face up next to Red Claw’s chin. Eristta placed her lips against the smooth skin of his jaw, remembering his warmth, the commanding actions of his tongue on her breasts and quim. The memory alone made her shiver with anticipation, and her heart contracted with adoration.

  “Remember, Red Claw,” Eristta whispered. “Our lovemaking.” Her tongue darted out and traced tight circles below his lips. “My tongue on your cock. My cool lips kissing your shaft. The hardened tips of my breasts pressing against your chest.”

  Red Claw shuddered, and his hands wound in Eristta’s wet hair, pulling her head back. His face reflected the battle for supremacy taking place within him. His body—wooden—held her like a statue would a great battle sword.

  Fear fluttered in Eristta’s abdomen at the abject look of hunger in the shaman’s dark eyes. Goddess…please let him remember.

  Eristta licked her lips, drawing in the beaded moisture gathered there. “Remember, Red Claw, the feel of my hands on your body. The touch of my hand cupping your testes.”

  An inhuman growl burst from Red Claw’s throat and his face twisted. “Reach for us, then, creature,” came a hissing voice. “Touch us with your spirit.”

  Red Claw’s eyes rolled back in his head, and Eristta shook, her head aching where his mighty hand held her tight. “Remember, shaman, my love for you.” Red Claw’s other hand migrated to her exposed neck, coming to rest against her throat. His fingers slipped around its slender contours, and squeezed.

  Do not kill her!

  Yes! Kill her!

  No! We need her!

  The voices rang in Eristta’s mind and she realized with shock that through their physical connection, she was linking with her soul mate.

  I have her! I feel her!

  Quickly! Take her!

  So hungry!

  Ice-cold shards sliced through Eristta’s veins and she grabbed at Red Claw’s hand around her throat. “Remember,” she choked out. “My heart, Red Claw. It is yours. As it has always been.”

  Thunder shattered the stillness, and lightning flashed from the heavens. The nether energies slipped into Eristta like a fast-moving virus, infecting her as they traveled toward her heart. Jagged ice ripped at her from the inside out.

  Mato! Eristta’s haunted plea went unanswered, her breath eking out in strangled wisps. Her gaze lit on her love looming above her. His face, a mask of depraved need, descended.

  He’d been right. His vision true. And she would not listen. Did not believe it possible. Pushed him until the very end. Demanding his affection, his body, his mind, his spirit.

  It was worth it.

  The realization broke through Eristta like clouds parting after a rain. All of it. The few stolen moments they’d had—magickal. In that short time, the void within her had been filled. She’d been whole.

  With her left hand, Eristta gripped the kriss she’d held behind her back and brought it around. Stars exploded behind her eyes as the nether energies continued their chaotic journey.

  She stared at her love. She couldn’t speak. There was no more air with which to form words. Eristta reached for her lover’s mind. Do not worry, love. You do not need to remember. I will remember for the both of us. I will go into the world of spirit carrying our memories, our love, like a beacon. I will never forget that you have completed me. I will never be whole until your spirit walks beside me. Eristta closed her eyes, sound and light fading softly. I will wait for you, Red Claw. I will wait forever.

  Turning her focus inward, Eristta zeroed in on the nether energies. They tumbled feverishly toward her heart. Almost there… She waited until they burst through, their excited shrieks echoing through her danu awen like a current of fetid air.

  We arrive!

  Consume!

  We feed!

  Eristta smiled, and with her last ounce of strength, she brought the kriss up, filled her hand and arm with death magick, and plunged it toward her chest.

  The tip halted a hairsbreadth away.

  A hand, hot, held her wrist with granite strength.

  Through a narrow tunnel of vision, Eristta stared into the face of her beloved. His eyes—clear. His expression calm.

  “We are the masters of our fate, for good or ill.” His words, her words, rang with finality, and Eristta shuddered as the nether energies began to feed.

  With an inhuman roar, Red Claw began to change. But not into the mutant creature of his vision. While his physical body remained solid, the great bear emerged as a spiritual force. Looming between them, it radiated rust-red rays of blinding light, and using Red Claw’s hands as a pathway, plunged head first into Eristta’s chest.

  Eristta welcomed him. Exalting in the sustaining quality of his pure power. Join us, wastelakapi.

  There was no question. With the weakened vestiges of her danu awen, Eristta gripped the torrent of power, allowing it to pull her along. Binding her with the two forces that held her spirit, body and mind.

  The trinity struck at Eristta’s core.

  Shrieks split the daerie currents and power rippled outward.

  No!

  Unfair!

  Escape!

  Heavy with Eristta’s danu awen, the nether energies were slow and clumsy. The spirit bear opened its massive jaws.

  One snap. Two. A third.

  The trinity held on with razor-sharp teeth, and swallowed them, one by one. As the nether energies settled into the depths of Red Claw, Mato, and Eristta’s combined force, they were transformed. Light and power exploded from within, releasing Eristta’s danu awen and Red Claw’s shamanic authority.

  Thunder boomed as Eristta, Red Claw and Mato separated, each slamming back into their own constructs. Independent, yet connected by a dominant thread stronger than any natural bond.

  Eristta and Red Claw collapsed into the sparkling waters of the Pool of Shaping. Water covered their heads and both came to simultaneously. Their gazes met underwater, and bubbles emerged as Eristta cried out and grabbed at Red Claw.

  Strong hands palmed her hips and pulled her in tight until her legs wrapped around his waist. Red Claw kicked upward. Both shouted as they broke the rain-pounded surface.

  Red Claw stood, his feet coming to rest against the sandy bottom; one arm holding Eristta, his chest heaving in an attempt to gather his breath and reconcile what had just taken place.

  He drank in his soul mate’s ethereal features, her worldly gaze, her unblemished chest and undamaged beating heart. “Wastelakapi…”

  There was nothing else to say. He cupped the back of her neck and captured her lips in a soul-deep kiss. She met his mouth with her own demands, her tongue teasing him, begging for more.

  They separated slowly, their breath commingling, their bodies vibrating with need. “Love me, Red Claw.”

  “Every fiber of my being worships you, ohitika waniyetula ishta.” Red Claw slipped his fingers beneath her ass and across her quivering folds. He rubbed slow circles around her nub, causing Eristta to shift upward against him, pushing her perfect globes even with his hungry lips. His mouth closed around the ruby tip and he drew her in as he dipped his finger deep inside her quim.

  Eristta keened and threw her head back, her wet hair spreading out in the silver currents of the pool as lightning crashed overhead. The scent of ozone, promise and new life permeated the atmosphere, activating the powers of the sacred pool.

  The currents flowed with color; first violet, then claret before shifting into swirls of misty green and gold. Eristta leaned back, freeing her nipple from Red Claw’s hungry mouth, then slid down his slick chest until the bulge of his hardened cock rested against her belly. She shuddered, her thoughts brimming with the scent, touch and feel of her beloved. Of the promise of what was to come.

  “Red Claw,” Eristta started, fighting for reason, for clarity amidst the strength of their emotions. “If we consummate within the pool of shaping, you realize—”

  “Shhhh.” Red
Claw pulled her up and brushed his lips against hers, nipping the corners of her mouth. “Our destiny is our own, wastelakapi, remember?”

  Eristta smiled, joy filling her being with light. With conviction. With trust. “We are as one, shaman. Now and unto forever.”

  With gentle fingers Red Claw parted Eristta’s slick folds and brought her slowly down until he filled her from tip to the base of his shaft. Her quim welcomed him, tightening around his cock like a handcrafted sheath on a custom sword.

  “Yes,” his beloved sighed, hands wound around his neck, full lips parted in ecstasy. “So deep. So perfect.”

  “You are mine, Eristta,” Red Claw growled, his dark eyes glinting with copper and bronze.

  Eristta met his gaze, recognizing the underlying feral qualities. But not fearing them. Knowing that they were as much a part of her now, as they were Red Claw and Mato. Power seethed through their connected bodies, heightening the sensations of their union.

  Her tattoos pulsed with life as she ran a finger along the sensuous edge of her lover’s full lips. “Yes, shaman. I am yours to do with what you will. My body, my heart, my soul.” As her words rang through the rain-slicked clearing, Red Claw roared and cradling her hips, brought Eristta down upon his oak-hard staff. Time and again he drove into her. Water surged away from them in a torrent, driving waves against the sandy bank. Colors gyrated wildly within the currents, pulsating with each stroke and cry from their lips.

  Water lapped at her nipples, and Eristta gasped as the currents took on a life of their own, caressing their joined bodies. Rivulets of fluid rippled across her slit and around the base of Red Claw’s cock, causing them both to buck with pleasure. Like warm hands, the living water pushed their bodies closer together, deeper, harder. Flicking her clit where Red Claw’s cock slipped in and out. Cupping his testes and squeezing gently.

  Eristta cried out as the sensations of his shaft slipping in and out of her quim consumed her. The currents continued to titillate and tease, driving them to near madness as Red Claw cupped her ass and thrust upward.