“That’s not funny. I need alcohol if I’m going to sit here and wait for everyone to get here. I figure there won’t be much reading tonight anyways. We all want to hear the story. Turn it back, Annie.” His voice was hoarse, as though he didn’t spend much time talking. In the Shadowlands, he probably didn’t. Goblins chose to speak with their weapons instead of their mouths.
Ben was silent, as usual. He stood with passive eyes watching her interact with everyone else. His face was beautiful regardless of the scars, and his green eyes denounced his lineage. As a child of the dragon, he was part of an ancient family that held the magic that was responsible for heating the world and restoring balance, he often found patience where others did not. His brown hair was short and did nothing to obscure the scars they all knew were there. He stood with regality, and Mykah noted that he had grown since she last saw him. He was taller than Lachlan now, although he had the body of a swimmer. Broad shoulders tapering into a thin waist. He was wearing pajamas as well, a pair of faded fleece pants with a dark gray shirt stretched across his frame.
When he felt like she was paying attention to him, he smiled shyly and moved forward. He swept her into a hug and spun her around like a china doll. “Well hello there, princess. It’s been too long. I think I’ll just take you home with me when this is all over.” He set her down and let her spin for a second while she regained her composure.
“Oh, you flirty ass.” She gripped his arm for stability, and he just laughed. As she let go of his arm, someone came through the door behind her. Although their numbers were growing, the room did not feel as though it was getting any smaller. The blessings of having a magical library.
Turning, she stared at Christopher and Maddox as they came in. Laughing, they moved around her with their arms loaded with snacks. Peyton followed behind them carrying an ice chest with what Mykah assumed was a mixture of beer and other alcohol and bottled water. Staples they had all come to rely on throughout the years. She wouldn’t have had to ask anyone what they wanted, knowing from their history together.
They were missing Irina, Miki, and Gavin. Irina hadn’t been seen since the night Mykah’s father had died, and the shades that she controlled seemed to believe that she was still around because they acted accordingly. Miki was a nymph, representing the natural world. Too many people just assumed that she was a sprite when she was so much more than that. There had been some significant catastrophe in the mortal realm, and she had been forced to attend to it before joining the festivities. Gavin was another story. As the spoiled prince that he had been for so long, his father had banished him until he could return with a chalice that would free his people. Giant–born, Gavin had fought for and won the respect of his people before taking the throne when he had returned with the object of their freedom. He would have traveled by magical means but had to deal with an uprising in his lands.
As everyone else got settled, she decided that she would sit on a table in front of all of them. Cross–legged, her back was to the door, and she started her story. “I guess I should start at the beginning before you all dive into these books with no idea what we’re looking for.”
“I think I want to hear this story too, little angel.”
Of course, Tyler would have found a way to interrupt. That damn marshmallow was starting to annoy her.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Tyler almost laughed out loud at the look on her face. She was staring at him over her shoulder as though she had swallowed a wasp nest. “You might as well join us,” sarcasm dripped from her mouth. “I’m sure you’re just going to hear it from someone else. Keep your mouth shut while I’m talking, or you can’t stay.” Mykah looked at him as though he was something to be merely tolerated, which he knew that he deserved for how he had left her last night. He would remind her of what she felt when she was in his arms soon enough, but for now he would let her continue.
The other people in the room were kings and queens in their own rights. Ruling parties over the magical families, and yet they looked like a group of overgrown pups sitting in this room. It was quaint, something that Sarah and Winter might enjoy with their love of books. There were over a dozen overstuffed chairs scattered across the room, and most of them were occupied by one royal or another. Rather than sit, he leaned against one of the shelves and kicked his foot out. Slowly, he brought his gaze back to the fae princess. How he had ever thought she was human was beyond him. She wasn’t a classical fae beauty, but she was stunning in her own right.
“Well.” She looked at him like a teacher might glare at a problem student. He motioned for her to go on.
Mykah huffed and drummed her fingers on her legs before crossing her arms over her chest. She looked like a child, sitting in a room of the most influential people in the magical realms. Tyler wanted to pick her up and hold her, to take away whatever pain she was going through, but he didn’t move. He wouldn’t let her see how much she affected him, how it felt to hold her against his body. The way her natural scent blinded him to anything else. He watched her, as mixed emotions crossed her face. The pain, fear, and doubt that shone in her eyes as she carefully surveyed the members of the room.
Tyler knew every one of the people scattered in the oversized chairs around the room. The chairs weren’t in any particular order, but he recognized the fae king immediately. Christopher sat too close to the princess and had a mess of blonde hair that was cut with military precision. He was watching Mykah like they all were, but Christopher’s attention made Tyler uncomfortable. He had known the fae princess for her entire life, had her trust, and had something that Tyler couldn’t have with her. A future. It was enough to make his blood boil, but he pushed the feeling down and brought his attention back to where Mykah sat. She swallowed and started talking, her words rubbing against Tyler’s skin like silk.
“You all know that apparently, I need help going through the magical histories. I don’t know if you know why. It all happened so quickly that I didn’t have time to process or do any research at the time, but now I know that it started with Sarah’s battle with Alex. I know we don’t know what happened that night, but after she won everything changed. The elder tree was demanding more battle, and more blood to be shed to feed the power of the Malice Court, and my father was going to try and reason or re–negotiate the accords to pay less because it was getting too much for our people to suffer.” She paused for a second, taking a deep breath and then releasing it.
“After Jessica and I didn’t hear from him, we went to the ancient grove ourselves. It was almost midnight, and there was a red ring around the moon in the sky; a sign that evil was about. When we got there, he was battling two sprites. They had come from the elder tree itself like it was attacking our father through them. We ran to him, but by the time we got there, our father was on the ground bleeding from a bunch of different wounds. My heart shattered in that instant, and the sprites were laughing. They were standing there, laughing at us. Jessica was holding our father’s head in her lap, and I just couldn’t breathe.”
Tears were streaming down the princess’s cheeks, and Tyler knew that it was hurting her to tell this story. She started rubbing her left wrist with her right hand, and he heard Peyton gasp. The werewolf had noticed the vertical scar on Mykah’s wrist for the first time. It was puckered and faded, after years of healing. Tyler hadn’t missed it, but he hadn’t been one to question it either–not with the scars that he carried.
“You, you don’t know what it was like. To see them laughing at us while they had just murdered our father. I was so angry, so full of hate that I didn’t know what to do. I felt the magic boil over inside me. Before I knew what happened, I had blood pouring down my wrists and onto the ground. It flew at the sprites and as soon as it touched their skin, they started screaming in agony. They were writhing on the ground in pain, but I only got angrier.” She stopped talking to wipe the tears from her face.
“I hated the elder tree for letting them do it, and I hated the grove for demand
ing pain and battle in the first place. As the blood kept seeping out of my wrists, I saw the horror in Jessica’s eyes, and I knew that I had done something terrible. I just didn’t care. I wanted to bring destruction down on everything that had caused the pain I was feeling. I did it, too. By the time Jessica got through to me the entire grove was gone. It looked as though someone had poured acid over everything except where my father’s body was laying on the ground. The ground was black, and there was nothing left.” Mykah was quiet for so long that Tyler was afraid that she was finished with her story, but she shook herself and continued.
“After that, time seemed to have stopped. It was as though everything was fading into nothing. Once that happened I was there, at the beginning of all of our magic. The mother, well she was pissed. She demanded that I be punished, that my magic be sacrificed to restore the elder tree and the grove. I refused to give it willingly, not when I have already given my entire life to my people. Not when I was doing what I did to protect my father, and so she created this curse. A puzzle inside of my soul that is constantly growing and draining my magical essence. Whenever I use magic, it gets worse. When there is no longer any magic in my body, it will take my life and restore balance to the fae land. There is nothing that can be done. They say that our court feeds from hate and violence, but we have received that trait from her. She is the beginning and the end of everything. All magic flows through her. I’ll never be free of her, or this damn curse. When there’s nothing left, I’ll be human–until the power of my soul is gone too.”
Mykah’s voice broke, and Tyler saw that her body was shaking. He couldn’t feel it, but he could see the grief and pain wracking her body. He couldn’t help it anymore. Before he could stop himself or overthink it, he had her in his arms. Tyler pressed her into his chest and felt her tears falling and soaking his shirt. She clung to him, and Tyler was grateful that she did so in a way that he felt powerful. He felt like he was protecting her.
“I think that’s enough for tonight, you can all pick back up with this in the morning, I’m sure.” He said it with the power that he possessed of being a warrior long before these children were out of nappies. They didn’t bother arguing, as it was almost dawn. They would no doubt convene sometime during the day. Tonight though, she was all his.
After they were gone, he carried Mykah through the doors and into her room and kicked the entrance to the library shut with his foot. He kissed her then, holding her like he would a bride. Sweetly, at first, he claimed what they both knew was his from the minute he touched her at the Blood Court. As the kiss deepened, he knew that she would give just as much as she took from him. After a moment, he set her down and backed her against the wall.
She stood on her toes, but he still had to bend his head in order to kiss her. She ran her hands through his hair and locked around his neck, forcing him to deepen the kiss. Instead, he kept it light and feathery. His hands found their way to her hips, massaging the soft skin there. Before she knew what was happening she was wrapped around him, his hands underneath her ass. He was holding her against his body, squeezing her ass in each of his hands, never losing focus on the kiss they shared.
Mykah pressed herself against him, a soft moan rising in her throat. When she closed her eyes and leaned back slightly, he dropped her on the bed. She watched him without saying a word. He pulled off his shirt and stared into her eyes. For the first time he could remember, he let someone in. She saw all of the scars that decorated his body. His torso was covered in black tattoos winding around and including the dozens of marks from a lifetime ago. She reached up to trace them with her fingertips and followed with her mouth. He felt his body tighten underneath her touch, anticipating where she would kiss or caress next.
Her fingers trembling, she moved them to his pants and tried to unbutton them. Tyler stopped her, taking both of her hands in one of his and knelt between her legs on the bed. Growling, he brushed her cheek with the other and pulled her face to his. Before he kissed her, he whispered “mine” against her lips, and waited for her response.
“Always,” she mouthed, and Tyler was glad to have caught it at all. He crushed his lips to hers, and while she was distracted with the kiss, he pushed her into the bed beneath him. Tyler could barely focus and was afraid that he was about to embarrass himself before he was able to get inside of her.
He needed to remember that she had just been crying in his arms, in a room full of people who were there to help her. He shouldn’t be selfish, even though it was becoming extremely challenging to think about anything other than getting her naked. He pulled himself up onto his hands and looked into her eyes. “Mykah, little princess, I don’t know if this is what you nee–”
“Shut up Tyler. I’m a big girl, and I get to decide what I need. Right now, I need you.” Before he could say anything else on the subject, she pulled his lips back to hers, and it was like a fire had seared them together. He wouldn’t have stopped the movement of her body under his for anything.
He felt himself grow impossibly harder as she squirmed underneath his body. She was warm and pliable and everything that a woman was supposed to be. He let his hands wander until they found her hips. He touched the soft skin between his hands and felt the urge to thrust inside of her. Rather than wait for her to undress, he grunted and pulled her top over her head in one fluid motion. She was lucky he didn’t rip the damn thing. His breath was literally taken away when he saw that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Heavy and full, her breasts were pushed up and they needed his immediate attention.
He pulled one already erect nipple into his mouth and began rolling the other between his fingers. He listened as she moaned above his head and pushed herself into him. Her pelvis was lined up with his chest, he could smell her arousal. The sweet aroma of nature tugged at his brain. He was completely erect now, and he needed to be naked inside of her. The rest of his mental functions shut down, and he was the warrior once more.
In a flash, she was completely naked, and he was just staring at her. Mykah’s entire body was perfect. Perfect, and turning pink from embarrassment. Tyler stared at her, dumbstruck by his luck at being with a woman such as her. Then he shook himself out of it and glanced at her only to see insecurity in her eyes.
“If you don’t want this, say so now. I’m already on edge about you, I don’t want to do this if you think that it will be a mistake.” He moved his hands to cup her face and waited impatiently for her response.
After a moment, the pink faded from her skin, and he could almost see the wheels spinning in her head as she thought about what she would say. “Just shut up and do this, you stupid marshmallow.” She pulled his hands from her face and wiggled underneath him until her entrance was pressed against his erection.
He could feel how wet she was, how readily she vibrated against his touch and he couldn’t breathe in the seconds it took to push inside her. One smooth motion in which he felt her tighten and constrict around him, her moans of pleasure were music to his ears.
He lost time with each thrust, each whisper of pleasure that passed her lips. The groans that escaped her chest matched perfectly with her contractions around him. It drove Tyler crazy to know that this amazing woman was so open underneath him. She grabbed his shoulders, and he could feel her nails digging into his skin. The smell of iron seeped into his nose, and he could feel the involuntary tug at his fangs. The feral growl that escaped his lips did nothing to help the control that he had already lost. The need to feed on her was growing with every second that passed, and Tyler wasn’t going to be able to stop himself.
Mykah was staring up at him, all the trust in the world evident in her eyes. They glazed over as she caught a glimpse of his fangs, and Tyler knew that it had turned her on even more. He continued to thrust into her and lowered them to her neck.
“Please,” she whimpered.
He didn’t need further permission and bit into her neck above the collarbone, and as he drank from her neck, he felt her begin to cum. Her entire
body tensed around him, her nails digging into his skin further. She was shaking with effort, and a flush was sweeping over her body.
“Faster. Faster.” Mykah urged him on, and while he wanted to give it to her, he wouldn’t last long if he did.
He pulled his fangs from her neck and watched as the blood trickled from the small wounds. “I can’t. I won’t last.” His words were choked, and he could feel her tighten around him in with the onset of her climax.
She pulsed around him. “I don’t care!” She screamed as the orgasm rocked her body. He thrust harder and faster into her body. Willing himself to go deeper than he had ever been, and the tension built up in his gut. As she reached her plateau, Mykah sobbed and pulled his face to hers. Gently, she kissed him, and he lost the little bit of control he had managed to hold onto. His orgasm was wrenched from his body, and he could feel her squeezing him from within, draining him of his seed.
Tyler rolled to his side, taking her with him. He pulled himself from inside her, and just stayed there holding her, breathing in her scent and closed his eyes. Tyler couldn’t remember a time when he was more at peace. Neither of them speaking, they didn’t need to. It was intense, and neither wanted it to end. He felt her move beside him and opened one eye lazily.
“Move over. I have to pee.” She swatted at his arms, but Tyler didn’t want to let her go.
“No.” He growled, “Just a few more minutes.”
“I said move. I need to clean up.” She swatted him on the ass this time, and Tyler had no choice but to release her. That didn’t mean he couldn’t watch as she got up to go to the bathroom. Completely naked, she was perfect in every way. She wasn’t thin, he could see that in the sway of her hips and her ass bounce as she walked away from him. He still thought she was beautiful. Her auburn hair was swinging behind her, and Tyler felt the heartache in his chest. She was everything that he wanted, and he was going to take her. It was in his blood, the need to claim this woman as his own. She opened the door from the bathroom, and he saw the sun in her face. A light halo surrounded her frame as she closed the door behind her.
Door in the Garden of Shadows Page 13
