by Donna Grant
There was a soft rap on the door. Then Daire’s voice came through the wood. “You’ll have to come out sometime.”
She pushed away from the sink and opened the door to face him. Daire was leaning a shoulder against the doorframe. His dark silver gaze captured hers.
“What is it?” he asked, concern deepening his voice.
She swallowed hard. “Do I have any chance of winning a battle against a Fae?”
“No.”
It’s what she expected, but to hear him say it aloud was like a sucker punch. She pushed past him and strode to the kitchen, but she halted when she realized she didn’t know where to go or what to do.
“The only way you can harm a Fae is with a blade forged in the Fires of Erwar,” Daire said as he came up behind her.
She slowly turned to face him. “Do you know where I can get one of those?”
“Have you trained with a sword?”
“Yes, but it’s been several years.”
He looked her up and down. “Which weapon do you prefer?”
“My staff.”
His brows lifted in surprise. “Really?”
Her gaze lowered to his hand that he held out at his side. She blinked, and a spear was suddenly in his grasp. Her mouth fell open at the deep mahogany wood and the diamond shaped blade at the end that was easily a foot long.
“This should help,” Daire said and handed it to her.
Her eyes snapped to his. “For me?”
“You can fight. All you need is a weapon.”
She reached for it as he held it out to her. Her fingers brushed the wood, and the weapon disappeared.
“What the hell?” Daire murmured.
He called the weapon back, and again, as soon as she touched it, the spear vanished. They tried three more times, and the outcome was the same for each.
“I don’t understand,” Daire said.
Ettie’s hopes were now dashed, but it wasn’t Daire’s fault. “Thank you for trying.”
“Something is wrong,” he said as if not hearing her. “I should be able to give you a weapon.”
“Stop,” she said when he began to try again. “Obviously, I’m not meant to have one.”
Daire crossed his arms over his chest. “Then you’re not getting anywhere near Bran again.”
“If he wanted to kill me, wouldn’t he have already done it?”
“I don’t claim to know what’s in that bastard’s head. I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
Daire did have a point. Ettie’s gaze lowered to his mouth. She really had to stop thinking about kissing him. There were much more important matters for her to concentrate on.
“Come here so I can kiss you again.”
She felt her cheeks heat at having been caught staring. But she didn’t look away. At his raised brow, she walked to him and rose up on her tiptoes to put her lips to his.
Strong arms came around her, pressing her against his hard body. She ran her hands over his thick shoulders and looped them around his neck. His head tilted to the side as his lips moved over hers.
Heat rushed through her, settling between her legs. The taste of him was exotic, erotic. Her entire body tingled with awareness.
And a deep-seated hunger.
Before she knew it, he lifted her, placing her on top of the table. The kiss deepened, sending sparks of need rushing through her. A thrilling and terrifying ravenous hunger consumed her. And with each kiss, Daire fed that craving.
Her legs wrapped around him as she surrendered to the yearning that beckoned her seductively. She shook with a desire that flared high and hot. All those nights with dreams of a lover stroking her body fell away as Daire surpassed them all.
He bent her back over his arm as his mouth trailed down her neck. She threaded her hands into his raven hair, the thick, cool strands sliding through her fingers.
She couldn’t wait to feel him inside her. As if his thoughts were on the same thing, he rocked his arousal against her, making her moan.
Someone cleared their throat.
Ettie’s stomach lurched as she jerked her head toward the door to find her sisters. She gaped at them, unsure of what to say or do. Daire lifted his head from between her breasts before slowly straightening.
“I knew we should’ve stayed away longer,” Jamie said with a knowing grin as she elbowed Carrie.
Carrie was smiling from ear to ear. “Sorry to interrupt.”
It was Daire who stepped away and held out his hand to her. Ettie took it and slid from the table to come to her feet. There wasn’t an ounce of regret on Daire’s face as he winked at her. She pointed to his hair since her fingers had messed it up. In response, he loosened the strap that held it and ran his hands through it.
And it made her melt.
“Yeah. We should’ve stayed away,” Jamie mumbled.
Ettie inwardly shook herself and faced her sisters. “It’s fine. Come inside out of the cold.”
Carrie sauntered in and set the groceries on the table. As she took each item out of the bag, she began talking to Daire. Ettie didn’t hear a word of it. Her ears were still ringing with the sounds of Daire’s groans.
“I’m happy for you.”
She swung her head to look at Jamie beside her. Ettie glanced at Daire and saw his gaze on her. They exchanged a smile before she returned her regard to Jamie. “It’s nothing.”
“That definitely looked like something,” her middle sister said with a grin, her blue eyes alight. “And might I say, it’s about damn time.”
That made Ettie laugh out loud.
The resulting quiet had her glancing around the kitchen to Carrie, who stared wide-eyed at her. Ettie then turned her gaze to Daire. His silver eyes said one thing: he wanted her.
Jamie chuckled. “I think you’ve shocked Carrie. Though it has been a while since you’ve laughed.”
“No. That’s not right,” Ettie argued.
Jamie lifted her brows. “Tell me when you laughed last.”
“Well. . . .” But as she went through her memories, Ettie realized it had been a while. She smiled, but that was usually the extent of it.
“See?” Jamie replied with a nod, proving her point.
Ettie bit her lip. “Have I been that uptight?”
“Oh, yeah. Then again, you do shoulder most of the burdens,” Carrie said.
She met her sister’s blue gaze. “I do.”
“That’s going to change,” Jamie stated.
“We’ll worry about that after this Bran thing is finished.”
Carrie made a gagging sound. “Did you have to mention him?”
“He came by after you two left,” Daire stated.
For the next thirty minutes, Ettie and Daire told them what had happened when Bran visited. The talk then turned to different ways to keep him away while Carrie began cooking.
The conversation lasted well after dinner, yet nothing was resolved. But then again, Ettie hadn’t expected a miracle. It was enough that they had Daire there to help.
After she’d finished the last of the dishes, Ettie wiped her hands as she looked to the living room where Daire was engrossed in conversation with her sisters. She grabbed her coat and walked outside, needing some fresh air. She made her way to the stream to listen to the water and look up at the stars.
The crunch of shoes on the grass let her know someone was approaching. She looked over her shoulder and felt a little thrill run through her when she spotted Daire.
“You can’t hurt Bran,” she said.
Daire stopped beside her and shook his head. “Unfortunately, I can’t. I can kill those in his army, but they’ll rise again.”
“Oh, joy. That makes me feel better.”
He faced her and put a finger beneath her chin to turn her head to him. “It doesn’t matter if Bran comes to kill you or to take something from you. You’re not in this fight alone. I’m with you. As the other Reapers will be.”
“I thank you for that. I’m worried about my
sisters.”
“Right now, Bran’s attention is on you. I wish I knew why, but perhaps we should be thankful that Jamie and Carrie haven’t drawn his gaze too much.”
She drew in a deep breath of the cold, damp air. “I saw you looking at the locked cabinet at dinner.”
“I was.”
“It’s been passed down through each generation,” she said as she turned to face him. “My father handed me the key the night he died.”
Daire watched her for a moment. “It holds things about the Fae, doesn’t it?”
“A few books my ancestors discovered. Mostly, there are journals written by those in my family who have gone in search of the Fae.”
“Search? Ettie, the Fae have chosen Ireland as their home. Fae are everywhere. Well, except Killarney. But you can walk in any city and be surrounded by them.”
She laughed despite the tears gathering in her eyes. “Why didn’t anyone in my family see them?”
“I don’t know. It’s odd that you’d know of your heritage yet not have seen a Fae.”
She sniffed, wondering the same thing as she fought the tears for herself and her father. “So if I went to Dublin, I’d see Fae?”
“Everywhere. Some use glamour, but many don’t bother.”
“Papa’s great search was for the Light Castle.”
Daire moved closer and put his hands on her waist. “Shall I take you there?”
“You’d do that?”
He nodded, smiling. “Though I doubt it’s what you think it is.”
“Is it beautiful?”
“Very.”
“Then it’s what I think it is.”
He linked his hands at her back. “Then I shall take you. I don’t think a Halfling has ever walked those halls, but I know someone who’ll stand with you.”
“Who?” she asked.
“An infamous Fae who likes to buck the rules. I mentioned her before. Her name is Rhi.”
Chapter Twelve
Not once did Daire consider that he should hold back his desire for Ettie. It felt too good to have her in his arms and to taste those amazing lips of hers. He wasn’t going to pass up the chance for more.
And more of her.
“What are you thinking when you look at me that way?” she asked in a breathless whisper.
Oh, the things he wanted to tell her. Like that he would make her scream in pleasure and beg for more. Ettie had been closed off from the world. It was time to release her from her self-imposed prison.
He leaned down until his lips hovered over her neck just below her ear. “I’m thinking of all the ways I’d like to tear off your clothes so I can have you bared before me. I want to see you beneath the sun and the moon, so I can kiss, lick, and touch every inch of you.”
Her breathing quickened as she leaned her head to the side, exposing her neck to him. “Yes,” she murmured.
“I want to show you what it means to be held in the arms of someone who yearns to worship your body. I want you all to myself with no outside distractions. I want to fill you, to join our bodies and make love to you for centuries.”
She turned her face to his and kissed him as if there were no tomorrow, as if she were drowning in desire, and he was the only thing that could save her.
He returned her kiss, their need erupting with such force that nothing could’ve pulled them apart. They were past the point of stopping. But Daire was cognizant enough to realize he couldn’t take Ettie beneath the stars on her land because Bran might see them.
Daire ended the kiss and held her face between her hands. He looked into her eyes. “I want you. But not here.”
“I don’t care where we go, as long as you don’t stop kissing or touching me.”
That’s all the permission he needed. Daire teleported them to a deserted isle near Greece. Her gaze widened before a smile pulled at her lips.
“Where are we?” she asked while shrugging out of her coat.
“Greece.”
She yanked open his flannel. “That’s nice.”
He chuckled before taking her lips again.
She pushed him back and put a finger to his mouth. “I’m going to remove your clothes, and I can’t do that with you kissing me.”
Daire snapped his fingers, and his clothes disappeared. Her mouth fell open while her eyes raked down his body. His desire skyrocketed as he watched her reaction to seeing him.
“Dear God,” she whispered and spread her hands over his chest. “You’re magnificent. All these muscles.”
He held still—barely—when she caressed down his chest to his stomach and back up to his arms and shoulders. Then her gaze dropped to his cock.
His arousal jumped at her perusal. But it was her long fingers wrapping around him that nearly made his knees buckle.
“Perfection,” she said.
Her hand moved up and down his length, ratcheting his desire to the point he was fast losing control.
“If you don’t kiss me right now, I think I might die,” Ettie said.
He slid his hand around the back of her head and pulled her to him, plundering her lips so she’d know just how much he craved her, how much he burned for her.
He called a blanket to him, spreading it on the ground beside them with his magic. Daire backed her onto it before making her clothes vanish.
She sucked in a breath as the sea breeze moved over her. He looked down at her and stroked her face. This was their night. It might be their only one, and he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way.
“Let me look at you,” he bade.
Lips swollen from his kisses curved into a grin as she stepped out of his arms. Daire’s mouth went dry when he drank in her beauty.
She had small, firm breasts with pink nipples that his mouth ached to tease. His gaze followed the indent of her waist to her hips and the triangle of blond curls at the juncture of her thighs.
If he thought her legs were amazing in denim, it was nothing compared to seeing those long limbs bared and waiting for his hands to caress them.
“Beautiful,” he said when he met her gaze.
She held out her hand. He grasped it and closed the short distance between them until their bodies were skin-to-skin. His arms wrapped around her as he looked down at her.
“I don’t think I can wait another second,” she told him.
He rubbed his nose against hers. “We’ve got all night.”
“Then take me now. We can go slow later.”
As if he needed to be told twice.
In the next second, Daire had them lying on the blanket. He ran his hands along her body, loving the feel of her skin. But she rolled him onto his back and straddled him.
He gazed up at her in wonder and delight. The moon cast a bluish light over her body, giving her an otherworldly look. But it was the desire in her eyes and the way she embraced her yearning and the needs of her body that showed her Fae heritage.
A moan rumbled in his chest when she took his cock in hand and brought him to her entrance. He was about to mention protection, but his mind went blank when she lowered herself onto his length. The moment he felt her wetness, he almost came.
She was tight and hot. He gripped her hips as she continued to lower herself down upon him. When she was fully seated, she dropped her head back, causing her breasts to thrust forward.
He might not have gotten to tease the folds of her sex or bring her to the edge of release by licking her clit. But he would have a taste of her breasts.
Daire sat up and wrapped his lips around one turgid peak. A tremor went through her back as her arms locked about him. He lightly scraped her nipples with his teeth before flicking his tongue back and forth rapidly. Then he suckled deeply.
Her hips began to rock. The more attention he gave her, the faster she moved. His mouth switched to her other breast and began all over again.
With her nails digging into the back of his neck, he recognized that she needed more. He flipped them so she was on her back. Then he
pulled out and thrust hard, filling her until he touched her womb.
Her back arched as a pleasure-filled cry rent the air. He held still, letting her feel him completely before he slowly withdrew.
He looked between them to her opening that glistening beneath the moonlight, he wanted to give her a night she’d never forget. And one he wouldn’t either.
“Please,” she said as her hands fisted the blanket.
Daire ran his hands along her inner thighs. Her greedy body wanted release, and he desperately wanted to give it to her. After a bit of teasing.
He circled her swollen clit with his finger, which caused her eyes to fly open. Her mouth opened, but no words came out as he began to thrum the small bud.
“I’m going to fill you again,” he told her while continuing to stroke her. “Your orgasm will make you mindless. But first, I’m going to make you climax with my fingers and mouth.”
She nodded as her chest rose and fell rapidly. Her hips rose as she moaned loudly. It wasn’t long before her eyes closed and her head began thrashing side to side.
While continuing to thumb her clit, he thrust two fingers of his other hand slowly inside her. She cried out his name, her hips bucking for more.
Soon, her cries filled the air as he brought her closer and closer to her climax. He began moving his fingers faster. Then he bent and lapped at her clit with his tongue.
That’s all it took for her body to jerk as the orgasm swept through her. He watched the ecstasy cross her face while her body clamped around his fingers, but this was just the beginning of their night.
He withdrew his hand and brought his cock to her entrance once more. With the climax still pulsing, he shoved inside her. That wrenched another cry of pleasure from her.
He wasn’t going to allow the orgasm to end softly. Instead, he began driving inside her with the hard, deep thrusts she’d begged for earlier.
Her legs locked around him while her hips rose up to meet him. He braced his hands on either side of her head and found himself gazing deep into her blue eyes.
The need he saw within them shifted and changed into something deeper, more profound. There was no time to wonder about it with the rapture that was overtaking them.
The breeze cooled their sweat-soaked bodies as they continued their dance, drawing ever closer to the edge of bliss. An animalistic frenzy engulfed Daire. He neither understood it nor wanted to stop it.
