by Marie Harte
Winds howled, and small swirls of air sucked the creatures in and crushed them into nothing. He muttered spells under his breath and some ice wraiths began melting, while others imploded, screaming bloody hell all around her.
Shocked at the actual violence pouring from the man she thought she knew, she was unprepared for the blast of blue fire from a nearby wraith.
At her small shriek, Aerolus shot a funnel of sheer Light at her attacker, shoving it into the wall, splattering wraith blood and guts across the stone. He flashed to her side and flashed away again, taking her with him into Trudy’s house.
“Are you okay?” He sounded breathless, his gaze bright with concern as he ran his hands over her abdomen where the blast had hit.
She looked down and saw the large, seared hole in her dress and cursed. “Do you have any idea how much this dress is worth?”
He blinked in disbelief as her skin absorbed the faint cast of blue surrounding the burn, healing as if she’d never been marked. Touching her stomach, he caused knots of need to develop within her. That he did so and didn’t seem to know it irritated her all the more.
“Take us back there, right now.” She glared and shoved his hand from her stomach, barely easing the ache within her. Sexual frustration, need and anger warred for dominance, and she defensively let go of her rage. “I’m not happy with the Netharat at all. And you left four of them alive.” When he only stood there staring at her dumbly, she grabbed him and wrapped her arms around his middle. “Well? While we’re young, Aerolus.”
Shaking his head, he squeezed her tight. “We’re going to talk about this when it’s over.” And suddenly she was dizzy and back in her gory refuge again.
“You leave them to me,” she ordered, hurrying to shake off the lingering fog from her mind.
“Alandra—”
The remaining four wraiths screeched with outrage and surprise when she and Aerolus reappeared. Before the creatures could do any more damage, she threw a spell of shadow over them, clouding their vision.
Immediately running into their midst, she ignored Aerolus’ shout and shimmered into the form of an ice wraith. Entering their small group, she began sucking the energy from the two behind her, invisible wisps of their power diffusing into her core. She could see the transfer easily, a being one with magic. She wondered if Aerolus saw anything other than shadow.
Clearing the obscure spell from the wraiths, she watched as they realised five, and not four of them, now stood together.
“How?” one asked.
“Trickery,” another shrieked as it felt its power being drained. She deliberately fed its power to the wraith across from it.
“That one,” she cried, pointing to the brightest of the lot. “It is the Wind Mage’s pet, an illusory Aellei! Kill it!”
The healthy wraith in front of her began raining slashing blows upon the accused wraith, which floundered for freedom as it died. Alandra felt more than saw the creatures behind her emptying of the pitiful force they called life, and would have felt sorrow had she not learned in the past that most wraiths warranted such retaliation. Two low thumps told her they too had crossed to the Next.
Only two wraiths remained now, Alandra and the enemy. They looked at one another before shifting their focus to Aerolus, who stared at them with an inscrutable look on his face.
“The master wishes him dead.”
“But can we not play a bit?” she whined, enjoying her deception. She couldn’t help it. Fooling the wraith was child’s play, but thoughts of tricking Aerolus made her giddy with joy. Games and trickery were better to an Aellei than chocolate, and she didn’t make the analogy lightly.
Aerolus stared at the two of them, no doubt wondering which of the wraiths was real. As the creature next to her took a step towards him, heavy winds whipped at her mage’s hair and tore at his clothes, as much a shield as an awesome weapon of attack.
His defensive posture made her sigh. He wasn’t going to be sporting about this. So much for playing with the last one. “Oh, hell, you can have him,” she muttered and shimmered back into herself.
He didn’t so much as blink as he wiped the remaining wraith into oblivion with a wave of his hand—right into the only unsoiled section of her room.
“This is going to take forever to clean.”
His eyes refused to leave her, the intensity of his stare making her uncomfortable.
“What?”
“I think it’s time you told me more about the Aellei and just what you’re capable of. Because until today, I’d have sworn the only beings impervious to blue fire were the wraiths and their evil kin, the Dark Lords.”
Silver eyes burned through her, lingering on her unharmed stomach. “Tell me again how the Aellei and the Dark Lords split all those years ago.”
She didn’t care for the accusation in his tone and crossed her arms over her chest. Reaching for her missing charm, irritation turned to anger. This on top of all she’d done for Tanselm, for him.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you of all people, Light Bringer.” She sneered, glad to feel angry instead of constantly in lust with him, for a change. “What’s wrong, Aerolus? Did I insult your manly pride by not needing you in there? Or is it that I’m obviously stronger than you when it comes to magic? I would never leave a trail so bright a wraith could follow it.” The disdainful glance she passed over him had him clenching his jaw. “I still have trouble reminding myself why you’re worth the effort, so back off before you truly offend me.”
Oh, that was nice. She mentally patted herself on the back. Damned if she hadn’t sounded exactly like the queen. Much as she loathed her aunt, Queen Lidra had her uses.
“I think there’s been a misunderstanding here,” Aerolus said quietly, his face ominously devoid of any expression. Even his body language was too still, and that spoke volumes.
Feeling a stirring of unease, Alandra took a small step away from him, disguising her subtle retreat by turning her back on Aerolus as if to study the mess on her walls and floor.
A costly mistake.
Before she could take a second step, hard arms wrapped around her and whisked her back to Seattle, not into Trudy’s house, but into Storm Lord central next door.
Chapter Four
The little witch.
Standing squarely in the middle of his bedroom in Seattle, Aerolus stared at her, aware he’d never before felt so charged about anything. When his father passed into the Light, he’d been sad but steady, a rock for his mother to lean on. When the Netharat had invaded his homeworld, he’d felt anger, but beyond that, a calm that kept him focused on what to do.
Now, however, he seethed with resentment, frustration, and unrequited lust. The conniving, scheming Aellei glaring at him made him feel like half a man. And no one, no one talked to Prince Aerolus Storm like that without dire consequences.
He said nothing, merely stared at Alandra until she blushed angrily and thrust her chin out, as if daring him to take a swing. But underneath her bluster, he sensed arousal and a wind of nerves. Her nipples poked through her silken dress. The pale skin of her belly shone like a beacon, arresting his attention and making her decidedly skittish.
He took a step closer, and she backed up. Grimly smiling at her unease, he brought her to him on wings of air, alarming her at the ease with which he controlled her petite frame.
“Let me go,” she growled and pushed at his constraints, at the bands of wind holding her hands to her sides, her legs apart and still before him.
“Not yet, princess,” he murmured, intrigued when she stared at him in shock. Seeing his interest, she swallowed loudly and assumed a pose of casual concern.
So, his affai had royal blood. Wonderful. They now had something in common besides lust.
His cock pressed harder against his jeans, begging for a chance to feel her slick heat around him. Eyeing her sumptuous breasts, he licked his lips, hungry to enjoy what rightfully belonged to him. Just thinking about what he wanted to d
o to her made him ache.
“You see, I’m suddenly curious about what you can do, purie.”
Her eyes narrowed, and he grinned, making her blink in surprise. He didn’t care. He had no intention of keeping his emotions in check around her. With her, he intended to behave as savagely, as passionately as any Storm Lord warrior with his bride.
“Aerolus?” she asked, hesitantly. He rubbed at the fly of his jeans, immensely aware of how much he needed her right now. Her eyes burned with desire as she noted the heavy bulge between his legs, but she said nothing more than his name.
“It seems to me that if you can assume any shape you want to,” he paused and looked at the curtained window of his bedroom facing Trudy Warner’s house. “And if you couldn’t simply pop in to see me without my direct assistance,” he referred to the protective spell around the house, “then maybe before, when I was jerking off in here thinking about you, I was pleasing not only myself, but you as well.”
She stared open-mouthed, the rosy tint on her cheeks answer enough.
Needing her more than breath, he reached for the snap of his jeans, extremely satisfied when her gaze followed the motion with more than interest. Her breath sped as he unsnapped and lowered the zipper of his pants.
“This is what you do to me, purie,” he murmured and withdrew his cock, grabbing tight and drawing the flesh up and down, imagining her doing this for him. “And I can see I do something to you as well.”
She licked her lips and tried to look away, but her gaze came back to him again and again as he thrust into his palm.
“Wouldn’t you rather I came in you, instead of for you?”
“Dammit, you can’t control me with sex!”
And yet she was breathing hard, her body tense with desire, her eyes glowing with lust. Pleased beyond measure, he increased the pressure on his cock and stood so close his cock brushed the white skin of her belly exposed by her burned dress.
She gasped and closed her eyes, trying to push her legs together. But he wouldn’t let her.
“If I touched you right now,” he gritted, his orgasm rising dangerously close, “you’d be wet, wouldn’t you? Wet and hot for me. You want this, don’t you, love? Tell me how much you want this.” He dragged his cock against her skin, groaning at her exquisite shudder of need.
“Alandra?”
“Yes, yes, alright! I want you so bad I can taste it. Is that what you wanted to hear?” She tossed her hair angrily out of her face, his arousal causing the air around them to stir. “Aerolus, I want you. I admit it. Whatever you want, I’ll do.” She stared at him in challenge, her dare arousing him further. “Tell me what you really want. Your darkest, deepest fantasy.” She closed her eyes and leant towards him, her breasts pushing through the silk, twin globes of femininity stoking his arousal.
“On your knees,” he growled.
She opened her eyes, a sultry smile curving her lips. “I don’t know…”
“I want you supplicant, before me, on your knees,” he demanded, shocking himself with how much he wanted this. Something about Alandra brought out the dominant in him, a dominant he never knew he’d had. “I want you to make me come, in your mouth.”
“Oh,” she breathed. “I—” She stared at his cock, no doubt surprised at his size and the precum glistening at his tip. “Yes,” she whispered, sounding not ashamed, but excited.
He eased her to her knees before him and let the winds fall away into the room. “Did you like watching me through the window, Trudy?” He held his cock to her, desperate to feel her hands on him. He remained still, however, waiting for her answer.
“I did,” she admitted without pause. “I wanted so badly to be with you. You’re so beautiful,” she whispered and reached out a hand to touch him.
“Do it.” He gritted his teeth as she closed a small fist around him. “More.” She brought both hands around him, pumping him while she watched. “No, purie,” he said, stopping her hands. He reached into the silky, white mass of hair framing her perfect face and pulled her to him. “Suck me, hard. Now.” He uttered his demands in a harsh voice, but he wanted it his way. With Alandra he intuitively knew he would have to assume sexual control for them to meet even halfway in their relationship. A mental show of force with his affai would go a long way to showing he wouldn’t be pushed.
She protested half-heartedly. He could see the gleam in her eyes. She loved this game.
“Now,” he grated and shoved past her parting lips.
She consumed him as if he were a feast. Once he’d touched her lips, Alandra eagerly welcomed him. His hands knotted in her hair, thrusting boldly as she accepted him deeper and deeper into her throat.
“Ah, yes,” he sighed, captivated by her skilled tongue and heated mouth. He was so close to coming, too soon, yet he didn’t want to wait. Didn’t have to wait. She cupped his balls and sucked harder, running her tongue along the sensitive underside of his crown, and the decision was taken out of his hands. He shot, unable to stop the stream of cum filling her mouth.
“Alandra,” he groaned as he shuddered. His climax lasted longer and was more empowering than any other he’d experienced. When he finally caught his breath, he noted a taint of gold in the white nimbus around her normally pale skin.
Though she’d milked him of his seed, she continued to tease him with her tongue, lapping his shaft with a comforting warmth that was slowly, surprisingly making him hard again.
Stunned, he began to thrust in time with her sucking, needing to taste her, to fuck her, to cement their soon-to-be unbreakable bond.
“No more,” he rasped and yanked her to her feet. Before she could say anything, he sealed her mouth with his and teleported them, naked, to his bed.
She gasped in surprise when the hair on his chest brushed her full breasts, but her gasp turned to a moan when his lips left hers to engulf one cherry-red nipple.
Her mouth tasted of him, and the thought made him just as hard as he’d been earlier. Thrusting against her thigh, he was lost in the sensual maelstrom of his affai. By the Light, she was rich, an erotic bounty of need, sex and magic that made him lightheaded.
She moaned his name when he nipped and sucked hard on her breasts, her pelvis thrusting against him, wanting what he needed to give her.
“I want to fuck you,” he murmured against her breast. Nipping the other one, he teased her nipples with firm fingers, squeezing with just enough pressure to make her beg for mercy.
“Aerolus, please.”
“Please what, Alandra? Tell me, love. Tell me exactly what you want.”
He pressed his mouth to her abdomen, using his elemental magic to caress her breasts and throat, kissing her with wind as well as his lips. He trailed lower, closer to the sultry scent and heat of her pussy—his pussy.
She moaned and jerked, her white curls meeting his mouth in perfect timing.
“Tell me.” He grasped her hips firmly, holding her still while his wind continued to caress her.
“Shadows, Aerolus! Fuck me! Take me.”
“How?” he asked softly, licking between her folds, lapping at the creamy honey flowing between her thighs.
“I want your cock in my pussy, your hands, your mouth all over me. I need you, Wind Mage, please,” she cried in a husky voice.
Her passion set off his own. Sucking deep, he drew her clit into his mouth and licked until she was bucking and begging for him to end it. Almost to the point of pain, his cock wept with desire, with the utter need to come inside her.
“I’m going to fuck you so hard you’ll come again and again,” he promised, meeting her desperate gaze. She looked beyond caring, beyond anything but raw lust.
Sliding up her sleek body, he gave her no gentle touch, no graceful easing to allow her familiarity with him. He thrust deep and hard through her slick sex, pumping with such force the bed knocked against the wall as he took her.
“Oh, yes, yes,” she cried and wrapped her thighs around his waist. The movement drew her clit ag
ainst his abdomen as he rode her, and within seconds, she was climaxing.
Sobbing his name, she pulsed around him, her tight heat urging him to join her. But he needed to push her harder. He continued to plunge, deeper and deeper as she contracted, until she began climbing another peak and another. As multiple orgasms ripped her apart, he succumbed to his body’s demands and shouted his release.
“Alandra.” He closed his eyes and continued to come, this orgasm as fierce as the last. They tensed and gripped one another, her body draining him of his last vestiges of energy. Climaxing so hard he saw stars, Aerolus was sweating and panting for breath before he could again think rationally.
Rising up on his elbows above her, he lifted his forehead from hers and paused at what he saw.
“Alandra?” he asked, alarmed at the glaze in her wide eyes. He hadn’t been gentle… Oh, shit, what have I done?
“I can’t believe how hot you are in bed.”
He stared for a minute as her words penetrated, then let out a relieved sigh. She looked absolutely stunned, not harmed, and he couldn’t help feeling a bit peeved that she sounded so surprised.
“Alandra—”
“I had no idea you had that in you.” She glanced down to where they were still joined. “You were celibate for so long,” she said softly, staring up at him with awe. At the look he began to grin. “I can’t believe you are so, so…”
“Incredibly talented? So large and so skilled?” he added, taking a turn at being the vain one in their relationship.
She frowned. “Large is right. You really let me have it.” A sigh replaced the frown, and with it, her pussy clenched around him.
“And I’ll do it again and again, whenever I want,” he said coolly, aware he ventured easily into sexual dominance. Surprisingly, for a man given to plain-speaking, he enjoyed their penchant for bedplay. Damned if he wasn’t growing hard again. He felt as if he’d used a replenish spell. What was the vixen doing to him?
