, Aedan righted himself, his eyes bulging with rage, darkened by pain. With a swing of his hand, he made the two behind him fall back into an at ease stance. He taught her confidence could be exuded and success could be gathered even in backing down.
“You don’t scare me,” Aedan blasted with his voice, even as he glanced to her.
“I should,” Darcaryn hissed.
“Darcaryn is working both sides,” Kyna interrupted the testosterone display about to get bloody. “He works for this society, though a lackey, paid well to know little, apparently. My grandfather hired him years ago. The man had some lofty power issues with political aspirations. So, it was my grandfather who got involved in this society to forward his own position. Darcaryn was later approached by the society to work on their side, and my idiot grandfather actually wanted him to. He played a dangerous game working for both, letting both think his allegiance was to them. The society wanted to use my grandfather’s money and magic. When the group suddenly turned on my grandfather years ago, though, Darcaryn never knew why. According to him, he’s sworn, to my dead grandfather that is, to always protect my aunt first and foremost, though. He doesn’t know why she went to the society now. He said she’s always been something of a wildcard. I think that covers it.” She’d tried to get out as much as she could quickly, hoping her slur of words would diffuse the situation.
She wiggled, struggling to breathe.
Darcaryn had moved closer to hers as she spoke.
“You’re suffocating me. I think you can step away now,” she groaned as her lungs fought for air.
“I think we need to go back to the house,” Aedan offered, his gaze darting back and forth between them. “I have more protection now. These guys run on no sleep, and can keep watch from both sides of the house. They have equipment to scan the entire perimeter. We need to re-group, use all the resources we have to come up with a plan to not only get Saoirse back, but to end this fight, stop this group from terrorizing this family once and for all.”
“Fine,” Darcaryn hissed. “Stupid, but fine.”
When he pulled away from Kyna, Aedan’s face pinched tight at the sight of her arms bound behind her. He didn’t miss a beat, though, in grabbing her and working at the ties.
“Did he hurt you?” he growled. His eyes burned with a lethal hatred.
“No, he didn’t. I’m fine. Just get me out of here,” she demanded.
“She’s stubborn,” Darcaryn spoke in his defense. “I did what I had to…to keep her safe. I’m sure if put in the identical situation, you’d have done the same. Whatever it took to get her to safety, right?”
Chapter Twelve
The sheer size of her aunt’s castle-like home struck her once again as they’d approached after a silent hike back,. Maybe it’d been her most recent ordeal, but just the long walk down the halls and up the many stairs to get to her room had seemed exhausting.
Once inside, Aedan had waved his hands to make his friends go to their posts. He guided her not only to her room, but into her bathroom, without a word. She could feel him brooding on the other side of the door even as she lounged in the tub, tried to soak away the last few hours. Her muscles ached with the residue of Darcaryn’s dark forces of seduction. His infatuated alchemy crawled over her skin like roaches, disgusting and large with a thousand cold legs.
She’d practically scrubbed herself hard enough to work up a sweat before drying off. Wrapped only in a towel, she poked her head out of the bathroom door to request clothing.
She found Aedan sprawled in a chair, nostrils flared, brow wrinkled, and body visibly shaking. Her heart shattered when he looked her way with glistening eyes.
“Aedan,” she flew to him, knelt before his legs, and placed her hands around one of his clenched fists resting on his knee. “What’s wrong?”
To see such a strong man this way proved too much. She’d admit to not being able to handle this one thing. Her heart beat a testament to the strength of real love, one unmeasured by time and circumstance. How could she not love him? His confidence, more a beneficial arrogance, he’d earned with not only strength beyond his almost superhero build, but also intelligence in unverifiable ways. Beyond all that, he cared, loved, and protected with no regard to self-preservation.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked without looking directly into her eyes.
“Yes, I told you I am. That can’t be what’s bothering you,” she countered, desperate for his full attention as much as she wanted to heal whatever ailed him.
“You and Darcaryn? Do you care about him?” he asked in a gruff, yet brittle voice.
“No! He didn’t hurt me. But, full disclosure. He has some infatuation with me. I can’t explain it, but he gets angry that I don’t return his feelings. He claims he knows this because of some spell. He calls it dirty magic. These spells can force emotions, like lust, on people to distract them. Something the society is doing to us. I can’t explain it like he does, but I do feel it. It’s like chaos in my mind. I try hard to grasp onto my own feelings, my desires and urges, but before I know it I’m gone, and I fall prey to what the spell wants”
“So, he’s forced you to feel for him, to…to do some sort of physical acts with him?”
His body shook, tight pulses that made her hands vibrate over his until he moved his to the arms of the chair. He sat in the chair, barely restraining himself, white-knuckled, his skin flushed a bright red. His eye even twitched.
“No, he’s not forced me. I’m sure the society is responsible. I can feel the difference.”
Aedan jumped up, grabbing her and moving her away from him in the process. Leaving her unsteady on her feet, he started toward the door.
“Stop,” she yelled. “I’ve only kissed him, and then he’s stopped it, much more in tune to their magic than I am, so I assume also stronger to fight it. He apologizes for his lapse, says he doesn’t want me until I want him, too. I fear I can’t make you understand, that this all sounds lame, but I’m telling you the truth. I’m so sorry. The only person I want to truly kiss is you.”
“You only said he has told you that you don’t care for him. Not that you don't. I just need to know, a straight out yes or no answer. Are you attracted to him? Do you have feelings for him, too? Do you want to be with him, a man who can offer you more than I can, I guess, in that you have something in common I can’t even imagine, let alone understand?” He rushed the words, made it hard for her to catch them all.
“No. The answer is no. I only feel I do when…”
“Just no works for me. I can take a beating, have even taken a few bullets, but I can’t take seeing you with another man. I’ve found my first weakness. You. I want whatever I can have of you. Right or wrong. You know that with everything in me I will do my best to protect you, reactions clouded by my feelings or not.”
“I do,” she breathed out on a sigh of relief.
“I can’t say the thought of you kissing him doesn’t slice through me in some way, but it isn’t you if you’re controlled by a spell. I don’t want you alone with him again, though,” he commanded.
“I’m absolutely, one hundred percent good with that,” she responded with a tentative smile on her face.
She dared a touch then. She brushed her hand down his arm. When he didn’t flinch, only watched her hand, she guided him back to the chair. Somehow, it seemed less likely he’d get away if he sat rather than stood.
He obeyed, but he didn’t move for several moments after that. He just sat there staring at her. A warmth radiated down her spine, swirled through her veins, and then surrounded her heart. Time stopped as she watched him sit like a statue, arms rigid and shoulders tense. She gave him time to sort out the new information. Tables turned, she couldn’t imagine how she’d have reacted.
Finally, after minutes passed, feeling more like hours, he started to show some signs of life. With his teeth biting into his lip, his ragged breath whispered out of the small space between his lips.
H
er own breathing grew uneven as she noticed his gaze darken.
He gazed at her towel-covered body, glancing down to where the ends separated over her bent up thigh, leaving her exposed, save a square of cloth.
He moved forward with a sudden and stealthy flow of his torso.
She didn’t even flinch as his face stopped inches from hers. The depth of his brown eyes and the fall of his silk chocolate hair gave a rakish look to his intense handsomeness, one built of both chiseled features and strength of character.
“Your current state of dress is dangerous. I literally ache for you. I think about you far too much, naked or otherwise, to keep my wits about me in such a situation,” he growled.
“Then don’t.”
“You have to be sure.”
“I am.”
She stood and dropped her towel to prove it.
“You’re beautiful. Perfect,” he whispered, not so much to keep quiet, but more like he was out of breath.
“And, you’re overdressed,” she challenged, stepping back to give him room to stand.
Still in his black jacket and jeans, he stood to meet her temptation.
She’d never felt so exposed or so loved without even a touch as his dark gaze swept over her every curve. Moisture built between her legs as he removed his jacket and boots with a swift determination, never looking away from her skin.
From where she stood, a foot away from him, her legs slightly parted, and her hands hanging stiff at her sides, she beheld the sensual show as he unclothed himself.
He revealed one glorious, sculpted muscle after another. His six-pack rippled in an unbelievably sexy and uneven pattern. He had those deep-set bulges of muscle just above his hipbones that, at the moment, carved a path into his jeans, leading the way to gifts beneath. Only his Herculean biceps and sinewy forearms upstaged his large pecs. Without a doubt, he’d been built to protect.
She clenched and then splayed her fingers, yearning to touch his firm, skin. She longed to trace every shining hill and every shadowy valley his body possessed. The vision of him unzipping his jeans, accompanied by the rasping noise it created as he teasingly lowered the zipper one link at a time, sent a bolt of lightning through her midsection and straight to her core.
She throbbed in response, from her pebbled nipples to her moist swelling folds. She felt like the very air had been sucked from her lungs, as if someone had punched her in the gut when his long, thick staff emerged from his jeans with a quick jerk to attention.
He took two steps and lowered his large frame to one knee before her and brought his mouth to hover just over her belly, his heated breath caressing her, tormenting her.
He feathered a multitude of tiny kisses across stomach and her skin warmed, under the soft heat of his full lips.. He stopped just below her breasts, which hung heavy with want, and looked up to meet her gaze. Nipples hard to the point of pain, it was her turn to clench her hands into fists as she concentrated on deep breathing, trying not to pass out from the intensity of the hunger in his stare. A deep, all encompassing desire she’d never witnessed before reflected up at her from his chocolate orbs.
His hands and lips explored her skin, breasts, nipples, back, and ass, even up and down her legs, until he’d tasted almost every inch of her. Moisture practically dripped from between her thighs where a warm and wet, throbbing juncture impatiently awaited its turn, making her want to cry out a request. He eased himself slowly from the floor, his gaze remaining fixed to hers as his and erection bumped against her belly and teased her heated flesh. The touch threatened to undo her.
Her knuckles aching from stress, she uncoiled her fingers and pressed them against his warm, rigid chest to steady herself. She watched she trailed her hands over his skin.
His breath rushed from deep within his throat. “Your touch, it possesses magic, both human and otherworldly. I could never find the words to explain how this feels.”
He grabbed her then, crushing their bodies together as he brought his mouth down on hers, claiming her for his own.
She arched her back, pushing her soft curves into him as passion surged through her.
Pulling back just for air, she breathed out, “I feel I could conjure a thousand spells right now. I’ve never felt more powerful.”
“Try not to hurt me…well, too much.” He flashed her a sultry smile; a lethal move even if he didn’t realize it.
Scooping her up, he gently placed her on the bed. For a brief second, that could have been an hour, he towered over her as he simply stared at her sprawled form.
Her fingers curled into the comforter as she let her shaky legs fall open, exposing herself in invitation
“No words, not to describe this beauty,” he exclaimed as he lowered himself to the bed. He crouched between her thighs like a tiger poised to attack. His palms pushed down on the inside of her thighs, opening her more. His heated breath met her skin first and sent a shiver up through her body. Her pulse increased, making her heart thud in her chest.
He laid a soft, full-lipped kiss on her restless, desperate clit.
She swallowed back her scream as he merciless flicked, lapped, and explored her most intimate areas with the tip of his tongue until she couldn’t take it anymore.
Her climax, an earth-shattering barrage of heat and electricity swarming her body, and the sound of candles igniting all through the room with a pop and a woosh mad her open her eyes. She realized she had her hands out, visible light emanating from them.
“This isn’t where I get burnt again, is it?” he asked in a shaky, but coy laugh.
“No, but I think I could have some fun. Trust me.”
“I do.”
Kneeling between her legs, he remained perfectly still except for the heaving of his chest. She brought her hands to hover over his thick erection. A telltale drop of pearly white arousal beaded from the tip.
“I’m trusting you,” he huffed, sucking in a deep breath.
She laughed. The tiny pulses making her insides tremble also made her giddy. Letting the warmth of the light at her palms move the air, she started a pattern with her hands. Creating gentle winds around his cock, she let the softest of breezes create sequences of pressure, massaging his reddish cock head and the taunt length of skin.
He half groaned, half growled, but encouraged her to go on.
Increasing the heat, the light, and the air compression, she caressed him without ever touching him until the veins down his length bulged. Moving back, she stroked his sacks with the same loving caresses until the noises coming from him were more than even she could endure.
She took him in her mouth, her lips encircling his shaft and sliding downward as much as she could, and palmed the cheeks of his ass.
He jerked at the moist, heated contact, and let out an animalistic cry.
Suddenly, he tugged his manhood from her mouth, pushing her backward and falling on top of her.
“You will be the death of me, enchanted lady, and I will glory in the coming of it. Pardon me for saying so, so soon, but I think I’m in love with you, and it's the most terrifying thing I’ve ever delighted in.”
His voice soothed her, swirled every emotion and sensation she had into one of pure joy, pure peace.
He glided inside her, inch by maddening inch, his gaze on her face as. He stretched her to the limits of pleasure, filled her not only physically, but mentally and spiritually, on every plane of her being.
“No apologies. Ever. I’ve fallen hard and fast for you, too,” she admitted.
After a simple pause to play it smart, they joined together again. They moved with each other, bewitched each other to the peaks of pleasure and back again.
Magic, the word fell short. Her every experience so far didn’t come close to the sorcery of this one.
Yet, just as she snuggled into his embrace, melting in the afterglow, a cool breeze swept through the room extinguishing every candle, breaking every bulb, and leaving them in utter darkness.
“No storm do
es that,” he shouted as he pushed her behind his massive frame, sheltering her from unseen danger between his body and the backboard of the bed.
She reached out her hand in front of his chest, and let her light, shaky and dim, but useful, give them a glimpse around the room.
“You see anything?” he barked at her.
“Yes. Shadows. Long and demonic. Claws scratching down the walls bringing a thick, dark blood dripping from the rips in the wood. You can’t see or hear any of it?” she asked, her voice shaky and high-pitched.
“No! What do you hear? What should I do?”.
“They moan and screech, horrible horror-show stuff, as they circle us. It’s as if they’re performing some sort of satanic ritual you’d see in an old movie. Wait. Let me see if this works.”
She touched him then, let down a guard she hadn’t known she had in place until this moment, letting him into her thoughts.
He gasped, stiffened, and then pushed his back against her some more.
“Shit. Can they touch you? Are they hurting you?” he growled.
“No. I think they’re only projections, but I can’t say for sure.”
She hated the way her voice shook as much as she hated these beings for taking the warmth of her lovemaking away from her with their cold and slimy presence.
“Is this Darcaryn?” he demanded.
“No. I know the feel of his magic. The group somehow knew my defenses were down. They’re striking out, trying to make me doubt myself. I’m sure of it. Fine show, huh?” She ended with a stiff, short laugh.
“Sure. Can you do something?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I’ve moved elements, not banished demons. What do you fight pure evil with? Air? Water? Earth or fire? I fear they’d like fire and water would only piss them off,” she half joked even as she re-evaluated her options.
“Love,” he stated so matter-of-factly that it just made perfect sense.
“Turn from them and kiss me then,” she demanded.
“What?”
“Just kiss me. Focus only on me. I can use our combined emotions. You’ve given me an idea.”
Beyond The Veil: A Paranormal & Magical Romance Boxed Set Page 32
