by Amy Sumida
I groaned as that light touch lanced through me, tightening things as it went. My hands went to his hair, as he pulled me closer.
“I won't push you,” he whispered. “We'll go at your pace. But let me ease your ache, sweetheart. Let me lick you into climax. I promise that's all I'll do.”
“No.” I panted and tried to push away from him again.
“Okay. Relax. Easy now. I'm not going to force anything on you.” He stroked my back. “But let me help you. I know exactly what you're feeling, and I know how much it hurts.”
And then I was in his arms, being carried to the bed like a bride.
“Drostan, don't,” I whispered, but I didn't fight him as he laid me on the covers.
Drostan laid down beside me and eased me in against his side. “I'm just going to talk to you and watch you. You can watch me too, okay?”
“Oh, God,” I whispered as his hand reached over and unbuttoned my jeans.
But that was all he did to me. With a hot but adoring look, Drostan eased away, moving to the edge of the mattress so there were a few feet between us. He undid his belt, then unzipped his pants. I whimpered when he pulled out his cock, erect once more. It was paler than the rest of his skin, with a rosy tip that glistened. He rubbed his hand over it, spreading that fluid over his length, then eased his sacs out to massage them.
“Slide your jeans down,” Drostan urged me. “Let me see you touch yourself.”
My hands moved on their own, my body going hot and cold with rapid waves of desire. I could barely think straight. Had it been this bad with Daxon? I couldn't remember, not with that beautiful man lying beside me. My chest clenched with longing for more than this. I wanted him. I needed to wake up to that sweet face every morning and feel that body beside me. Inside me. I groaned as I shoved my jeans down and then off completely. My hand slipped into my panties and when I looked back at Drostan, his eyes were wide and focused on the triangle of silk between my legs.
“Oh, fuck, Seren,” he whispered. “Can I see you? Please?”
My hands trembled. “No. You've seen enough.” I abruptly pulled back the blankets and slid beneath them. “I'm sorry. I can't.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” Drostan said softly. “Can I stay like this?”
I glanced at him, meaning it to be just a glance, but then my gaze was drawn back to stay. I nodded my consent as I watched him stroke himself, remembering how Verisande had done it for him. An image of him holding her upside-down, her sucking his cock as he licked her pussy, flared in my mind. A sharp thrill ran through my torso, making my back arch, and I started stroking myself rapidly.
“Oh, Goddess, look at you,” he murmured. “You're so very beautiful, Seren. Those dark curls hanging around that fey face with just a hint of humanity. Those full lips. I want to feel them on my body, feel you slide them over my skin and suck at me.”
“This is so wrong,” I whispered.
“No, it isn't. What's wrong is that we're denying ourselves when I could be inside you right now,” Drostan growled. Then he went tender again, “I would tongue your clit until you screamed for me to stop.”
I shuddered, slipping a finger inside myself. The covers moved with my ministrations, and Drostan stared at the flapping fabric as if he could see through it. I stared at him—at his lips when he licked them, at his cock while he stroked it, at the glimpse of powerful muscles revealed in the open neck of his shirt. He started pumping up into his fist, and I slid down the bed, onto my side, to watch him as I ground myself on my hand and squeezed my thighs tightly. I was almost completely hidden by the blankets, but he watched me as if I was laid naked before him.
“I want to rub my face against your breasts,” Drostan went on mercilessly. “And suck at your pink nipples. Maybe wrap those mounds of flesh over my dick and fuck them.”
I cried out, my gaze locked on his thrusting cock.
“Would you suck my cock for me, Seren?” he purred. “Would you wrap those beautiful lips around my dick and work them down every hard inch? I'd be so very grateful if you did,” his voice dropped into a deep baritone. “I would do whatever you wanted if you did that for me. Lick your pussy again. Tongue your asshole. Suck your tits. Tell me what you like, you beautiful, wicked woman.”
“All of it,” I whispered.
Drostan made a sighing sound of pleasure. “All of it? Would you want me to finger your tight little asshole as I flicked my tongue over your clit?”
“Fuck,” I groaned. His dirty words were doing it for me; I was nearly there. “Yes. Keep talking, Drostan.”
“More? Would you want me to fuck you savagely, getting my cock nice and wet in your dripping pussy before I slid it, ever so gently, into your ass?”
“Yes!”
“Oh, you dirty girl,” Drostan drawled. “I would love to do that to you. To work my cock into your pink puckered hole. To slide it deep as I rubbed your pussy. To claim you in every way a man can. I would hold you on my lap as I fucked your ass, spreading your legs wide so your desire would drip onto my cock and ease the way. You'd be so wet, Seren. Screaming for more. And I would give it to you. I would fuck you wildly and make love to you tenderly until we both came. And then I would hold you in my arms and stroke your hot flesh until we were able to do it all over again.”
I cried out, moaning my way through a climax that had me seeing stars behind my eyelids.
“Seren, say my name, baby,” Drostan begged.
“Drostan,” I said as I shivered into aftershocks.
Drostan roared and gave one last powerful thrust into his fist. His cock emptied in thick streams across his belly before he fell back on the pillow, panting. He reached out as he rolled onto his side, and I went into his arms. The blankets bunched between us, but that hardly mattered when his mouth found mine. Again, it was just a tender brush of lips on lips before he settled me in against him, my cheek laid on his chest. I sighed in relief as I stared at the thick lines of desire striping his golden skin.
This was so fucked up.
Chapter Sixteen
I woke up alone. The shower was going. My first thought was that Drostan takes a lot of showers. My second was that there was a reason he needed to take this particular shower. My stomach lurched, and I sat up, abruptly awake and utterly horrified.
“What the fuck?” I whispered as I replayed everything that had happened between us.
I didn't know if it was the distance between us or what, but I was able to think straight again. I knew this wasn't normal, not even for the Call. Something was wrong. The Call of Danu doesn't make people fall in love, it makes them fall in lust. I had done the latter, sure, but I'd also felt something for Drostan. I wanted him desperately; I could still feel the ache of it in my chest. It was unreal; I'd never pined for anyone like this, in this anxious, clawing way.
“It's not real.” I climbed out of bed, snatched my jeans off the floor, and yanked them on. “This doesn't make sense.”
If Danu was calling us together, she'd make us attracted to each other, maybe even desperately attracted, but she wouldn't give me this aching need to have Drostan forever. She doesn't force love onto people. And yet his name was playing on a constant loop in my mind, his face flashing in my memories. My chest was tight with panic at the thought of losing him when he was no more than ten feet away.
“This is fucking insane,” I muttered as I started to pace. “It can't be the Call. It can't. And if it's not the call, then what is it?” I looked around the room and my gaze landed on the tray of empty plates Drostan had set by the door. I narrowed my gaze at it. “No. They wouldn't.”
I'd been worried about being drugged. I was imprisoned by drug dealers, for Danu's sake; it wasn't a huge leap. But why would they drug me with an aphrodisiac? And what kind of aphrodisiac makes someone fall in love? What could give me this clenching need? This ache that made me—even now, with part of my senses returned—want to run to Drostan and beg him to be mine forever?
My stomach turned suddenl
y as I thought of my husbands. Of my children. Thank the Goddess I hadn't given in to that blind lust and done more with Drostan, but still, I'd done enough. More than enough to make me sick.
I ran to the bathroom, threw open the door, and hurried to the toilet. I heard the water cut off, but I was too busy retching to care. I heaved up the contents of my stomach until there was only bile left, then heaved some more. I kept seeing the accusing faces of my husbands—their disappointment and heartbreak over my betrayal. I spat, flushed the toilet with a weak hand, then sat back and started to cry.
Shivering warmth ran over me just before Drostan laid a wet hand on my shoulder.“Seren?”
I jerked away from him. “Don't touch me!”
Drostan was naked, his expression shocked as he bent over me. My entire body went tight with desire at the sight of him, and I moaned, trying to push my arousal away. He reached for me again. Love—wild, obsessive love—rushed through my veins like acid, burning me with need. I wanted him so badly. I bit the inside of my mouth and surged to my feet, going to the nearest sink.
“Seren, what's wrong?” Drostan hovered behind me, dripping wet and glorious.
I ran the cold water and rinsed my mouth, then splashed my face. It helped a little. “I think I've been drugged.”
“What?” he whispered.
“I'm sorry, Drostan, but I need you to stay away from me.” I grabbed a towel and wiped off my face, then handed it to him. I was starting to feel stronger already, and I had a feeling that getting the food out of my belly had helped. “I'll get out of your way.”
“Hold on!” Drostan grabbed my upper arm. “You were not drugged, Seren. I feel no different than I did yesterday, and I ate the same food you did.”
“You're also a fairy,” I reminded him. “If it was anything like Newt, it wouldn't work on you. I'm half-human, Drostan.”
He blinked and gaped at me.
I ground my teeth together, fighting the urge to touch him. My fingers ached with the need to run them over his wet body. But I concentrated on my husbands instead; their faces and my love for them. As soon as I let that real love consume me—the warmth of a true connection, the steely knowledge that nothing could hurt us, and the brilliant satisfaction that I hadn't known before I'd met my husbands—the panic inside me eased. I took a deep breath, something awakening inside me while something else withdrew, whimpering.
“What just happened?” Drostan stared at me warily.
“True love,” I said simply.
“I love you too, Seren,” Drostan declared, a joyous expression on his face. “I know I said I didn't, but I didn't want to scare you. And I—”
“Drostan,” I gently cut him off. “I'm not talking about you.”
“What?” His face fell.
God, this was awful. I was going to kill those bastards. They were fucking with both of us; hurting my relationship with my husbands and breaking Drostan's heart. My husbands! Had my captors done this just to get video of me with Drostan and use it to torment my husbands? Why? What could they gain from that? Why keep me in such a luxurious cage and then do that to me? But I couldn't think about that now; Drostan was waiting for an answer.
“I meant the love I have for my husbands,” I explained. “Tiernan once told me that true love can break any enchantment. Just thinking about them eases this ache I feel for you.”
“But it's the Call,” Drostan whispered morosely. “It has to be. You're finally feeling it.”
“No, it's not,” I said firmly. “Get dressed and we can talk about it more.” I walked out.
Drostan followed me out of the bathroom, still dripping wet, the towel dangling from his hand. “No! We're talking about it right now!”
“Don't yell at me,” I said in a dangerous tone.
Drostan blinked. “I'm sorry. I'm just . . . I'm so frustrated. You finally admitted that you feel something for me, then you say you've been drugged?”
I sighed. “I know, and I'm so sorry, Drostan.” I clenched my teeth. Merely looking at his wet, beautiful, naked body was starting to physically hurt me. “Please, get dressed and then we can talk.”
“Fine,” he grumbled and went back into the bathroom.
I let out a sigh of relief. Then I called out, “Hey, Witches! Anyone there? You listening to me?”
“Yes, Your Majesty?” a taunting voice came through the hidden speaker.
“I know what you did to me. I don't know why you want me sexin' up Drostan and panting after him like a teenager, but it's going to stop. I'm staying the fuck away from him now, and I'm not eating anything that doesn't come in a sealed package. You got me?”
“Then you will starve.”
“So be it.” I shrugged. “I'm a fairy; I'll survive. But I'm not eating your drugs.”
“You were not drugged.”
“Bull-fucking-shit! I just puked up the remnants of my lunch, and I'm suddenly feeling better. Don't feed me a line of crap as well as your shitty drugs. Once an extinguisher, always an extinguisher, bucko. I know criminals. You drugged me all right. What I can't figure out is why.”
“I assure you, Queen Seren, you were not drugged. But I will see about getting you prepackaged food.”
“Did the Councils respond?” I gave up on arguing with him about the drugs. He wasn't going to admit what he did, but at least he knew that I knew.
“Yes,” he said tightly. “The Fairy Council has agreed, but the Human Council is still undecided.”
“Honestly, I'm shocked the Fairy Council gave in,” I muttered. “The Human Council won't give you what you want. It doesn't matter what you do to me. They're like the United States Government in that way; they don't negotiate with terrorists.”
“Then we will have to find another way to inspire them.”
The speaker clicked off, and fear lanced through me.
“What does that mean?” I growled.
No response.
“Hey, asshole!”
Nothing.
“Fuck!” I snarled.
“Seren,” Drostan said softly. He was standing in the bathroom doorway, looking strikingly handsome, beautifully broken, and absolutely grim.
“How much did you hear?”
“Most of it,” He went to sit on the bed. “They're going to hurt more people, aren't they?”
“I think it's a possibility,” I murmured as I went to lean against the wall. My hands clenched to keep from reaching for him. I just had to ride this out, whatever it was. “There's nothing we can do about that.”
“What about us?”
“There can't be an us, Drostan,” I said firmly. “I know what real love feels like and what I've been feeling for you, isn't it. It's the facsimile of love, the story of it, as if . . .” I trailed off as something tickled in my memories.
“Yes?” Drostan scowled.
“Holy fuck! It's Gancanagh magic!”
“What are you talking about?” Drostan's eyes twitched. He was probably on the verge of losing it.
“The drug!” I hissed. “They laced it with Gancanagh magic. What I'm feeling is very similar to accounts I've read of humans affected by Gancanaghs. They become obsessed to the point where they ignore everything else in their lives, even people they love. And when the Gancanagh leaves them, the human goes mad. They search for their missing lover until they die.”
“Yes, Seren, I'm Seelie; I know all about Gancanaghs,” Drostan huffed as he stood.
“Don't!” I shouted and held up a warding hand. “Don't come near me!”
“This is ridiculous!” Drostan kept coming.
I backed up until he was chasing me around the room.
“Stop!” I snarled.
“Seren, you're being silly. I'm not going to hurt you.”
“Drostan, I swear to the Goddess, if you don't sit your ass down and stay the fuck away from me, I will dream-dust you!”
Drostan stopped and gaped at me. “What is wrong with you?” He flailed his hands in exasperation. “We were a s
tep away from making love, not more than an hour ago, and now you won't let me touch you?”
“We were not about to make love,” I hissed. “We were about to crudely fuck. I told you what's wrong. Now, if you think I'm acting insane, then fine, humor me for a day. If this hasn't worn off by tomorrow, we can talk about the possibility that it's something else.”
“Worn off?” Drostan shook his head. “Why would they drug you with Gancanagh magic, Seren?” He waved his hand at the ceiling. “What would they gain from that? It makes no sense! You are simply trying to find an excuse for your behavior because you feel guilty!”
My stomach clenched, and I had a moment of doubt. But then I concentrated on the love I felt for my husbands. Fairy tales say that true love's kiss can break any spell, but the truth is that the kiss is irrelevant, it's the emotion that counts. I'd once seen an enchanted man fight off the magic binding him by merely thinking about his wife. I could do that too. It may be harder for me since this was a drug, but I'd gotten the remnants out of my belly now, and, hopefully, the drug would be working its way out of my system. And thanks to my fey immortality, my system processed things exceptionally fast.
