Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
B odach waited for days for the right moment to reenter the spell trap, during which time he used his window scroll to watch his children begin their work in earnest. As they cocooned and removed the gardeners, guards, and armorer, he grinned with delight; watching them prevail over the McKeran proved almost as satisfying as if he’d done so himself. Finally, all of his creations moved into the stronghold, where he had no doubt they would continue growing and attacking the clan and their mortals.
Before changing into a smaller form, however, he had to meet with the FBI.
As soon as Bodach entered the senior agent’s office, a tall, spindly-looking man with no chin looked up from the file he was reading.
“Thank you for making the time, sir,” Patrick Grayson said as he stood and extended his arm. “We were very glad to get your call.”
“After I flew back to the U.S. and heard what had happened, it’s the least I could do.” He reached across the desk to shake the agent’s hand and darted a look at the file. It was marked with Marianne’s name, not his, he noted. “As I told your secretary, I’ve been traveling in Asia for work these past two years. My wife threatened to file for divorce just before I left the states, but I never heard from her after that. I was very shocked to find out that she had disappeared only a few weeks after my departure.”
“Do you know Special Agent Ava Travars?” Grayson asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t.” Unbuttoning his jacket and tugging up his trouser legs as a mortal would as he sat down, he said, “I read an article about her dying in that car accident. Terrible thing. You have my condolences.”
“Thank you.” Grayson seemed to spit those words out of his mouth, and then he tapped his computer keyboard and turned the monitor around to face Bodach. “We recovered some evidence near the accident site. I wonder if you’d mind taking a look.”
On the monitor a grainy video showed him in his current disguise climbing out of Ava’s rental car on the edge of the cliff. A moment later the screen became a jumble of static.
Bodach knew how to feign surprise like a mortal, of course, but he didn’t have to this time. “How did someone film this? I looked around the area closely before I got out of the car.”
“I recovered it from this trail camera, Mr. James.” Grayson took a small square device out of his desk, holding it up like a trophy. “You wanted to stop us from discovering that you were involved in Marianne’s disappearance. What happened two years ago? Did you murder your wife, and stash her body somewhere inside McKeran’s castle? Did Renard Beaumont help you?” He waited, and when Bodach didn’t reply, he said, “Whatever you did, I’ll bet Agent Travars found evidence to prove it. That’s why you had to kill her and make it look like an accident.”
“You’ve got most of that wrong.” He chuckled at the man’s expression of righteous indignation. “That conniving slut Marianne wanted to murder me , Agent Grayson. Travars walked into a trap she never would have found if she wasn’t so nosy. Rest assured they’re both still alive.”
“You’ll have to prove that in court. In the meantime–” No other words came out of Grayson’s mouth, and he clutched at his throat with both hands.
“I can’t let you arrest me, Patrick.” Bodach stood and went around the desk to stand behind the agent, placing his hands on the man’s shoulders as he studied the photo of him and a pretty redheaded woman sitting by his phone. “I was never here. You never spoke to me. You believe me to be a fine, upstanding citizen who would never harm anyone. Now, take a nap.”
As a small cloud of red crystal came out of Bodach’s mouth and enveloped Grayson, he collapsed onto his desk and went still.
Bodach took the trail camera, erasing the memory and tucking it into his jacket pocket before he deleted the video file from the agent's computer. He had learned to be wary of technology, but he’d never considered there might be a video camera in the woods. Yet again the mortals of this time taught him he could never assume he was safe.
Because Grayson might have told someone else about arresting him, Bodach used his glamour to change his disguise before leaving the agent’s office. Everyone smiled and nodded to him as he walked through the halls, as they saw their boss, not the dark Fae disguised as him. One pretty blonde secretary stopped him and asked if he would sign some equipment requisitions, her eyes alight with excitement. As soon as he followed her into her office, she closed and locked the door and hurled herself into his arms.
“I missed you so much this weekend, Patty,” she cooed. “Why didn’t you come over like I asked you to?”
“I didn’t know you wanted me to, dear,” Bodach said, amused.
“I always do,” the secretary said, rubbing her body against his. “It’s so much better at my place than the office. We always have to be so quick about it here.”
Grayson had been wearing a wedding ring, Bodach recalled, and decided to indulge in a little protective mischief.
“Close your eyes,” he told the girl, and then set the trail camera on the desk and switched it on. He then grabbed her buttocks and moved her so everything they did would be recorded. “Bend over the desk, you greedy little tramp. You’re going to show me just how much you adore your Patty.”
A half-hour later Bodach left the secretary dozing in her desk chair. Sex with mortals was never as good as it was with another Fae. One had to be so careful not to snap them in half in the throes, but the blonde’s eagerness had almost made up for it. While he’d been tempted to terrify her by shifting into his true form, using magic near the trail camera might burn it out for good this time, adding more suspicions onto him.
He returned to Grayson’s office briefly before walking out to the parking lot. Once he had driven out of sight of the FBI office, he shifted back into the banker’s form and headed for his seaside lair. He chuckled to himself as he imagined the agent reacting to the recording of him having sex with his lover, instead of Ian James getting rid of Ava Travars’ body, not that he would remember the latter.
“No more wasting time on idle pleasures,” he told himself as he stripped down to his skin before shouldering the harness with the arm-length silver wings he’d built for his forays into the spell trap. “Today I will find my treasure, and very soon Elphyne shall become my new kingdom.”
A s the laird staggered, Ava caught hold of him and tucked her shoulder under his arm. “Brace yourself on me but try not to fall down, okay? You’re too heavy for me to drag.”
He nodded, and with very slow, shuffling steps he accompanied her to the end of the row of cells, where another door stood open. Ava provided as much support as she could to the laird as she got him inside the end chamber. She pulled off her cloak to wrap it around him, and then closed the door. Once she looked around she realized they were in some kind of storage room that someone had been using as an impromptu bedroom. They liked growing things, for she saw seedlings, sprouts, and other young plants on a long shelf. From one opening in the ceiling came sunlight, and another dripped with water every few seconds. Beneath the dripping opening a large wooden barrel stood on a grate. Across from the plants was a large but simple rope bed, on which a thick ticking had been left, but no blanket. Ava spotted a cabinet that might hold clothes or blankets, but before she could check it out the laird toppled over onto the floor.
“Tasgall.” She dropped down beside him and checked his head. He managed to blink once while he stared up at her, but his body had grown so cold it made her shiver to touch him. “All right, I have to find a way to warm you up.”
She dragged her cloak out from under him, and after covering him with it she went over to the cabinet. Before she could open the doors they swung open on their own, and a thick plaid fell out at her feet.
“I think someone’s been bunking down here, Tas,” Ava said as she picked up the plaid and went to the rope bed, from which she dragged the ticking onto the floor and over to the laird. “Seems an odd place for someone to live, but I will have to thank them later.” She grunted a few times as she rolled him onto the mattress, wondering if his condition made him heavier as well as paralyzed. “Laws, you just don’t get any lighter, do you? I shouldn’t complain. I need the work out until Ben can fix up a weight bench for me.”
She kept talking nonsense to him as she tucked the plaid around him, and then sat back on her heels to see if he was warming up at all. The laird didn’t move or even blink now, and she couldn’t see any indications he was even breathing. She knew he wouldn’t die, and yet the sight of him in this death-like trance terrified her. The sense of being helpless also scared her. If the things that had attacked the people who were cocooned tried to get in here, she probably wouldn’t be able to hold them off by herself.
I need a heat source to warm him up.
Her breath showed white in the air, and when she went to the door to look out at the cells she wondered if whatever had cocooned those people would come back. That prospect made her step inside and close the door before she dragged the cabinet and table over to form a makeshift barricade. The cold pressed on her skin, suggesting the temperature had dropped even more. Since everything was made of stone here, it would soon grow even more frigid.
The laird had mentioned that a blizzard would strike tonight, and if that were true, then she might end up frozen right alongside him. Although she’d been assured no one could die inside the spell trap, it would render her helpless to protect them against whatever had attacked the others. She took a moment to gather herself before she went back over to Tasgall, who still lay as if he’d already been cocooned. By now the torch was close to burning out, and she used it to light a small grease lamp that barely lit the table on which it sat.
I’m the only heat source in here.
There was only one way she could warm up Tasgall fast, and it meant setting aside her dignity and all the promises she’d made herself. It wasn’t just about what she’d wanted almost from the first moment of setting eyes on him. She’d need him to help her fight off whatever was cocooning people, and find a way out of the dungeon so they could warn the others.
Keep telling yourself that, girl, and you might even believe it.
All Ava experienced was relief as she unbuttoned and took off her blouse, and then stepped out of her shoes and trousers. She wondered if he could see her in the dimness, and what he thought of her. She had a long, lean body, with modest curves that suited her frame, but she’d never be a centerfold.
“I’m sorry about this,” Ava said as she went to look down at him. “But I need you.” She sighed. “In more ways than one.”
She stretched out beside Tasgall and covered them both with the plaid before she took off her bra and panties and shifted over so she could lay bare atop him. The coldness of his body against hers made her gasp, but she worked her hands under him and held on, hoping that would chase off the coldness and rouse him.
“I never thought I’d have to be your thermal blanket, sir,” she told him as she parted her legs and pressed them against the sides of his. That put her sex right on top of his, and even though he was still dressed she could sense him swelling against her. “I know we agreed that we wouldn’t mess around with each other, but if you warm up for me, I just might break that promise. What do you think? Are you tempted to come back and have a look? I’m in my birthday suit.”
Slowly a groan came from deep inside his chest.
“I also want you to know that I won’t take advantage of you while you’re helpless.” Ava wanted badly to massage her pussy against his thick, confined cock, but he was helpless right now, and she believed that affirmative consent was everyone’s right, not just a woman’s. “You have to tell me yes, you want more, before this goes any further.”
“Aye.” Tasgall’s big hands lifted from his sides and curved over her bottom, and on her skin they seemed cool and stiff, but not frozen like before. “Want. More.”
For a moment his agreement thrilled her so much she thought she might come right there on top of him, and she shuddered as she resisted the wave. She wanted him inside her when she did that, so he could experience everything with her.
“I appreciate you saying that. Of course I do; look at me. I’m starting to sweat. You always make me do that. I’ve done nothing but hand wash my clothes every night because of how you get me all heated up.” She propped herself up on his chest so she could look into his eyes. “That’s why you need to thaw out and show me what else you want me to do.” He then stroked the curves of her buttocks with such tenderness she nearly purred out loud. “Touching, now that’s a good idea.” She undid the laces of his tunic, baring his amazing torso. “I don’t think I can get my hands under you, though, so maybe I’ll start from the front.”
Moving her hand down over the vault of his chest made his eyes narrow, and his lips parted to release another, softer groan. She took her time, watching his face as she caressed his smooth skin and kneaded all the big, tough muscles she encountered. Without pausing, she tugged the top of his trews down until the tips of her fingers brushed the soft curly hair surrounding the base of his cock. Touching him so intimately made her tremble, and go hot and wet between her thighs. She was going to love this beautiful part of him, and take him inside her, and let him fill her up.
“I’ve liked what I got here since that first time we kissed,” Ava admitted, her lips curving as she ran one finger along his shaft from root to tip. “When you pressed it against me, sir, I near about dropped my pants for you. It’s just as big and sexy as I thought it would be. I’ve wondered what it would be like, to play with it, and kiss it.” She encircled him with her hand and pressed the pad of her thumb against the satiny bulb of his cockhead. “I even dreamed about showing you my body, and I wanted so bad to take you in my mouth. You wanted it, too. Show me how much now.”
The laird lifted one hand to cup the back of her head and brought her lips down to his. In that moment he kissed her as if they were already making love, and he had his cock deep inside her while he tasted her with his tongue. It made Ava want to impale herself on him, to take all that thick hard velvety-steely cock into her softness and make it hers. Yet from the way he was kissing her she also sensed what he wanted, something that would heat him up so much he might never turn stone-cold again.
Ava reached for some of the grain sacks near their makeshift bed, and pushed them under his head to make a pillow for him. “You watch me, Tas.”
Shifting down until she reached his hips, she let her bare breasts caress him from sternum to navel while she situated her legs and his. Once she had herself in the right spot, she regarded that part of him that had swollen to such a dark, heavy girth it scared her a little. She didn’t have enough room to take all of him, but she also knew that didn’t matter. She hoped the sight of what she did to him would be just as stimulating for him as what she did to his other senses.
“I suspected you’d be supersize, but, oh, my.” She rubbed her cheek against his shaft like an affectionate kitten. “I love that about you, how big and strong you are. I’ve never been a little woman, I know that, and you still give me the sense that I am. You make me always believe I’m safe, too, even now.” She pressed her lips against the ridge of his glans. “Would you mind if I kiss on you a little?”
A guttural “aye” came from his throat.
Taking him between her hands, Ava made a slow, sensual business of engulfing him with her lips. He was huge and weighty in her mouth, but he didn’t push in or try to force her to accept more of his shaft than she could take, which helped her relax. She dearly wanted to pleasure him and make him forget about all the danger and trouble that awaited them outside this room. They couldn’t do anything more for the night, so this time had become a little oasis for them to enjoy.
Sucking his cock did make her clit swell and pulse until she thought she might go crazy with needing him inside her, but she wanted to give him all her attention now.
We can do this forever, Ava thought, almost terrified by the flood of desire that followed that thought.
Tasgall’s hands came up to cradle her face, and when she released him from the soft shackles of her lips he said, “I want inside you, my lady raven.”
Ava wanted to finish him, but the yearning in his gaze matched her own, so she rolled from atop him onto her back, and held out her arms. He seemed as big as a giant as he moved over her, and she braced herself for a surge of fear as he came between her thighs. Yet his torso fit to hers as if she’d been designed to serve as his perfect match in bed, something she’d never guessed because of their disparate statures. He reached down and took hold of his cock as he came into her, moving so slowly and carefully it made her breath hitch and her eyes sting.
How could she ever be afraid of this man?
“Ava.” He breathed her name while sinking into her, filling and claiming her body with exquisite care, but stopping only after a few inches. “Dinnae fret, my sweet lass. I shallnae hurt you.”
Chris had been just as lusty and yet careful with her as Tasgall was now. That similarity of both men made the last of her doubts vanish, and in that moment her softness seemed to flower around his thick shaft as she rolled her hips.
“You can’t hurt me, Tas. I’m yours tonight,” Ava said, and planted her heels against the ticking as he penetrated a little deeper into her pussy. When he stopped again, she nipped his chin and begged, “I want more of you, please. Don’t be careful. Have me, all of me.”
Tasgall’s eyes shifted over her face, and then he grunted as he plunged into her, burying his cock so deep inside her core that she came in the next instant, gasping and trembling from the terrible delight of losing all control.
“Again,” he said, his voice little more than a grating rasp as he drew out and thrust back into her, pumping her full of his thick, swelling length, fucking her through the last tremors of her climax and making it last so long she began to come a second time. “Aye, that’s mine now, all your pleasure, ’tis for me.”
Everything around them faded to blankness as the laird went on and on, his body possessing hers so thoroughly she wondered if she’d ever think of herself as she’d been before this night. He lifted her off the ticking and brought her up to straddle his knees, and clamped his hands on her hips as he worked her over his cock, kissing her as he went even deeper, and fisting one hand in her hair as he drew back to look all over her face.
“From this night forth I’m yours, my lady raven. My body, my lips, my cock. Whatever you wish of me, ’tis yours. You’ve but to say.” He pressed his brow to hers, and closed his eyes as his whole body went rigid. “Gods, but you unman me now.”
Ava put her mouth to his ear. “Then fill me up, Tas. I’ve wanted that, too.”
She held him as he let out a low roar and began to jerk, his cock jetting into her and triggering another, endless orgasm. Just as she thought she might pass out, he fell onto his side with her, surging into her one last time with a long, low sigh. Curling his arm to pillow her head, he brought his free hand to her damp breast, and caressed it gently as he kissed her chin and her lips.
“I should have known,” she said to him when she could finally speak. “You and I, we’d be like this. I suspected we might, a little. That’s why I tried to keep it from happening. You’ve ruined me for every other man in your world and mine.”
“’Tisnae a disaster, lass.” He rubbed his thumb over her nipple. “Now you’ve but to come to me when you desire this pleasure. ’Twillnae matter if ’tis day or night. I’m yours.”
“The same goes for me.” She saw his eyes darken and pushed her breast against his palm. “What, I can’t make the same offer?”
“You dinnae ken my desire for you.” He drew a few inches out of her, and then thrust back in, his cock already as hard as it had been when he’d first come into her. “I’d never leave you alone. I’d take you whenever I looked upon you. I’d drag you from your morning meal.”
“You’d have me in the great hall, in front of all the clan?” Ava teased, and then moaned as he pumped deeper. “Oh, you’re a very bad man for thinking that.”
“Half my brothers desire you,” he muttered, pushing her over onto her back and pinning her wrists to the ticking as he thrust harder into her softness. “A part of me, a beastly part, desires to show them that you’re mine, and mine alone. That only I may give you what you need. They need see that.”
“Same goes for all those pretty young thangs you got serving you,” she told him, giving in to her own jealousy. “I want them to watch how much you like fucking me. How well I can suck this big cock of yours. How you’ll never even look at another woman as long as I live.”
His jaw tightened. “Indeed, my lady raven. I never shall.”
Things went out of control from there, but Ava knew they both needed it. All the softness and romance of their first lovemaking faded as they came together in savage, uncomplicated lust for each other. Every time he pushed into her she raked him with her nails and pummeled him with her hips. They came together with cries that merged and echoed inside the small room, but even that didn’t stop them.
Ava ended up on top of Tasgall, riding him hard and fast as their blended fluids grew thick and heated, as if they’d been dipped in warm honey. The sound their bodies made as they stroked and pumped and gripped each other made her pant with the need to come again. She didn’t expect to, and then the laird put his fingers to her sex, catching her swollen, exposed clit and tugging on it tenderly yet steadily, refusing to leave her behind. She let out a wail of bliss as that last orgasm shattered her, and collapsed on his chest. He filled her again with his silky cream, and she shuddered in his arms as their sweaty bodies cooled.
Tasgall pulled the plaid up over her and brushed the wet hair back from her face. “I wish to keep my cock inside you while we sleep. I want to fack you awake.”
“You’d better do just that, or I’m going to be very cranky.” She wriggled a little to enjoy the presence of his sex inside hers, and then added, “Or maybe I’ll wake up first and finish what I started earlier, you know, before you stopped me.” She pressed her lips briefly against his chest. “Not that I minded the interruption.”
He stroked his hand up and down her back. “’Tis because inside you’re as wild and wanton as me.”
What else were they hiding from each other? Ava wondered, swallowing a yawn, and then she slipped into sleep as if nothing else mattered.