Chapter Eleven
Chapter 11
K elyn stood and pulled off his shirt, groaning as the stretch tweaked at his back muscles.
“That bad, huh?” Valor walked around behind him and he flinched when her fingers touched his spine. “I’ll be careful. Just show me where it hurts the most. Here?”
She touched gently where his wings had once sprouted from his back. When they’d been severed, nothing had remained, not even a lump. A thin scar was the only reminder he’d ever had anything back there.
He nodded. “That’s the spot.”
“The scars are like those at your wrists and on your chest.”
“The sigils were a living, magical part of me. Sort of like stripping out my veins when I lost those. But the pain was brief and I don’t feel anything on those places now.” Unfortunately.
He missed having the sigils. He’d once been able to conjure air magic that might have rivaled Valor’s. And the sigils had aided his navigation and enhanced his senses. Having sex with an activated sigil? Mind-blowing. Or so he’d been told. He’d never brought out his wings or exposed his activated sigils to a human woman while having sex. Just not wise.
“Lie down,” Valor said. “Let me get my crystals out of my pack. I never go anywhere without them!”
He crawled onto the bed and lay stomach down. Tucking the mouse alicorn and black ring to the side, he fisted a hand under his chin and listened to her rummage through her backpack. He liked crystals and felt an affinity to selenite and tourmaline. The two were protective and cleansing stones. He wasn’t sure about the circle he wore at his neck, but he thought it could be black tourmaline.
The sound of rocks clacking preceded Valor’s voice. “I’ve got quartz, amethyst and seraphinite. Not sure how the seraphinite will react to a faery. It’s a stone of the angels, you know.”
“Legend tells that we faeries descended from the angels. That we were the Fallen Ones who landed on a realm other than this mortal plane, and that’s how Faery was created. My mother used to tell me faery tales when I was little.”
“The creation of Faery originated from angels? I like that. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen my parents. I’m going to lay these on your back and work a little magic, and when your muscles have relaxed, I’ll try a gentle massage. You good with that?”
“Work your witchy magic, witch. I’ll let you know if it hurts.”
“I don’t hurt guys.”
He laid his cheek on the bed and closed his eyes. “You just tease them, eh?”
“A chick’s gotta have a little fun, right?”
He smirked. The cool touch of the crystals to his back felt great. And he knew when she laid the seraphinite on his spine between his missing wings because he immediately felt the energy in subtle vibrations that shivered across his flesh and into his muscles. It might have even permeated into his bones. He moaned with satisfied relief.
“That feels good?” she asked.
“It definitely hits the spot.”
“And that’s the seraphinite. Cool. Then I’ll let that one sit there a bit and do its thing.”
“So, your parents,” he said as he felt her arrange the crystals along his spine. “You haven’t seen them in a long time? Where are they?”
“Not sure. I never really knew either of them. I was raised by my great-grandma Hector in the 1940s.”
“Hector?”
“Yeah, it’s short for Hectorine. She is a gorgeous woman.”
“Is?”
“Yes, she’s still alive and intends to be so for as long as she can manage. You know we witches can achieve immortality with a spell, right?”
“I’ve heard that. Are you immortal?”
“I am. Or, at least, until the spell wanes. It’s something we have to reactivate every hundred years.”
“And how is it activated?”
She leaned over him, and the sweep of her hair shivered across his bare skin. Kelyn closed his eyes and tried not to groan at the delicious sensation, and it took a lot of effort to remain silent. “You don’t really want the details, do you?”
“I do.” He nudged up his shoulder blade. “Right there. Is that the quartz? It can feel it vibrate in my muscle.”
Valor chanted some words in a language he didn’t recognize, and as they whispered into his subconscious his muscles relaxed even more.
“Good,” she said softly. “The healing energies are beginning to seep into your being. So. The immortality spell that grants a witch a century of life. Not all witches do it, just those of us who are averse to growing old and want to spend as much time as we can living, discovering and learning. It involves a vampire and his, erm...heart.”
“You have to seduce a vampire?”
“Seduction can be a boon to get the vampire to comply, but no. We have to consume a live, beating vampire heart to gain immortality and stop the aging process.”
Kelyn pushed himself up on the bed to glance over his shoulder at her, but she avoided his gaze.
“I know. Gross,” she confirmed. “Lie down.”
He did, and she replaced the quartz that had tumbled off his shoulder. Should he remind her that one of his brothers was vampire?
“We all do what we gotta do and what aligns with our morals, am I right?” Valor asked.
Like sacrificing his wings because he’d wanted to save the girl? “I guess so. No judgment. But if I ever see you eating a rare steak, I promise I will have a moment of judging you.”
“Isn’t that something your brother Blade would do?”
“Would you ever go after Blade for his heart?”
“Absolutely not. I sought a vicious killer when I performed the spell for myself. He had harmed so many.”
“So you played judge and jury?”
“You’re getting judgy now.”
Kelyn laid his head down again and closed his eyes. Who was he to judge what was right and wrong?
“Let’s take the crystals off and I’ll massage your back...”
Setting the crystals up by the pillow, she then straddled him, sitting on his hips. Kelyn’s cock responded to the intimate connection of her thighs hugging his. As long as he was lying facedown, everything would be okay. The touch of her hands on his skin felt like cool water to his aching muscles. She didn’t press hard, only glided back and forth where his wings had once been and down along his spine. His core shivered and he smiled.
“You’ve got great lats and delts,” she commented.
He chuckled softly. “You’ve got a soothing yet stimulating touch. You should be careful. I might respond in ways you hadn’t expected.”
“I think that means you’re feeling better. But is the massage helping the pain a bit?”
“It is. Thank you.”
Her touch grew firmer and she focused on his shoulders for a while, then slowly moved down his back. Paying attention to each vertebra, she glided her thumbs progressively downward. If he could make himself relax, he might even forget about her thighs squeezing against his hips. But his erection was not of a mind to let him off so easily. Damn.
“I have a confession to make,” she said.
So did he, but he sure as hell wasn’t going first with this one. “Go for it.”
“Hmm...” She sighed. “Should I?”
“Yes, witch, you should.”
“Okay, fine. I suggested this massage so I could touch you.”
Kelyn smiled at that. Score one for the wounded faery!
“You’re so strong and fierce, Kelyn. Everything about you screams controlled sensuality. Your body moves like a precision instrument. And your smiles and the looks you give me sometimes. And the way your brow furrows when you’re either judging me or challenging me.” She sighed. “But to see you out of sorts because you’re hurting? Makes my heart hurt. And I won’t go there with the s word. Too many sorrys already. But I do want to go here.”
The touch of her mouth to the center of his back, below his neck, startled Kelyn for a moment. Because she lingered, her warm lips caressing his skin reverently, the tiny puffs of breath from her nose sweeping his skin. And as she leaned forward, her breasts brushed his lower back.
“You’re a beautiful man, Kelyn.”
Being called beautiful was weird. He wasn’t. And she was being kind. The sort of kind that a person felt was necessary to make another feel good. He was lacking now. He’d never be the same man without his wings. Could he ever measure up?
The next kiss landed right where his wings should have flinched because of her touch. And he felt Valor’s energy seep into him in waves of heat and violet and—hmm, a twinge of warning?
Yes, that had been a strange zap that tightened his muscles painfully. His body must remember that she had been the reason he no longer wore wings. Get her off , it seemed to say.
And yet his brain could only process the intensity of his growing desire to turn over and kiss her fully and deeply. But when he pushed himself up to begin to turn, she pressed a palm against his shoulder.
“Wait,” she said. “Let me do this.”
The witch’s hands worked more magic than she could probably imagine. Kelyn felt her touch deeply, in his muscles and through to his bones. It wasn’t uncomfortable until she skated over the places where his wings had been severed. But those glancing touches remained brief. Overall, her touch buoyed him like no pink lake could.
The urge to turn over and pull her down on top of him so she could feel all of him was strong. He wasn’t crass, though. Yet her touch did not warrant patience.
“Feeling better?” she asked.
“Much.” He nudged the seraphinite on the pillow and glanced aside. “It’s pouring out there. We’re in for the night.”
“I figured that. Want to watch a cheesy movie?”
“Truth?”
“Always.”
“I want to make out.” He turned over beneath her and looked up into Valor’s not-so-surprised grinning face. “What do you think?”
“Sounds better than a movie.” She swept her fingers down his chest. She hadn’t quite sat down on his hips, which was a good thing. But when her strokes lowered to above the waistline of his jeans, Kelyn hissed through a tight jaw. “My magic helped to relax you. I could feel your muscles surrendering and growing lax. But parts of you are very...”
“Tense,” he said with a wink. And, grabbing her wrist to stop her from venturing lower, he pulled her down until she was nose to nose with him. He inhaled her witchy scent of sage and cheeseburger and studied her gaze. “There’s only one way to ease that tension.”
“Yeah, I figured. Oh, what’s this?” She studied her fingers, which now glinted with his innate dust.
“You are familiar with what happens to faeries when we get aroused?”
“Right. I thought that was only when they come. Like, from orgasm.”
“Close. Some of us put out dust when we’re feeling...you know.”
“Really? So, whenever you’re turned on? Hmm...” She rubbed her fingers together, then sniffed the dust. “I could use this stuff.”
“Seriously, witch? I thought we were, uh...doing something here?”
“Sorry. It’s just so useful. And hard to come by.”
“My dust is not included on your ingredient list.”
“But you never know—”
He pushed up her shirt and tugged it off over her head, startling her to abandon her absentminded wondering. She wore no bra and her breasts were small and—the word adorable came to mind, but he wasn’t sure she’d like that assessment. Kelyn pulled her down to lick one nipple and she quickly forgot the sparkles on her fingers. She shouldn’t worry about missing out on collecting some dust for her spells. If they had sex, she’d be covered with the stuff. It made having sex with mortal women difficult to explain, so he had often tried to pick up clubbers glittered up to the nines. Come morning? Neither could determine who wore more glitter than the other.
“Oh, that’s good,” she said as he laved his tongue around her tight nipple. “You’ve definitely recovered from your grumpiness.”
“That I have.”
With his tongue, he teased a trail across her heated skin to her other nipple, as if indulging in a tiny treat. He was fascinated by their tightness and the barely there swells of her breasts. Every lick seemed to produce a different tone of pleasure from her. He most certainly was no longer in a bad mood, even if subtle twinges of pain had already returned to his back.
Easing his hips against hers, he reveled in the pressure against his erection. Oh, yes, if she moved her hips like that...
“Wait.” She sat up, moving out from under him, and put her hands over her breasts. “This isn’t the right time.”
“The right—what do you mean? Aren’t you into me?”
“Yes, very much so.” She studied her fingers again, frowning at the dust that glittered on the tips. “But something doesn’t feel right. It’s like we haven’t earned this.”
“That’s...” The strangest excuse for trying to get out of sex he had heard. Not that he’d been given excuses before, but seriously? Man, had he read this woman wrong! Kelyn blew out a frustrated breath. “I get it. You’re not into faeries.”
He shoved himself up and strode over to the window, pressing a palm to the rain-streaked glass. He flexed his shoulders, pressing back toward the center of his back. The ache had returned. And his cock was hard as steel, which was why he wouldn’t turn to face her. Talk about leaving him high and dry.
“So, what time are we heading out tomorrow?” he asked. “Do we know where we’re going?”
“Not yet. And would you chill, Kelyn? You’re acting like I slapped you or something.”
He turned a look over his shoulder. “Didn’t you?”
“I did not!”
“Well, it felt like it. I’m getting mixed signals from you, Valor. One minute you’re kissing me and touching me in all the ways that you know turn a man on. And the next?” He turned and stretched out his arms in surrender. “This.”
Her eyes strayed to his obvious erection, and she inhaled deeply and let her shoulders drop. Hands still over her bare breasts, she nodded. “You’re right. It is me. But it’s not because I don’t like you or am not interested. You’re the sexiest man to walk into my life. Ever.”
“Then what’s wrong, witch?”
She shuddered. “You know you said witch like a swear word?”
“Sorry. I’m just—” he flung up his hands in defeat “—off balance right now. The moon and my phantom pain. All this travel. And I’m having trouble with this whole us thing.”
“I get that. And they are all legitimate excuses—”
“I’m not making excuses, Valor. This is me. I expected... Hell, I read you wrong.”
“You didn’t. But I read you wrong. I think you’re still hung up on what I did to you. How could you possibly trust me or even desire me after—”
Kelyn silenced her foolish protest with a long, hard kiss that opened her mouth and branded her with his desires. He wanted her so desperately right now. And she had lured him close enough to taste that which he wanted.
But if she didn’t think the time was right, he didn’t want to press. He was no man to force a woman into anything.
Reluctantly, he broke the kiss. “After?” he said to her uncertainty. “What’s done is done, Valor. Move forward. I’m trying to. But it’s like walking up a down escalator with you. I don’t ever seem to connect.”
He grabbed his shirt. Tugging it on, he strode toward the door. “I’m going down to check out the casino. While I’m there I’ll give Erte a call. Good friend of mine who is an elf. He may be able to point me toward someone who knows this area and the best place to find mermaids.” He paused at the door and glanced to her, still sitting there with her hands over her bare breasts. “Whatever that chip is on your shoulder about how I should feel about you? Knock it off, will you?”
And he walked out, hating that he was leaving her alone, but also knowing he hadn’t the patience for her self-deprecating bullshit anymore. She needed to get over it. Or else stop trying to tease and seduce him.
The witch couldn’t have it both ways.
* * *
Valor called Eryss, her best witchy friend back in the United States and also the principle owner of the Decadent Dames brewery. Eryss was in the process of opening another brewery in Santa Cruz, California, because that was where her man, Dane, lived and they’d agreed to share two places. Eryss got winter in Minnesota. And Dane was mostly okay with that. The guy was a scientist surfer dude who also worked for a secret agency dedicated to protecting paranormals from human discovery, so it was all good. Except for the part where he’d almost killed Eryss when he was carrying an enchanted witch hunter’s dagger. Long story.
“Wales?” Eryss asked on a yawn. Valor hadn’t done the time-change math and wasn’t about to. “That sounds exotic.”
“Really? The hotel we’re staying in has a cheesy casino, overcooked Juicy Lucys and I don’t think it ever stops raining here. But apparently it’s the best place to find a mermaid.”
“That it is. You have someone in the know to help you do that finding?”
“That’s Kelyn’s job. He might be looking into that right now. He’s...not here in the room. Went down to the casino to pout.”
“A pouting faery? Why? Are you two fighting?”
“Maybe. No. Yes. I don’t know. Eryss, I’m such a freak.” She knelt on the bed, then fell backward, head to the pillow and free arm flung out to the side. “I really like Kelyn, and I know he likes me, but...oh! Dr. Robert Chase, I feel like a sixteen-year-old angsty girl saying that.”
Eryss laughed. “I don’t think we women ever get over lacking confidence around men we admire. But you and Kelyn do have a history. I can understand your trouble hashing out your feelings toward him. As well, you do have the bad breakup that I know is still bugging you.”
“Yeah, well, I tried to do something to alleviate that pain, but apparently it’s not to be. Good ol’ Valor. Just one of the guys.”
“You’ve got to stop calling yourself one of the guys, Valor. I need to say this, and you know it’s true. You push men away.”
“No, I don’t. I’m one of them. I’m a part of their tribe!”
“Exactly. And by infiltrating their tribe you confuse them and push them away.”
Valor sighed and slapped a hand over her forehead. Tell it like it is much? “You know too much about me.”
“What’s that phrase you always say? Bros before ohs?”
So Valor preferred friendships with men. Oftentimes that meant she went without the orgasm she could have had if they’d been more than merely friends.
“You need to reverse that thinking,” Eryss said.
“I’m trying to. But I’m...unlovable.”
“Nonsense. I love you.”
“Whoopee.”
“I heard that.”
“Sorry. You know I get down on myself so well.”
“You do, indeed.”
“It’s that I think I like Kelyn. The guy fascinates me. And he’s like Mr. Kind of the World. Nothing ever seems to rattle him, unless it’s his faery period.”
“His faery period? Do I want to know?”
“It’s phantom pain he’s feeling from his wings. But beyond that tiny bit of grumpiness, he’s like the perfect man. And when he kisses me...”
“He’s kissed you? We’re talking about a new kiss, not the one in the forest when you thought you were dying?”
“Right. New kisses. As in plural. He’s given me a few. And, oh, mercy, they made my toes curl.”
“Then what’s the problem? How does he feel about...you know, everything?”
Yeah, Eryss was too nice to just come out with “Does he hate you for being the reason he sacrificed his wings?”
“He says he’s over it and it doesn’t bother him.”
“Then believe him, Valor. I know how stubborn you can be about things. Will you give him a chance to be your hero?”
Now Valor scoffed. “A hero? Please, Eryss, you know I don’t need a freakin’ hero to ride up on his white steed and whisk me off in rescue.”
“Sounds like a cool fantasy, but I agree. We women don’t always need that kind of hero. Sometimes, to be a hero, a man merely needs to see us for what we really are. He needs to see our truths.”
Like wanting to be accepted by a man and being really loved instead of considered just another one of the guys? Valor sighed.
“That sigh tells me you agree. But you know what? Sometimes you have to actually step forward and tell the guy what you want him to see. Believe it or not, the males of our species are not mind readers. Nor are we women. Just as I’ve told Dane many a time. I will never understand his always thinking I should know what he wants for breakfast. I mean, come on.”
Valor chuckled. “You have found yourself an amazing man. I never would have thought you’d hook up with a science geek who also hunts witches.”
“He’s not a witch hunter. I thought we’d cleared that up. It was that weird enchanted dagger that was making him think he wanted to kill witches.”
“Yeah, but he killed you dozens of times through your various reincarnations.”
“Right? Whew! So glad that’s over.”
“Speaking of you and Dane, how’s the little one? Kicking a lot?”
“I seriously cannot wait to get this little guy out of my stomach and into the world. I think I’ve got an MMA fighter in there, for all the kicking he does. And always in the middle of the night!”
“Like right now? I’m sorry I called so late. But you’ve cheered me up. Or, at least, you’ve given me things to think about.”
“Relationships are hard for a reason. They’re not worth having if you don’t put some effort into them. But it’s just the beginning for you and Kelyn. You two are on a fabulous adventure together. Enjoy it. And no matter the outcome, you need to live in the now. And speak your truths. Yes?”
“Yes! We rappelled out of a helicopter over a pink lake.”
“I don’t even have words for that. I can’t imagine.”
“It rocked. Oh, I love you, Eryss. You always make me feel better.”
“Me and my snoring husband send our love. Now, go find the guy and kiss him back and tell him what you really want from him.”
“I...”
“Valor,” she said warningly.
“I will. I mean, when he comes back to the room, I will. I don’t want to be pushy.”
Eryss’s heavy sigh said too much. “That means you really do like this guy. Because you generally play the aggressor in the relationship.”
“Calling Dr. Bombay, anyone?”
Eryss laughed. “I love that you’ve finally found someone to challenge your sense of how a relationship with a man can work. I hope he’s strong enough to push back as much as you do.”
“He is. Do you know he put up with drunk preflight me? Twice.”
“Give that guy a medal. Okay, take it slow but steady. And let him kiss that mermaid.”
“I will. Talk later, Eryss. Night.”
“It’s three in the morning, sweetie. I owe you one for this wake-up call. You’ll be hauling grains for weeks when you get back to town.”
“Who is doing it now?”
“Mireio talked Dane into helping her. I think she batted her lashes at him. She’s a kook. But you know we could never convince Geneva to lift a forty-pound bag of barley. She might chip her nail polish.”
Valor laughed. “Well, then, she could get one of her billionaires to buy her a new manicure.”
“She’s off the billionaires, didn’t you know?”
“I didn’t. That’s... Really? That chick never dates any man whose worth is less than ten figures. What’s up with that?”
“She wants to see what it’s like to date rustic. Those were her exact words.”
“Oh, that is so Geneva. I can’t wait to get back to town and hug all you girls. Give everyone a hug and kiss for me. Good night!”
Valor hung up and pressed the phone against her lips. She’d needed that conversation. And the encouragement. Maybe she did need to view this adventure with new eyes. Live in the now and not worry about what could never happen.
But as for telling Kelyn that she needed him to see her? That felt difficult. Like exposing herself to a crew of hungry hyenas. No, she couldn’t go that far.
“Slow,” she muttered. “That’s how we’re going to do this.”