Chapter 6 – Wave
Wave ended up in Risha’s car and on Salis’s lap.
It was a tight fit with all three of them, but Wave refused to leave Salis behind and, to her surprise, Risha didn’t even suggest it.
When they turned into Lark’s parking lot, she sighed happily.
She just couldn’t help it. They didn’t have a drive-through, but she was willing to suffer sideways glances if she could get Lark’s burgers.
“I want a triple cheeseburger, extra cheddar, banana milkshake, and no fries.”
Salis, who was accustomed to her eating habits, just chuckled. “You got it, cheesepuff.”
Risha, on the other hand, looked a bit green. “It already has triple cheese,” he muttered.
“If you are going to judge, you can stay in the car,” she muttered.
“No, I—” He stopped and mimicked zipping his lips like Salis had done. “Let’s go.”
By the time they were sitting down with their food, Wave couldn’t hold it in anymore. She pointed at Risha’s plate, eyes wide.
“What abomination is that?”
“I thought we weren’t judging,” Risha replied huffily.
“But… that’s just not right. There’s no patty. How can you order a burger with no patty? No chicken? No meat? No veggies? How is that sold as a burger?”
Risha’s expression turned smug, and he lifted the bun bursting with sauce and salad to his lips. “It’s the Sleethill special.”
“But—”
“Just eat up, sugar,” Salis interjected. “He’s baiting you.”
“I would never,” Irishen replied primly and kept eating.
Wave wanted to argue, but her stomach kept growling. With a shake of her head, she attacked her food and demolished it. Salis was halfway done with his food when she was done. Risha had stopped eating after her second bite.
Her stomach was still complaining. Adjusting to all the power shifting in her veins was burning calories faster than healing from the power buildup. Wave frowned at her empty plate, but before she could do anything more, Salis pushed his fries over.
“If you stick around, your highness, you’ll learn,” he said.
Wave glanced up and caught Irishen frowning at her.
“Learn what?” he muttered distractedly.
“That no fries is always a lie,” Salis replied smoothly. Then he looked at Wave with some worry in his eyes. “How bad is it?”
Wave didn’t want to admit that she could go for another damn burger at least. It almost felt like the more she ate, the more her body demanded.
“Wayla?” Risha prodded her when she stayed silent too long.
She felt tears well up and panicked, blinking furiously. She was not going to cry over a damn burger. No, nope, absolutely—
A cold hand pressed against her neck, and then Irishen pulled her into his lap. Coolness seeped in when he guided her face against his throat. Wave felt his throat move when he spoke, but she didn’t hear the words.
Somehow, Irishen maneuvered them up and carried her outside.
She just clung to him, trying to absorb as much of the cold as she could.
She expected him to put her down once they reached the car, but instead, he handed her over to Salis.
As soon as their contact broke, a whimper fought its way free of her throat.
“Hang in there, Way,” Salis murmured. “Just a second.”
Wave wasn’t sure what was going on anymore, but then the cool heaven of Irishen’s touch was back. Blearily, she looked around and realized she was sitting on his lap on the passenger side and Salis was sliding behind the wheel.
“You’re letting him drive?” Wave blurted out. For some reason, that seemed to be the most important thing in the world right now.
“Yeah,” Irishen replied curtly and when she flinched, he cursed softly. “Find the fastest way out of any residential area,” he barked at Salis, who revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot way too fast.
“What’s wrong with her?” Salis asked, throwing worried glances at her.
“Do you trust him, Wayla?” Irishen asked her instead. Wave nodded, the tiny movement causing pain to shoot down her spine. When it became clear she wasn’t going to say anything, Risha finally answered Salis’s question.
“She just claimed an heir apparent well, but she’s too damn stubborn to let that power flow.
The Council Force’s cells have suppression spells woven in to keep powers contained and she’s been in one for over a month.
Not to mention before that, she fucking burned out from suppression.
I bet that without Ilijas working on her constantly, she would still be unconscious. ”
Now it was Salis’s turn to growl. The car picked up speed. Wave blinked. That couldn’t be it. Could it? Were her powers building back up this quickly?
Now that she was thinking about it, she felt the power clawing at her insides. Irishen’s ice was the only thing dimming the pain of that, like it had been last time.
She was fraying at the edges, and the horror of what she might accidentally do to Salis if she slipped made her tremble. Irishen felt the change immediately.
“What is it, Wayla?”
“Not. Safe.” Wave gulped in air and focused on keeping everything inside. She couldn’t blast out a storm now. “Salis. Away.”
Irishen just shook his head. “He’s driving.”
Wave trembled even harder. She would hold on as long as she could, but—
Irishen cupped her face and lifted it up to meet his white, swirling eyes. He was using his own power, but it didn’t drive hers higher like it would have done in a power buildup. This was different, went deeper, stroked that slumbering part that she kept denying existed.
“What are we going to do?” Salis’s question pulled Wave’s focus apart.
“You are going to keep driving. Higher altitudes would be better,” Risha answered, not turning his eyes away from Wave’s. “She needs to get this under control and it won’t happen as long as she is fighting to hold it in.”
“Ca-can’t.” Wave’s teeth chattered too much to speak. In the next moment, Irishen’s lips sealed over hers. He became the air she breathed, full of ice, seeping into her lungs. Instinctively, Wave fought and pushed back.
Irishen’s hand grabbed her nape hard enough to bruise and kept their lips sealed together. With every breath that Wave pushed the ice back out, her breathing became easier. It took her a moment to realize that he was siphoning the excess power from her.
Helping, coaxing her to let go, Irishen kept breathing ice into her. Wave went limp in his hold and closed her eyes. The moment she stopped fighting him, the power started to flow easily from her to him.
“Oh fuck.” Salis gasped.
Wave’s eyes flew open, and she jerked back, breaking the connection. Every surface in the car was covered in a layer of ice.
“Keep driving. It’s all spelled to function with ice.” Irishen huffed and tried to pull Wave back, but she resisted.
“No, I—” She shook her head, trying to clear it. Sharing power like that was dangerous. What if she pushed too much at him? She had no experience in controlling power sharing.
“I can hold it, Wayla,” Irishen assured her.
Wave shook her head. He probably could until her siren side slipped the leash and rendered his mind to pieces. She could already feel it clawing free.
Irishen glowered. “Either you are losing the power yourself or I will pull it out of you, Wayla. You are not going to keep suppressing it like that anymore and hurting yourself.”
“There’s too much,” she whispered.
Irishen’s eyes immediately softened. “I know it feels like that, sweetheart. But it’s your power. You can control it.”
But Wave couldn’t. It was too much, too wild, and it felt angry. She had pushed all of it aside for ten years. It wasn’t going to just quietly slip into place now.
Still, he was right that she couldn’t hold it all in either. Pleadingly, she looked at Salis.
“Can you get out of range? I don’t want to hurt you by accident.”
“I can fly out,” Salis replied solemnly.
That was reassuring enough that a blast of power slipped free. The car swerved before Salis got it under control again. Irishen pulled her tighter against his chest and a layer of frost covered her skin.
“Just hold on five more minutes and we’ll be deep enough in the national park that you should be fine. There’s a lake for you to play with,” Salis replied, eyes locked on the road.
Wave hadn’t been paying attention to where they were going, but the little sports car was practically flying. All around them, tall, dark trees whizzed by. Focusing on controlling her breathing, Wave nodded. She could absolutely hold on for five minutes.
After two minutes, she was shaking and desperately tilted her head back, searching out Risha’s lips. Easily, he met her searching look and leaned down. More icy air filtered into her lungs and slowed her heartbeat.
Together, they kept breathing until Salis slowed the car and parked. She could smell the water in the air and Salis was out of the car in a blink, opening the door for Wave and Risha.
“Okay, your highness. I’m trusting her with you. Don’t let me down, or I will smite you,” Salis growled. White light shone over his shoulder and Wave couldn’t help but look, just in time to see massive silvery wings unfold.
“I’ll take care of her,” Irishen replied. “My blood for that promise.”
The archaic vow seemed to mollify Salis, who gave Wave one last one over. “I’ll wait for you back home and let Di and the rest know you are a bit delayed,” he said.
“Thanks,” Wave murmured, still awestruck.
The grin that spread over Salis’s face at her ogling eased some of her tension. He flapped his wings once, causing Irishen to take a couple of steps back, and jumped. His wings pushed more air at them and then he was airborne and ascending quickly.
“Damn show-off,” Irishen muttered, but he didn’t really sound annoyed.
Wave followed Salis’s flight until he breached the cloud cover. It was like that was the sign her power had needed. As soon as he wasn’t there to hold her attention, it tried to push free. Wave whimpered in pain.
“Okay, Wayla,” Irishen said sternly. “You are going to let go.”
“But—”
“No buts,” he growled. “I will force you if I have to.”
Now it was Wave’s turn to growl. “And how in the hell are you planning to do that?”
Irishen attacked with no warning. One moment, Wave was cradled in his arms and the next, she was splayed on a table of ice with thick bands forcing her in place. The cold felt so incredibly good against her back and neck that she moaned.
“First, let go of your aura,” Irishen demanded, eyes flashing.
“Or what?” Wave challenged him. Stupid. This was so stupid. She was bound to a table by a male she didn’t—well fuck, apparently, she did trust him because her pussy was slowly getting wet and not from fear.
“Or I will strip you naked and cover you in ice.”
Empty threat. Wave could hear the lie easily. “I might like it,” she retorted.
Irishen glowered at her. “Behave, morsel.”
She wanted to push him further, but her power had other plans. It crested without warning, shattering the bands of ice that held her down, her control of ice overpowering his. Irishen bodily slammed her back down.
“Oh no, sweetheart. You. Will. Let. Go.” Every word was punctuated by a nip at her lower lip. He didn’t grind against her, even though Wave could feel him hardening against her thigh. More ice teased her neck and caressed her sides.
If his touch had been demanding on top of his words, Wave would have fought him, but the soft and gentle way his ice cradled her broke her defenses.
With a shuddering exhale, she released her hold on her stormbringer aura the best she could.
It unfolded and stretched in her mind like a satisfied cat. For some reason, Wave thought about the way Jarred’s jaguar moved and prowled. Her body rolled with her power and Irishen hissed when she brushed against his erection, but he didn’t say or do anything else, waiting her out.
The feelings crashing through her were unfamiliar and not entirely pleasant.
It felt good not to hold on so tightly, but at the same time, her whole body burned like she had been swimming for days.
Her body was trying to adapt to the powers and it felt like there wasn’t enough space inside of her to hold them.
Her siren powers reared in response, and tears froze on her cheeks when she fought to keep them at bay. She was out of balance and if the cold hadn’t been surrounding her, Wave was certain she would have broken into millions of shards.
It took a long time, maybe an hour, just lying between icy Irishen and his ice table, until her aura settled enough for her to think anything beyond her next breath. Her power was still brimming, clawing to be let out, but now it felt like she had a better sense of it.
“That’s it, morsel. Well done,” Risha murmured. “Now, are you ready to get up?”
“Just don’t let go,” Wave blurted out. Her aura felt like it was rubbing against Irishen’s like a damn cat in heat. It would have been embarrassing, except his power kept stroking hers in return.
“I won’t,” he promised and slowly got up. His hold moved from her neck to her hand, but he never broke the contact. “Now, let’s go play with the water.”