8. Ash
Chapter Eight
Ash
G ods, how was I supposed to keep her away from me when she insisted on coming with me?
Why the hell had I even said yes?
My gift was seduction—I’d always been able to make women fawn over me in an instant. But with Lorraine, everything was different. She didn’t only fawn over me, but looked at me with those large green eyes as if she was ready to give everything up to me.
I felt the same way around her. When we were together, I had to concentrate not to get swept up in who she was, from the way her voice sounded a little husky to how her large green eyes became hooded when she was riddled with lust. Her curves, her hair…
She looked like a vision in that huntress dress she’d chosen to wear. Did she know what it meant? Did she have any idea how attractive it made her that she hadn’t chosen the clothing of a homemaker or servant, but that of a hunter and warrior?
She had no idea, but the clothing she was drawn to meant something.
Stop it.
I had to stop being so hypnotized by her. She was a fucking human—no magic, no power. She shouldn’t have been able to beguile me.
We left the part of the forest where my cabin was hidden behind a veil of magic. When we stepped through the boundary where the power ended, Lorraine shivered. Goosebumps broke out on her skin.
I frowned. Could she feel the magic? She was just a regular human; she shouldn’t have been able to feel anything.
“Do you come here often?” she asked as we walked through the trees.
“Yeah,” I said. “I love it out here. I practically live here.”
“I can see why.”
We walked between the tall trees, and she touched the trunks as we walked past them. She did it in thought—I doubted she had a motive—but I could sense the druses and dryads in the trees respond to the touch. They were as interested in her as I was.
Something about her was different.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“What?”
“What part of the country are we in? They locked me up inside a truck when they took me, and I…” Her voice caught in her throat.
I could sense her distress. The smell pinched my nose, and I bristled that they’d tried to hurt her.
“I don’t know where I am,” she finished.
How was I supposed to answer that question? I couldn’t tell her where we were—it went against our code. We had to protect what was ours, and that meant keeping the humans away. If she knew, and she left and told others where we were, it put us in danger.
She could feel magic, too. She had to be able to if she was so aware of the boundary around the cabin, and if she connected with the tree spirits all around us—even if she didn’t know she was doing it. Lorraine was a wild card I wasn’t willing to play.
We heard footsteps through the trees, and I felt Lorraine’s fear skyrocket. Her steps faltered, and my throat closed until I realized I felt what she was feeling.
That was another thing—why did I know what she was feeling? I could feel the intent around me, the atmosphere when it shifted, and the menace of bad intentions, but her emotions shouldn’t have been like an open book.
“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice said. “If it isn’t Ash, awake and wandering.”
“Rowan,” I said with a grin.
Lorraine glanced at me. When she realized I knew the man who approached us, she relaxed. I felt the tension in her ease, and her fear fade enough to become bearable. She took a deep breath and let it out in a shudder.
Rowan appeared. Lorraine looked up at his tall, thin form and blinked. He had to be a sight to behold to a human woman who hadn’t seen any mythological creatures in her life.
“Who are you?” Rowan asked her.
I rolled my eyes. Rowan knew exactly who she was.
“This is Lorraine,” I said. “Lorraine, meet Rowan.”
Lorraine only stared. And why not? Rowan was everything short of a fairy tale creature, with snow-white hair and pale skin, sharp features, and violet eyes.
“It’s nice to meet you. What are you?” he asked.
“What?” Lorraine asked, looking confused.
I elbowed Rowan in the ribs, and he let out a gush of breath. He was being full of shit. He glared at me, but a smile played around his mouth.
“It’s nice to meet you, Lorraine,” Rowan said, smiling now. “Ash told me he had a visitor. How are you enjoying our neck of the woods?” His smile widened when he asked the question.
“It’s beautiful out here,” Lorraine said. “Everything is so different than what I’m used to.”
“I can imagine. You don’t get something like what we have just anywhere anymore.”
Lorraine nodded her head in agreement.
A breeze picked up while we made small talk, and as the sun set, the night crept in. It brought a chill with it. I felt the leaves of my tree rustle as the wind tugged at them, and the forest around me came to life with magic. I sensed the other spirits, the way the forest responded to their power. The trees and the earth all sang with the glory of its existence. Magic danced on my skin and ruffled my air, blowing along with the breeze.
Rowan closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying it, too. He turned his head toward the wind, and his white hair blew back, showing off his sharp nose and pointed ears.
I glanced at Lorraine. She didn’t look at Rowan, didn’t see what he looked like in his mythical state, because she was looking around her. Her arms broke out in goosebumps again, and she ran her hand down one arm.
Did she feel the magic, too? Or was she just cold?
My body came to life as I watched the way her slim fingers trailed a line up and down the back of her arm, the blond flyaway hairs around her face blowing in the breeze.
Heat washed over me, and my cock twitched in my pants.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and cleared my throat. Rowan’s eyes flew open, and he pinned me with a hard look—he could smell my arousal.
He glanced at Lorraine.
“I think we should head back. It looks like a storm might be headed this way,” I said to Lorraine.
Lorraine nodded. “That’s a good idea.”
Rowan gave me a pointed look. The breeze was more magic than it was the promise of a storm, but Lorraine didn’t know that, and I wanted to get her back in the cabin before nightfall. I wanted to get away from her before I did something stupid. Before I let my body take over, and my mind get high on the sexual desire that rolled off her in waves.
We walked back through the trees. I was hyperaware of Lorraine by my side, of every little movement she made—from the way she carefully scraped her hair out of her face, licked her lips, and rolled them to the way she drummed her fingers lightly against her thigh as we walked.
Her chest rose and fell with the exertion. I glanced at the delicate skin on her chest, the swells of her breasts.
I wanted to lick a trail down her chest and between her breasts.
I could sense her arousal grow as we walked, and she glanced at me.
It took everything I had to quash the need for her. I couldn’t be with her, not like that. I had my pick of the litter with any dryad in the vale. I had to stay away from the human.
By the time we reached the cabin, the magic was so strong in the air, it felt like water on my skin. I could drag my fingers through it. My body was strung tightly, and at any moment, I felt like I would snap. I was wired, ready to take her and fuck her.
I opened the door for Lorraine, and she stepped into the cabin. I didn’t trust myself to follow.
She turned to face me. “You’re not coming?”
I shook my head. Gods, if I followed her now, there would be no stopping what would follow.
“I have a few things to take care of,” I said. “I’ll be back.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll see you later, then.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. Her eyes locked on mine, and for a moment, I was on the cusp of falling into them. I leaned forward. I wanted to kiss her. I needed to be with her.
Stop it!
I grabbed the doorknob. “Good night,” I said. “I’ll make sure you’re safe tonight.”
She nodded and licked her lips again. I wanted to kiss those lips, to nibble on them. I wanted her on her knees in front of me, those lips wrapped around my cock and her big green eyes rolling upward to look at me. I wanted?—
I pulled the door shut, then forced myself to turn around and march away. I forced away images of her on her back beneath me, writhing, screaming my name.
I ignored images my lust conjured up of her on top of me, hands on my chest, her blond hair falling over her shoulders in a waterfall as she bucked her hips back and forth.
When I stepped over the boundary, I could finally breathe easier. The desperate lust faded.
Rowan chuckled from somewhere just beyond the trees.
“What?” I snapped.
“I’ve never seen you this worked up. I swear you would have fucked her right there between the trees if you waited any longer to get her back.”
I grunted, irritated. “I didn’t, did I?”
“You’re a bigger man than me, that’s for damn sure.”
I adjusted my pants, trying to accommodate my erection. Fuck, would this thing just calm down? I didn’t know what it was about Lorraine, but this was out of control.
“So, this is the new interest, huh?” Rowan asked.
“She’s not an interest.”
“No? Seemed to me like you were on fire with her.”
I huffed. “She’s not an interest. She’s just… I’m protecting her.”
“Sure,” Rowan chuckled. “I also protect human women I’m totally horny for, like, all the time.”
I scowled at him. “Fuck you, man. I’m not into her. I’m just making sure those guys staking out the forest don’t find her. Gods know what they’ll do to her when they find her. I don’t think they have any intention of giving her a happy ending.”
“No… but she has you to do that for her, eh?” Rowan winked at me.
I punched him in the shoulder, hard enough that he staggered to the side.
“Hey, asshole,” Rowan complained, but his voice was still thick with laughter.
I shot him a warning look.
“Let me say one last thing about it, and I’ll change the topic,” Rowan offered.
“What?” I growled.
“I don’t usually see you getting this worked up over jokes—unless it hits a nerve.”
I growled again, a low, warning sound at the back of my throat. I flared my magic along with it, blasting heat toward my friend.
Rowan laughed and shook his head, not worried at all that this could turn into a fight. “Yeah, I get it, I get it. I’m just saying, maybe you should look inward before you get pissed off.”
“You were about to change the topic,” I suggested through gritted teeth.
Rowan laughed, his voice filled with delight that he’d pushed my buttons, and it had worked for a change. I was usually so damn placid, not giving a shit, not responding to his quips.
“Yeah, I was actually looking for you earlier for a reason. I didn’t think you’d have your… ward with you.”
I glanced at him. “Why were you looking for me?”
“You were talking about changing, and it’s a terrible, terrible idea.”
I frowned.
“What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t steer you in the right direction at least?”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m not saying it’s a good idea to do this. Seriously, I think you’re going to fuck yourself up by getting someone to change you over into a different immortal. I think you’re messing with nature and how things work. So, I found someone who can actually tell you what you’ll be risking.”
“You’re sending me to some kind of therapy?”
Rowan laughed. “I think you need fucking therapy more than anything, but no, this is just about getting all the facts. You don’t want to do something stupid, you know? You keep saying if only you knew when it came to Ava, so…”
I stilled when Rowan mentioned Ava. I still froze over whenever anyone talked about her. I hated hearing her name. I hated that after all this time, she still affected me.
It was one of the big reasons I wanted to find a way to change over, to give up this magic for something else. Woodland spirits were emotional beings, and I needed something less emotional.
“Her name is Hecate.”
“The goddess?” I asked.
“You know her?”
“I know of her.”
“Magic and witchcraft,” Rowan said, nodding. “If anyone can give you answers, it will be her.”
I shook my head. “Are you trying to get me to change my mind?”
“I want you to figure out what the hell you want and be happy with it,” Rowan said. “You’re in pain, and it’s pretty shitty to see you fight through it all every damn day for the rest of eternity. I know you’re a stubborn SOB and you won’t listen to me, so maybe a goddess can set you straight.”
I clapped him on the back. “Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
Rowan shrugged. “Just so we’re clear… I think this is the epitome of self-rejection, and I’m not a supporter.”
I sighed. “After three centuries of trying to deal with it and failing, I think I’ve earned the right to look for a different answer. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, right?”
“I don’t know, man… I always thought the definition of insanity was getting close enough to a human woman that you can get all riled up as you are.”
I stared at him, shocked.
Rowan burst out laughing. He was fucking with me again. I bared my teeth and jumped on him, wrestling Rowan to the ground. I had a weight and power advantage over him, and he laughed and cried out as I practically buried his face in the ground before letting him up.
As much as he was a pain in the ass, he was a good friend.
He was probably the only thing I would miss about being a drus.
I had to make sacrifices no matter what choice I made. It was a pity, but no one could have the best of both worlds, and having only the best of one world was far better than to have the worst.