Fae war chronicles the c.., p.56
Fae War Chronicles: The Complete Series, page 56
Over and over again.
Power snakes down his arms, dark tendrils that stop where his hands meet my thighs. An orange glow rises from my flesh to meet the darkness, an erotic display of magic as Rafferty fucks me like a savage animal full of the passion he denies possessing.
The power recedes as Rafferty flings himself backward and pumps his dick with his hand twice before his own release shatters through him. He throws his head back as it covers his chest then releases himself and falls silent.
All while my heart races.
Chapter 15
Rafferty
Ember is curled in the corner of the pallet, her breathing steady. It’s been hours since I had her body on mine, and already I’m craving the next touch. Not because she brings to life the light she once saw in me but because she calls to the darkness in me.
Calls to it in a way that calms me. Being near her normalizes my thoughts. It might hurt at times, but when the pain recedes and I resist the urge to fight back, I find myself—level. My mood, stable.
From beside the fire, I watch as the sun climbs over the trees, bathing the inside of my cavern in a soft light. Ember stirs, groaning and stretching. I turn to watch as she sits then instantly regret my decision when I see her pebbled nipples straining against the thin fabric of her t-shirt. I want my mouth on them. My cock buried between her thighs.
She yawns, giving me a flash of the pink flesh inside her mouth, and I get an image of her on her knees—mouth on my cock as I grip her hair and thrust inside the warmth.
“Morning,” she greets as she sits up. Hair wild around her face, she is the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.
I grunt in response, continuing to cook the animal I hunted while she was still sleeping. It cooks slowly over the fire, and Ember crosses the cavern to sit beside me. Her lips are swollen, her eyes bright.
“How did you sleep?”
“Fine.” Not at all. “Nothing has changed between us,” I tell her, needing her to understand that, just because we fucked, it doesn’t mean I’m magically the man she wants me to be.
“I figured as much,” she replies. “You need me to help you take down the ancients, so what is your—”
“I will fucking rip your head off!”
We both turn as a man stomps toward us. I recognize him but feel completely unthreatened. Therefore, I remain exactly where I am and leave it to Ember to remind him how foolish it would be to challenge me.
“Sullivan! Stop!” She throws up both hands, and he stops in his tracks, glaring down at me. He loves her—it’s easy enough to see. And if I weren’t such a bastard, I probably would let it slide.
“I’m surprised you can walk after last night, Firefly,” I say.
Ember whirls on me, her cheeks flushing as the reaper shifts his gaze from her to me.
Another man strides farther into the cavern, though he doesn’t say much. “Ancient,” I greet.
“Dark Fae,” he replies.
“For fucks sake.” Ember pinches the bridge of her nose. “How did you find us?”
“I didn’t realize you were hiding from us,” Sullivan replies, straightening. “You hide from your friends now?”
“Hardly. But if you can find us, then the others who want Rafferty dead can, too.”
“Not just him now,” Sullivan tells her.
His words have rage building in my chest. I stand. “Oh? They have it out for Firefly now, too?”
“Ember,” he growls back. “Use her name. Don’t disrespect her by calling her a bug.”
“She certainly didn’t seem to mind last night.”
“Can you two put your cocks away?” Wally demands. “Ember, they believe you are too dangerous for your own good. The pixie council has asked you be captured and shackled until the time comes when they need you.”
“They want to imprison me?” Her fear is evident in her tone, though I can see that she’s trying to hide it.
“They believe it’s what’s best.”
“If either of you is here to make good on their wishes, I should warn you, I need Ember for my own plan to succeed. You won’t be walking out of here with her.”
“I swear. If one more person claims they ‘need me,’ I’m going to go full nuclear and burn this entire world to the damn ground!”
“Do it,” I tell her honestly. “Burn it down, and then we’ll rebuild.” Referencing us building together was a slip of the tongue, but not one anyone in this cavern missed. Sullivan shakes his head at me then shifts his full focus to Ember.
“If you come back, we can tell them you made a mistake,” he urges.
“I didn’t make a mistake,” she replies. “And I won’t lie.”
“You being out here puts you at risk.”
“And Rafferty being in the Thicket puts him at risk.”
“Then he can stay out here.” Sullivan glares at me.
“Sullivan.” Wally clears his throat as the reaper turns to him. “Rafferty is her mate. Whether we agree with what is happening or not, that fact will not change. There is no separating them.”
“Rafferty is a dark fae,” Sullivan reminds us all as if we’ve fucking forgotten, “who killed Ember once already.”
“You are not going to convince me to leave him, Sullivan. And you’re smart enough to know that, so cut the shit and tell me why you’re here.” Ember crosses her arms, and the magic in my blood surges to the surface in response to her show of strength.
“We wanted to ensure you were fine,” Wally tells Ember. “As for how we found you, I am your father. The fact that we share blood makes it easy for me to track you.”
She holds up both hands, palms up. “As you can see, I’m fine.”
“What are your plans from here?” Sullivan questions. “Stay on the run until the rebellion stops the ancients?”
Clearing my throat, I stand and cross my arms. “No. We’re going to work with you to stop them.”
“You both are,” Wally says flatly.
“Yes,” I reply.
“What’s in it for you, dark fae? What has taken you from working with them to working against them?” He believes the reason is his daughter; that particular accusation is plain as day in his silver gaze. Which, I suppose, is correct. Except it’s not some misguided affection for her driving me—it’s her magic.
“Your daughter possesses the power I need to put them down. Which is what I’ve wanted to do from the beginning.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
I turn to the reaper, bored with his anger. “In case you’ve missed it, the ancients are rather durable. I have been waiting for the prison to heal itself as well as searching for a weakness. A solution to both of those problems just so happened to show itself to me.”
He scoffs. “You’re using her then.”
“Just as your pixies are trying to do. The only difference is Ember gets pleasure when I use her.”
Ember rolls her eyes. “Just go ahead and come out with it then so we can move on. Rafferty and I have had sex. Okay? Great. Now everyone’s caught up, and you can stop with the ridiculous innuendoes.”
Sullivan looks ready to explode. Which is quite amusing for me. Yet another emotion that has been locked away from me for the last seven years. What the hell is happening to me?
“We are going to come up with a plan to stop them, and then I’ll come find you.”
“You cannot come to the Thicket,” Wally warns. “I will meet you back here in three days at dawn. If you’re not here, I’m coming to look for you. For both of you,” he adds, glaring at me.
“Okay.” Ember nods. “That works.”
Wally crosses the distance and presses a kiss to Ember’s temple, steps back, and turns to me. “Hurt her and I’ll feed your cock to the nearest pooka.”
“You can try,” I retort.
“Be careful, Ember,” Sullivan offers before stepping back beside Wally. The ancient rests a hand on the reaper’s shoulder, and the two men dematerialize.
I take my seat and pop a piece of meat between my lips. “You have quite the fan club.”
“And you have quite the mouth.”
I grin up at her. “You would know, wouldn’t you?”
Ember’s cheeks flush yet again. An action I am beginning to quite enjoy. “Why did you taunt him? You and I both know last night was a one-off. So why torment someone I care about?”
“A one-off? That what it was to you? A way to blow off steam?” I watch her expression carefully because, for whatever reason, I care how she takes it. I care that she doesn’t want more than that, which is ludicrous because I shouldn’t fucking care about anything.
“You and I both know that’s all you want.” She walks to the ledge of the small cavern and stares down at the ground. This mountainside is riddled with pockets in the rock like this one, but this is the lowest of them all, chosen because I had no wings when I sought shelter.
And speaking of wings— “I want to work with you on your flying today.”
“Excuse me?” She glances over at me and crosses her arms.
“Given your surprise at having them, I’m assuming you don’t know how. Unless, of course, Daddy Dearest explained it while I was unconscious back in the Thicket?”
Ember narrows her gaze, and I honestly contemplate just pushing her out of the cavern. That is, after all, what adult birds do to teach little ones to fly, isn’t it?
Except the fall definitely won’t kill her, but it might lead to her breaking some bones, in which case, I’ll likely have to put a blade through her heart again and lose time while she finds her way back.
Rock, hard place.
“No. I don’t know how to use them.”
“Then I will teach you.”
“Why?”
“Because you need to know for the coming fights. Ancients will attempt to use any and all methods to ground you because it makes you vulnerable. Iron may affect your ability to dematerialize, but it won’t affect your flying capabilities—if you know how to use your wings.”
The way she watches me proves just how little she trusts me. Which, after last night, is a good thing. I am not in need of her forming any kind of connection. Bonds make you weak, and weakness isn’t something I will tolerate.
Never again.
Chapter 16
Ember
Rafferty stands beside me as we stare down the edge of a cliff high enough that the very tip is buried in the clouds. I gulp. This is going to fucking suck. If I can’t figure out how to use my wings, the fall will kill me, and we can start all over again.
All. Over. Again.
“Open your wings.”
Swallowing hard, I focus on the constant pressure on my shoulder blades, imagining the wings opening and spreading out to either side. I can feel them unfurl, limbs I didn’t possess until mere weeks ago.
“Magnificent,” Rafferty mutters. I glance to my left and take in the ombré fiery wing spread out from behind me. Then, I turn to the other so I can take in its mirrored twin on the other side. They really are—magnificent, that is.
And it’s taking all of my pride to keep my excitement inside. I have wings! Wings! Like, how freaking crazy is that? My skin buzzes with energy as I stare out at the sky.
“What do you feel?”
“Excited?”
“Is that a question or a fact?” he questions, crossing his arms.
“Both. I’m nervous but also pumped to see what these things are capable of.”
Rafferty grunts then rolls his shoulders. Massive obsidian wings stretch out twice the distance of mine. His feathers shimmer with color beneath the bright sunlight. I’m struck by how damn magnificent he is, standing here in the sun beside me.
He glances over and nods, raising his wings and bringing them down with enough force to send a gust of wind blasting over me. He shoots to the sky, disappearing from view, and I’m dumbstruck, just staring up at him.
“Okay, Ember. You can do this. You can totally do this. You jumped out of a plane once, and this has to be safer, right? I mean, there’s no parachute, but you have wings.”
A bird lands on a branch of the tree to my left.
I turn to glare at it. “Oh, like it’s so easy.” Turning back to the cliffside, I take a deep breath then raise my wings and bring them down quickly.
Nothing happens.
No wind. Hell, there’s barely a light breeze.
“Come on,” I mutter to myself.
Something slams into my back and throws me from the edge of the cliff. I scream, a blood-curdling, throat-burning scream that I’m sure everyone in all of Faerie hears. Plummeting to the ground, I try to hold out my wings, to get control, but nothing works.
And then I see him.
Rafferty shoots down toward me, wings folded behind him. He grips me with strong arms wrapped around my waist, my back to his front, then spreads out his wings to slow my descent. My heart pounds, hammering in my ears as we soar up toward the sky.
“Did you seriously just push me off a fucking cliff?” I screech, clinging to his arms.
He chuckles. “Seemed the best way to get you to take the leap.”
My pulse begins to level out, so I risk looking out at the world around us. Rafferty takes us higher and higher into the sky, leaving the ground as little more than a dark blot below.
“It’s beautiful up here.”
He grunts in response, the vibrations shooting straight through my back. Lust burns in my belly, but I do my best to shove it aside. Last night was a one-time thing. A way to burn the attraction out of his system. And since I benefited from it, too, I didn’t mind, but I’d be foolish to believe everything has changed now.
Even as I don’t want to admit it, the Rafferty I loved is gone. This man, this monster, is one horrific act away from losing every single sliver of his soul, and I just won’t be the thing that pushes him over the edge.
“When I let you go—” he starts. His arms release me, and I plunge toward the ground. Spinning, I can barely make out Rafferty fighting something above, though I cannot make out whether it’s man or beast.
Monster or Ancient.
I spread out my wings, trying to flap them, but they’re useless for me now. Come on! I spread them out again and scream as pain shoots through my shoulder. One of the wings cracks, and I tuck it in, shielding my body as best I can for the inevitable death awaiting me.
Closing my eyes tightly, I brace for impact.
Huge arms come around me once more, though, and the landing is soft. “Why the fuck didn’t you use your wings?” Rafferty demands.
He releases me, and I stumble, the pain in my shoulder dropping me to my knees. “It hurts,” I tell him.
“For fucks sake.” Rafferty moves behind me and mutters something I can’t quite make out through the blood hammering in my ears. “It’s dislocated. I need to put it back, but it will hurt.”
“Okay.”
Rafferty’s warm fingertips go to my shoulder, and I hiss when he brushes the area that hurts. In one fluid move, he cracks my wing back, and I cry out, though the pain is instantly reduced to an ache. “Better?”
“Yes,” I reply, breathless.
“Your wings are glamoured once again.”
“What does that mean?”
“That your wings will heal,” he replies.
I brace both hands on the soft dirt below and breathe deeply. In and out. In and out. Finally, my heart rate slows, and I can catch my breath. “Why the hell did you drop me?” I demand, turning to face him.
My heart begins to pound all over again from an entirely different source of fear. Rafferty is covered in blood. His chest is slick with it from three massive gashes across his torso. He’s far paler than he should be and lying flat on the ground behind me.
“Shit, Raffe!” I crawl toward him, strip out of my shirt, and press it to his bare chest. “The bleeding—” Panic claws its way up my throat. If he dies—he’s gone. It’s not like me, I’ll go to the prison, restart. But Rafferty? Straight to the Veil with no hope of returning. “Hang on.”
I reach for him, ready to dematerialize us, but a bone-chilling growl from behind stops me in my tracks. My blood runs cold, and I turn—slowly.
A creature with leathery wings and a massive, plated head glares at me from eyes the color of emeralds. It snorts, and smoke puffs from its nose.
“Wyvern,” Rafferty chokes out from behind me.
I risk a glance back. Eyes closed, his breathing is labored. If I don’t get him out of here—one cautious step back, and the creature lunges forward. My power roars to life in response, and flames shoot down both of my arms.
The thing stops in its tracks. But only for a moment before it pounces. I throw up my hands and they hit its scaly chest as its claws rip into my shoulder. I growl, adrenaline at full force, and reach for the dagger hidden in my boot. I pull it out and drive it up, but it hits nothing but a plate.
I slam both hands into it, and fire sparks at my fingertips, but the creature doesn’t move. I let out a scream and bring the blade up again and again as its claws bite into the flesh of my shoulder.
Rafferty coughs and sputters, and my vision turns red.
Nothing matters but getting him to safety. I kick up with both feet, and the creature lunges back. Then, I turn and grab Rafferty, dematerializing us back to his cavern. My vision wavers, but I press both hands to his chest and focus only on a fraction of my power.
Cauterize the wound. Isn’t that what people used to do?
“I’m sorry,” I whisper as Rafferty’s pained roar rips through the cavern. His skin burns, charring the wounds but stopping the bleeding. Unable to hold myself up any longer, I stumble to the side, and my head hits the ground with a heavy thud.
Flames crackling pulls me from sleep. The ground is soft beneath me rather than the hard stone I remember falling on. A breeze ruffles my hair and cools my skin. Where the hell am I?
I crack open an eye to see Rafferty sitting beside a fire a few feet away from me. The dying light overhead gives me enough of a view to see he is still crusted in blood. My head pounds, my shoulder screaming in pain as I try to sit up. A grunt leaves my lips, and Rafferty whirls on me. Eyes wide, he stares at me, our gazes holding for more than a few heartbeats.
