Elam (14 page)

“Nah. I think I’d like it just fine here. Closer to the action of the house.”

They all laughed, but it occurred to Casdon why he might feel he
should
have been down where the servants were. Jacob still thought of himself as just a farmer.

“Jacob, I think we’d all be honored if you lived up with the family in the chambers there. You have gone well beyond what was asked of you when my parents asked you to care for us. And having you there with us would make us a whole family again.” Jacob hugged him, and Casdon held him tightly. “I love you, Jacob. I truly do.”

“Thank you, son. Thank you very much.” As he was being hugged by the rest of them, Casdon decided that he was going to make more of an effort to tell him that he loved and appreciated him. The man had literally saved all their lives when he and Sally had taken them in.

They made their way back out of the lower levels, the sun much higher in the sky than they’d thought. As they stood there, waiting for their eyes to adjust, Casdon noticed that it was too quiet.

“Elam?” He said he heard it too. All of them stood in a circle, their backs to each other, and watched, waited for whatever was out there to emerge. Just as he was ready to shift and take to the skies, Asher started to laugh.

“Look. They’ve been busy.” He was pointing to the sky and he could see it now. Daniel and two other dragons—Wendell and Dane—were carrying the largest stones and setting them near the castle walls. Asher continued as one of them, about four feet square, was set on the ground with a hard thump. “We did wonder how we’d get them there without having to carry them between the six of you. I guess bigger is better in this.”

In less time than it took for them to look at the lower levels, they were moving the large stones into place. Each one of them had been numbered when they’d been cut away from the mountain. And putting them in place was like working a three dimensional puzzle. One that could crush you if it fell on you.

The work, while hard, was easier with the extra help. He and his brothers, as dragons, were able to move the stones into place while the larger dragons brought them to the area. Daniel had to rest his bruised and battered body often, not as up to the task of bringing in more stone as well as the younger ones, but he was a great deal of help. And by the time they were done for the day, not only did they have a good start on tomorrow’s work with the stones there, but they’d gotten up the first six levels of the walls around the bottom.

They made their way to the lake rather than go to their homes smelling like the back end of an ass. The water was warm, warmer than he thought it would be for this time of year, but it felt good. Casdon was in good shape, as good as the rest of them, but that was a great deal of very heavy lifting, and he knew he was going to feel it tomorrow.

Elam was floating on his back when Casdon splashed water in his face. He didn’t even rise to the challenge.

“The bathing suit that you got for Ariannona, what does it look like?” Casdon grinned and told him she’d asked him not to tell him. “You’ve seen it. Why can’t I at least have an idea?”

Since Lindsey had joined their family, he and his brothers were able to go into town now. Not the city. The only one that could go there without being on his counterpart’s body was Kiaran. It had been wonderful to not only go to the town, but to go alone. He’d had a great time picking up a few things for the house as well.

“She asked me not to tell you. And so you know, I’ve not seen it on her. Just on the hanger.” Casdon smiled as he teased Elam. “Did you know that they can be as skimpy as just a little patch of silk over the nipple? When I was picking one out, I was kind of embarrassed at how little there was to them.”

“Oh yeah. How skimpy?” Casdon laughed. “Come on, give me a bone here. I need to know what to expect.”

Casdon looked over at the bank of the lake and smiled. “I don’t think you have to have a bone, Elam. You can look all you want right now.”

“Christ.”
Yeah
, Casdon thought,
that about sums it up
. “She’s not wearing much, is she? I think...if her nipples got hard, do you suppose that you could see all of her breast?”

“I hope so.” He adjusted his cock under the suddenly too hot water. “Why don’t we take her downstream, show her how much we love her new suit?”

The plan was great. The doing it, not so much. It took them over forty minutes to get her alone, and then twenty more to get her away from the rest of them. Essie had come with her, as had Lindsey, bringing a large picnic style dinner with drinks and dessert. Casdon was worried that they’d be too late to have any fun tonight when Ariannona stood up and simply dove into the water.

It was a sight to be marveled at, her sliding into the water like a water nymph. When she came up for air, only to go back under and swim upstream, he watched her like a starved man. It wasn’t until Essie laughed that he tore his eyes from her.

“You going to sit here all night and let her wear herself out by waiting for the two of you, or are you going to go after her? Christ man, do you need instructions?” Casdon said no and looked at Elam. “Go. Before I have to tell her that you two would prefer to sit here and stuff your faces.”

Casdon took off to the water and dove in. He wasn’t as good at it as she’d been. He hit the water more like a rock than a swan. As he made his way in the direction she’d gone, he thought of all the things he wanted to do to her, and nearly swallowed the lake when Elam shoved his head under the water.

“The first one there gets to eat her first.”

Casdon took the challenge and doubled his efforts. Then he smiled and let his dragon take him and took to the skies. He’d be there a long time, feasting on her, before Elam got there. As soon as he spotted her, lying naked on the bank, Casdon landed softly beside her and took his body back.

“Elam said you’d pay for that.” Casdon said he didn’t care. “I don’t either. Come here. I need to touch you.”

Not to deny her anything, he went down on his knees between her outstretched legs. “I’m going to enjoy this. And you.”

He was just pulling her pussy to his mouth when Elam came out of the water. Yes, he’d cheated, but he really didn’t care. Not with her spread out before him.

Chapter 13

Elam took her mouth and did the most amazing things to it. His hands touched her breast, her neck, even her throat in ways that made her want more. Need more. Casdon was at her pussy, fucking her with his fingers and tongue. Her body burned for them, ached too. Even as she was coming, bowing up off the ground, they were moving her, adjusting her to take her again and again.

“Come for me, love. I wish to taste all that is you.” Elam had switched places with Casdon. His tongue was thicker, quicker than Casdon’s, but no less talented. The cock at her mouth made her hungry.

Holding his balls as he fucked her mouth, she watched Casdon’s face, saw how much he enjoyed what she was doing to him. And when he jerked his cock from her mouth, fisting his cock, she cried out when his cum sprayed over her face and breasts.

Elam moved up her then, biting her, then kissing the tiny wound. He took her breast in his mouth, suckling it until she begged him to take her, Casdon doing the same to the other. And then she felt the cock, Elam’s thick cock, at her pussy. She cried out when he took her hard enough to take her breath away.

Casdon watched them, stroking his cock up and down as Elam fucked her. With each stroke of his cock, touching the sweetest spot in her body every time, Casdon’s hand would be in time, his balls tight against his body.

Loved. She felt so loved that she had to squeeze her eyes shut trying to hold in all the emotion. And when Elam said her name, she looked at him and saw his love reflecting back at her.

“Fill me, Elam. I need you.” He cried out, his body bent back as he came, saying her name over and over as he emptied himself in her. When Casdon came, his cock once again at her mouth, she tasted him, his juices sliding down her throat as she released as well.

Almost as soon as Elam dropped on her, he was moving to the side. Casdon helped her turn to her belly, lifting her ass up as his cock took the place of Elam’s. He pounded her, his hand digging deep into her hips, his hips slamming against her so quickly that she felt his balls when they touched her pussy.

Telling Elam to come to her, he moved to be under her head, his cock at her mouth. Taking him deep, using the momentum that Casdon was creating so she could fuck him, she swallowed him down past the tightness of her throat and was rewarded with his body jerking to another powerful climax.

“Again. Come again.” Casdon bit down on her shoulder when he spoke to her, his voice tight with his need, his body hard with his desire. When he bit her, tearing into her shoulder, she came again, bringing Elam with her when she cried out around his cock. Ariannona had too much, her body spent. She simply fell where she was.

When she woke she was home, in their bed, both of them on either side of her, holding her between their warm bodies. She felt Casdon nibble at her shoulder, but he didn’t stir. Elam pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her when she looked at him.

“I love you.” Ariannona told him she loved him as well. “When the castle is finished, I want us to take a trip, the three of us. I’ve talked to Caroline and she’s going to see if we can go somewhere that Casdon can be a part of us.”

“I’d like that. Very much so.” He nodded and held her. “What else? You’re holding something back. What is it?”

“Ralph called me today. He wanted to thank me for the job, as well as the money to get a new start with.” She nodded. “He met up with Jamie, and it turns out they’re dating. He’s about as happy as he could be right now. But he wanted me to tell you something.”

Ariannona held her breath. She’d told them all about what she knew of Ralph’s family. And that they had been responsible for killing more than a couple of the older dragons in her time. Whatever this man wanted, it wasn’t going to be good.

“Tell me.” He nodded but still didn’t speak. She knew it was going to be bad when he kissed her hand again. “Please, just tell me.”

“There are two more men coming. Not for the dragons. He said that they’re after you, that one of them had it on good authority that you’re what he knows you to be. A witch.” She nodded, her heart in her throat. She’d been hunted before, being a witch. Back when they burned her kind at the stake. “We’ll protect you from them. I swear to you, none of them will get close to you.”

“I believe you.” He held her and she felt Casdon stir and hold her tightly. “We have to let the others know. Caroline and Gobi. Any of the witches in the area, they’ll have to be warned too.”

“Are there a lot?” She told him about five. “All right, we’ll gather them together and let them know what—”

“No. Not together. Most of them don’t know who the others are. Witches aren’t a.... We’re not a social bunch. We’ll tell them, the ones that I know, and the others will find out when they see Gobi. Most of them go into her shop when they need something.”

“Yes. All right. You would know best.” She nodded and lay there, thinking of the last witch she’d known to be captured by a zealous group. She asked Elam if it was just a bunch of men or an order. “They call themselves the Herald. I’m not sure why, nor did Ralph know. But he said that he’d let us know everything he did. He has some really strange friends.”

“I’m sure he does. The others, do they know?” Elam told her that he’d planned on telling them tonight, but got distracted. Ariannona smiled in the dark. “You liked it, I think.”

“I did. Very much so.”

She lay there long after he fell asleep and thought about the men, the Herald coming for her. She’d dealt with them, not in many years, but she knew that they were a group that thought anything that wasn’t them—human—was the work of the devil and that they had to be destroyed. She reached for Caroline to let her know.

I thank you. I’ll be coming to the land tomorrow. That should keep us safe. Would you ask if it would be all right if I brought Gobi too
?
She’s not safe alone anymore if those idiots are back. Didn’t you have a round with them a few years ago
? She told her she had.
I think I heard that you killed one of them
.

Three. But they were hurting one of our kind. Do you suppose that they’ve figured out where I am, or that it’s only a lucky guess
?
Ralph told Elam they were after me. I don’t know how they found me after all this time. I’ve not left the area
. Caroline said she’d look into it.
Thank you. And when you come here, don’t forget to bring your books. We might have a need for them. I have...I’ll have to go and get my things too. And Gobi, if she still has hers
.

A witch is never without her things, my dear. You know that
. She did. But it didn’t make her feel any less afraid of these men than it did before.
We’ll also set up that garden that Asher was talking about. The herbs he said that they found in that building might hold the ticket to a great many spells that have long since been put to rest
.

That scares me as well. What someone might do with the things in that drying room. I’ve put some faeries on it, watching it. But you never know what might come
. Caroline said that was true.
All right then. I’ll see you soon
.

Ariannona wasn’t afraid for herself, but for the dragons. If the people coming for her even got a hint of what else was here—an earth faerie as well as the dragons—there would be no stopping the onslaught of the monsters coming for a piece of any of them.

~~~

Erin wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do now but die. There wasn’t any way that she was going to live through this and she knew it. Running along the streets, trying her best to stay at least one step ahead of the monsters behind her, she tried to think. Not normally her best thing to do even under the worst kind of conditions.

“Well, this is about as bad as it can get, Erin girl.” Talking to herself made her laugh. “Too late now to change what I do.”

The shot behind her tore a hole in the frame of the door she was standing in front of. Taking off again, holding her belly, Erin dodged empty stalls in the market place as well as ones full of merchandise. One man tried to stop her, more than likely to help, but she was beyond that now.
Run
, her mind screamed at her.

She needed to vent her wares. Erin had no idea what it was really called—giving away one’s magic was something that she’d known about her entire short, terrible life—but she knew that if she could find someone to take it, her magic, they might be able to help the next person these men came after. She looked down at the bloodied wound in her belly and felt the pain of it all the more. Reaching out, she felt for the strongest person she could find and found three.

I’m dying.
The man, whoever he was, told her he’d help her. Erin felt the sting of tears. It had been forever since anyone had said those words to her.
There’s no time. I need to vent to you.

Vent? I don’t know what...what are you?
She told him.
A wolf. I’m a dragon. My name is Kiaran. Tell me where you are and we’ll come for you.

You’ll never make it. They’re coming now. I’ve been shot with silver. I’m as good as dead.
He told her that he could be there soon. His dragon would bring her to safety.
I need you to accept all that I—

The pain in her leg took her to the ground. She tried crawling then, anything to get away. But the man, whoever it was, put his booted foot on her back and she lay down. Kiaran was screaming at her in her mind to tell him where she was just as she was flipped to her back.

I’m dying.
He said he was coming.
Will you accept all that I am? Will you take what I have to offer, use it to find these bastards?
The gun was put to her forehead. She begged the man in her head for an answer.

Yes. I accept.
It left her, everything she was. All that she might have been. Even her memories, from birth to adult, left her. But more importantly, so did the memory of the face of the man in front of her.
I’ll find him. I’ll end him.

She watched as the trigger moved back, the man’s finger tightening against the guard that held it. Thanking Kiaran, she closed her eyes. It was done.