Fierce Enchantment (15 page)

“Well, you know how to hide your wings from humans and to
keep
them hidden to avoid knocking into things.” Levi smiled, and she rolled her eyes.

“It was
one
vase. I’m sure Shade and Ambrose had issues with their wings when they were learning.”

“They were born with them so they had the advantage,” Levi put in. “But yes, you are learning to use your wings while you walk. And when your muscles are strong enough, Shade or Ambrose will take you out flying.”

When he frowned, Faith punched him in the shoulder. “Stop it. They’re friends. Mated to my friends. No jealousy.”

“I can’t help it. I’m a little territorial.”

She wasn’t about to tell him she liked it. Well, she liked it as long as he didn’t act like an ass.

“Do you know if I’ll have any other traits or powers? You know, something that isn’t so sparkly?”

Levi shook his head. “Each pixie bloodline is different, and many pixies only have a small amount of magic. Some can create a sense of happiness, others grow flowers and plants to stimulate new life, while others…” He cleared his throat, and she raised a brow. “The thing is, the closer you get to the royal bloodlines the…uh…darker you get.”

“Darker?”

“Think whips and chains and leather.”

Faith paused then burst out laughing. “You’ve got to be kidding me. That sounds like Nadie and her succubus realm, not pixies.”

Levi shrugged. “They aren’t sex pixies, Faith.”

“Well, that’s the oddest thing you’ve said in a long time.”

“True,” he said with a laugh. “Their magic and talents are a bit darker, the closer you get to the royals. So their magic leads to gaining power. Some can steal energy. Some can create disease. It all depends on where they come from and how their family came into power.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of that.” She looked down at her hands, wondering what blood ran through her veins. Levi placed his larger hand over her smaller one.

“Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it. It’s not going to change who you are because your blood has always been there. Get me?”

“I get you,” she whispered. She just didn’t know if she trusted it. And that hurt more than she wanted to admit.

“What’s wrong?”

She blinked up at him. “What?”

“Whenever we talk about a certain subject—like you believing in my words—your mind goes to a place that makes you sad.” He cupped her face, running his thumb along her cheekbone. “Tell me. Tell me why you’re holding yourself back.”

She let out a breath, knowing he deserved the truth. He deserved so much more. “I…I don’t trust men.”

He nodded, pain in his gaze, but he didn’t say anything.

“They’ve either cheated on me or left me when they figured out I wasn’t enough for them.”

“Faith, they were idiots.”

“That I know, but I never had good taste.” She winced. “We’re leaving you out of this, okay? Just so I can finish.”

“For now.”

“For now,” she agreed then let out a breath. “So you know I’m really good with knives, right?”

He blinked twice then frowned. “I’m a little worried about how this goes with why you don’t trust men, but yes, I know. Continue.”

She winced. “I don’t cut them or anything. Crap. Okay, so my dad taught me how to use a blade to protect myself. He was ex-military and a hunter. Very good with a knife. Better than me.”

“And he wanted to teach you to take care of yourself in a dangerous situation. I get that. I’ve taught the girls some defensive magic and will continue to do so.”

She sighed and held on to his wrist. “That’s because you’re a good dad who loves his girls. My dad did it because he didn’t know what to do with me. Plus, he wanted to make sure that he gave me something that was just…us, I guess. You see, he wasn’t always there. In fact, he wasn’t
ever
there. My mother and I were his side family.”

“What?” Levi leaned forward, but she couldn’t take his comfort. Not when she needed to just get everything out in the open.

“Dad had another family, another set of kids and another wife. Mom was his mistress, though she didn’t know she was at the time. In fact, she thought they were married and Dad just worked a lot. Turned out Dad only came to visit us when he needed a break from wife number one and wanted in my mom’s bed. I was the result of a broken condom.”

There. She’d said it. Not everyone knew where she’d come from or how she’d grown up. It wasn’t anyone’s business. She’d moved on physically from it, and she knew that, even if she’d told herself that she’d moved on emotionally as well, that would be a lie. The mere fact that she was still in bed with Levi and not running away told her she was at least growing somewhat.

Levi let out a growl then leaned forward just a little more. “If I ever hear you refer to yourself as such again, I’ll bend you over my lap and spank you.”

She let out a little groan, and Levi chuckled.

“Or maybe you’d like that too much,” he murmured. “We’ll come back to that later. Thank you for trusting your past with me and know that I will never,
never
, see you as that man saw you. I will never make you feel that way. I know you don’t trust me yet, and it will take time to not only earn that trust but also overcome where you came from. But I plan on working for a very long time to get there.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. “Okay?”

“Okay,” she whispered, feeling lighter than she had in too long. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, Levi…I think it’s that I don’t trust myself.” This man knew exactly what to say to make her breathe again, and for some reason, she actually felt as though she could trust his words—or her reaction to his words. At least she hoped so.

“Then we’ll work on that too.” He tugged her close, and she fell onto his chest. “Now, how about we say good morning again before we get a start on our day.”

She pulled away with a smile, even as her fingers dug into his skin. “I need to shower and get dressed. As much I want to lounge all day while tangling with you in the sheets, I need to actually earn a living.”

Levi pouted, and Faith had to hold back her laughter.

“You look like an eight-year-old not getting his way.”

“I could start kicking my feet and yelling if it would help,” he said, his eyes dancing with laughter.

“Does that help your kids?”

“Not so much.”

“Didn’t think so.” She pulled away with a sigh and stood by the bed. “Now off to shower.”

When Levi followed her, she narrowed her eyes over her shoulder. “Keep your eyes off my ass, wizard.”

“I can’t help it. It’s speaking to me.”

She froze. “My ass is speaking to you.”

“Yes and I love what it’s saying.”

“You’re a dork. A dork wizard.”

“You like it.”

True, but she wasn’t about to say that. “I’m taking a shower. Why don’t you go make coffee or something?” She continued toward the bathroom but stopped again when she felt Levi following her. “What are you up to?”

He grinned at her then fisted his cock. “Something’s up, and since you were showering, I figured I’d shower with you. Conserve water and all that.”

“You know that’s, like, the oldest excuse in the book, right?” Even as she said it, her pussy clenched. Damn man.

“Okay, if you don’t like that one, how about I want to make sure you get all nice and clean? So I’ll help wash every single inch of you.”

She swallowed hard then turned, making her way back to the bathroom. She put in a little extra sway so her ass moved just the right way. From the strangled sound Levi made, he liked it.

“That’s a better excuse,” she purred. “You know me. I’m very, very dirty.”

He let out a growl, and Faith scurried to the shower, so freaking happy for the first time in her life.

They were lucky they didn’t drown or break something in the shower, but they were sparkling clean and out of hot water. She’d lost count of how many orgasms she had, but that was okay. She’d just start counting again later that night when they went to bed. Or on the couch. Or on the counter. She frowned and looked over her workspace. She was pretty sure her darkroom was the only place they
hadn’t
made love. Since there were so many chemicals in here, she didn’t want to risk it.

And yes, she thought of it as making love. At this point, they weren’t just fucking. She and Levi were connecting more and more, and it scared the life out of her. However, she’d told herself she would go one day at a time, so that’s what she was going to do.

A soft knock sounded on the door, and she went over to let him in, her attention on her prints rather than Levi.

“I saw you’d turned off the red light, so I figured you wouldn’t mind the company,” he said, his voice low.

She leaned up and sighed when his lips brushed hers. She had no idea when she’d become the person who’d lean into a kiss as if it was a normal thing to have a man there every hour of every day, but again, she was just going to go with it. Levi didn’t live with her, but he
did
stay there most nights. The only nights he wasn’t there were the ones he had his girls. And neither he nor Faith was ready for her to stay over with his daughters in the house. It didn’t hurt her in the slightest to think that there was still distance between her and Levi’s daughters since she was the one who needed the space to begin with. She was just happy that Levi understood her need for time.

“I’m just finishing up, and then I thought we could get something to eat.”

“Uh huh.”

“Levi? Are you paying attention?” she asked. Levi’s attention was on the photograph in her hand, rather than on her. She didn’t know whether to be flattered or to hide the print.

“That’s an utterly exquisite photo,” he whispered. “You caught the look in her eyes perfectly.”

“Did I?” she asked. The woman in the photo had that coy expression that said “bring it” at the same time. It was almost what Faith wanted, but there was still something missing.

“I think so, but you’re the professional.”

She sighed then set the photo down. “It doesn’t feel like it most days, but I’ll figure it out. Now, really, I want food.”

He snorted then led the way out of the dark room. “Then let me feed my woman.”

“My woman? Who are you, Hunter?”

“I’m not a wolf and not that possessive, though the idea of calling you my woman makes me hard, so maybe I’m more wolf-like than I thought.”

Considering she had to hold back a shiver when he said that, maybe she liked it a bit too much as well. Not that she’d tell him that. Let him suffer under her narrowed gaze for a bit longer.

He cupped her face, and she kept her expression stern. “You like it when I call you my woman,” he whispered.

“Shut up,” she muttered.

“Oh pixie darling—” Levi cut off his words then pulled her close. He growled, his chest rumbling under her ear. Her pulse picked up and she shut her mouth, trying to listen to what he might have heard.

Faith tried to pull away, wanting to know what the hell was going on.

“Shit. Something just slammed against the wards.” His eyes glowed with magic, and he had his head angled, as if trying to hear something she couldn’t.

“What? What do you mean?” Before she could figure out what was going on, her windows smashed in. Levi threw up his hand, a blue aura shimmering around his body. The glass turned to sand as it hit his aura, and Faith sucked in a breath. The glass would have killed them both if Levi hadn’t been able to shield them. As it was, his wards had been damn strong. Whatever had gone through them must have been stronger than she wanted to admit.

“Pixies,” Levi whispered. Faith’s head whipped around to meet his gaze.

“Pixies? Why would they be here?”

“I don’t know, but they aren’t here for tea.”

She reached down to her side for her blade, only to come up empty. Fuck. She’d forgotten to put one on since she hadn’t left the house yet, and she’d become lazy with Levi there. Holy hell. She had no way to defend herself, no way to defend Levi. She only had wings that she didn’t know how to use and a connection to a man she’d tried to run from. This wasn’t going to end well.

The sound of a train or a tornado coming right at them filled her ears, and she covered them, trying to not panic. Levi put his body over hers, and she felt her wings slide out of her skin, her tank top moving out of the way. Soon she’d learn to bypass that with magic, but now was not the time.

“Hold on to me. Whatever happens, hold on to me.”

The sound of fluttering wings reached her, but before she could do anything but meet Levi’s gaze, purple smoke covered her face, and she blacked out.

The last thought she had was of Levi and the fear on his face.

Oh, shit.

Levi kept conscious only through sheer will and strength. If he’d been of any other bloodline, he might have passed out like Faith had. He’d needed to keep awake in case they separated him and his mate. There was no way he’d let her out of his sight—not when he had no fucking clue why the pixies would want to kidnap both of them.

They both stood, or rather, Levi stood, with an unconscious Faith leaning on him with her feet brushing the ground. It wasn’t the best position, but he didn’t want to be sitting or crouched when the pixies attacked. He also didn’t want to let Faith go in case he needed to move her quickly.

It had to have taken at least forty pixies with powerful magic to break through his wards. Even then, he wasn’t sure how they’d done it. In fact, the magic tasted almost wizard in origin, which worried him more than he wanted to admit.

He pushed that to the back of his mind, focusing on the threat at hand rather than what might have been treachery. He stood up, his aura still pulsing around him. It wasn’t a good enough shield to protect them from everything, but hopefully, it would be enough to keep Faith safe until she woke up.

He couldn’t see anyone around them, the purple mist acting as a blind for whoever had set it up. He kept his senses alert but turned to Faith, who lay limp in his arms. Her wings had sprouted during the attack, her body taking on a glittering sheen that spoke of her heritage. She would have to learn to control that urge to shift in times of danger, but for now, he’d take her any way he could. She looked so pale in his arms, much like she had been when they first met. The mist had put her out cold, but he could feel her heartbeat against his chest.