Licked by the Flame (27 page)

She kept her feelings to herself, though, and wisely pretended to be in complete agreement with Dorn’s direction. She even smiled sweetly for Swift and gave her blue wings a little flutter when he held the door of the Council Hall to invite her out into the fresh air and sunshine for the first time in weeks. It was wonderful—almost enough to make her forget all the anger and wariness.

“Don’t get any ideas about leaving me,” he said firmly, a healthy reminder that the mistrust she felt was a mutual thing.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” she replied. “At least, not until after I collect my new Fairy Dust.”

“Dorn expects me to keep an eye on you, so that’s what I intend to do,” Swift warned her. “You’d be smart not to balk at that.”

“Would it make any difference if I did?”

“No. For your own good, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“For my own good, huh?”

They’d been walking silently over the thick moss that carpeted the ground here in their protected little village deep in the undergrowth of a humanless forest. The few little buildings needed for the daily management of fairy life circled the little mossy clearing, tucked up against the roots of ancient trees and hidden by nature as well as by magic. Humans rarely made it this deep into the forest, but if they did, magic would blind their eyes to the tiny village and the glittering creatures who lived there.

At least, fairies were supposed to be glittering. Pimma was sadly dull and lackluster right now, having lost her Fairy Dust and being separated from magic for so long. She didn’t care about Swift’s warning to stay by his side. If he wanted to keep an eye on her, he’d just have to pick up his pace. She couldn’t move fast enough to get to the bark-covered round hut that served as the Dust Distribution Office.

“The best way to get Dorn to leave you alone is to let me assure him you’re on his side,” Swift said, matching her step easily.

She paused, glaring at him. “On his side? What other side is there? Aren’t we all on the same side?”

“No, Pimma. We’re not. Soon you’ll have to decide where you stand on things.”

“You mean, on things like this so-called assignment we’re being sent off on? I can’t believe you’re not questioning the justice of it. Dorn thinks some fairy was a little bit sloppy with his dust and he’s treating it like a crime.”

“Nobody has said there’s been any crime.”

“You’re an enforcer and I’m an advocate. Since when do we get assigned to anything other than a crime?”

He narrowed his green eyes and studied her. She narrowed her eyes and studied him back. What was really going on here? What had she missed while Dorn was keeping her locked up in the council’s basement? Why did Swift suddenly talk Dorn into releasing her today?

“I guess we’ll just have to go find out what sort of crime has been committed,” Swift said.

“You already sound certain there is one.”

“I am,” he said but, as usual, what he really meant by his words was impossible for her to discern.

No sense wasting time. She’d never figure Swift out. Maybe once they found their target and had a chance to talk to him, she could at least determine what was going on there. “I guess we’ll have to meet up with Dorn’s associate to find out anything more. I can’t even guess why Wain would be involved in something like this investigation.”

“I can.”

She waited for Swift to elaborate, but he didn’t. He simply nodded toward the distribution hut. She shrugged. By the Skies, it would feel good to have her glitter back.

T
hey had found a broken window and entered the cavernous factory warehouse that Dorn directed them to. Discolored skylights allowed pale rays from the noon sun to filter in, leaving the area dusty and dim. This seemed an unlikely place to find a fairy, but after some of the strange human and fairy interactions Swift had seen on his last assignment, he realized nothing would surprise him.

He motioned for Pimma to follow him to a shadowy spot atop a tall stack of shipping crates. They could settle in and scan their surroundings from here. The subtle buzz of their wings was the only sound he could detect, so Swift held up his hand to remind Pimma to stay otherwise silent.

Her none-too-subtle eye roll did not go unnoticed. It was more than a little obvious she would have been anywhere else than here right now with him. Or perhaps it was just the “with him” part that she would have rather been without. She wasn’t going to be declaring herself his very best friend anytime soon, that much was certain.

And that was fine with him. He wasn’t the sort to keep many friends. In his position, friends were often a liability. He needed to keep his judgment clear and his loyalties certain. Right now, he was having more than enough difficulties with both of those. The last thing he needed was a friend.

Especially not an uppity novice like Pimma. She was too young, too naive, and far too…feminine. As a creature of the Forbidden Realm, he wasn’t supposed to be aware of those particular attributes. Gender was a human concern, not something for fairies to consider. He was above that. Magic kept him beyond the taint of human lusts. At least, that was the way it was supposed to be.

Lately, he’d been feeling decidedly tainted. Pimma’s fluttering, feminine presence had caught his attention in all the wrong ways. He’d never known this sort of awareness, and he shoved the stray thoughts back with all of his might. Fairies were not human. They did not give themselves over to things like that. They did not glance at their partner and notice that the sheer cloth of her iridescent blouse clung so tightly to her form that he could clearly see the perfect form of her breasts, the tempting curve at her tiny waist, and the luscious flare of her hips. By the Skies, a decent fairy would never let his thoughts linger on such things. He wouldn’t find himself going hot in sensitive places like this, either.

Something had happened to him. His control was slipping; he was becoming helpless to deny these changes. Unwelcome changes. If he didn’t get his wayward thoughts under command right now, though, Pimma might become aware of these unwelcome changes, too.

His groin was on fire and he could feel himself hard as a rock. Desire was burning inside him, and his body craved things he could not have. By the Skies, he had to find a way to make it stop. Now.

“Look, someone’s coming,” Pimma said, laying a hand on his shoulder and nearly scalding him with her light touch.

He tore his mind from the scorching sensation and glanced in the direction she indicated. Sure enough, there was movement at the far end of the row of shipping crates. Two forms came into view, their footsteps echoing on the concrete floor. One was a generally attractive human female Swift had never seen before, but the other was a fairy he recognized easily. Wain.

“But we can’t do anything until we have McGowan,” Wain was saying.

He had assumed a large, human-sized form, and he walked beside the human, his wing tips idly brushing the rows of crates as he moved. Dirt particles and cobwebs swirled in lazy, neglected circles around them, glittering like weak Fairy Dust in the pale light. Whatever this warehouse was, it did not see much use. Clearly Wain and his human companion did not intend to encounter anyone here.

“Crandall McGowan has gone off to Iceland,” the woman snapped sharply. “You heard what happened there. He went to find out what happened to his daughter. We can only hope he doesn’t figure anything out while he’s gone.”

Swift instantly latched onto the woman’s words. She had mentioned Iceland! But who was this McGowan she spoke of? Somehow that name was familiar. Clearly whatever was going on here had something to do with the things Swift had encountered on his previous assignment. There was no way this could be pure coincidence.

“There’s no telling how long McGowan will be gone. Should I tell some of my associates to go take care of him?” Wain asked.

The woman merely gave him a scathing look. “If I wanted him dead I’d do that myself. No, we still need him. This will just delay us awhile.”

“The council said we don’t have room for any more delays. Things are worse than they knew—the Veil is in grave danger. We need the equipment in place and running immediately.”

Suddenly the woman’s contemptuous expression was gone. She flashed dark, almond eyes and smiled a sultry smile. The effect on Wain was obvious. He stood as if frozen in place while the woman traced one long, elegant finger along the side of his jaw.

“Now, Wain, don’t be so impatient. You know I always keep my promises, don’t I?”

“Yes, but the council—”

“Stop worrying so much about the council. They don’t know everything that’s going on, do they?”

Now her fingers trailed over the nervous fairy’s chest and down toward his belt. She tugged at the clasp there.

“Miranda…you know we can’t do this,” he said with obvious strain in his voice.

“Of course we can, just like we could do this the last time we met here, and the time before that,” she replied.

“If the council finds out…”

She was practically purring as her eyes and fingers continued their exploration. “Like I said, they don’t know everything, and they don’t need to. Come on, Wain, you know you can do things to me no one else can. I’ve been waiting so long to see you again. Don’t make me wait any longer.”

“I thought we were here to handle some of the equipment issues?”

“How about if I handle
your
equipment?” the woman cooed at him.

She wasn’t about to let this be merely a suggestion, either. Swift heard Pimma draw in a shocked gasp as the woman practically threw Wain against the row of crates and rubbed her shapely human body completely against him. His quivering blue-green wings splayed out against the crates and he seemed completely helpless as she forced herself on him.

“We should go help him!” Pimma hissed in a whisper.

Swift wasn’t quite sure how to explain to her that it had been fairly obvious—despite Wain’s frail protests—that he did not really want any help. At least, not the kind of help Pimma was suggesting. As the woman’s hands stole inside Wain’s clothing, he groaned in aching pleasure. Swift cursed under his breath as his own traitorous body responded with a fiery need he would have given anything to be able to ignore.

“What is she doing to him?” Pimma murmured.

Swift would have given anything to be able to ignore that, too. Her voice was soft and breathy, and so very close to his ear that he could feel the heat from her lithe body. Her wing brushed his, sending additional unwanted sizzle through him. She had no idea, of course, the effect she was having, what watching the groping forms just a few yards away did to him.

His throat was dry and painfully constricted. That was nothing compared to the ache in his groin. He could not trust himself to give her a quiet, intelligible answer.

“Is she seducing him?” Pimma gulped.

Indeed, she was. This Miranda woman was touching Wain in places that would have sent any human male into sexual frenzy. A fairy, however, should have been unaffected, protected from lust and desire by his magic and his very nature. It was obvious, though, that this fairy was very much affected. Not only was he allowing the woman to pleasure him now, but he had begun to willfully participate. Clearly this was not his first time dabbling in such disgusting human activity.

Wain wrapped the woman in his arms, grasping her fleshy buttocks and grinding himself into her. From their perch high up on the crates, Swift did not actually see what was transpiring where those two bodies pressed tightly together, but he could well imagine. The woman’s short skirt rode up higher and higher as her hips began a rhythmic gyration that was hypnotizing to watch.

“Now I believe Wain is seducing
her
,” Pimma commented softly.

Swift nodded. That was all he could do. Wain was thumping loudly against the crate behind him as he thrust and thrust again, driving himself into the woman and clutching her tightly against him. Swift clenched and unclenched his own fists as Wain kneaded his woman’s tight skin. He tasted blood. By the Skies, but he bit into his own cheek, desperate to maintain control as the sound and the sight of this wanton lovemaking surrounded them and fed his torrid desire.

Finally Wain groaned loudly. His features contorted and he arched against the woman. She sighed loudly, if not a bit overly dramatic.

“You are magical, Wain,” she murmured. “I came so hard for you.”

Wain was panting. “Did you? Did I take you all the way there, Miranda?”

“Oh, yeah. You’re amazing. But—” She paused, pushing herself away from him and pulling her skirt down. “Like you said, we don’t want to get caught here. Why don’t you go clean yourself up and then we can get back to business. These boxes won’t ship themselves, you know.”

“Right. Of course.” Wain was stammering, putting his clothing back in order and trying to regain his balance. “We’ve got business here.”

He grabbed Miranda and pulled her to him for one quick kiss before she shoved him away.

“Go, hurry up now,” she ordered.

He nodded, but wasted a few seconds more just staring at her, shaking his head. “You are so amazing, Miranda. I can’t believe you chose me, over everyone else.”

“Yeah, only you, Wain. Nobody else does me like you. Now go wipe yourself off.”

He shuffled off and she was left alone, patting her still impeccable hair and smiling smugly. Swift was only now beginning to be able to breathe again, so he was just about to suggest to Pimma that they make a hasty exit when the woman turned and glanced up in their direction. Her smile increased as her eyes darkened.

“So, little fairies, did you enjoy the show?”

Please turn the page for an excerpt from the first book in Serena Gilley’s Forbidden Realm series,

Available now!

A
liya flipped her fins and let the cool water of the lake glide over her. The moonlight glittered like tiny stars in the lapping waves. Her pale hair fanned around her, then fell slick against her naked skin as she pushed up through the surface, scanning the skyline and finding the large, familiar shape.

A boat—a very specific boat.
He
was here again. She knew he would be. After all, she was a mermaid; her mind sensed things like that. When this human was near, she could feel his presence. Her people generally did not reach their minds out to touch the humans who came onto the lake, but something about this man was different. Aliya had felt his thoughts, the burning pain and aching emptiness deep inside him, and it had triggered something inside her. She’d yearned to know more.

For nearly two cycles of the moon now she’d watched him, tracked his movements in the evenings when he would leave the safety of the human shore and venture into her world on his big, gleaming boat. Every time, she’d felt his suffering. She could not explain why this man’s emotions should touch her in such a way, but she had come to expect it. He was here now and she had to get closer.

Yes, she could feel him more strongly now. Strange, it was almost as if this human—this man—were reaching out for her, trying to touch her in some way…but of course he could not be. Everyone knew humans did not possess powers like that. She must be imagining it.

To make sure she was not, she stilled herself and opened her mind to let his emotion flood her. Yes, she could feel the familiar ache she always sensed from him, knew the emptiness that filled him. He did touch her, but he clearly had no awareness of it. And his touch reached more than just her mind. Her body felt something, too.

The velvety scales of her lower body tingled…the satin skin of her arms and her breasts pricked with sensation. She went rigid, floating helplessly as her body responded to sensations she could never put into words. They were energizing, delicious…and forbidden. Whatever she felt from this human, whatever he did to her, it was not something she ought to encourage.

She liked it, though. She wanted more. The Great Code of all creatures in the Forbidden Realm dictated she avoid any sort of interaction like this. It was bad enough that she’d come so near this same human on numerous occasions, but to let his mind and emotions touch her in such a way…she knew it was wrong. Still, it drew her like a moth to an inferno.

She was near his vessel now. The crystal surface of the water changed and distorted her view, but she could see him. He was tall and broad, standing alone to gaze out over the water. His shirtless form was solid against the night sky and moonlight glowed off his bronze skin. She broke through the thin surface of the water. He would see her.

The Veil could not protect her tonight, not while the man was so empty and so very lost. Usually she made sure when she needed to approach humans that they were occupied, busy with their mundane concerns that kept the Veil firmly over their eyes. If they caught sight of her they shrugged it off as a shadow, a fish, or a shift in the current. All her life she’d been careful that way; she knew her place.

But tonight…the feelings were too strong. The man needed her and she needed him. She needed to learn what it was that drew her to him, that made her feel hot and shivery all at the same time. She needed to let him see through the Veil and recognize her for what she was.

Her movement caught his attention. Her heart pounded as she felt the cool air on her skin, the damp weight of her pale hair lying against her neck. Unfiltered moonlight glittered off the wet droplets at her eyelashes. She blinked, determined to see clearly when finally his eyes met hers.

And they did. He saw her at last and she gazed steadily at him. It was too dark to know the color of his eyes, but she did not need her telepathy to read the astonishment in them.

“Where in the world did you come from?” he asked.

She was suddenly afraid. No human had ever spoken to her before! Instinct told her to get away from this place as quickly as possible. Humans brought danger and destruction; she was in peril right now. Why was she not filled with panic?

Another instinct—something deeper, ancient, and unfamiliar—told her to stay. She would obey that one. She would remain where she was, allowing the human to gaze at her. And somehow she would find a way to answer in a language he might know. If only she could find her tongue.

“Are you stranded here?” he asked when she made no reply. “Do you need help?”

His astonishment was turning to concern. She liked how that felt, the warmth it conveyed and the tremors of care he sent out around him. He needed to be reassured, though, so he did not worry in vain. Despite how pleasant it was to feel those emotions directed toward her, it was not fair to leave him in such uncertainty.

But her reply was interrupted before it even left her lips. The human was not alone. It appeared he had a companion with him, a partner. A human female moved into view, sliding up beside him as he stood at the railing.

Aliya’s mind was only vaguely aware of her. The woman transmitted very minimal vibrations of sensation and emotion. It was obvious enough what she wanted, though. She paid no mind to the water or the mermaid just below her. Instead, her attention was fully on the man as she ran her hands over his body and murmured into his ear.

Aliya could feel the man’s reaction, visceral and immediate. His eyes left her and he blinked, as if rousing himself from a sleep. The woman ran her fingers through his wind-tousled hair and he turned to her. The cold emptiness washed over Aliya once again.

“Who are you talking to?” the woman cooed at the man.

He hesitated before answering. “No one. I thought I saw…no, nothing. We’re all alone.”

The woman murmured some more and the man pulled her tight up against himself. He did not look back over the lake. His pain resonated in the waters around Aliya even as he led the woman out of view, inside the boat’s body. It was not difficult to guess what would happen next. Aliya knew the man’s pattern.

He came out to the lake to escape whatever it was that plagued him. He brought females with him, women he seemed to know little about and cared little for. He distracted himself with the women, playing at games of human passions that both fascinated and confused Aliya. As the man’s emptiness attracted her, the inevitable passion drew her to stay.

Just as she did now. She pushed up next to the boat, touching its smooth polished side and waiting for the sensations from inside the boat to travel out to her. Yes, as expected, there they were. The man and his woman were beginning the strange dance of coupling that humans engaged in.

Aliya shut her eyes, letting vibration surround her, reaching her mind up to connect with the man. She could feel what he felt, the building sense of longing and burning desire. She was rocked by the waves even as the humans rocked up above her.

Slowly she became aware of something else…someone else. Someone was coming! She could feel the magic coming closer. She pulled away from the boat and blinked up into the sky. There, she was just in time to notice the small, nonhuman form that glittered above. A fairy, her pink glow reflecting off the sides of the craft and her tiny wings humming, was hovering.

“Come to visit the human again?” the little creature asked. “Not that I blame you. He is pretty interesting, this one.”

Aliya tried to calm her beating heart and hide her nervous tail flicking. She splashed a few droplets of water up toward her friend.

“Raea! You’re looking especially sparkly tonight.”

“You seem to be glowing a bit yourself. Anything unusual going on?”

“No, of course not. I’m simply patrolling these waters and thought I’d make sure things were going well with this vessel.”

The fairy buzzed up to peer in through one of the circular windows on the boat. “Oh, things seem to be going very well for the humans, I’d say.”

Aliya shook out her hair and hoped her color was fading back to normal. She hoped the glow Raea mentioned was gone, too, although parts of her still felt a bit tingly.

“And how are things going for you?” Aliya asked, eager to take the focus off what the humans were doing, and how she was apparently affected by it. “You’ve been called out here to grant wishes, I suppose.”

“I’m a Wish Fairy; it’s what I do. These humans start wishing, so I sprinkle a little dust and give them what they want.”

Aliya didn’t need to ask what the human wanted tonight. She could feel it. He wanted to do things with his female—things that made him forget his pain and numbed him by those exotic human sensations. Sensations that would then be transmitted through the waves.

Sensations that a mermaid had no business being curious about.

“It’s good to know your Fairy Dust is so reliable,” Aliya said. “But he’s probably done wishing for the night.”

“Him? Maybe not. Seems like he’s got extra stamina or something. Not that I’m any kind of expert on this sweaty human recreation.”

“He’s extra lonely.”

“What do you know about that? You have some dealings with this human?”

“No…not at all. It’s just that I’ve seen him out here on the lake before. I can sense how alone he feels, that’s all.”

“Well, you’d better keep that mermaid telepathy to yourself. The Fairy Council has been cracking down lately on questionable interactions, and I know they’re generally in close agreement with the mermaid leadership. You don’t want to find yourself being accused of anything, Aliya.”

“I haven’t done anything! I am careful around humans.”

Mostly
. There was something so alluring, so out of the ordinary about this human…

“Well, just be careful that you don’t…shh, someone’s here.”

Aliya glanced up in the direction of Raea’s quick gaze. A faint red-gold light reflected off the water. It appeared roughly the same size as the Wish Fairy’s pink glow and was moving toward them. Another fairy. Great. What could have drawn this one out here?

“It’s Kyne,” Raea said softly. She didn’t seem particularly pleased about it, either.

“A friend of yours?”

“Hardly. He’s in league with the Fairy Council, spying on us, keeping tabs on how we do our jobs. You’d better go. As you can see, everything is fine on the boat. No sense getting mixed up with Kyne.”

Aliya knew the fairy was right. She’d never been one to pay much attention to Forbidden Realm politics, and she was happy to remain blissfully uninvolved. If this Kyne was some sort of spy for the council, trying to make trouble, she wanted no part of it. As far as anyone needed to know, she’d been simply doing her job, keeping the Veil secure and separating the human’s mundane world from their own.

The Veil was a magical force that ensured protection for creatures like fairies and mermaids. Humans had no idea it even existed, and that was the way it had been for millennia. If she were suspected of allowing a human to see through the Veil, to become aware of their Realm…well, that would certainly upset things.

“All right, I’ll go,” she said to the fairy. “It was good to see you again, Raea. Enjoy the rest of your wishes tonight.”

The fairy nodded and shushed her away. Aliya sank into the dark waters. She would leave. It was the right thing to do. She would swim away and pay no more special attention to the man on this boat. She’d go about her duties, keeping things quiet and secure out here in her section of the Great Lake. She would ignore how he reached out to her, would ignore the forbidden things that her body felt when she was near him. She would go and never come near him again.

At least, she would do that after a little while. It certainly wouldn’t hurt to stay nearby right now, just in case Raea’s wishes were not strong enough to bring the man the relief that he wanted. What if he recalled what he had seen before his woman had pulled him back to the mundane? What if that woman was not proving distraction enough and he started snooping around? It was her duty, of course, to keep track of these things.

Best keep track of things out of view from the fairies, though. She dropped deeper into the water, watching the fairy glow fade above her. The dark silhouette of the boat loomed and she could still feel those sensations emanating from the man on board. Slow and rhythmic, gaining in momentum…she closed her eyes and let the feelings, like a torrent, envelop her.