Loving Ean (The Fae Guard Book 2) (11 page)

As we make our way to the locker room, Zanna invites me out with a group headed to Rock Falls. I should accept; I know I should.
You know your pathetic ass is going up stairs to wait for your booty call.

I want to prove that inner bitch wrong, but instead I hear myself say, “Can’t tonight. I’ve got work to do.”
Work? Is that what the kids are calling sweaty, hot, fucking these days?

Someday, I’m going to figure out how to gag that obnoxious twat. We part ways, and I head up to my apartment to shower and change. I want to tell myself I’m putting on lacy, green underwear because I want to feel pretty after spending the day in the dirt. I want to tell myself I might as well make enough dinner for two because it’s always nice to have leftovers. I want to tell myself so many things, but I can’t lie even to myself. I have to admit that I do these things for Ean, even though I know they won’t make a damn bit of difference in the outcome of the evening.

It’s almost midnight when I hear a single, firm knock on my door. I get up from the couch where I’d been half watching a movie and working, and go open the door. I’m already burning with need, wet and ready for him.
What else is new?
I put my sex obsessed, inner self in a cold shower, and tell her to calm the fuck down.

The moment the door is cracked, Ean shoves in and sweeps me up into a hungry kiss that completely consumes me.
Cold shower unsuccessful, Houston.
I wrap my arms tight around his neck and curl my legs around his hips to get as close as possible. I vaguely notice that he’s kicked the door shut, and turned the lock before heading down the hall to my bedroom. Ripping my lips from his, I try to catch my breath and get my head out of this Ean fog, even as I moan when his lips trail a path down to my neck.

“Do you—um, are you hungry?” I pant, trying for that last bit of control.

“Yeah. I’m starved for your wet little pussy, baby.” He growls, his kisses becoming hot, wet, and open mouthed, leaving a trail of fire behind everywhere they touch.

I open my mouth again to speak, but he silences me with another drugging kiss. His shaft is pressed right up to my core and when he grabs my ass, pulling me even closer, I gasp at the sensations shooting from my nerve ending, and my already wet panties become soaked.

“All I want to hear coming from your mouth right now are moans. Screaming is also acceptable. You don’t speak unless I tell you to, you got that?” His blue eyes are intense as he leans his head back and watches, waiting for my affirmation. I am a strong, independent woman, but there is something about his dominance in the bedroom that turns me the hell on. I nod and he grunts his approval as he pulls at my bottom lip with his teeth, and then explores my mouth with his tongue.

We reach the bed and he lowers us down, covering me with his body. He stares into my eyes for a moment, the blue pools darkening even further as lust pours from their depths. “I really need you tonight.” After the words slip out, we both freeze. I’m too afraid to respond, so I wait and feel a bubble of hope filling my chest. Then Ean’s eyes turn a little wild and fill with panic, deflating my pathetic little balloon. “I need to fuck you tonight,” he says firmly. I’m so tempted to turn him away, to kick his ass out for ignoring how much he needs me. I try to convince myself to tell him to leave, but then he slides his hands into my hair and grasps the strands tight while rocking into me. Suddenly, I can’t remember what I was thinking about. There is only room in my head for Ean.

I’VE BEEN GOING OUT
with the Ohtar more regularly the last few months. As a people, we generally avoid unprovoked attacks, choosing to only fight when needed to protect ourselves or another. However, at times, the hunters of The Guard are needed when The Fallen get overly blatant with their activities, or if they are stepping over the line into torture territory. There seems to be an influx of violent activity lately. Fae are being taken, rather than coerced into the darkness.

This type of work is destructive, and the turn over for the Ohtar is high because of it. Every time I return from one of these assignments, I’m bleeding inside for having been forced to take lives. The only place I can find healing is in Laila’s arms. I let it slip last week . . . let it slip how much I need her. I ignored it and moved on, turning her attention by eating her sweet pussy until she was screaming. She has the sweetest fucking taste; I don’t think I’ll ever find anything that compares. Not that I’m likely to find out anytime soon. Apparently, my dick is of the opinion that Laila is the only woman he wants to get busy with. I’m starting to wonder, if when I finally let her go, it will equal eternal celibacy for me. I suppose it serves me right, my dick will most likely be pretty fucking pissed at me for shoving away its nirvana.

Oh, give me a break, like your cock doesn’t rule
your
life. If you deny it, that’s bullshit and we both know it.

Kellen signals to me and points down a rural street that leads to an open field, surrounded by forest. The sun is almost down and soon, even the fields will be shrouded in shadows. We’ve been watching a local area in south Texas carefully over the last few weeks. Kellen, the lead on this assignment, even rented an apartment just a few miles away to keep a constant eye on the area. Several Fae have disappeared lately within a fairly narrow geographical expanse. Too many so close together is more than just a coincidence. What’s worse, the guard of a half, not far from here, also went off the radar and the evidence points to him being turned, rather than killed. We finally caught a break today when a Fallen stepped into the light as he entered a grocery store.

Kellen called me, and I grabbed the other guards, who’d been at a nearby bar, before meeting up near the building housing the store. When the Fallen finally came out, he had his skinny arm draped around a pretty girl with dark, mocha skin, and long, shiny, black hair. I could see the guy’s attraction. They tend to be drawn to those who have similar coloring to their own. And drawing humans into sin, causing their darkness to spread, is something they feed on, second only to turning a Fae. This scrawny dude was clearly delusional though, because she couldn’t be any more out of his league.

She rolls her eyes at something he’s said, smacks at his arm until he removes it, and then she walks away. We wait while he wastes time staring at her retreating ass lasciviously, and then follow him out to an unpopulated area. We don’t particularly care about the rest of the Fallen lurking around, but sources indicate that the missing guard is here.

As we near the wooded area, we can hear the loud activities of a group, obviously unconcerned about being heard. There is a large farmhouse on the land, bought by a young Fallen couple, who use it as a boarding house, of sorts. It’s the most likely place that we’ll find the fae that we are looking for. We follow the toothpick back here and watch from a distance as he goes in, and now, we wait. It is never a good idea to approach Fallen when the sun is down, our power diminishes faster, and we need the sunlight to build it back up. However, they aren’t likely to come outside since they are more powerful in the darkness. So, twilight it is. That, and nearing sunrise, are the only times when we both harbor some advantage. Shadows for the Fallen and sunlight for us.

I make my way down the street that Kellen indicated and then onto a path that cut through the trees to a center field, where I see a small pond. I sigh at my shit luck. Water is the easiest element to use when you don’t have much sun, it doesn’t need it to survive. It is, in fact, denser in the shadows without the sun to evaporate it. Because of this, it is the element The Fallen are the most skilled at manipulating. I’m confident in my own skills to hand them their asses, but just once, couldn’t it be easy? At that thought, I could swear I hear Laila laughing at me, asking, “Now, what would be fun about that?”
No. No. Stop thinking about her.
Just thinking any little thing about her sets my body on defcon horny with a semi, creating a little pressure in my pants.

You think you could stop talking to yourself and concentrate, asshole?

Right. Focus. I adjust myself and get my cock under control as I continue walking until I’m just at the edge of the clearing. I step into the remnants of the sun to clear up my vision and spot Kellen to my right. I lift my chin at the pond. He nods in acknowledgement and then strides out into the dying light. Using the scattered rays to fuel his power, he closes his eyes and his body takes on an astral radiance, lit up as though you were looking at him standing directly in front of the sun. The roots of the trees nearest the pond begin to crawl around it and then proceed to grow up into new saplings, creating a barrier.

Nice.
I’d smile at his brilliant idea if those muscles weren’t broken.

Once the foliage sprouts and the water is completely obscured, Kellen’s body returns to its normal level of pale, but he continues to stand in the glow of the sun, soaking up as much as he can. In order to keep from one person from expelling all of their energy, we each take a task. One of the other guys, Eldan I think, steps out into another shard of light, close to the newly created greenery. Almost glowing from the sunlight flowing through his body, his hand floats across the tips of the leaves and small branches. In its wake, he leaves another type of glow as each one begins to burn with an orange flame. At his halfway point, I step further out into the clearing and feel the warmth invade my soul, I bask in it as I bring the wind to the fire, ever so gently, being careful to add enough oxygen to fuel the fire without blowing it out.

Soon enough, the pond is completely concealed by a wall of blistering heat. The last man with us stayed near the house and after about ten minutes, when the fire is high in the sky, billowing with smoke, we see his warning when the ground cracks at the tree line and quickly works its way across to the opposite side. As quickly as the ground opens, it seals behind itself, leaving no trace of the shift in the earth.

They are coming. Yes! Now the fun begins. If it wouldn’t make me look like a fucking cartoon, I’d probably be rubbing my hands together with sinister glee. But it would. So, I’ll stick with looking like a straight-faced badass.

Kellen, Eldan, and I all stay in the fading light, soaking up its warmth, even as we feel the cold rush inside that warns us when the evil of a Fallen is near. Without the water as an obstacle, I’m thinking this is going to be too fucking easy. I mentally shrug. Whatever, more time to get drunk and pass out so I can sleep without thinking about—never mind.

Finally, I see two dark figures approach. Their bodies are thin and withdrawn, dressed in jeans and thick hoodies. As they move closer into my sight, I recognize the dark hair and eyes of The Fallen. When they step completely out into the open, and their full features come into plain view, my breath catches, and my blood runs cold.

I stare at Rònan as he enters the clearing. Though his hair, eyes, and skin are darker, he looks almost the same as the last time I saw him, as does the woman walking by his side—Taran. Hate is a corrosive emotion, and it can eat away at you, making it a danger to the pure souls of the Fae. Just as envy and greed do, hate also pushes you closer to the tipping line, until you fall in a lie with ease, and lose the light completely. However, if there was ever someone to push me into giving in to the destructive feeling, it would be Taran.

I was there the day Rònan was born. From the moment I met him, he was lodged in my heart, becoming my brother though we didn’t share blood. His father, Gòrdan, was a great friend from our days together on The Guard and when he found out his human girlfriend was pregnant, he went to the council and asked for me to be assigned as his child’s protector. Godfathers do not exist in our culture (let me just point out that this is yet another twisted human belief. An adult who watched over and protects the child of another, agreeing to take special care in the case of a parent being lost . . . sound familiar?), but if there was, I would be his.

Together, with his father, I protected him, taught him, and watched him grow with pride. Rònan and I were close—at least—I thought we were. When his twenty-first birthday arrived, I was ecstatic. Gòrdan and his wife, Sarah, were finally going to return to Rien. I couldn’t wait to get Rònan to the fae realm, to teach him our ways, and bring him into The Guard. I knew his potential was incredible from the signs I’d been seeing as his birthday approached.