OwlsFair (4 page)

“Later.” His kiss sent her head spinning, and his wide, calloused hands caressed her back in a slow stroke that freed the clasp of her bra without pausing. He didn’t discard the bra but sighed happily as his hand made a slow uninterrupted caress down her spine.

She gave herself up to him, body and soul, as his honeyed kiss sent her thoughts spinning and her body began to burn. Her clit throbbed, her sex felt swollen and hot, and it was hard to keep standing there as he leisurely kissed her lips, stroking her tongue with his.

His body was hard under her touch, hot skin over iron muscle. Whatever he did for a living, it kept him in amazing shape. She idly ran her hands over his back, and a smile came to her mouth as he groaned and arched into her touch.

The simple touch on his spine made him grunt, writhe and twist to get more of her hands on him. She kept her exploration up, and as he moved against her, her breasts rubbed against the loose fabric of her bra that was finally enough of an irritant to discard.

He grunted and leaned just far enough back from her to let her remove the small barrier with its cheerful flowers and satiny fabric. The moment they were back together, she groaned at the feel of heat and light abrasion that the hair and muscle of his chest provided.

She shivered and moved closer until their bodies were so close, not a whisper of air could get between them. Buzz moved to place kisses on her neck, and she clung to his shoulders for support as his lips and teeth made her weak in the knees.

His teeth had sharpened, so each graze had the effect of setting her heart pounding. She shivered in his arms, and when he moved beyond her neck toward her breasts, the angle she was forced into released a whimper from her.

“I think this calls for a change of orientation.” Buzz’s voice was barely understandable. His teeth were visible and they were fearsome.

He lifted her, and with a quick move, he had peeled back the bedding and placed her against the pristine white pillows. His hands made quick work of her shoes, socks, jeans and finally the whisper of her panties.

She didn’t have time to be embarrassed—his own clothing was flipped to the floor with a few soft grunts, and then, he was on her. His mouth continued its exploration of her torso while his hands caressed her hips, belly and then one finger stroked her sex and parted her, letting loose a flow of liquid heat.

Buzz groaned and left her aching breasts in exchange for lying between her thighs and applying himself diligently to lapping up the honey that she was producing as her aroused tension kept her on the edge of release.

Ezzy threaded her fingers through his hair and held tight as her low moans turned into harsher cries and finally a shriek of release that echoed in her owl’s voice.

Buzz growled happily, his tongue lapping at her, burrowing inside and then scooping out all traces of her flow. When her body stopped bucking against his mouth, he raised his head and moved up to face her again.

With deliberate motions, he licked his lips, and to her embarrassed amazement, there were no visible traces of her on his face. His hips parted her thighs, and she bent her knees to give him full access.

She met his dark gaze as he fitted the head of his cock to her and began to put his weight into it. He didn’t slide in easily, but her body yielded slowly to the insistent pressure.

Looking up into Buzz’s face, she watched the almost cruel intensity in his expression as he fit himself into her and began to move.

If he hadn’t just gone out of his way to provide her with pleasure, she would have run at that point, but because
ladies first
seemed to be his private theme, she was willing to face the frightening visage above her.

His shoulders blotted out the light coming through the window, but as he rocked against her, drawing back and thrusting forward with a delicious slowness, she ignored the call of the night in favour of what was happening inside her.

Her body was rapidly climbing back to the peak that he had brought her to before. Each slow thrust into her sent shivers through her body, and she let the whimpers flow free.

Ezzy clutched at his shoulders, and her fingers shifted into talons, holding fast. Her lips parted, and she shrieked as her body came apart under him, around him.

A flicker of relief struck Buzz’s eyes, and his thrusts picked up in pace until she was rocking violently with every hard shove, and he growled a low moaning growl as his cock pulsed inside her.

He rolled to his back and pulled her over him, bringing the covers over them both.

She inhaled the scent that their combined bodies had created and smiled as she rested her head against his chest.
Perfect match.

Chapter Seven

Krisia was about to leave her office for the evening when a knock at the door froze her in place. She wasn’t expecting anyone.

She scanned the door, and three male figures appeared, with canine in their systems. This was not good.

“I am closed for the evening—come back tomorrow.” It was a futile hope, but it got her to her desk where she pressed her panic button an instant before the door shattered.

Three half-shifted coyotes strode into her office and one took point. “Where is she?”

Krisia formed power, but before she could fire it, a clawed hand swiped across her face.

“I asked you, bitch, where is she?”

Her skin parted under his claws as he struck her again. She tried to remain flippant but it was getting harder. “Who?”

“Your friend, the owl. Where is Ezmerelda Atkinson?”

She could smell his fetid breath on her skin as he lapped at the blood. With hands raised, she clawed at his face. One hand got lucky with hair, skin and blood. “Where she needed to be.”

He clawed her across the abdomen. “Human bitch, you sent her to the Crossroads.”

Her shirt was no match for his claws, and blood spread across the fabric. Ruthlessly throttling down on her pain, she answered. “I did.”

“Send me.”

She spit blood at him. “No.”

His companions moved forward and gripped her arms. There was now an unholy light in his eyes. “You will.”

He used his claws on her until her clothing was dripping red.

When she looked up at him numbly as she dropped to her knees, she smiled. With one hand, she sent him where he wanted to go.

As his companions shouted in panic and power flashed around her, she knew that her help had arrived, and it was time to rest. Ezzy had her mate, so it was only a matter of who was stronger, her new man or the insane bastard on the hunt.

“Rest easy, Krisia. You were badly beaten and lost a lot of blood.” The voice was calm and controlled, but there was a note of anger in it.

Kris opened her eyes and confirmed what her ears told her. Guild Master Tobias Orcross was working on her, healing her.

Damn it.

Kris looked down at her body, hovering at waist height for Tobias’s ease. She was naked and covered with lacerations, but at least the bleeding had stopped. The two cohorts that had held her for the coyote’s mauling were wreathed in a swirl of dark energy that left them whimpering in pain.

Kris tried not to look up at Tobias. “Shouldn’t you be doing something official, Guild Master?”

He paused in his ministrations. “There is nothing more important than healing you, Krisia. You know that.”

She grudgingly met his clear blue gaze and winced at the sincerity she saw there.

“I know that you think it is. Why wasn’t someone else on my security duty?”

He sighed and sealed up a wound across her belly with an even touch and a small surge of healing energy.

Kris had to admit, Tobias was the one you wanted to heal you when you were injured. His talent came out in his hands.

“I assigned you to my care two years ago. The moment your alert came through, I was on my way, though it did take a while to locate your precise position. You have quite the hidden office.”

She grimaced as he stroked another hand down her hip, closing the red wounds and leaving pale skin in its place.

“I have the attacker in my hand if you are interested.” She tried to distract him, but he was intent on her body.

“It is a coyote named Anders. The Raven and the Swan have been alerted. Where did you send him?”

“The high ground. I wanted everyone to have as much time preparing as they could.” She pressed her lips together as his hand woke a sliver of pain.

“Good. I will tell the Guardians. They are having trouble finding Anders’s target. Do you know where she is?”

Kris tried to ignore the warmth that always accompanied his touch. “She is with her mate. That is all I know. I do not know where they are.”

“As you should be.” The chastisement in his tone was unmistakable.

“You know my reasons.” She wanted to cross her arms over her breasts, but he was busy sealing her cuts in that region.

“They are foolish, and if your friend has truly found her mate, they now have no grounding in reality. You are free to be with your mate now, Krisia, and I believe I have waited long enough.”

There was anger in his angelic features, an expression she had seen only once before, a decade earlier when she had avoided his attentions at the rites of spring.

Kris blushed as he moved his hands over her from neck to thigh, testing the texture of her new skin. He had waited a while to have his hands on her. That was obvious to both of them.

“I honestly thought you would move on to someone else, Guild Master.”

“There has never been anyone else but you since that day, Krisia. I had to take a willing partner, and since you dodged me that day, it had to be a volunteer. I never intended it to be your cousin.”

She winced. Ten years earlier, she had attended the rites of spring, her first as an adult and a Transporter. The seer had tapped her as the sacrifice of spring, the woman who had to have sex in public with the Guild Master. Krisia had refused the honour in the only way she could think of—she ate everything she was allergic to and sought out poison ivy. In one hour, she went from a lithe sacrifice to a welter of pain and rashes.

In her place, the new Guild Master had to seal his link to the community with a volunteer. Her cousin Sara had stepped forward and filled the gap. Of course, Sara now was married with three kids, but back then, it had been a hurtful sight as the man she knew to be hers took her kinswoman in full view of the public.

“You know, if we were not what we are, this would be considered in poor taste. I mean, even the shifters don’t arrange marriages anymore.”

Tobias sighed. “Ours is not arranged, it is destined. We can simply see who our true match is and their name and where they are located. It is a small enough gift for what we pay out with our talents.”

“Destiny sucks.”

He let out another gust of air. “You have dodged it long enough. With this attack, you have proved that you are not capable of defending yourself and keeping my mate safe for the future. You will come with me this evening, and tomorrow, we will formalize our union.”

“It still sucks. I was never even consulted on the matter.” She tried not to flinch as he worked on her face.

He cupped her jaw as his hand sealed her final injury. His gaze was intense as he completed the healing. “I was not consulted either, but I am not complaining. It is the way our people have found their matches for centuries, and it is not up for discussion.”

She didn’t have a chance to say a word—his fascinating mouth descended on hers and power wrapped them together as he swept them out of her bloodstained office and to the home of the Guild Master.

It was the place she most and least wanted to be, and she hoped with all her heart that Ezzy was having more luck than she was.

Chapter Eight

Ezzy woke completely in the dark of the night. Something was wrong with Krisia, and she needed to go home.

With all the stealth of a nocturnal predator, she eased away from Buzz. Her body felt the caress of the moonlight, and with a swift move, she jerked open the window and leapt out. Her feathers wrapped her in an instant. The steady beat of her wings helped her approach the hostel in silence.

The avian hostel had a roof access, and she used it, shifting to her feet on the stairs. The urgency of wrongness surrounding thoughts of Kris didn’t cease until she was at her locker and getting dressed.

As quickly as the feeling of urgency began, it eased until there was nothing left. Wherever Kris was, she was no longer in danger. Ezzy leaned her forehead against the locker and debated her options. She could stay in tonight or try and get back to Buzz before he woke.

There was really no choice. She was heading back to the Open Heart.

The hostel was silent. She was the only avian occupant tonight, and since she had not checked in, there was no reason for the attendant to remain.

With her body still humming with fading adrenaline, she eased out the door and looked around. The streets were nearly silent.

The hair on the back of her neck rose in silent warning an instant before she was struck and thrown in a skid across the ground.

The scent of blood filled the air, but it was not Ezzy’s blood, it was Kris’s.

Ezzy got to her feet and faced her attacker. She was shocked to see Anders in a half-shift. “Anders. What did you do?”

“Your bitch Transporter should be dead by now. My pack mates have seen to it.” His teeth gnashed and his voice was garbled, but she made out his words.

“You attacked a Transporter? You really are the dumbest thing on two or four legs.” If her instincts were not telling her that Kris was alive and well, she would have been far more disturbed. Now, she was simply furious.

Her fingers turned to talons, and she charged him, drawing blood and sending him lurching backward.

A low roar sent Ezzy into overdrive, looking for the new attacker, but the enormous bear charging down the lane directly for Anders had no interest in her. The bear was as tall as she was, and it was crunching down on Anders’s arm as she watched.

A black raven landed nearby and shifted into Tony the Guardian with Teal shifting from her swan form a moment behind him.