Worlds of Obsession (Celtic Otherworlds) (23 page)

Liv held up her hand.  “Gah… let’s not go there.”  This was after all, Bastien’s
father
they were discussing, and there were a lot more important things she needed to know.  “Who are my real parents?”

             
Bride shrugged.  “I don’t know.”

             
“You don’t know?  Really?”

             
“Nope.  Carman never told me the details, and I didn’t ask.  My job was just to keep you safe and alive in the human world until you were old enough.  Oh, and to instill in you an unnatural fear of medical professionals, of course.  Couldn’t have you deciding to visit the doctor and risk having them find out you’re not human.”

             
“
What
?  You did that on
purpose
?  Do you know I nearly have a panic attack every time I so much as hear an ambulance siren?”

             
“Oh, come on.  Have you ever been sick even once in your life?”

             
“No… I haven’t.  But I thought I just had good genes.”

             
“Yes, you have excellent genes, sweetheart, because Fae
don’t get sick
… ever.”

             
Liv dropped her head into her hands.  “This is crazy, do you know that?  This is my
life
we’re talking about here.  The life that has apparently been a complete lie!  And do you know what the worst thing is?  I’m not even really surprised.  I knew all along that something wasn’t quite right, but I kept telling myself it was just me… that I just didn’t quite fit in anywhere.”

             
Bride put a hand on her shoulder, and the touch was still familiar.  “Look… if it’s any consolation, I
did
get rather attached to you after a while.  Almost like you really were mine.  And it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be”, she said with a smile of relief.

             
“Ummm, thanks.  I think.”

             
There was suddenly a fierce pounding at the door, and Bride clasped her hands together with a little squeal and a great big smile.  “Oh, here’s your male now.  He’s soooo dreamy Liv…”

             
“He’s really not my male…”

             
“You are sooooo lucky!  Do you even
know
how good Demons are in bed?  If you can get them to show you their horns, there’s this thing you can do….”

             
Liv threw up her hands again.  “Whoa!  Wait a minute!  Still kind of thinking of you as my grandmother right now…”

             
The pounding on the door was getting louder.  “Liv!  Open this door!  Now!”

             
Bride smiled and waggled her fingers.  “Time for me to go. We’ll talk more later, I promise.  Bye bye!”

             
“Liv?  Are you in there?  I’m gonna break it down…”

             
Liv spun around.  “Wait!  What were you saying about the horns…”

             
But Bride had disappeared, misting away into thin air until Liv could only hear her distant laugh.  She realized she hadn’t even asked what Bride was.  She was going to have to learn for herself how to tell the Sidhe races apart. 

“
Liv!”

             
Oh yeah, the door. 

As soon as she opened it, Bastien stormed in, looking around as if he were trying to find something to kill.  When his gaze finally met hers, she watched in awe as his
face changed and his pupils dilated, making his eyes impossibly dark.  “Who were you talking to in here?  And why the fuck did you leave headquarters?  I got back and you weren’t there, and I was about to tear the fucking place apart… luckily your friend was on the couch making out with Jace, and she thought you might be here.  Don’t
ever
do that again!  I was worried sick!”

             
Liv smiled.  Aww… he cared about her enough to be worried over her, and the thought made her heart sing… wait a minute… “My friend Jess?”

             
“Yeah, I almost had to dump some cold water on them to get their attention…”

             
“Oh, god…  Wait a minute, how did she get in there?  They won’t let her leave now… I have to go back and help her…”

             
Bastien was staring at her uncertainly.  “I thought you knew…”

             
“Knew what?”

             
He winced a little.  “That Jess isn’t human?”

             
Liv’s mouth fell open and she sat down hard on the bed behind her.  “Of course she isn’t”, she mumbled sardonically.  “Why would she be?” 
Oh Jessica Ellery, you and I are going to have a loooong talk…

             
“Are you okay?”

             
The genuine concern in Bastien’s eyes calmed her, and she drew in a deep breath.  “Yeah, I’m fine.  Just please tell me you don’t have any more shocking revelations for me today.  I think I’m at my limit.  Then again, I might as well get it all over at once, so lay it on.”

             
Liv stood, running her hands through her hair, and out of habit, tying it into a loose knot at the back of her head.  When she looked up, Bastien was watching her with fascination, his eyes roaming over her body with predatory intent.  The heat that burned steadily between them flared, and he slowly pulled his bottom lip between his teeth and released it.  “Come here.”

             
Without conscious thought, Liv stepped forward, as if he had commanded her body and it had simply obeyed.  And why wouldn’t it?  She was already trembling at the memory of what it had been like to be in his arms, skin to skin, of how heaven could not possibly compare to the feeling of him moving inside of her, taking from her what he needed, and giving her so much in return.  Bastien reached out and pulled her into his arms, his hands falling lower to cup her bottom and pull her against him.  He leaned in to kiss and nuzzle her neck, breathing her in with a soft moan.  Liv immediately went pliant and sagged against him, her body inexorably drawn to his.

             
“You left me, Bastien.”

             
His shoulders sagged a little.  “I know.  I’m sorry… I kind of freaked out.”

             
“Was the sex that bad?” she teased.

             
He smiled against her skin.  “No, the sex was that good.  I didn’t think I deserved anything that perfect.  Forgive me?”

             
“Okay.”  She could actually feel some of the tension drain away.

“I wa
nt to bring you somewhere now, baby.”

             
Liv looked up at him.  “Where?”  She would have been much happier if he said he wanted to strip her naked and ravish her until she begged for mercy…

             
“I want to bring you to my home.  I want to be the first one to bring you to the Otherworld.  I want to show you how beautiful it can be… how peaceful.  Will you come with me?”

             
His face was so full of hope and something else… uncertainty?  He wanted so much to begin his life again, but he was afraid.  Liv could understand that.  Giving up control, putting it all on the line, with no guarantee that things are going to work out the way you want them to, the way you
need
them to… that takes a giant leap of faith.  And there was nothing Liv wanted to do more than to make Bastien truly happy again, to really know him, and to be everything he needed and more…  “Yes, of course I’ll come with you Bastien.  I would love to see your home.”

             
A smile curled up the corners of his mouth, and this time, it reached his eyes.  Liv smiled back and rose up on her tiptoes to kiss his beautiful lips, but before she could, his mouth had crashed down onto hers in a demanding, carnal assault.  His hands reached up to tangle in her hair and hold her tight while his tongue dove into her mouth, thrusting against hers so hard and deep that their teeth met with each forward motion.  Bastien groaned low in his throat and thrust his hips against her stomach, so that she could feel his rock-hard arousal straining against the fly of his jeans.  Liv remembered what she had been told about the lustiness of Demons, and counted herself very lucky.  She moved against him, and he shuddered, breaking the kiss and stepping back to hold her at arm’s length.  His eyes were closed and his breathing labored.  He opened his eyes and fixed her with a look that held so much unspoken promise, her heart skipped several beats.

             
“Not yet…”  His teeth clenched tightly together as if he were struggling to rein in his desire.  “Come on… before I lose control altogether.  It’s too damn close as it is.”  His hand rose to brush a lock of hair behind her ear as he studied her face.  “You make me so
hungry
.  The sweet anticipation of taking you is almost more than I can stand.”  His warm breath sent chills down her spine as he leaned close to nuzzle her ear and whisper to her.  “But it
is
sweet, Liv.  Painfully so.”

             
Bastien took her hand, leading her from the hotel to where his car was haphazardly parked in the lot out back, taking up four spots and blocking an exit lane.  She looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

             
“What?”  He asked defensively.  “I told you, I was worried.  I couldn’t get here fast enough and I could give a damn how I left the car.”

             
“It could have been towed”, she said practically.

             
“I don’t give a fuck about the car Liv.  I don’t give a fuck about anything but…”  He stopped and sucked in a little breath, shaking his head.  “Hell, it’s only ever been a pile of metal to me.  Get in”, he said gruffly, holding the passenger door open for her.

             
Still wondering what it was Bastien cared about,
the only thing he cared about
, Liv buckled her seatbelt and waited for him to slide into the seat next to her.  She had a sinking feeling that despite her rising hopes, it wasn’t her, and it never would be.  He had found his one true love, and lost her.  Next to that, what Liv had with him was nothing, inconsequential.  Not much more than physical release and a little bit of companionship.  Her heart sank a little from the heights it had climbed to after he had finally made love to her.  And then that mind-blowing kiss they had just shared…maybe to Bastien it was only really good sex, but it had meant so much more to her.  She was already losing her heart to him, and there was really nothing she could do about it, because he had taken it so effortlessly, she hadn’t even known until it was too late.  If she continued on like this, holding out hope that he would eventually feel the same, she was going to get hurt.  But what was the alternative?  She was pretty sure that she could no more walk away from Bastien than she could will her heart to stop beating.  With a little shake of her head, she dragged herself out of her thoughts as the car pulled out onto the main street.  “Is there a special… umm, portal, that goes to your house?”

             
“Nah, it’s not like there’s one specific door to each realm, just that some are closer than others.  You can get there through just about any portal in a pinch, but we try not to do that.  It’s kind of like cutting through everyone’s backyard instead of taking the road.  If everyone did it all the time, it would wear out the welcome, so to speak.  Besides, the portal I usually use isn’t far from here, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes by car.”

             
“And… humans”…
god, it was still so hard to think of herself as
not
human
… “can’t go through?”

             
He shook his head, glancing at her through the dark sunglasses he had put on in honor of the rare appearance of the sun in Scotland.  “No, not in general.  A very few can, but that’s usually because they have Otherworld blood somewhere in their line.”

             
There was a sudden buzzing sound, and Bastien looked down at his cell and cursed.  “Sorry, I have to take this”, he said to her.  “Yeah, what is it?  Shit… where?  Okay… I’m not far.  Yeah, meet you there in five.”  Bastien hung up the phone and slapped his palm against the steering wheel in annoyance.  “Damn fucking Druid wannabes.  Sorry, we’re going to have to take a short detour.  It won’t take long though, I promise.”

             
“A detour… for Druids?”

             
“Yeah.  Not real ones, all the real ones died out ages ago.  Now there’s just a bunch of crazy humans that like to
think
they’re Druids because it’s the cool new thing this century.  Most of them are completely harmless, but every so often they manage to accidently screw something up.”

             
Huh… just when she thought the surprises were slowing down… “So what did they screw up this time?”