Velvet Haven (20 page)

“Mmmm,”
Mairi purred, feeling her dream lover’s chin against her cheek. His jaw was covered in scruff, abrading her throat as his lips kissed a path down her neck. Beneath her hands the thick muscles of his shoulders rolled and bunched. His hair, long and black, slid over her breasts, rubbing against her nipples. His breathing was hard, just like the cock that brushed against her sex.

“Let me in,” he commanded, nipping her earlobe.

“Not yet,” she moaned, smiling at the sound of torment that ripped from his throat. God, she loved this, the power she had over him, the control to keep him at bay as he pleasured her. His big hand slid down between their sweat- slicked bodies, brushing her belly before sliding down the soft rise to the slick folds of her pussy.

She was wet, drenched with liquid desire. He tasted it on his fingers as he pushed against her with his erection.

His hand dropped to her thigh, his fingers squeezing as he spread her. “Fuck me,” he commanded.

“No.”

She pushed him back so that he kneeled before her, his cock thick and full. He reached for it, stroking it, making it grow until Mairi looked away, gathering her control. She wanted to cradle him in her hand, feel the fierce strength in him, bring her mouth to him and shatter his willpower. Yet she refused to give in to her body’s needs.

She didn’t understand it, why she felt this need to keep him at arm’s length. But it was there, a feeling that she
must
do this. For her own good. For her protection.

Slowly she looked him up and down, from the muscled thighs to the chiseled abdomen, which quivered with pent-up need. Up farther to the bounding pulse in his thick neck, to lips that still glistened with the slickness of her sex. And then she met his eyes, one pewter, one gold, and stilled, frozen in a dream she had experienced so many times yet now was so very different.

She was asleep, she knew that, dreaming of the man who had come to her these past weeks. Yet she had never seen his face, till now.

He was in his male form, kneeling, naked on his bed, his cock in his hand, pumping up and down. He was not dead, but alive and in Mairi’s dream. She was lying on the bed, the sheets rumpled in a mound beneath her as she balanced her upper body on her elbows. Her long dark hair was draped back over her shoulders, leaving her fully open to his gaze.

With hungry eyes he devoured her lush form, which was illuminated against the white sheets. He reached for her ankle and turned it so that her thigh opened, showing him her core. She had pubic hair, and he stroked his fingers through the wet curls. Sidhe women were hairless there, but he liked Mairi’s dark curls, liked seeing his hand in them.

She watched him, her eyes wide. With one hard tug he pulled her to him. She fell back, flat against the bed, her breasts bouncing, her thighs wrapped around his waist, his cock poised to penetrate her in one hard thrust.

“Mairi,” he whispered as he pressed forward onto her. But then something caught his eye, at the corner of the bed—
iron
.

“Ah, Mairi,” he whispered painfully, realizing that this dream was part of his death premonition. That
she
was. “Have you saved me tonight so that you can kill me later?”

Rowan smiled as she snuggled deeply into the sofa cushions and Mairi covered her with a blanket.

“How you feeling, Ro?” Mairi asked as she gave her friend a big hug.

“Like I got hit with a truck.”

“Well, you needed a whack of lorazepam and Valium to stop the seizure. You’ll be feeling dopey for hours yet.”

Yawning, Rowan nodded. “I can’t seem to keep my eyes open.”

“Sleep as long as you like. You don’t have to keep me company.”

“I got a mean craving for Chinese food,” Rowan mumbled.

“Let’s order some for lunch, okay?”

“Your vision,” Mairi murmured as she looked at the raven in the crate. “What do you remember?”

“Rabid dogs, and you, a weird place.”

“Nothing else?”

“Nope.”

Mairi hoped the tumor wasn’t growing. She didn’t think she could stand it if she was to lose Rowan.

Rowan fell asleep and Mairi walked over to the cage to rebandage the bird’s wing. This morning, when she had checked the bandage, she had spent more time studying the bird. The silver stripe on his back was most curious. Clancy chose that time to clomp over to her. He rested his head on the table and whimpered. Mairi glanced at the clock and realized it was past time for the dog’s meds.

Clancy was old and his hips were bad, but Mairi couldn’t even think of putting him down. So she just kept popping him full of aspirin and dog treats and as much love and affection as she could.

“Almost done, Clance,” she murmured, as she tied a knot in the bandage, securing it.

He was facing the bird cage and watching the raven like a hawk. Nothing had changed since last night, Mairi realized. They were still staring at each other, but the struggle for power was over. The bird was in charge. It was so strange how they had stared each other down before Clancy just backed off.

As she went to the cupboard and reached for the aspirin bottle, she thought of Bran, for no reason other than the onyx raven reminded her of his hair. It had been so black and silky. God, she was pathetic.

Really
pathetic.

But she found herself wondering what he was doing. Who he was with. If he had even thought of her after he’d left her naked.

“Hey, Mairi,” Rowan called from the living room. “I’m hungry. What about you?”

“Starved,” she answered back.

“I’m fantasizing here about an order of jumbo shrimp.”

“I’m on it,” she said, reaching for the phone book and searching for the number of her favorite Chinese restaurant.

“Mairi? How’s your friend doing today?”

She glanced up from the phone book and looked at the bird, who was watching her with a look of rapt attention in its strange eyes. He was truly beautiful, though it was so damn weird of her to think so. He’s just a dumb bird, she reminded herself, but she couldn’t resist looking at him once more.

Rowan sat up on the couch, catching Mairi’s attention. She saw Rowan studying the cage. “Feed your raven,” she murmured. “He needs energy.”

“How do you know?”

Rowan sank back on the pillows, closing her eyes. “I saw it in a dream last night.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, some guy named Suriel told me to tell you to feed and care for that bird.”

The phone book dropped, and Mairi, white with fear, faced Rowan.

“What did you say?”

“He’ll save you, that bird. But first you’ve got to feed it.”

“No, the other part, about Suriel.”

“Oh. Yeah. He thought he was in your dream, but then he realized he wasn’t.”

“I beg your pardon?”

Rowan sighed and closed her eyes. “Honest mistake, Mairi. I was in your bed, after all.”

And then she heard a familiar voice. A voice from her childhood, the one she used to hear when she hid beneath her bed when her father was drunk and destroying the house.

“Here, try this.”

Bran watched as Mairi took a crust of white bread from Rowan and rubbed it between her palms, littering the bottom of his cage with bread crumbs.

“What bird doesn’t like bread crumbs?” Mairi asked her friend.

This one
, he thought.

“He’ll eat. Sooner or later.”

Mairi stepped away and stretched up on tiptoe to reach into her cupboard. She pulled out a blue box with white lettering. “Frosted Mini-Wheats?”

“Can’t hurt to try it.”

Again she crumbled up the cereal, which rained down over the bread crumbs.

Why did she insist on crushing everything?

“Go on,” Mairi said gently, prodding him with her hand. “You’ll like it.”

Not likely. He’d much prefer a steak, or some of that food in the white containers. It smelled delicious. Chinese food, they had called it. He’d never had it, but the aroma filled the small apartment. Grudgingly he admitted that he had come to like human food. As a Sidhe who commanded the elements, he did not need food for nourishment. His magic was his food source. But years of mingling with mortals had taught him to eat, and crave, certain culinary delights. And bread crusts and cereal weren’t going to cut it.

“Maybe he wants some egg roll?” Rowan asked while she scraped the leftovers from her plate into the wastebasket. “He’s big enough to down one whole.”

Mairi grimaced. “You don’t think he eats mice, do you? Or garbage?”

Bran flapped his good wing and fluttered about the cage. If she stuck a mouse in here, he was going to be pissed.

“Fussy-assed crow,” Mairi grumbled as she shoved another Mini-Wheat into his crate.

“I don’t think he likes to be referred to as a crow.”

He cocked his head and thanked the goddess for Rowan. Despite his strange, and alarming, sexual connection to Mairi, it was Rowan who seemed to understand him in his animal form.

She bent forward and reached her finger into the cage, touching him. “He has lovely markings. I wonder how he got them.”

“I’m worried he won’t eat.”

His heart softened as he saw the concern on Mairi’s face. “He’ll eat. Eventually.”

Mairi nodded and brushed her hands on her pants. “You look exhausted.”

“I am,” Rowan murmured. “I called Dillon to come pick me up. He’ll be here any minute.”

“You didn’t have to do that. I would have taken you home.”

Bran looked between the two women, wondering who the hell Dillon was. No doubt Sayer already knew, since he’d been in Rowan’s mind, enchanting her.

“That’s what I pay him for,” Rowan said with a tired smile. “Besides, who knows how long I’m going to be out for, and he needs the money for school.”

“Well, tell him to be careful. He drives that flashy little Nissan way too fast.”

“Yes, Mom,” Rowan said with a laugh. “I’m going to wait outside for him, clear my head with the fresh air. I’ll call you later.”

Mairi watched the door close behind her friend. In that moment, Bran felt the pain and anguish she was feeling, and he vowed, as he watched her, as he wished he could go to her and hold her in his arms, that he would do what he could to understand Rowan’s lineage and get her the help she needed.

If she was not all mortal, then maybe the magic of Annwyn was what she needed to rid herself of whatever disease was making her ill.

The phone rang and Mairi picked it up.

“Hello?” She grimaced when she heard the voice on the other end.

Bran could hear a male voice, and he saw red knowing that Mairi might have interest in another man. For some absurd reason, he thought of her as his. Especially now that she had healed him.