Chapter 6
“Ander, do you know that you are glowing?” Her arms shook as she tried to move off him. His arm around her hips kept her from moving.
“That was the idea, Fiona.”
The weak and exhausted Ander was gone. Even his hair seemed to have a new life.
“I told you how I generate my energy. This is how.” His hips lifted against her and the obvious strength of his erection was proof he was ready to go again.
“Can you hide this from Baenwik?”
He looked suddenly thoughtful. “I suppose I could.”
“Good, because I am still tied to this wall and the look in your eyes spoke of making a run for it.” He chuckled and she groaned. The movement within her was torture. Her nerves were still sensitised from the previous round. “Stop moving.”
“Aw. Sensitive?”
“Yes. Do you have enough of whatever it is you need?” She squirmed as his fingers traced circles on either side of her spine.
“I have what I need, but not what I want.” His hands flattened on her back and pressure angled her head to his. The kiss was just as sweet, but a lot more thorough than the first had been.
She went limp against him and let him do what he wished. He caught on quickly. “Ander, we have just met, and this is neither the time nor place for this sort of thing.”
He leaned his forehead to hers. “You are right, but I couldn’t resist.”
“You could have, you just didn’t want to.”
“You have a point.” He released her.
His hands fell away and she was free to stretch and ease her well-used channel from his erection. “Oh, that feels better. I think my muscles were trying to take up that position permanently.”
“Mmm. That sounds like fun.”
“Shut up, you twit.” He had the nerve to look insulted. “I have been abducted, stun gunned, forced to look at naked strangers, forced across a magical pathway and dumped into a tub with a horny so-called elf. I am tired.” She swam back out of his reach and embraced the heat of the water to sooth her sore muscles.
He watched her closely, she could feel it. Every time she twisted, stretched or arched, his gaze was on her. She was rapidly getting to the point of not-giving-a-frosty-fuck.
“Wash your hair, Ander. You still have blood in it.” Her nagging tone was as annoying as she could make it. He obediently ducked his head beneath the water and didn’t resurface. Fiona moved around the pool and was suddenly sure that she knew where Ander was. He was licking up the inside of her thigh.
His hands supported her weight, she didn’t even have to fight to keep her head above water. His ability to hold his breath was amazing. A wonderful talent. She wondered if his mother was proud.
“Holy hell!” Her orgasm caught her by surprise. Her body twisted out of her control and slipped from Ander’s hands. The water flooding her mouth surprised her, but not as much as the spasms of her body continuing as he did not stop his ministrations.
Fiona felt her lungs were going to give way the exact instant before he pulled her to the surface. Gasping for air became her highest priority. He held her up and she elbowed him in the throat before he let her go. Coughing to expel the water she had inhaled, she was still shivering with the shock of the unexpected orgasm and the near drowning when pretty boy came back.
“I see you are in much the same state as when I left you.” His smarmy voice was directed at Ander.
She turned her head on the stone to look at her lover and he was in the same pose as when she had wrestled him into position.
“And you, Fiona? You seem the worse for wear.”
“It’s the heat. And working with an unresponsive patient. It makes me tired.” She flipped the hair straggling into her eyes, back over her shoulders. Ander’s eyes slitted open and he glared at her. Apparently she had insulted him. Well, fair was fair, he had almost drowned her.
“I have brought you a cloth to help you dry before putting on your clothing.”
“Will you leave again? I would like some privacy.”
“I am afraid that will not be possible. Your chain will not be removed until the contest for your hand is over.”
“Who makes up these rules?” Her tone was shrill. Her mind was close to the breaking point. This was the stupidest thing that could happen on the weirdest day of her life.
And she had seen true magic.
The days at Camp Silverwood had been full of fun, but the nights were fantastic. They were called, drawn, to the lake where the magic had been awakened within them. She had always felt it, sensed something fantastic right at the edge of her mind. The whispered instruction had been all she needed to spring into life.
Now this idiot was trying to see her naked. Fine. “Give me the cloth.” She clambered out of the water without further ceremony and stood stark naked in front of two very interested males.
“Uh, of course, Fiona.” A suddenly sheepish Baenwik handed her the length of linen he was clutching.
She wrapped it around her once and used the trailing end to dry her hair. It was wild after her exertions. The water had only loosened the tangles. “Do you know if anyone is looking for me? Police? My friends?”
“Hmm. No they are not.”
“Now, why would that be?”
“They think you are dead.”
Her butt hit the stone with a painful thud, the silver chain slithered against the rock. “What?”
Chapter 7
“I left a simulacrum of you in the forest. I used your hair for the creation, so your dee-hen-ay will be intact.” Baenwik seemed pleased that he had gotten all of the vernacular correct.
She absently fumbled with her hair and felt the piece that was shorter than the others. “They think I am dead?”
“Yes. This leaves you free to pursue your magic.” He was happy. As if he had solved a problem for her.
“I don’t want to pursue my magic. I want to pursue my
life!
” The linen hit the floor and she advanced on him. She was furious and every muscle in her body felt it. She wanted to kill him, beat him and drown him in that damned pool. She was just getting up some speed when the chain brought her up short. Incoherent fury filled her and she kept lunging against the chain and screaming, the images of her friends and family mourning her, filled her mind.
Ander filled her vision as Baenwik fell back at the sight of her fury, “Please excuse me,” his fist clipped her in the jaw and everything fell into an explosion of pain.
* * * *
Waking up was sudden. One minute everything was dark, then it was light again. This time it was all light, but the light was torches. Baenwik was done showing off for her. Now it was all about survival. His survival.
Fiona still had the delicate chain on her left wrist, but now there was one that matched it on her right. Her arms were bent behind her and she was seated on the floor of a cavern against a pillar of rock that was smooth on all sides. She was still naked, but now she was cold.
“I hope you are feeling better, Fiona. It pained me to see what Ander did to you, but you were a little overly emotional at the time.” Baenwik leered at her.
Bondage turned him on, if his erection was any indication. Freak. Ander was slightly more in control and rolling his shoulders in preparation for battle. He was still keeping up his injured act. Well, Fiona hoped it was an act. If that was his true battle face, she was in trouble. He looked half asleep.
“When you count us down, we will engage in combat for your hand. Begin at ten and work backward.”
Pretty boy looked like he was going to enjoy his victory. And if he won, she wouldn’t be released from this pillar for some time. Ick. She looked at them both and weighed her options. She tried once again to find her way free. Images flashed through her mind of her, Ander and a great black horse. So, he was indeed her ticket out. Now she hoped he won. Really. It was a choice between the sex fiend and the pervert. She was picking the fiend. At least she could punch him. “Ten, nine” she kept counting and watching their readiness. When she reached, “Three,” they both tensed and by the time she reached, “Two, one.” They were lunging forward, arms at the ready.
She didn’t know what she expected, but for them to stop inches from each other and use their energies to wage the battle was slightly anticlimactic. Moonlight and sunlight battled for supremacy. It was beautiful, but boring.
She watched Ander’s muscles bunch and contract as he pressed his advantage. He had been replenished and his opponent didn’t know it. Baenwik’s shocked face was proof enough. He was being moved backward under the pressure of magic he was unable to tap to use for the match. The energy that he had originally stolen from Ander was dwindling too rapidly. He was burning too bright.
Each step that he was forced backward was another addition to the rage in his face. When he reached the invisible lines they had drawn, probably when she was unconscious. They had certainly had the time.
With a final and deliberate blast, Ander shoved Baenwik out of the circle, then threw back his head and roared his triumph. “It is done. Free her.”
“She still has to choose.” He stood slowly and dusted his butt off.
“Release me and I will choose.” She held the chains up for their perusal. “This isn’t comfortable, boys.”
Grumbling, Baenwik released the left wrist and then moved to the right. Honourably, he stepped away from her and gestured for her to choose. “Choose, the dark or the light.”
She paced back and forth between the two of them. “The light has obvious charms, but so does the dark. I choose the dark.”
Ander’s face lit up and he took his position as her body guard and consort very seriously. Immediately he scooped her up and made a run for it with her in his arms. It was then that pretty boy made his move.
She was looking over Ander’s shoulder and saw the dagger. It descended with all the subtly of a hammer on an anvil. She squeaked in panic, but it was too late. Baenwik stabbed at Ander with a viciousness that belied his earlier manners.
He was a sore loser.
Chapter 8
Her squeak let Ander start to turn, but when the dagger parted flesh, he had to drop her. A fistfight ensued that made Fiona queasy. Pretty boy had been disarmed the instant Ander turned. Blood was everywhere, flowing down Ander’s back and flying through the air as he struck at the golden madman.
Pugilism was a lost art for a reason, it was brutal, violent and bloody. Baenwik was bleeding now as well. His face was swelling in a most unattractive manner and she could see he was tiring quickly. However he had captured Ander to start with, it had definitely not been in a fair fight. As suddenly as it started, it finished. Baenwik was on the ground and Ander turned to her, exhausted.
“Can you find our way out?”
“Yes. Can you walk?”
“Yes. My steed should still be nearby. He would not have dared to injure him.”
Fiona concentrated. It was clear to her. Dead ahead and to the left. Straight on and out into daylight. She grabbed his hand in hers and started forward, “This way.” She stopped and scooped up the dagger as they passed. They ran through the length of the cave, their bare feet slapping against the stone. “I should have stopped to put my clothes on.”
“He burned them. After he discovered your knife and flashlight.”
The torchlight was gone now, she was feeling her way through the caves longing for some illumination. Hmm. Her companion could glow, couldn’t he? “Ander, do you have enough energy to glow?”
“No. I used it all in the fight. Why?”
“This would go a lot faster if I could see where I was going.”
“You can’t see in this light?”
“What light?”
“You should have said something. Come here.”
The tang of sweat and blood mixed with the musk of male as he drew her into his arms. His fingers rubbed her back and buttocks as he pulled her flush against his body. His erection was a barrier, but his hands on her hips kept them firmly locked together.
He bent his neck, nestled his face in the hollow of her neck and inhaled deeply.
She returned the favour and soon had the heady pulse of arousal running through her veins. She shifted against him and he changed his position and his grip. He took her mouth with his as his fingers teased her into a sensual frenzy, moving from her clit to her core and back again, using her own moisture to ease the way. His tongue teased her lips, his mouth drank from her and her eyes fluttered closed. As suddenly as her arousal started, it peaked. She moaned softly into his mouth and he chuckled.
“Enough light for you, my dear?”
Dazed, she opened her eyes to see his moonlight streaming from his skin. “Yeah. It should do. Any more might have killed me.”
“Ah, there is a reason that they call it the little death.” Ander twined his fingers with hers, “Shall we continue?”
“Yes, of course. This way.” Once again she led them through the caves, winding their way as rapidly as she could. She could feel the energy draining from her companion as rapidly as it had emerged. The dim light ahead of her finally outweighed the elf-light she was seeing by, and not a moment too soon. Ander was almost unconscious. “Ander. Ander! Where is your steed?”
He shuddered and looked around. His eyes were glazed with pain and exhaustion once again. “Over there.” He pointed to a copse of trees.
She led them carefully to the area he indicated.
“His name is Abax.” Ander had almost had it. He stumbled.
She hoped to find his horsy soon. “Abax! Come here, boy!” She called out and hoped like hell that he was still there. In the next instant, she remembered she could find him. Her mind showed her all the twists and turns through the underbrush and she knew that Ander wouldn’t make it. He was exhausted and had lost far too much blood. “Ander. Ander!” She had to yell as he had begun to slump against a nearby oak.
He looked over at her.
She spoke clearly, “I have to find Abax. I will be back as soon as I can. Take the dagger and wait here for me.” She waited until he nodded and then ran like a demented wood nymph into the forest. It wasn’t hard for her to get to the makeshift enclosure, but the steed penned by hedge and leather was far more beautiful than she could have imagined.
Ebony and midnight blue fought for supremacy on this creature and the eyes were blue flame. The marble horn was a bit of a surprise.
“Abax? Are you Abax?” She had no idea what else it could be, but she thought she would be polite.
The unicorn nodded and gave a snort.
“Ander needs you, but he is too weak to come here. If I let you out, can you find him?”
Another nod and a hefty snort.
With trembling fingers, she freed him, her mind numb with the possibility of becoming a hood ornament on that horn. She had to open one section, then step inside the enclosure to move the bramble wall that had been installed. The instant it was open, Abax was on the move.
About fifty feet into the woods he stopped. He turned to her.
She moved slowly toward him and noticed him scenting the air. He smelled Ander, and probably his blood. That wasn’t good, but she was ready to face it if it was her destiny to be a shishkabab.
Five feet from her, Abax stopped and knelt. He gestured with his head for her to climb on his back.
She did. Despite what romance novels would have you think, horsehide chafes like hell when the horse is dodging and weaving through the woods. Unicorn hide however, is like the smoothest of velvets under naked skin. She was certain she would be bowlegged for life, but otherwise unharmed from her travels. Just as she had relaxed into the rhythm of the ride, Abax stopped.
Ander was just ahead, slumped over the lower branch of the tree.
She wouldn’t be able to hoist him onto the back of his steed. She slid to the ground in a hurry, trying to make it to her elf as fast as she could. He was unconscious. She examined the wound on his back. It was still raw, but the bleeding had stopped and it was clotting over. “Abax. How are we going to get him out of here?” She felt a tear run down her face. It was frustration and despair.
An engine revved behind her and suddenly, hope kicked in. Where the unicorn had stood was now a car. It wasn’t practical for the off-roading they needed to do, but it was better than letting Ander die.
This she could manage. Only barely. Her mind flashed back to manoeuvring him in the pool and how she had never thought to have to manage him on land. How naïve.
“Ander! Ander. Wake up and walk to your car!” She slapped him on the face. Then harder.
Finally he opened bleary eyes and looked past her to Abax.
She pulled, pushed and prodded him toward the car and, when the passenger door swung open, that is where she put him. The seat belt locked him in automatically and she sighed in relief. She stepped away from the car and was more than a little surprised to see the driver’s door swing open for her.
She slid her naked tush onto the driver’s seat and kept herself still as the belt crossed her and tightened to hold her fast. In seconds they were in motion and Abax proved that no 4x4 had anything on him. They left the park and mountain in their rearview mirror as he reached speeds she didn’t know could be engaged in on a public road.
Her terror of being pulled over while stark naked let her give Abax his head. She wasn’t going to fight for control of a vehicle when she herself was in such a vulnerable state. “I wonder where he is taking us?”
“Silverwood.” Ander was awake. Deep circles under his eyes belied the strength of his tone. He still wasn’t out of the proverbial woods. “He is taking us to the Silverwood Society.”
“Like the camp?”
“Yes. Like the camp. Only dedicated to the support of new magic in the modern world.” He slumped back in his seat. “Abax will have us there in a few hours.”