Stripes of Fury (4 page)

Jeans, slip-on flats and a sober, button-down blue shirt were her choices for daily wear. Nika twisted her hair into a long, neat braid down her back and prepared to head downstairs. She had heard whispers of Teebie’s muffins, and she wanted to find out if they were true before other mouths beat her to it.

The sky was just heralding dawn, so she tiptoed down the stairs, following the scent of baking. To her surprise, Mark was sitting at the table and reading a digital tablet, flicking through articles while sipping at his coffee.

He looked up when she entered. “Good morning.”

She nodded. “Good morning. I see I am not the only guest up.”

He shrugged. “I am used to rising early.”

“Oh, right. Horses.”

“Correct.”

Teebie came in with a tray, and a pot of coffee was perched on the surface next to the platter of muffins.

Teebie grinned. “Morning, Nika. Please have a seat.”

Nika bounced into a seat next to Markkios and clapped enthusiastically when the muffins were placed in front of her. She nearly died from bliss when honey was set down next to it. The coffee was poured and a cup was placed in front of her. The scents assailed her.

The coffee was nice, but it was the muffins she wanted.

Nika tore into them with enthusiasm and smiled as the first bite melted in her mouth. She swallowed before saying. “These are amazing.”

Teebie darkened and headed back to the kitchen, bringing in a platter of bacon and a stack of small plates for the sideboard.

She slid a plate in front of Mark and then Nika before she disappeared into the back again.

Nika was into her third muffin before she asked, “What do you think she is doing back there?”

Mark set aside his tablet. “I don’t know. Coaxing leprechauns into making green apples?”

“That doesn’t make sense. What was in that coffee?” Nika smiled.

“A lot of caffeine. Teebie makes an excellent cup of coffee.” He nodded and took a few muffins off the plate as well as a helping of bacon.

“How long have you been here?”

He shrugged. “A few days. I have ranch hands taking care of things.”

Nika nodded and nibbled at a strip of bacon. “How many horses do you have?”

“Four hundred or so. There was a mare due to foal, so she may have had her young one by now.” He shrugged.

“If she let herself have it.”

“Right.”

She sipped at her coffee and sighed happily. Breakfast was her favourite way to start the day. Running to the barn because of an alarm was her least favourite.

“So, it has been mostly you and your mother during your lifetime?”

“Yes. Frennin has never been reliable. We have gotten by.” Nika shrugged.

“He was always a trickster by nature. Perhaps he doesn’t know where to start with his ready-made family.”

“Or perhaps he hasn’t put the effort in.” She shrugged again. “Anyway, he is not my favourite topic. So, how long have you been interested in horses?”

He blinked and sat up. “Since I was a child. My family are beast masters. Each of us has an animal we are drawn to and can control. I began upsetting the horses until I was able to control myself, and from there, I could communicate with the horses. It took me decades but I managed it.”

“How long have you known my father?”

He grunted and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “Frennin came to court causing trouble and making mischief. I was asked to control him and calm him down. He hated it, and I was perturbed at being summoned for such a flighty man. That was four hundred years ago.”

Hearing her father described as flighty made her smile. He was definitely flighty.

Mark glanced at his tablet.

“May I ask what you are reading?”

“I have been checking in on the fey court and their needs and wants. There is quite the underground resistance to this program.”

“Program?”

He waved his hand around at the bed and breakfast and the dimensional space beyond it. “The fey mixing with shifters. Do not get me wrong, the children that have been born so far are strong, healthy, favour the fey parent and are exceedingly powerful. The wild magic has found a home again.”

“The what?”

He sat back with his coffee, and they had a very interesting conversation.

Nika went for a walk on the paths that were marked for this purpose. So, magic had once covered the earth and as humans began to walk it, it settled inside them.

With every generation touched by the magic, the humans changed. Those with more magic gathered together and bred a new branch of the species, and it changed their bodies. At first, the new beings were built for physical stamina, but eventually, their lines started to diminish, so they sent their more attractive folk out to get humans to join them.

They started to monitor their numbers, and they formed great kingdoms across the world. Wherever there were humans, there was a fey kingdom nearby. From time to time, they took humans to top up their bloodlines.

When the shifters began emerging, it was another strain of wild magic. The fey couldn’t incorporate it into their lines like they could the other energies. The shifters had to hide, and the fey remained in the shadows until the humans near their largest settlements no longer feared them as devils.

The shifters didn’t have that option. They turned into animals. That wouldn’t go down well in many places around the world; in fact, she couldn’t imagine one place where it would be a good thing.

The
program
was designed to refill the coffers of magic and increase the chances of more cross breeds in the future. Shifters bred like animals under optimum conditions. The fey wanted to build their population before it faded to a critical point.

That was the reason that she was here. Specific fey had specific needs in a life mate, and those needs had to be met or children were not a likely outcome.

Nika looked up and sighed at the forest edge. The trees reached skyward and swayed lightly in the wind. She wanted to feel that wind through her mane, and when she looked around and didn’t see anyone, she quickly kicked off her shoes and stripped to the skin, stepping forward slowly as her shift overtook her.

The bounce she always felt was there the moment she changed. With her beast wanting to run, she took off to the far edge of the meadow and turned to bolt back to the changing cabanas that she had passed on her way out.

Her legs stretched, her lungs pumped and her hooves thudded against the ground as she ran until she felt sweat gleaming on her hide. She slowed only to hear another set of hooves, much larger than her own.

A rich, black Pegasus pounded toward her, his wings folded against his back. He paused in front of her, rearing and pawing the air in front of her.

She shook her head, her short mane flexing back and forth. He gestured with his head, and she followed him, gradually picking up speed until they were running side by side.

The fey gleam was reflecting off his hide, and she wheeled at the end of the meadow to pound back to the other edge, flat out. He overtook her and gently herded her back to the far side of the meadow.

She snorted as her legs worked to pass him, but there was no way. He was just taller than she was.

When he stopped her in her tracks, she snorted and shook her head. He advanced on her, and she reared back, lashing out with her hooves and snapping at him with her sharp, square teeth.

He snapped his own jaws together, warning her back.

That didn’t work for her, so she turned and kicked him. While he was down, she ran down the path that she was pounding into the grass.

He circled around her again and backed her toward the treeline.

Nika sighed and cheated. She turned human just as he was starting to raise his wings and posture toward her.

“Knock it off, Mark. I am not backing down.” She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

He blinked and backed up. She could feel the magic trying to pull inward, but it was harder for him than for her. His was outer magic; hers was from the inside out. First came the magic then came the animal.

“So, nice wings.”

He paused in his efforts to turn bipedal. He cocked his head.

“They look sturdy.”

He opened them, and she walk up next to him and ran her hand down the feathers. She stroked the space between the wings and gauged that she could comfortably fit on his back without impairing the glossy appendages.

She felt soft lips at her lower back, and she turned to see him watching her with his wide, liquid, black eye.

Sighing, she reached out and stroked his neck, running her hand along the muscles, feeling the veins, and finally, she stroked his jaw until those pretty eyes closed.

He exhaled, and his breath had a hint of honey in it.

As he relaxed, he shifted, and soon, she was up against a very naked elf covered with scars from events long past.

She slowly lowered her arm from around his neck, and he caught her, replacing it.

“Well, you don’t seem to want to back down.”

She chuckled. “Not really. You may be bigger than me, but I am exceptionally wily. It would take you quite a while to wear me down.”

Markkios chuckled. “I do happen to have the time.”

“You don’t say.”

His erection was pressed between them, but he wasn’t making a move to rub it against her or pursue it.
Points for him.

“I do say. The problem is do you want me?”

Nika blinked. “You are asking?”

“Of course. This isn’t a one-night stand to take the fire out of your heat. This is a mixing of lives and energies that may result in offspring. If you don’t want to be with me, this won’t work.”

She stepped back and looked at him, really looked. He was covered in the marks of a life that she knew nothing about, and she had to admit that it was an attraction. He had been someone before he met her, been something and done something. She was more than the sum of her genes as well.

“I will be honest, and out of all the fey and the humans that I have been naked with, you hold the most appeal. I know that it isn’t the resounding agreement you—”

He had closed the distance between them and threaded his fingers in her hair. With a sharp tug, he pulled her head back, and she gasped a moment before he pressed his lips to hers.

His hand was her only point of support as she was pulled off balance by the firm grip at the back of her head. His lips pressed against hers firmly, but he was careful with her. As his lips stroked hers, they parted in invitation. He slowly took advantage of her agreement, running his free hand across her breasts and between her thighs.

She was wet, hot, aching, and it had only taken a little bit of effort on his part to get her there. Nika was embarrassed that she was making it so easy for him, but he had asked first, so that was a plus.

He lifted his head, and his eyes were glowing with dark heat. Wings sprouted from his back, and he gathered her up in his arms, flying them back to the Open Heart.

Nika was staring at the ground and turning her face into the wind as they flew.

“You don’t mind heights?”

She laughed and turned back to her sharp-featured elfin angel. “No. I have never had an issue with heights. I love the wind against me, anyway I can get it.”

He chuckled and kissed her again, landing gracefully on the balcony that wasn’t on any other guest room.

“Was this a special request?” She slapped the railing with her bare foot.

“Yes. Teebie was very accommodating.”

He opened the door with a touch and carried her inside, his wings disappearing as he walked.

“That is a neat trick.”

He smiled. “I look forward to seeing your own adaptation of it after the balance ceremony.”

It was definitely a thought, but he settled her on the bed, knelt at her side and did that thing with her hair again. Her neck arched, her body offered itself to him and she wondered that no one taught boys this trick in high school.

He dragged his lips from hers and worked his way down her neck, nipping at the arch before moving down to her collarbone. His hair trailed over her skin as a secondary caress. The cool silk wrapped around her breasts, and she shivered. Apparently, the older the elf, the more magical all of his bits were. She shivered again with anticipation.

He worked his way down her body until he was between her thighs. He had to let go of her hair on the way, but she didn’t mind. By this point, she was lost to her own blissful haze.

Sex when she wasn’t in heat was a revelation. It could just be her partner, but this was a set of sensations that she hadn’t catalogued in her experiences.

She was still wet when he parted her folds, and his fingers slid in easily. It was a snug fit for two of his digits, but as he shifted his hand in a steady pulse and lowered his tongue to her clit, she found herself wanting more.

She begged, she sighed, she pulled at his hair, but he kept his steady flicking and sucking of her clit while his fingers mimicked what she wanted.

Nika moaned as jerking flutters ran through her body. It seemed to be what Markkios was waiting for as he moved along her, rubbing his skin against her.

She shuddered when he paused to suckle hard at each of her nipples and moaned when he kissed her again and the head of his cock speared her. He rocked his hips against her, moving into her entrance and out with a teasing beat.

Nika clenched her hands in his hair and bit at his lip, asking for more. His shallow dips became deeper until she figured out why he went slowly.

She had run into a few big cocks in her time, and while it wasn’t comfortable to start with, it eased into a pleasurable experience with a bit of practice. She was willing to start practicing now.

She focused on relaxing, and he eased into her with minute increments.

When he finally was fully sheathed, he was trembling and a low groan emerged from his throat. He rose up on his arms with his head thrown back, and he started to thrust into her with a slow undulation of his hips.

They were both coated in sweat as he rocked and she lifted into their joining. She slid her hands down the groove in his back, traced the scars and dug her nails into his buttocks.