Earth's Hope (18 page)

“Would ye mind telling the dragons what ye just told us?” Fionn angled his gaze at Bella.

“Not at all.” The raven flew across the kitchen and out the door.

Fionn scrubbed a hand down his face. “She is such a royal pain,” he muttered.

“Hush.” Aislinn poked him. “She’ll hear you. She just likes to feel useful—like all of us.”

“Maybe so, but—”

Aislinn shook her head. “She loves you. Her world’s turned upside down right along with the rest of us, and she’s figuring out where she fits. Because she lacks human social skills, you interpret her efforts as abrasive.”

Fionn grinned in spite of himself. “When did ye turn into a bird therapist?”

“Since I discovered I held Hunter magic. Rune’s the same way. Hell, Fionn, all of us need to feel valued. It’s not unique to the bond animals.”

“What do ye want to do about Bran?” Gwydion broke into Fionn’s and Aislinn’s conversation. “I’ve tried to reach him telepathically, and come up with aught.”

Fionn rotated his shoulder blades, but his muscles still felt like bags of concrete. “I imagine our kinfolk are arguing—much like they always do—behind well-shielded warding. If it werena for the Lemurians, I’d leave things as they are, at least until morning.”

Eve caught his eye from across the table. “We should set two hour watches.” Dark smudges rode beneath her blue eyes, and her hair hung in tangled, dark mats around her face.

“Agreed.” Fionn nodded briskly. “Mayhap ’twill yield an opportunity to test our developing battle strategies.”

Eve shut her eyes and her shoulders drooped for a moment before she straightened them. “Thanks, Celt,” she growled, and her eyes fluttered open.

“Doona mention it, lassie.” He pushed to his feet, realizing he was weary too. Not just in body, but the continuing threat of attack dragged at his spirit. He much preferred open fighting, where he had at least some sense of where the enemy would strike next.

Gwydion stood and walked to Fionn’s side. “Count off in fours,” he instructed the group. “Ones will take first watch, from now until one in the morning. Second watch from then until three.” He paused to take in a breath. “And so on until seven in the morning.”

“Will we count too?” Rune asked.

“Nay.” Gwydion smiled fondly at Aislinn’s wolf. “Ye’ll remain with your Hunter, bonded one.”

“What about the dragons?” Corin asked.

“I’ll speak with them and let them decide which group they wish to support,” Gwydion said. “Four dragons. Four groups. Should be simple enough.”

Fionn drew a two and Aislinn a three, but Daniel traded with Fionn so he and Aislinn could remain together. She got up, stumbling from weariness and plodded out of the kitchen with Fionn and Rune close behind her.

Gwydion caught Fionn while they were crossing the great room. “Hold for a moment. I would speak with you.”

“All right.” Fionn turned to Aislinn. “Go on up to our room with Rune. I’ll meet you there soon.”

Gwydion waited until woman and wolf had disappeared up the stairwell running along the far side of the enormous room. From there they’d go down a long hall to another set of stairs.

“Ye’re worried,” Fionn said, eying his old friend.

“No shit,” Gwydion grunted.

“What do ye need me to do?”

“I wish it were that easy.” Gwydion shook his head until blond strands of hair danced around his face. “This battle isna clean. I have no idea what will happen next. Hell, some days I wonder who’s on which side. Having Odin pop up willy nilly willna help, and it may well hurt us.”

“We’ve never fought well allied with the Norse gods,” Fionn concurred.

“I feel responsible for the humans, like we need to protect them to make up for throwing them to the wolves earlier.”

“It wasna quite that bad,” Fionn murmured. “We dinna help them, but it wasna as if we wished them harm.”

“Not the way they see it.”

“Touché.” Fionn gripped Gwydion’s upper arm. “How about if ye spit out what’s really bothering you?”

“In a hurry to get to the wench warming your bed?” Gwydion shot a meaningful glance at Fionn.

“Ye might say so.”

“All right. I probably shouldna even mention it, since there’s naught to be done, but what happened with the dragon younglings rankles.”

“Aye, ’tis worrisome, yet we’ve done the best we can to corral the damage.”

Gwydion raked a hand through his hair. “Not entirely. We could have one of us babysitting them, along with Royce and Vaughna.”

“’Tisn’t as if there are many of us to spare, unless Bran convinces a few other Celts to join the fight.” Fionn loosened his hold on Gwydion. “That’s tomorrow’s problem. How about if we concentrate on getting through tonight without too many losses?”

“Humph.” The master enchanter twirled his staff, which remained mercifully quiescent. When dark energy was near, it glowed red.

Fionn started for the stairs. “If ye find Bella outside, send her to my rooms.”

“I’ll suggest it.” Gwydion’s tone was dry. “Your bird isna any more compliant for me than she is for you.”

Aislinn’s words rattled around Fionn’s mind. He stopped and turned back toward Gwydion. “If you tell her that, at least she won’t feel left out.”

“Oh, for goddess’s-fucking sake. I canna command troops if I have to worry about people—or birds—getting their feelings trompled on,” Gwydion sputtered just before he yanked the front door open and disappeared through it.

Fionn snickered as he plodded up the stairs. It was indeed a different world. The one he’d been born into had barely recognized emotions. People did what they had to because they had to. He pulled the door to his suite of rooms open and was greeted by clouds of steam. Aislinn must have drawn a bath. Good. He’d love to clean up too. Rune whined a greeting from where he curled in a corner and then tucked his nose under his tail again.

Fionn latched the door behind him and added a jot of magic to seal out the world before stripping off his clothes and draping them over a chair. He made his way into the Italian marble bathroom with its red and green-veined cream-colored tiles and sunken tub. Aislinn floated in the water with her hair fanned out about her like exotic sea anemones. She smiled lazily and patted the water’s surface so ripples spread over it. “Come on in. It feels really good to be clean.”

“I’ll bet.” He ignored the steps at one end of the tub and sat on its edge, lowering himself into steaming, scented water. “Teaching you how to warm water was a good investment.”

“Thank you.” Golden eyes twinkled at him and he waded through thigh deep water to sit next to her. She made a grab for the china dispenser where he kept liquid soap and pumped some into one hand. “Settle back and let me wash you.”

“Best offer I’ve had all day, lass.” Fionn settled his back against the tub’s edge. He’d built the tub long before hot tubs came into vogue, but he’d had a similar idea: hot water that covered you to your shoulders.

He shut his eyes as Aislinn’s strong fingers worked soap into his skin, kneading his tense muscles. When she shifted his body so he lay across her lap and washed his hair, he sighed with pleasure. “Best watch it, leannán. I could get used to this.”

Claws clicked over marble and Rune nosed the side of Fionn’s head. “Bella’s outside. She says you told her to come up here and then sealed her out with magic.”

“Crap!” Fionn followed that with a string of Gaelic curses, and pulled the power from his sealing spell. He turned his head and looked at the wolf. “Can ye undo the latch?”

“Of course.” Rune trotted back into the bedroom, and Fionn girded himself for the flurry of feathers that barreled into the bathroom next.

“You locked me out,” Bella screeched.

“Not on purpose.”

“Then explain yourself.”

Fionn squelched a desire to throttle his bond animal. He straightened and shook water out of his hair before meeting the raven’s acrimonious glare. “I spelled the door to keep the world at bay for a short time. I apologize. I should have waited until ye were here, except I had no idea if ye’d heed Gwydion’s words and come.”

Aislinn stood, and water sluiced down her body. She stepped out of the tub and wound a thick blue towel around herself. “That’s one of the problems,” she told Bella, “when we never know what you’re doing. Times are dangerous and we need you to be a little more forthcoming about your plans. We can’t make decisions that include you if you don’t include us in yours.”

The bird cocked her head to one side. When she answered, her normally strident tone had softened. “Thank you. That was a good explanation.”

Fionn considered pointing out that he’d said much the same thing—on numerous occasions, but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut. With a final dunk to finish rinsing soap that might still be clinging to his hair, he opened the drain and got out of the tub, funneling magic to dry himself.

Bella flew out of the bathroom, and Fionn knew he’d find her on her perch near the door that opened into his study. “Friends again?” he called after her retreating form.

“Friends,” floated back to him.

He wrapped an arm around Aislinn, damp and fragrant from the bath. “Thank you.”

She nodded. “That’s why kids have two parents. Sometimes one’s explanations sit better than the other’s.” Tilting her mouth invitingly in his direction, she pressed the length of her towel clad body against his. “Think we have time?”

“We’ll make time.” His voice roughened as desire shot through him, intense and demanding. Aislinn threaded her arms around him, and he closed his mouth over hers.

Chapter Fifteen

Aislinn dug her fingers into the bands of muscle cutting across Fionn’s broad back. They’d made love countless times, but she never lost the sense of wonder that had filled her the first time they’d gotten naked together. Her body readied itself for him almost instantly. Everything tingled, from the top of her head down to her toes. Her nipples hardened, and her nether regions were awash with desire.

He plumbed her mouth with his tongue, and she nipped and sucked on it, loving the taste of him. His spicy, exotic, decidedly masculine scent rose around them, and she inhaled hungrily. Smelling Fionn was an aphrodisiac all its own. He tightened his hands on her towel-clad butt and tugged hard, wriggling so the thick terrycloth fell to the floor between their feet.

Without breaking their kiss, he swept her off her feet and carried her into the bedroom. She tore her mouth from his. “Put me down.”

“Aye, lassie, that was the idea.” He set her gently on the duvet atop the bed. For long moments, he stood, just looking at her. His cock jutted before him, rising proudly from a mat of golden curls.

She arched her back and raised her hands above her head to grip the edges of the headboard. “Like what you see?”

“So much, ye’ve damn near hypnotized me.”

Rune rose and walked across the room, disappearing into the study.

Tilting her pelvis invitingly, she murmured, “Everyone’s giving us privacy. Who knows how long it will last?”

He laughed and the sound warmed her heart. “Subtle as a sledgehammer. There’s my girl.” He knelt between her legs and bent to kiss her breasts. When he took her nipples into his mouth, electric shocks blazed from them right to her core, and she moaned and writhed beneath his touch. Fionn kissed his way down her belly. By the time he settled his mouth over her sensitive center, the orgasm that had been building exploded, leaving her weak, wrung out, and aching for more of the same.

He licked and sucked, teased her delicate nub until she sent magic to muffle her shrieks. Finally, when the hollow place inside her was so desperate for his cock she couldn’t stand it anymore, she slithered out from under him, flipped over, and got to her kees, hanging onto the headboard for support.

Fionn growled, the sound thick with need and planted his cock at the entrance to her body. She was so slick and wet from coming, he slid deep. She pushed her hips back and he bit her shoulder, and then wrapped an arm around her hips and rubbed her clit with knowing, calloused fingertips. She rocked, caught between his cock and fingers, but couldn’t get him to give her what she needed.

“Move, goddammit.” She butted her ass into his pelvis.

“How would ye like it, leannán?” he asked in a hoarse, panting whisper.

“Hard. Fast. Damn it, Fionn. Foreplay’s over. I need the real deal.”

He chuckled, breath warm against her neck. “I doona think I’ve ever been called that afore.”

He rubbed her pussy harder and finally, finally began to thrust inside her. His cock was long, hard, and thick. It reached places no one else had even come close to. Another climax ripped through her, followed almost immediately by an even stronger one. Filled by uncontrollable lust, she summoned magic, formed it into tendrils and sent them to tickle his anus and his balls. A tortured sound burst from him and his cock grew even harder inside her. She made the tendrils move faster, sent them vibrating inside his delicate anal passage.

Another peak burned deep in her belly. The spasms of his climax would bring her over the edge one more time. Gasping, panting, slick with sweat, she felt him release inside her, felt herself join him, and leaned her back against his front as the world slowly came back into focus.

“Should have done the bath after,” she said, once she could talk again.

“We could draw another.”

He pulled himself out of her body, and she collapsed on the bed, still sorting out where she ended and he began.

“Nah. Probably need sleep.”

He lay behind her, cradling her against him. “Ye cheated, using magic to make me come.”

Aislinn giggled. “Guilty as charged.” The grandfather clock in the corner struck one. “Boy, those last two hours flew by.”

“Aye, my sweet, the next ones will too. I’ll wake you fifteen minutes afore we report for watch duty.”

She felt herself slipping toward sleep. “What happens if the Old Ones keep us too busy to launch our plan to go to the borderworlds?”

“We’ll just have to kill all of them.”

There was something so feral and bloodthirsty in Fionn’s voice it sent sleep skittering to the four winds, and she turned on her other side facing him. “You really mean that, don’t you?”