Fae (13 page)

Fae screamed even louder in frustration, “Get off me, you filthy fucking son of Gormahn!” He grabbed her wrists and slammed them to the tile above her head, bracing his knees on either side of her as she squirmed under him.

“STOP CALLING ME THAT!” He roared in her face, and she spit at him, screaming again.

“You
are
a filthy, disgusting, son of Gormahn! His vile power is inside y –” Kiernan cut her off by grabbing her throat, and she coughed as he tightened his grip. The darkness swelled inside him, a cold power roaring like the rush of the ocean in his ears. Her eyes closed as she tried to twist away from him, but that wasn’t possible. She wasn’t a match for him. Her body was strong, he could feel that, and he wanted to feel a lot more of it. It wouldn’t be difficult, to shift himself and push her thighs apart, and –

What the fuck was he doing?

Kiernan released her throat and she coughed and sputtered, tears sliding down her temples as she jerked hard against his grip on her wrists. He wanted to let her go, he wanted to get off her and get some space, because the ideas that had crossed his thoughts were –

‘
Vile?
’ his mind offered, and he was almost sick. Yes, vile, because Gormahn’s power
was
inside him, and he was Laochra, and he was tainted - and she… she wasn’t.

“Get off me, Laochra!” Even as her voice cracked from the strain of her shouting she glared at him. He could hear her feet slipping on the tile as she tried to get the leverage to knock him off her, but he was too far back on her thighs for her to manage it. He was a little impressed, now that his head was his own again, how she was managing to still be so brave. She stilled suddenly and hissed at him, leaning her head up to meet his eyes, “You, and all your bastard brethren, should have died screaming.”

The viciousness of her words almost felt like a slap, but he just shrugged a shoulder as he took in her blue eyes up close. “I can’t really argue that.”

Her brows pulled together for a second as confusion passed over her, and then she arched her back as much as she could and let out an ear splitting scream. He slapped his hand over her mouth, trying to be gentle this time, but if he didn’t get her to stop soon the neighbors were going to call the police, and this was not something easy to explain.

No, officer, I’m not attacking a woman in my apartment. She’s actually not human, and no, I can’t really let you in to check or I’ll have to kill you, or she might kill you, it’s complicated.

Yeah, this was going so well.

“Listen to me!” Kiernan pressed his hand over her mouth and shook her a little, but her eyes were still blazing and her cheeks were flushed red in anger. He groaned, “Okay, listen, I’m sorry I choked you, but I’m not going to hurt you again. I promise, and I’d prefer if you wouldn’t hurt me either. Just nod if you understand and you’ll be quiet.”

For a long minute she just stared at him, dragging in harsh breaths through her nose, and then she gave one curt nod. As he lifted his hand she licked her lips and he tried to ignore the weight of his cock in his pants, knowing she could probably feel it and that wasn’t helping him much at all. He was about to apologize for his idiotic body, when she spoke again, much calmer this time.

“Why? Why would you
not
hurt me?”

Kiernan sighed. It was a reasonable question, but he never would have even raised a hand to her if she hadn’t come after him first.

“I don’t want to hurt you, that’s why.” Fae rolled her eyes and tried to twist her arms away from him, but he just pressed her wrists down more firmly. “Stop it! If I’d really wanted to hurt you I could have just let those guards take you to Butler. Right?”

“Then what
are
you going to do with me?” Fae was still fuming, her breath huffing out quickly.

“I don’t know.” Kiernan’s head was pounding. He still hadn’t even thought through what was happening yet, and he needed some fucking space. He needed her body not to be pressed against his, and he needed his own body to get with the program and calm down.

“Are you going to take me back there?”

No
.

The answer popped into his head, but that didn’t make sense. It was
stupid
, because taking her back would be the easiest solution to this. Everything all cleaned up, nice and neat – except, even the idea of handing her over to Butler made Kiernan’s skin crawl and that dark part of him wake up for totally different reasons. His brain wasn’t working right, so he gave the only answer he could, “I don’t know.”

Fae’s brows came together again as she stared up at him. “So you’re going to keep me here?”

“I’m not sure,” he mumbled. Fae rolled her eyes at that.

“What the fuck do you want with me then?” Fae tugged on her wrists again to punctuate the question and Kiernan eased off.

“Nothing. I don’t want anything.”

“Yeah, right.” Fae arched her back and jerked her arms hard, which broke Kiernan’s loose hold on her wrists. Twisting her body she threw him off her and kicked both feet into his stomach. He shouted in surprise but in an instant she had flipped over, and was running flat out to his bedroom, grabbing the sword from the floor on the way. He tried to scramble after her, but she slammed the door and he heard the little mechanism on the handle flip that locked it. When he got there, Kiernan’s fist banged into the door and he growled in frustration.

“Fae, dammit, I am
not
going to hurt you. Open the door!” She wasn’t responding, and he had to take a slow breath to calm down. The door to his bedroom was thick and he really didn’t want to break it down, or shift into the room and terrify her further. Also, none of that would really sell his whole ‘not wanting to hurt her’ claim.

“Kiernan! You here?” Cole’s voice rang out from the living room, and his heart went into triple time. Things were only going from bad to worse.

“Stay in there and stay quiet,
please
, for both our sakes.” Kiernan pressed his head against the door and talked as loudly as he dared before walking back to the living room, which didn’t exactly look normal as Cole and Eryn both turned to him. The shattered statue was on the floor, the scabbard from the sword was sticking out from under his television stand, and there was water scattered across the floor from the melting snow.

Oh yeah, this looked
great
.

“Hey man, you just disappeared.” Cole looked concerned, although he was thankfully a little drunk. Kiernan smiled and shrugged a shoulder which made his side ache where Fae had kicked him, she might have cracked a rib.

“I felt like I forgot something here, wanted to come check on it. And anyway, I’m not in the mood to get obliterated with the guys.” Kiernan tried to act casual and steady his breathing as Eryn was looking around the room. He watched as his eyes landed on the shattered statue, Kiernan’s damp jeans, and the puddle of water next to his boots.

“And you decided to what? Walk through water on your way back? And destroy whatever that was?” Eryn pushed a piece of the statue with the toe of his boot.

“Actually I made a pit stop back in the jungle to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind, ended up stepping in the river when I tried to wash my shoes off, and wasn’t focused when I came back here so I bumped into the statue.” Kiernan choked out a laugh which sounded as fake as his story, “I’m an idiot, what can I say?”

Eryn’s face didn’t change, and his expression was guarded and serious as his eyes scanned the room. Cole stumbled forward and put an arm around Kiernan.

“Who cares, would you please come back and finish drinking with us? You’re still standing and that’s not right. You had the biggest kill of the trip!” Cole swayed and pulled on Kiernan to keep himself steady.

“I went with you so you could have a tiger skin rug for your cabin, remember? The kill’s all yours.” Kiernan waved a hand across his apartment which was in blacks, whites, and grays. “It doesn’t really go with my style.”

“Okay, fine, but come drink with us at least.” Cole was whining and Eryn was watching him closely - he didn’t have a choice. Kiernan tightened his jaw and finally nodded.

“Alright, I’ll meet you there. I need to change my jeans and clean up this crap, alright? I’ll be there in fifteen.” Cole cheered and Eryn nodded, finally moving his eyes back to Kiernan.

“See you there. Soon.” Eryn placed a hand on Cole’s shoulder, Cole gave a fake salute, and then they both disappeared.

Turning around, Kiernan pushed a hand through his hair again and tried to breathe. His heart was pounding, and the clock was ticking as he walked back to the door to his bedroom. This time he knocked on it and waited.

“Fae, come on.” He called through the door, trying to remember if he had a spare key for the door anywhere, when it suddenly cracked a little. Kiernan waited to see if it would open further, but it didn’t so he pushed it with one hand and it swung open to reveal Fae in that way too short green dress holding his sword like she was ready to kill him. Somehow that just translated to him being unable to move his eyes from her legs and her hips.

Maybe he did have a death wish
.

“You didn’t tell them about me.” When Fae spoke in a normal voice, not on the verge of panic, or screaming viciously at him, it was soft and almost lyrical. He could hear the hint of their old accent, but it was completely overrun by the random languages she had spoken since.

“I told you, I don’t want to hurt you, and they would have definitely hurt you. If Gormahn found out about your master, he’d have them - he’d have us - kill you.” Kiernan spoke seriously, and Fae adjusted her grip on the sword before slowly lowering it. Not that it meant much, she could kill him just as easily with it resting at her side.

“Okay. So why don’t you kill me?” Her words were so honest that he flinched.

“I don’t want to.”

“
Right
, and what are they going to do about it if they find out I’m here?” Fae’s brows came together as she stared at him.

“Probably kill you, and me as well, but like I said, I am still not going to hurt you.” Kiernan took a step back from her to show he wasn’t going to rush her or try to disarm her.

“So you keep saying.” She shifted her weight from side to side, obviously making a decision. “I guess I’m willing to listen to you, but if you touch me again I’ll kill you. And if I don’t like what I hear, I’m gone, and you
will
let me leave.” She brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear and let the tip of the sword rest against the floor. Her back was straight and even though he’d already bested her once that morning, she was still defiant, skilled, and holding a weapon - so he nodded in agreement to her terms.

“I want to talk to you about this, I want to explain myself, but if I don’t go back with them they’re going to come back here, and I can’t risk them finding you. I won’t be gone long though, and there’s food in the kitchen and you can watch TV.” Kiernan had turned back towards the living room when he paused, “You know what a TV is right?” Fae rolled her eyes and swung the sword up to rest on her shoulder.

“Of course I know what a TV is, I’m not an idiot, and I’ve seen them before.” Fae responded bitingly and Kiernan put his hands up and walked down the hallway. He turned away from her before the smile tugged at his lips. She was so damn feisty.

“Okay, well, here it is.” He picked up one of several remotes on the TV stand and started pressing buttons and telling her about the surround sound and satellite and his blu-ray player. Finally, he noticed the confusion on her face and stopped and handed her one remote which she leaned forward to take from his hand. “Just use this one to browse the channels, up and down, volume, up and down.”

“Thanks.” Fae smiled with bitter sarcasm and stepped back from him again. With a sigh Kiernan turned to head back to his bedroom to change, but he stopped.

“Listen, please don’t leave while I’m gone. I want to talk about this, and anyway, in what you’re wearing you’d attract a lot of attention. This is a big city, and I don’t know who you’d run into, or if someone might lay a claim to you.”

“Where am I?” Fae looked past him out the windows at the gray skies.

“Seattle, Washington. In the US. Will you stay inside? Will you wait for me to come back?” Kiernan kind of felt like he was pleading with her, especially when Fae didn’t respond for a moment, but finally she nodded.

“I’ll stay inside until you return. As far as other people,” she shrugged, “I can handle myself.” Fae was looking out the window, and Kiernan didn’t know how to respond so he just gave her a thumbs up,
which was weird
, and headed back to his bedroom to change.

Why couldn’t he act normal around her? And what the fuck had happened to him when he’d pinned her?

Shutting the bedroom door, he kicked off his boots and grabbed a new pair of jeans and a clean shirt. He had a bruise forming on his side where Fae had landed the kick, but even if the ribs were cracked they’d heal soon enough. He pulled on the fresh clothes and tried not to think of the dark side of himself. It had been so long since that part of him had surfaced, decades, and he worked hard to keep it at bay.