Highland Fires (22 page)

He found his feet following the hallway that
ventured to the gallery, where all the kings and queens of their
realm were painted. Lugus stopped in front of his parent’s painting
and leaned against the opposite wall.

“I’m sorry, Father,” he whispered. “I miss
you both terribly. Theron needs you. I need you,” he said and
lowered his head, unable to stare into his father’s knowing blue
eyes.

Lugus felt out of place in the hall. He was
responsible for his father’s death, and his mother’s since she had
died soon after because of what he had done. Then there were the
other killings, the ones he had done to try and take over the Fae
realm.

He took one more look at his parents and
walked away, his heart heavy with grief. He never saw Aimery step
from the shadows.

Lugus tried to keep his mind blank as he
strode to the baths. He pushed open the tall double doors and gazed
at the beauty before him.

The bath was long and wide, larger than any
the Roman’s tried to duplicate. The Roman’s tried to take ownership
of many things that weren’t theirs, the baths being one of them. If
a Fae hadn’t shown them how to build the baths, they most likely
would never have been.

Lugus stepped through the doors and closed
them behind him. Movement to his left caught his attention, and he
turned to find Tane pulling a tunic over his head, but not before
Lugus saw the intricate tattoo of a dragon that covered Tane’s
entire back.

“My apologies,” Lugus said. “I will return
later.”

“Nay,” Tane said and turned to him as he
reached for his boots. “I was just finishing. I will be but a
moment.”

Lugus nodded and walked to a bench on the
other side of the bath. “This is your first time on our realm?”

“It is,” he answered and pulled one boot
on.

“Tell me, is it much different than
yours?”

Tane paused in pulling on his other boot. “My
realm is different in many ways, but there are also similarities.
Take your bath for example. We have them as well, but instead of
one large one, we have several smaller ones.”

“Odd isn’t it that two realms that never
intermingle would have something in common.”

Tane smiled as he finished pulling on his
boot and stood. “There isn’t much that I find odd nowadays, Lugus.
Magic is a wonderful thing, but no one knows where it began or
how.” He reached for his cloak and nodded to Lugus. “Enjoy your
bath.”

~ ~ ~

Tane paused outside the bath doors as he
contemplated speaking to Lugus of his plans. The only problem was,
that for the first time in decades, Tane didn’t know which outcome
was for the best, and if he didn’t know that, then he shouldn’t
speak to Lugus and try to change his mind.

There was time, but only a little of it
left.

He sighed loudly and began the walk back to
his room. He hadn’t gone far when he saw Ahryn coming towards
him.

“It’s a lovely night, isn’t it?” she asked
with a smile as she approached.

He nodded. “It is, although I miss my night
sky.”

“Is it so different?”

Tane thought of Draconia’s three moons and
smiled. “Very.”

“I would love to see it one day.”

Tane blinked. “I’m sure you will. Where are
you headed?”

“To the baths.”

“I just came from there,” he said. He decided
to omit the fact that Lugus now occupied them.

She smiled. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”

“Enjoy your bath, Ahryn,” he said and walked
away. He smiled as he stepped into his room and thought of the
surprise Lugus would get this night.

~ ~ ~

Lugus waited until Tane left before he
hurriedly stripped and stepped into the warm water. He had missed
this solitude while on Earth. The tiny wooden tubs that he could
barely fold himself into were disturbing, and he had quickly grown
to hate them. He preferred the coldness of the sea where he could
stretch his legs and feel as though he were once again in a Fae
bath.

He glided through the heated water until he
stood in the middle of the large bath, then he turned on his back
and looked up through the glass ceiling to the stars overhead.

Suddenly, the quiet and solitude was broken
by the sound of a door. Lugus jerked upright and looked to the
double doors to find Ahryn standing there watching him. For several
moments they simply stared at each other.

Lugus knew he should ask her to leave, but no
matter how much he told himself that’s what he should do, it wasn’t
what he wanted.

As he watched, Ahryn reached to her shoulder
and loosened her gown. With a simple movement of her hips, her gown
pooled at her feet. Lugus’ mouth went dry as he stared at Ahryn’s
nude body, a body he had touched, tasted in what seemed a lifetime
ago.

When she stepped into the water he found
himself walking towards her, his heart beating wildly in his chest.
He couldn’t have stayed away from her had his life depended upon
it. He was drawn to her as the Fae were drawn to magic.

He stopped just short of reaching her, almost
afraid to touch her.

“Lugus,” she whispered.

His name on her lips pulled at his soul, and
when she reached out to touch him, his heart leapt at the contact.
He quit running from her then. It had been useless, and she had
tried to tell him, but once again he hadn’t listened.

He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms
tight around her as he buried is face in her neck, inhaling the
clean, fresh smell of her hair.

The feel of her soft body in his arms
suddenly eased an ache in him he hadn’t known was there. He pulled
back and put his hands on either side of her face as he gazed into
her mystical blue eyes.

“Don’t ask me to leave,” she begged.

Though her words were strong, there was doubt
in her eyes. “Don’t you dare leave,” he said and lowered his head
to her lips.

Each taste of her was new, exotic and set his
blood on fire. He wanted, nay needed, more of her. All of her. His
hunger knew no bounds when it came to Ahryn and try as he might, he
couldn’t control it.

Ahryn’s heart thundered in her chest as Lugus
claimed her lips with his own. His kiss was terrifying in its
intensity, but she also felt his loneliness and fear as well.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and
buried her hands in his thick blonde hair as she opened herself to
him. He had finally given in to her, and there was no way she was
going to let him go.

The water swirled around them as Lugus pulled
her legs around him. She felt his rod against her stomach and
yearned to feel him inside of her. She tried to move her hips, but
he held her steady as his kisses made her weak with desire.

She leaned her head back as his kisses
trailed down her neck to her shoulders and chest. She felt the
water move around her and opened her eyes to see Lugus moving
toward the side of the bath.

Her body was a mass of quivering nerves, her
veins filled with molten desire. His fingers skimmed across her
shoulder blades and down her back to rest at her hips. She sighed
as he pushed his rod against her sex.

A moan lodged in her throat as his hand moved
to brush the underside of her breast, a breast already heavy with
need and aching for his touch. She bit her lip as he continued to
tease her breast with his touch while his lips nibbled and kissed
her neck.

Her sex ached and pulsed each time his rod
brushed against her, but that’s all he would give her, that simple
touch. She was near mindless from his teasing. When she decided to
explore him, she found her wrists captured in one hand above her
head. She opened her eyes to see him smiling down at her.

“Tonight I’m going to love your properly,
Ahryn. Tonight is mine.”

His words sent a thrill through her that
landed with a thud at her sex.

She felt something at her back and recognized
it as the side of the bath. Lugus had situated her between him and
the bath as he continued to work his magic on her with his
mouth.

With her head leaned back against the side,
Ahryn moved her hips against his and was rewarded with a deep moan.
She smiled and moved her hips again. He didn’t stop her and she
became bolder with her need.

When his hands moved to her hips, she assumed
he would halt her, but he had other ideas. His fingers skimmed the
inside of her thighs and near her center, but never touching her
sex. Time and again he would move close to her sex, and just as she
thought he would finally touch her, his hand skittered away.

She moaned and attempted to rub her hips
against his rod, but his hands stilled her. She thought she heard
him chuckle just before his head bent and kiss the top of each
breast. As she arched her back for him to accept her nipple, his
head moved and only his chin grazed her sensitive nipple.

Her hands gripped his shoulders, silently
begging him to relieve her of the teasing. His lips and tongue
traced patterns on her breasts, always near her aching nipples, but
never touching.

Her sex throbbed and her nipples hardened as
desire spiked through her. She was mindless of anything but the
raging need running through her.

A scream tore from her throat when Lugus’
thumb rubbed across her sex. In the next heartbeat his other hand
cupped her breast as he rolled her nipple between two fingers.
While his fingers continued to tweak her nipples, his thumb worked
its assault on her sex, rubbing across her nub with the lightest
touch.

Ahryn was already half way to release before
he touched her, and it only took a few strokes of his thumb over
her sex to send her toward her climax.

Her body jerked as the orgasm claimed her,
sending waves upon waves of pleasure over her with each stroke of
Lugus’ finger over her sex.

When she was finally able to open her eyes,
she looked down to see him still rolling her nipple between his
fingers. She raised her gaze to him and rubbed her hips against
his.

“That wasn’t exactly fair,” she mumbled.

He smiled, a smile that transformed his face
into magnificence. “Maybe not, but you enjoyed it.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Lugus’ body burned to bury himself deep
inside of Ahryn, but he held onto his thin thread of control with
all his might. He would make this night last forever, for he would
need it in the years to come.

As the last tremor went through her, Lugus
gently picked Ahryn up out of the water and laid her on floor. He
climbed out of the bath and picked her up to carry her to one of
several settees tucked in the corners of the room.

Her finger traced down his neck to his
shoulder. He glanced down into her eyes and saw them still glazed
with passion, a passion he had ignited. She was the first thing he
had done right, and he wanted to keep it that way.

When he reached the settee he laid her down
and moved beside her. He didn’t know how long they gazed into each
other’s eyes, he just knew he felt contentment, something he had
never thought to experience again.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

He didn’t wish to break their mood, so kept
his feelings to himself and said instead, “I’m thinking of all the
different ways I want to make love to you.”

She laughed and leaned up to kiss his
shoulder. “You don’t have to do it all tonight. We have years ahead
of us, and I intend to see that you love me every night.”

Lugus leaned down to kiss her instead of
giving her the answer he knew she wanted.

As he explored her hot mouth, his body shook
with need, a need that only Ahryn could satisfy. He didn’t question
why his body had connected with Ahryn. It was a part of life on
their realm, but he knew there wasn’t a future for them. Not
now.

Not ever.

He trailed his mouth down her slender throat
to nibble on the lobe of her ear. She moaned and ran her hands down
his back, sending chills racing along his skin. Her touch drove him
insane with desire and he didn’t know how much longer he could hold
off before he plunged inside her hot sheath.

Never had his need been so great, his desire
ruling out everything. But with Ahryn, things had always been
different.

“Lugus,” she whispered in his ear as his
mouth moved down to her breasts.

He lifted his gaze to her face as he cupped
her breast and took her hard nipple in his mouth. As he swirled his
tongue around her nipple and began to suck, her eyes rolled back
and she dropped her head onto the pillow.

Lugus wanted this night to be special,
something he could remember for the long nights ahead. He intended
to memorize Ahryn’s magnificent body, the feel of her breasts in
his hands, the heat of her body as he filled her. Every fiber of
his being would know Ahryn.

His hand continued to caress her full breasts
while his mouth moved to her other nipple. Her hips rubbed against
his chest as her pleasure rose, and his rod throbbed with
desire.

Ahryn was surrounded by bliss. How many
nights had she dreamed of Lugus claiming her? How many times had
she wondered if she would ever feel his body against hers
again?

A moan escaped her lips as his mouth left her
breasts and kissed down her stomach. His tongue lapped at her navel
as her hands gripped his shoulders. Her sex throbbed and clenched,
a bolt of desire sweeping through her.

His hands gripped her hips just before she
was lifted off the settee and placed on his lap, her back to his
chest. She longed for the feel of Lugus deep inside her, to have
him fill her completely.

He began to kiss the back of her neck as his
hands roamed over her breasts and stomach, barely grazing her sex.
She tried to hold in a whimper when he pulled her back to lean
against him and spread her legs so each one fell over one of his,
exposing her to the cool air.