The Faerie Master (Aaron's Kiss Series) (31 page)

“No!
That’s not fair.
You can’t count the ground moving as her.
She didn’t do it.
There was a tremor and I fell, that’s not first blood.”
Ferris started toward Mel and drew up short when Aaron stepped in front of her.

“Really?
Did I call ‘time?’
Are you bleeding?
Then it’s first blood.
Cade, go again.
And you, Ferris, you move toward me again and it will be a forfeit.
Stay where you are until I say differently.”

When Cade raised her hand a leaf sliced open his cheek.
It wasn’t much, but again, it was first blood.
Cade was simply trying to get used to what she had to work with.
Her knowledge of her powers were massive, but knowing how to use something because someone told you and knowing because you’ve used it were two different things altogether.
Mel called Cade winner again.

Taking a deep breath she blew it toward the man across the field from her.
She had simply been exhaling.
Ferris dropped to the ground as if she’d shot at him.
She burst out laughing before she could snap her mouth closed.

“You think this is funny, bitch.
I’ll show you funny.
See how funny you think this is, you stupid cunt.”

The magic came at her hard.
He had thrown a bolt of lightning at her and if she hadn’t been so one with the earth she may have fallen over.
As it was she only took a step back; the bolt fell to the ground without so much as singeing her shirt.
She laughed out loud again. “You lose, mother fucker.
By right of vampire law I claim all that you have.
You cheated.
I win.
I quit the field.”

A stirring in the air was all the war
n
ing she had.
She wasn’t sure what was happening, but turned and held up her hands at the same time.
Energy shot from her fingers and bolted across the distance in a heartbeat.
Ferris, coming at her full tilt, was caught in it. His body exploded.
One minute he was there and then next, blood and small fragments of him were strewn across the field.

No one moved, no one said a word as the ground absorbed the carnage.
Cade, using a great deal of what was left of her depleted energy, turned back toward Shawn and took two steps before she crumpled to the ground.
Her body gave up as she slid into darkness, the moonstone around her neck pulsing slightly.

~~~

Shawn looked around the house they had inherited.
It was nothing short of a mansion like Aaron’s had been, but lacked warmth and love.
He hoped that he and Cade would soon change that.
His servant for centuries, Mason, stood in the kitchen with Cade and surveyed the room.
Shawn would have laughed if he wasn’t afraid the man would quit.

“You aren’t listening to me, Mason. I don’t want you to learn to cook.
I need you for other things in a house this big.
I want you to hire someone to cook for me.
You will be much too busy trying to keep up with me and the rest of the household.
You are much more important to me right now than Shawn is.”

Mason turned to look at him and had the most pained expression on his face.
Like Shawn, the poor man wanted more than anything to please the young faerie, but neither of them had been in a household that required food for centuries.
Much less one that would require a household.

“She’s right, old man.
If it wasn’t for the sex I think she’d throw me out over you in a second.
Just give in, I usually do. It’s easier in the end and she’ll wear you down anyway.
Put an ad in the paper for a cook, Cade will do the interviewing for you, and all you’ll need to do is make sure that there is someone to help out.”

“But, sire, this is all so...all so different.
I’m not sure what to make of all of this.
You are and have always been my master and I am proud to serve you, but the young miss, she is...I think that you should help me with this.
You should have to...I believe you said ‘deal’ with her for a bit.”

Shawn flushed.
He had said that when Mason had first come to the mansion and now with Cade looking at him as if he was in deep trouble he wished that Mason had kept that little bit of information to himself.
Cade looked to be not at all happy with him.

“I’m not at all happy with you bucko.
You’re going to pay for this, you know.
I think I’ll invite my dad to stay for a few years.
That should curb your spouting off at the mouth whenever you want.
I think maybe I’ll put him in the—”

Shawn picked Cade up and threw her over his shoulder.
He was turning to leave the kitchen when he glanced over at Mason. He had the most grateful look on his face.
Shawn reached up and swatted Cade on the ass as he moved.
When she bit him in his backside, he hit her harder.
Living with her was never going to be dull, he knew that.

“Shawn, put me down.
You don’t want to hurt the baby, do you?”

He stopped dead in his tracks.
He didn’t think he’d heard her right. “Cade?”
Forming the next words became impossible, so he waited.
When he didn’t think she’d answer him, she finally did.

“Pete told me this morning.
She said that I was going to have a child and that you and I needed to name the babe after her.
I never did figure out why she thought so, but there you have it. I have a...what are you doing?”

Shawn laid her on the sofa as gently as he could.
He had hit her.
Not hard really, but he had.
When he splayed his hand over her flat belly he looked up at her. “Do you think I was too rough?
I...shit, Cade, you should have told me when you first found out.
I spanked you and you let me.
What if I had...what the hell are you laughing at?
This isn’t funny.”

“Yes, it is. You should see your face.
You look like I’ve just told you that you were going to die.
It’s just a baby, silly.
Women have been doing it a lot longer than even you’ve been around.
I’m not going to break. I’m perfectly fine.”

“I don’t care how many women have had one before you.
This is my first one.
You will take it easy from now on.
And no more sex.
I mean it, Cade.
No more seducing me.
And when we do have sex it will be gently and I’ll be...stop laughing at me, damn it.”

Every time he thought she was finished laughing she’d take one look at him and start all over.
He wasn’t amused.
Shutting her up seemed a good idea and he pulled her to him—gently—and kissed her.
The kiss deepened before he knew it and she was lying back on the sofa, her legs wrapped tightly around him.

“What am I going to do with you, woman?
You make me nuttier than a fruit cake one second and nearly out of my mind with need the next.
I love you so very much.”

“And I you.
Just love me, Shawn.
That’s all I want.
Just for you to love me.”

Shawn knew he would.
He had no choice in the matter. She owned his heart anyway.

About the Author

Hello! My name is Kathi Barton and I’m an author. I have been married to my very best friend Sonny for at times seems several lifetimes – in a good way, honey. And together we have three wonderful children and then the ones we brought into the world - Paul and Dale Barton, Jason and Wendy Barton and Danielle and Ben Conklin. They have given us seven of the greatest treasures on Earth. They don’t live at home seven days a week! No, seriously, seven grandchildren – Gavin, Spring, Ben, Trinity, Sarah, Kelly and Kian.