The Queen of All Magick: Elizabeth (3 page)

“You should find out what the
consequences are for either of you if you don’t sign this. There might be things that will make it impossible for you not to sign it…such as someone will need to take her place.” Logan nodded as Lizzy answered him.

“We’re going to have a baby.”
The news was something that they’d both been anticipating for several days. And now it was official.
“I can’t wait to tell them all. Dad is going to be so happy.”

Somehow Logan doubted that. The man had a real sore spot when it came to his daughter and sex.
Logan wondered if maybe the man thought she was still a virgin, and knew that wasn’t right. He knew the moment he’d made love to her in the elevator the first time he’d met her.

“I’m so glad.
And you know that Mathew is going to be over the moon.”
At least he hoped so. The kid had been sort of moody for the past several days
. “Maybe he’ll forget about Elizabeth leaving us, even if only for a little while.”

“I don’t think so
, but maybe. He really does love her and Grandda. They are almost as inseparable as Mathew and Dad. And those two spend a lot of time together.”
Logan smiled, knowing that Mathew was the buffer between the two of them. And when Aaron was told about the new baby, he’d make sure he was near his son. Aaron wouldn’t harm him if he was in the same room. At least he hoped he wouldn’t.

“When will you be home?”
She told him in an hour.
“Good. How about I call your dad and see if he can take Mathew for a few hours. Then since Mathew won’t be back from your parents’ until six, we can celebrate being parents again. There is plenty of time for me to show you how much I love the fact that you’re going to have my baby.”

“Sounds good.
I’ll try to get out of here earlier then. Oh, and Rythen was here. He said to tell you that not signing that contract won’t help. He’ll just go over your head. Do you know what he’s talking about?”
Logan shook his head. He should have known the man would have knowledge as to what he was thinking.

“Yeah, he said I had to sign off on your grandmother
’s ending paperwork. I was trying to figure out a way to make it so I didn’t. Mac already told me that even if I didn’t, there might be kickbacks.”
He picked up the copy of the contract and noticed the time and the date too as he looked at the first page. The date of it made his world rock. Logan got up to get a beer and noticed the calendar hanging on the fridge as he continued talking to Lizzy.
“Well shit. I’m going to read this thing over for your dad. Then I have a meeting with the city council in an hour, I just remembered too. How about a rain check for tonight?”

“Deal. And I’ll do you one better. I’ll meet you at the courthouse for the meeting. I have a few things I’d like to bring up as well.”
Logan had to smile. He wanted to point out that she was a great deal like her dad again, but needed to look over his notes for the meeting. Lizzy was like her father in that she’d argue any point just so long as she was considered right. She was her daddy’s little girl.

He left the house twenty minutes later.
Time to make the city see what sort of man they’d brought in to make them a city again….and what sort of man they already had in place. He just hoped things went the way he thought they should.

Chapter 3

The woman sitting at the desk only looked at him when he shifted on his seat.
Rythen had missed a great deal over the centuries, and the way women now dressed and acted was one of them. He wanted to ask her to walk to the large file cabinet again but was afraid she’d call him names again. Two of the ones she’d called him he was going to have to ask someone about. He had no idea what sexist meant but doubted it had anything to do with actual love making. But chauvinistic, that one baffled him the most.

“Mr. Rythen, Mr. Burris and the others will see you now.”
He stood up when she did and waited just long enough to have her walk in front of him. Yeah, he’d missed a great deal, and high heels were quickly becoming his favorite shoe.

As soon as she opened the door to allow him in
, he moved into the room thinking he needed to find himself a nice little office with a nice secretary like the one out front. This woman worked for Aaron, so he knew she was aware of what they all were. As soon as he saw the three other women sitting around the room, he decided that he needed a large office with many women, all of them in the highest heels they could find. He wondered if they’d call him sexist too.

“Rythen, how are you?
” Aaron showed him to a seat as he asked. “We’ve invited a few other people to this meeting. Some of them I think you might know.”

He was introduced to all the men at the table and yes, he knew a few. He looked at Logan when he handed him his file.
The man looked like he was very upset with him. Rythen didn’t care. He knew that they’d all try to stop this thing with Elizabeth. But it would do little good. They had a contract.

“The reason for this meeting is to go over the outline of the plans for the city.”
Rythen opened the file to the first page thinking that this meeting would be boring. The only reason he’d come was because Aaron had told him he could meet him afterwards and if he didn’t come, Aaron would see him some other time. This was not what he had in mind. The little boy, Mathew, stood up and sat down again in front of a computer. As pictures started to flash on the wall, Rythen found himself mesmerized by it all.

“The
police station is the first thing we need to complete. As you know, most of the work on the new building is being funded by Black. The rest of the funding is to come through as donations from—”

“I’ve been thinking about that.”
Everyone turned to a man he’d been introduced to as Malian Tallis. “I believe that we should continue to use the Black monies to finish the project and start the one on the fire station immediately. The money that we’ve managed to raise, while not a lot, could start that one until the fire station is finished. It’s been a hardship having to wait on the people to get up off their butts and donate like they should. But the money is right there. I think we should use it.”

“That
wasn’t on the agenda. Malian, last month you were told if you want to add something constructive to the meeting it had to be brought to us forty-eight hours before we—” The man cut Logan off again.

“Yeah, yeah, you said that. And I only just thought of this.
Why shouldn’t we use what we can from the Black Corp? They said they’d help, and everyone here knows they have an endless supply of money.” Malian winked at him as he leaned in to whisper. “Aaron here is said to be worth billions. Why not get a little for the town while he’s still kicking?”

Rythen realized that the man had no idea that every being in the room could hear a pin drop and his whispered comment about Aaron could be heard by them all.
Rythen looked at Aaron and was shocked to see that he was laughing. Did he really not hear him? Or was it that he cared little for the low opinion the man had of him?

“Black will only finance what was agreed upon.”
Logan took the file from Malian and opened it to the back pages before continuing. “As of right now there is less than ten grand in the account set up to make the necessary repairs on the buildings as well as the needed upgrades on the library. I’d like for you to explain where that money has gone. Nearly eleven million dollars of the money is missing. And if you interrupt me again, I will have you removed from this meeting.”

“Now see here. You
can’t talk to me that way. I’m on the council, and as such I’m the voting majority for them. Do you see anyone else here that will stand up for this city? Not you, Burris. Last time I looked, you’re not using any of that money you got from marrying into the family either.” The low growl coming from Logan nearly made Rythen laugh. The human council member was going to be torn apart if he didn’t shut up.

“And I have no plans
of doing so. As for your comment about the council, I have it on good authority that you threatened the others about coming here tonight. You told Mr. Donley that if he showed you’d make sure that he was facing an audit of his department that would show him using the state funding for things other than research.” Malian started to sputter, but Logan continued as if he were not. “Mrs. Sheppard said that you told her that her daughter’s house would be foreclosed on, even though it’s not in arrears. And that her son-in-law would lose his job with the city because you had that sort of power.”

“Lies. I have no reason to threaten these people. They’re just saying that because they think things are going to hell. And with you in charge, I can see it coming fast.”
A file slammed down on the table just as Malian started to rise. “What the hell is this?”

“Your own financial records.”
Aaron sat still as he continued. Nodding once to the little boy, pictures of Malian on a yacht with several younger women flashed on the screen. “I’ve got it on good authority that you’re spending departmental money on your own little fun. How many times have you been to France this year, Malian? Twice? Three times?”

“I have a house there that I got from my
wife’s family.” Another file was put in front of Malian. “You have no rights to dig into my life. What if I did a little digging into your life? What the hell would I find there?”

“I’m sure that you’d be surprised by what you found.”
Rythen nearly burst out laughing at Aaron. “But that’s not the issue here. We’re here to find out what you’ve been up to. And by the way, your wife was not happy to find these pictures. She is right now making sure that all your funding is cut off too. Along with a few other things.”

Malian looked around the room
, and Rythen could almost hear the man’s mind working to figure this out. When the door behind him opened, Rythen stood up as Lizzy walked in. Behind her were three men dressed in suits. All of them looked to be armed.

“Hello
, Malian my boy. You’ve been very naughty. It’s a good thing my husband is in charge of this little parlay or you’d be in a great deal more shit than you already are. Oh, and I’m so glad you appointed me to the task force for the police. I bet you never thought…what did he call me, Mathew?”

“He said you were an airhead and that you
didn’t have as much brain power in one of your fingers as he did in his entire body.” He grinned at his mother. “I guess he messed up your fingers with your brains.”

Rythen was surprised by the information and was equally surprised that Logan had done nothing about it. Had it been his mate, he would have killed the man. But Malian stood up and when he did, the three men pulled their weapons.

“I said that in my office to my brother. There is no way you could have heard that.” Mathew clicked on a couple of keys and an office with Malian and another man showed on the wall. The entire conversation about hiring Lizzy as their scapegoat was caught on record, and Rythen couldn’t have been more impressed. He had missed a great deal more than he’d thought by being away.

The three men stepped forward and helped Malian to stand. “Malian Tallis
, you’re under arrest for embezzlement as well as fraud.” Rythen watched as the man was dragged from the room screaming about his rights. Mathew stood to leave too, and Rythen stopped him.

“You helped them with this?” He nodded.
“I’m very impressed. You were very helpful to them, and you made a very good case against him.”

He wasn’t sure what the boy was going to say. Mathew hesitated for a long while before he looked up at someone behind him.
Rythen had a feeling it was his stepmother. When he looked back down at him, Rythen smiled.

“That’s what family does.
We help each other. And if you think I’m going to sit on my butt and watch you take away my grams just because you think you’re all that, you’re in for a big surprise. I’m not going to let you.”

“There is no stopping what is happening, young man. Some things just are.”
Rythen turned to see Aaron behind him and stood up. “You should teach him that things don’t always turn out the way you want them. There are laws.”

“He knows about laws governing things more than I would bet you do. But what you don’t understand is that he loves her.
And that, my good man, will conquer all.” Aaron put out his hand, and Mathew went to him. “Now, if you’ll give me one minute, I’m going to say good-bye to my grandson. He has homework to do.”

When the two of them left, Rythen sat down. This had to be the most stubborn family he’d ever encountered.
And over the years, he’d seen a lot of them…just not humans, and he wondered if they were all like this or if the people in this family were particularly stubborn. They were a different breed altogether, this house of Aaron. Rythen started to sit when the room tightened and he waited for whoever was entering the room to come. He was surprised to see Morriganna the witch.

~~~

Elizabeth moved along the passageway toward where she’d been told. She wanted to see…no, that wasn’t right. She
needed
to see Phillip. Now. Right now. When she got to the door, she stopped, suddenly afraid. Morriganna had told her she’d only have an hour at best. This had to work. She wasn’t sure that Morriganna could distract Rythen that long.

Opening the door
, she nearly burst into tears when she saw him there. The fact that he knew was all she could think of, and as she moved toward him, she stripped off her clothing. When his shirt joined hers on the floor, she smiled.

“Are you sure about this?”
He nodded at her and kicked his shoes across the room. “We’re not really young anymore.”

“No
, and we won’t get any older either if this doesn’t work. Who came up with this anyway? I’d very much like to send them a thank-you note.”

“Logan.
And we can talk later. Right now, I want you.” He pulled her now naked body to his and kissed her. The man knew passion and how to make hers rise to a nearly out of control fire in a very short amount of time. When he lifted his head, she pulled him to her again. There was no time to waste.

When he dropped to his knees in front of her
, she nearly got down as well. But when he pulled her body to his mouth, Elizabeth nearly cried out. Never had he done anything like this before.

He ate at her over and over until she was weak with it.
Her first climax nearly had her tumble over on top of him, and the second and third had her trembling. Begging him to stop only made him work harder until she finally had to pull him from her.

“You’re killing me.”
He grinned at her and leaned in to suckle at her clit again. The short yet powerful release had her whimper. When he stood up, she had to hold onto him.

“I’m going to enjoy this.
As many times as I can.” Phillip backed her up until she felt the table behind her touch her back. He lifted her up and sat her on the table and moved between her thighs. His cock slowly entered her until she thought she’d die from the pleasure.

“Phillip, I love you.” He moved to her breast and suckled on the tip before pulling the heavy
flesh into his mouth. His tongue moved over the nipple over and over as he entered her deeper and then deeper still. When he was as deep as he could go, he looked at her.

“You’re so hot,
my love. And wet. You’ve been thinking of this, haven’t you?” He rolled his hips, and she could swear he was at the back of her throat. “Come for me. Tighten that pretty pussy around me and come.”

Phillip had never talked to her this way before.
They’d been together for so long that she rarely thought of sex anymore. But this man, this man who had been away from her for so long was making her think of things she’d never thought of before.

“I want to take you into my mouth.” He groaned and rolled his hips again.
“I want to taste you too. Feel you fucking my mouth.”

“You’re going to
make me come too soon if you keep that up.” Elizabeth rolled her own hips and watched his face. His fingers on her hips tightened, and she knew that he was close.

Wrapping her ankles around him
, she sat up and took his mouth. His body started to move in and out of her faster now, and she felt her climax rolling along her body. When he nipped at her throat, Elizabeth threw back her head and cried out at her release. His body exploded in hers even as she felt his mouth bite down hard enough to draw blood. Her next climax had her seeing stars. His own roar of completion made her feel like she could take on the world. Holding onto him, she felt her love for him warm her entire body.