CHAPTER Nineteen
After leaving Beltran at the edge of the encampment, with strict instructions to be alert for any strangers trying to approach and inveigle their way in, I picked my way back towards Corrigan. As far as I was concerned, things were looking good. The protestors were all set up and clearly deeply involved in the business of stopping any development from even starting to get going. The evil bastard that had killed Mereia was, at least according to the Batibat, going to show up soon – and he had no reason to venture near the humans before he checked out his now defunct ward, meaning that I could kill him before he ended up hurting anyone innocent. And the Lord Alpha of the Brethren really liked me.
I gave a little skip. I just couldn’t help myself. It was amazing the way that life could turn around and give you a great big sloppy kiss on the chops right when you were least expecting it. And speaking of kisses…
“Pssst! Mack!”
I twisted my head to the left, registering the figure of Aubrey hovering at the fringes of the trees and holding aloft a large pizza box. I grinned to myself. This was just getting better and better. I jogged over to him and smiled.
“I got you the Meat Feast,” he said anxiously. “I hope it’s alright?”
I gave the ex-vamp a reassuring nod. “It’ll be perfect, Aubrey, thank you.”
The pleasure on his face was evident. Perhaps he wasn’t so bad, after all. I made myself a promise to do everything I could to be nicer to him from now on. He was trying his best to adjust to his new existence. The least I could do was to be more patient with him.
“Can you do me a favour now?” I asked, not wanting to compel him, but rather to treat him like an equal.
His eyes lit up. “Of course. What?”
“Aubrey,” I tutted, “don’t agree to anything unless you know what it’s going to be first.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he said dismissively, and with an unnerving trust in me. Still, it was probably better than hysterics and tears. “What do you need?”
“Can you make sure that no-one disturbs either me or Corrigan unless it’s important? You know, unless the prick who killed the dryad shows up or there’s something dangerous around?” I wasn’t about to be interrupted again this time. I had a plan.
“I will do that, Mack, no problem. I’ll make sure that fat woman doesn’t appear either.”
Somehow I had the inkling that, thanks to the fear I’d seen on the Batibat’s face when I’d broken the ward, she was going to make sure she was as far away as she could possibly get. But I nodded my thanks at Aubrey anyway, and took the pizza box from him. The heavy scent of cheese and garlic floated up to me. I hoped Corrigan enjoyed fast food.
With a meaningful look at Aubrey, hoping that he realised that the figurative ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign was also for him, I turned away and headed back out towards where I knew the Lord Alpha was.
The sky was starting to darken, the sun dipping below the tree line and streaks of burnt orange and gold signalling the close of the day. My stomach was squirming with nervousness, but I pushed down the feelings as best I could. As sure as I was that it wouldn’t be long before we’d be interrupted by the arrival of my current nemesis, I needed to do this first. Nothing in my life had ever seemed this important – or this scary – before. Still under the cover of the few remaining trees, I stopped a few feet away from the small clearing where I knew Corrigan to be and swallowed hard, closing my eyes and clenching my teeth together. Then I forced myself to relax and stepped out.
Whatever I’d been expecting, it wasn’t that. Corrigan was sitting down on the ground, his long muscular legs spread out in front of him. Next to him was a chequered cloth, laden with gleaming silverware, two long-stemmed glasses, and a picnic basket. There was even an ice-bucket with a bottle of champagne nestled inside. When he saw me approach, he sprang lithely to his feet.
His green eyes, with hints of warm gold flickering within their depths, watched me carefully. I stared at him, my mouth dropping slightly.
“Hello, kitten.”
My tongue seemed to be clawed to the roof of my mouth. Corrigan sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “Look,” he said, “I know this isn’t ideal. I’m not trying to make light of the terrible things that happened here and this isn’t a celebration. But, in view of the fact that we have to stay for now, and that you promised me dinner, I thought that maybe we could at least manage some food.”
His eyes drifted down to the pizza box in my hands, and I gave him a shy half-smile. “You beat me to it,” I said softly.
A slow lazy grin, tinged with just a hint of surprise, spread across his face. “Where did you get pizza from?”
“I had a little help from Aubrey,” I admitted. “Where did you get the posh picnic?”
“I arranged it earlier when you went off to talk to the dryads.”
We both remained standing there, just looking at each other. I bit my lip. Corrigan’s eyes moved to my mouth, then back up to my eyes again. Without looking away from him, I knelt down, and placed the pizza box carefully on the cloth, then stood back up again. A look of mutually surprised understanding passed between us. My heart thudded.
“Last chance to back out, kitten,” he said quietly. There was a hopeful wariness on his face.
“I told you not to call me that, my Lord.”
A predatorial smile curved its way across his mouth. I smiled back. Then we sprang at each other.
Corrigan’s lips were hot against mine as I pressed against him with an insatiable, insistent need. He tasted warm and masculine, with just a hint of toothpaste mintiness hovering in the background. He raised up one hand, twisting his fingers through my hair, while the other curved tightly round my back. I wrapped my arms around him, luxuriating in the feel of his tight trembling muscles under my skin.
His hand moved down to my bottom, squeezing it and pulling my body even closer against his, then his lips left mine and began moving down my throat, nibbling and nipping downwards. I moaned and clutched him tighter, all semblance of rational thought completely leaving me. His breath was scorching hot against my skin and, deep inside, my bloodfire matched it, swirling around with heated seductive need. Corrigan shifted his weight ever so slightly, causing both of us to stumble and fall backwards, me on top of him, with an answering crash of breaking glass as one of our feet connected with the ice-bucket and sent it flying into the champagne flutes. I laughed and half-sat up, straddling him with my legs, my hands gripping his broad shoulders. Leaning over him, I smiled down.
“Looks like you’ve found yourself in a rather compromising position, my Lord.”
He half-growled back at me, hands on my waist, and flipped me round in a movement so swift that it took my breath away, completely reversing our positions, his body hot and heavy against mine. Then he curved his head down and whispered in my ear, “Not for long, kitten.”
His mouth found mine again, stifling whatever response I could possibly have managed to muster. One of his hands was snaking its way under my t-shirt, searing against my skin. Sod this. I pushed him back slightly, forcing him to half sit up, then I peeled off my t-shirt and flung it away to the side. He grinned down at me then gestured to himself, so I reached out and undid the first button on his crisp white shirt, then the second and the third. When I fumbled on the fourth, I cursed and gave up, pulling at the fabric and ripping the remaining buttons off. Corrigan just raised his eyebrows at me in amusement, then shrugged out of the rest of his shirt, throwing it to the side so that it sailed through the air and joined my t-shirt in a messy heap on the ground.
I stared up at him for a moment, his broad tanned chest with smooth skin and erect nipples, then I reached up and ran my hands over him, revelling in the feel of his body. He groaned and leaned downwards again, crushing my body and kissing me hard before moving down my chest, his hand cupping one breast while his mouth attended to the other, sucking at it through the soft satiny fabric. The barrier of my bra annoyed me, and I felt the faintest flicker of embarrassment that my underwear was considerably more functional than pretty. I needed to feel his lips on my skin, not teasing like this.
“Corrigan,” I groaned.
He understood and half lifted me up, undoing the clasp at the back with a deft movement that any well-advertised Latin lover would be proud of, and pulling it away, until it remained caught around just one of my arms. Then he returned his mouth to my breast, gently nipping and pulling with his tongue and his teeth until I could barely breathe. His hand moved up to my shoulder, caressing the deep marks of my Draco Wyr scar, and making me shiver.
The weight and length of Corrigan’s erection was obvious and I tugged at the button on his trousers, trying to undo them. A sharp stone was digging uncomfortably into the small of my back so I reached underneath and pulled it out, flinging it to the side, then returned my attention to much, much more important things. My fingers scrabbled away, until I finally achieved success, unfastening the button. He pulled away and stood up, looking down at me. My eyes travelled down the expanse of his chest and stomach, admiring the clearly defined muscles and the trail of dark hair that led downwards.
“Are you sure about this?”
His voice was gruff and I was forced to pull my attention away from the tight bulge in his now unbuttoned trousers. The doubt that was reflected in his face made my heart ache, and I suddenly wished that I’d not been so stupid as to waste so much time in getting to this point. Instead of answering him, however, I undid the fastening on my own jeans and wriggled out of them. Hot molten gold lit Corrigan’s eyes, and he did the same, then looked down at me.
“Mack, you’ve got no idea what it is you do to me,” he groaned.
I drank in the sight of him, towering over me. There were innumerable scars over his body, most of them faint lines carved into his skin. They didn’t detract from his immutable sex appeal, however, they just added to it. I didn’t think I’d ever seen a man who was such a testament to virile masculinity. I actually had a pretty good idea of what it was that I did to him, because he was doing the same to me. I reached up and curved my hands round his hips and tugged him back down. He smiled, baring his white teeth, pushed my panties down, pulled them off and then with one swift movement moved inside me with a possessive roar. I cried out as he filled me, my hips rising to meet his.
Twisting round, I forced him beneath me so I could be more in control. Then I leaned back slightly, enjoying the sensation of having him deep inside me, and we found a rhythm. My breath was coming fast and sharp, and Corrigan groaned as his hands reached up to my waist then slammed me down onto him, again and again. I moaned as the need and desire overwhelmed me, building to a crescendo of feeling.
“Mack…”
My eyes met his. “Now,” I half-sobbed.
He jerked his head in acknowledgment and thrust upwards. I screamed as my body shuddered in ecstasy. Corrigan quaked beneath me, then I collapsed on top of him, sweaty and panting. His arms wrapped round my back, hugging me to him, and we both lay there, exhausted, with our ragged gasps as the only sound filling the entire area. I could feel his heart throb against my ribcage and I closed my eyes, peace and happiness flooding through me. Corrigan’s hand moved up to my head, and softly stroked my hair, smoothing it down.
“I have to admit, our date has somewhat exceeded my expectations,” he said with a low purr.
I smiled into his chest. “I’m sorry.”
His body stiffened beneath me. “For what?”
“For being so pig-headed, Corrigan. I shouldn’t have pushed you away before. I was an idiot.” In oh so many ways.
He relaxed. “Yes, you were. Why the sudden change of heart?”
I really didn’t want to tell him that I’d overheard his conversation with Lucy. It seemed sneaky, eavesdropping on him like that. But I didn’t want to lie to him either. I took a deep breath. “Well…”
He jerked suddenly. “Someone’s coming,” he breathed into my ear.
Alarmed, I sprang up. The last thing I needed was to deal with anyone happening upon us in such a state of in flagrante delicto. Not that I was ashamed of course, but the never-ending innuendo that I’d have to deal with afterwards wasn’t worth it. I scrabbled for my clothes, yanking my pants and jeans back on. Corrigan did the same, albeit at a more leisurely pace. I was just hooking myself back into my bra when I heard Aubrey’s raised voice. I couldn’t work out who he was talking to, but it was nice to see that he’d taken my instructions seriously.
Corrigan raised his eyebrows slightly.
“I told him to make sure we weren’t disturbed,” I explained.
His mouth quirked up at the side. “So you had this all planned then, did you?”
I pulled my t-shirt over my head and shook out my hair. “Not exactly.”
Corrigan chuckled. “Clearly, I had no chance.”
I scowled at him. “Hey, you weren’t exactly complaining.”
He licked his lips, and my stomach flipped. I was prevented from saying anything further, however, as the figure of Solus appeared, rounding the corner. Aubrey was hanging onto his ankles and shouting something along the lines of ‘stop it, they’re eating pizza!’. Well, that was a euphemism if ever I heard one. Solus shook him off, and wandered casually up to the pair of us. Corrigan was still shirt-less and it was all I could do not to slap the leery grinning Fae in the face.
“Well, well, well,” he smirked.
Corrigan moved in front of me, and my mouth dropped open. Oh, he so wasn’t go to go all caveman on me now, was he?
“You’re interrupting,” he growled. “We’re busy.” The emphasis that he placed on the word ‘we’ left very little to the imagination.
“I can see that,” murmured Solus, no end of amusement audibly visible in his voice.
I stepped out from behind Corrigan, irritated. “What do you want?”
“Dragonlette, you don’t have to worry,” he said, “I’m not the jealous type. I don’t demand monogamy in my partners.”
Corrigan’s entire body rose up in angry tension. Before he could say or do anything that all three of us would regret, however, I cleared my throat and repeated my words. “Solus, what is it?”
His violet eyes flicked smoothly over to me. I could see the warring emotion within him, but fortunately the need to tell us his news won out over the temptation to cause more aggravated mischief.
“Someone’s approaching,” he finally said. “The mage set up a small ward down by the main road after the humans arrived. It was intended to deter anyone else from deciding they wanted a quiet evening walk, but wouldn’t really stop anyone with any power.”
“And?”
“And it was broken about fifteen minutes ago. “ He glanced from Corrigan to me. “Not the only thing that was broken through apparently.”
Corrigan snarled. I put a calming hand on his forearm, ignoring the sudden flare of my bloodfire.
“So he’s finally coming then,” I stated in satisfaction.
“Whoever he is.”
I nodded distractedly. “Okay. Solus, you need to get back down to Larkin and make sure the two of you get out of sight. It’s up to you to make sure he doesn’t get hurt. Let Mereia’s killer get up here so that the two of us,” I motioned to Corrigan, “can deal with it.”
He clasped a hand to his heart. “Aw, dragonlette. So what you’re really saying is that you don’t want me to get hurt, but you don’t mind if the furry one here ends up as collateral damage?”
“Solus…” I said warningly.
He grinned. “Yes, yes, okay. I will do as you ask. I’m sure I’d be more use to you in a fight than protecting a wizard though.”
For a half second, my mind flicked back to that terrible scene back at the mages’ academy when both Thomas and Brock had wound up so very dead. I steeled myself. I was not going to let anything like that happen again. Ever.
“Just do it, please,” I said quietly.
Solus bowed and clicked his fingers, vanishing in an airy shimmer of purple. I realised belatedly that the reason he’d not arrived that way was he’d known what was going on with Corrigan and me in the first place. The Fae wasn’t all bad. One quick look at Corrigan’s face made me think that there was fat chance I’d persuade him of that, however.
“I couldn’t stop him!” howled Aubrey, still lying prone on the path ahead of us, his arms outstretched. “I tried, Mack! It’s not my fault!”
“I know,” I called over. “It’s okay, Aubrey. I need you to go and join the humans with Max and Beltran now. Stay there until we come and find you.”
“You’re protecting that bastard now too?” muttered Corrigan.
I shrugged, unwilling to admit that, despite myself, I was now kind of starting to like the ex-bloodsucker, as well as merely feeling sorry for him. He wore all his emotions on his sleeve, without trying to mute them in order to appear more normal. That made him occasionally annoying, but not dislikable.
“We can deal with this guy on our own,” I replied, as Aubrey scrambled to his feet and vanished into the trees.
“He killed a dryad.”
“You don’t need to remind me of that,” I snapped. “But they’re easy prey. You’re the Lord Alpha of the f*cking Brethren, and I’m a dragon. Let’s see how scary he is when he’s got us to deal with.”
“Well, then,” remarked Corrigan, “let’s rock and roll, kitten.”
I used my Voice to blow a raspberry at him then injected as much sarcasm into my thought as possible. Sure thing, my Lord.
Corrigan chuckled, then swung me to him and planted a swift hard kiss on my lips. “Before I forget,” he said.
“Mmm?” I asked distractedly, my senses still reeling.
He bent over and opened up the picnic box. I admired his bum, much in the same manner that Max had been doing earlier with the protestor. This is different, I told myself, the Lord Alpha is a willing participant. I smirked. Very willing.
He stretched back up, a smallish box in his hands. I looked at him quizzically.
He raised up a shoulder. “Sorry, I can’t open it myself.” He grinned disarmingly. “Silver and I don’t really mix.”
Astonished, I took the box from him and lifted the lid, registering the contents, then stared up at Corrigan. “You brought my daggers? Both of them? But I only left one at the keep.”
“We found the other one not far from where you were lying unconscious on Hampstead Heath. The mages helped us pick it up and keep it safely covered.”
I took both of Balud’s weapons out, hefting each in my hands, before shooting him a grateful glance. “Thank you, Corrigan.”
His eyes crinkled down at me. “Just make sure you don’t mistake me for him. Whoever he is.”
“We’re about to find out,” I said grimly, then tossed the box to the side, and gripped the daggers in my hands.
The pair of us turned to face the path, ready for whatever was coming. The familiar surge of angry bloodfire hit my veins. This wasn’t the warmth of heated passion that I’d felt minutes earlier. This was full-blown angry revenge mode.
“Bring it on,” I whispered.
At my side, Corrigan nodded.