“In detail?” She nods, and I smile wide. “So you are a part of this whole demon thing too?” I ask, looking around the room and suddenly feeling very outnumbered.
Amery laughs, “Yep, you’re the only commoner here, Eli.”
“Oh shut up. If anything, I am the amazingly unique one in this group.”
“Amazingly something at least,” Amery mumbles to himself as if I can’t hear him. “Don’t worry Ryan. Now that Cat and I know where Marius is hiding, we will work together day and night if need be to make sure he is too busy with us to bother with you. If it takes months, it takes months, not like I have a whole lot else to do, and I enjoy working with my girl anyway. I am sure we can all agree to do, or sacrifice, whatever necessary to help keep another Savage from forming.”
“I don’t like the sounds of that,” I respond.
“Don’t worry, Baby. Amery has an entire army to help us.”
“She’s right. There is no reason to worry about her. I will take care of her.” I shake my head. “I promise I will make sure she’ll call you from time to time, Commoner.”
“No. No. Catriona, I swear. I’m not having it.”
She turns to me. “You’re not having what?”
“I’m not having you spending night and day with this …”
“You don’t trust me Eli?!”
I fist my hands in front of my face. “I don’t want you away from me that long. Cat please!”
“It’s only a couple of weeks at most,” she says, trying to ease my frustration, but there is nothing she can do to keep it from climbing, especially when I catch sight of Amery’s wide, cocky smile.
“I’ll start organizing and planning on how to agitate Marius within the laws of the realms. It’s not going to be intimidating, but it might be fun screwing with him. I never did like that self-centered asshole.” Amery shakes Ryan’s hand and says goodbye to Terrence before taking my girl’s arm and pulling her into a full embrace, placing a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Hey with all this time we are spending together, maybe we can finally finish that game we created.”
“Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that. Sounds great to me, but you still owe me lunch from last time.” They laugh together before hugging again and finally saying their goodbyes.
Cat snuggles back into the chair with me all smiles. I look down at her as she rubs my chest and pushes her fingers in between mine, squeezing my hand and only making me worry more. For some reason, I feel as if I am losing her. I have to figure out something quick because I refuse to let that happen.
I am in love, and I believe she loves me, but I am afraid that, since I am not a lord or some kind of realm royalty with special powers, she will lose interest in me. I begin to wonder about this Diviner, and since the Diviner called Ryan to come back to her; I thought it might be a good idea for me to join him. As always, Skylar accompanies us, and we both follow Ryan to the out of the way cottage home. From the outside, everything appears normal, but upon entering, the sense of normalcy disappears. There is little to nothing inside the home, no pictures on the wall, no decorations other than a lot of fabrics draped on the walls and two odd, blank-eyed eyeball sculptures sitting on either side of an oddly shaped table. Three chairs await us at the table, all angled and focused on the one area where there is no chair.
“Should we have knocked or rung a bell or something? She’s not going to come out here and shoot us for walking into her home uninvited, is she?” I ask, beginning to feel nervous after a strange sound grows louder from the back of the house.
“No, she knows we are coming.” Ryan shrugs and sits down at one of the chairs.
“It is who I am to know,” an exotically dressed woman says, stepping out from the draped fabrics on the wall. She wears more jewelry than clothes which makes me wonder why we didn’t hear her coming. I look down at her feet, and she isn’t wearing shoes, but they are covered in some kind of tattoo. “Hello, you are new. I felt your presence today, but it was unclear at first why you would be accompanying these two … until now,” she says to me. I sit back, afraid to get too close and suddenly wishing I had stayed home. “Don’t worry. I will not put a curse on you.” She laughs after apparently reading my mind. “My name is Mahlah, and yours is Elijah.”
“Don’t worry about Eli. He is harmless,” Ryan says, shaking his head at me. “I am hoping you have changed your mind Mahlah and are willing to talk more about what you see and what you know.”
“I will say I have had some disturbing dreams since you left, and I don’t want what I have seen to become reality. However, I feel the war of the realms is inevitable, but maybe I can help your side come out the victor and spare the numerous lives that will surely face torturous deaths.” She stands in front of us with a deep sigh. “Your answer is your dragon. They want him, I am not sure of the details yet, or why, but they are looking for him every way they can. They are figuring out a way to capture what you have control of. Lord Cane has been given notes from someone to help figure out how to do this. I cannot see the results since he has yet to read the instructions. I am trying to focus on who would be helping him, but I cannot see him. He must be a Lord, a powerful one at that. I suspect Lord Rein Lorid since he would have such knowledge, but it could be another blood relation.”
“What other blood relation? One of Rein’s kids? I can’t imagine they would care. They are all slackers and spend more time admiring themselves than worrying about being in power of anything. It’s got to be Rein. He has every reason to want his brother out of Nick’s control and on his side. Savage would give him even more power than he already has.”
“I can tell you Rein is on the move more than usual these days. I have no doubt he is hoping to benefit if his brother is released. However, he is showing me nothing that resembles disloyalty to the other lords.” Mahlah calls out with her eyes closed, and the ease about her that makes you think she is floating on air. I keep looking down at her feet to see if she is.
“There is no way we can penetrate his alliance to prove his desertion from the Realm of Lords agreement, and I am sure he will keep it that way until he has all that he needs to begin the war. Is he using Marius to do his dirty work?” Mahlah nods. “Then Lord Marius Cane, is the biggest fool ever!” Ryan barks, slamming his fists onto the table. I shake my head, unsure what to say or do since my questions seem trivial at this point. Ryan looks up with wide eyes. The sudden change of color and swirling energy begins to take him over. I fear he may be losing it when Mahlah seems to be bothered by something as well. Ryan stands and moves towards the door as men begin to surround the cottage, firing on us. Ryan takes them on, and I grab Mahlah, pulling her down before she is killed. Skylar is already fighting her way out to help Ryan while I stand guard over Mahlah, realizing they are not here for us. Keeping her behind me in a safe corner, I wait for each attacker and shoot to kill as soon as I see the whites of their eyes or, in the case of these attackers, the bloodshot strain of their eyes. All of these fuckers look like they have been awake for twenty years without a single break.
“Once you become a dedicated part of one’s army, sleep is unnecessary and only proves weakness to their Lord,” Mahlah whispers to me.
“Okay, thanks,” I say with an awkward smile. I start to say she should come with us, but instead, I turn to look at her to see if she will read my mind.
“This would be much easier if you could read my mind as well,” she says.
“Hm, yeah, I think I will stick to the non-mindreading life. I have enough problems without knowing everyone else’s.” Helping her up, I lead her out the side door and to the car. “Get down in the back. I have to pick up Ryan and Skylar.” Getting the car going, I swing around the front of the house. Skylar is struggling for breath as she jumps in and exhales deeply, while Ryan is still steaming and a little scary. “How the hell did you not get shot?” I ask him.
My questions seems to break his concentration, and he looks up in confusion. “They shot di
rectly at you Ryan, several times. I saw it, but you’re not hurt at all,” Skylar says, checking him over to be sure.
“I don’t know. I didn’t think about it. I just…”
Mahlah looks to him. “You’re the dragon now,” she says simply, as if that explains everything. I don’t completely understand what it means, but I know enough to be in awe of him right now. I look at Ryan in the rearview mirror, noticing the kid trying to deal with a whole new weight on his shoulders.
“You saved me, why?” Mahlah asks me all of a sudden.
“Because they were going to kill you.”
“Hm, but I have nothing to offer you in exchange. Your questions are not that important for you to risk your life for me.”
“What? I … What?”
“What questions did you have, Eli?” Ryan asks.
“I … I only wanted to know if … it doesn’t matter.”
“She loves you because you are who you are not because of who you are not,” Mahlah says as Ryan and Skylar both give me a knowing smile. Great. “The question you should be asking me, is if you will survive the war.” I look over at her to verify that she is still talking to me. “The beginning of the war is coming, and they will all fight, including her, but you will not survive it.”
“I won’t survive it if I don’t …”
“There is always a chance for change. That is why I am telling you this now. In order to survive, you will have to go against what is meant to be,” she says, not making me feel much better about things.
“And what is meant to be that I have to go against?”
“There is no one answer, only infinite possibilities, and only one will get the right results.”
“Infinite? That doesn’t help me at all.” She shrugs. “You’re shrugging?! You’re the great diviner, and you’re shrugging. Oh that’s just perfect.”
“I don’t usually give people news like this. It is too troubling for them to handle, but I believe you can overcome it and avoid it. Until then, I would live your life to its fullest if I were you,” Mahlah states with a sweet voice and a tender touch.
“Oh would you? Thanks.” I glare at Ryan. “No telling Cat any of this, you hear me?” He nods. “And I am going to pretend I didn’t hear any of it.”
“Eli, we will keep you from getting involved in any of the realm issues. There is only so much you can do to help anyway,” Ryan explains as if it is that easy. Ah… yes. The weak commoner needs to sit at home while his future wife goes off to fight a war. I know! I can take up knitting while I wait at home for her. While the warriors are out fighting a war I will be sitting in my rocking chair, making ruffled socks and sheaths for the warriors’ swords. Suddenly, Mahlah laughs.
“I like you. You make me laugh.” She giggles away.
“Oh, I am so glad to hear it. Giggles isn’t staying with me is she?” I confirm.
I have spent the last few days planning a flawless night. When Cat gets home, I immediately greet her with a quivering tongue. I am so nervous.
“Hi!” she exclaims, looking me over in amazement. “Wow, what are you doing … all dressed up and with a mask and all?” she says with a nervous laugh.
“I am here to escort you to the ball.” She cocks her head in confusion. I wave my hand to the gorgeous ball gown Kayla helped me pick out for her and to the people I hired to help her get made up impeccably for our night. “I hope you don’t mind, but I hired some people to help you prepare to relive the night that should have been ours.” I step back and bow to her with my hand outstretched towards her. “Catriona, will you do me the honor of accompanying me to our masquerade ball?” I wait anxiously to see if she will accept. She takes a step towards the people before running her hand through the luxurious fabric of the gown. She runs back to me with tears in her eyes and takes my hand and nods.
“How much time do I have?” she asks.
“As much time as you wish to take. You know I will wait forever for you.” Cat giggles excitedly, taking her dress and rushing off with her team of people to help her get ready. While she is gone, I pace the room, waiting and hoping everything goes as flawlessly as I planned. When the music begins to play, I turn to see her step through the doorway of the large room I had cleared completely for our night of dancing. Musicians line the balcony above us, playing her song. The lights shimmer along her gleaming red hair and onto the lonely center of the room where I await the woman I have dreamed to have in my life since I have dared to dream such a thing. Inhaling deeply, she takes one step forward and stops to laugh. I get worried until she begins to run to me.
She runs right into my arms. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t ruin your plans, but I couldn’t wait any longer to have your arms around me,” she says with a bright smile.
“No, it didn’t ruin them at all. In fact, it made the night even more perfect.” Placing a kiss on her flawless lips, I step back to admire her before taking a deep breath and holding out my hand to her.
“Catriona, will you take my hand and accept me as yours forever?” She starts to reach out, but I remove my hand and get down on one knee in front of her. “No, not yet, Beautiful.” I pull out a ring and hold it up to her. “I love you, Catriona, and I want nothing more than to spend my entire life with you until I can die old and feeble in your arms. Take my hand, take my ring, and take my heart?”
She cries, holding her hand against my face. Running her fingers through my hair, she removes my mask. “Don’t hide from me.” She removes her own mask. “And I won’t hide from you, ever. I love you, Elijah. I love you so much more than I could have ever imagined loving anyone, and if I were to spend my entire life next to you and die old and grey in your arms at the end, then I would be dying a wonderfully happy woman.” She kisses my lips and grips my hand. “Yes, a million times yes.”
With my ring on her finger, I stand smiling, holding her and kissing her before remembering to dance and take advantage of her beauty and my happiness on our night. “Dance with me, my future wife,” I say with a ridiculously giddy expression of my own.
Cat and I snuggle close, spinning and moving together with fluid romance that brings laughs and sighs and erotic touches. Kissing her neck and burying my face into her hair, I want her. I want all of her. I snap my fingers and wave the hired help away. “I think it’s time for bed.”
“Mmm … me too, Handsome.”
“Well then, allow me to escort you.” I open the door to our bedroom, and her jaw drops. The room is decked out with candles and flowers, but it is the warming pool outside that I want to get to. “You like it?” She nods. I look her over, clearly making her nervous as she blushes. “I love when you blush. It’s so cute.” I caress her face and trail my fingers along her neck and down her dress. “Do you need help with this?” She turns, moving her hair out of the way of the zipper. I slowly pull the zipper down, allowing my finger to touch her back as I go. Giving her a tender kiss to the nape of her neck, I whisper her name and take her hand to spin her out in front of me. “You are so beautiful,” I mumble to myself, yet she still blushes. She straightens up and holds her head high as she lets her dress slip off her amazing body. The fabric falls easily to the floor in a puddle of luxury, revealing the tiny, sexy lingerie underneath and evoking a growl of anticipation from my lips. She smiles and dips forward, teasing me with her voluptuous breasts as she removes her bra. Cat steps back, towards the pool, while I strip every piece of clothing off my body. A sweet step out of her panties and her shoes and she holds her arms out, waiting for me to take hold of her. My hand takes hold of her side, feeling down to her ass and squeezing her into me. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I step down into the heated pool, kissing her wet skin, feeling her body thoroughly from the palm of my hand to the tips of my fingers. Cat’s head drops back as I suck the water off her breasts. Taking hold of her leg, I pull it up over my hip and push my dripping hard excitement inside her anxious wetness. Thrusting through the hard water and into paradise, I feel so good that I groan
my satisfaction forcefully into the cool night air, while Cat releases a raspy moan. “You’re mine forever.”
“Forever and ever.” She confirms making sure I don’t stop giving her all of me. I can hardly contain my smile. I feel so wonderful in this moment. I hold her close, shielding her bare skin from the frigid night. I would do anything for her, even die if I have too. “I love you, Catriona, my Short Stuff,” I whisper into her ear as I bring her to the brink and then thrust my cock into her flowing cum, calling out to her in pleasure as I release all that I have inside of her.
CHAPTER 11
Skylar
Ryan is restricted to the house until Nick feels Terrence is more capable of handling him. I assume it is going to be some very long and boring days, that is until I find him training. Decked out in nothing more than his long shorts and toned body, he stands tall and focused. I sit back and watch as he moves slowly this way and that, breathing with a simmering vigor about him. A slight inhale and he moves to one foot and balances effortlessly as he stretches out his limbs to their maximum. His muscles twist and flex and control me with ever motion. I sigh, and suddenly, he stops and turns to me. “What are you doing?”
“Just … guarding you …?”
He laughs. “Okay. Well don’t just sit there, get up and work out with me. If you can keep up that is,” he challenges with a wink.
“Oh, I can keep up,” I exclaim, stripping down to only what I need to. I stand at his side and nod towards him. “What’s first, Stud?”
He shakes his head, laughing. “Let’s go.” I follow everything he does from yoga, to strength training, to running, and on into combat training. I keep up with him every step, enjoying the competition and laughing when he tries to knock me over a few times to slow me down. Ryan begins to cool down, and I put my hands on my hips and huff at him. “What’s your problem now, Badass?”