Chasing Faete (Beyond the Veil Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter Thirteen

“Why don’t I draw you a nice hot bath to help you relax?” Ben suggested to Erica as soon as Leo left to seek out Gabe. The Alpha was gracious enough to give up his room, a large master bedroom with a king-sized bed and an en-suite bathroom. Both the bathtub and the shower were large enough to fit at least three people comfortably.
Perhaps Gabe prepared for his own hopeful future,
he thought.

“Only if you join me,” Erica pleaded. There was no trace of seductive humor in her voice. “I don’t want to be alone right now.”

“Come here, love.” He beckoned, holding out his hand for her to take. When she reached him, he enfolded her in his arms and whispered in her ear, “You don’t have to be alone ever again. We’ve got you.”

When he released her, he gently led her by the hand into the bathroom. He sat on the edge of the tub and started the water. Once the temperature was to his liking, he stood up, firmly cupped Erica’s cheeks, and kissed her slowly, deeply. Then he let his hands trail gently down her sides until they reached the hem of her shirt. Only then did he break apart from their kiss, just long enough to lift her shirt over her head. He deftly removed her bra, unzipping her jeans as well as his own before he needed to release her lips once again. If he got to love her for a thousand lifetimes, he’d still never tire of the taste of her sweet berry-flavored lips.

Ben steadily held her gaze as he dropped to his knees in front of her to remove her shoes and socks and then finally her jeans and underwear. He could not resist inhaling the sweet and tangy scent of her arousal. He spread her pussy lips with his thumbs and flicked his tongue over her clit. One of Erica’s hands grabbed onto his shoulder for balance, while the other fisted in his hair. She panted heavily as he continued to tease her little bundle of nerves.

As much as he relished in the taste of her, this was not the time to tease. He needed her, to feel himself inside of her while shutting all the danger looming over them out.

He stood abruptly, lifted Erica to straddle his waist, and stepped into the tub. As soon as he sat down, she took him inside of her, both of them moaning loudly at the contact. His love was just as desperate for him as he was for her. Their lips and tongues collided once again as she rode him hard. The sounds of the faucet still running and water sloshing to their fast paced rhythm intermingled with their loud moans and heavy breathing.

Ben fit so easily with her. Fulfillment and aching all wrapped up in one neat little exhilarating package. He’d be damned if he would be denied a lifetime of this.
Fuck that!
His wolf echoed.
Ours forever!

He grabbed her hips and pushed up hard and fast as Erica pushed down with equal fervor. They broke their kiss again to stare sat each other, but not for long. Erica’s eyes rolled back, forcing her to close them. He felt her walls tighten even further, squeezing, urging him to come with her. When she threw her head back, he buried his face in the crook of her neck and wrapped his arms tightly around her.

Ignoring the sound of the door quietly opening and closing—he knew his brother was now their audience—Ben let go in sync with Erica. His loud groan would surely have been heard throughout the house had it not been muffled by Erica’s neck. His sexy pixie, however, was not so quiet. The echo of her desperate cries must have resonated at least down the hallway. Perhaps everyone was still downstairs, but either way, he couldn’t bring himself to care after what the two of them just shared.

He held her tightly for a few moments more, knowing that she needed Leo, too. It was Ben’s turn now to relax and just admire the view.

****

Leo stepped into the bathroom and closed the door, not able to take his eyes from the beauty before him. His mate had her head thrown back, an expression of sheer rapture on her face as she found her pleasure, and the sounds of her passion were the sweetest music to his ears.

He stepped up to the bath and turned off the running water before there was even more of it on the floor. He understood very well how his brother hadn’t noticed the mess.

“Oh crap, the water,” Ben said once he’d noticed the sloshing sound of Leo’s steps.

“Yes, brother, seems you were seduced by a mermaid. I can see how you’d lose track of the rest of the world.” Leo smiled down at Erica as he cupped her cheek with his hand and leaned in for a gentle kiss. “How are you feeling, love?”

“Better now that you’re here as well.” Erica kissed him back with a heat that had him growling low in the back of his throat.

“Stand up, little one,” Leo ordered as he took a step back and watched the water slip off of her perfect, creamy curves.

He held out his hand to her, and when she accepted it, he helped her step out of the tub and onto the warm tile.

“Oh, you’re in for it now, pixie. I’ve seen that look before.” Ben laughed as he sat back in the tub with a sigh.

Leo tried not to smile when their mate’s eyes opened a little wider in concern, but he wanted to keep her off balance for this. They’d both enjoy it more.

“Now, undress me.”

“Yes, sir.” Erica winked at him and moved her hands to pull his t-shirt up and over his head, her fingers then trailing down to tease over his stomach muscles.

“No teasing, Erica. Continue,” he commanded her in his most business-like voice, but damn if her soft little hands didn’t undo him when she unfastened the button on his jeans and slowly slid down the zipper.  Leo felt Erica hesitate. His pixie wanted to play, but one stern look from him finally made her finish removing his pants and tossing them to the side.

“Very good, baby,” Leo growled in her ear. He then took her hand and led her to the vanity counter, turned her around so that she was looking at herself in the mirror, and he positioned her hands flat on the counter. “Now don’t move those hands, understand?”

Erica nodded in agreement while biting down on her lip. He could smell how turned on she was by his game.  Ben got out of the tub, and Leo took a few steps back to stand by his brother to admire her, leaning there in all her glory. He could see her watching him and Ben in the mirror. Leo stepped forward to urge her feet farther apart. He heard his brother groan at what must be a spectacular view. Leo then ran his hands up the inside of her thighs until his fingers brushed her soaked folds that were beckoning to him.

“Damn, baby, you’re so wet,” he whispered in her ear before nibbling along her soft neck. “I think you like our little game, don’t you?”

He rewarded her for her agreement by sliding his hand around her pelvis and slowly pushing his fingers deep into her pussy. He could not resist grinding his painfully hard cock against her ass. Her panting and keening as she tried to move on his fingers were enough to make him almost lose control, but he was enjoying himself too much to stop, so he brought his free hand down quick and hard across her generous ass.

“Behave now, baby. You’ll take what I give you.” Leo felt her pussy spasm at the snap of pain to her ass, and he couldn’t help but admire the bloom of his handprint against her pale flesh. Clearly they would have to explore this more. Their little mate was turning out to be chock full of lovely surprises.

He slowly pulled out his fingers, leaving one to spread her honey all over her swollen clit. Leo took his cock and brought the tip down to the sweet haven that he was desperate to possess. Erica was so warm and wet, he couldn’t hold back from entering her pussy in one long thrust. He could feel her rippling around his flesh as he rubbed circles around her clit, and when he felt her tighten, he knew she was about to come. Leo didn’t want to get left behind, so he sped up, pumping furiously into her, and when he met her frantic eyes in the mirror he released her clit and grabbed onto her hips with both hands.

“Come all over my cock, baby. Do it now!” He growled still looking into her eyes until she keened out again and threw her head back as she came in a glorious display. Leo ground himself into her as deep as he could go and groaned as he found his release deep inside his mate.

****

Erica awoke almost silently, fighting the urge to run. She forced herself to breathe through the hysteria that swelled within her until she could think clearly. After such a wonderfully orgasmic end to the evening, waking in the early hours of the next day from a nightmare as hellish as the one she’d just experienced was more than just a rude awakening. It was downright cruel.

She had been standing alone in a darkened field. The sun had set, the air felt cool, and nothing looked familiar. She spun in a slow circle, desperate for a hint of her location, but there was nothing but for the ever-lengthening shadows of the forest that surrounded the field. Her heart began to pound hard within her chest, and her breathing sounded harsh to her own ears.

“Eyrica.”

Erica spun in the direction of the whispered voice, almost tumbling to the ground in her haste, but there had been no one there.

“Eyrica.”

She spun again. The voice was louder this time, and it came from a different direction. Her fear and anxiety kept building within her. Despite the years since she had heard it, she knew the voice belonged to her mother.

“Eyrica.”

For the third time Erica spun, looking for her mother, and finding nothing and no one there. Tears streamed down her face as she turned in tight circles, desperately trying to find her mother, knowing that she was there with her, but somehow out of reach. From the corner of her eye, a small movement had her whirling to her right. A dove flew directly at her, a message in its claws, and although it was too high to make out the markings on the paper, the red of the blood used to pen the message was clear to see.

It had been the dove’s high-pitched cries, loud and consistent as it flew, that caused Erica to wake up from her dream. She resisted the urge to clamber from the bed and run, but barely. Erica had never been gifted with such a vision, and she knew that what she saw mirrored that which Corrine had witnessed earlier. She also knew the sound could mean only one thing. Death was coming, and it would not be denied.

But who? Corrine had been shown more than she had told them, of that Erica was certain. Corinne had been shaken when she had come out of the vision, but it was the panic with a strong edge of fear in her eyes that told Erica that her former nanny had been rocked by what she had seen. Whomever death was coming for, their passing would be significant, and it left her stumped as to why the vision had been revealed to her when she did not possess the seer gift.

Erica began to think about the possibilities. If it were Corrine that was to die, the aftermath of that could potentially be quite catastrophic. It was hard to miss the connection between her
Quenya
and the Alpha wolf, not to mention how greatly the loss would affect Erica.

Gabe would lead his pack to war, Erica standing right beside him, urging those still loyal to her and her family to stand with her. The effects and reach of the battle to come would no doubt be felt in both realms for a long time. If Gabe is the one meant to die, the repercussions of his death would also be felt on both sides of the Veil.

Then, of course, what if
she
was the one meant to die? Alefric’s rule might never be overthrown, and innocents of the entire Elven realm and beyond the Veil would continue to suffer or be killed under his unjust reign. On this side of the Veil, her mates would mourn her death, but they and the pack might yet survive the war although continuous wars between the two factions seemed inevitable

The outcome that Erica feared the most was that Corrine had foreseen the death of one or both of her mates. If Leo or Ben were killed by Alefric and his men, Erica would be unstoppable in her grief. She was a healer for her kind, someone who could channel and focus the very life energy of a person to heal them, or use the abundance of healing energy within herself. She could also use her powers defensively and offensively as an electrically charged shield or a force she could throw out in front of her. Erica could usually control the strength of the emittance, unless her focus was on healing herself or others or, as she unfortunately demonstrated to Leo and Ben, when her defenses were a side effect from her nightmares. If she were inconsolable, however, completely bereft and devoid of logic or reasoning as any woman would be when faced with the murder of her mates, she may very well be able to use that life force as a weapon. Could this have been what Corrine foresaw? That the only way to stop Alefric was to become a weapon?

No, that would be unnatural!

But then the idea began to nag at her.
Use the ability to draw a person’s life force as a weapon.
The thought went round and round in her head for a while. It was forbidden to use her healing abilities for anything other than to heal, but Erica figured the alternative of seeing that prick Alefric ruling over her people and going to war with a race of shifters simply because he believed them inferior to him might just be the exception. Not to mention that even the thought of one or both of her mates being killed had her already half-crazed.

If she was going to do this, then she needed to get close to Alefric. She would need to start easing his life force from him, not wanting to startle him into action before she could do what needed to be done. He needed to feel confident and in control, and that there was no threat to him until it was too late. And that meant confronting him alone.