Bones Of Contention: The McKinnon Legends - The American Men Book 3 (35 page)

She figured if she was going to have to rule the Sidhe Fae, she needed to be able to strike awe and fear into their minds.

She also asked for powers equal to the Protector’s powers. She wasn’t quite sure what that entailed. She guessed she would figure it out as she went. All she knew was the newfound mark on her arm was a painful reminder: She had asked and she had received.

She sat in the chair over in the far corner hidden in the shadows. Her wait was short. Hearing Josh open the chamber door, she felt his hesitation.

Okay.. so, there was a new power, she thought.

She felt her own excitement rise. She knew that he knew that he was not alone, and he knew it was her.

It was as if they were aware of each other’s awareness.

There was another new one, she noted.

She also knew that he could not touch her. Gage’s laws were still in effect. She was banking on his will power and self-control that according to her sources was now totally under his command.

She was almost sorry they were.

She was Fae, but she was also a Protector. She was one of them. He could not kill her without killing his own. Sometimes, she even outsmarted herself. She just wondered which part of her was now dominant.

Seeing him for the first time since he had completed the transformation took her by surprise. He was glorious, a true weapon, a fire of hot and biblical magnitude which if brought to bear on the Fae it would be devastating.

She was Fae. That was something she must remember.

Tread carefully. She heard the wizards' voices inside her head warning her that if ever there was a time to step cautiously now would be that time. "Get out of my head.” She pushed them aside.

“You’re taking a great chance being here, Jamie,” Josh said flatly as he tossed the top of his training uniform onto the back of the chair at his desk leaving him bare from the waist up, “although this does make my job much easier.” This would save him a trip to London and hours off the necessary exchange.

She inhaled deeply pulling him into her lungs.

Eat your heart out Zeus, she laughed inwardly. This was a fine specimen of human male masculinity, and right about now, she was sure the old gods of Olympus were probably seething and wallowing in jealousy. However, there was not a thing they could do to him. Coated in his own mantle of protective power and magic, he was protected by the wizards.

He was untouchable.

Except by me, she thought.

She slowly stood taking very careful steps toward him. She did not wish to be the reason Gage killed him. It would be a terrible shame to see that beautiful body and mind go to waste, and she had no doubt that Gage would follow through and make good on his threat. Josh was very dangerous.

“You need to leave now while you still can.”

“I find sometimes living on the edge is the only option. I am willing to take that chance at this moment, and if you behave and are a good boy, Josh, you may live through it,” she purred, running a fingernail down his back. She circled to stand in front of him. “What did Gage say about me coming to you?”

“We never made it that far. You are supposed to be in London, and I’m betting Trey and your guards are not happy at the moment.” Josh started wondering what she was doing here and how she had managed to slip past six guards and Trey. With what he was feeling emanating from her, he bet he really did not want to know how she did it. He expected a call from Trey at any moment confessing he had lost her. If that call did not come soon, he would kill Trey for his inadequacies. He might kill Trey anyway.

“I’m not on this earth to keep Trey happy,” she snapped back, trailing that same fingernail from his collarbone to navel and back again. “Umm, I like a man with self-control,” she offered completely off the subject.

“You’re pushing my outer limits, babe. But you know that don’t you?” He hardened himself against her tender assault.

“Of course. I feel you. You want me. You also want to kill me. I can honestly say it is a very heady combination of sex and danger.”

Josh’s hands itched to touch her, his mouth watered to taste her, and it had absolutely nothing to do with hunting. She looked good, and she smelled good, showered and clean. She was a beautiful and desirable woman, and as a man, he still was deeply in love with her. However, she was right in that he also had the urge to kill her. She was Fae, and she was now a very, very powerful Fae. Her magic rippled off her, touching his skin and penetrating his brain. He was almost ready to snap.

She circled her arms around his neck. “You cannot touch me. That is the rule.” She pulled the bathrobe open and pushed her body into his and took his warmth into her.

“I’m painfully aware,” that was all he could manage to grind out as he masterfully kept his arms to his sides.

“Then don’t touch me.” She took his hand to lead him to the bed. This was the last and final time they would be together. It was too bad he would not be able to participate.

He did not move.

“Do you not trust me, Josh?” Jamie asked seriously, all teasing aside.

“Jamie, what you’re asking is a complicated question requiring more than a simple yes or no. I sense more magic in you than a hundred Fae combined. Something has happened to you.”

“Yes, Josh, something has happened to me!” she answered passionately. “You happened to me, Jesse happened to me, and my life happened to me. Nothing has been the same since you walked into my lab.” She placed her hand over her stomach in a gesture of protection. “All this is your fault!”

“What the hell do you want from me?” Josh felt his body battling his mind.

“I want all of you. You know this is what you truly want. I feel that, too.” What she was doing was risky, but she had to feel him one more time.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea even if it is what I truly desire. I am programmed to seek out this kind of magic and destroy its source. You are really making me fight what and who I am, Jamie. I do want to kill you. Do you realize how crazy this is making me?”

Josh felt his insides twist. Maybe, he wasn’t as in as much control as he hoped. It could be very dangerous for her if he lost his grip on that control at this point, not to mention Gage would follow through and make good on his threat. They would both be dead before the evening was much older.

“Let go of the emotion, Josh. Then don’t fight it. Let your head not your emotions tell you whether I’m friend or enemy.”

She saw him hesitate. He was trying.

“You can trust me, Josh. I swear to you I have a very good reason for having all this new power. And more, I trust you not to kill me.” She kissed his chest, running small circles with her tongue around on his flesh, tasting his skin. She felt him growl deep in his chest. She felt the goose flesh her kiss was raising. She felt his breathing become more labored. He would kill her if he understood what she was really doing. She was getting a sense of him. In case he ever came after her, she would know he was coming.

He would come.

It was just a matter of timing. She was now a very dangerous thing in his mind as a Protector. As a man, she could not say what she was to him in his heart. Making love was just the consolation prize for leaving.

She continued. “I swear I would never hurt you, but I need this. Let me do the touching. Let me make love to you. Gage cannot kill you if you do not violate his dictate.”

He could not push her away without touching her, and really did not want to even if he could. She was right where he desired her to be, and she was here of her own free will. That was something he feared would never happen again even if it could happen. Neither prospect was he totally sure of until this fully played itself out.

“Jesus, Jamie. We cannot do this,” he said pulling the collar of her robe back together. “I’m still unsure of my own strength. I’m not sure I can do this and not touch you. The desire is almost overwhelming. I’m not sure I won’t kill you in the process.”

“Then bind yourself if you fear for me.”

He was sure there was part truth and part tease in that statement.

“Humph, only if hell is freezing over.”

They stood there with their eyes locked. She saw the raw hunger in his. He saw the passion and love in hers.

“Josh, I know who you are deep down. I’m willing to take my chances with you.” She finally broke the stalemate.

“Then I’ll take my chances with Gage.”

She saw what he was about to do and went on the offensive capturing his mouth before he could do so first. She had to keep him alive.

He came up long enough for the practicality of the situation to somewhat penetrate his brain. “We have no birth control.”

“I have a special kind of magic happening that keeps us from needing it.” She was not about to tell him that magic was his baby already growing inside her.

“You have got to love this Fairy shit,” he said before he let her soundly kiss him again careful never to touch her bare skin.

Josh could not believe he was making love to Jamie while Jesse’s life was hanging in the balance. However, he understood he would never have another chance with Jamie once she figured out she was his ransom to save his daughter.

He was willing to make that trade, and a trade he thought would be without a backward glance until this moment. Now, there would be a backward glance, and lifelong regret, but the trade would happen all the same.

She had said for him not to fight who he was. He was a father first and foremost, and he was a Protector. His desires as a man were no longer important.

Trey’s words came crashing down on him.
“Let her go before it is too late. She can still recover at this juncture. Who you are will eventually override what you want.”

What kind of callous son-of-a-bitch was he that he would use her in bed just because she was convenient, and then offer her up as ransom?

“Get up,” he growled, angry at himself.

“What? What have I done?” She was confused.

“Get up and put your clothes on.” He tossed her jeans to her. “I’m not angry with you, Jamie. I’m angry at myself for letting it go this far. You cannot change who you are any more than I can fight what I have become.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” She struggled with her jeans and boots then yanked her cable knit over her head.

“It means that you are Princess Jamie of the Fae, heir to the throne, and an extremely valuable commodity to me at this moment. There is one of your future subjects holding my child hostage and you are the ransom he demands. I fully intend to deliver you to him.” He was shocked at his own coldness. He had to make her see he was wrong for her. He would eventually kill her. Pushing her away was the only answer.

That shocked her. The callous way he presented it made her doubt he ever really did care.

“You coldblooded bastard. I cannot believe you have spent months keeping me safe just to offer me up. So what exactly do you want from me, and what exactly have you become, Josh?” Jamie was heartbroken again.

“I need your blood, and I need that necklace.” He reached over roughly yanking the ornament free. “And me, I have become someone you should despise and fear.”

“Josh, I could never despise you because you already have enough hate for whom you have become to measure for the both of us.”

Gage was pounding on the door demanding he be let in.

“Don’t worry, Josh. I’ll keep your sorry hide alive.”

“Thank you,” he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Oh, don’t thank me. I want the privilege of killing you myself when this all blows over.”

Jamie threw the door wide and sweetly strolled past Gage. “He has done you proud, Gage. He has a great deal of self-restraint, so don’t worry, your boy is safe. You will not have to kill him today. He was very clear in his desire not to touch me, a filthy Sidhe .” She turned and looked back at Josh who had joined them in the antechamber. “You know something, Protector?”

“What?” He was feeling very guilty and torn between his child and heart. He still loved her deeply and totally.

“If I had known Jesse was in danger, I would have freely offered myself up and trusted you to take care of me. You never would have had to take by force what does not belong to you. I would have freely given my necklace, and we would have found a way for the blood, but you did not trust me and never gave me the opportunity. Do what you have to do, and I’ll do what I must as well.”

Josh watched as she walked out for the second time, again, of his own doing.

“Stop her!” Josh barked the order. He could not let her out of his sight, not now for several reasons.

She turned on him not fully understanding his desires to have her stopped.

She put up her hand, and the energy forced from her fingers laid low her would-be captors and set up a shield between her and the rest. Josh, Gage, and all the others were surprised by her new powers.

“Josh, you have called me Sidhe, heir to the throne, with venom on your breath. I claim that title. And just so you know, I have immunity under the treaty granted by the wizards themselves. To touch me now is a violation of the Treaty of the Sidhe Fae. What I choose to do from this point forward, I do of my own free will. No Fae and certainly no human will ever command me. I am sentient. Your Beast Master has no say over me, so do not think to try mind control. I am human, so, Josh, you as a Protector cannot command or control me. Where I chose to go and what I choose to do, I do because I choose to do it. Any questions?” She waited as silence greeted her.

“That is what I thought. Now, we have a child to save. Move it!”

“Damn.” Josh was impressed, smirking proudly. He nudged Gage. “And that is my woman.” He just had to figure out how not to kill her and make this work.

The last twelve hours were difficult to bear. Knowing his baby girl was kidnapped again was made bearable only because Jamie was there and the hours were full of planning. The time was drawing short for the final showdown.

He was ready.

Gage, Jacob, and the others were more than ready as well. There would be blood before the sun rose very high in the morning sky.