Bound to the Fey (Book Four of The Mortal Champion): (A Supernatural, Fairy, College, Erotic Romance) (15 page)

Grief compelled Maeve to rise. She ignored all the pain in her body. The Lean Sidhe had mortally wounded her lover. Gunnar was her lover. It didn't matter that he was transformed into the hideous beast. Gunnar loved her. He had broken Corrigan's control and saved Maeve's life.

The Lean Sidhe was sprawled on her back, struggling to rise as she coughed. Despite her stop thrust burying her blade into Gunnar's chest, his bulk had still slammed into the Lean Sidhe. Before she could rise, Maeve threw herself at Corrigan.

The two Fey screamed as they clawed each other. They rolled on the grass, spitting fury at each other. Ice frosted across Maeve's body, and thorny rose stems ripped at Corrigan's flesh. Maeve's desperate love for Gunnar pushed her aching body beyond its limits.

Maeve slammed Corrigan on to her back. The Pixie summoned another weapon, thorny branches forming into a spiky dagger. Maeve placed it at Corrigan's throat. The Lean Sidhe froze as the spikes bit into her flesh.

“Heal him!” Maeve demanded.

“Free me!” Corrigan spat back.

“We have a Pact!”

“Agreed!”

A shock of energy passed through both Fey, binding them to their agreement. Maeve ripped her dagger from Corrigan's throat and hauled the Lean Sidhe's battered body to Gunnar's whimpering, dying form. A pool of inky blood surrounded him.

Corrigan ripped her icy sword from Gunnar's chest. Icy wind swirled about the three. Snow appeared, driving into Gunnar's wound. He was still a hellhound, a creature of Winter, and the snow patched his wounds, growing inky as it absorbed his blood. Gunnar twitched, his gem eyes opening. He howled and scrambled to his feet.

His rough, black tongue licked Maeve's face. She hugged him tight.

“He is healed!” spat Corrigan. “Enjoy your hellhound, Pixie!”

Maeve dismissed her barrier of rose, the wall retracting back into the earth. The Pixie held to her word.

“I'm so sorry I wasn't strong enough to fight for you that night,” Maeve sobbed as she held Gunnar, her tears falling on his snout. “I failed you. I'm so sorry. I should have told you the truth about what I was. But I was scared I would lose you. I wish I knew a way to change you back, but I—”

Gunnar's flesh rippled. His body changed in her embrace. The sooty black of his hide gave way to pinkish skin. His limbs grew into arms and legs, his snout retracting into his chiseled jaw, and the gemstone eyes became one blue and one brown.

“Gunnar?” Maeve gasped. “How?”

“Guess I'm too stubborn to stay as a beast,” he laughed.

Maeve leaned in and kissed him.

~   ~   ~

Gunnar savored the kiss. Maeve was in his arms. What he had thought was his fiancee's betrayal had paled compared to the monstrous injustice Corrigan had inflicted on him.
I was such a fool. I saw the true her for one second, but I let fear hold me back.
 

Corrigan rose behind Maeve, her icy sword in hand.

Gunnar threw his fiancee to the side, ignoring her gasps of pain. He lunged at Corrigan, a primal anger rearing inside him. He seized that anger, embracing it.

Gunnar changed.

He became the hellhound.

Corrigan gasped in shock as he slammed into her, his jaws crushing into her neck. Hot blood filled his mouth. Gunnar savored his enemy's pain. She inflicted so much hurt on him. He would savage her. Rip her to pieces.

Ice exploded into him. Gunnar fought against the pain. He held on to her throat, driving her to the ground. The snap of her neck was satisfying. Her shriek of pain faded. Gunnar released her throat, staring down at the life fading from Corrigan of the Winter's Kiss. Her flesh paled, growing translucent. A great, icy wind blew, her body scattered on the wind.

Corrigan was gone from the world. Gunnar howled his pain out. Maeve hugged him, clutching to his hide as his agony poured out of him.

“I'm here,” she whispered in his ear. “I love you, Gunnar.”

Gunnar became human, his arms scooping up her body. She was badly injured, covered in wounds, including a savage bite he had inflicted. Guilt twisted his stomach as he cradled her, staring down into her green eyes.

“How?” Maeve gasped. “How did you become a hellhound again?”

Gunnar shrugged “I just did.” He glanced at her torn leg, his mouth remember the taste of her blood. The guilt almost tore him apart. “Maeve. I don't deserve you. I should have believed in the real you and not been tricked by that bitch. I...”

Maeve touched his lip. “You were deceived. We both were.”

“But if I loved you, I would never have believed the lies.”

“But you loved me so much, you broke free of her control.” Tears filled her eyes. “You have nothing to prove to me. Your actions spoke so much louder.”

The guilt left him. “I'll never let you go,” he whispered. “You're my Pixie.”

Tears beaded in her eyes. She cupped his cheek and kissed him. Gunnar savored the love in her mouth. That was all that should have mattered. He loved her and she loved him.

Gunnar held her, barely aware that a group of people gathered around them all smiling and clapping. All except Akiko. She huddled on the ground, clutching her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Gunnar broke the kiss. “Akiko, what's wrong?”

“He's gone, Gunnar?”

“Who?”

“Evan,” Maeve whispered. “Gunnar, Evan is one of her familiars. She put the lightest touch on him to spy on us. I didn't even notice.”

“You can get him back! You freed Gunnar, you can free my Evan?” Akiko sobbed.

“This isn't over,” Maeve said, glancing at the lingering traces of ice. “The Balance is still out there. Queen Mab will stop at nothing to possess it. So we'll need to be ready to—” Maeve winced.

“You need medical attention,” Gunnar growled.

“I need roses,” she repeated.

Gunnar blinked. “Like at the hospital when we...?”

“Made love?” she asked with a giggle. “I needed your passion to help heal me.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Our rose bushes are right there. Care to help me heal?”

Gunnar gave her a hungry grin and carried her to the bushes. He didn't care that the sword thrust out of the nearby stone burned green and blue.

Chapter Twelve: Tangled Web

Cinniuint watched as the Mortal Champion carried his Pixie into the rose bushes, their friends cheering and clapping. The ancient Fey cocked her head, peering through the roses to witness the passion the two lovers shared.

It was a beautiful sight.

“You know your destiny now, son,” Cinniuint mused. “But knowing is only the first step.” He would need to awaken the Avatars of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter before he could wield the Balance properly.

The Fey glanced at the sword thrust into the stone. Only she and Gunnar could see it. Once his distraction with Maeve finished, Cinniuint was certain the young man would investigate and discover the Balance. She had waited for Gunnar's birth for five hundred years. The centuries had dragged on as she moved the Balance around the world, hiding it from Titania.

And now everything moves so fast.

Maeve and Gunnar's friends stood awkwardly for a moment, giggling at Maeve's passionate moans coming from the rose bushes. The Mortal's cheeks all spotted red. Felicity whispered in her boyfriend's ears. Cinniuint was too far away to hear, but the young man's smile told the Fey all she needed.

They were the first to break away, walking down the path with eager excitement, the perfume of love and lust about them. The pair jumped when they noticed Cinniuint.

“Professor Webster!” gasped Felicity. “What are you doing here?”

“Just taking my evening walk,” Cinniuint smiled, turned, and walked away.

Titania's plan was insidious, but the Fey was certain those two lovers in the rose bushes could manage for now.

~   ~   ~

Evan was running when Corrigan's magic left him.

He stumbled, falling to his knees on the sidewalk, tears rolling down his ebony face. “I'm free,” he croaked.

Evan stood, glancing back at the direction of the college. His cheek ached from Brad's blow. He had fought off the nerdy guy and kept running, following his Mistress's instructions. He had to get to his car and escape, to meet up with his Mistress.

But something had gone wrong. Corrigan had been killed.

“I'm free!” he shouted out to the night.

A cold wind swept down the street, violent shiver rolled through Evan. A portal of icy blue opened. A woman flew through, naked and pale like Corrigan, her black hair streaked with two locks of white that framed her face. Purple butterfly wings trimmed in black flapped behind her as she settled before Evan.

“You've been touched by Winter,” she smiled. “Good. I need a servant.”

Evan tried to pull away as the new Fey cupped his face, holding him in an iron grip as she leaned in and kissed him.

Frigid cold seized Evan. His freedom was short lived.

~   ~   ~

“How is she so competent?” Titania, Queen of Light and Fire, demanded, throwing her scrying bowl to the floor. “She is a Rose Pixie? How could she defeat Corrigan of the Winter's Kiss?”

Oberon eyes were distant. “The weaver is active.”

“Cinniuint,” hissed Titania.

“Has she spoiled everything?”

Titania shook her head, taking in calming breaths. “So long as there are moves to make, this game isn't done yet. Lend me your counsel. Our next moves must be made with great care less we are snared in Cinniuint's tangled web.”

To be continued...

Sneak Preview of “The Pixie's Passion”

What did I possibly do wrong? Why would Titania want to see me? I'm just a Rose Pixie. There are hundreds of us.

She stepped into the sunlit glade of Titania's Court. The sun was always directly overhead of the Court, shining with warm rays. A path of gold wound through the heather fields to Titania's distant throne.

Maeve swallowed, forcing herself to walk down the path. Powerful Fey lounged across the field. Some sat about boards playing games of strategy while others played instruments of gold. Mortal men and women, their bodies naked and oiled, stood about the field, living statues for the Fey to admire their perfect beauty. All the Fey were just as gorgeous. A myriad rainbow of eyes, hair, and skin tones populated the Court. Everyone was beautiful and unique.

Maeve was too scared to appreciate any of the beauty that surrounded her. The Pixie's eyes fixed on the throne of Hawthorne at the end of the path. Titania sat upon it, shining with her own radiance.

Titania was a voluptuous beauty. There was not a flaw marring the Queen's perfection. She wore a gown of wildflowers, a rainbow pageantry that draped her curvy body like a second skin. Her vibrant, green eyes fixed on Maeve's as she crossed the Court. The Queen sat upon a throne grown out of a hawthorn tree, smooth brown fissured with gray cracks. Branches adorned with white flowers grew from parts of the throne. Naked, oiled men lounged at the base of the throne, their eyes sightless. Titania's mortal lovers. Each was fortunate to know the Queen of Fire and Light's passionate, blinding embrace.

A second throne lay beside Titania's, grown from an oak tree. A whip-thin man lounged on it, wild, dark-green hair falling about his shoulders. Maeve found his piercing stare even more intimidating than the Queen's. All quailed before Oberon, Master of the Wild Hunt. Titania's Consort. A Feyhound, laying at Oberon's feet, stirred as she neared, ivory vines wrapped around its hawthorn body.

Maeve stopped before the throne and fell prostrate. “Summoned, so have I appeared, Mother of Summer.” Maeve trembled, her wings humming with agitation.

“Rise, gentle Maeve,” Titania purred. Her voice was a pure song caressing Maeve's ears. There was no anger in that sweet melody, only love.

Maeve's fear vanished, and she rose, facing her Queen. “I stand ready to serve Summer.”

“Good,” Titania nodded. “For I have an important task to lay upon your slim shoulders.”

Maeve swallowed, trembling again.
What task could I preform for Titania?

“Mab seeks to wield the Balance, disrupting the equilibrium between Summer and Winter.”

The Pixie's eyes widened and she let out a gasp of fear. Mab, Queen of Air and Darkness, was the vile ruler of the Unseelie Court, the Fey of Winter. They were all cruel and heartless. Since creation, Summer and Winter had warred, but their power was equal, forcing them to be in balance.

“How?” Maeve asked.

“Mab prepares for war.”

Maeve gasped in alarm.

“So the Balance has chosen a Mortal Champion,” Titania announced. “The Unseelie will try to bind him into slavery. We cannot allow that to happen. He must remain free to wield the Balance in our favor. If he remains free, he will the arbiter and stop Mab's plan.”

“I don't understand what you need from me, Your Majesty?”

“You shall be his consort,” Titania smiled. “You shall go to the Mortal World, discover his identity, and seduce him to our cause. Make him love you, and he will aide us against Winter with a willing heart. With your love, he can be armored against Winter's poisonous chains.”

Maeve's heart beat. She had so wanted to experience true love. So many times her heart had blossomed and so many times she had been spurned. Then the enormity of her task fell upon her. “But I'm only a Pixie, Your Majesty? How will I find him? How will I contend with Winter's Emissary? Surely Mab will send a strong servant to seek him.”

“You will succeed with my blessing,” Titania smiled, leaning back in her throne and parting her sleek thighs. Her skirt parted, forming an inviting shadow. A sweet perfume filled Maeve's nose, and a hot surge of lust flowed through the Pixie. “Drink of my essence and you shall be armed and armored for this great task. When you lie with the Mortal Champion, you shall know him fully. I just know your open, loving nature will beguile him and win his affections. Together, you shall overcome Mab's servant.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” Maeve licked her lips, her heart pattering with excitement. Disbelief pumped through her body.
The great Queen is honoring me. I'm not worthy to even be in her presence.