Defying Eternity (An Obscure Magic Book 5) (12 page)

“I gave you the night off.”

She smiled. “I took it. I went to visit Minny, had dinner and came home again.”

“You didn’t stay with your sister all evening?”

Leo shrugged. “I don’t fit her life like I used to. She has Leela for the stuff she needs. I am superfluous now.”

He was on his feet. “Did she insult you?”

Leo laughed. “No. She is my sister and has just become a mother. She is getting her priorities in order, and simply managing day to day is her focus. I can commiserate. I am in the same position.”

Matthias walked to her and held out his hand. He pulled her slowly to her feet. “If I had known you were out here alone earlier, we could have spent a few hours together.”

She swayed against him and smiled. “Yes, you probably have somewhere you have to be.”

“But nowhere I would rather be.” He leaned down to kiss her.

Leo went up on her toes to meet him. He slid a hand under her braid and held her while they kissed.

He was so careful with his teeth that she smiled at the sweetness of the kiss. The kiss turned savage, and still, he didn’t draw blood.

Leo felt her feet swaying and Matthias’s arms around her, holding her off the ground and against him. Her skin got hot, and she shivered in his arms. She clutched at his neck and held on as he bent her back with the ruthless intensity of his mouth.

Leo clawed at his shirt, trying to get some skin-to-skin contact. It wasn’t the smooth, choreographed seductions that she had seen in Arbor, but it was working just fine for her.

Matthias lifted his head, swung her firmly into his arms, and he leaped through the air, landing thirty metres away, next to the altar stone.

His voice was gravelly as he spoke, “I had intended a more comfortable venue for our first time. If you have any objections, speak them now.”

“I have no objections. It is the perfect spot.” She smiled and pushed free of his embrace, kicking off her loafers, unsnapping her jeans and peeling out of them before she wrenched her shirt over her head and dropped it on top of the pile.

In her bra and panties, she hopped up on the edge of the stone. “The rest is up to you.”

He undressed more completely than she had.

Leo took in his hard and perfect form, the dark crowning of hair around his groin and the smooth shaft of his erection. He stepped between her thighs and parted her knees.

Instead of touching her between her thighs, he rubbed the small mark he had left on her inner thigh. She felt a surge of heat, and her body sent out a welcome. Leo stared up into Matthias’s eyes while he licked his thumb and then rubbed that spot again.

Coils and waves of heat were coming off that small caress. Leo gripped the sides of the stone and held tight as she got closer and closer to her body and mind shattering in a blast of light and heat.

Matthias spoke in an ancient language, and he hooked a finger under the centre of her bra, slicing through it. He did the same with the panties until it fell away from her skin.

He bent his head to her breast and rubbed his lips over her skin. She moaned and held his head with one hand. His fingers moved from the point on her skin and slid inside her. The ease with which he had sliced through her clothes made her a little wary of having those digits inside her, but she moaned and moved her hips against him, trusting that no harm would come to her.

Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs, and her mind clung to reality with a desperate intensity. Reality, at this moment, was fucking amazing.

He moved and pushed her back, peeling off her panties and shoving her bra down her arms, pinning them against her sides.

She watched him as he rubbed his body across hers and the heat from her skin welcomed his cool, silken caress. Leo looked up as he pressed her to the stone, and she whispered, “I would really like you inside me right now.”

His eyes glowed and illuminated the world around them. She held him as he set himself in her opening and slowly forged inside.

The difference in their body temperatures was yet another stimulus to throw onto the fire.

He moved into her, and she raised her hips. He thrust, she rose to meet him, and soon, they were rocking together with a specific goal in mind. Leo kept her gaze fixed on his as she realized that he was seeking her pleasure only.

She fell into his gaze, her mind lost to what was going on inside her. She saw stars burn in the night sky and fade while she watched. Cities rose and fell, and entire civilizations were wiped off the Earth while she watched.

Leo screamed and Matthias caught it in his mouth, swallowing her shrieks and cries as she was overwhelmed through all her senses.

Fire raged through her nerves, and it was when she felt the throbbing of her cock that she came to grips with the symbiosis of the senses that had taken place. The release of his-her cock into his-her body was a riot of sexual finality that confirmed one thing for Leo’s conscious mind. She would never have another lover like this. It was probably a good thing. She might just go insane with the one she had now.

Leo relaxed in his embrace as her body went limp. His kiss went from capturing her sounds to a gentle stroking of his lips against hers.

He started to whisper against her lips and cheeks, ancient words from long-dead civilizations. She closed her eyes and let the words spark images in her mind of places she could never visit, races that had long passed. Other lovers’ faces passed in her thoughts—men, women, groups of both. They gave willingly.

When he parted their bodies, she gasped at being alone in her mind again. She opened her eyes, and he was smiling down at her.

“Hello, Leonora.”

“Hello, Matthias.”

He lifted his hand in the air and made a peculiar gesture. A light and glowing sheet descended in his grip. He wrapped it around her with the utmost of care.

“Where did you learn how to do that?”

“One does not live as long as I have and not pick up some magic.”

When she was covered, he lifted her in his arms and walked back to the house with his own assets completely on display.

He took her to his rooms and not hers. A large tub was already nearly full with steaming and scented water.

“Don’t you have a meeting tonight?” Putting work in the midst of their current intimacy seemed safe.

“I rearranged it.” He set her on her feet, stripped off the silken sheet and held her hand, gesturing for her to get in the tub.

Leo stepped in, he followed suit, settling behind her, and then, after a kiss to her buttocks, he tugged her down in his lap.

His cool skin soon took on the heat of the water around them, and she picked up that this was a fairly good way not to freak out your lovers.

Things had gone a little differently with her. She remembered every inch of his cool skin inside her moving with savage enjoyment of her body.

“So, are we going to discuss what just happened?” It was easy to ask him that question while her back was to his chest and he was slowly running his hands over her breasts.

“I wanted you; you wanted me. We met in the middle with enthusiasm.” He pressed a kiss to her neck.

“You didn’t bite me.”

“You are not food.” He stroked his hands over her slowly, as if memorizing her skin.

He wasn’t wrong. She certainly didn’t think of herself as edible.

“Oh, you now own the home next door, complete with gated grounds and maintenance personnel.”

She turned in his arms, splashing as the water moved around her. She put her hands on his shoulders and held him still. “You are kidding me.”

His smile was smug. “I am not. It would ease your mind to have your family closer, and the neighbours were interested in the offer I gave them. Minuet, the baby and her guards will all be moved over within the next few days. It will be easier to protect them if they are nearby.”

She bowed her head. “I am going to be working for you for eternity.”

Matthias lifted her chin on two fingers. “Would that be so bad?”

She stared at him and answered honestly. “I don’t really know.”

She leaned in and kissed him, just a simple kiss, but it seemed like she was sealing a silent contract.

When she turned again and settled against him, Leo couldn’t think of another place she wanted to be in that moment.

He pressed another kiss to her neck, and his hands wandered again. It was quite entertaining considering that her original plan for the evening had been a glass of white wine in the gardens. This was much more fun.

Leo sat in her room and tried to decide what to do with the rest of the night. Some emissary or something had hauled Matthias away from their idyll. Leo had returned to her room to ponder the change in their connection.

He was definitely handsome, but she wasn’t used to anyone pursuing her, let alone catching her. She was conflicted.

Her phone chirped, and she went to check the message. The XIA were calling in representatives. There was an event in the park.

Leo checked her face in the mirror and sighed at the silvery-grey cast to her skin. She would have it until she ate or the sun came up, whichever came first.

Well, she was already up for the night. She may as well go and represent the mayor’s office. If the XIA was coming through on her phone, it must be important.

She didn’t think about it. She pinned back her hair and got dressed. She had too much energy to try and stay in the manor.

She called for Nathaniel and gave him the address. She settled in silence while she waited for their arrival.

“You are quiet tonight, Ms. Wicks.”

“You are formal. Sorry. My mind is a thousand miles away.”

“You look a little...”

“I am grey. I know it. It will be fine. Just one of the side effects of being his apprentice, or so Matthias tells me.”

“Ah. It is a good look for you. The colour suits you.”

She fought a grin. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach warned her that tonight wasn’t going to be a good night.

When they approached the park, it was obvious where they needed to be. Light flooded one corner of the park and that was where Nathaniel took her.

He parked next to the XIA vehicles, and he looked at her in the mirror. “I am coming with you, to keep anyone from interfering.”

“Thank you, Nathaniel.”

He got out and opened her door. He walked next to her, staving off the agents and officers who were trying to slow her down.

She headed to the centre of the light, as if pulled there by something. She sniffed the air and smelled something acrid.

To her surprise, she saw the group of XIA agents and the woman who had been at the taco truck.

Before she knew what she was saying, Leo asked, “Who are you?”

The woman swallowed and showed her badge. “I am a special observer with the XIA.”

B. Ganger. Leo made a mental note.

Leo inhaled again, this time focusing on the woman in front of her. “You smell like blood.”

“There was a car accident earlier. I am sure that my jeans and shoes are covered in it.”

Leo observed, “There is none on your shirt.”

“I changed my shirt, but I had three XIA agents rifling through my living room, so I left it at that. Tomorrow, I will bring a full change of clothing, though I have no idea where I would change.”

Leo could definitely understand strange men rummaging through her personal space. She smiled brightly, and the young lady stared at her in shock, jerking back slightly.

Leo inclined her head and went to seek out the body and the coroner for details on what had happened. The coroner was checking the temperature, and Leo and Nathaniel stood nearby until the time of death could be estimated.

Leo couldn’t shake the acrid scent in her nostrils. “How long has she been dead?”

The coroner looked at her in surprise. The zombie hadn’t heard her approach. “I am guessing she has been dead for three hours. Magic has skewed the exact timeline. It could have been earlier or later.”

Leo could feel Matthias watching from behind her eyes. “I see. I will keep the mayor informed.”

“Thank you, Miss...”

“Wicks. Leonora Wicks. I am the mayor’s assistant and his apprentice. I will be attending any of these events as they occur.”

Nathaniel whispered the names of the folks she was about to return to. Agent Argyle was a vampire under Matthias’s control. Beneficia Ganger was descended from the greatest vampire hunter ever known.

Leo walked up to them and inclined her head. “It was pleasant meeting you, Beneficia Ganger. Agent Argyle, there will be a mage team going over this place with seers. Make sure that it isn’t compromised.”

She could see the surprise in his eyes as he nodded and muttered. “Yes, Miss Wicks.”

Leo grimaced and stuck her tongue out at him.

Benny chuckled. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Wicks.”

Leo winked “Call me Leo. It is short for Leonora. I am sure I will see you again, Miss Ganger.”

She turned and walked away with Nathaniel ahead of her, opening the car door as she approached. She settled in the car and tried to forget what she had seen.

The young woman looked a lot like Beneficia. She had been magically tortured and a brand had scorched the skin at the back of her neck.

Leo breathed slowly and controlled herself as much as she could. She picked up her phone and used her thumbs to tap in a report, letting Matthias know that there was a fresh demon kill in the park and the XIA were investigating.

She knew he would head out to confirm it, but that was his business. The dead woman had done what hours of sex with Matthias had been unable to accomplish. She was exhausted.

Her sister texted her and asked her to come by as soon as she could.

Matthias texted and told her he would look into the death as soon as he finished with the emissary.

Leo really needed something positive, so she whispered, “Nathaniel, take me to Minny’s place, please.”

“Of course. On our way.”

It was three in the morning, but with the hours Leo was keeping, she didn’t think that it was that peculiar.