Desire Awakened (Aaron's Kiss #13) (4 page)

“It’s not a dream. You’re in the Kingdom of
Molavonta, the magical realm of Queen Melody, Mistress of Light,
Keeper of Magic. This is her mate, Shamus, Warrior Fae of the
Brianal Guard, King of Magic.” She watched him
shake hands with the two of them. “And this pain in my ass is my
Aunt Tessa. She is Lady Tessa
May
Knight,
Master of
Arms of the
Brianal
Guard,
Warrior Fae, Leader
to the troops
of the Queen and King of the Warrior Fae, mate to Nathaniel
Tremont, Master of Arms of—”

“He’s got it, Lizzy. We’re all impressed
that you remembered your genealogy.” Tess put her hand out to
Logan. “Pleased to meet you. Nathaniel said to tell you if you need
advice on living with a vamp, he’d be more than happy to give it to
you.”

Logan took her hand and sat down. Lizzy
watched him for signs of hysteria, but he only sat there. Mel and
Shamus walked away, and Tess moved off a few yards. She was always
around when a newcomer came to this world, but she wouldn’t disturb
them.

“This is a dream.” She shook her head. “It
has to be, otherwise I’d be going off the deep end right now, and
that’s not happening. What the hell did she mean he had advice on
living with a vamp? A vampire?”

“Mel has you in a sedated state right now.
She doesn’t want you hurt, and Tess will hurt you if you disturb
the natural order of things. It also makes the fairies nervous when
humans are here. I think she’s hoping they won’t notice and leave
this field unattended.”

He looked over the field and back at her.
“Of course. The field is very important. And where is this field?
Wait, don’t tell me, the Kingdom of Malt Balls.”

“Kingdom of Molavonta, and there is no
reason for you to be nasty to me. I didn’t want you here.” He
looked out over the field again. “Maybe now that you’re here, I can
have someone explain why they brought you here. Then I can arrange
for you to go home.”

“I’m seeing this shit, but I can’t make my
mind wrap around the fact there is a dragon in the field beyond us
and there are tiny little pixies in that field. What are they doing
anyway?” She looked but before she could answer, he leaned back in
the chair and spoke. “I’ve hit my head, haven’t I? I haven’t been
sleeping well, as I’ve said, and I’ve hit my head.”

“No, you’ve not injured yourself, and those
aren’t pixies but flower fairies. They get sort of nasty when
someone calls them by the wrong name.” He glared at her. “Well,
they do.”

“You think I give a shit? I don’t care what
they are. I want you to explain to me what the fuck is going on,
how I ended up here, wherever here is, and how the fuck do I get
back home?”

Tess turned to them and laughed.

“Does she have wings?”

“Yes. I told you, she’s a fae. They all have
wings.” She looked up into the sky and reached for a messenger mist
to come to her aid. A bright pink one was in front of them in
seconds.

“My lady?” Messengers didn’t have any kind
of form, but were literally a cloud of energy that only looked like
mist. The brighter the color, the younger they were. This messenger
was only about seventy years old and very bright green. Lizzy had
made her when she’d been about ten.

“Find the queen for me and ask her to allow
me to take Master Burris home. Tell her that I’m not caving.” The
mist nodded and left as Lizzy turned to Logan. “Come on. I’ll take
you back to the gate.”

~~~

Logan followed her through the field. He
tried very hard not to look around, knowing that he was going to
see something he couldn’t erase from his mind. As soon as the
castle came into view, he stopped moving and frowned when Lizzy
continued to walk. She’d come back or he’d begin to believe what he
was seeing. Either way, he knew he was fucked.

When she came back toward him, he watched
her move. Her body was covered in a pair of lounge pants that had
seen better days, a t-shirt that looked like something his son
would wear, and she had no shoes on. Her hair, a glorious shade of
the palest yellow, almost white, hung to her hips and curled
slightly at the end. When she stopped in front of him, he wanted to
reach out and pull her body to his, but knew on some level if he
did, she’d hurt him.

“We have to go this way for you to get home.
I can try to erase your memory of this place, but as soon as you
pass through the doors, it’ll come right back. Not how to get here,
but what it—”

Logan pulled her toward him and kissed her.
Her mouth was wet and warm; her tongue tangled with his over and
over until he felt as if he’d touched every part of her. Reaching
down, he spread his fingers along her back and pulled her closer,
her breasts pressed against his chest. When her hands moved up his
shoulder to his hair, he shifted her until she was riding his
thigh. Cupping her ass, he pulled her up and down his leg until she
moaned. He tore his mouth away and put his forehead onto hers.

“I want you. I want to take you right here
and right now. I can’t seem to get enough of you. Touching,
tasting.” He stepped back, dropped to his knees before her, and
pulled her to his mouth clothes and all. “You smell delicious. I
need to eat you.”

He yanked her pants down to her knees and
buried his face into her soaking panties. They were green, as green
as the grass around them. When she curled her hands into his hair
again, Logan couldn’t have stopped if someone put a gun to his
head. Then he felt the sharp bite of a knife at his throat. He
didn’t move.

“You’re in a fucking field with like seven
thousand other beings around you watching. Do you think maybe you
could find a more public place to have done this?”

Logan glanced up at Tess, who had a sword to
his throat.

“Stand up.”

“Tess, back away from him.”

He glanced at Lizzy and nearly took a step
back as well. She looked…Christ, he wasn’t sure what she looked
like at this moment, but all he could think of was wild.

“He was going to take you. Here.” Tess
tensed when a low growl came from Lizzy. “All right, Lizzy. I won’t
harm him. Look, I’ve let him go, and my blade is put into my
scabbard.”

As soon as he was released, Lizzy moved
forward and punched the other woman in the face. Tess didn’t budge.
She didn’t acknowledge the fist to her mouth at all except for the
small pearl of blood on her lip, which she licked away.

“You should fucking know better.”

Tess nodded, but didn’t look the least bit
repentant. When Lizzy drew back to no doubt hit the woman again,
Logan stepped in front of her. “Wake me up or whatever it takes to
get me back to my family. This is stupid.” She stared at him as if
she didn’t know him, then nodded once. When she touched his
forehead, there was a slight pain and then nothing.

When Logan opened his eyes, he was sitting
in a chair at the hospital. He got up to check on Donna but sat
back down. What a fucking surreal dream. Logan had to get some
sleep. His body was aching, and he was having the strangest erotic
dreams.

Logan looked at his watch. The doctor was
supposed to come and see her this morning, and it was after noon.
What the hell? Going out of her room, he found a nurse and asked
her when the doctor was coming in.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Burris, but he was here at
nine. You missed him.”

Logan shook his head but then remembered the
dream. The man couldn’t have woken him?

“Would you like for him to give you a call?
He said he would tell you whatever you needed to know if you were
to come in. Honestly, I had no idea you’d come in or I would have
called him sooner.”

Logan nodded and went back to Donna’s room,
knowing that he’d been there all along. This time, she was awake,
and he sat on the corner of her bed. Over the past several days
since she’d been getting better, he tried to get out of her what
had happened when she and Mathew had been hurt. All she remembered
was that she and Mathew had come out of the bakery and that a there
was a loud engine. She mentioned the woman, but couldn’t describe
her. Logan tried hard not to think of the amount of glass they’d
taken from her head that night or the amount of stitches they’d had
to use to put her back together. She looked hurt, bruised, and cut
up, but nothing compared to what the doctor told him could have
happened to either of them.

“Did you talk to the doctor?”

Donna nodded.

“When can I spring you from this place?
Mathew misses you.”

“Friday. Said I was fit, but he wants to
make sure of no infections.” Her throat had been cut as well, and
Logan thought about what the doctor had said about that. A mere
eighth of an inch and she’d be dead.

“Good, Mathew misses his favorite aunt, like
I said, and I sort of miss you as well.” She smiled and told him
she missed him also. They sat and talked about mundane things. He
talked mostly while she nodded. When she started to nod off again,
he stood up. She said his name softly and he came back to her
bed.

“Find the woman yet?”

He started to tell her yes he had, but he
only shook his head.

“I think…she gave me her blood.” Then she
closed her eyes. Logan couldn’t move. He was terrified of what
she’d just told him.

He stood over his sister long after she went
to sleep. The same thought had kept circling around his head. She’d
given Donna her blood. He reached up and touched the small area
right below his ear and felt his wound tingle as he thought of the
woman he’d made love to in the elevator. Had it only been a few
days ago? And today? Was today only a dream?

He left Donna’s room and headed down to his
car. He was nearly to it when his phone rang. It was the doctor.
After a lengthy conversation of him telling Logan again how lucky
they’d both been, he confirmed what Donna had said; she could go
home in two days. Before he changed his mind, he pulled out the
piece of paper that Anna had given him that morning and dialed the
number.

“Hello. My name is Logan Burris. My son and
sister were hurt a few days ago, and I was wondering if I may speak
to Aaron MacManus. Please tell him it’s important.”

“I am sorry to tell you, sir, but Master has
retired for the day. My mistress is about. Shall I find her for
you?” Logan told him that that would be great. “Please hold for a
moment. If I should disconnect when I put you onto the hold button,
would you please call again? I have yet to learn this new
system.”

Before Logan could say yes or no, he was
disconnected. He started to call back, but wondered what the fuck
he was doing. He was pulling into his building’s parking lot when
his phone rang again. Answering it with him, simply saying his last
name, he was surprised to hear a woman’s voice, an angry woman’s
voice.

“He asked you to call back. You’ve upset
Duncan, and when he’s upset, the household is upset, Mr.
Burris.”

He was nodding when he realized what he was
doing. “This is Mrs. MacManus, I presume?” She said yes, but told
him to call her Sara. “I’d rather just keep this unfriendly, if you
don’t mind. I think I talked to your daughter today. Some woman who
Lizzy claimed was the queen of something brought me to her.”

“That would be Mel, my cousin. I’m assuming
you didn’t piss her off as much as you have me. If you had, you’d
be in the dungeon right now and not speaking to me.”

He had a moment to think this whole family
was insane. “Whatever. Tell your family to back off, Mrs. MacManus.
I don’t know what you guys hope to gain by this little game you’re
playing, but I’m finished with it. The next time my son asks me
about her, or my sister mentions blood, I’m going to tell her that
they both dreamed her up. Understand?”

“Of course. You plan to lie to the two
people in the world who might be your only connection to your
happiness and that of Lizzy. When you said you thought you saw her,
what exactly did you mean?”

What did he mean? He wasn’t sure now and
leaned against his car as he thought about it. He started speaking,
but really wasn’t sure what to believe now.

“There was a castle and this woman with
wings and jewels in her ears and along a crown she had on. And a
sword, she had a sword at my throat. There was a dragon too.” He
rubbed his head and stood up. “Keep away from me. I’m under a great
deal of stress right now, and I don’t need the extra problems that
your family is giving me.”

She was quiet for a long time, and he
thought she’d hung up on him. Looking at the time as the seconds
ticked by showed him that he was still connected. She spoke before
he could end the call.

“You do know that you called here, do you
not?” He didn’t answer. “Lizzy will stay in Molavonta until she is
starved because she can no longer get what she needs from others.
Do you understand what I’m saying to you? Lizzy is just enough
vampire that now that she’s bonded with you, she’ll not be able to
feed from anyone else and she’ll die.”

He felt a surge of anger when he thought of
the “others,” but realized what the woman had said. Of course Lizzy
was a vampire. And he was the king of the world. Without saying a
word, he disconnected the call and went into his building. He had
more important things to do than talk to an insane person. It was
nearly ten that night before he left his office.

When he reached his car, a man leapt out in
front of him. Before he could move, Logan was doubled over in pain
from something hitting him in the gut. He tried to stand, but
another man grabbed him from behind and held him as he was hit with
a bat. He felt his rib break and the air rush from his body. They
told him he was going to die, and so would his family if he didn’t
back off on the sale of the Lacer Building downtown.

Then, just as suddenly as it started, he was
freed and fell to the ground. Dropping his head to lean against the
ground because he was seeing things blur before him, he lay down
and closed his eyes.