Elfcharm (5 page)

“How? I don’t know how to contact him.”

“By putting you back in the dream, guided by me, so you do not become lost in it,” Corbin said.

“You know how to do that?”

“I do,” he nodded again.

“Okay,” I said, the waver in my voice betraying me. “Let’s try.”

Ten minutes later, I was lying on Corbin’s bed, the many pillows piled behind me, propping me up, with the necklace around my neck. Corbin walked into the room holding a cup that was emitting a faint purple smoke. He turned a chair around and slid it next to the bed before he handed me the potion.

“Drink all of it,” he said, leaning back to sit. I brought the cup to my lips, but hesitated for a moment, trying to steel my nerves. I closed my eyes, held my breath, and threw the drink back like a shot, swallowing before I could taste it. My mouth was full of the lingering taste of lavender, not my favorite, but not as bad as I had feared.

I handed Corbin the cup back and then settled into the pillows, trying to relax. I didn’t think I would be able to fall asleep with Corbin watching me expectantly or while I tried to force myself to, but the potion took care of that for me. My eyelids grew heavy, making me blink slowly. The charm on my chest began to pulse like a tiny, warm heartbeat, pulling me under.

When next I opened my eyes, I was surrounded by a deep, old forest. Nightingales called in the distance and I could hear the faint trickle of a stream nearby while the will-o’-the-wisps winked in the darker pockets of trees and shadows.

Again I was clothed in hand-tooled leathers, softer than butter, bending and curving to my body, tied with sinew and leather strings. My hair was unbound, lifting and falling on the breeze that smelled of summer nights and the recent rain. The space just in front of my face glowed with a silver-tinted light, telling me that my eyes were alive with magic, gone quicksilver in the night without any help from lust or sex. Magic hummed in my body, just below the surface of my skin, always full, always ready, propelling me forward more than the very air I breathed.

“Taryn,” Corbin’s voice was a whisper in my mind, echoing in the distance. “Can you hear me?”

“I can,” I answered in a whisper.

“I am here with you,” he said, his voice like velvet inside of me, rubbing along my body, reminding me of Andre’s power. A shiver ran through my body until sparks ignited at my fingertips. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to steady myself, filling my lungs with the scent of the forest.

Fallon’s name echoed in my mind; the very image of him made my body thrum with excitement and hurried my steps as I began searching for him. All thoughts of Corbin started to fade away the further into the woods I went, only his occasional question or comment reminding me that I wasn’t alone in my head.

“What are those lights?” Corbin asked, making me glance in the direction of the tiny points of light, floating above the ground, seeming to light a path in a different direction than I was going.

“Will-o’-the-wisps,” I said. “They are mischievous little buggers; they want me to follow them, but they’ll lead me into some sort of trap.”

I stopped after a few more steps and glanced around me, looking for something.

“What’s wrong?” Corbin asked.

“I should’ve found him by now,” I said, feeling the ache in my chest. Had he felt Corbin’s presence with me and decided not to make himself known? The very thought of missing my chance to feel Fallon’s arms around me made me catch my breath. I suddenly wanted to shove Corbin’s consciousness out of my head and run into the woods until he couldn’t follow.

“Taryn,” Corbin whispered, “it’s not me keeping him away; only you know I am here, I promise.” Guilt slammed into me. I covered my face with my hands and shook my head. I felt Corbin’s gentle fingers on my face back in reality as he soothed the pinched look on my face. I lifted my face and squared my shoulders. This was my dream. If Fallon had abandoned me, then that was his loss, not mine. I could explore this world without him.

I heard the crunch of leaves underfoot, drawing my attention to the left just as a pair of blue eyes blinked in the darkness. A great grey wolf with a black and white mask stalked out of the shadows. My breath caught in my chest, but I reached out to him all the same, my hands extended while my fingers shook, praying that I wasn’t wrong.

A few more paces and the wolf was close enough to take off my hand with one snap of his massive jaws. He sniffed my hand; the cold wet of his nose bumped my fingers. I sank to my knees in the damp grass, putting my face level with his, showing him I wasn’t trying to challenge him. He sniffed again, his hot breath bathing my face as his snout was mere inches from my face. I held his stare, hardly daring to blink as he examined me. His tongue slipped out, giving my cheek a quick, wet lick, which seemed to decide him. I touched the fur of his cheek, my nails scratching his scruff, and he leaned his head into my hand.

I stood and, with the wolf at my side, we began walking through the woods. The trees seemed to lean towards me as I passed, the blades of grass curled around my feet, urging me to stay, and even the flowers turned their faces towards me as if I was the sun that fed them. I stopped at a tree and laid my hand on the trunk and felt the bark under my hand give like the gossamer threads of a spider web. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the slow, resonate heart beat I could feel inside of it. Magic swirled between us, moving back and forth like the ebb and flow of the ocean, feeding both of us.

When I opened my eyes, I could see the leaves of the tree shifting and shaking as new buds sprang to life and the branches reached higher into the sky, shaping under my hand. Pulling my hand out of the tree, I watched as the bark knitted back together, forming a notch in the formerly smooth trunk. I stared at my hand, my fingers vibrating with power.

I made a sweeping motion with my hand, sending the power out, and thought of Fallon’s name, hearing it echo on the wind I created. The wolf by my side picked his head up, his ears pointed as he listened to the name howling on the wind. The swirling fingers of the wind caught my clothes, my hair, my fingers and pulled me with it, urging me to follow. Setting off at a run, I chased the seeking wind, feeling it swirl around me, all the while pushing and pulling me forward. My wolf friend howled long and loud before he sprang into action and ran behind me until he ducked his head and dove between my legs, lifting me off my feet and tossing me on his back.

I cried out in surprise, gripping the scruff of fur around his neck, clutching him with thighs and knees to keep from falling. When I knew he wasn’t going to throw me and I wasn’t going to fall, a laugh bubbled out of me, startling a flock of birds that burst out of the treetops, cawing and soaring overhead.

“Fallon!” I called out, renewing the power of the wind to guide us. In the distance, I felt a spark of recognition carried back to me on my seeking wind. A smile, feral and fierce, pulled at my lips as my fingers curled into the wolf’s fur, urging him faster and faster with my will.

The wolf lengthened his stride, sinking lower to the ground as he sped through the forest, dodging under brush and over rocks. We were moving so fast, so smooth that for a moment I thought we were flying. Finally we burst through the tree line in an explosion of leaves and twigs. Claws dug into the ground of the clearing, carving out ruts in the grass, tilling the dirt as he came to an abrupt halt, throwing me from his back in the sudden loss of momentum.

I flew through the air, tearing out hunks of topcoat fur, only to land in Fallon’s outstretched arms, catching me as easily as if I were made of feathers. He cradled me in his arms, taking a few rapid steps backwards to absorb my momentum until he rocked forward at a stop. A laugh rumbled through his chest into me. He ducked his head, nuzzling his nose behind my ear.

I rolled in his arms so that I could wrap mine around his neck, clinging to him, breathing in his scent of leaves, earth, and air. Fallon dropped my feet so that he could wrap his arms around my waist, crushing me to him. Our cheeks were pressed to each other; slowly he pulled his face back, dragging his lips along my jaw until he found my mouth. His lips were warm and moist as they slanted over mine, and when I felt his probing tongue, I opened to him, hungrily.

His hands slid up my back, pressing the line of my body into his in a slow wave of pressure until he reached my ribcage. He brought his hands around to my side until I could feel his thumbs just under the swell of my breasts, making my stomach flutter in anticipation, waiting, hoping for him to reach higher. When his hands slid back down to my waist, a frustrated noise tore from my throat, only to be muffled against his lips. I felt him grin through our kiss as he drew my bottom lip between his teeth, sucking on it gently before tracing it with the tip of his tongue.

He began to pull away, as if he would stop this again to speak to me. But with the power of the forest thrumming through my body, threatening to rip my skin apart, I couldn’t let him stop, not this time, not now. I pushed my hands into his curling green hair, fisting them there until he made a noise for me. His fingers curled into my hips until I could feel the bite of his fingernails pushing against the soft leather; the small pricks of pain burned, drawing my magic to that point of contact, zinging back and forth from his fingers to his lips.

I shifted my hips, grinding against him until I felt him respond to me, growing thicker and harder, pressing back against me. He growled into my mouth and I opened my eyes to see his fluttering. His tongue delved into my mouth again, seeking mine so desperately that my body clenched in reaction, becoming wet and desperate for more.

The trees around us shifted in the wind, the leaves rustling noisily, birds calling in the distance. The wind ripped through the clearing, whipping my hair around us, tangling it, pulling it with a thousand other hands. The thrum of the earth’s pulse rumbled up through my bare feet, filling me with more and more power until my heart began to beat in time with it. I needed release, soon.

My fingers found the ties to his pants and pulled at them, tugging, demanding them to open. Fallon’s hand gripped my wrists, stilling my movements, and placed my hands behind my back, gently holding me captive. He pressed them into the small of my back, making me arch into him as he kissed me again. His tongue slipped into my mouth, but I needed more; I sucked his tongue deeper, pressing my hips into his again.

“Taryn,” he growled when I released his tongue.

“More,” I said, staring up into his eyes that seemed to hold all the light of the stars in the sky.

“More,” he agreed and released my arms, sweeping me off my feet and laying me down in the grass. He pushed one knee between my legs, urging them open as he knelt in the grass, sitting back on his heels. He reached for the ties of my top and pulled them loose, letting it fall open, exposing my breasts to the cool night air. The wind rushed over me, like thousands of other hands caressing my bare skin, sweeping over the soft mounds of my breasts, along my neck. My nipples hardened to tiny pink points as I gasped, my eyes falling closed so that I didn’t see him lean forward, his soft curls brushing my heated skin before he took one nipple in his mouth.

My back arched, pressing me closer to him, and he responded by suckling harder until I knew my pink nipple was red. His hand slid down my stomach until his fingers pressed under my leggings, searching. In another moment, his fingers were pressing into me, tearing a noise from me as my body shook; he was so, so close. Curling his fingers, he pressed into my swollen clit and began a slow, languid circle.

I squirmed under him, pressing my ass and shoulders into the ground, shifting my hips in time with his fingers, feeling the building pressure already growing inside of me as my power, his power, and the power of the forest around me swirled in a confused mess, making me dizzy. I reached out until I could feel his body, guiding my hand down until I cupped the bulge in his pants and began to rub him, curling my fingers around him.

He tore away from my breast with an animalistic growl, his green eyes flashing to the color of spring grass as he stared at me. His fingers slid into me roughly, but I was so wet and ready for him, I only cried out in relief.

“More,” I begged, my voice echoing around us, ringing with power. I opened my eyes to see the clouds forming overhead, my wind driving them faster, blotting out the night sky.

He withdrew his fingers, slower than when they had entered me, and he untied my leggings and tugged. I lifted my hips to let him pull them off and toss them somewhere. He stared down at me, naked and open before him. His eyes raked down my body like a third hand; I could feel the heat of the trail they left in their wake, my skin burning and making me squirm.

He stood then, his fingers at the ties of his pants, and his eyes locked on mine. His eyes bore into me as he undressed, but I couldn’t hold his gaze; I wanted to watch. He dropped the ties of his pants and reached behind his head, grabbing his shirt and pulling it over his head, exposing the long lines of the swirling green designs on his arms. I saw now that they curved over his shoulders, disappearing to his back. The pale green of his skin practically glowed in the muted moonlight.

My eyes drifted down the hard panes of his chest, following the valley between his pecs, over the ripples of his stomach, to his hands back at the ties of his pants. He pulled the strings slowly, meticulously. I bit down on my lower lip, my body vibrating with power ready to be unleashed, when he finally tugged the leather pants over his narrow hips. Stepping out of the pool of fabric, he stood over me in his masculine glory. His muscle corded thighs were thick, dipping into the line of his hips, leading my tracing gaze to his swollen shaft, hard and curving up towards the sky. My mouth watered and I had to swallow before I called to him, my hands reaching out for him to come to me.

“You are fae again,” he whispered as he knelt between my legs. He braced his forearms on either side of my head, his hair falling around my face in a curtain of green, the lights of our eyes illuminating our faces in the near darkness. “The magic of the forest has filled you. Your magic no longer waits to be filled by you; you are filled by your magic.”