Escaping Destiny (24 page)

“Wow, I’m impressed,” I said, taking in
everything. We even had a small basket that held something that
smelled divine. “So I guess you expect to get some for this?” I
lifted my eyes in time to watch him remove his shirt.

My eyes drifted over the thick cords of
muscle and the magnificently molded abs, to the brands that pulsed
on his bronzed skin. His pants hung low on his hips, revealing the
thin dark patch of hair that led below the waistline.

He continued, working the button and then the
zipper of his pants easily, efficiently. I pulled my eyes away as
he let them drop and stepped into the inviting water. I heard a
splash, and turned to see if he had slipped, and found him standing
waist deep in water. He whipped his hair back, which had been
doused in water, sending tendrils of water over my skin.

I slowly walked to the water’s edge, and sat
on one of the many rocks. I silently removed my cloak, boots, and
the silk socks from my feet. When I had finished, I placed them in
the water and sighed happily. “This is heaven,” I whispered as I
lifted my face to the sky. The skies in Faery were beautiful.

It was late afternoon and the most beautiful
sunset was already spreading across the skies. Faery had two suns
and two moons, as if a mirror had been placed against them. Like
everything in Faery, beautiful yet deadly and still perfectly
balanced. The greens of this world were bright, as if everywhere
had water running beneath it. I’d yet to see a place in Faery that
wasn’t beautiful.

“What are you thinking of, Synthia?” Ryder
asked, as he pushed through the water until he was between my
legs.

“I was thinking of how beautiful this place
is,” I replied, enjoying the heat that his touch brought to my
skin. He smiled and shook his head.

“This spot was picked out by Ristan,” he
said, as if he wished he had picked it out.

“I was talking about this world,” I whispered
as he got closer.

“I’m glad you approve,” he said. “You are a
little over dressed, though.” He smiled mischievously.

“Don’t even think about it!” I screeched, but
it was too late. He pulled me easily from the rock and into his
arms.

I was soaking wet, but in his arms still. He
took us down, until only our heads were above the water’s
lusciously warm depths.

“I thought about it,” he said as he smiled
against my cheek.

“Now my skirt is wet, and everything else,” I
complained with a smile, unable to stop it from spreading across my
lips.

“That’s not the only thing that is going to
be wet,” he growled as his mouth found mine, and kissed me deeply,
until I threw away my inhibitions and wrapped my body around his. I
felt his hands skimming my back, caressing my flesh as he ravished
my mouth.

When he pulled away, I groaned from the loss
of his heat. He helped me pull off my sweater and skirt and threw
them with wet splats on the rocks, and then moved with me in his
arms until I felt the smooth surface of the rock behind my back and
his sleek muscles against my chest. He pushed one leg down, and
then the other.

I watched in wonder as he slid slowly down my
body, until his head was submerged in water. I felt his hands
pulling against my undies, and sliding them from me. I tried to
control my breathing, as he followed the path of my underwear. His
hand slid down, with his fingers caressing my skin like silk until
he lifted one foot, and then the other.

He didn’t come up for air, and right when I
started to get worried, I felt his mouth press against my naked
sex. Kissing and nipping at the swollen flesh, and then slowly
moving up, kissing me until he popped out of the water. His eyes
were now glowing like two hungry orbs of fire. My breath hitched in
my lungs as I felt my body approve, and my brands as they moved in
rhythm with his.

“Ryder,” I said, worried that something was
wrong. I’d never felt my brands with so much life on my skin
before. Well, there was the one time when I was wrapped in his
wings during my presentation, but I thought that was him doing
it.

“It’s Faery, Synthia. She’s giving us
permission. She approves of our union,” he whispered as he pulled
me against himself, and cupped my ass from where it no longer was
hidden beneath the silk panties.

“That’s good,” I replied.

That’s good!?

“Yes, that’s good,” Ryder replied as his
hands wrapped around me. His mouth crushed against mine, as he
entered me in a skilled move. He captured the moan that exploded
from my lungs, holding it within his mouth to keep it from being
heard.

When he pulled away, he smiled and moved his
hips. I bit my lip to keep from making any loud noises, but it was
futile. He drove himself in, and pulled out until the water was
sloshing over the rocks. I let my head roll back on my shoulders,
even as his mouth lowered and found my throat, licking across the
vein silkily.

“This is heaven, Synthia. Inside of you is my
heaven,” he whispered, so softly that I wasn’t even sure he had
said it.

I rocked myself, as he pumped and pushed
inside of me, until the world faded away and with it, my
self-consciousness. I wanted him to know how he made me feel, I
wanted him to hear it in every noise I made, and every breathless
moan that escaped. I exploded around him, milking him as I
shattered into a million pieces.

His mouth found mine, and captured it
hungrily. His hips began moving in a fevered pitch, as he rode my
body. I clung to him, and held on as the water continued to rush
from the pool as he fucked me. When he exploded, the air around us
grew heavy, and rain loosened from the sky to pelt us relentlessly.
He fed us deeply, until I felt as if I would explode from the
fullness he’d created inside of me.

We stood in the water, motionless as the rain
continued to fall. We labored to catch our breath, as the world
came rushing back to us. He pulled out slowly, and set me back on
the rock, which he had plucked me from.

“Grab my cloak, and cover yourself, Pet. We
have company.”

We had company, but it came in the form of
wolves from the Shifter’s pack. Silas had sent out a call to those
he commanded for help. Help to track the ones who were hunting us.
They didn’t ride with the group. Instead, they tracked the woods
around the caravan. They had heightened senses that came from being
one with the animal within them. It came in handy when hunting an
invisible foe.

I had been wondering about Ryder and his
pissy attitude toward Silas, and when I asked about it, all he
would say is that he didn’t trust them because of some things that
had happened in the past, but they were a necessary evil right
now.

It took us seven days after leaving the
Gnarled Forest, to reach the base of the Willow Mountains.
Everything in Faery had a name, and you knew the moment you left
one place and entered the next. The air would grow dense and the
surroundings changed without further warning.

By the time we stopped, I was exhausted from
riding on the horse. My bones jarred with each sure footed step the
war horse took. I hated to admit it, but I needed rest, and a bed
sounded like heaven right now.

It left a foul taste in my mouth, but I caved
and asked Ryder to make camp on the last day. We would sleep like
the dead tonight, bone-weary and exhausted. I didn’t wait for Ryder
to finish his check of the surrounding areas before I sat on an old
log.

I was still sitting there when Ristan came
over and sat beside me. He held out a flask and winked at me. “It’s
water. Drink some. You look like you could use it.”

“How much longer before we reach the
beginning of the labyrinth?” I asked, and Ristan shook his
head.

“Not quite sure, Flower. It can move as all
lands inside of Faery do. Kier gave Adam general instructions on
how to locate it, but part of the trial is the actual search.”

“Great, so we could be chasing our
tails?”

“Didn’t know you had a tail, but I’m game to
examine it,” he replied with a serious look on his ageless
face.

“Buddy, the only tail you are going to see is
your own, when I kick your ass.”

“That’s my girl. Your tent is ready. Let me
walk you to it. You need to rest and be ready for whatever tomorrow
brings.

I stood and accepted his help up. He took me
to Darynda, who smiled as she welcomed me, even though she looked
as tired as I was. “I’m to wait with you until the king
returns.”

“Fine, but I won’t be good company. I’m so
tired I could face plant a rock and sleep for a week.”

“Me too, so you will find no issue there,”
she said even as she yawned.

I fell asleep before my head hit the
pillow.

The next morning, the camp was alive with
activity, and even as Darynda tugged on my shoulder, I blinked my
eyes open.

“The Demon is making you coffee. Get up; we
leave within the hour. The Mages are close behind us.”

“Great,” I said, standing up to dress myself
as she tossed me a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt, that had
a skull in the front of it. I slipped the boots over my feet and
stood up to button my pants. They were tight, and I ran a shaky
hand over my stomach.

It wasn’t a huge bulge, or something anyone
else would notice. But I could feel the change in my body from
Ryder’s offspring that had invaded my body. “Darynda, can you get
me something else to wear?” I asked, embarrassed that had to.

“Those don’t fit?” she asked, unaware of the
angry tears I was trying to hold back.

I was changing, my body was changing, and it
sucked!

“No, I’m too fat!” I growled.

“You are pregnant, but don’t worry, I planned
for it,” she said, handing me a pair of black yoga pants that had
Booty written across the butt, in pink.

“Wow,” I replied.

“I’d have gotten something better, but this
trip wasn’t really planned in advance. I noticed the small bump the
last time we stopped to change, so I asked Matilda to borrow these
for you.”

“They’re fine,” I said, shoving one leg and
then the other into the pants and pulling them up.

“Wow,” Ristan said as he came in, barely
containing his laughter.

“If you laugh at me, I swear I will gut you,
Demon,” I growled, turning to look at him.

He smiled and handed me the coffee he had
been bringing, and left as soon as he did. His lips continued to
shake as his eyes kept watch of my reaction. I hated that my body
was changing, and I couldn’t stop it from happening. “Give me the
cloak, please.”

“Synthia, you’re pregnant, and it’s a good
thing,” Darynda said, as Ryder walked in to hear the tail end of
her words.

“What’s the matter?” he asked carefully.

“I’m fat,” I mumbled, shooting him a look of
mixed feelings. Mostly fears. If I was fat, he was bound to set me
aside in favor of someone with more to offer him. I’d watched
Witches of the Guild being sequestered because of their misshapen
bodies when they got too big.

“You’re not fat, Pet. You are carrying my
twins.”

I was overreacting, and it sucked! I couldn’t
make my brain stop thinking it. My eyes were leaking tears now.
“I’m going to be huge,” I replied, flashing him angry eyes. “You
just had to knock me up!”

He smiled, walked over to me, and wrapped me
in his arms. “You’re the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,
Synthia. Pregnancy will not change that. The fact that you are
carrying my babes only makes it more so.”

“Whatever; let’s get this shit over with
before I only fit in sheets,” I gritted out.

“I prefer you in nothing more than sheets,”
he murmured huskily in my ear.

My cheeks heated with a blush as he kissed
me.

“We need to move. Grab the cloak, and finish
the coffee. Ristan assured me you would be more human with it in
you. I prefer you Fae, personally.”

“Fairy!” I glared.

“I’m going. Drink the coffee, it will help.
Be ready in ten minutes, though, the Mages are close.”

“Ryder, if they get too close—”

“If they get within a hundred feet of you,
this ends. I will sift you home where I know you are safe, and then
I will come back and finish them off.”

“Deal,” I said, not because I wanted to hide,
but because I had more than just myself to think about now. I had
to worry about protecting our babies from those insane assholes. I
wouldn’t allow what had happened to Larissa, to happen to me.

I waited with Darynda and Ristan until the
shrill whistle cut through the chilly morning air. Within five
minutes, we were loaded up and heading through the mountain.

It took us three days of riding, and another
day of coming through a mass of willow trees, before we reached the
next camp. The men had to cut through the willow trees at the base,
because they’d grown too thick to trek through.

The next place was unlike anything I’d ever
seen before. The Darkness was what the Fae had called it in hushed
whispers. The entire land looked desolate, and encased in a thin
layer of ice. As if it had been frozen, and left that way. Tall
thick trees towered sporadically in either side of the thin patch
of walkway. Fortunately, we only spent two days freezing our butts
off there and the moment we stepped over the thin veil, everything
changed again.

The trees were lush and green. Vivid colors
made an ocular feast for our eyes. An expanse of vivid blue skies
above us, as sun shined across the valley. A waterfall gurgled in
the distance, and what looked like a thin walkway was actually a
brilliant bubbling spring that led deeper into another stretch of
forest.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, watching as a small
bird flew by us.

“It is, but it’s also what Kier described as
the beginning of the labyrinth. We should reach it within the
hour,” Ryder whispered against my ear.