Faerie Godmother: Mythic Series, Book 1 (15 page)

Could it be true? Had everything brought her here, to this time, this place, this...possible mate?

It seemed impossible, and yet, not. Ana was no longer in any hurry to leave. The situation – and Vlane – definitely warranted further study.  

Ana selected one of the many identical black silk shirts, then slipped it over her head. It hung down past her knees, but felt cool and smooth, and smelled like Vlane.

She held up a pair of pants, shaking her head. Vlane had a foot on her at the very least, but beggars couldn’t be choosers, she supposed. She located a belt (black, of course) and cinched the slacks around her waist the best she could before proceeding to roll up the cuffs several times until she was able to take a step without tripping.

She emerged from the closet to find Vlane standing in the bedroom, looking for her, holding a tray with coffee, juice, muffins, and luscious-looking fruit-filled crepes.

At the sight of Ana in his clothes, he stilled. She felt the intensity of his gaze all the way down to her bare toes.

“I’m sorry,” she told him apologetically. “I didn’t have anything else to wear.”

* * *

V
lane set the tray down with great care, stretching every last thread of control he possessed to its limit. Even as ridiculously dressed as she was, she was the most beguiling woman he had ever met. Her golden hair tumbled down past her hips in cascading, riotous waves. Her green eyes, so filled with innocence and inquisitiveness, sliced through his cynical nature like lasers. And her lips were full and so perfectly pink, matching the pearlescent shade on the tiny toes peeking out from beneath the cuffs of his black slacks.

There was not a cell in his body that did not wish to claim her — fully and completely — in that moment. To enter her body as she entered his.

But it was not simply her beauty that called to him. It was her gentle heart. Her sweetness. Her naïveté. She
did
things to him, beyond keeping him in a near-constant state of arousal. Ana revived feelings in him that he thought had been lost forever. Hope. Light.
Love
.

Yes, he realized. He loved her.

It was a shocking thought, even believing as he did that she was meant to be his. They knew so little of one another, and yet he knew that his feelings for her ran far deeper than any he had ever felt for another. Perhaps that was part of the gift, the grain of truth beneath the romanticized ideal of love at first sight, given to fated mates upon finding one another.

A heartbeat later, she was in his arms, the hard length of his body pressed against her softer, fuller curves. “You are mine, Ana,” he said, heat and passion firing in his blood. Fate had brought her to him. She was a precious gift, crafted for him and him alone.

Vlane nuzzled her neck, his fangs extending in anticipation, just as his cock filled and lengthened,  both wanting desperately to be inside her. One taking, the other giving, creating a circle that would bind them irrevocably. Ana offered no resistance. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had; resistance was futile against a vampire in full-blown bloodlust.

Eventually, it was her compliance that gave him pause. In his lust, he hadn’t used an ounce of compulsion. “You do not fight me,” he murmured against the pounding tempo of her pulse. “Do you want this?”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I do want you.”

It was quite possibly the only thing she could have said that would have allowed him to stop.
Ana wanted him.
And because she did, he would court her, seduce her properly, until she not only wanted him, but could not breathe without him. He stilled, letting her heat and scent soak into him. He used it to find the strength to release her.

Looking in her eyes, he expected to see triumph, or at the very least, relief, but he found neither. What he saw was infinitely more powerful. No one had ever looked at him so...
possessively
. As if he was the one who belonged to her. And in that moment, Vlane Masterson realized that for the first time in nearly five hundred years, he was at the mercy of another.

She knew it, too. Vlane probably should have despaired, but it was impossible to do so when she looked at him with a want so pure in nature, it nearly burned him. In a tender move, she touched her fingertips to his chest, right above his quiet heart.

I will never hurt you.

The words resounded in his head and echoed through his entire body.

He couldn’t help but wonder why she would say such a thing to him and in such an intimate manner. Then, he realized she was touching him and had heard his heart’s deepest desire: that she, now his greatest weakness, would not destroy him, but love him in return.

I will never hurt you
.

The words replayed in his heart and mind, again and again. On the heels of those followed the knowledge that Ana was incapable of lying. He closed his eyes and savored the feeling of peace and joy they brought to him. It wasn’t exactly a declaration of love, but it was enough.

For now.

He gathered her in his arms once again, more tenderly this time. He stroked the golden silk of her hair, soaking up the warmth of this exquisite creature who had somehow managed to slay him with nothing but a few words that reached the depths of his soul.

“Do you now believe me, Ana? That you are my fated mate?”

She sighed against his chest. “I’m not completely convinced of that. But I do know I have never felt for anyone the way I feel for you. You have to be patient with me, Vlane. This is not an easy thing to accept.”

Her words filled him with hope. “That is all right. I will spend the rest of my life convincing you, though I sincerely hope it does not take that long.”

Ana laughed softly. He could feel the warm puffs of air through his shirt as he loosened his hold. “Come now. I have brought you breakfast.”

“You are an incredibly sweet man,” she murmured, beaming at him. Had anyone else dared to call him that, he would have shown them exactly how untrue that statement was. But when Ana said it, he could do nothing more than blink at her.

She grinned. “Thank you for breakfast. It smells wonderful.”

Her attempt to distance herself from him snapped him back to the present. Fisting his hands by his side to keep from pulling her right back into him, he watched her lean over the tray and inhale deeply. “Mmm, peaches. My favorite.”

The corners of his lips quirked as he watched her. She looked absolutely ridiculous in his clothes. Ridiculous and incredibly adorable, yet there was one thing puzzling him. “Tell me, sweet Ana, why you simply do not call forth clothes of your own?”

The shy way she looked up at him would be etched in his memory forever. “I can’t.”

“But you are Fae. You have the ability to grant wishes.”

“I can only grant the wishes of others,” she said, her cheeks coloring in embarrassment. “Not my own, unless it is a wholly selfless wish.”

Vlane was staggered by the thought. How cruel were the Fates to bestow such power upon one who could not use it for herself? It did, however, explain why she would be working as a human, living in the modest accommodations provided by others instead of some grand mansion. Though, he didn’t think Ana would do that even if she could.

He ran his thumb over her cheek. “Then I will be the one who sees that your wishes are granted,” he said softly. “What is your preference? You have only to name it, and it shall be yours.”

She looked down at herself, smoothing the front of the shirt. “A pair of jeans would be nice.”

He blinked, something he rarely did. Jeans and his shirt? When she could have
anything
? Clearly she did not comprehend the true depth of what he was offering — the finest silks, furs, jewels, gowns. But when he said as much, she shook her head and smiled shyly at him. “I like your shirt. It’s comfortable and it smells like you.”

How could he possibly argue with that?

––––––––

“S
he looks like Tinkerbell,” Kristoff remarked, shaking his head in wonder. He stood in Vlane’s office, watching Ana on the security camera. Vlane had given her the freedom to explore his expansive mansion, but requested she not go outside. It was a test, of sorts, to see if she would attempt to flee. If she did, he would know the spell she had cast on him earlier had been nothing but a magick trick, but he highly doubted it. The hold she had on him was an entirely different kind of magick, one over which no one – immortal or otherwise – had any control.

“Like who?” Vlane asked. So far, Ana had given no indication she would try to escape. She couldn’t, of course. Jason and Zarek were never far away from her, and the guard around the house and perimeter had been doubled. For the last hour, she had been in the library, running her hands over the leather bound volumes, occasionally picking up a tome and paging through it with nothing less than reverence on her face.

The dog, as usual, was with her. It had appointed itself her protector, remaining close to her side as she moved through the hundred room mansion. Under normal circumstances, that would have annoyed him, but the hairy creature was obviously a source of comfort to her. And, if he was honest, the canine afforded him a bit of comfort as well. The few times one of his household had neared the room, Samson had moved in close to Ana and gone on full alert. Odd, though, how it seemed to have accepted
him
easily enough. Even odder that he found himself warming up to the beast. That morning he’d felt compelled to ensure the dog had food and water while it stood guard over Ana.

Kristoff shot him an irritated look. “
Tinkerbell
. You really need to join the twenty-first century, Vlane.”

At Vlane’s blank expression, he continued. “Tinkerbell is an animated creation of the human Walt Disney. A
faerie
,” he said, with particular emphasis. When that also failed to elicit any recognition, Kristoff conjured up an image for him. Like a 3D hologram, it rotated slowly in the air before them.

Vlane’s eyes widened as he took in the big, jeweled green eyes, slightly angled. The mischievous innocence of her expression. The sunshine-blonde hair falling haphazardly over her forehead. As the figure turned, he also recognized the lush breasts, tiny waist, and shapely behind.

“Actually, Tinkerbell is a pixie, not a faerie.” Armand’s voice suddenly cut in as he joined them.

“What’s the difference?” Kristoff asked.

“Pixies are notoriously devious,” he answered without hesitation. “Ana is no pixie.”

Vlane tore his eyes away from Kristoff’s image to look at Armand, but the other vamp had his eyes pinned to the real Ana on the screen. “I have never seen a soul as pure as hers,” Armand continued almost absently. He looked at Vlane pointedly. “She is an innocent, in body as well as spirit.”

Armand, a scholar and priest in his former life, had been gifted with seeing inside a person’s soul upon his conversion. Vlane often wondered what Armand saw when he looked at his soul, though he’d never asked.

“She’s got a great ass,” Kristoff noted.

Vlane growled deep in his throat, allowing his substantial power to fill the room, his message clear. Ana was his.

Kristoff wisely dropped his eyes. It was the closest he would come to offering an apology. Vlane accepted it for what it was and turned his focus back to Armand. “Speak that which is on your mind, old friend.”

Armand took a deep breath, something wholly unnecessary since they had no need to breathe. Sometimes, though, old habits resurfaced, even after hundreds of years. “She can destroy you.”

Kristoff shifted uncomfortably as Vlane stiffened. “No harm will come to me by her hand,” he said, repeating the sentiment she had shared with him earlier, his voice deep and laced with conviction.

Armand studied him carefully. After several long moments, he exhaled and placed his hand on Vlane’s shoulder. “For all of our sakes, but especially yours, my friend, I hope you are right.”

Any further discussion halted as they all received an urgent mental prod from Jason. “Sire, the western perimeter has been breached.”

The three vampires turned their attention to the screens. Kristoff pressed a few keys, switching the screens to display the images from the security cameras they had posted along those boundaries. Vlane’s lip curled when he caught a flash of golden-colored fur.

“It is Matthew,” Armand said quietly. “He has come for Ana.”

“He will be disappointed,” Vlane snarled. There was no way he would willingly relinquish Ana now — not to the wolf or anyone else. He flashed to the library with all haste. He would ensure Ana was well protected, then he would deal with the wolf Alpha personally and end this once and for all.

Vlane stood in the middle of the cavernous room, turning in a full circle before reaching out with his senses to learn that which his eyes had already told him: Ana was gone.

Vlane, come
. Had his heart actually been beating, it would have stopped entirely at Kristoff’s terse command. When Vlane returned to the office only a few seconds after he left it, he followed Kristoff’s gaze to the screens.

Ana was running toward the western boundary, Samson at her heels.

––––––––

A
s far as battles went, it was incredibly short-lived. Unlike the movies, real deadly predators did not face off over long, tense moments, giving and taking punishment in spectacular but essentially harmless moves. Disabling blows were delivered swiftly and decisively by both sides, often only a single strike necessary to fell an opponent.

By the time Vlane arrived, the downed warriors of both sides were strewn across the west lawn, werewolves and vampires alike. Zarek was badly wounded, but Jason was already giving him the blood he needed to heal. Other vamps were being tended to in a similar manner.

Vlane searched frantically for Ana, finding her kneeling in the grass beside the fallen Alpha.

* * *

D
errick, bloodied and battered, hunched over Matt’s still form. He looked at Ana, begged her to do something. Ana knew it was all her fault. She cradled Matt’s head in her lap while she used her special skills to assess his injuries. It didn’t take long for her to determine Matt would die if she didn’t do something soon.