Kissed by Smoke (16 page)

“That’s it. Nothing to indicate what the
Binding was about.”

Shit. Fat lot of good that did us. “Well,
what about whoever bound the djinni that murdered Vega? The Book
got anything to say on that?”

More flipping pages. This time they landed
on a picture of a man so beautiful and ethereal he looked like an
angel. I gaped at the image. “What is he?”

Eddie took off his glasses, polished them,
and popped them back on. His expression was grim. “That is
Alberich.”

“Alberich?”

“Alberich was quite possibly one of the most
evil creatures to ever have walked the earth. He was the twin
brother of the Queen of the Fairies, and the only one besides the
Queen powerful enough to bind a djinni. In fact, rumor has it he
was actually much more powerful than the queen.”

“What do you mean by ‘was’ her brother?” I
asked.

“Alberich is supposed to be dead. According
to the legends, the Queen executed him generations ago.” Eddie
frowned. “According to the Book, he’s still very much alive.”

Inigo and I both glanced at each other. I
didn’t need his telepathy to tell me what he was thinking. His
expression mirrored mine. We were in deep, deep shit.

***

“You still got that key?” Inigo’s voice cut
through my thoughts as we stood outside Eddie’s shop.

“Key?”

He gave me a look. “The key from the Queen
of the Fairies, Morgan.”

Shit. Yeah, that key. “Yeah, I’ve got it.”
I’d been carrying the stupid thing around with me. After all, she’d
said it would save my life. I’d no idea what she meant by that and
I hoped I wouldn’t have to find out.

“Good. I have a feeling we might need it.”
His voice was as grim as his expression.

I stared out into the darkness before slowly
making my way to the car. “I don’t like this, Inigo. This is not
what I signed on for. I’m a Hunter, not a … ” I waved my hands in
the air searching for a word. Nothing came to me. There was no one
in my world who ever went up against the sidhe. No one.

“Hey.” He grabbed me and hauled me up
against him. “Look at me, Morgan.”

I gazed up into his eyes. The beautiful blue
was swirling with gold, meaning his dragon was close to the
surface. “You can do this.
We
can do this.”

“You shouldn’t have to,” I told him.

He shrugged. “I don’t really care about what
I should and shouldn’t have to do. I care about you, and you are
involved whether you like it or not. That means I’m involved, too.
You aren’t in this alone.”

I sighed and gave him a slightly wobbly
smile. “That’s probably the most romantic thing anyone has ever
said to me.”

He flashed me a grin, then pressed his lips
to mine. I opened my mouth and welcomed him in, our tongues
tangling with our breaths. I wrapped my arms around his neck,
pulling myself tight against him as his hands found their way under
my shirt.

“Inigo, we’re in public.” I admit my protest
was more than a little weak.

His chuckle was low and sexy, and turned my
knees to jelly. “It’s the middle of the night and we’re in Eddie’s
parking lot.” His lips moved from my mouth to my ear and then down
the side of my neck, each nibble sending a shimmer of desire
coursing through my veins.

“People can see us.” I wasn’t a prude,
exactly. I just preferred to keep bedroom things … well, not in the
middle of a parking lot.

He was nibbling along my collar bone. I
wasn’t exactly sure when he’d managed to open my coat and my shirt.
He started walking backward, hauling me with him, his mouth never
deviating from its southern trajectory. We ended up in an alley
down the side of the building, deep in the shadows.

“Now they can’t,” he said right before he
slid my bra strap off my shoulder and took my nipple in his
mouth.

I forgot all about who might or might not be
watching as pleasure pooled low in my belly. I tangled my fingers
through his silky hair, urging him to continue. I didn’t even
notice the cold.

His fingers popped the buttons on my jeans
and then slid under the rough fabric until they found my sweet
spot. I made a little whimpering sound. “Inigo.”

“That’s right, baby. I’ve got you.” He
pulled down my jeans and panties, baring me to the night. I should
have been cold, but I wasn’t. Dragon heat.

Next thing I knew his mouth was on me, his
clever tongue working its magic until I couldn’t think, couldn’t
speak. Could do nothing but drown in the pleasure of his touch.

I was just about to slip over the edge when
he stopped. “Inigo?”

“Shhh.” I heard the rasp of his zipper. Then
he lifted me as though I weighed no more than a feather. “Wrap your
legs around me, Morgan.”

I did as he asked and then, oh, sweet mercy,
he slid into me. I clung to him as the first climax hit. Then he
moved. With each hard thrust the pleasure wound tighter and tighter
until this time I did slip over the edge, taking Inigo with me.

***

I stood in the middle of a room. I assumed it was a
room. Fog swirled around me so thick I could make out nothing of my
surroundings.

“
Hello?” My voice echoed weirdly in the
fog.

No one answered.

Hands caressed my body as if they knew me.
Intimately.

I realized I was naked and the hands were touching
places they shouldn’t be touching. I tried to grab them, stop them,
but I couldn’t see anything. I could only feel.

Lips pressed against my throat, tiny kisses against
delicate skin. I shuddered in pleasure and fear. I wanted more and
I felt guilty for wanting it.

“
Who are you?”

Still no answer. Just the phantom caresses of my
ghost lover.

I felt myself grow wet and languid with desire as
lips and fingers stroked me to a fever pitch. Then I felt that
long, intimate slide of thick, hard flesh inside me. The stroke of
male inside female.

The dreaming me felt guilty, but the me in the dream
was having none of it. I rocked against my invisible lover, taking
him deeper, begging for more. I could feel his skin, slick with
sweat, against my palms, the muscles moving and shifting
underneath. But still, I could not see him.

I lost myself to the pleasure of his touch, the
thrust of him inside me. And as the first orgasm took me, he
whispered in my ear.

“
I will never leave you. I am always watching
over you.” The voice was low and gravelly and oh, so familiar. As
was the taste of his kiss.

“
Jack?”

***

I woke with Inigo sprawled out half on top
of me.

Guilt suddenly stabbed through me. Granted,
it had only been a dream, but it had felt so real. And worst of
all, I’d enjoyed it.

I stared blearily at the bedside clock.
Crap. It was already ten in the morning and I’d managed a whole
four hours sleep. The problem with having a dragon for a boyfriend
is they’ve got way too much stamina.

Okay, so it wasn’t a problem, exactly.
Though it did make for some rather zoned-out mornings.

I glanced over at Inigo who was snoring
lightly, then slipped out of bed and staggered into the bathroom.
My body was still slick with desire from the dream. I closed my
eyes against the spray of the shower.

What the hell was wrong with me? How could I
be having sex with my current boyfriend one minute, then dreaming
about having sex with my old boyfriend the next? Obviously, I had
issues. I needed to call Cordy.

And that was just for starters. Gods, there
wasn’t enough coffee in the world to wake me up for what I had to
face: My mother.

And, oh yeah, the freaking Fairy Queen. But
mostly, my mother.

Don’t get me wrong, I loved my mother, but
she was a challenge to deal with even on the best day. And accusing
her of lying to me my whole life was going to result in just about
the furthest day from the best you could possibly imagine.

But I needed answers, and according to Tommy
Waheneka, my mother had them. As I stood under the hot spray of the
shower, my mind whirred through my approach. How could I confront
her without causing World War III?

I finally gave up and got out of the shower.
There was just no two ways about it. Drama happens.

Inigo was still snoring away face-down
across the bed. He’d tossed off half the duvet, revealing a
tantalizing length of thigh and a glimpse of shimmering scales
across his hip.

I shoved away the guilt that reared its ugly
head. It had only been a dream, after all. You can’t control your
dreams.

“You gonna stand there drooling? Or are you
gonna come have your way with me?”

I laughed. “I had my way with you, what,
four times last night?”

One eye peered at me through tangled golden
hair. “Wrong. I had my way with
you
four times last night.”

I smirked at that. “Oh, no. That’s where
you’ve got it wrong, babe. I distinctly remember time two being all
me.”

“Oh yes,” he sighed with a self-satisfied
smile and a lazy stretch. “That was a particularly good one.” He
gave me an innocent look. “Still, I could use a refresher
course.”

“I give you a refresher course and I won’t
be able to walk for a week. Now come on,” I tossed his jeans at his
head. “Get your sweet ass out of bed, lazy boy. Time to brave the
lioness’s den.”

“I like your mother,” he said, ignoring the
jeans. “She brings out the bossy in you.”

I quirked a brow. Well, both brows since I’m
incapable of quirking only one. “I’m always bossy.”

“Oh, I know. But you get extra bossy.” He
grinned.

I rolled my eyes. “You are a lunatic. And I
need coffee.”

His laughter followed me to the kitchen. I
just grinned like a dope.

***

While Inigo was showering, I gave Cordelia a
quick call. “Cordy, I need your help.”

“Oh, dear,” her voice was a little breathy.
“That was some dream you had last night.”

“What?” I very nearly shrieked. “You can see
my dreams?”

I could hear laughter over the line. “Not
exactly. More the emotions that come with the dreams.”

Just fabulous. “Okay, so tell me. Why am I
dreaming about … doing
that
with Jack? I’m in love with Inigo, for crying
out loud.”

She sighed. “You know very well that you
have many unresolved issues with Jack. You are still attracted to
him, and there’s nothing wrong with that.” She muttered something
along the lines of ‘damn puritanical morons’ or something.

“Cordy?”

“Listen, Morgan, you are going to have to
figure this one out on your own. I told you, your love life is
hazy. Nothing is set in stone. Only you can decide what you want.
What you need.”

“I want Inigo.” It didn’t come out quite as
strong and convincing as I wanted it to.

“Of course you do. But that doesn’t mean you
don’t want Jack, too.”

“Oh, gods, I’m fucked up.”

“My darling girl,” she sounded amused. “You
know very well that I don’t view life as most of our ‘morally
upright’ citizens do.” If her tone was anything to go by, she
didn’t hold morally upright citizens in very high regard. “I
believe that love is far too big a concept for most peoples’ tiny
little brains to handle.”

“Um, what?”

“Stop worrying about things you can’t
control. When the time is right, you’ll know what to do.” And with
that cryptic and entirely unhelpful bit of wisdom ringing in my
ears, Cordelia hung up.

***

“Morgan. Two times in one week. What a
surprise.” Her words were innocent enough, but my mother’s tone was
layered in snarky. I came by it honestly. “Come. I was just making
a cup of coffee. How about some? I’ve got croissants.”

My mother knew I couldn’t resist croissants.
Inigo and I followed her into the kitchen. I was hoping Inigo’s
presence would keep her from going totally ballistic. Yeah, I’m a
wuss. I’m not proud of it.

“Listen, Mom, I need to ask you something,”
I said while she poured out cups of coffee and handed the
croissants around.

“About?”

“Is the name Tommy Waheneka familiar?”

She frowned as she mulled it over. “No. It
doesn’t ring any bells. Why?”

“He’s a shaman over at Warm Springs. He says
he knew Dad.”

If I didn’t know her as well as I did, I
might not have noticed the subtle shift in her expression, the
tension that suddenly gripped her body. “Oh?” Her voice was light,
deliberately uninterested.

“Mom, I need the truth. About Dad. What
really happened?”

She adjusted the pearls around her neck
before taking a careful sip of coffee. A sure sign she was nervous.
“I don’t know what you mean.”

I leaned forward, elbows on the kitchen
table. She didn’t even comment on my bad table manners. Another
sure sign she was hiding something. “Mom. I know Dad didn’t die
when I was a baby.”

She swallowed and toyed with her pearls some
more. I tried to catch her eye, but she wouldn’t look at me.

“Mom,” I kept my voice gentle. “It’s time to
stop the … ” I started to say “lies,” but Inigo squeezed my thigh
under the table. “It’s time to tell the truth. What really happened
to Dad?”

She was silent for so long I thought she
wouldn’t answer. “He left me,” she finally spoke, her voice so
small and sad. Ashamed. Not like my mother at all. “He left us. I
knew that story about him dying in a car accident was a lie.” Her
hands trembled as she picked up her coffee cup. “He just couldn’t
handle being a father. Or maybe … ” her voice trailed off.

Suddenly I felt like shit. I knew exactly
what my mother was thinking. That he hadn’t loved her enough. That
she hadn’t been enough for him. She was the love of his life, and
she didn’t even know it.

“Mom.” I reached out and grabbed her hands
in mine. “Mom, that’s not true.”

“Yes, Morgan. Yes it is. He didn’t love us
enough to stay.”