“No, thank you. We ate dinner en route, so we will probably just retire for the night.” Oberon winked at Cassie behind Noelle’s back. “Or we might take a midnight stroll down by the beach.”
Cassie shivered at the heat in Oberon’s gaze. “I like the sound of that.”
Noelle cleared her throat. “Well, I’ll make sure Greg gives you the code card so you can get back inside. Just make sure you remember to give it back to him when you return, and enjoy your evening.” Noelle shook their hands again and left, a spring in her step.
“So.” Oberon pulled Cassie close, his arms around her waist, his forehead against hers. “You want to stroll along the beach?”
“Mm-hm.” She toyed with the hem of his shirt. He’d worn the blue cuff links again, and a small blue diamond had appeared in his silver hair tie. That had surprised her, that he’d matched his crown to hers, but she had to admit it gave her a thrill, too. She doubted she’d ever get him in jeans and T-shirts, but that was all right. This was her bondmate, and she loved him, starch and all.
“Maybe take a dip in the ocean?” He kissed the tip of her nose.
“Mm-hm.” She stroked her fingers over the skin she’d bared, smiling when he hissed in pleasure.
“Make love on the sand?”
She wrinkled her nose. “That gets in all the wrong places.”
His brows rose as his eyes turned gunmetal gray. “I’d ask if you have experience with that, but then I’d have to kill someone.”
“Because we were both virgins when we came into this mating.” No way was she going to let him get away with that kind of thinking.
He huffed, but she could tell he wasn’t offended. “As far as I’m concerned you’re pure as mountain air.”
“And you’re what, Little Boy Blueballs?”
He choked on a laugh. “What?”
She blushed. “Okay, maybe that didn’t come out quite the way I meant it to.”
“No, I don’t think it did.” He hugged her tightly before letting her go and grabbing some towels out of their suitcases. “Come on,
a stór
. Let’s take a walk.”
“Do we need our bathing suits?”
Oberon merely smiled and held out his hand. It looked good on him, that happiness that had been so absent the first time she saw him. He needed to look that way every day. He’d more than earned some happiness in his life, and it was her privilege to see to it that he had it.
The waves lapped gently on the shore under an almost full moon. The cloudless sky allowed them to see the stars, the moonlight glistening on the water like a soft lover’s touch.
It was perfect. No one was on the beach except them. The water called to Cassie, tempted her into its dark depths. Without a thought to anyone who might see she began to remove her clothes, eager to leap into the water and let her body soar through the surf.
Strong arms wrapped around her, preventing her from removing her pants. “We’ll swim afterward.”
Afterward?
His hand cupped her pussy through her jeans.
Oh. Afterward.
Cassie shivered as he slid the zipper of her jeans down.
“You’re so beautiful, Cass.”
“I’m not.”
His arms tightened. “I’ve lived thousands of years, seen things no one else has ever dreamed of. I have seen the relics of the Tuatha Dè, of the lost cities of Falias, Gorias, Murias and Finias. I am one of the last of my kind, and I know beauty when I see it.” He kissed the nape of her neck. “Nothing in this world or the next is as beautiful as my truebond.”
Cassie shuddered, her eyes filling with unexpected tears. “Really?”
“Would I lie to you?”
She gazed at him over her shoulder. “If you thought to keep me from pain—”
“No.” He shoved her jeans down her legs, taking her panties with them. “Not about something as important as this.” He held her steady while she kicked the clothes off completely, the jeans and panties landing next to her bra and shirt. “Your song is a part of me. There is not one bit of it that isn’t magnificent. Even your pain only enhances your allure, though I’d rather you’d never suffered it at all.”
“If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be me. I’d be like Demetria.” She turned in his grasp, clasped her arms around his neck.
“You once told me that nothing could truly change our melody, only our harmonies.” Oberon unbuttoned his shirt with Cassie helping him by undoing his cufflinks. “You would never have become another Demetria. It isn’t in you.”
She slid the shirt off his shoulders as he began to unbutton his slacks. He shrugged it off almost impatiently. Cassie slid her hands up his chest, the smooth skin warm and inviting. His long silver hair brushed against his nipples. “I think you’re the beautiful one.” She brushed his hair back over his shoulders, loving the way it flowed over her hands.
His slacks hit the sand, and Oberon kicked them away much as Cassie had done with her jeans. “Let’s agree to disagree.”
Before she could argue, Oberon took her mouth, kissing her with a sweetness that made her knees buckle. He lowered her to the sand, all thoughts of chafing gone from her mind. His erection brushed against her leg, hot and hard and already wet at the tip. “Will you sing for me, my siren?”
He licked her nipple, blew hot breath across the wet peak. Cassie groaned, arching her back to tempt him closer. She wanted him to suck on the hard point, to bring her near to begging for him to enter her.
“That’s it, Cassie.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth like she’d wanted, but quickly released it. “Sing for me.” He repeated the teasing action on her other nipple, licking it and blowing gently across it.
Well. Two could play the tease. Cassie ran her finger along his erection, tracing the throbbing vein from base to tip. He closed his eyes and thrust into her touch. She cupped him, stroking his balls, dragging a low, guttural groan from her bondmate. “Only if you sing for me.”
“A duet, then.” Oberon opened his eyes, his gaze heavy-lidded and seductive. “Perfect.”
Oberon nipped Cassie’s earlobe and began kissing down her neck. Cassie hummed in pleasure, tilting her head to give him better access. His hands stroked up and down her sides as she dropped her Seeming, her glow brightening everywhere he touched.
“So beautiful,
a stór
.” He began to murmur to her in that lyrical language she didn’t understand, peppering kisses across her skin in between softly spoken words that sounded almost like a prayer.
Cassie sang, of his breath upon her skin, his hands tracing her scales, of the love she could feel between them, strengthening both their melodies. Her tune blended with his words, adding new harmonies to their shared song. He loved on her with a reverence reserved for goddesses, and she melted beneath his touch.
When he finally entered her it was with a slow, smooth glide, filling her over and over again as he took her gently. Everything about their lovemaking tonight was easy, without thought for time or place. They had eternity to love one another, so Oberon took it. Cassie met him thrust for slow, deep thrust, worshipping him every time she accepted him into her body.
She stared at him, watching the play of emotions across his face, reading the pleasure he took from her, the love he was trying to convey. She buried his hands in his hair and tugged him down, kissing him with the same sweet devotion as they sealed their bonding vows with their bodies.
Closer and closer the orgasm came, the tingling through her whole body overwhelming. She wrapped her legs around his waist and kept their lips touching, her song of passion filling them both.
“
Tá mo chroí istigh ionat.
Tá grá agam duit, a stór
.” Oberon shuddered, his breath coming in gasps. “Soon, Cassie.”
“Soon.” She tilted her head back, trembling with the need to come.
He buried his face against her throat, peppering it with kisses. Vows of undying love poured from him, sometimes in English, sometimes in Gaelic, and sometimes in that gorgeous language Cassie was determined now to learn.
Cassie gasped as throbbing need became mind-blowing ecstasy, the orgasm racing through her system and robbing her of speech. Her vision went black, her body curling around his. Her climax went on and on, the long, slow build-up culminating in a pleasure so deep she thought she’d never break the surface of it.
But soon, far too soon, it was over, leaving Cassie drawing in breaths through starved lungs. Oberon had collapsed on top of her, drained by his own orgasm, his skin slick with sweat. His hair surrounded them in a silver cocoon, hiding them from the world in strands of moonlight.
Eventually he rolled off of her, leaving her cold. He took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed the back of it. “I love you, Mrs. Airgeatine.”
Cassie smiled. “And I you, Mr. Airgeatine.”
They shared a glance. “Want to go swimming?”
Cassie was up and off the sand so fast he started laughing. She darted for the water on shaky legs, still reeling from the incredible lovemaking but determined to swim with her mate. They didn’t have much time to enjoy their honeymoon. Duty would call them back to the Gray Palace far more quickly than she would have liked, but Cassie was a royal born and understood that their people’s needs would often come between them and their pleasure.
But tonight, she had her king all to herself. She flung herself into the water, transforming into her merform before Oberon’s toes hit the surf.
“Tempting me, my siren?” Oberon dove as well, transforming into his own glittering silver merform. He swam around her, ever closing spirals that brushed their fins around one another, twining them like seahorse tails. His arms wrapped around her as he stole a kiss, this one passionate and full of joy.
“Always, my king.” Cassie wrapped her hand in his and began to swim, the joy of being underwater with her bondmate trilling from her throat. She sang for him, lured him after her as she dove, her siren’s song leading their way. In the distance she could see others of her kind performing the same dance, singing their own songs of joy to welcome the king and queen, guarding them as they played among the fish like children.
When a tiny silver fish nibbled his belly Oberon laughed, a full-throated sound filled with wonder and joy. Amazed and dazzled by this side of her bondmate, Cassie added a new harmony to their song, one not heard in centuries of grief and pain and tearing loss. Oberon, his expression both proud and approving, stole the harmony from her lips with a quick brush of his own, filling her with the same wonder and joy he’d felt but moments before. This wonderful, reserved man had opened himself completely to her, dazzling her with his beauty, blending his melody with hers in perfect accord.
If Cassie had her way, that wondrous joy would follow them all the rest of their days.
Epilogue
“I would like you to meet someone.”
Raven stared as his father tugged on the brilliant red smoking jacket over his black silk shirt. He’d come over for dinner after Michaela insisted, unable to deny her anything.
From the delight his father didn’t try to hide, he’d been happy to have Raven over. Raven would have to make sure he came by the Hob’s house more often. It seemed his father, despite his new truebond, wanted Raven around, even when Raven insisted on flirting with Michaela.
He’d enjoyed time with his father and Michaela, and now Robin wanted to take him somewhere. “Who?” His father had the most…
unusual
fashion sense out of anyone he’d ever met.
“Big Red.” Robin grinned. Raven was slightly less afraid when his father made that face.
But only slightly.
“Your famed pet gremlin?” Raven donned his own black jacket, ignoring his father’s disappointed sigh. Raven had not given up his habit of wearing all black, and it annoyed Robin no end. His father hadn’t respected his wishes at first, sneaking into Raven’s home and changing all of his black clothing to bright colors. So Raven had returned the favor. Michaela, who thought Robin looked delicious in all black, had been delighted.
Robin had not been amused, especially when Raven made sure none of the blacks quite matched up properly. It drove Robin crazy to have nothing he saw fit to wear. But the stunt proved Raven’s point in a way his father could not deny.
So it was back to peacock colors for his father and all black for Raven. As a concession to his father, however, Raven was contemplating getting one blood red streak in his black hair.
That should please his father without changing Raven’s look too much. And he had to admit, the idea of Robin’s red hair color adding a bit of a dash to his own midnight locks pleased him as well.
“Pay attention, my son.” Robin waved his hand, showing Raven the way to Big Red’s home. “I’ve rarely brought guests to Red.”
“Is he one of yours?” He’d realized that Robin had fulfilled his desire for a family by adopting strays. Jaden Blackthorn, the Giovanni twins, Snod, Red—Robin had taken them all in, given them homes where they had none before. Despite his grumbling and sighing, his father loved his people deeply. Raven got to see that every single day and counted himself blessed to have found the man to be nothing like Titannia claimed.
“Hey, boss. Whazzup?”
Raven blinked at the alarming amount of computers jammed into such a tight space. “Whoa. Supernerd lives here?”
“Who’s the goth, Goodfellow?”
Raven glared at the deep-voiced man smirking up at him from a standard black office chair. It was the cheap kind where the middle sags until before too long you’re sitting on a leather covered metal pole, wondering what happened to your virginity.
The man himself was nothing remarkable. Red’s Seeming was a Korean American with perpetually windblown hair and laughing brown eyes. He was only fifty years old, dressed like a hobo, and was, according to Robin, one of the richest men in the world. He wore thick red glasses, and had an
I Heart Nerds
T-shirt on over a pair of jeans that had seen better days. His feet were bare, his hands moving restlessly over the keyboard in front of him as if he longed to get back to what he’d been doing before they’d popped in unexpectedly.
Robin put his arm around Raven’s shoulder. “My son.”
Red’s eyes went big behind those thick plastic frames. “Dude.
That’s
MacSweeney?”
Robin scowled. “Goodfellow. His name is Raven Goodfellow.”
Raven bit back his grin. As much as he’d loved his mother, having his father insist that his son take his name had warmed him far more than anything.
The gremlin began to laugh.
“And what amuses you so?” Robin’s arm tightened around Raven.
If anything, the nerd laughed harder at the silky, threatening tone Robin used. “He’s…” The nerd was choking on his own guffaws.
“I’m what?” Raven crossed his arms over his chest.
“…an
Edward
.”
Robin sighed as the man called Big Red wiped tears away from his eyes. “Red.”
The laughter slowly died down. Finally, after what felt like a century, Red rubbed his stomach. “Oh, man. I needed that.”
“We aren’t here just for a social visit, Red.”
“Sorry, boss man.” The man was smirking again. “Need me to find your kid’s Bella?”
Raven looked toward Robin. “How fond of him are you?”
“Very, unfortunately.” Robin’s answering smile showed his amusement. “He’s one of our most useful, and dangerous, Blades.”
Dangerous? This guy? If anyone else had said that, Raven would have dismissed the idea out of hand. But when Robin said it, it made Raven readjust his thinking.
He blinked, startled. The man’s T-shirt now read,
Judge Me By My Size, Do You?
with a picture of Yoda on it. Big Red winked at him.
Interesting. Raven loved a good puzzle, and the man before him was certainly that. “Who are you, again?”
“I am the man with access, my friend.” Red waved his hand toward the screens. “You need information, you contact me. I get it, so long as Robin gives the okay.”
“I meant your real name.” Something about Red pinged Raven’s radar big time.
“Oh.” Red grimaced. “Liam Kang-Dae Kwon.”
“You sound like a Jedi Knight.” Raven wasn’t sure if he meant that as a compliment or not. Some of the Jedi had been pretty damn stupid.
“Thanks.” From the way the gremlin grinned he definitely viewed it as a compliment.
“You have my permission to give Raven anything he demands.” Robin patted Red’s shoulder.
Red shuddered. “Ah, yeah. See, I don’t like guys that way, and—”
Raven gagged.
Red shook his finger at him. “But if I was, I would so totally rock your world, bottom-boy.”
“What about me screams bottom-boy?” Raven was beginning to like this guy. He must drive Robin insane. The T-shirts alone would make the Hob snarl in frustration, and…
Huh? Now why was Robin laughing so hard?
Red was staring at Raven with the most falsely innocent expression Raven had ever seen on something outside of manga comic books. Even his T-shirt now said
Innocent Bystander
. “What did you do?”
Red shrugged. “What makes you think I did anything?”
“Children, play nice.” But Robin was still chuckling.
“He started it!” Raven pointed toward Red just as Red pointed at him.
“Uh, excuse me.” Red adjusted his glasses. “
He
also has access to your Amanda.”
Now
that
got Raven’s attention. “Do you, now?”
“Want to know what she looks like?” Red’s eyes gleamed. They were also blood red, with glowing green text scrolled across them as Red continued to monitor the data on his screens even as he stared at Raven.
“Duh. Show me what you got, Liam.” Raven pushed past Robin, eager to get a glimpse of the woman whose voice had haunted his dreams recently.
“Red.”
The scowl on the gremlin’s face made teasing him irresistible. “Liam.”
The gremlin snarled. “Red.”
Raven snarled right back, trying not to laugh. “Liam.”
“Children!” Robin’s voice shook the room.
“Sorry.” Both men turned back toward the screens, but not before sticking their tongues out at each other.
Oh yeah. Raven was going to be good friends with this guy. He wasn’t terrified of Raven or Robin and gave as good as he got. Raven could respect that.
“Here we go.” Liam began to type, those odd eyes glued to the screen and slowly bleeding back to normal. “Man, she’s also an eleven. The Goodfellow family is filled with lucky bastards.”
“Yes, we are.”
Raven barely heard his father’s reply. He was too busy staring at the busty blonde on the monitor. Amanda was on a plane, quietly reading a book. Her honey-toned hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail, her pale blue eyes moving steadily over the page.
Liam snickered. “She’s reading a Lorelei James novel.”
“Meaning?” From the smirk on Liam’s face Raven wasn’t going to like this.
Liam waggled his brows. “She likes hot cowboys.”
Both Raven and Liam stared at him.
“Fine. We all know I’m screwed.” Raven stared down at his clothes before glaring at Liam. “Ass. Hole.”
“What?”
Raven waved his hand, turning the pale pink
So Gay I Fart Glitter
T-shirt back into his normal plain black one.
Liam held up his hands. “It wasn’t me.”
“Nor I.” Robin was laughing again.
“I hate you both.” Raven found his gaze drawn once more to the picture of Amanda. “Where is she headed?”
“Nebraska.” Liam shook his head. “Is it me, or are all the hot chicks in soybean country?”
“The Dunnes.” Raven was so excited he could barely contain himself. Something big was about to happen, something that would change his life forever. “She’s headed to visit Ruby.”
Robin patted Raven’s shoulder. “Excellent. It just so happens I have a little job for you in Omaha.”
Raven grinned. He was going to get to meet the owner of that sultry, husky voice.
He could hardly wait.