She moaned as he ran the pads of his thumbs over her nipples, each one hardening under his caress, and he lowered his head to trace one pebbled tip with his tongue.

  The taste of her skin was intoxicating, as much like pineapple as the Faerie Nectar she’d drunk.

  He froze, the muscles of his abdomen jerking in response to her hands pushing into his open jeans. Skimming relentlessly on until her fingers tightened around his straining erection. Gliding up and down until, with a ragged breath, he was forced to grab her hands and pull them away.

  “You don’t like that?” she murmured breathlessly. She wrapped her jeans-clad legs up and around his hips, encouraging him down onto her.

  Oh, he liked it. “Like it. Too much,” he panted. Still holding her wrists, he lifted them over her head and sank into her, kissing her breast, her arm, her elbow, her forehead, her neck, and finally, her beautiful, full lips.

  Beautiful, full, completely unresponsive lips.

  As he fought to slow his heart, he took in her closed eyes, the delicate part of her mouth, the tiny snore that escaped her lips.

  “Holy shit,” he muttered. Dropping his forehead to her soft breast, he inhaled the sweet, delicate scent of her silky skin, trying to breathe through the painful throb of his need. “Holy fucking shit.”

  He didn’t even care if she heard him, though another quiet little snore assured him she wouldn’t.

  One last kiss to the supple mound beneath his lips and he rose, lifting her in his arms to carry her up to her bed, unsure whether he was grateful for her passing out or not.

  Not seemed to be winning at the moment.

  Tomorrow he’d have to face the aftereffects of what they’d nearly done and his serious lapse in judgment allowing it.

  Maybe he’d get lucky and she wouldn’t remember any of tonight.

  He, on the other hand, knew there was no way in hell he’d forget even the smallest detail anytime soon.

  Chapter 13

  “How can you deny me this, my pet? I ask so little of you.” Adira stared at the teenager, forcing her expression to remain pleasant, innocent. Well, as innocent as she could manage. She would be the first to admit the ruse was quite a stretch for her.

  “So little?” The young woman’s strangled voice broke on her words, her eyes flashing as she strained at the binding connecting her wrist to the bedpost. “You people broke into my home and dragged me here. You keep me locked in this room. Your goons hold me down while you stick needles in my fingers and you… you suck my blood, for God’s sake! You call that asking so little? You’re a freak of nature! A sick, demented freak!”

  “It could be worse for you, you know. I could make it much, much worse. And frankly, I’m tired of trying to be nice about this. I want you to tell me what gifts of power your sister possesses and I want you to tell me now. No more games, Leah. I’m done with those.”

  Adira’s patience with the blonde waif had come to an end. She reached out and pinched the sides of the girl’s chin between her thumb and forefinger, gradually increasing the pressure of her hold. “Tell me what I want to know or I’ll see to it that both you and your sister are very, very sorry.”

  Her life would be ever so much easier if she could simply place the girl under a compulsion and direct her actions. But both Leah and her sister seemed immune to the power.

  Not that she could have done it, even if it would have worked. She seemed to have lost that power since she’d been taking the girl’s blood. No great loss, really. Placing a Mortal under a compulsion had always required more of her than she was willing to give anyway. That’s what her minions were for.

  Taking advantage of Adira’s momentary lapse in attention, Leah twisted her head and jerked her chin from Adira’s grasp. Two bright red marks stained her fair white skin.

  “There’s nothing you can do to Destiny. You don’t know where she is and you’ll never find her. She’s too smart for you.” She pulled herself up to her full height, straightening her shoulders defiantly. “And there’s nothing you can do to me worse that what you’ve already done. I’d die before I tell you anything about my sister.”

  Adira stepped away, turning her back only when she’d put distance between herself and the young woman. She’d made the mistake of turning her back too early once before and didn’t care to experience again the pain associated with having the little bitch pull her hair.

  The memory brought with it a wash of anger.

  “Oh really? Such a dramatic performance, foolish child. You should realize you’re too valuable to me for death. Where would I get my beauty treatments if I allowed something to happen to you? No, my dear, I’ll never allow you to die, not until you’re so old your soul deserts you of its own will, despite my best efforts. You’re mine. Now and forever.”

  The girl had the audacity to spit at her in response!

  “Temper, temper, my little pet,” Adira cautioned. “Your sister, on the other hand—I have no such attachments to her. No need to spare her life. Not unless you can give me some reason to keep her alive, that is.”

  Leah’s head snapped up, her dark eyes large.

  Wonderful! Now they were getting somewhere. Suddenly the girl was listening and not nearly so sure of herself anymore.

  “But you don’t have Destiny.” Her words were slow, doubting.

  “Don’t I?”

  Adira reached into her pocket and pulled out the broken necklace she’d found carefully wrapped in a tissue at the bottom of Destiny’s purse. She was gambling on her guess that the woman wouldn’t use such care unless the jewelry was special to her.

  And if it were special to her, surely her sister would recognize the piece.

  She tossed the shiny black stones to the floor, where they scattered at Leah’s feet.

  Recognition was instantaneous. The girl was on her knees, stretching, pulling at the strap that bound her one hand to the bed. She scrambled to scoop up all the stones and clutched them to her breast.

  “How did you get this? What have you done with my sister?”

  Adira wanted to laugh at the terror in the girl’s eyes, but she used restraint, allowing herself only a small satisfied smile. Leah’s reaction was all she could have hoped for and more.

  “So you recognize it, then? Good. I’ll give you two hours to think things over. When I return, you’ll tell me all about your sister’s powers and try to convince me why I should keep her alive.”

  She stepped out the door, locking it behind her. Satisfaction flooded her veins.

  The young woman in that room had the power to heal. From ingesting her blood, Adira’s youth and vitality had sprung anew, to a degree she’d never experienced before. For that reason alone she would never let the girl go.

  Never.

  But recently, quite by accident, she’d discovered a strange new side effect of taking Leah’s blood.

  If she concentrated on someone’s injury, lay her hands upon it, she, too, bore the power to heal, even though it manifested itself for only a short time after taking the blood.

  Not that she wanted that particular gift. In fact, after her experience in touching the cut on Flynn’s arm, she’d made sure she kept her distance from everyone once she’d had her “beauty treatments.” At least until the healing ability had worn off.

  There was no one whose pain she’d readily accept in order that they might be free of it. No one.

  No one had ever shouldered her pain.

  The experience had opened her eyes to a world of possibilities. Magic had returned to this world, in spite of the Earth Mother. There were powers out there for the taking. She had only to find those half-Fae bastard offspring. Gather them like a harvest and, along with them, all the power she had ever wanted.

  They were, unfortunately, very difficult to identify. Finding Leah and her sister had been pure luck. They were all she had for now.

  Or would have, once they snatched Destiny Noble from the Farmers’ Market tomorrow evening. Then she’d take both young women far away from here.

  She might not yet know what gift flowed through Destiny’s blood, but it didn’t matter. Whatever it was, it would be hers.

  Soon.

  Chapter 14

  Destiny wrapped her arms tighter around her midsection as she wandered through the relentless dark, shivering as much from fear as from the cold.

  The dreams were changing, their pattern completely altered from anything she’d experienced before, and that deviation terrified her. Was there a reason the visions had changed so drastically? The only thing worse than knowing what she faced in the future was dealing with this uncertainty.

  Was that how it felt for everyone? Everyone not Faerie, that is.

  She paused, trying to gain her bearings as she peered into the inky blackness.

  Here in this sleep-world, she’d always known, hadn’t she? Known the Fae existed. Even if she’d denied it in her waking world.

  Denied it before tonight, that is. But tonight the truth had smacked her upside the head, as her mother used to say, and she had no choice but to pay attention.

  “I’m sorry, Mama,” she whispered into the dark, regret piercing through her heart. Regret and guilt. If only her mother were still alive to hear her say those words.

  A spark of silver shot past, leaving a ragged streak of phosphorescent light in its wake.

  “That which is her essence hears.”

  Her father’s voice?

  “Where are you?” Destiny turned in a circle, but found nothing in the empty black around her. “I need to see you!” she wailed.

  “No, what you need to see is this.”

  She stumbled forward as if someone had shoved her, straight through the jagged glowing rip and into a dimly lit room.

  Destiny threw out her arms to catch her balance and waited for her eyes to adjust. When they did, she almost wished they hadn’t.

  In the corner of the room, next to a small bed, a young woman huddled on the floor, her features masked by the wild, unkempt mop of long blond hair covering her face.

  One hand was bound to a bedpost by a long, thin strap, the other was clasped to her heart as she wept, her shoulders shaking with the silent sobs.

  The air left Destiny’s lungs in a rush, her stomach knotting. She had no need to see the young woman’s face. She knew the eyes that would stare up at her would be a deep, dark brown, like fine, rich chocolate. The nose would turn up and the lips would be pink, like little rosebuds. All set in the fine, porcelain frame of a heart-shaped face.

  The face of her sister.

  “Leah,” she whispered, starting forward to comfort the young woman she had practically raised by herself.

  Her progress was halted almost before it began, as if a transparent sheet of glass had been lowered between her and her sister.

  “Leah!” she screamed, again and again as she beat her fists against the invisible barrier.

  All to no avail. Her sister didn’t hear.

  “She inhabits the waking world as your own body does. Only your mind travels here, Desi.”

  “Daddy?” Destiny’s voice broke as she uttered the name she hadn’t used for so many years. She sank to the ground, her forehead against the barrier. “Why won’t you help us?”

  Wasn’t it bad enough he’d left her to deal with everything on her own in the real world? Why wouldn’t he help her now? She was so tired of fighting this battle all alone.

  “I’m not strong enough to do this,” she whispered. “I can’t save her on my own.”

  “Destiny!” Her father’s voice roared around her ears. “Remember your mother’s teachings and mind your words. Words have power. What comes out of your mouth can harm as well as help.”

  Shaking, she rose to her knees, straining to search the darkness behind her for any clue as to the location of the voice. Was it only coincidence that she’d spoken those very words to Jesse tonight at dinner?

  “Look to the vision, Daughter. A circle within a circle. Travel the line with the man who wears the mark. I can say no more.”

  She turned her head in time to see her sister’s arm lower and her fingers open, freeing the object she’d clasped to her heart.

  Their mother’s necklace.

  The necklace Destiny had so carefully wrapped up in a tissue after it had broken just days ago. The necklace she had carried in the bottom of her purse.

  At the center of Leah’s palm, light glinted off the shiny surface of the hematite stone bearing the odd marking of a striped snake with a line slashed through it.

  The same symbol she’d seen earlier tonight in Jesse’s tattoo.

  There was no gathering of light to warn her this time, only the blinding bright radiance surrounding her as she felt her being, her essence, tossed through the time flow.

  Destiny opened her eyes to a cold, inky darkness, at first unable to determine which world she inhabited. Her heart pounded and her breath came in short puffs of air as an overwhelming fear surrounded her, paralyzing her.

  A fear for her sister.

  A fear for herself.

  Her arms and legs ached from being drawn into a tight, little ball, shivering. She wanted to search for some way to warm herself, but the thought of moving from that exact spot terrified her.

  Anything could be out there in the night. Waiting.

  As her eyes adjusted to the dark, she forced herself to sit up in bed and she recognized the room around her. Her covers lay on the floor, where she’d apparently kicked them as she’d dreamed. Cold air pumped out of a vent in the wall next to her and the huge T-shirt she wore provided no warmth at all.

  T-shirt?

  This must be the real world, but she certainly didn’t remember having a shirt like this in her new things. She buried her nose in the fabric and the scent that lingered in the fibers of the soft cotton washed over her, bringing with it a promise of safety. There was only one place the shirt could have come from.

  Jesse.

  The realization brought with it an instant need for the man himself. A need so strong, it pushed her to crawl from the middle of the bed and place first one foot on the floor and then the other. One tentative step after another until she reached the door of the bedroom.

  The security and safety Jesse represented outweighed the fear that threatened to consume her.

  Out into the hallway she moved, stopping every few steps to listen for any noise, any clue that whatever it was that caused her terror might be lurking close by.

  Nearing the stairs, she saw Jesse’s door, open, just as he’d promised. He had, in fact, done everything he’d said he would, not just asking for her trust, but actually working to earn it, as if he really cared what she thought of him.

  She realized with a start that he’d never even mentioned money, or how much all this was going to cost her. Instead he had, from the first moment they’d met, acted as if he was her personal protector.

  That, of course, was ridiculous. His employer would, without a doubt, charge her a huge sum of money. But if they found Leah and brought her home safely, the cost was irrelevant.

  Not that she could pay any amount right now. She’d spent every cent she had looking for her sister. Still, whatever the cost, it didn’t matter. She’d gladly make payments on the debt for the rest of her life.

  She’d reached his door, her feet drawing to a halt at the threshold. Indecision gnawed its way through her mind. She was torn between wanting to go to him and feeling that it was inappropriate for her cross the invisible line separating her from his bedroom.

  The need to touch him, to lose herself in the sense of safety she felt in his presence, was strong, but once she crossed over into that room, she was admitting to herself that she needed him. Trusted him.

  And that admission terrified her almost as much as the unknown fear hovering over her. It meant that she was once again opening herself up to the pain that would come if another person she cared for deserted her.

  She waivered, not sure she was strong enough to go through that again, but not sure she was brave enough to go back to her own room, either.

  A rustle of bedcovers was followed by his voice. “Des? Are you okay?”

  He’d taken to calling her “Des,” and somehow that small, almost intimate gesture touched her heart.

  “Yes,” she lied in a shaking voice, but then thought better of it. “No.” She wasn’t okay. Not standing here in his doorway. Alone. Afraid.

  “Come here.”

  She knew he was holding out his arms to her. Even though she couldn’t quite make out his figure in the murky room, she knew it as surely as she knew she would go to him.

  Heading in the direction of his voice, she reached his bed and found him standing there, his arms open, just as she’d known they would be.

  He pulled her in, holding her close as he stroked her hair. “What’s wrong?”

  How was she supposed to tell him she was afraid of everything? Afraid of what was happening to her sister, afraid of that horrible Dermond Tyren coming after her again, afraid of dealing with all of it on her own. How could she tell him that right here with him was the only place she felt safe, but feeling that dependent on him frightened her as much as anything else. How stupid and pathetic would that make her sound?

  Instead of answering, she shook her head, burrowing deeper into his embrace.

  “I know you’re worrying about tomorrow. Try not to. We’re going to get your sister. I promise. Right now what you need is to get some rest.” His words encouraged her to leave, but he made no move to loosen his hold.

  And she didn’t want him to.

  Biting back her pride, she made her decision. “Please don’t make me go away.”

  “I won’t.” He rubbed a hand up and down her back. “Strange house get to you?”

  “Strange dreams is more like it. And your house is freezing.” Change the subject. The last thing she wanted was to relive the horror of the nightmare she’d just had.

  The dream was so different from her normal visions, even though her father’s voice had been there. Perhaps it really had been no more than a nightmare.