I flinched as the woman started up again, her voice flowing over the noise of the crowd easily. "Are we ready to hunt?"
Shrieks and howls once again erupted as I bent down to undo the heels that laced around my ankles. When I stood back up I handed them over to Zahruk. Metallica's Of Wolf and Man came on, as the wall across the room shimmered to reveal a portal into Faery.
Twenty Seven
The room around us vibrated with powerful magic, it took a very powerful Fae to call open a portal this big. It also meant there was a leyline directly beneath Ryder's club. It was wide open, drawing from this planet and Faery alike to open it.
Wind rushed through as the hole opened, a wide meadow with a forest bordering at the edge of it stood where the wall had once been. I looked around trying to see through the wall of men that surrounded me.
"He isn't inside the club anymore Syn, he opened the portal," Zahruk said noting my quickly measured scan as he held the heels awkwardly as if he had never held a pair before.
"Here," Dristan said handing me a white cloak, "You’re the white stag," he mumbled as he met my stare, "Put it on before you go through the portal."
I accepted it slowly. The material was soft and cool against my fingers as I unfolded it and shook it out. I inhaled and let it out slowly as I hung it over my shoulders lifting my face in time to watch Adrian push his way through the wall of men around me.
He swallowed and nodded at Zahruk who nodded back and the wall of men turned as one giving us their backs to allow us privacy. "Tell me to fight him Syn and I will."
"He would kill you Adrian," I murmured as my hand went up to stroke his cold face softly.
"I'd die for you Syn, I did it once. I'd do it again," he smiled impishly.
"I told you Adrian, I don’t need saving."
"He's going to—"
"Stop," I cut him off not needing it drawn out on paper for me. "I know exactly what he will do Adrian, I'll be okay," I replied barely above a whisper knowing the wall was listening.
"It won't change, if it happens…it won't change how, or what I feel for you Syn," Adrian growled hoarsely.
"You have to let me go Adrian, just let me go," I rasped, as women started moving in the direction of the portal laughing. They had no sense self-preservation inside of them. They smiled and laughed taunting the hunters with hot looks, or sashaying their hips. "I get it now, Adrian. I get why you sacrificed yourself for us. You did it because I would have done it for you."
He smiled and nodded sadly, "I would again, in a fucking heartbeat baby."
Zahruk spoke low, but clear over the noise inside the room, "Synthia, it's time."
I exhaled and squared my shoulders, shook off the tremor that threatened to come and stepped forward, pressing a soft kiss to Adrian's forehead. "I got this Adrian, I agreed to come. I can handle this."
I scanned his face as I placed it between my hands to say goodbye but I let them drop as I felt the power ripple through the club. Electrifying and intensely powerful dark magic. My mouth went dry with whatever words I'd been about to say still inside.
I didn’t need to turn around to know he was there. I could feel his power caressing my skin, his intense stare searing into my soul. I could smell his scent wafting thickly in the air, wild and untamed, sending my senses into overdrive. He'd opened the portal and had come back to openly taunt me.
"Run fast," he whispered, as he stepped beside me to look down at me with a roguish grin that promised he'd catch me—and fast.
I didn’t reply, not because I couldn’t think of more than one hundred different ways for him to shove that smile up his ass, but because I was smart enough not to goad my soon to be chaser. Nope, I was his fucking rabbit today. He was the wolf and if I was lucky I'd make it out of this with some shred of dignity. "You shouldn’t have done this Ryder," I whispered meeting his piercing stare with one of my own.
"I suggest you stay away from the other females," he tilted his head drilling his challenge in as his eyes warned of what he meant, "And the other hunters—for their own protection."
Legends of the Wild Hunt hinted that not all of the women here would make it out alive, I turned my head looking at the women and wondering if they knew the truth if they would panic. Run, or scream maybe. I couldn’t save them and from the smile and defiance in some of the women's eyes, I could tell some were well aware of what was at stake.
"Do they know?" I asked in a small voice, as my eyes came back to rest on his. His eyes grew somber, as his smile grew tense.
He bowed his head, his voice harsh as he spoke, "Are you sure you want the answer Syn? You should be more concerned with what I plan to do with you once I have you at my mercy."
I wasn't worried with what he would do to me, I already knew. Surprisingly I wanted him to catch me. I wanted to feel his touch on my skin, his mouth seducing my mind. I wanted him and it burned inside of me like a fire out of control. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before, a need so primitive and wild that it consumed me from within.
The brunette made her way through the crowd, her full ruby lips smiling as she walked to the front of the portal. "You have a head start, I would use it wisely. When the hunters are released, the portal will close," she smiled coldly, "Locking you all in. You can only return with whichever hunter you succumb to. You may pass now." She moved to the side as women took off running in every direction.
I stood watching the others run as if their very lives depended on it, which for some it did. I watched them with a calmness I shouldn’t have felt. Well I was calm until every eye in the place turned in my direction because I had yet to exit through the portal. I smiled and turned back to Ryder. "Good hunting."
His mouth opened and closed, as if he couldn’t believe I'd just wished him luck hunting my own ass down. His smile was brilliant when it flowed onto his face. "Better fun fast and hard Pet, I suggest you start now."
"Bring it Fairy," I smiled before walking off barefooted into the Realm of Faery.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It felt as if I had been wandering around for only a few minutes, but time had no bearing inside Faery. Worse than that, I had no idea how they calculated it. I'd passed the flowers Zahruk had been talking about—with women laying around them doing things to themselves best left unsaid.
The forest was growing denser and my feet were screaming with every step I took. I'd considered stopping and just waiting for him to find me, but he didn’t deserve an easy catch. He deserved a punch in the nose, or worse.
I jumped as a ripple tore through the air, the green leaves shuddering from the force a moment before the air grew thicker, tainted with a growing disturbance. I turned and ran forward as fast as my battered feet would take me. I could hear hounds howling and snarling in the distance as I moved further into the wooded area.
Adrenaline kicked into overdrive, my mind screaming. I calmed the overwhelming urge to panic, pushing away the sound of the hounds as they howled in warning of the approaching hunter. Water beat against rocks to the west. I turned and ran towards it hoping to cover my scent from the hounds.
I ran over grass and branches and came to a skidding halt on the edge of a cliff. I peeked over the edge and scanned for a simpler way down, I looked back over my shoulder as the beating of hooves grew closer. The hounds and a hunter were growing closer, I swallowed and turned completely around waiting, watching.
I'm not sure how I knew it was Ryder that approached, maybe it was the pulsing of power radiating from his body incredibly stronger here, where it was dampened inside my world. He sat atop a beautiful stallion, the horse stomping on the ground as it fought the rider for control to run freely. Its black sleek body shining in the sun's burning light, as its wild red eyes searched frantically for more open field to run through.
The hounds broke from the bushes and circled the horse, heads low with ears drawn back as they watched me closely. I stepped back as I lifted my eyes to Ryder who had found me faster than I thought he
would. He was incredibly beautiful atop his mount. His eyes glowing from within the cloak gave him away.
He looked like something from another age long past, or a battle scene depicted in a museum. A heavy long cloak with a hood was drawn over his head in a heavy obsidian fabric that looked as if it could absorb light. Under this he wore a tunic and trousers of the same fabric. Thick black straps studded with onyx jewels set in dulled silver crisscrossed his chest and held a variety of wicked looking blades as if he was expecting a fight.
I licked my dry lips and stepped even further back and had to work to keep my balance as rocks fell from the cliffs edge. When I was back on solid ground, I flung my eyes back towards the Dark Prince. His eyes swirling with the adrenaline from the hunt, his wild electrical current wickedly abundant here sizzling over my flesh, kissing it.
"Careful Syn," he whispered as he lifted his hand to remove his hood exposing his face. He was even more beautiful in full Fae form. His face was lit up with his brands, his chest showing them as well from where his cloak was open enough to show it enticingly.
I said nothing, just watched him as he did the same to me. I looked down once more judging the distance between the top of the cliff and the enchanting pool below it, a waterfall pounded into the pond from the other side relentlessly. It was beautiful and serene so unlike the emotions and adrenaline pulsing through me now.
He narrowed his eyes as he figured out what I was planning, "Don’t you even fucking—"
I spun around and jumped.
A few things go through your mind when you do something stupid. Like, oh hell this was stupid, along with that moment of perfect clarity of this might be the last stupid thing you ever do. I'd just swan-dived off a cliff without any knowledge of how deep the water was, or if it held the Lochness Monster in its watery depths.
I didn’t have long to wait before I hit the water smoothly and luckily it was deep enough to dive into. I turned my body around and pushed off the rock's slime covered tops and crested the water's surface effortlessly. I scanned the top of the cliffs for Ryder, but he was no longer there. I turned towards the shore and kicked my legs sending my body in the correct direction. When my feet were able to touch I walked up and sat on a rock to catch my breath.
"That was stupid," Adrian said from behind me.
I spun around and took him in, he was wearing a cloak similar to Ryder's but Adrian's was crimson instead of onyx. I backed away from him, my feet once again in the watery pool. "Adrian," I warned as he lifted his blood red eyes that matched his cloak to me. Looks like Ryder wasn't the only one who looked different inside of Faery.
"I won't fight him Syn, but I damn sure not leaving you unprotected in this Fairy cesspool. Don't ask me to," he said taking the place where I had been sitting on the rock.
I stood in the pools cool embrace, letting the soreness from running wash away with the crisp cool water. "What's it like Adrian?" I asked lifting my eyes to meet his.
"Don’t ask me if I sparkle, so fucking tired of being asked that," he smiled but it wasn’t the same as he had when we were together, he now had fangs that took away from it and left it cold, "It's different, I was able to keep the connection I had to you though. I should have let it go, but I couldn’t bring myself to since it would have been felt by the coven. Didn’t want you coming to look for me, wasn’t safe."
"You should have, it left us open Adrian."
He was about to reply when he turned his head and disappeared the same as he had last time. I stood in the water, not daring to move as Ryder walked through the clearing to the ponds edge. "You jumped off a fucking cliff, Syn."
I smiled and nodded my head as he stepped closer, his hounds surrounding us silently. When he reached me and stood inches away he sniffed the air and shook his head, his eyes slowly searching my body for injury.
"I'm an enforcer and oftentimes an assassin Ryder. I free fall from buildings when needed. I jumped, but I'm fine—besides being wet," I said icily. I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for him anyways. I gave him my best smile before wading further away from him back into the water.
He followed me in slowly. His boots making the water ripple as he walked up behind me and pulled my body back against his heat. "Decide Syn," he said quietly.
"Either way, I end up with you Ryder. It's not a choice," I spun around in his arms and lifted my face to him. I wrapped my hands through the cloak's soft material and watched him as he lowered his head slowly.
"I need you to say it out loud Syn, I won't force the answer from you," he replied before dropping his lips to fan softly across mine.
I gasped at the connection, it was sizzling. My mind went blank as his arms pulled me in as his kiss deepened until air was insubstantial, everything faded away but him and the need to have him, to allow him to dominate me. He pulled away as I gave in, "Let me have you for one night," his eyes searched mine briefly.
"Yes," I replied with more heat in my tone then I had thought would be there.
His mouth claimed mine in a demanding kiss. When he pulled away dragging me towards his massive stallion, I had to run to keep up for fear of being dragged in his haste. "Where are we going?" I asked taking in the sizes of some of the hounds who now followed us. They were huge and one had emerald green eyes that watched me, intently.
He spun around and smiled victoriously, his hand releasing mine as he reached into the cloak and pulled out the silver chain I'd been relieved of inside the club. His eyes locked with mine as he leaned in to place it over my head and click the clasp back into place, I moaned against him as the pleasurable emotions flooded through me once more. He held me through them. His eyes watching the reaction with pleasure, "I'm taking you some place we can be alone, come."
Alone, with Ryder. I shivered, but managed to hide it from him as he easily jumped up to straddle the horse and offer me his hand. I'd never even been on a horse before, sure I'd seen a few in the sprawling countryside, but riding them was an entirely different thing than looking at them as I passed them in a field.
He pulled me up to sit in front of him, I almost screamed when the horse decided to buck once under the weight. Ryder's boyish laughter was the only thing that kept me on the monsters back. "He can feel your unease Syn, lean back against me," he continued.
I leaned against him and he took off at a slow trot, the hounds easily keeping up with us as he made his way south, down a small trail. It was hard to think of anything else besides Ryder as we made our way through the dense foliage. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of his massive body beneath mine. Like this with him I felt safe, as if I could let go and not worry about protecting everything around me.
I opened them as I felt the air grow thick around us, power radiated from the male behind me as we stepped through one scene into another. I gasped as the sensation of being in two worlds collided through me, intense and overwhelming, yet painless. "You sifted us?"
I looked around marveled at the scenery. It was beyond anything I had ever imagined. The sky was a mix of vibrant oranges, blues and reds as two moons sat on the horizon, cresting over the top of a mountain. The area around us was a grassy knoll, with a thin body of illuminated water that flowed into a pond, which was fed from a waterfall.
Ryder leaned against my ear where I sat up to get a better look around and whispered, "Welcome to the Fairy Pools Syn," wicked laughter followed his words, "And no, I didn’t sift us so much as I opened a new portal to Scotland, a Scotland unlike any you will ever see from a tour guide as this side of Faery. These pools cross between our worlds and feed the Fairy Pools of the human world."
"The Fairy Pools?" I asked turning my gaze back to where the water looked illuminated from beneath the glowing surface. I'd heard about the Fairy Pools in Scotland, had always wanted to see them. The algae glowed beneath the water and created an enchanted beauty which had earned it the name of the Fairy Pools. "It's beautiful," I said when he said nothing.
He dismounted and held his hand
up for me to do the same. I did willingly, as the horse instantly started to thrash without his master mounted on his back. Ryder released the reins he had held in his other hand and slapped the horse's hindquarters which sent the wild beast running. I watched it run to the edge of the water and lower its head to drink.
I dismissed the horse as I turned around to find Ryder staring at me, his eyes smiling with victory. His smile was captivating, if not a little bit too cocky. "So what happens now, Ryder?"
"Now you finally give in and admit you want me," he purred huskily.
I snorted, "Okay, I want you."
He crinkled his nose and smiled, "That's not what I meant and you know it."
I grinned, "Oh Ryder, I can't wait to feel you over my skin, touching, tasting me, teasing my body—"
I stopped as he tossed back his head and laughed outright. Okay, I was being sarcastic, but I had planned on teasing him and then laughing at him. Not the other way around. When he was done laughing he snapped his fingers and licked his teeth, "Get inside, there's a bath in the second room on the left Syn."
"And where the hell—" I stopped noticing a structure that hadn't been there just a moment before when I was talking.
"We're inside Faery. I can manipulate everything with magic here far easier, go bathe Syn. I will join you in a minute when I get the hounds settled," he said turning to whistle down the sprawling countryside.
I shook my head and started towards the small cozy looking house that was lit from within. It looked right in place with the sprawling countryside around it, as if it belonged here. At the door my hand hesitated, I looked up at the starless sky and twisted the knob.
Twenty Eight
Inside was another story, it looked nothing like it had from the outside. Where the front room or entryway should have been was a sprawling bedroom, the bed like the others was big enough to fit a few bodies on it. Metal framed, with white silk covering the mattress. Pillows sat over the top of it varying in shapes and sizes. The walls were covered in gold crisscross patterns while a plush carpet of the softest fabric covered the floor.