Reality sucked.
I cried harder, promising myself that this was the last time. This was the last time I cried over my life. Tomorrow, I'd pick myself back up, kill the asshole that did this, and move on. In that exact order. I was getting ready to pull away from Adrian and ask for the water when Ryder sifted in, and growled an inhuman sound that made my spine stiffen and my heart race.
I turned, and leveled him with a pointed look. “Did everyone get out? Is there anything left?” My voice hitched, and cracked as I said it, which made his eyes soften a bit. He nodded, lifting my hope. “How bad is it?”
“House is a total loss. We managed to save a small portion of the clothes, pictures, and anything pertaining to your parents that we could find.”
“Wait, you went back to get my stuff?” I asked, incredulous that he would risk anyone's life for things I cherished. On one hand it was sweet, while on the other, it was stupid.
The tick in his jaw was working overtime now. “Yes, I took immortals inside a fucking inferno for your stuff; things that I couldn't replace, or anyone else could for that matter. Fae can’t undo that kind of damage, or turn back time, but we can recreate what we have seen. We just don’t know what was in there so that we could reproduce it for you, so we tried to save what we could. I know how humans like to keep memories from their past.”
“Thank you, thank you all,” I said, looking around to find people covered in smoke and soot from the fire. “Next time, Ryder, screw the stuff, and kill the motherfucker who did it. Don't risk anyone's life for things. They are only items, and even if they can’t all be replaced, I’d choose safety over things any day.”
He stared at me openly as if I'd just shocked, confused, and made his day all in one sentence. I moved closer, until I was standing on my tiptoes, and kissed his untouched cheek. “And thank you for saving me.” Because I, like a ninny, had forgotten I could sift! And he'd known I would, predicted it, and saved me from death. I wasn’t quite done with Transition yet, and this could have put a damper on my future as an immortal.
He wrapped his arms around me, pulled me closer, and whispered in my ear, quiet enough that only I could hear him. “You almost got killed yet again, Synthia. I'm about to wrap you in fucking bubble wrap.”
I smiled against his chest. “I hear plastic isn't in these days and, besides, it wouldn’t last long since I have a weakness to pop the bubbles.”
He laughed, but it wasn’t the musical one I wanted to hear. I could hear his heart hammering wildly inside his chest. My own was matching his in tempo. “Someone openly tried to kill you tonight, Synthia. Come back to Faery with me where I can keep you safe,” he said with possessiveness flooding his tone.
“No, someone tried to kill me. Tonight, I'm upset. Tomorrow, they die. I won’t run from a fight, and this guy needs to be dealt with,” I smiled sadly as I pulled away. “I'm not hiding. I'm just not that type of person, Ryder. They want me; they can come and try to get me.”
“They just fucking did. They blew up your fucking house with you inside of it! If I hadn't been there,” he paused, and shook his head as if dispelling the thought. “You'd be inside that burning fucking mess.”
“But I’m not, because you saved me. They failed, because the guy at my side is the biggest baddest boogeyman on the fucking block. They failed, and if I hide they win. I can get knocked down, but what I can't do is stay down. Don't ask me to, because it will be no, every fucking time.”
He shook his head and grinned. “All right, then we need to figure out who is trying to take you out. It could be the same asshole who keeps showing up at your house, or…Could it be someone from the Guild or, perhaps, one of the fanatics outside of the Guild?” he asked, raising a brow.
I crinkled my nose and nodded. “It’s possible. If they are making a list and collecting information on those who were sympathetic to the Fae inside the Guild, I’d be on that list by default.”
“Drinks, come sit at the bar,” Vlad said when he noticed it was going to be awhile, and I was shaky on my legs at best right then anyway. I guess almost getting blown up had that effect on a person. I sat beside Ryder as his men circled his back.
I'd noticed that anytime he couldn't put his back to a wall, they became the wall that stood at his back. He was always guarded and never alone; unless we were inside a room together. I was willing to bet that someone stood close to the door guarding it as well. He was important to his men; even if he wasn’t the Dark Heir, he was definitely a prince who was extremely important to his people. He had an elite guard of men he cared about, and who worked like a well-oiled machine. He was fast enough to remove me as a bomb went off in my house, and strong enough that people listened without questioning him. He was primal, sexual, and deadly to his very core.
“We’re out of tonic right now. Gin and seven, ok?” Vlad said, and my stomach pitched and rolled with the sound of the drink.
“Just a bottle of water please,” I replied, smiling when he cussed.
“This is a bar. I can’t do my stereotypical bartender moves if you only order water.” He winked, joking with me as he tried to lighten the mood.
“Do I need to throw up everywhere, because right now the only thing I can stomach is water?” I countered and watched his face turn to a mask of disgust.
“So rather you didn't. Water it is.”
“Okay, so we know the Fae who showed up at the house knows you. He said as much, and he was in your memories. What we don’t know is if he was with the group of Fae that were with the Mages who attacked the mansion or if he is also the one who blew up the house,” Ryder said as he brought me back to the reason we'd sat down at the bar in the first place.
“Yes, he was there. He raped my mother, and he's the one that killed my father. He also had fangs—like mine,” I whispered past a lump as the memories flashed to life inside my mind. They were no longer as painful as they had once been.
“He knew your name as well, Syn, and he didn’t set the wards off. It’s curious that he got through while they instantly seek anyone else out. Question is, who is he and why does he want you dead? He’s definitely after you alone. It’s possible he was sent to kill you.” Ryder said.
“No idea. Considering we don’t know who I really am yet, I have no idea why anyone would want me dead.”
“We need to figure it out. It might help us determine who is trying to kill you.”
“Alden said that the wards might have been guarding against the Unseelie, but since there are hundreds of different kinds, it would be impossible to narrow it down to just one caste.” The entire club went silent with the word, as if it was taboo to speak it out loud. You could have heard a pin drop from across the room. I looked around, and back to Ryder, since the most I could see was a wall of backs guarding us.
“Could be, but that doesn’t make sense. What would the Unseelie want with you? You are not even of our world, and most of the Unseelie are not allowed into the human world.”
“It took you to your knees the first time you came in; maybe you are Unseelie,” I pointed out.
“That happened one time, and we discussed why that might have happened.” He smirked boyishly. “So, there goes that theory.”
“Okay, but why hide me from the Unseelie? It makes no sense.”
“It makes no sense in a human world, but in ours every caste is always at odds with another. One clan could have hidden you from another. Stop thinking as a human, and start thinking as what you are, Syn. Nothing will ever make sense if you keep thinking as a human. We just need to figure out why they wanted you hidden to begin with. That might lead us to who is trying to kill you.”
“Okay, so say they did. How do we tell which caste he's from, or me for that matter?”
“We don't. We set a trap.”
“With what?”
“With someone who looks like you,” he replied.
“Why not just use me?”
“Fuck. That.”
“I second that,
” Adrian shouted over the wall of men.
“I'm not some damsel in distress, and you’d all do well to remember who I was before I changed, because I’m still me.”
“You’re also sick, Synthia. Something is making you unstable, you have yet to tap into the powers you were born with.”
“Maybe it's too much testosterone arguing with me?” Everyone inside the club snickered at that.
“Only way you're going out as bait is if I'm standing right fucking beside you.”
Chapter Twenty Three
Several hours later, we sifted into Ryder's club basement, forgoing the elevator for the more direct route. My house had looked exactly like you would imagine a house would look like if a bomb went off inside of it. Alden had shown up soon after Ryder had sifted me in to see the wreckage, so that I could see the damage for myself. It had been heartbreaking to see it destroyed, but I'd refused to cry or show any more emotion, since it was only a house and no lives had been lost in the destruction.
Alden had been glad to see that he didn’t have to dig me out of the pile of ashes to bury me properly. He'd also reported that the Scribe had made progress on the protection wards that were now destroyed. He had requested more pictures of the wards to determine exactly which caste we were up against, but that was now a dead lead for us.
I yawned, and peeked at Ryder as he walked beside me. I just wanted a bed, and to sleep for days if I could. The look in his bronze eyes told me he wasn’t planning on sleeping. I bit my bottom lip to keep from smiling.
He leaned over and whispered seductively in my ear, “Don't bite that lip too hard, Pet. It makes me want to do very bad things to it that would feel really good.” He pulled away with a wicked grin tugging on his beautiful mouth. I looked at the walls of the corridor, which had begun to glow as we walked through it.
“After your little visits, I had the entire corridor warded. It's only visible right now because I allowed it to be,” Ryder said, waving his hand to light up the ward in front of a familiar door, before turning it off. He pushed the door open and stepped back as he motioned for me to precede him in to the room. His eyes met mine invitingly, and something like anticipation flashed in them as he waited for my response to his silent request.
I stepped through willingly, my eyes taking in the details of the room that I had Transitioned in. The bed was inviting, and the thought of Ryder and what we would be doing soon, was even more so. Right now, I needed him; needed him to erase the shock and anger of what had happened. Hunger was also playing with my mind. I needed to feed, and I wanted it to be only from him. I didn’t want to find someone else to feed from, and the realization of that was frightening.
“Syn, are you okay? You’ve been through hell tonight,” Ryder said gently from behind me.
“It was only a house,” I replied, but my voice had cracked with the words.
I felt his breath fan against my neck enticingly as he moved closer. “It was more than a house to you, Synthia. It was the home you loved. You felt more for it than you are letting on. I can feel it from the mark you bear.”
“Still, it was only a house. I’m grateful no one was injured in it. I’m only here because you saved me.” I turned to face him, my eyes telling him I was his for tonight, in any way he wanted me. “Ryder, I need to thank you…” I let the meaning hang in the air precariously between us.
“I told you that I would protect you, Pet. You don’t need to thank me for saving what is mine,” he replied, but I could see his eyes lighting from within. I knew it had little to do with hunger, and everything to do with me submitting to him.
“I know, but I want you right now. No walls, just barebones right now, please. Tonight I’m giving you me, just me. Unless you don’t think you can handle it, Fairy,” I challenged him. I knew his touch could make me forget everything that had happened tonight.
“I can handle it. The question is, are you sure you want what you are asking me for? If we do this, I’m going to make you scream for me, and I’m going to want to keep going until I’m sure you want no one else but me ever again. I’m drawn to you in a way that I’ve never been to another person before. I don’t want to feel this for you, but I can’t shut it off either.”
“I want you. Just you, Ryder,” I whispered, not backing down from his challenge.
“You want me, and you already know what I want. You know what pleases me. Show me that you want me as much as I want you right now. No walls between us, and I promise I’ll give you no pain this time.”
I shivered as the magnitude of what I had requested settled in to my system. He stood there, dressed in his clothes, and, for once, I didn’t want him to use magic on them. I wanted to undress him, to reveal his beautiful body to my eyes slowly, and kiss every inch of him as I did so.
I stepped closer to him, enjoying the electrical tingle that came from standing too close to him. I reached up with my hands as my eyes lifted to hold his. I smiled shyly, which made no sense. He’d had me five ways from Sunday, and, yet, every time seemed like the first to me.
I finished unbuttoning his shirt, and removed it from his shoulders, discarding it on the floor carelessly. I licked my lips hungrily as I undid his belt, and worked his zipper to reveal his magnificent cock. It sprung out, hard and ready to be kissed.
He hissed, and a feral growl built inside his magnificent chest. I raised my hands to test the silk of his chest and the taut skin of it. My eyes took in every brand and beautiful curve of his tight abs. I lowered my mouth until I was close enough and then I kissed his nipple and allowed my tongue to flick against it, enjoying the moan that broke from his lips as I slowly worked at seducing him.
I was a glutton for punishment, but there was something magical about seducing a beast such as Ryder. I clamped my mouth around his nipple and sucked against the puckered flesh. I scraped it gently with my teeth as he continued to make sounds of pleasure, which clued me into how much he liked it. My hand lowered and sank in to his jeans.
I pulled his erection the rest of the way out so my fingers could curl around his cock, and his moan was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. I smiled wickedly as I lifted my eyes to meet his, and continued stroking his need. This man was made for sex—it showed in his size and, in his need that was bared in his gorgeous amber depths.
“What did it feel like when you watched me in my bedroom?” I asked, watching him sift away from my seeking hands to the bed, as if he needed to put distance between us to think. He settled onto the enormous stack of pillows, and lay his head down on them before turning those burning amber eyes toward me again.
He swallowed before he could answer, and it made me smile. He let his eyes trail down my body before he snapped his fingers, and I was entirely naked before him. “I’d never wanted to be buried balls-deep in anyone as much as I wanted to be inside you.”
“You could have taken me at any time you wanted to, and simply erased my memories. Why didn’t you?” I was curious. He’d gone to some pretty extreme lengths to get me to his bed, and yet he could have easily taken it from me, and I’d never have known the difference. He hadn’t though. Instead, he’d waited for me to say yes. That alone told me he wasn’t the monster he pretended to be.
“Because I wanted you to remember me, to remember I’d had you,” he replied openly as he reached down and began stroking his need as I watched. I was breathless; with every stroke he took of his magnificent organ, it became harder to breathe.
“But I was only a mortal back then. Why would some glorious creature like you, want me?” Yes, I was fishing, sue me. I wanted to hear him admit that he wanted me. Right now, I needed to know that I mattered for more than just sex to him. I needed to know he didn’t do what he had done just to get laid.
“I honestly don’t know, Synthia. I just knew that I had to have you. You were this exception to everything I knew of humans. You never sought anything for yourself, except that little pleasure you gave yourself at the end of the night. You lived to make this
world safer, even though no one knew you were doing so. You took no glory in killing the Fae, even though you could have. You were the most beautiful creature I’d ever laid my eyes on, and you didn’t even know it. I wanted you to know that I was inside of you, and I wanted you to be mine. I wanted you to know the feel of me fucking your tight pussy, even if it was only the one time.”
I felt his magic clamp down on both of my nipples at the same time, and a gasp exploded from my lips. I allowed his magic to once again take over and pleasure my body as I stood bared before him. It pressed harder on my core, creating a maelstrom of pleasure as the incredible sensations started to build inside of me. I felt it release, and I met his eyes in wonder as the intense sensations started again. His eyes watched me from where he lay on the bed as my body shook from the pleasure he was giving me while I still stood near the door.
I wanted to know what he’d looked like as he’d watched me. Had he stroked his cock while he’d watched me doing the same to myself? Had he needed to because I’d driven him insane with need? I was losing the anger from what he’d done, and when he’d saved my ass tonight, it gave me appreciation for what he was.
I walked slowly in the direction of the bed, giving him a full view of my body as I stopped right before the mattress. I smiled shyly as his eyes slid down my body, hungrily. There was no hiding his desire for me, and, even if he wouldn’t admit to having feelings for me, he wanted me. Maybe it was shallow, but tonight I wanted to feel needed. I wanted to feel his need for me, in more ways than I could admit, even to myself.
My eyes lowered to where his hand stroked still, and I licked my lips, not bothering to hide the fact that I wanted them wrapped around his engorged cock. I wanted to taste him until I knew him from his flavor alone. I lowered myself onto the bed, and crawled toward him slowly. I took my time as his eyes watched me through heated slits. I smiled at him as I lowered my mouth to where his hand slowed.
I stopped inches from the glistening tip and held my hair out of the way with one hand as I lowered my head to do as I wanted to. I licked the bead of come from his cock and watched as his hips bucked from the pleasure of my tongue. I didn’t take him into my mouth. Instead, I licked him slowly, tasting his flesh and listening to his breathing as it hitched in his throat.