Page 19 of A Brighter Yellow
“Licking!” she squeaked.
“Right,” he said, rubbing his thumb around her clit in a circle as he leaned down to kiss her. “That’s with the tongue?”
He slipped his finger inside her as her mouth opened to him, and they kissed. She groaned into his kiss, and he pulled back. He had every intention of licking her until she screamed his name. He kissed his way down her body, continuing to work her with his fingers. He paused his mouth over her pussy, keeping his eyes locked on hers. She was biting her bottom lip in anticipation.
“Hey, Anna!” bellowed Baird from somewhere in the keep beyond Anna’s door, and they both froze. Anna’s eyes scrunched closed as if she were wishing herself a thousand miles away. She turned toward the door.
“Yeah, Dad?” she yelled back. Her lung power was impressive.
Ochre stood up and looked around in a panic for his clothes and or someplace to hide.
“I’ve been thinking about that Ochre kid.” Baird’s voice was getting closer. Anna mouthed a swear word and leapt off the bed. She grabbed up a bathrobe, spritzed herself with something from her dresser top, and went out into the hall. Ochre thought about not listening, but then he realized that he wasn’t that much of a goody-two-shoes and tip-toed to the door.
“What about Ochre?” asked Anna.
“Well, I know you’ve been going through your gran’s old journals, and I know you’re always talking about wanting to leave the farm and go do things. Well, what if, and hear me out here, what if you maybe asked him to take the journals and get them translated?”
There was a silence, and Ochre had the distinct impression of rage and frustration coming from Anna. He hurriedly pulled on his boxers and pants and pushed his ear back to the door.
“I’ve already translated the journals, Dad,” she said. “Why would I give them to Ochre?”
“Well, they’re Fae. Knowing about magic is what they do. They would probably be able to tell you stuff.”
“I also know about magic. I set up the wards on the farm. Remember?”
“Yeah, you did it real good!” Baird sounded like he was being forcefully cheerful, and it came off condescending as hell. “But I meanrealmagic. Anyway, think about it. I bet they could answer lots of questions for you. Plus, I’m pretty sure his gran, Diana, is just over in Abingdon. So there wouldn’t need to be any of this roaming around nonsense. You wander too much. People are going to think you’ve gone lone wolf.”
“Thanks, Dad,” said Anna, and even through the door, Ochre thought she was gritting her teeth. “I’ll think about it.”
Anna came back in and gently shut the door behind her. Ochre wasn’t sure what to say. He pulled his shirt back on and tried to figure out what she was feeling.
“Were my spells really shitty?” she suddenly demanded, her tone brittle and sharp.
Ochre pulled back at the assault from her emotions.
“No,” he said. “They seemed solid.”
She looked up at him angrily. “You said you bolstered them. If they were solid, then why did you do that?”
“You’re using a standard warding spell. It’s definitely going to take a direct attack. But my magic is based in the natural world. When we overlap the two styles,” he put his hands on top of each other, “they both get stronger. It’s like, um,” he searched for a metaphor, “fish scales.” He shook his head. That wasn’t quite right. “I don’t know. You’d have to ask Azure. She’s the one that’s studied all this and can explain it. I can do it, but I’m not very good at talking about it.”
Anna relaxed a fraction, but while the angry edge had softened, it had been replaced by sadness.
“I have busted my ass trying to learn all this stuff because I want my pack to be safe, and I want us to have a future. And I know that I’m not the best at any of it, but I’m not… I’m not nothing!”
The ache behind her words seared right across his heart, and he immediately lunged forward and pulled her into his arms.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Hugging you?” he offered. He actually wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing. He wasn’t at all sure why Anna affected him the way she did. He just knew that Anna hurting was something that he would do anything to prevent.
“Oh.”
“I could stop.” Possibly. He wasn’t sure about that either.
“Um. No, this is OK.” She rubbed her face into his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him. If he could have purred, he would have. Hugging Anna was delightful. “Do you think,” she said after a minute, “that it’s safe to leave my family while we look for Charlie?”
“I think we’ve got at least forty-eight hours,” said Ochre.
