Page 34 of Fire Kissed
While the other is clinging to Latham.
My head tips up to find Aric looking directly down at me. His long fingers dip into my hips while my thighs are so tightly around his waist that my feet are holding him hard against me. At one time, we were a huddle of bodies falling recklessly from the mysterious, unseen tunnel in the sky.
Now it just looks like the three of them are going to devour me amongst themselves like wild animals finding the last female mate out in the jungle.
“I—I think...” I gaze around at the beautiful garden we’re in. Blooms of bright pink and jade blue flowers brush against the guy’s arms and my hair even. “Are we out of Hell? Are we back on Earth finally?”
Aric holds my hips tightly, his fingers digging in harder at the end before he slowly lets my feet hit the ground.
“No,” Latham whispers like the word was stuck in his throat.
A woman with enormous, purple eyes steps out from behind a moss-covered tree. Something shines from just behind her slender shoulders. She carries a frightened stature. Wild and animalistic.
Scared even.
“Hi,” I say softly, trying my best to ease her nervous appearance. But something in her innocent face is a warning bell. My beast snarls deep in my chest. There’s a conflict of emotions within me, warring over this small, terrified woman. “I—I think we might be lost,” I say slowly, my body tensing and going on defense for no real reason at all...
“I—”
She pulls a long, bowing blade from behind her back. And leaps at me.
A Cruel Realm
Rhys
A flashof magic sizzles like fire catching among the damp, humid mosses. In the blink of an eye, Latham stands in front of me, fumes of his magic swirling in black smoke off of his wide shoulders. His hand is held high in the air, and just between his thumb and four fingers is the cutting edge of the woman’s blade. A single drop of blood runs down Latham’s palm, but he stares at the bizarre woman with an unflinching gaze.
Her arms tense. An angry line forms where her mouth is, but she can’t seem to lift the weapon out of Latham’s hold. With casual violence, he flings the curved blade to the soft ground and takes a careful step closer to the beautiful woman who is now full-on hissing in his face.
“Stop!” Latham commands in a tone I’ve never heard from him. “My father is your Lord.” Confusion and disbelief shine in her hateful, violet eyes. Her long green hair sways around her sharp features, and it’s then that I make out the delicate point of her ears.
Elves...
“Tell my father I’ll see him soon,” Latham whispers as the female backs away. She slips out through a veil of tangled moss and vines.
My breath is still caught somewhere in my throat, and I have no idea what just happened.
“Was she a light elf? Like the King?” I look to Aric and Torben at my side, but it’s Latham who answers.
“This is their realm. The Realm of Light Elves.” With a swift hand, he wipes his palm against his jeans and turns back to us. “Cruel creatures. Just like the King.”
I can’t help but keep focused on the span of deep green forest that the elf disappeared through.
“Your father’s an elf?” I tilt my head at them, but it’s Aric’s booming laughter that cuts in.
His hand falls to his chest as if it hurts to laugh, but damn if he doesn’t keep on cackling at the mere suggestion of my words.
“Our father is their Lord. Lord Loki. God of Mischief. Passed that mischief bit on to his sons.” Aric winks, but his amusement fades when he looks at Latham. “Well. Not all of his sons, clearly.”
Latham rolls his pretty eyes at the shifter, but the more they explain, the more confusing it is.
“You’re brothers?”
“All monsters are the making of the God of Mischief. In a way—” Latham winces like it pains him to admit it, “Aric and I are brothers.”
But too many things are passing around my mind.
“So... you’re also brothers with my Hell cat?” A smile lights my face as I look between the two men.
