Fire's Ice (10 page)

* * * *

Five minutes later, Allie and Devin appeared by the fire with Liv, Jack and the twins and then flashed out of sight. Rising up out of the chair, Ari scooped Tess into her arms and moved to greet them. “Welcome.”

Liv and Jack set the children down to play.

She accepted Liv’s hug and Jack’s kiss on the cheek.

“You look lovely, Arianne. We were worried about you,” Liv said.

“Devin has taken good care of me. Raine seems to be doing okay. Any problems?”

“No. She’s been right as, well…Raine.” Jack scratched the cat’s ears. “This place is massive. I wonder how many rooms it has.”

“I’m not sure. Devin’s yet to give me the grand tour, but we’ll get there.” She knew she was blushing, but couldn’t seem to stop. “We’ve both been busy.”

“I see.” The knowing grin Jack gave his wife made Ari think maybe he knew just a little too much.

Fortunately, the air crackled again, saving her from further explanation. The object of conversation returned with Ryan, Kate, Aaron and Molly before disappearing.

“Now that’s a trip every time. I feel dizzy,” Molly commented before taking the other chair by the fire.

“Here. This will help.” Ari conjured a glass of water and gave it to Molly. “It makes me a little dizzy too.”

“You do look like my Livvy. Or rather, I guess she looks like you. So strange.” Molly held out a hand to her.

Ari shook it.

“I’m Molly. Welcome to the madness, dear.”

Kate smiled and said, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Arianne. Thank you for the gift you’ve given my daughter.”

“You knew?”

“Of course. She talks in her sleep, like her Da.”

“Oh, I do not.” Ryan grumbled at his wife. “Welcome, Arianne.” Leaning over, he kissed her cheek as Jack had, just as Devin and Allie returned with Skye, Rhiannon, Meara and Maggie.

“I’m gone five minutes and the rogue is already trying to steal my girl.” To prove the point, Devin pulled her into his arms and kissed her modestly in front of his family. “Welcome to the madness,
a ghra
.”

* * * *

When the last of his cousins had been flashed home, Devin found Ari sitting by the fireplace. “Everyone home safe?”

“And tucked in for the night. No more surprise guests.”

“They’re wonderful, Devin. It’s easy to see why you love you them.”

“Yes. They really are. Will you dance with me? I’ve been dying to get my hands on you all evening.” It had been so much worse to wait, imagining her under him in the dark and knowing where his hands could take her. He snapped his fingers and disembodied soul music floated around them. “A little Earth, Wind and Fire seems appropriate.” Devin stood and pulled her up out of her chair and into his arms. Immediately, she pressed against him, slid her hands up to his shoulders. His went around her waist and held her close.

“I would love to. I’ve wanted your hands on me all evening.” Her pretty mouth curved into a smile and she tossed her long hair back.

He shifted his feet, leading her into the dance, giving her no choice but to follow him. On a downbeat, he captured her hand and spun her away, only to bring her twirling back into his arms. He heard her breath catch as he caught her against his chest.

“
Hearts afire, love desire
,” Devin sang along softly with the music as her feet followed his, hips shifted under his hands. Her fingers combed through his hair now as they moved slowly across the great hall. Ari’s heels clicked across the slate with every step. Her thin silk dress left nothing to the imagination, not that he needed to imagine what she looked like, felt like.

Devin let the rhythm of the music seduce them. His body ached with need. Here. Now. It screamed. He could turn her against the wall, take her until they were both drowning in passion. And he knew that’s exactly what she wanted. Ari wanted a raging fire that would burn itself out in time. He had shown her the heat, that wild, lightning fast ride of desire, but there was more, so much more. He intended to give her everything possible.

“This is nice.” She sighed and laid her head on his shoulder.

“More than nice. We move well together.”

Her eyes twinkled. “Oh, yes.”

Tilting up her chin so he could look into her eyes, Devin took her lips in a gentle kiss that held the promise of heat. The low, sweet notes of the song ended. And still they danced.

Leaning close to her ear, he whispered, “Ari?”

“Yes, Devin.” He watched as she sent the candle flames into the hearth, leaving them in the dim firelight.

“Close your eyes.” Lifting her in his arms, he found his center of power and focused on the place he wanted to take her. The dark swirled around them as he bent space and flashed into his bedroom on the second floor.

* * * *

Ari opened her eyes as her body sank into the soft comforter. The shift through space made her head spin just a little. She had the impressions of dark wood, jewel tones, tall bed posts and heavy canopy drapes. Devin’s room. He lay with her across the lake-size bed. Still fully dressed in black, his favorite color, from head to toe. A throwback from his days as a thief, perhaps.

“Arianne.” Just a whisper, barely heard, and then he was taking her under with those clever hands. She wanted the heat of him, the flash and fire of quick release, not the sweet brush of his lips on her skin as he slid the silky straps of her dress off her shoulders, baring her breasts. She arched under him as he drew in the tip of her breast like breath, sending waves of heat to her core. He simply worshiped her with his touch, his kiss, leaving a burning fever in his wake. This was what it meant to crave another, to surrender to a love that left her quaking.

“Devin. Let me.”
Touch you. Taste you
. Her fingers fumbled with the hem of his t-shirt.

Finally finding purchase, she pulled it up and over his head and tossed it aside. She kissed his throat and chest, trailed her fingers down to his waistband and fumbled with the snap. Needing him, wanting him inside with a vicious ache. “I need.” Then she vanished her dress completely.

* * * *

“So beautiful and all mine.” Devin captured her hands in his, held them at her waist as he slid down her length. “Not fast this time, Ari. I want more. Take more,
mo chroi
. Take all.”

“Devin.” His name was plea and curse, request and demand as it tumbled from her lips.

“Patience,
a ghra
.” He let his fingers skim over her body, traced them with his mouth. He kissed her belly and felt her quiver under his lips. Smiling, he moved lower and replaced his questing fingers with his mouth, kissing her intimately. Her gasp filled the room, but it was her mental cry that filled his mind.

Devin!

Go higher. Fall, I promise I’ll be here to catch you.
He took her to that peak, tasted her until she writhed under his skilled mouth with her release.

“God.” She lay limp, sprawled across the bed, breath heaving, eyes closed. A smile graced her face.

“Not hardly.” A snap of his fingers disappeared his clothing. He moved up over her, took her in his arms, and settled her legs around his hips. “Look at me.” When she opened her eyes, Devin twined her fingers with his palm to palm. “I love you, Ari. Every day ’til the last, however many we have left.”

“I know. I know.” Her hands lay on either side of his face as he kissed her.

Would she ever be able to give the words back to him? He felt her nails dig into his shoulders and he slid into her, moved slowly. Aching for the connection with Arianne, Devin opened a link, allowing the dark red swirls of magic wrap around them. He felt her white wisps of power. Twined in each, wrapped in shared magic, they flew over the edge as only lovers do. Together.

Chapter 12

“Raine!” The child’s name tore from her lips as she woke. Devin’s arm was warm and heavy across her bare waist. She touched his arm and gently shook him. “Devin, wake up. Raine needs me. We have to go now.”

“Hmm. What?”

“Raine is in trouble. She’s not breathing. We have to go now. Hurry. Please.” She rolled out of bed and conjured a pair of jeans, a blue t-shirt and tennis shoes like she’d seen Allie wear after school. If only she could flash everywhere like Devin and Allie.

Devin shoved his cellphone into the pocket of his jeans, slipped on boots and a black t-shirt. “Did Jack call?”

“No. Liv did, or didn’t. It’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“Dreams, part of my magic remains linked to Raine. Her mother has a strong gift of sight, dreamed of her daughter in danger and that carried over the link to me.”

His cellphone rang. Digging it out of his pocket, Devin answered Jack’s call. “Hello. Is she breathing now? Good. We’re on our way, Jack.”

“How bad is it?”

“She’s breathing. Jack knows CPR. They’ve called Kate and the others. The rest we’ll find out when we get there. Let’s go.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and let him flash them to Liv’s cottage.

* * * *

“I was rocking her and she stopped breathing. Jack had to–”

“Listen to me, Liv.” Ari gripped Liv’s shoulders to get the other woman’s attention. “I need you to focus for me. Your daughter needs you to be strong for her and I need your help.”

“Okay. I know. It’s just she’s my–”

“It’s going to be all right.” Ari placed Liv’s right hand over Raine’s, and then took Liv’s left hand and Raine’s right one. “Your gift will help form the circle. You are her link to this world. Whatever happens, don’t let go of our hands. Understand?”

“Yes.”

Devin stood in the corner waiting and edgy. “What can I do to help, Ari?”

“Just keep Jack calm, settle Aiden down and entertain him. The others are coming too. Don’t let them interfere.” And that wouldn’t be enough for him. To have so much magic and not be able to protect his family would hurt him. She knew it was hardest to sit and wait. “Please, Devin?”

“All right.” He closed the door behind him.

Chanting the spell under her breath, Ari pulled on her power and began to draw Raine’s magic in, easier to handle now that she had shared Devin’s magic.

“I remembered something last night.”

“Oh?” Maybe it would help Liv to keep up idle chat. She could manage that well enough and still concentrate on Raine.

“When I was staying with Jack in Alabama, I had a dream of Briella. I was confused about things and she tried to help me sort it all through. She also warned me of coming danger. That warning saved not only my life, but Jack’s, too.”

“Dreams are windows into the mind for some. The heart’s truest desires are unfettered in dreams. Your gift of wisdom shows you many things others cannot see.”

“She raised her hand in welcome, and she was missing the firstborn mark, a tiny scar on the wrist.” Liv glanced pointedly at Ari’s unmarked wrist. “It was you that came to me and the others. Not Briella. What happened to your sister, Arianne?”

“Briella and her demon died the night the spell was cast. Too many mixing magics.”

“Then how did you survive?”

“After imprisoning me, Daemon cast a lust spell to compel Devin to free me. That act linked us and I fell under Devin’s protection. While he battled for his life, Devin cast a circle in blood and fire around Glen McLoch to protect his family from the MacGavins, His exact words were, ‘Shield all that has been charged to me.’”

“Devin saved you with that spell.”

“He did, yes. Inadvertently. The jewels he stole and then returned were used as powerful looking glasses. He was barred from everything within his shield. That included me. As Daemon’s magic began to weaken, he didn’t need them to see me anymore.”

“I see. May I ask one more question?”

“You may.”

“If you hated Daemon so much, why did you try to take him from your sister with magic? He was her husband.”

“That’s fair. I deserved to be condemned, if only for that. The elders held our mother in high regard and expected us to follow in her magical footsteps. Briella took the responsibility seriously and she let her craft rule her. She trained, learned more, and I was condemned for the power I was born with. Even as a child, I remember the villagers scorned me. Our parents were dead. Briella was all the family I had and she made it clear every day how much she loathed me.”