Tempting the Dryad Read online

  The otter nodded. He pressed a bunch of leaves into her hand before loping after Tiago.

  Alesia inhaled raggedly. She bit her lip and concentrated on breathing until she had herself under control.

  Her fingers tightened on the leaves. The crisp scent of watercress filled the air. She glanced down. Fausto had given her a handful of early greens.

  She let out a half-sob, half-laugh. “Oh, belo. Food isn’t going to make this better.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Cleia collapsed on top of Dion and waited for her breath to settle.

  He wrapped his arms loosely around her. Beneath her cheek, his chest rose and fell, his heart beating hard and fast from their loving.

  She let out a contented sigh. Stars, but she adored her big, hard-bodied shifter, even when he was at his dominant, overprotective worst. He was finding it even more difficult to back off now that she was carrying their first child. Goddess help her when she actually started showing.

  “Mm.” She pressed her lips to the underside of his jaw and lifted off his chest to curl up next to him, head on his shoulder. She smoothed a hand down the taut muscles of his abdomen. The sun fae had a hot, fast metabolism. Dion always felt so wonderfully cool to her, like a rain shower on a summer day.

  “Amo-te,” he murmured. He turned his head to nuzzle her ear.

  “Love you too.” She tucked a lock of wavy black hair behind his ear. “Why don’t you come with me?”

  “I figured you’d tell me no.”

  She lifted her head. “And that would’ve stopped you?”

  “No.” Two fingers traced the edge of her jaw. “But I’d rather you didn’t go at all.” When she simply gazed back at him—they’d already had this argument—he dropped his head back onto the pillow. “Fine. If you insist on going, I will too.”

  Already he was acting as if it were her only option. Still, he’d made a concession; she could, too. “I’d feel safer if you were there,” she admitted.

  “Sim?” His tone was skeptical.

  After all, she had a cadre of loyal bodyguards, headed by Artan and Grady, who were so protective they even kept an eye on Dion, even though it was almost impossible for one mate to truly hurt the other. Even an argument like the one they’d just had was unpleasant, since you felt not only your own anger but your mate’s.

  And she was powerful in her own right. Not only did she have the Gift of teleportation, she had the ability to draw on the sun’s energy. If she wanted, she could fry a man to ashes. But of course, Dion knew her better than anyone, and he knew she’d never actually done it. And unfortunately, like teleportation, she couldn’t do it instantly; she needed time to access the energy, let it build.

  “Yes,” she stated firmly. “I know Artan and Grady would die for me, but you’re my mate, and besides, you have fada senses—nothing gets by you. And frankly, you think like a fada—you’ve got that twisted, Machiavellian mind. That’s what’s needed here.”

  “Obrigado,” was the wry reply. “Thank you. I think.”

  She grinned and snuggled closer. “And you have to admit the Baltimore clan has kept their word regarding Merry.”

  When Valeria and Rui’s adopted daughter turned out to be the niece of one of Adric’s lieutenants, the earth shifters had tried to steal her back. But after they saw that Merry had bonded with Valeria, Adric and the lieutenant, Jace Jones, had agreed to allow the little girl to remain at Rock Run. In return, Dion allowed Jace to meet regularly with Merry. He was Merry’s dead mother’s only brother, and besides, he was teaching Merry how to access the energy in the quartz which every earth fada required.

  “True. Adric surprised me there. I thought he’d use Merry to worm his way into Rock Run.”

  “He loves Merry.”

  “Jones?”

  “Yes, of course. But Adric does too. He’s like you in that, Dion. As alpha, he treats all the clan’s children as if they were his own.”

  “Mmph.”

  Cleia smothered a smile. Dion didn’t like being compared to the Baltimore alpha, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t true. The two men were both smart and ruthless when it came to advancing their respective clans. If Adric wasn’t the alpha of an earth shifter clan, Dion would probably be his mentor. But instead, he was a thorn in Dion’s side.

  Maybe allowing Adric to mine for quartz was a mistake, but Cleia figured that if he had a legitimate way to increase his clan’s wealth, he’d stop trying to muscle in on Rock Run territory.

  Apparently the north edge of the Rising Sun compound sat atop a rich vein of quartz that the Baltimore fada wanted. To the sun fae—and water fada—quartz was just a pretty rock, but earth shifters could do amazing things with the mineral.

  Cleia was well aware that she held the upper hand. She wouldn’t say no to a good offer, but her clan had no real need for the Baltimore shifters’ money. On the other hand, Rising Sun didn’t need the quartz, and allowing the earth fada to mine would improve relations between the two clans.

  And even better, she’d have an excuse to pay Rock Run a generous fee for protection during the mining. Before meeting Dion, she’d taken one Rock Run warrior after another as a lover, unknowingly seeking what she’d eventually found in their alpha. But she’d inadvertently been draining her lovers’ life energy, causing the clan’s downward spiral. It may have been unintentional, but it was she, Cleia, who was responsible for Rock Run’s decline. Fortunately, that had ended with her and Dion’s mating and these days the clan was doing much better. Still, the fee she’d pay them would be welcome, especially since Dion stubbornly refused to take her money any other way.

  “I still don’t like this.” Dion’s voice broke into her thoughts. “Why is Adric so eager to mine up here? Sure, he wants the quartz. But it’s damn convenient that half of it happens to be located under your territory. Not only that, it puts him right across the river from Rock Run.”

  She stifled a sigh. “What does it matter? Your people will be in charge of security. If I know you, a mouse won’t be able to squeak without you knowing. And if one of them does slip past you, my warriors will be patrolling as backup.”

  Dion expelled a breath. “All right. I have to admit, Rui’s for it.” Rui was Dion’s second, but the two of them had grown up together and acted more like joint commanders than alpha and subordinate.

  Dion’s fingers sifted through her hair. She wasn’t just the sun fae queen, she was the Conduit, drawing energy from the sun for her people’s use. The exposure streaked her hair into gleaming ribbons of gold and platinum and copper. Her mate, coming as he did from a dark-haired, olive-skinned clan, found her bright locks fascinating.

  When he spoke again, his voice was so soft she had to strain to hear him. “It’s just that if I lost you, I don’t think I could go on.”

  Her heart turned over. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.”

  His large arms wrapped around her. “I’m going to hold you to that.” He brought his mouth down on hers, hard.

  He didn’t stop until she was making high-pitched, needy sounds and rubbing herself against him. When he lifted his head, his smile was arrogant and very masculine.

  Something about that smile always brought out the devil in her.

  She slid her hand down his belly, found his rapidly hardening erection and wrapped her fingers around it.

  His breath jerked in. “Sim, querida,” he said, pressing himself into her fingers. “Touch me. Just like that.”

  She worked her hand up and down. He wasn’t cool here; he was hot and stiff. She increased the pressure and he groaned.

  “Deus, woman, have mercy.”

  She stilled. “You want me to stop?”

  “Hell no.” He closed his eyes, the lashes thick and black against his cheeks. She could sense his rising need through their bond.

  They were still on their sides, his arms loosely around her. She curved around him, one knee between his legs, her face buried in his neck, while she worked him slowly and delib
erately. Breathing in his scent, a cocktail of river and salt and man.

  A spurt of fluid coated her fingers. She spread it around the smooth cap.

  He muttered something hot and sexy and tilted her chin up so he could kiss her. She released him to sink her fingers into his wavy dark hair and sucked his tongue deeper inside.

  He broke the kiss and, turning on his back, lifted her up to straddle his thighs. She braced her hands on his chest and smiled down at him. He gazed back, his eyes intent, molten, while he explored her body as if it were brand-new to him: playing with her nipples, caressing her hips, stroking her wet, aching core. She gave a little hum of pleasure, still smiling down at him.

  His hands shaped her waist. It was too early to feel the baby yet, but each in their own way had sensed the new life before the healers confirmed it; Cleia as a tiny but vibrant source of energy a few inches below her navel, while for Dion it was by her scent and other subtle changes such as the increased flow of blood to her abdomen.

  Just yesterday, Dion had laid his head on her stomach and then gone still. “I can hear his heartbeat,” he said, his face suffused with wonder.

  Now he hesitated, one long-fingered hand over her womb. “You’re not too tired?” She opened her eyes to see his hard face so warm with love her breath snagged.

  She leaned down to press her lips to the sensitive skin just below his ear. “Never, sweetheart.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Fausto’s intrusion splashed over Tiago like an icy shower.

  He scowled at the otter but Fausto had eyes only for Alesia. She left Tiago’s lap to soothe the irate animal and he was left to gaze at them both, his blood still thrumming.

  Damn, he wanted her. He wanted to run his hands over those long, coltish limbs, tease her nipples into aching points. He wanted to tear off the green dress, bend her over the branch and take that round, firm ass from behind. He wanted to push her down on her back, spread her legs and lick and suck her for long minutes until those exotic topaz eyes were dazed with desire. And then he’d crawl over her and—

  He swallowed hard.

  The beast growled that it was all right, she wanted it.

  Take the female. Push her against the trunk and fuck her, hard and fast.

  Make her scream. Make her beg.

  Her long, tawny curls fell forward, exposing the soft ivory of her nape. He swallowed a groan.

  He had taken a dark satisfaction in having his fingers around her neck, controlling her. In that moment, he wasn’t sure he’d have taken no for an answer. He’d allowed the beast out, bent their combined will on her.

  The beast flexed its claws. Yes…take her. Show her who’s master.

  It would be so easy. He had the means to control her, to force her to do anything he wanted.

  And that was even more of a problem than the fact that he was using her to forget another woman.

  He sucked in a breath and willed his raging erection to subside.

  Alesia touched her nose to Fausto’s and something moved in Tiago’s chest. She was such a gentle soul. Fausto adored her. She fed him treats and cuddled him as if he were a pup instead of the patriarch of a large, multigenerational family. And Fausto, smart bastard, lapped it up.

  She was kind, nurturing. And too damn good for a man like him. Someone with a dark Gift, one so powerful and easily misused that even his own people feared it. If word got out, he’d be a pariah in his own clan.

  His eyes squeezed shut. When they opened, he was on his feet and zipping up his shorts.

  Alesia’s fine brows drew together. “You’re leaving?”

  He tried to apologize, but that made it worse. If only he were as callous as some of the older men—he’d just take what she was offering and then leave.

  But he wasn’t. And he couldn’t.

  This was Alesia. His best friend.

  And even though she’d seemed willing enough, he couldn’t swear he hadn’t influenced her to say yes.

  He wracked his brain for something to say but she was already on her way out of the tree, leaping nimbly from branch to branch in that way she had of seemingly ignoring gravity.

  Back on the ground, she tried to act like she wasn’t hurt, but he could see she was fighting back tears. He gulped. Lord, he was such a screw up.

  He practically ran out of the clearing.

  He told himself it was for the best. He treasured Alesia’s friendship. If he left now, there was a chance they could continue as they’d been.

  But if he took her, the shadowy, cold-hearted beast would win another victory. The beast that growled for him to shove her up against the tree and fuck her, no matter whom it hurt.

  The beast didn’t understand. If he took her, it would change everything.

  He had stashed his shorts and was nearly at the river when Fausto loped up, his disapproval plain.

  “You think this is easy?” Tiago snarled. “You think I want to leave?” He kicked at the soil, dislodging an acorn.

  He scooped it up and stared at it, hard. Compelling the budding oak curled within to grow. Faster and faster, pressuring it even when it resisted, the beast gleefully egging him on. The shell exploded, torn apart by the too-rapid growth, the tiny oak in a hundred pieces.

  The beast rumbled in satisfaction while Fausto scowled up at him.

  Sick to his very soul, Tiago flung the pieces to the ground and dove into the water.

  * * *

  He took his time returning to Rock Run. It was lunchtime and Fausto wanted to eat. That was fine with Tiago; better that than sit through another meal in the dining hall, watching his brother and Cleia. So he changed to his otter and together he and Fausto gorged on mussels, clams and smallmouth bass brought to the surface by the rain. When they were done, he left Fausto at his den and changed to his dolphin for the swim back to the base.

  He had himself under control now, but his mood was still edgy. Alesia had been on his lap, hot and open. He’d had merely to rearrange their bodies, spread her legs and he’d have been inside her. Giving her exactly what she wanted, what she’d all but begged him to do.

  And what had he done? He’d left both her and himself unsatisfied.

  His lips twisted. Hell, he was a candidate for goddamn sainthood.

  But it could’ve been worse. He’d almost lost control of his beast. His stomach clenched at how close he’d been to unleashing his Gift on Alesia.

  A fada’s Gift was a special thing. It rarely manifested before puberty and a fada could be as old as thirty turns of the sun before he or she knew what it would be. The whole family eagerly awaited its manifestation. Dion was a Gifted hunter. His second brother Nic was preternaturally good at tracking, and their third brother, Joaquim, had inherited their soothsayer mother’s ability to see a short distance into the future.

  As for Tiago, everyone, including him, had believed his Gift was to communicate with animals.

  But it seemed he’d been blessed—or cursed—with two Gifts, the second which came somehow intertwined with his beast. A Gift that was the most rare and powerful of them all.

  So rare, a generation could pass without it appearing.

  So powerful, it could make him an outcast among his own people.

  Compulsion.

  He could compel others to do his will. And he’d been tempted to use it on Alesia.

  So damn tempted.

  It struck him that this is what it must’ve been like for Petros Okeanos, the man who’d kidnapped Valeria and Merry. Okeanos had had a Gift similar to Tiago’s. But unlike Tiago’s Gift, which allowed him to compel obedience through a kind of mind control, Okeanos could take control of people’s bodies and force them to do his will as if they were puppets and he the puppet master.

  The man had gone mad with the power.

  Tiago shuddered. It was his worst nightmare—that he’d turn into the same kind of monster.

  The river nearby rippled and a sentry in dolphin form popped to the surface and shifted to man. It was Chico Nob
rega, one of his best friends. Tiago shifted to man as well and the two of them swam closer to shore and stood up in the waist-deep water.

  The son of a Rock Run man and a Rhode Island sea fada, Chico had his father’s Mediterranean coloring and his mother’s clean-cut features and easy-going personality.

  “What’s up?” he asked Tiago with a grin.

  “Not much. I just came from upriver. Everything’s quiet.”

  “Visiting Alesia?”

  The beast stirred at another man’s use of her name. “Yes,” he said shortly.

  Chico’s smile was very male. “She’s a hot little piece, no?”

  “She’s just a friend.”

  “Then you won’t mind if I try my luck—”

  Tiago’s hand was clamped around Chico’s throat before he realized he’d moved. “Stay the fuck away from her. Understand?”

  Chico swore and grabbed Tiago’s wrist. Several heartbeats passed as the two of them stared at each other, locked in a silent contest. Then his friend stilled. “Okay, okay,” he gasped. “I didn’t know. She didn’t say—”

  Tiago forced his fingers to release Chico’s throat. “When? When did you see her?”

  Chico dragged in a breath. “A week ago. Maybe more. When you were on that mission in Portugal.”

  He nodded. His squad had been in Portugal to help their ancestral clan, the Douro River fada, in a territorial skirmish with some earth shifters. “And?”

  “And nothing. The alpha sent me to check on all three dryads, make sure they were all right. Alesia was polite, nothing more. But I thought maybe—”

  “She spoke to you?”

  “Actually,” Chico admitted, “she hid from me. I traced her by her scent, but she didn’t come out until I told her I was your friend and that Lord Dion had sent me.”

  That sounded like Alesia. Tiago relaxed a bit. “She’s shy.”

  “But you know what they say about the quiet ones. And damn, there’s something about her. She’s got the tightest—” Chico’s hands shaped a woman’s ass in the air. Tiago’s lips peeled back and Chico hurried to say, “Okay, okay. I get it—she’s off limits. But you said yourself she’s just a friend.”