Earth's Requiem(27)

She insinuated a hand between them to grasp him, but he pulled back. His breath came fast, and color was high on his face. “No.” He shook his head. “Not yet. We’d just be using each other. Besides—”

All she could think about was wanting him inside her. She’d felt him straining against her, hard and ready. Glancing at the bulge tenting the front of his jeans, she saw that he still was. Squirming, she pressed her thighs together and ran her tongue over lips that felt swollen from their kiss. It wouldn’t take much to bring her over the edge. She locked her gaze on his, too proud to beg, but willing him to want her.

With a sound midway between a moan and a sigh, he pulled her back against him and shoved a leg between hers. He closed his arms tight around her body and held her, raining kisses down her face and neck. She came almost the minute she touched him, shuddering with release.

Wanting to return the favor, she reached for him again, but he caught her hand. “I can wait,” he murmured. “I want to get to know you.” A crooked smile lit his face. “Besides, we have to figure out how to get along out of bed first.”



Is that how it’s done? She’d been so young when the world had turned to shit. Her only experiences with sex had been furtive groping in the back seat with her boyfriend. Sex since then had been quick and impersonal. Needs filled without any emotional baggage attached. She found herself smiling back. “If we’re going to do that, we need to find some way to talk about who we are.”

He looked sheepish and reached a hand down to rearrange himself. “So we do.”

Feeling unaccountably shy—after all, he’d just brought her to orgasm—Aislinn bit her lip and said, “Maybe for starters, neutral ground would be teaching me about being a Hunter.”

He laughed. Joy lit his features with a warm glow. She liked the way he laughed. It made tiny crease lines around his eyes, and the merry sound made it seem the world was still normal. His blue eyes glowed in the morning light. “That is how we started.”

“And look how we finished.” She giggled and then realized with a shock that she sounded like a girl again. “Do you think it’s safe for us to stay here?”

“Oh, right. The fucking bats. They’re what got you in such a temper.”

“Well?” She met his gaze and raised a questioning brow.

“We’d probably be safer at my place. It’s warded.”



“Or mine,” she countered and then thought about the logistics of getting there and decided his was probably a better idea.

“Mine’s much closer.”

“It would almost have to be,” she said.

He shot her a thousand-watt grin and took her hand. “Let’s round up the animals. It’s only about a ten-minute walk.”





He took her to a cunningly constructed dugout that looked just like the neighboring hillside. She had to close her eyes and let him lead with his magic to get inside. His home was surprisingly spacious. It consisted of a cooking space, a living area, and an alcove where he’d piled pine boughs and blankets. Books sat on rough shelves, away from the dirt floor. Though a mage light obligingly followed him once they were inside, lanterns hung from hooks, too.

“Recapping, because the Old Ones knew humans would take time to become adept at flushing out the dark, they gave us animal companions. Their sharper senses, coupled with our intelligence, made for a good team. Together, we hunt the enemy, flush them out, and work with the other gifted to kill them.”

“You are not smarter than I am.” Bella squawked, flapping over to where they sat.

“It’s not polite to eavesdrop.” He smiled fondly at her and reached out to ruffle her feathered head.

“What’s eavesdrop? It sounds dirty.”

“It means listening to conversations you’re not a part of,” he informed her.

“We are part of all conversations that include our human.” Rune jumped into the fray and padded over to stand next to Aislinn.

“See.” Bella pointed a wing at Fionn. “I’m not the only one who thinks that way. If you weren’t such a loner—”

Fionn jumped to his feet, knocking a book off the table they’d been seated at. “Silence,” he thundered and thudded his fist down on the table.

“She was not right for you,” Bella said sweetly. “I merely encouraged her to move on. And her bond animal was simply impossible.”

Aislinn’s ears pricked. So there had been a lover, or maybe a wife, but the bird hadn’t liked her. “Do bond animals have a say in such things?” she asked, glancing from Fionn to the bird.