Earth's Requiem(90)

“What if we can find two hundred? Or five?” Aislinn spooned food into her mouth. Even though she was almost too done in to chew, she needed fuel before she could leave again. “How much of that was your magic?”

He shrugged. “Maybe a third. Maybe half. ’Tis hard to quantify such things.”

“Thank you.” A thought occurred to her. “Will I get stronger? So I won’t need as much help from you?”

“Och aye, lass. ’Twill be interesting to see just how strong ye get.”

Handing him the empty bowl, she opened her arms. Fionn shucked his clothing, snuggled next to her, and smoothed hair back from her face. He kissed her, mouth gentle against hers. Before when they’d come together, they’d clawed at one another, desperate with need. This time, their lovemaking was slow and sweet. His hands glided under her clothes, caressing rather than grabbing. She covered his face with kisses and strung them down his chest until he moaned low in his throat. Murmuring endearments in Gaelic, he moved enough of her clothes aside to slip a hand between her legs. She wriggled against it, savoring the climax that rippled through her.

When she reached for him, he was hard. Christ, he was always hard. Aislinn smiled and wrapped her hand around him. She licked his chest and belly, positioned herself between his legs, and took him into her mouth. She’d never done that to him before. They’d always been in too much of a hurry to slam their bodies together. Licking, sucking, and stroking, she worked her way up and down his shaft, gratified by his gasps and moans. His cock swelled and got even harder, though that scarcely seemed possible. She cupped his balls and knew he was close by the tension in them. He put a hand on either side of her head and pulled her off him. “I want to be inside you.” His voice was rough with emotion. “To feel your body around me.”



“Are you sure, because—”

“Aye, quite sure.” He pulled her on top.

She spread herself to accommodate him. He felt so incredible that it was hard to breathe when he buried his full length inside her. She’d had plenty of sex, but it had never, never felt like this. He pulled nearly all the way out, hands on her hips to keep her still. The tip of him danced just at the entrance to her vault, teasing her. She tried to slither out of his grip so she could get him back inside, but he wouldn’t let her. When she thought she couldn’t stand anymore, with every nerve ending on fire, trembling on the edge of another climax, he pushed into her ever so slowly. She came before he hit bottom, crying and shaking against him. He made that incredible sound like a big cat on the prowl and juddered hard inside her. The jolts of his release rocked her as his hands on her hips moved her just the way he liked.

Tears streaked her cheeks. Where had they come from? Overcome with emotion, she kissed him, murmuring his name over and over in between kisses.

“We shouldn’t have.” Guilt roiled through her as she pulled away. “There’s so much to do…”

He offered her a crooked smile. “That may have taken all of ten minutes, fifteen tops. I say it was time well spent. Get dressed. Go toss some water on your face, and we’ll have another go at warning more of your kinfolk.”

“How long do we have?”

“At least until Dewi returns. Then she will require all your attention.”

“You never told me why she was hanging out with the Old Ones, masquerading as their dragon, Orione. While you’re at it, does anyone know what happened to him?”

He grinned. “That sounds like the woman I love. A piss pot of questions, to be sure.”

“Are you going to answer any of them?” She couldn’t help it. She grinned right back. “By the way, I like the sound of what you just said. The part about loving me.”



His eyes softened from the midnight of a deep ocean to a mellower blue. “As do I, lass. Ye asked about Dewi. Originally, we, um, assigned her spy duty under Taltos. She’d run into a patch of difficulties and needed to get away from Ireland and us Celts. Once she was ensconced in her tunnel, though, somehow she knew ye would turn up sooner or later. Orione was weak. She killed him and used illusion to take his place.”

“Do you know how long she waited for me?”

“Not exactly. From the sound of the tale she told us, at least a couple hundred years.” He paused a beat. “Mind ye, she returned to Ireland—mayhap, even to the States—from time to time. She dinna hunt any of us down, but she did spend time with your mother.”

Aislinn sucked in a surprised breath and blew it out in a whoosh. “That’s a hell of a long time before the last Surge—”