AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He’d learned a lot about Jezzie in the last five months. She’d been raised mostly by her aunt because her mother was afraid the mystery man who thought he’d killed her would come back again. Her aunt was a witch, one of the best. Together he and Jezzie had faced, and fought creatures which should only exist within the minds of frightened children, or on the pages of some terrifying horror novel, so he’d seen first hand how tough his Jezzie was.
He was one of the few who knew who her father was, and the thought of meeting him, as daunting as meeting your mate’s father after the deed was done already, was, in and of itself, struck icy terror into his heart. If her father dared reject her, he just might attempt to kill the bastard himself. Attempt, because he knew he wouldn’t stand any chance of actually succeeding.
All the things he’d learned, big and small, and still she managed to surprise him. She knew Leraie. A being steeped in mystery, someone most never even caught a glimpse of, and she knew his Jezzie. Even fewer had seen her second face, he was sure he’d be impressed if he wasn’t also shitting his pants a little at the thought of what she was capable of. The first angel. The very first vessel created by the Almighty to house both dark and light. Rumored to have gone mad for millions of years from the agony of warring forces inside her as they battled for supremacy. Messenger of the Almighty, and Commander of The Unseen.
How did he know all of this? Because, as isolated as his birth realm now was, they hadn’t always been so. Leraie was as old as the first stars ever to light the sky of the first realm. Despite popular opinion, that realm wasn’t the one named Earth. She was a being of legend, even to dragons. Nobody crossed Leraie, ever. So then, why was Michael still standing with nary a scratch? Why had disappointment and hurt flashed across her face the instant before her second nature took over?
It was that side of Leraie which terrified Nithe. The unknown danger of her dark side which held a slight menace and caused shivers of apprehensive goosebumps to cover his skin. All too reminiscent of the darkness which haunted his nightmares.
His arm bounced up and down, his shoulder jarred as he stumbled over progressively rougher stones in the floor, and he was jolted out of his ruminations. Jezzie’s excitement bubbled out of her and filled the air with childlike exuberance. So unlike the somber Jezzie just moments ago. No, now she had a purpose. Some way in which she could ease her cousin’s suffering.
The closer they got to Paradise, as Tana had named it, the more rough-hewn the corridor became. The walls, floors, and ceiling became nothing more than a tunnel, dug out with pickaxes and shovels. It was purposely done, unlit and filled with the smell of wet, musty earth.
The Almighty had created this space for Michael back when he’d first arrived. While he was kept captive here with the excuse of some destined fate, it was never intended to be a punishment. Michael, however, saw it differently.
As they rounded the last corner and faced the stone wall of a seemingly dead end, Jezzie reached out her hand to touch the smoothest part of it. The slight hitch in her breath and the sharp scent of blood came seconds before the wall moved, parting like curtains to reveal the splendor of the land within.
It always had the power to inspire both awe and peace in him. The grass was lush grass, the mountains peaked high in the clouds, and the sun shone down on them with a comfortable warmth. Never too hot or too cold, always just right. How such a large expanse of land, complete with its own sky and climate managed to fit in the tiny cutout deep in Michael’s lair was a miracle. It rained when the plants needed rain, the seasons shifting on a whim, even as the sun stayed the same until the moon rose to usher in the night. Small woodland animals roamed free, and the waterfall and lochs were a divine experience in and of themselves.
“Come on, Ni. We need to hurry. Thank fuck the gardens aren’t far from the door, otherwise we could have been hiking for hours.”
Jezzie gave him a wink as she licked at a rivulet of bright red blood as it trickled down her palm toward her wrist. Her pretty pink tongue swirled expertly to catch every drop before it could leave her flesh. Blood held power, he knew that. Dragons were taught the truth of this from the cradle. Many a dragon had been brought undone by blood magic, even at inexperienced hands.
Watching Jezzie lick it up and run her tongue along her pearly white teeth had the instant effect of making him as hard as the stones beneath his feet. So much so the teeth of his zipper were probably leaving permanent indents along his shaft. By her wink she knew the effect her actions had on him, cheeky minx.
Her giggle echoed in the air as she bolted seconds before his hands would have grabbed her waist to haul her up against the monster she’d roused. Nithe sprinted after her, lifting her in his arms as they slid to a stop in front of the garden gate.
Giggles turned to howls and pleas for mercy as he tickled her senseless. She loved tickles in that she loved to be the one tickling, on the other hand being tickled was pure torture for her. Something of which he was reminded moments later as her foot flew back and kicked him right in the balls. Finding herself unceremoniously dumped on her ass on the pebble path, Jezzie let out an indignant grunt. Her grumpy look faded as she noticed him keeled over and hunched on the ground.
“Shit, Ni. I’m so sorry, sweetie. I’ll kiss it all better later, I promise. I didn’t mean it. Are you okay? Ni, say something. You’re scaring me,” Jezzie begged, her voice full of contrition and concern as she dropped to her knees to cup his cheek in her palm.
“I’m fine,” he managed to wince out before he took a deep breath and pushed to his feet, her soft skin still pressed to his face.
She looked so forlorn he couldn’t resist placing a light kiss upon her downturned lips, and found himself wrapped in the tight embrace of her arms in a flash. Another soft kiss on the top of her head as he inhaled the scent of her hair had her looking up with a small smile, her eyes soft and doe-like in the spring sunlight of another day in Paradise.
“Let’s get this done, Jez. The longer we take the longer Tana suffers.”
Those words set a fire under his woman’s ass as she bolted for the baskets kept by the gate. She hurried through it, weaving through the myriad of maze-like garden beds and paths as she shouted instructions over her shoulder, listing ingredients he needed to collect. As if he knew what even half of them were.
She stopped and looked back when she realized he hadn’t moved and finally yelled, “Cherries.” At last, something he could identify easily. Nithe grabbed a basket and raced to the fruit tree section of the garden.
Once he’d completed the task, he raced back to the gate to await his next instruction. Except, Jezzie was already waiting with three baskets on the ground at her feet filled with a myriad of different ingredients. She watched him approach, and her impatient frown turned into a smile, then a chuckle, and though she tried to hold it back, snorts escaped until she devolved into fits of laughter.
“You, you . . . Sorry, give me a moment.”
He stood there utterly perplexed and waited for her to calm herself, unsure as to what he’d done. Did he have twigs in his hair? Cherry juice on his face? Sure, he’d snuck a few in, but cherries were his favorite fruit, what did she expect?
“You told me to get cherries, so I got cherries. Did I do something wrong?” he asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
“Yes, I did, didn’t I? Some cherries, not the whole tree, sweetie.”
Nithe felt his shoulders droop, he felt a little silly for having picked so many.
“Ni? Sweetie? I actually love that you picked so many. They’re my favorite, too. Also, it means whatever we don’t use we can eat later, and I can lick the juice from your sexy as sin naked body.”
By the time she finished speaking her voice had turned to a sultry husk and a shiver of anticipation heated his blood. Oh, how he looked forward to coating her smooth, wet lips and licking the mixed juices from between her spread thighs.
“Let’s focus then, a stór. I know how much Tana means to you. How long will it take to prepare everything?”
