Page 26 of Outside the Veil (Endangered Fae #1)

Chapter seventeen

Plain as Lightning

D iego woke with the leaden disorientation of post-seizure. Light filtered through the window—

Window. He was inside. How and when had he crawled back into the house? And why was he still alive and not possessed?

When he blinked the clouds from his eyes, he saw someone curled up beside him, tousled blue-black hair hiding most of his face. That explained the how at any rate. He hadn’t dreamed the conversation with Finn.

“ Carino? ” Diego reached out to touch his cheek. “God, you’re like ice.”

Finn’s only answer was a soft whimper.

“ Pobre hada . I dragged you out of your waterbed too soon, didn’t I?” Diego rolled over, abused muscles protesting. It hurt like hell to move, but he had no choice. Finn couldn’t lie on the hardwood freezing.

He got up on his hands and knees, hooked an arm under Finn’s and dragged him inch by painful inch to the ottoman. With a good deal of grunting, he wrestled Finn’s long frame up and cocooned him in blankets.

“Good thing you’re so light,” Diego muttered. Kitchen. Tea. Aspirin.

Even the smallest task took a ridiculous amount of time but eventually Diego returned with chamomile tea.

He settled next to Finn, put an arm under his shoulders to lift him and held the mug to his lips.

For a moment, he worried Finn might not be responsive enough, then those soft lips moved and parted and he drank in greedy gulps.

“Slowly, slowly, you’ll burn your tongue,” Diego chided. “Are you with me?”

“Rrmph.”

“Not quite, I guess.” He put the mug down and nestled under the blankets with Finn in his arms. Even if he was weak and ill, at least he was back in one piece. Finn turned on his side to curl around him, and Diego felt safe enough to go back to sleep.

“You feel a little better?” Diego smoothed the hair off Finn’s forehead. He had woken to one black eye blinking at him in confusion.

“Oh, assuredly so. Ready to gird myself in salmon scales and battle the white-capped falls.”

“No need to be sarcastic. Even if it’s poetic sarcasm.”

“Your pardon.” Finn stretched and let out a slow breath. “I am bone-weary and aching, but no longer dizzy. My love, what possessed you to abandon the safety of the house?”

“It killed Tara McHenry. That nice park ranger who brought your collar back to me.” Diego shuddered and rested his head on Finn’s chest. “It was eating her body.”

Finn’s forehead crinkled. “So you rushed out to rescue someone who was already dead?”

“Yes. I mean, no, I knew I couldn’t save her. But I couldn’t just stand there and watch her be ripped to shreds.”

“But it was no longer her. She was gone. It was simply meat.”

Diego squeezed his eyes shut and counted to five. He lacked the energy to explain desecration of the dead. “Finn, if I were dead, would you eat me?”

“Eat—” Finn wrinkled his nose. “Ugh. No. Humans taste disgusting.”

“Never mind. The point is that it was taunting me with Tara’s body. It threatened more murders, though, that was what got to me.” He told Finn everything that had happened and every thought the creature had sent to him.

“A moment. I find myself confused. You heard it so clearly? You understood it so completely?” Finn tried to sit up and gave up on a little moan.

“Yes, there’s no question what it wanted.”

“How curious. Its thoughts seemed so indistinct to me, so muddy and jumbled.”

“Maybe it’s used to talking to humans. Or maybe it was so muddled when it had you the first time because it just woke up.”

“Perhaps.” Finn chewed on his bottom lip. “And it called you Shaman?”

“Yes. Is that important?”

“It may well be. I must think on it after I have a nap.”

Diego stroked a finger over Finn’s cheek, his voice cracking as he spoke.

“ Mi vida , we can’t think any more. We’re out of time.

That thing killed because of me and it’s going to kill someone else tonight unless I give it what it wants.

” He closed his eyes against the sting of tears.

“You have to keep your promise tonight.”

He buried his face against Finn’s shoulder, sobs wracking his body.

“Wsht, now.” Finn held him close. “While I encouraged you to weep, you need not weep over this. Not yet. The beast is wounded and sleeping. It will not hunt tonight. We have at least that much time, my hero.”

“How can you be sure?” Diego choked out.

“I may not understand its thoughts as thoroughly as you, but I hear it quite well. It will not stir tonight.” Finn shifted on a little grunt. “Neither will I.”

“All right.” Diego heaved a shuddering breath. I don’t want this, to be a martyr. I’m just a second-rate writer, not a hero. I just want to run away, to be with him. God, it’s not fair.

“Childish, stupid…” He seized Finn in a fierce hug. They had an extra day and a night, at least, time that needed to be well spent.

He heaved Finn up on his shoulders, the long body lighter than a human his size, and carried him up to the bed. The rest of the morning, he spoiled Finn without shame with cream, scrambled eggs, roasted chicken and a long backrub.

“If you were any other man, I would question the motive behind all this kindness.” Finn’s muffled voice rose from the pillow. “Lie down with me, my love. Let me bask in your heart-fire a bit.”

He stripped down to his briefs and slid in next to Finn, his skin still cool but no longer icy.

The last time he had felt so comfortable simply holding a lover, without anxious thoughts about expectations and who should do what, had been—never.

He lay content in Finn’s arms, letting his fingers caress over his smooth skin, exploring every dip, valley and dimple.

Finn’s eyes closed. His restless body stilled. Diego was so certain he had fallen asleep, the sudden, deep laugh made him jerk back.

“What, querido ? What’s so funny?”

“Oh, m’boy, we are a right pair of fools.” Finn still laughed as he rolled onto his back.

“Are we?”

“Sweet mother of us all, yes, we are. Plain as the lightning in your head.”

Diego sighed. “If you don’t tell me soon, I’m getting up and leaving you here all alone.” He gasped when Finn seized his wrist.

“Please don’t leave me. I promise to reveal my thoughts. Please don’t…”

Diego slid an arm over him and held him tight. “Hey, hey, I wasn’t serious. And I wouldn’t have gone any farther than the kitchen anyway. What’s gotten into you?”

“Forgive me, my love.” Finn shuddered. “A small temporal dislocation. Forgive me.”

“You’re forgiven. Stop stalling.”

“Stalling?”

“It’s like ducking the question.”

“Ah.” Finn gave him a soft kiss. “My hero, you and I both tried to destroy the thing separately. I failed, miserably, because for all my power and experience, I lack the weaponry to harm it. While you harmed it, but still failed to destroy it because you lack control. We need to sally forth together, as one force.”

“That’s a nice, romantic notion,” Diego said with a shake of his head. “But the only time I’ve hurt it is when I’m flat on my back passed out in a fit. I can’t see me being much use in a fight.”

“But you see, you’ve already shown your ability to leave your ailing body behind, to carry on without it when the need is great.

Without any apprenticeship, without any knowledge of magic beyond what I have told you, you came to find me when you needed me in a place where you should not have been able to. ”

Diego sat up, heart thudding. I’m not sure I like where this is going. “But that was an accident. I mean, I didn’t know what I was doing.”

“Even so, my love. You acted on instinct alone, a sure sign of the incredible, raw power you carry. The beast called you Shaman.” Finn stroked a fingertip along his ear, sending a shiver down Diego’s back.

“It had good reason. Diego, you shine, gods, you could blind a person sometimes. You have more magic in your little finger than some of the fae have in the whole of their long lives.”

“But…I thought you said magic flowed through everything. That it’s in every pore and strand.”

“Yes. True. But in some places and in some beings, the magic concentrates. Think of it as a stream. There is water covering the whole of the streambed but in some places, it merely meanders or trickles, while in others there are dips and rocks and drops. Here the water gains power, the stream rushes and dances, singing with joy.”

“I see. I think.” Diego’s forehead crinkled. “Like you said, though, I don’t have any experience, no training, no control. How does knowing I have something I can’t use help us?”

Finn spread a palm over his chest. “I could supply the control. If you are willing. Guide you and show you what you must do.”

“While I’m in the middle of a seizure.”

“Yes, my love. I have heard you, have felt the tendrils of your thoughts reach out to me. It can be done. Of course, you open your channels most during lovemaking.”

“Oh. Look, if you wanted sex, you could just ask for it instead of all th—”

Finn gripped his arms hard, a red tinge in his eyes. “No. This is not some convoluted ploy to gain a few moments mating with you. I will not lose you, Diego. Listen to me.”

“Sorry. I’m listening.”

“We must have you in the midst of a fit because we must have your lightning. I must be able to reach you easily to keep you with me. You are so closely walled most of the time, it would take far too much effort to break through. If you open to me of your own accord, it will be swifter and more pleasant for you as well.”

“Please don’t dig your claws into my arms,” Diego murmured, as his thoughts skittered around in circles.

It was a chance Finn offered, one he thought they did not have, one that offered life and love at the end rather than darkness.

He tried for something close to a smile.

“So you’re saying you want to practice, is that it? ”

“Yes. We must be certain you are ready before the thing wakes again.”

Diego ran a finger down Finn’s long nose. “I’m scared to death, okay? But I trust you and I’m willing, even though I’ll feel like crud afterward. It’s kind of hard to get in the mood when you’re so serious, though.”

“Oh, my love, you might as well slay me now.” Finn flung his arms wide in a dramatic gesture. “I have been called many unflattering things but never serious.”

“That’s better,” Diego whispered as he leaned in to slide his lips over Finn’s. The soft touch sparked desire. Finn lifted his head to meet him and the kiss caught and blossomed to roaring flame. Finn’s long fingers stroked over his back and arms, petal soft, sending shivers across his skin.

“Would you like to take me, my hero?” Finn murmured against his jaw. “I may be a bit lacking in stamina at the moment.”

Diego moaned as a sweet ache rushed up from his groin.

He slipped between Finn’s legs with his lips fastened tight on that long, pale throat.

Finn’s hands slid onto his butt over the cotton, then under the waistband to knead his cheeks.

The sensual slide of elastic down his backside made him squirm, rubbing their hardening cocks together in delicious ways.

He lifted his head to look in Finn’s eyes. “Do you like it? Having someone hammering into you?” Some of his lovers over the years would have rather died than take bottom.

“Yes.” Finn bent his knees up. “Oh, most assuredly yes.”

Diego took Finn’s face between his hands and kissed him softly. “I love you so,” he whispered before he captured Finn’s lips in a searing kiss. His hips ground against him in time to their heartbeats while Finn’s hands wandered his body in soft caresses.

“Jar. By your head.” He motioned for the petroleum jelly on the nightstand.

When Finn handed it to him, he pushed back on his knees to uncap the jar and dip his fingers in.

He curled forward to kiss the tip of Finn’s erection, lying hard and ready on his stomach.

The spice of his musk filled his head, wild and erotic and somehow so clean, wild mint and honey, river and basil.

He closed his fingers around Finn’s shaft, stroking softly while his lubed fingers slid between Finn’s cheeks.

“Diego…” Finn arched into his attentions and spread his knees wider. “I don’t need as much time beforehand as you. I want you so.”

“Dangerously close to ‘take me now’, mi vida ,” Diego said on a soft chuckle. He slipped the pad of his forefinger in all the same, unwilling to take Finn unprepared. The groan torn from Finn’s chest was passion soaked and achingly sweet.

With a last, heated kiss to the slick head of Finn’s member, he positioned himself with one hand and teased at the tight ring. He met only a moment’s resistance before he slipped inside.

“God…oh…Finn…” he gasped out. The sheath gripped him so tight, the channel so smooth and cool, like nothing he had ever felt before. All thoughts of why they were making love skittered away, chased off by the rising tide of pleasure.

He sank within slowly, hands on either side of Finn, then those long arms closed around him to pull him down. An odd, dizzy feeling of surrender washed over him. On top, yes, but not in control. And it’s so damn good this way.

Finn moved beneath him with gentle rolls of his hips, encouraging his thrusts, setting the rhythm. His body tightened with need within a few, short minutes.

“Finn…Finn…”

“That’s it. I love you, Diego. More than sun and rain. Ride me as if you rode the storm wind,” Finn murmured against his ear.

Diego gasped and thrust faster, plunging deep with each hard stroke.

“Yes… dios …oh, yes…” His body compressed to a single need, a single, overwhelming, mounting pressure.

Three short cries leapt from him as he hung on that almost-there moment of agonized pleasure.

With a long groan, he buried his face against Finn’s shoulder and came in a rushing plunge, hips bucking hard through each forceful spasm.

Blue fire danced over Finn’s skin and shone through the hand he lifted to cup Diego’s face. “ Forgive me, my love .” The whispered thought caressed his mind.

Finn’s body seemed consumed by the blue flames in the last instant before Diego’s vision burst into a hundred thousand exploding stars.

With a terrier-tenacious grip, Finn kept Diego with him as he slipped into the Dreaming.

He had told Diego it was not a place. In a physical sense, this was true.

A state of consciousness, yes, it was that, but his love had managed to knock on the door of his mind and wander in—well, he had never been much of a philosopher.

Things were or they were not. One did better to adapt when a new thing occurred.