Page 54 of Sidhe (The Incubus Saga #3)

The black-haired young man before Nathan looked so fragile and tired. Nathan wasn’t used to seeing Sasha like that. Unless he was close to dying . “You’re not saying you need to call in your aunt to sex me up or anything, are you?” Nathan asked, half serious.

The wide smile that broke out on Sasha’s face soothed Nathan instantly.

“No,” he said through a chuckle, “you won’t have to have sex with anyone to learn, Nate, it’s just easier if another incubus or succubus goes over the finer points with you since they can…

echo certain things your way. It’s sort of hard to explain. ”

As long as the only person Nathan had sex with for the rest of his life was Sasha Kelly, and vice versa, Nathan was up for anything.

“Not too bad a consequence if ya ask me. Call your aunt then so I don’t poison any of our friends with pheromones accidentally, and we’ll be good.

” Nathan turned his hand over, the one Sasha had squeezed, so they could lace their fingers together.

He wanted to kiss Sasha again, envelope him, but he knew it wouldn’t be a good idea when he didn’t really know his own strength or powers.

“What about how this will affect the war?” Jim asked seriously, his previous smirk gone. “I really am happy for you guys if this is what you want, but we’re not in a position right now to celebrate anything. A dark fae army is still headed our way, remember?”

“And we’ll still fight them.” Nathan looked to his brother. “Might even have a better chance at winning now. You know, I think Puck’s even cleverer than we gave him credit for.”

Sasha tilted his head at Nathan, his thumb smoothing along the soft skin of Nathan’s hand, and Nathan had to suppress a grin that his skin felt softer than Sasha’s right now. “What do you mean, Nate?”

“Well think about it. Why switch us if he knows I’ll initiate you anyway? Why not just make me an incubus and leave you be?”

“He wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Sasha said right away. “Puck can create things out of nothing sometimes, sure, but there are still rules. He can’t just make someone an incubus. Only initiation can do that.”

“And since we’re on this line of thought,” Nathan added, “why not leave me alone and just make you human? He could have done that. Human is like…neutral, just a depowering kinda thing, right? I mean, it’s not like I care what we are, as long as we’re together. I’m just saying.”

Nathan stared into Sasha’s blue eyes, sparkling in such a new way now that he was human, then turned to look at Jim. Neither of them showed signs of recognition, but Nathan understood; he knew the true power of this gift.

“It had to be a full switch, because making me an incubus means I’m not human. And if I’m not human,” Nathan smiled so wide his cheeks hurt, “then Malak can’t have me.”

Those simple words fell upon Jim and Sasha like drops of rain, washing away little by little their confusion as they came to understand just as Nathan had what this really meant.

“I take back every bad thing I ever said about the bastard,” Nathan laughed in regards to Puck.

He scooted closer to Sasha, hoping he had the pheromones under control, at least enough so he could kiss Sasha’s lips once more, if only briefly.

“What do you need, baby?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Do you need anything? Hungry, sore, tired? Tell me something I can do for you.”

“Nathan,” Sasha laughed in kind, just as deliriously happy as Nathan was.

Even Jim in the background shook his head at them, smiling.

“I’m not your pregnant wife. You don’t need to coddle me.

This is just…different. It isn’t bad. Even feeling a little sore and tired isn’t bad.

It’s actually kind of…peaceful. I’m so used to the throng of everyone’s emotions hitting me from all sides, being able to just feel so much.

It’s quiet being human.” He said that with adoration, with reverence, and then turned, smiling, and tipped his feet off the bed so he could get up, apparently done letting Nathan do his Florence Nightingale impression.

Nathan got off the bed after Sasha. “Peaceful, huh? Coz feeling like this ?” He closed his eyes and drank in what he could feel all around him, beneath him, everywhere in the Gatehouse. He couldn’t pinpoint where Alex, Walter, and Wally were or what they were doing, but he could feel all of them.

Then Nathan felt the absence of Iain like a blow, the simmering grief that everyone was radiating beneath the surface, especially Walter, who Nathan knew blamed himself for not being able to intervene. For a moment the flood of emotion was too much.

A hand on Nathan’s face alerted him back to where he was, to the joy and love he could feel from Sasha and the support he felt from Jim.

It was surreal; he hadn’t ever expected to enjoy being an incubus so much, but he liked the sensation of feeling everyone around him, even if the ache from losing Iain felt five times as deep.

He pushed his face into Sasha’s hand, his eyes opening so he could gaze at that beautiful face.

It hadn’t lost even the smallest bit of its radiance now that Sasha was human.

Part of Nathan missed the red hair, but the black was striking too.

Nathan couldn’t help leaning into Sasha’s body to steal another kiss.

It was as if every fiber, every cell in his body called to Sasha.

“How do you ever keep your hands off me, feeling like this?” Nathan grinned around their lip-lock, keeping it simple, sweet, only fleetingly touching tongues as they kissed, and kissed again.

Sasha laughed a puff of warm air against Nathan’s mouth. “Me? What about you? Do I really make you feel like this, Nate? So…wonderfully dizzy?”

“Every damn day.”

Another laugh and puff of air. “Even with the pheromones settled down I…I feel like my skin’s on fire ,” Sasha gasped.

“I can…go,” entered Jim’s awkward interruption.

“Sorry, Jim,” Nathan said, looking past Sasha at where his brother was still leaning against the wall, all bemused and blushing.

“Come on, you two,” Jim chuckled as he pushed from the wall.

“As much as I’d be fine with leaving and locking the door behind me, I think we all know that wouldn’t be such a great idea.

Besides, we need to fill the others in, and I’m still not convinced this is completely…

good. Something doesn’t sit right with me about it. ” He frowned as he moved for the door.

“What’s up, Jim?” Nathan called after his brother, detaching from Sasha finally. “I thought you said you were happy for us. Thought you agreed this is pretty frickin’ awesome, coz, hey, Malak not being able to wear my meatsuit around can’t be anything but good, right?”

“It’s not that I don’t think you deserve this, Nathan,” Jim said to the door, not turning back to look at him, “and part of me wants to believe that you’re right, that Malak can’t touch you like this and it will all work out in our favor.

But then I think of who gave you this gift,” he said, glancing back over his shoulder and looking pensive all ways this side of Sunday, “and I have to wonder: when has Puck ever given someone something for free?”

Nathan felt a chill cling to the base of his spine. He mustered a grin. “Hey…don’t think too hard about it. You know what they say: quickest way to end a miracle is to ask it why it is or what it wants.”

“I know, Nate,” Jim said with a somber smile, “I do. And believe me…I really hope I’m wrong.”