Page 27 of Wooing the Wiccan (Elf Magic #1)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Raeulfr

Hearing Jared say he loves me and that we have a happy future ahead of us is all my heart needs. I crash my mouth down on his and revel in the taste and feel of him, finally in my arms again.

Minutes—hours—eons might be passing, but all I care about is his lips against mine, his breath brushing my skin, his hands on my body and mine on?—

His clothes.

Breaking the kiss but not pulling away, I murmur, “Take them off.”

“Mmm. That would mean letting you go,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to each corner of my mouth. “Don’t stop kissing me.”

That’s an invitation I’m happy to accept, though I do whine a little when his arms disappear from around me—until one of his hands brushes against my stomach.

What’s he?—

The sound of jeans hitting the floor clues me in, and my chuckle is muffled by our kiss. He pulls back just enough to look me in the eye, a mischievous glint in his. “Are you laughing at my ingenuity?”

“I love your ingenuity,” I promise. “Does this mean we’re not taking our shirts off?”

“Not this time. Physical contact must be maintained until we’ve both come our brains out. It’s the law of make-up sex.”

I’d laugh again, but I hate that there’s a need for make-up sex.

“Hey,” he says, kissing the hinge of my jaw. “No sad face. Occasional make-up sex is part of healthy relationships. Next time it happens, we’ll make sure we’re both naked before we start.”

This time I do laugh. “I love you. So much.”

His smile warms me from the inside out. “Same. I love every inch of you.” The smile turns wry. “I didn’t intend for that to be a penis joke.”

“Too late,” I tease. “Come on, then… what are you going to do with all the inches you love?”

In response, he puts his hands on my chest and pushes lightly, following me back down onto the couch. “Why, Your Majesty”—a jolt runs through me. I never thought that honorific could be sexy—“I’m going to ride them.”

He straddles me, trapping both our cocks between us as he leans down to kiss me some more. “We might need to move. Do you have lube?”

My breath catches as he moves his focus to my ear, nibbling the lobe and then licking toward the point. “Fuck,” I gasp. “Do it again.”

“Sensitive?” He scrapes his teeth over the cartilage, and my shiver answers for me. “This is going to be fun. But… lube?”

I force my eyes to focus and hold out my hand, concentrating just enough to cast the spell.

“Is that magic lube ?” he exclaims. “We’re going to talk about this later.”

“I’ll teach you,” I promise. “Let me prep you now.”

He rises slightly to give me access, and the friction makes us both groan. Then while I work on getting him ready, making sure to touch him exactly how he likes it, he goes back to teasing my ear.

“Enough,” he pants at last. “Or I’ll come.”

“That’s the goal,” I point out, but obediently slide my fingers free, loving the way he shudders as I do.

Jared takes control, changing position and slowly lowering himself onto my dick. It’s an exercise in torment for us both, as each ridge catches against his rim before pushing through, and we’re both breathing hard by the time he’s taken all of me.

Then he rides me.

On the fifth upward slide, I know I can’t hold out much longer. It’s been too long since I had him. I wrap my hand around his cock and stroke in time with his movements, the residual lube and his precum making it easy.

By the tenth stroke, he’s moaning, a continuous low sound that matches what I feel.

By the fifteenth, we’re both tense and gasping.

On the eighteenth, his gaze roams over my face and then meets mine. “You’re beautiful. Never hide from me again.”

That’s all it takes.

Later, lying beside me in my bed, he curls his body around mine. “I’m so happy.”

I smile into the darkness and revel in my joy. This is it. We’ve paid our dues. Nothing can go wrong for us now.

Something’s wrong with Jared. In the two weeks since we reconciled, it’s become very clear that he’s unhappy about something.

Not our relationship—I was worried about that, but it seems like the only time he smiles is when I talk to him.

I can’t doubt the way his face lights up when we’re together.

It makes me so happy to be a bright point in his life.

But something is making him more and more introspective and withdrawn, and my heart aches to fix everything for him.

I’ve asked him what’s wrong a few times, and he always smiles and says, “Nothing.” So whatever it is, he doesn’t want to tell me about it…

yet. All I can do is be supportive and patient, and hopefully when he’s ready, he’ll share.

At least I can be confident it isn’t anything about us .

He’d never go back on our no-secrets agreement.

Maybe he’s just been nervous about today?

Spring break began at his school, so finally he’s coming to the office to officially “meet” the security team and some others.

We thought that would be a good way for him to get his feet wet as my consort, especially since he already knows everyone on the security team.

They’ve all had shifts at the condo recently, and Jared’s been spending as much of his free time with me as possible.

Margie really likes sitting at the huge windows and queening it over the city below.

She had a checkup at the vet this morning, which is why Jared didn’t come to the office with me.

He’ll be here as soon as he’s dropped her home after the appointment, but now I’m wishing we’d made other arrangements.

If he’s nervous or worried about meeting people, being on his own isn’t going to make that easier.

Abruptly, I stand and walk out of my office. It’s too late for me to change our plans, but I can be waiting for him right outside the elevator. That way, he won’t have to so much as look at anyone on his own. I’ll be right beside him to be his champion.

“Where are you going?”

I jump, so involved in my own thoughts that I didn’t notice Brandt falling into step beside me.

“Nowhere. Reception.”

His face immediately lights up with dragonish curiosity. There’s not much worse than a curious dragon—except maybe a stubborn one. They don’t stop until they find the answers they want.

“Really? I adore Dáithí, but talking to him doesn’t usually put a fatuous smile on your face.”

I sputter. “I was not … I don’t smile ‘fatuously’!” I’m the king of the elves, which means nothing I do is foolish or silly unless I want it to be.

“Not usually,” he agrees. “But this time it was. Were you thinking about Jared? He’s coming in today, isn’t he? I can’t wait to meet him.”

Alarmed, I stop walking and catch his arm. “Give him space. He’s dealing with a lot of new things right now and doesn’t need to be overwhelmed.”

Brandt narrows his eyes. “Are you saying I’m ove— Of course I am. I’m the wingleader of all dragons. My mere existence is overwhelming to others.”

Uh-oh. Now I’ve done it.

“But I’m offended that you don’t know I’m planning to tone down my overwhelming aura so that your boo is more comfortable.”

I blink at him. “My what?”

“Your boo. Honestly, Raeulfr, you need to make an effort to learn modern slang. How can you relate to young people on their level if you can’t communicate with them?” He rolls his eyes.

“I’m about ninety-nine percent certain that if any ‘young people’ had heard you say that, they would have laughed at you.

” I hold up my hand to stop his indignant reply.

“But thank you for what I think was a promise not to overwhelm Jared. He’s never met a dragon before…

that he knows about.” It’s entirely possible he has , but not that I’ve witnessed or heard about.

Brandt instantly forgets that I offended him. “I’m the best one for him to meet, then. Aside from Cecylia. If I’d thought of it, I would have asked Percy to bring her in today. It’s hard to be intimidated when a dragonet is wrapping you around her baby claws.”

I can’t stop the grin that forms as I picture Jared cooing over Cecy.

It would be impossible for him not to—she has a way about her.

I also suspect that she might be using some of her magic to charm people.

Dragons usually can’t when they’re that young, but Brandt’s her father, and he’s exceptionally strong, so it’s not completely out of the question that she’s already able to access some of her power.

Unlike elves, dragon magic isn’t based purely on spellcraft, so there isn’t as much focus and deliberation needed to make things happen.

We reach reception, and to my surprise, Jared is already there.

He’s talking animatedly to Dáithí, who’s come out from behind his desk, and there’s a warm smile on his face that gives me pause.

Dáithí’s great, but if Jared had been worried about coming here, it doesn’t seem likely that five minutes of chatter would have relaxed him this much.

Was I wrong about the reason for his unhappiness?

Even as I think it, he glances up and sees me. The way his smile widens has me crossing to him without hesitation and dropping a kiss on his beautiful mouth. “Hello.”

“Hi. Dáithí was just telling me the latest office gossip.”

“Who left the buttprint on the photocopier, and was it a prank or something more salacious?” Brandt asks. “I’m on team salacious. We need a good office sex story.”

Jared tries to hold back a smile as I sigh. “We do not need an office sex story, and might I remind you again about appropriate?—”

“Management behavior, blah blah,” Brandt interrupts. “I didn’t say we need to make people engage in sex at work, just that I’m here for the gossip if they do.” He extends a hand to Jared. “Hi. You must be Jared. I’m Brandt, Raeulfr’s oldest friend, and I’m very pleased to meet you.”

Jared glances at me as he shakes hands. “You’re the dragon… wingleader? Is that right? I’m sorry, I’m still learning all the terminology.”

Brandt beams at him. “You got it right. Raeulfr says you haven’t met any dragons before.”

With an apologetic grimace, Jared says, “Not that I know of. I’m still useless at recognizing community members who have their glamor on, though, so I might have.”

Waving that off, my oldest friend declares, “You’ll have to come to Here Be Dragons. I’ll invite some people, and you can meet my Percy and Cecy, and I bet someone would take you flying. You haven’t lived until you’ve been flying with a dragon. Raeulfr will bring you.”

Alarmed—how is this not being overwhelming?—I suggest, “Maybe when the weather warms up some more.” Or next fall. Six months should give Jared time to get his feet under him.

“Percy’s your partner, right? The former lucifer?” There’s an adorable line of concentration between Jared’s brows as he tries to remember what he’s learned in the past month.

“Yep,” Brandt confirms, delighted. “And Cecy is our daughter. She’ll be three later this year. You work with children, don’t you?”

“Not as young as that, but yes. I teach kindergarten. It’s always a challenge, and very messy, but I love it.”

“We should get you involved with our education system,” Brandt suggests, and I wish there was a way for me to kick him without Jared noticing.

It’s a thought I had myself, but I was going to wait until Jared had more time to get used to us all before mentioning it.

I didn’t account for the boundless enthusiasm of dragons.

“You have a separate education system?” Jared glances at me again. “Raeulfr didn’t mention that.”

“CSG had one in place when we migrated, and they very kindly allowed us to join and expand it. It’s now a shared organization,” I explain, but before I can continue, Brandt hooks his arm through Jared’s.

“We can talk about all that later,” he announces.

“Jared’s here to meet people. We’ll start with Raeulfr’s security team, because they’ll get snippy if we don’t, but then I’ll take you to where the fun is.

” They start walking toward the hallway, and I shoot an alarmed look at Dáithí as Brandt continues, “Elves are great, don’t get me wrong—I love them.

Dragons look the way we do because we thought elves were awesome.

But they really like their rules, and sometimes that makes them boring.

You met Eoin, right? He can be a real stick in the mud.

We dragons consider it our duty to make the elves loosen up. ”

“This is a disaster,” I whisper, just as Jared looks back over his shoulder and grins at me.

“I think your guy can handle Brandt,” Dáithí says. “He gave me an idea for managing Eoin that was inspired.”

For a second, I’m torn between hearing all about it and chasing after Brandt and Jared before?—

“—hardly dangerous at all. We almost always catch people before they hit the ground.”

“Tell me all about it later,” I tell Dáithí, racing across reception. I’ve waited too long for Jared to let Brandt accidentally drop him from over a thousand feet up.