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Paying the Dragon's Price

By: GoldenMaia



Party - Dec 19, 2015

Vans thought she would really enjoy going to Travis' holiday party at the Adler Enterprises swanky house in Tiburon. She had a dress that cost more than her first car and that didn't even count the shoes. The night didn't begin well. 

Travis was not acting like himself. 

The moment he stepped out of the shower, regarding her with an expectant intensity, she should have ducked for cover to avoid the incoming shit storm.

Okay, so being a pent-up sexual animal, she thought it was an invitation to jump him. 

It wasn't. 

He held her at arm's length and met her gaze with his electric stare.

"What?" She asks breathlessly, yearning into his hands while he continued to hold her back. He was trying hard to telegraph something important and her heart lurched around in her ribs as she franticly tried to recall what she might have said or done. 

"You're beautiful." He growled out. But she knew it wasn't what he wanted to say. "We will be late for the party. No jumping me until later Precious."

Her brows knit and she was left with a quivery, coiling sensation in her stomach. He turned his back to her and she felt the increased sensation that there was something else. 

What? 

His muscular back flexed with the movement when he grabbed the towel, the lines of scars over his shoulder blades moved, pearly pink against his bronzed skin. She chewed at her knuckle as he left her alone in the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror.

Something missing. 

Something he wanted her to know.

He was going to break up with her. The first thing, always, when this feeling tripped her was the insecurity followed swiftly by jealousy. 

"Get a grip Charles, he's not dumping you." She told the mirror fiercely. 

She couldn't keep questioning him every time he gave her that look.

And yet, he had to, at some point, tell her what was wrong. Didn't he?

Her relationship with Travis Conte had been a whirlwind starting from their odd meeting in a parking lot to the sexual party where they got to know each other between the sexual explorations of her desires. In a month, she felt so wrapped with him, she was happy to never untangle herself. They spent more time together than apart and most nights she stayed over at his place.

He'd more or less written off her place as uninhabitable. She could have told him before he valiantly tried a night over. A twin bed in a studio apartment looking into a brick wall compared to the house in the Oakland Hills overlooking the bay where. They could lounge in a bed bigger than her whole apartment. 

Tough choice.

It wasn't a move-in though. It was a strange almost-moved-in phase.

Sometimes, like now, it felt like a tooth beginning to ache. A problem under the surface she couldn't quite locate and when she tried to probe it, it only made her tongue sore. Which, in this case, left her worried over any sign from him meant things might end. 

She was a ticking time bomb of relationship failure.

Vanderbilt Charles wasn't going to let that be a thing for this relationship. No fucking way. 

The way he arched his eyebrows at her when she cuddled into him in the back of the limo said she was trying too hard. Way too way hard.

"Just relax Babygirl." He murmured, assuming she was stressed about the upcoming party. It contributed to much of her anxiety, but not all. She needed to find the problem and fix it. He wrapped both arms around her, turning so she could nest herself into his broad chest and breathe in the warm leather and cloves of him. 

This: her safe place. 

He gave her a squeeze and pressed his cheek against hers; drawing in a deep breath as though he too needed her scent to steady himself.

"My perfect Brat." He growled so softly, stroking down her back. "Do you have any idea the spell you have on me?"

She smiled and closed her eyes, pleased and letting his deep voice vibrate through her, stilling the discord inside her. "All part of my plan." Her voice whispered.

"It's definitely working Precious baby. I'm the luckiest son of a bitch."

"So, you're happy?" She murmured, and even as the words came out kicked herself for insecurity number one.

"Incandescent." He growled and nipped her ear before running his noes along the shell.

"Me too." She closed her eyes and made herself believe it.

Maybe he wanted to ask what she wanted for Christmas.

Except he always wore the look during vulnerable moments, like when he was naked. Coming out of the shower. Completely naked. She couldn't put her finger on it before then the doubts swarmed her. Maybe he wanted to ask about having an open relationship. That's why he hesitated and...

"What are thinking?" He asked, kissing where her brows were drawn together.

She wanted to evade the direct gleam of his gaze. Even the deep shadows of the car never hid her from his steady look. "Worried I'm going to get cornered by the CEO and she'll grill me about you. I might blurt out how great in bed you are, or how you like to spank girls." She played with the bowtie of his tux until he covered her nervous fingers.

"Beatrix Engel, will be a handshake and cold smile. She's rarely around for more than that. If you tell her I spank girls, I will not find a dark corner for you. And believe me, I am so good at finding dark corners Baby."

"I bet you are! Well, I will only tell her you make a mean stack of pancakes. Think that's safe enough?"

"I don't know. Seems you keep staying the night for more of them. They could be addicting." He carefully cupped her face and admired her, particular the care she'd taken to styling her blond hair. "I am going to make a mess of these lovely curls when I sink my fist into them later." He promised. Without ever touching them he made her insides tighten and her sex eager and needy for his attention.

"At the party? Or on the ride home?" She asks, quivering with anticipation. 

"You will just have to wait and see. It might help keep you on your very best behavior."

She growled and closed her eyes, smiling, "Doubtful. But I will do my best."

They arrived at the house before things could progress to anything past verbal teasing. Of all the things she adored about Travis, it was his resolve and cool control she desired the most. Sometimes she felt like a moth battering herself to pieces trying to get at him, but she knew he would always burn her so sweetly in the end. Heartbeats before she was ready to give up.

She didn't expect the house at Tiburon. She'd expected a place like Marcie's in Tahoe, big and impressive but nothing like this one. This was several levels up. From the wrap around porch she could see another path leading down to a private cove overlooking Angel Island and then there was the other views of the bay. She enjoyed staring at the boats while Travis stood with her on the rail.

"You ever sail?" He asked her as she watched one of the yachts cutting through the wind and waves towards Sausalito. 

"No. I can barely swim." She teased and grinned at him. "You?"

He shrugged and then nodded but his cocky smile said it was more than just sailing for him.

"Oh, why didn't I guess it? What kind of boat do you have?"

"With an attitude like that, you'll never find out Miss Charles. You ready to go in?"

With a nod, she braced herself and he led her in, past people of all sizes and ages in their fine evening clothes. She could almost hear their thoughts as they looked her over in the snug fitting sapphire cocktail dress; 'Trophy Bride'. The dress was cut low to show off the curve of her breasts and cleavage and too high to show off her ass and her long, strong legs.

Travis in his black Stetson and classic style tux didn't mind the looks, keeping his hand at the small of her back in a touch both possessive and protective. Thank goodness! Quite a few sharp-eyed men were eating her up as she let the wool coat slither off her long arms. 

They were, despite Travis's warnings, late. 

The room was packed and people were already starting to take their seats for the auction by the time they checked in coats and started to mix into the crowd. Vans spotted Leo's dark, elegant figure above the sea of people and tugged on Travis but he noticed his friend's wave and maneuvered her towards where he stood with Ursa.

Ursa, her longtime friend from the bookstore was dating Leo, a friend of Travis. Ursa, short and chubby with a usually shy personality didn't seem the likely partner of the towering, handsome man in the refined and carefully tailored tux. Then again, Ursa was looking like a million bucks right now in a floor length dress with her brown hair styled and curled to show off those bright streaks of gold. She was beaming from ear to ear about something but broke off her conversation with Leo to squeeze Vans in a tight hug, admiring her dress.

"Where's Marcie?" Travis asked, looking around.

"She's off looking at some exhibit." Leo answered, amused.

"With a boy." Ursa supplied, hiding her delighted smile behind her glass of wine.

Vans felt Travis stiffen from several feet away and glanced over to see the furious expression on his face. All the redlight warnings went off in Vans' head.

"Mano Ka'aukai." Leo shrugged as he said it.

"Who's that?" Vans asked.

"A short little shit who does nothing but cause trouble. What the fuck is he doing here? What the fuck is she doing with him?"

"He's family. Here with his mother, the CEO's twin sister." Leo, mild as ever, glanced at Travis. "You need a drink my friend."

Travis definitely looked like he needed a drink. Vans felt her stomach falling while her heart spiraled along with it. The possessive gleam in his eyes was unmistakable. Someone dared to spend time with his darling Marcie. Clearly Travis did not like it one little bit.

"She is having a little fun with him." Ursa soothed with a gentle smile.

Vans wanted to kick Travis in the balls when he made a choking sound sounding way too much like jealousy.

When Marcie slipped towards them through the crowd, Vans couldn't help but stare. The woman looked radiant. Her smile spread across her face with a glazed 'I just had the worlds best fucking sex' joy glowing off her. Her mouth was swollen and her lipstick really needed a complete repair. 

Glancing over at Travis, Vans saw his jaw ratchet down a few more notches and felt her heart squeeze along with it. He still held onto feelings for Marcie? How could that even be possible?

"You dropped your number." Ursa said, offering Marcie the paddle with a number on it for the auction.

"And your catalog." Leo added, handing that over as well.

"And your mind." Travis' voice was a vibrating growl.

Marcie lifted her chin, "I need more champagne if you're going to start scolding me Mister Conte."

"We can arrange that. Do you have any idea who that is? Mano Ka'aukai is not only the heir apparent to the Adler estates while his cousin is in the wind, but he is fucking dangerous." Travis grabbed a flute of champagne from a server and passed that to Marcie. "I'm serious Marcie. Stay away from him."

He did not, Vans noted with rising anger, even look at her to see if she wanted anything.

"Excuse me?" Marcie took the drink staring at Travis, "Are you giving me orders like you're my father? Because I will stuff my pointed shoe up your ass if you're playing the role of a possessive ex."

"I'm giving you advice like a brother and your friend, because you need it. You can fuck anyone you want and you pick that?"

"I'm not picking him and I'm not fucking him."

He rolled his eyes, "Right." He looked Marcie over as though tracking every fingerprint Mano left on her. 

"I swear to God Conte, this whole over-protective thing used to be cute when you were single but you need to let me go."

"I'm fucking serious Marcie." Travis growled, jaw clenching

"You need to stop." Ursa said, putting herself between them. She offered a small compact to Marcie. Her voice lowered, "Just—um...your lipstick is a little smudged." 

Vans wanted to crawl into a hole and die. She grabbed a drink from a passing server and considered melting into the crowd. Marcie fixed the damage to her makeup while Vans tried to wash down her grief with the booze. Was this the big thing Travis tried to tell her? She watched him furiously glare at Marcie. 

She felt Ursa looking at her and pushed a smile to her lips. "I didn't think you liked short guys anyway." She said over the rim of her glass. "Don't you hate it when a dude is eye level with your boobs?" She forced a shudder, attempting amusement.

Marcie looked far from pleased; blushing deeper than Vans had ever seen. "Your concern is touching darlings. It's over now. Can we just enjoy the remainder of our evening? Thank you for supporting my needs. You can all stop ganging up on me. I mean it." She looked at them each in turn before gulping down the bubbly. 

"Sorry Marcie." Travis said and rubbed a hand along her shoulder, squeezing. 

"Just find a seat." Marcie shrugged out of his touch and turned away from them, grabbing another glass of sparkling as she moved to take a seat.

Ursa moved to join Marcie in solidarity and Leo glanced at Travis in question before sweeping after the other pair. That left Vans with her empty glass and Travis. He slowly turned to and it seemed like he suddenly remembered she was there. His lady friend he was currently banging stood by watching him chase ass on his ex-fuck-toy. 

Fucking pathetic Charles!

Feeling her eyes burn, she wanted to leave. She certainly couldn't let him touch her. Insecurity had officially screamed into jealousy's airspace and was roaring through her with a blinding green jets. 

To avoid him reaching for her, she turned and walked quickly away, following right on Leo's heels, almost running into him as she dodged around him and got into the seat next to Marcie. Cockblocking her boyfriend's attempt at.....whatever the fuck he was doing.

She didn't hear much of the opening statement. Blah blah, the guy Marcie was screwing was taking over the company. What-the-fuck-ever! Vans needed another dozen drinks, then home to pass out. Sort it all out later. 

Then the guy in question stood up to be introduced, Vans didn't see what the big deal was. Dressed in a stylish tux, Mano was short and older, though certainly not old. Travis's age maybe. He had a goatee and long golden hair held back in a stupid holiday bow. When he turned to sit back down, he focused on Marcie exclusively, somehow finding her in the crowded room and crooked a finger at her. 

"Holy shit." Vans whispered. "Marcie!"

Travis made a sound like a dog when someone threatens its bone, his body tightened.

"Don't say anything." Marcie warned and focused on flipping through the auction catalog.

Vans closed her eyes and tried to breathe through her nose. For a long while she sat like that, forcing herself to remain calm and still and let the whole night just pass by. No one said anything, not even her date. 

It wasn't until she heard Ursa's stutter that she opened her eyes. The woman was bidding on something but she'd missed what it was. She only focused on things dimly when Leo took over the bidding after Ursa hesitated.

"Don't worry Princess." Leo said soothingly to his lady. "You want a pretty sword, you get a pretty sword."

Vans made an amused sound, trying to get her head around her friend wanting a weapon. What had she missed? "Spoiled spoiled spoiled."

"Two-hundred sixty-thousand dollars going once, do I hear Two-hundred seventy-thousand?" A pause and no counters to Leo's bid and after a third call the auctioneer beamed and rapped the gavel, "Sold, to the number 201."

Ursa let out an unrestrained cry of joy and flung herself into Leo's arms, almost knocking the big man out of his seat as she kissed him. She slid her hands up into his curls, mussing them as she climbed into his lap, never once breaking the kiss.

"Oh! OH my! May you enjoy it in...ahem...good health. Oh dear. We will take a small pause to refresh our glasses and the next item will be the tanzanite and diamond necklace."

"Hell yeah, that's a holiday miracle right there." Vans teased them, leaning forward to get a better view of their making out. "Hey Marcie, you ever have an auction at one of your parties?"

"Easy Brat, eyes up here." Travis whispered against her neck, pulling her back towards him. 

She resisted his pull, the warmth of his breath steaming over her anger-hot skin and tightened as she jerked a look at him. His azure eyes held hers.

"I'm sorry." He whispered low as Marcie got up to refresh her drink.

"Save it." She hissed through her teeth. "You're so hung up on her, I don't understand what I'm doing here."

"No." He said it low and firm, trying to catch her hand but she slid away from him. "I just don't think she should waste her time with him."

"What does it matter to you? Why do you care? Do you know how insulted you made me feel? It's obvious how much you want her still."

"Jealous one. No. Of course that is not it." Travis lowered his voice, a low croon against her bare shoulder. "I'm sorry I got so caught up in my shock I didn't property attend to you. But, I'm not chasing after her. Or anyone but you."

"Sure doesn't look that way to me. You're not chasing me at all. You can't stand seeing her with anyone. Can you?" She saw him flinch and knew without a doubt it was true. 

She shook her head and clasped her hands together, knuckles white with the force of her grip. 

He rumbled quietly and shrugged out of his jacket. "I don't think that's it." The denial was so thick she wished he would choke on it. 

Silently he spread the jacket across his lap and smoothed it over his thighs before trying again to catch her hands in his larger ones. 

This time he caught her before she could jerk away from him and his firm, comforting touch caressed along her fingers. "Please Travis...I...."

"Beatrix Engel, the CEO and his aunt told me all about him Vanderbilt. Mano is the cause of her son running off. Some wild plot Mano cooked up that drove him away from the family. And more than that, he's not who he pretends to be. He's not a pretty boy in a suit; he's mixed up with dangerous people. 

"He is dangerous people!

"People have died. I have no idea what they are thinking trying to polish him up to take over but it's not going to be good. None of us should want our friend to end up with a sub-human individual like that. It looks bad, I get that. But if you knew what I knew about him, you would do the same thing if it were Ursa or Leo or anyone."

She didn't want to believe him but he was so earnest, as always. The heat slowly curled up over her cheeks as she let out a low, grumbling sigh. "Fuck." She whispered as he brought her fingers up to his lips and kissed them, watching her. "Marcie would never want you anyway." She told him, wanting to cut him with some painful truth.

"You are out of your beautiful mind if you think I want to push you away because of this. Yes, I care for Marcie, but she's like my sister. Nothing more. I certainly wouldn't want my sister involved with that asshole."

"I just—so worked up about things and this party and then the first thing you do is get into Marcie's romantic life. She doesn't want you poking around. Maybe you should focus on your own personal love life." She slipped her hands out of his grasp and under the jacket on his lap. "Like...say...trying to stay quiet while I give you a handjob during this auction."

"You are such a wicked girl. I am not sure that an angry handy is what will get me off. And if I do cum, what do you think I'll do to you?" His eyes flashed as he smiled, the expression both handsome and cruel with promises of the most delicious torment


Paying the Dragon's Price



"Still fun to touch you and see you bite you lower lip when I do something nice." She found his belt and deftly unfastened it, silencing the metal from clicking with her palm while unbuttoning and then unzipping his fly.

He slowly drew in his breath, spreading his thighs wider in acceptance of her warm fingers stroking over the front of his exposed boxers and the cock under the fabric. She wanted to take him in her hands and feel him since he came out of the shower. Only his insistence they needed to go stopped her—-along with that other thing.

The other thing.....

She pushed the thoughts away and closed her eyes, focusing her attention on pleasuring Travis and his huge, wonderful cock. Drawing it from his boxers, she ran both hands over him under the shield of his jacket. He sighed out a low pleased sound and shifted to push himself into the fist she tightened around him. 

His cockhead swelled under her fingers, the slick pre-cum making her stroking more fluid and smooth as she worked him faster, keeping the movements slow, not wanting anyone to catch on just what she was doing.

The bidding started up again but she didn't stop her stroking, wanting so much to feel Travis shift again. Trying to make his breath catch and feel the little signs she drove him crazy. She couldn't see a change through his fortress of control. 

Her fingers squeezed and slid down over his balls and not for the first time, she imagined running her tongue over them. She'd never been a big cock-sucking fan. That was before Travis. With him, she felt adventurous and wild. She let him do things to her she never let anyone else suggest. 

Their sex at home was fairly tame compared to the party. It was nice, normal sex with a little spice. The parties gave her something to anticipate. They were different, wild and unleashed. She could let herself be a subby little puddle of need. Not just the normal pool of desire when she got close to him. 

As the bidding got out of hand, she heard Marcie curse beside her but she wasn't paying attention to anything other than the cock filling her hands. She looked up dreamily just as Marcie got to her feet and excused herself for some fresh air. Apparently someone had outbid her; surprising given Marcie's wealth and determination.

"I could flip him off if you'd like." Vans suggested halfheartedly. Not sure who she was flipping off or if she even wanted to remove her hands to do so. So when Marcie just grumbled something in the negative, she happily resumed her dick stroking.

Travis turned his head and growled into her ear, "You are going to have to behave yourself Brat." He nibbled at her ear which did absolutely nothing to control her need to feel him arch under her.

"Please Sir." She whispered back, turning her head so her nose brushed along his.

The air crackled between them, the sexual energy so thick the crowd was sure to feel it and notice something going on under that jacket, despite her fingers resting still.

"In a little bit. There's something I want to get you. You have to let me focus or—-I will be very disappointed." He kissed the tip of her nose and smiled.

Vans shifted, uncomfortable with this idea. She really wasn't a fan of dusty old antiques. "Really?" She asked, crinkling up her nose. 

"Yes Precious." His hands covered hers under the jacket and he carefully smoothed her fingers off him. "Just humor me."

She squinted at him as she let him draw her hands up and atop the jacket and settled her fingers on his thigh while he reached for the catalog. She let out a long suffering sigh as he flipped through the glossy pages and looked around for something to distract herself. Ursa was face-melted to Leo, no good trying to draw her into conversation. What the hell had Leo won for her? Some dusty old trinket?

Now Travis felt like he had to get her some rusted bit of junk. Great.

The next items that came up were a set of ugly silver goblets then a set of antique crystal and on and on. Each time she glanced over at Travis for a clue. Thankfully he didn't put his number up for the horrible antique chair or the hideous painting. She didn't care who made it or when; it was fucking ugly. Thankfully she wouldn't be looking at that old hag staring down her nose at her at Travis' place.

She'd tuned out completely while watching the front of the room where Beatrix and her twin sister what's-her-name were having some intense conversation involving much finger pointing and hand flourishes. It was just getting good when she felt Travis shift and lift his number into the air. 

Shit!

She missed the whole explanation about the piece. The woman who carried the velvet pillow with the object wasn't doing a very good job of displaying it either. At least, not to Vans' requirements right now. She was already passed and headed towards the far end of the stage when Vans focused on what was going on with the auction. Well, she could see it wasn't a chair, a painting or a vase. 

Trust Travis. He wouldn't get her something horrible. Right? She glanced at him and tried to see the catalog but he already rolled it up and tucked it away and she had no idea what number item they were on now. 

The whole crowd seemed in a fever for this thing and numbers were going up all over the room as the auctioneer rattled up his numbers. "One hundred, now one hundred-fifty, now two-hundred...."

Hundred dollars? Hundred-thousand dollars? She missed the starting number. 

Glancing over at Ursa and Leo who had come up for air, she noticed they were focused with interest on the piece. Ursa turned to her with a huge smile and a little thumbs-up at her. Oh man, what the fuck was he getting for her? Why the hell didn't she stay focused? 

Stopping her internal ass-kicking, she pulled her attention back to Travis, the bids were slowing but the price was nearing a million dollars. She reached for Travis' arm as he lifted his number but her fingers curled into a fist before actually grabbing him. 

On one hand, she wanted to beg him not to buy whatever it was, on the other she knew he wanted to focus on bidding. On the last hand, because somehow she had three, she had no idea what the thing was. 

With her luck, he was buying her a tiara just to be a smart ass.

She closed her eyes. 

The auctioneer was persuading the crowd to go over the one-million dollar price tag, "This is a one of a kind piece." He said, as he said about everything paraded across the stage. Everything was one of a kind. Special little snowflakes. 

"Sold, for one-million dollars to number 519. 

Travis took her hand and squeezed it and she snapped her eyes open. He wore the look again, the expectant, breath-held expression he'd worn stepping out of the shower. 

'Did you see it? Do you like it?'

Well, she'd certainly seen it this morning, but she thought that was his cock. Yes, she saw it and oh yeah, she liked it! It wasn't what he meant though but for the life of her, she didn't know what he meant either.

Like that morning, her lips curled into an uncertain, apologetic smile, brows knitting over her eyes. The same disappointment shuttered across his azure gaze. Perhaps not quite as much. This look seemed more amused and softer. 

"Well Precious." He fanned her with his numbered paddle as though he were planning to warm her ass with it. "I see this is all very boring and dull for my girl. Shall we do something else?"

Just like that. As though he'd not just blown that kind of money on something she didn't even notice.

She felt horrible. 

Next level wretched. 

She chewed on her lower lip and threw herself into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Thank you!" She whispered into his ear, squeezing him as tightly as she could. 

How could she explain how she just blew off his awesome display of affection? Whatever it was, the whole room seemed to want it and now it was hers. 

Whatever it was. 

Ursa almost got mauled Leo for her rusty old knife. 

"You are too good to me. You know that?" She whispered.

He growled into her hair and nuzzled her, letting out a breath of relief for her seeming approval of the item he won for her, returning the hug. Stroking along her back to her hips, he pulled her in closer. "Anything for you Vanderbilt. You impossible, jealous, wonderful woman." His voice was a low thrum through his chest, into hers, settling into her bones.

"I thought the fancy party would be more exciting." She admitted, not pulling away from him. "I'm ... sorry I tuned out a little."

"A little" He teased her and bit her ear lobe, making her struggle to keep back the moan of pleasure and pain. 

She melted against his chest and gripped his shirt. Oh fuck, she loved when he did this. It made her want to climb his chest and ride him, begging him to destroy her and rebuild her into something stronger with his same laser focus. 

His hand gripped her hips tighter and he almost pulled her into his lap. At last he released her ear, his voice breathless, "I am tempted to let all these fine people see you splinter to little pieces while I hurt you." He threatened, "But, I think we should probably go for a walk and cool off."

Cool off was the last thing she wanted. Only times like this did she feel completely focused, as though the storm of her other thoughts could be silenced and still. The worries went away into their little hiding spots and there was only them against the world. Against everything. 

She allowed him to draw her to her feet and waited while he shrugged on his jacket. Thank goodness he'd adjusted and re-fastened his pants and belt.

"We're going to have a little walk. We'll see you up front at the end of the auction Hhmm?" Travis didn't wait for Leo or Ursa to answer but tucked Vans against his side and led her out of the room.

Even though the auction was still in full swing, the rest of the house bustled with people. Adler employed a vast number of people and they all seemed to know Travis. He stopped and introduced her as his girlfriend with more than friendliness warming his smile.

"Good work on that piece." One man said to him, slapping him on the shoulder and he gave Vans a considering look before nodding his approval. "You are a very lucky woman Vanderbilt. I look forward to see you again. Stop by before you two leave alright? I'd like you to meet Elena." 

"Sure. Yes." Vans said, feeling warmth in her cheeks. She remembered his name. Kent. Maybe because it was easy. Maybe because he seemed enthusiastic about meeting her. Whatever the reason, she was pleased the name stuck and she grinned at Travis in victory. 

"You are going to win over all my friends you know. We'll never be able to avoid dinner parties. Are you good at throwing dinner parties little Brat?"

"I have no idea. " She admitted and then laughed, "I'll take classes. How's that? Attend finishing school or something."

He stopped at a door and leaned against it, glancing down the enormous mahogany and marble hall where they stood. "I don't want any of your edges dulled down Vanderbilt." He told her. "If we throw a party, it's going to be uniquely our style. I am not exactly refined." Reaching for the door, he gripped the handle and tested it. It sighed open and he leaned over to glance inside.

"What are you doing? You're going to get us in such trouble."

He just smiled and pulled her into the room, turning on the light. "Just showing you the dining room. I was told they hung a new tapestry and I want to see it." 

She looked around the room, full of antique furnishings and elaborate old rugs on the marble floor. She had to admit the table stretching across the impressive dining hall did inspire awe. The china and crystal set out for the dinner wasn't what caught her attention though, it was the image on the wall. 

Hanging on the long wall near the table stretched a tapestry, filling the whole space. Someone spent extraordinary effort making this particular piece of artwork. It gleamed with brilliance like gemstones in firelight. There was something otherworldly about in it Vans couldn't quite put her finger on.

A series of warriors armored with elaborate winged helmets and armed with swords stood around a woman on a black horse. She was dressed in armor as well, hers more elaborate than her men. A winged helmet was tucked under her arm. On her raised fist perched a phoenix with wings spread. Her hair was the same color as the fiery bird and her eyes burned with green fire.

Vans wanted to twist away and avoid the woman's intense stare, but she forced herself to look at the stupid picture. 

It was just artwork. 

With a long, trembling sigh, she focused on the horsewoman. Wings were perched on her armored shoulders, made of flames and blood. Her head was tipped just slightly, gaze fixed on Vans. Determination tightened the jaw and the expression said very clearly she would burn down the world before anyone took her. And they would have to go through her army first. 

Only when Vans forced herself to take in the details did she see the woman's little secret smile. They, Vans and the tapestry-woman, didn't have to play on different sides.

In the hummingbird length of her attention span, several things happened with only the sort of speed her unfocused thoughts could perform.

     'Friend or foe?' A woman's calm voice demanded in the space of her mind.      Before she could form the thought: 'What. The. Fuck?'       'Friend.' Her voice decided, amusement replacing the edge. 'You must learn to focus your mind sister. This will never do.'      Sister? She didn't have a fucking...      'Sisterhood isn't always blood; Ally. You are beloved of the Seeker. Interesting.'      Vans had no response for this.      'The Seeker will stop his search. The old line ends. New lines begin.'      Questions spilled freely out of her mind;           Travis was this Seeker?           What did he seek?           What line were fractured?           What were the new lines?      'Be easy. You don't have to know it all now. Work on your focus little sister.'      Wait, why wasn't she telling The Seeker? Directly?      'I will not talk to agents of the adversary sister.' There was a definite; 'don't argue with me', dismissal to the last comment.

Travis was talking to her. 

More than that, his hands were on her hips, standing behind her, his body flush to her back. Through his slacks and her beaded dress, his manhood felt hard where it pressed her ass.

"....here." He growled into her ear and she realized dimly she completely lost most of what he said in the din of the other conversation.

Inside, her head spun and whirled. All those thoughts filled her at once. 

She closed her eyes and focused on where his body pressed along her back and leaned into him, arching toward him. His heart pounded against her spine, into her ribs where her own heart echoed back. His mouth kissed a line down from her ear to her neck and sucked wetly on her shoulder with a growl. 

"We're going to get caught!" She warned.

"Only if you don't keep quiet." He purred, lavishing kisses over her shoulders to the nape of her neck, pushing thick blonde coils of hair away so he could nip there. 

The sensation melted along her bones sending ripples of aching pleasure through her that made her knees weak and she sagged against him. His big hands supported her, one on her hip, the other sliding down in front of her, cupping her sex through the short dress. With a pleased growl, he sucked at the skin along her spine where they both knew it would leave a mark. A bruised bite hiding under her silken hair.

She cried out and he shushed her, smiling against her skin. "That's no way to keep quiet Vanderbilt. Should I fuck you against the tapestry do you think?"

The very idea sent a bracing cold shard through her stomach.

"N-no!" She blurted and shot a look around the room, a place they could play without blaspheming the tapestry somehow would be better. So much better! 

At the far end of the room was a large alcove filled by a curved window where moonlight spilled into the room. "There!" She turned her head and reached up to cup his face, imploring him with her eyes. Please, not the fucking wall hanging. 

His eyes were intense, he obviously wanted some answer about the passionate rejection of his suggestion but she wasn't sure how to explain it or even if she should. Not now at least. Now when her mind focused on the pleasure and the torment he might do to her. 

"Is that so?" He growled, pushing her forward, closer to the tapestry. For a moment, she thought he would force her and she felt her safe-word tangle up on her tongue.

Another step closer he pushed from behind and heat thrummed off the fabric. She wondered if the carefully woven threads would burn her. Her mind filled with imagines of hot needles slipping into her, piercing her. 

It nearly overrode her reason and she braced, feet skidding. "Mushroom! Mushroom! Fuck!" 

He stopped instantly and turned her to face him. The look of concern tightened his jaw as he searched her face "It's alright Precious baby. I'm sorry."

"Oh fuck. Fuck. Fuck!" She breathed out, heart hammering. 

He carefully guided her away, backing her towards the alcove. The terror faded into an embarrassing thrum but she felt the heat of her eyes on her back until he pulled her into the alcove and the cool air whispered along her, making her sag against him. His fingers stroked along her hips and up her back. 

"That was a first. Are you alright here? Do you feel safe?" He searched her expression, leaning in to kiss her.

She nodded, eyes closed, glad when her breath settled and heartbeat calmed from its irrational panic. "I'm safe. I'm alright. This is better."

"We don't have to do this." He whispered, drawing her head back, stroking his fingers over her in a soothing sweep of his hands. 

It felt so much nicer here, the moonlight falling over them in this space overlooking the water shinning silver bellow. She wrapped her arms around his neck and stood up onto her tip-toes to kiss his lower lip. "No, it's alright." She felt stupid now for her response. "I am just being jealous. I don't want that red-haired bitch to get any ideas."

Travis looked uncertain for a heartbeat before he grinned, catching her lower lip, biting her with a low, possessive growl that silenced her teasing. He kissed her, hard. It was one of those mouth-bruising kisses as he slid his hands up into her hair and she thought she might break under the force of it. 

She pressed up against him, thighs wrapping around his hips, twining around him. Her arms curled around his body, scraping over his shoulders and up his neck to knock off his hat and tease his short hair. He moaned into her mouth, his tongue darting forward, caressing her lips as she answered his moan with hers, straining towards him. 

His hand pulled her head back by her hair and she stared up at him, mouth open, panting out his name and his title: "Sir!"

He arched towards her, rubbing his hard length against her ruthlessly, "I planned to get you in here and fuck you over the table but, now you can see the view when I claim you." He whispered, sliding hands down her ass, squeezing and rocking his hips forward, grinding against her as the fabric slithered up, exposing her panties. His thumbs hooked against the sides and his body pressed her into the window, chilling her back against the smooth glass.




Paying the Dragon's Price



She nodded her head and whimpered when he tightened his grip against the fabric, snapping the fragile lace. "Sir." She whispered, breathless. "I want to ....to taste you." She blurted and felt heat burn her cheeks. "Please!"

With a soft groan his fingers loosened their grip against her and his eyes burned with a new azure fire. "I didn't think you liked..."

"I haven't ever tried with you." She whispered and touched her finger to his lips. "I really. Really. Want it Sir." She tipped her chin down and flashed him a look through her lashes. 

He moaned and she stretched her body up along his so she could suck at his lower lip. With care he set her back to her feet and she slid down his body, pressing her breasts along his chest and stomach and then along the length of him through his pants. He held her panties in his fist and when she looked up at him, he brought them to his face, breathing in the scent of her. 

"Fuck Precious....you look so beautiful." His cock thickened under her palm and her excitement made her hands tremble. She felt desperate for him as she worked the belt open and the slacks unfastened and unzipped so she could nuzzle along his length through the boxers. 

"Tell me your Mine She whispered as she hooked her thumbs into the waistband of red boxers and pulled them down, slowly exposing the golden public hair and then slipped both her hands in and wrapped around his cock. He didn't deny her or resist, didn't tease her. Anyone could walk in on at any moment and catch them. Her heart raced at the prospect of getting caught on her knees with his massive dick in her hands.

"Yours Vanderbilt." He said her name in a sexy, snarl before sucking in a sharp breath when she smeared the swollen cockhead along her lips, applying the shine of pre-cum over her lips like gloss. "Fuck." Spreading his legs wider, he looked down at her, sliding both hands through her hair.

The touch was not gently. He handled her rough like she needed it. His grip pulled against her scalp with a delicious, painful throb. Pins fell, ringing softly against the marble floor and she knew she was ruined! Looking up his body, she felt her heart warm under the need raw in his face, overriding his usual reserved control. 

He bared his teeth at her as she licked along his length but she could see the warning in his eyes, she was not to tease him too much. She could feel him beginning to coil her hair around his fist as he hissed out through his teeth while she bathed his balls with her tongue.

And she wanted him too! She needed him! 

Opening her mouth, he guided her onto him, whispering a soft moan when her lips wrapped around the head and her tongue swirled around the tip. He thrust his hips forward, dive into her mouth and down her throat in a quick, graceful plunge before drawing back, withdrawing from her lips. 

"How daring are you feeling Brat?" His cock pulsed against her lips, "I want to—hurt you." His voice shook with barely restrained desire.

She whimpered and her eyes rolled back, "Yes! Please Sir! Please yes!" She begged him, lapping at his cock when it came into range of her eager tongue. Her arms wrapped around his hips, hands cupping his tight ass. 

He untangled one hand from her hair and swung it back before slapped her across the face with his open palm. 

She saw a flash of stars for a moment, yelping out a startled cry at the unexpected strike. He stared down at her, pre-cum drooling onto her lips where he pushed his dick forward, smearing sweet cream up the cheek he struck. 

"Fuck Baby." His whole body shuddered and the hand still in her hair gripped even harder.

"Yesss!!!" She moaned, toes curling and a hot flush of warmth trickling down her thigh from her sex. That sting from the slap was almost too erotic, the throb of pain attached directly to her swollen clit. 

He cupped her burning jaw and pushed his cock forward, into her mouth, down her throat and he fucked her. Fucked her fast and hard, claiming her there as he had her sweet pussy their first night. The slapping sound of his balls smacking her chin made a lewd echo ring through the empty dining room. Faster and harder, he took her, never taking his eyes off hers as his cock stretched her mouth, not quiet giving her time to catch her breath between the piston of his cock grinding deep into her.

With a choked cry he came, giving her no warning, not even stopping his thrusts as his cock swelled and bucked. As he came, he forced his cum out around his length as it plunged into her again and again, thrusting and fast and deep into her. She whimpered once and tried to swallow his flood of cum, but there was too much. He was too far gone in those almost violent thrusts to allow her any chance to collect herself. 

She felt his effort not to cry out with his release and sucked harder against him, rolling her tongue around him while cum dribbled down her chin and throat. 

Strong hands pulled her to her feet, drawing her mouth off his cock and he lifted her into his arms, cupping her ass in his hands and wrapping her legs around him, "Hold onto me." He ordered, voice broken. 

As she did as he commanded, she felt him shifting, drawing out the condom he must have stashed and tore it open. His eyes never left her face, smiling wide at the devastation of her cummy mouth and chin. He moaned when she licked her lips, trying to gather some of it into her. "You beautiful, sexy Brat!" 

He lowered her down on his cock when he had the condom on and as he slid into her, still aching hard, he kissed her. He kissed her despite his cum smeared on and in her mouth. Somehow that kiss was more desperate this way, his tongue as eager to have her lips as his cock had been! 

Her pussy was dripping wet, coating her thighs with her passion and need after the nearly savage throat-fucking. And he felt harder than if he'd not cum. She moaned and came around him before he'd even slipped halfway into her. 

Her cries of pleasure got muffled in his mouth as he shoved himself fully into her, bouncing her hard onto his curved flesh. He answered her moans, squeezing her ass tighter, pressing her into the window with the force of his driving thrusts. The movements arching deeper as her orgasm tore through her.

His fingers gripped her ass hard enough to bruise and that only intensified her pleasure. The kiss broke, his head drawing back, eyes glazed and hungry as he slammed into her. 

"Mine!" he whispered it low and husky, a possessive snarl. "I want nothing but you. This. Only this." Every word a harder thrust of his hips, a deeper plunge of his cock. His thumb swept over the red mark his hand left on her cheek and his whole body shuddered with pleasure.

"Yes Sir! Yes! Yes!" She tried to keep her voice low, tried to whisper it, but the pleasure and the pain of his thrusts were almost too much. Her fingers raked over his back, tearing at his suit jacket as she shuddered against him. "Don't stop! Please don't stop!"

His eyes burned into her, his lower lip quavered with a depth of emotion she'd never seen, caught between a fractured control and this deeper desire, "I love you." He growled against her mouth, forcing his cock into her. His heavy balls slapped up against her wet, abused pussy, grinding in so hard she was afraid she might break rather than shatter into the orgasm.

His mouth consumed her scream as she came again at his words, joined by him the same dazzling instant. His cock swelled, throbbing in her in time with her squeezing, fluttering cunt and writhed against him, cold glass on her back. He pushed her into the glass so hard she feared it might break, but she didn't care! 

The only thing that mattered was the feel of him pulsing in time with her heartbeat. Hers. Hers. Loving her. She felt tears streaking down her checks as he kissed her , thumb sweeping over her slap-mark. A vibrating growl rumbled through him.

Someone was coming. She felt the sense of it, like a little red spark from the corner of her mind's eye. 

She tightened her grip on Travis, arching against him as his teeth that caught her lower lip, "Someone's coming!" She whimpered.

He growled at her, licking her lower lip after releasing her and grinned at her, "How do you know?" He asked even as he adjusted to draw out of her and pull back. It was an agony for him to slip out of her. Not only because he'd fucked her so ruthlessly, but because she didn't want to release him. Her legs were not working right, her knees wanted to crumple out from under her. 

"They must have heard someone getting fucked in here." She said.

"Yes, terribly isn't it?" He reached for her face and tipped it up, wiping cum from her chin with his hand, winking, "You are going to fucking destroy me." He frowned and glanced up, hearing the sound now, "Someone is coming." He arched an eyebrow at her.

"That's what I said." She was pulling her dress into place, squirming in his grip, giving him the hand motion of 'hurry' to get him to cover himself. 

He leered at her and fixed his clothing with a hiss and grumble about 'condoms' as he did and finally slipped his arm through hers and pulled her back into the room and towards the tapestry. "Just follow my lead. Let's hope it's not the old lady."

Fire-pants in the tapestry seemed to smirk at her. At least it was approval and not that horrible 'I will burn the soul right out of you' sensation when she thought she'd get fucked against. 

Man, she needed to get her head examined. 

"So, who is the woman?" Vans asked as she pressed into Travis' side.

"No idea." He said, brows drawn together as he eyed the tapestry from this close distance. He tipped his head away with a frown. Maybe he was getting that fire-of-the-sun  treatment. He glanced at Vans to see if she was feeling it and she smiled at him, shrugging.

The door behind them swung open and a giggling trio of women paused at the doorway. "Oh. Oh my. Sorry. Carry on." They tittered, eyes lingering but apparently the show was over so they were not catching anyone in the middle of anything. 

Travis glanced over, nodding his head and went to tip his hat that wasn't there. "Fuck."

The women tittered and left. With a grumble, Travis prowled back to the alcove to grab up his hat. 

"I don't know why the Engels or Adlers or whatever, would want this hanging in their dining room. It's going to put people right off their food. She's not really good dinner company I don't think." Vans looked over the scene, wondering at the intricate detail. 

Travis grabbed her arm and yanked her back, "We should go." His voice sounded tight, his eyes on the woman in the tapestry. 

"What did you see?" She asked, allowing him to draw her out of the room.

"One pissed off red-head. I have no idea why she hung it there. The old woman should have left it wherever it came from." He looked down at her as they slipped out of the room, "You need to go freshen up my love." He cupped her face affectionately and kissed her, soft and sweet in contrast to his earlier roughness. "You alright? Not hurt?"

She leaned into the big hand and felt her legs go weak, "I am wonderful." She nibbled at his lower lip and then stood on tip-toes to rub his nose, "I love you too." She told him and then pulled away and ran for the bathroom before he could restrain her or see the tears in her eyes.

Without really looking to see who was in the room, Vans charged into the bathroom feeling a frantic laugh tear up through her throat. She told him. She told him how she felt. And...he felt the same way. Oh God. She was a disaster! Thank goodness no one stopped her.

Then, she focused on the room and realized a woman stood there, staring at her. 

Marcie Perez had arrived to the party with her black hair beautifully pinned up and shinning in a crown of curls. Now though, they were twisted into a messy bun. Her makeup had obviously been re-applied but her mouth had the unmistakable swell to it and—well, the glow about her radiated pleasure. 

That woman just had a quickie!

"Marcie!" She realized she was gawking and straightened, covering her mouth to shield the condition of her own face.

"Don't. Travis is right out there." Vans gasped when Marcie tried to shoulder past her. She grabbed for the other woman's arm to stop her. "What the fuck? Are you alright?" 

"Are you?" Marcie's hand darted out and she poked into the hand print on her cheek. Hard.

"Yes. Consensual. Fucking OW! " She hissed with the pain the jab caused and jerked her head away from the contact. 

Marcie motioned to herself, "Consensual." She agreed and narrowed her eyes, "Funny how my play is somehow not acceptable though."

"Oh my God! You went out and met up with him? Holy fuck!"

"It's not your business."

Vans shook her head, "We're your friends. We want what's best for you."

"Then why doesn't anyone support me? Like I supported Travis despite how you crushed my best friend, Ursa. " She yanked her arm free. "You've known me for less than a month. How can you possibly know what's best for me?" She didn't wait for an answer but went for the door. "Merry Christmas."

Vans stood there, staring at the door, feeling a completely different type of slap connect with her. 

Dazed, she walked towards the sink and glanced at her condition in the mirror with a deflated sigh. The tears, the hand slap, her cum ruined makeup. Then there was the state of her mangled hair. She was wrecked. 

Marcie's words rang in her mind. None of them should be trying to control what the woman did. She didn't know Marcie well and had no idea what sort of life she led outside of parties. Somehow she thought the woman had dozens of men on speed dial, young virile studs who could keep her busy between parties. It never even dawned on her that Marcie might not be very sexually active. 

She ran sex parties! 

Marcie deserved to have two young studs as dates wearing only a banana hammock and bow tie. Twins maybe.

Vans pushed the image away with an effort.

It certainly wasn't Vans' place to put her nose in Marcie's life. Honestly, she was more concerned she would run into Travis and have to deal with his shit.

The shit he needed to get over real quick. 

She washed her face, neck, and cleavage hastily then raked her hair into something like ordered chaos. Only applying a little lipstick and liner she darted back to the main room.

Looking around for Travis or Marcie, she moved deeper into the main hall to find them, spotting Travis with Leo and Ursa. No one turned to her as she slipped in beside Travis and his arm slid around her. It felt protective as he pulled her tight against him.

What the hell was going on?

Then she saw the drama by the coat check. Marcie was talking with Beatrix Engel, the white haired CEO smiling and cool as they spoke. Vans felt a prickle of ice cut through her. 

The adversary. 

Yes, she saw it. She glanced at Travis, frowning. He worked for that cold, evil woman? 

Wait. 

Vans didn't know she was evil. 

Except she did. 

She couldn't hear what was said but she could see by the way Marcie's spine tightened she didn't like what she heard. Marcie turned and grabbed her coat and made to stride for the door just as the golden haired man stepped in with his mother steps behind him. 

They ran right into each other.

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose, "So, if that's not a sign, I don't know what is. What the hell is going on?" He turned to glare at Travis.

"Don't give me that look. That asshole is a trouble making, prick."

"He seemed very nice to me." Ursa said, her tone tight.

"Love, you think everyone is nice." Leo told her, arms wrapped around her.

That's when things got interesting of course, with a whole audience to witness it. Like watching a house of cards touched by a match.

Mano renounced his inheritance and stripped off his fine tux jacket and shirt right there, showing off the glory of his tattooed body to the whole room. Ursa let out a choked squeak as she gawked and even Leo shifted uncomfortably but Travis stayed steady. His head tipped down and he looked intently at her. 

'Did you see it? Do you like it?'

Her lips curled into a contrite smile, knowing this was the third time she'd done so in a day. 

Did he mean the fucking tattoos? They were alright and Mano's were fucking epic. The tribal work covered his chest and back completely, but it wasn't really her thing. But, she liked Travis as is; his hard body decorated in glittering chest hairs she could run her fingers through. Yes, she liked that much better than a bunch of tattoos blurring her eyes.

Her focus had shifted again, and she realized he remained looking at her with acute disappointment. He could see she tuned out. 

"Marcie. Be sensible. Think what you are giving up." Beatrix's voice cut through Vans thoughts and she looked to the gathering up front. Twin sisters, Beatrix's husband who looked huge, imposing and utterly impotent. Facing off with Marcie and Mano.

Vans couldn't hear what they said, but the pair looked into each other's eyes, smiling. Marcie seemed to approve of nearly naked and tattooed man lighting up all the cards.

"Mano! How dare you turn this party into a carnival!" Beatrix's voice sharpened. "Put your shirt back on this instant. Are you divorced of your senses and any thread of decorum?" She flashed a look at her sister, "What sort of animal did you raise?"

Neither Mano nor Marcie gave matron nor mother any attention. Mano reached into the pocket of his jacket and drew out the leather box and opened it, showing what lay inside to Marcie before slipping the brilliant diamond and tanzanite necklace from within. The stones were the same color as Marcie's widening eyes and he adoringly slipped it around her neck, leaning in closer to murmur to her. 

Stepping back, he offered out his hand to her, "You ready to go pretty lady?"

Marcie hesitated a moment, hand going to her throat where the necklace sparkled and gleamed against her honey brown skin. Then she took his hand, letting the bare chested man pull her out into the night.

'The old line ends. New lines begin.' The voice whispered into her head, full of satisfaction this time.

Ursa glanced over at her as though Vans said something, eyebrows lifting in question. Had she said it aloud? 

The whole room burst into loud speculations and shouting.

The shouting came mostly from Beatrix and her sister before the grim looking Mister Engel grabbed the women and pulled them from the room before their raging argument fueled even more rumors.

"Well, but...but.." Ursa blinked owlishly around at the others, "Does that mean she quit? Got fired?"

"I would think that was a 'take this job and shove it' right there." Leo agreed in low voice, expression pensive. "I had no idea....Travis, did you know about any of this?" There was a hint of accusation there in his tone as he slowly turned to look at his friend. "You said he was a trouble maker. Not that he was being manipulated into leading the company. Did you hear that threat? 'I want to know where my son is. You are going to tell me, or I'm going to make things difficult.'" Leo fumed as he stared at Travis with his black eyes.

Travis frowned in thought, slowly shaking his head from side to side to clear it, "Wait—this can't be right. Beatrix herself told me how her son was led astray by her nephew, his cousin. She said it was all Mano's doing that her son left."

"And she is willing to put Marcie in a vice to get to him? What the fuck Travis? That doesn't seem right." Leo said firmly. "I wouldn't tell her where he is. Ever wonder why he doesn't want to be home?" The big man shifted from one foot to the other, pulling Ursa in closer, as though he wanted to protect her too somehow.




Paying the Dragon's Price



Travis licked his lips as though he tasted something really bad, a sour taste making his features tight. Uncertainty clouded his usually bright, flawless gaze. He let his arm slip from around Vans, "I need to find out what's going on. Excuse me."

He didn't wait for anyone's approval, just walked off, following the raised voices where they'd retreated into a back room. Vans watched him go, heart aching with every step. 

Ursa's small hand touched her arm, "It'll be alright." The woman said in a firm voice, adding a confident nod. "He needs to process all of this."

Vans nodded, unable to work up a smile in answer. She understood this shock. After being convinced Mano was wrong so long, this proof thrown in his face must be a gut-punch. Travis was a man who valued truth and honesty. She wished she could be at his side to support him.

How much of her own behavior and lack of attentiveness added to his anger? Focus. Vans needed to learn better focus.

Dec 20, 2015

Vans woke alone.

Travis' big bed felt huge, lonely and cold without him curled around her as though he were afraid she might vanish in the night. She didn't realize how important his hold was until she woke without it. Cuddling into the pillow, she tried to breathe in his familiar scent but this morning it didn't comfort her.

The ride home was awkward. Travis didn't want to talk. He held her hand in grim silence, staring out the window. Her attempts at conversation crashed against a steel wall. The man locked her out and it made her ache.

"I'll be right up." He told her when they got to his house and spirited off into the darkness of his office without another word.

She showered and dressed in something very pretty he purchased for her with stockings and garters and matching bra and snuggled into bed. She fell asleep before he ever came up.

Puffing out her cheeks, she crawled her way out of bed and pulled on her robe, shuffling out of the room. Listening. She heard his voice downstairs and tipped her head, trying to get a view of him.

"...but she doesn't see...anything."

The sharp tone made her blink and she crept down the stairs to see who he was talking to. She didn't find him in the living room but when she poked her head around the corner, saw him pacing around the kitchen with his phone pressed to his ear, still wearing the clothes from the night before. Aside from the tie off and buttons open it looked the same. He never went to bed?

"You couldn't see them!" Travis shouted into the phone. "How can you see his and not MINE... Why?" He sounded furious. 

Vans startled and put her fingers to her mouth, ducking back around the corner at the expression on his face. Oh, she definitely didn't need to get caught listening in. She padded back towards the stairs. See his WHAT? 

Fuckity Fuck!

"I can't explain it—there's a piece missing. Maybe she isn't the one Marcie. I think she's desperate for something to cling onto but.... Fuck. It's going to crush me if I have to break it off with her, Marcie."

Marcie... A first ice cold slosh of dread was followed by a second colder blast, if I have to break it off with her, Marcie. It froze her and she fled all the way up the stairs, chewing on her knuckles. Her heart was hammering so loud, her thoughts scattering like startled birds in every direction. 

"And say what? She hasn't once even asked about the marks. You know what she notices? Anytime I mention a woman or look at anyone. She notices that I didn't like you getting cozy with Mano. She....doesn't see anything Marcie."

She didn't want to hear more. Swinging the door closed, she began to franticly search for her clothes. Squirming out of the fragile nightwear, she left it in a pile in the middle of the room and wriggled into her jeans and a sweater. The room was too bright and her heart pounded too fast. She feared she might pass out. Just last night he said he loved her and now he was telling Marcie he had to break up with her?

'You should talk to him Charles,' a very rational voice told her. Isn't that what he told her? To talk to him and confront him. Except, she would want to knee him in the nuts right now. Why the fuck couldn't he talk to her about this...whatever it was she was missing? He didn't think she was the one now? He thought she was desperate? After what he said to her? Fuck him.

She had to cool down before she could even think about rational conversations. No dramatics. No hysterics. No melodrama. Just Vanderbilt Charles clearing her head. Getting some perspective. That's right.

Of course, she also didn't want to run into him before she got to the proper state of mind. She kicked her frilly stuff under the bed and grabbed her old backpack, dumping everything from her newer, ill-gotten purse into it and gripped her cell phone as she made a silent sprint for the door.

She made it out and into the grey morning light and closed the door carefully behind her before breaking into a jog. It wasn't quite a full out run but she put some distance down the hill before she slowed and checked for her signal. Nothing.

Keeping the same pace she continued down the road, eyes fixed on the cell phone, cursing it for a signal. She just wanted to call Ursa and get picked up. 

At the time, when Travis offered to get her a car, she'd been so delighted because Ursa was ordering her fancy new Bentley. It was exciting to go car shopping with Travis and she didn't think twice about trading in the car he proclaimed a death trap for a gorgeous BMW Alpina B6 in metallic green.

There was no way in hell she would take the ill-gotten car, or any of the other things he purchased for her.

She wasn't fucking desperate!

She bit into her lower lip to keep from crying.

That's probably why she didn't see the car that slammed into her.

~Night~

Vans wanted the afterlife to be filled with pretty sunsets where a dozen handsome men would feed her peeled grapes or sushi. Probably better with sushi. 

Instead, she felt only pain. 

Perhaps Vanderbilt Charles was too naughty for the harem of sexy men she dreamed about. 

She felt like a bug pinged off a windshield. The crunch of the car slamming into her came back in a rush. Falling and rolling before her world melting into a red blur. It came back now. All the gory, aching details.

Her mouth tasted like coper fire and dirt. It was blessedly dark, soothing against her aching head but unfortunately raining. The lights of distant Oakland and San Francisco gleamed with an indistinct shimmer through the haze. She lay shivering in the mud where she'd come to rest curled up around the base of a tree after her tumble. Or flight. The complete journey remained hazy.

Not at a hospital. So, the jerk who smooshed her didn't stop, that was unfortunate.

Wiggling her toes and fingers, she was relieved they worked. With an effort she pushed herself to sit up, testing out her limbs. The muscles screamed with electric agony but she managed to push herself upright, keeping her back to the tree. When she rolled her tongue around in her mouth, realized she'd bitten through her lip. The pain came with waves of nausea and the spinning sensation warning her unconsciousness was going to claim her.

"Don't pass out Charles." She hissed as the world spun, swimming through her tears. Through the haze of pain she couldn't tell what pieces were broken or if she'd just been torn pretty good. She wasn't going to be able to climb her way to the top.

A sudden horrible grief swept over her. 

Like the unexpected voice of the woman in the tapestry, she didn't know how, but she felt it. Then she noticed the steady drumming sensation in the back of her head. Searching. A terror-filled, desperate searching. It washed over her like a cold wind, filling her with a hopeless aching.

'The Seeker will stop his search.' The tapestry woman told her. 

She felt so fucking helpless! This wasn't the first time she needed to have her ass hauled up out of the mud. Absolutely ridiculous! How many hours had she been down this hill and no one had come for her?

Because no one knew where she was. She crept out without a word and never got to call Ursa. Her phone gone, pack gone. Her teeth chattered as she shivered and she rested against the tree, eyelids closing heavily. 

'I'm sorry we won't get to spend Christmas together.' She thought grimly, focusing on the steady pulse in her head and it beat stronger against her, anchored into her. For a moment she felt a disorienting weightlessness, like she was flying. She gripped handfuls of dirt on either side of her to make sure she had not just started falling again.

The earth stayed put under her, while her head spun. She keep focused on the spot and the spinning very quickly resolved into stillness. There, like that! It felt rather nice.

Elation swelled through her, an emotion certainly not belonging to her. 

A light flickered along the top of the cliff, flashlights, or maybe car headlights, it was hard to tell. "Here." That was Travis's voice; sounding raspy and raw and suddenly, he came bounding down the hillside like a damn deer.

She opened her mouth to cry out a warning but only a shocked croak came out as the man in question came into view and she realized why he was so effortlessly flitting down the hill. The fucker had wings. And no shirt on.

'Did you see it? Do you like it?'

Fuck.

She felt such a raw swell of relief at seeing him; she couldn't sort out her other emotions through the roaring in her ears. He knelt beside her and curled those shadowy wings around her, his expression so horribly stricken, like the touch of the searching. His mouth moved but he didn't seem to be able to form any words.

Reaching up, she cupped his face, smearing earth on him, "You are going to get sick and tired pulling me out of the mud." She teased him. 

He made a broken sound and the wings curled in tighter around her. They felt delightfully warm and smelled like him! Leather and cloves and she shyly ran her fingers through one of the wings making him startle at the touch. And there was that expression in the dark.

'Did you see it? Do you like it?'

She forced a smile and squeezed her fingers around the feathers as tight as she could, muddy knuckles aching.

"Love, I need to get you up top. I'm afraid to move you." He tipped his head from one side to the other as he tried to judge her wounds. "Have you tried to move? Did you fall from the top?"

"Car hit me." She explained, "Left me here." 

"Well?" Leo's voice called from up top.

"She's hurt." Travis shouted back up. "Call 911."

Turning back to her, he leaned in and lightly pressed his forehead to hers, warm tears falling on her cheeks. "I'll stay with you until they arrive. Please don't leave me." He whispered to her. One of his hands found hers and the other cupped her cheek and he blotted out the rain and cold with his body sheltering her.

She was sure she told him she wouldn't leave, but the warmth was so nice and she drifted off. She definitely did not pass out.

Hospital

Sometime later, she woke feeling remarkably better. Amazing what having a replenishment of blood and pain killers could do for a body. The room was empty but there were several vases of flowers on the bedside table. She wondered how long she'd been out. Had she missed Christmas and New Year? None of her limbs were trapped in a casts, and she could move them. Although she felt sore, it no longer tore with the same white-hot agony like from the muddy hillside.

The hillside. 

Her thoughts turned to what happened to her and what she's seen. 

Travis had wings. 

Great, shadowy wings. How The-Fuck did she missed those? No wonder he looked at her with pregnant expectation all the time. A fierce delight spread through her as she replayed the memory in her mind. It seemed so surreal, but she felt them against her muddy fingers. Best of all, Marcie never saw them. What upset Travis more? That Marcie never saw his wings, or Vans had not? Vans would be angry if she had lovely wings and no one could see them, particularly her love. 

She felt the soft touch, inside her head, spreading warm light through her just before the door opened and Travis came in. His stricken expression melted into one of joy as their eyes met. The sensation of the touch intensified the drumming pulse in her head. Found you. Got you. Safe. 

He didn't say anything as he came to her side and reached for her hand, simply bowed over her fingers and pressed his hot face against her skin. She held her breath, not sure what to say. Uncertainly, she used her free hand to stroke through his hair, heart twisting up inside her. His fingers tightened around hers, his lips warm against her knuckles. "You scared the shit out of me Precious. I almost lost you."

"You don't have to worry about me." She said, surprised by the dispassion in her voice.

He was also shocked, given the way he jerked his head up to regard her. It was hard to look into the raw emotion on his face. "I get to worry about the woman I love." He said firmly. "I am sorry I didn't find you sooner. I didn't even know you'd left until—"

"How long after your phone call with Marcie did you even notice?"

He frowned as understanding dawned on him.

"I heard your conversation with her. I needed to think about how I felt hearing you planning to break up with me. Are you thinking after New Year? Get the holidays out of the way?"

His eyes widened, "No Vanderbilt. You misunderstand!"

"I didn't hit my head hard enough to forget what you said."

"Did you hear me tell her how much I loved you? Hear how desperate I was for you to see me?"

"I heard you tell her you think I'm desperate." She said. Steady. Focused. She thought of the red-head in the tapestry; fire and steel. "I heard how angry you were that she didn't see you. Travis, you told me all along to talk to you about anything bothering me, yet rather than talk to me about what is eating you, you talk to your ex-lover. I'll live on the damn street before someone treats me like I'm disposable. Am I seeing clear enough now?" 

"I misspoke and spoke in anger. I was wrong to say those things." She was unfamiliar with this vulnerable side of him. This was the: 'just out of the shower', Travis; exposed to her. "I was duped by the company I have lived and bled for all these years Vanderbilt. They lied to me. They used me." He said it through his teeth as fire blazed in those fierce blue eyes. "I was overwhelmed after being deceived by people who have been closer than family to me. I would be crushed without you. I love you."

It was amazing, she could actually feel his emotions inside her. These were not empty words but a heat sweeping through her. "How do you think I would feel? I love you too asshole. When are you expecting to break up with me?"

He bit back a strangled sound and moved to sit on the side of the bed and cupped her face, gazing down at her. "I am planning no such thing! I lashed out from a place of frustration and resentment over the phone. I had no idea how to start this conversation with you. 'I'm not like other guys'. 'There's something I need to show you' — Except you cannot see. How could I have this secret from you? Everyone else in the entire world but not the woman I love. And I love you desperately Vanderbilt. Humbly. Brokenly." He stroked his fingertips along her cheeks, tracing her features feather light. "You didn't even pay attention to what I bid on for you. Imagine if I did that to you."

She felt heat rush to her cheeks at being called out on her inattentiveness and nuzzled into his fingers. "I'm sorry. I am working on my focus." She whispered.

"I know baby. I spoke in the heat of the moment. No one sees me Vanderbilt. Not you who I love, nor any of my friends. I want to be seen by you/I>. Only you/I>. You, who trust me, and somehow allow me to hurt in the most exquisite ways while loving it like I crave it. Without fear. You are fearless Vanderbilt Charles and I love you. Do not leave me." 

She'd never seen him humbled this way and it disturbed her in a most profound way. He pressed his forehead to her knuckles, gripping her hand hard as though he were afraid if he let go she would vanish.

Like he held her in the night.

"Let me see then." She said and blushed at the intensity of those azure eyes. The same electric fire, even with the dark smudges under them.

He didn't even hesitate. With not even his usual dramatic flair, he pulled the sweater up and off his hard body. For a moment they both held their breath. She didn't see anything different, just his extraordinary body she desired so much. She felt her heart spiraling around in her chest and then one glossy wing peeked out followed more quickly by the other when she started to track the movement of the first one. 

"Oh!"

In the darkness they looked inky black but they were beautiful, bright pewter in the light. The edges of each feather were scalloped with lighter and darker grey, the primary feathers barred in dark slashes. When he turned his back to her, that side looked darker, gunmetal and dappled with black arrows along the shoulders. "Wow." She whispered. "You're a...uh....Seeker."

She thought she heard the soft chuckle of the red-head for her understanding. Well, this was going to take some getting used to.

At her whisper, he whirled to face her, fast and graceful.

She pulled the sheets up her face and tried to hide as he swooped up on her, "Where did you hear that?" He sounded overjoyed by her unexpected revelation.

"This is crazy, but the woman in the tapestry told me." She answered behind the sheet and he carefully pushed the cloth down and leaned in to kiss her. Uncertainly she returned the kiss, mouth sore where she'd bitten it during the accident.

"The woman in the tapestry?" He searched her face and kissed her again, tender and sweet. "You are amazing. But, don't trust everything a woman in an old rug tells you." Some of his humor returned. She reached for one of those wings and pulled it to her face, nuzzling against it. 

It wasn't until she ran her fingers through the feathers and breathed in the leathery spiced scent of them that she fully grasped why it would be so important for her to see them. To touch them. To share this most intimate secret with him. "Did you ever wrap me in these?" She asked.

"Every single night Precious love." He reluctantly drew back and pulled his sweater back on. 

They were both silent, watching each other and he stepped to her side and reached for her hand. She curled her fingers with his. "Can you forgive me? In my rage over being lied to for years I managed to jeopardize the most important thing to me. You. "

"I'm kinda banged up now." Vans said with a sigh, motioning to herself with her free hand. "What you see is what you get. I don't know how bad I am yet. You might have to baby me the rest of my life." She wiggled her toes and eyebrows.

"I think I like this delicious package as is pretty baby. We might have to put off your Christmas gift though."

"You will? But didn't you get that for me at the auction?"

He smiled a secret little smile and shrugged up his shoulders. "We'll see."

"Well, I think I can forgive you despite that." She murmured softly.

The doctor was happy to report that aside from things twisted, pulled, strained and sprained, the most dangerous injury were the cuts and biting through her lip and the mild concussion. She was stitched up and would need to be watched but Travis assured the doctor that she wouldn't be left alone. So she was discharged to the care of her lover and gingerly found herself tucked into the luxurious Rolls Royce at the front doors. The same car, she suspected he drove her to the Tahoe house in.




Paying the Dragon's Price



"We have an invitation to attend a holiday party lasting until New Year's Eve when I spirit you off to New York. How are you feeling about that?" He asked as he slid into the backseat beside her. Clearly he'd hired someone else to attend to silly things like driving. 

"I don't know how much fun I'll be at a party. No dancing. No drinking. I am not sure about the sex either." 

His eyes twinkled and he opened his arms to her, coaxing her in against him with a rumbling sigh of appreciation as she fit against his broad chest. "Can't I even pleasure my lady?"

She shivered at the tone and cuddled tighter against him. "Maybe. Where is this mysterious party happening?"

"It's Marcie's place. Leo and Ursa are going to be there too. Mostly it will be soaking in the hot tub and eating good food. Relaxing."

She thought about it and then tipped her chin up carefully. "Will that Mano guy be there? Are you going to be weird?" 

He lightly touched the stitches on her lip and leaned in to kiss beside it. "I don't know, but I won't be weird. I promise." His azure eyes twinkled in the darkness of the car and he reached over to the console and pulled it open, revealing a small box wrapped in a bright red ribbon.

Vans opened her eyes as he shifted and followed the motion. "It's not Christmas yet." She whispered as he offered the box to her.

"This isn't your Christmas gift Vanderbilt. This is just for you." He held her gaze.

Her heart pounded in her ribs as she felt Travis' excitement and anticipation. She pulled the ribbon open and let it fall away as he opened the box. Inside was a blinding platinum ring with an enormous diamond set as though held by upraised wings. "Oh shit!"

"Vanderbilt Charles, you wonderful Brat. Will you make me the luckiest bastard alive and agree to marry me?"

It felt like her breath was sucked from her in a sudden flame of pleasure! She gasped at his words, jerking her attention off the ring. "You want to marry me?" She asked, not quite sure she heard him right. She was so certain he was going to break things off with her soon given the conversation she overheard. 

He nodded, eyes brimming with tears. "Desperately my love."

She chews at her lower lip and hissed at the pain that caused and focused on him and his strained expression. "Yes." She let a nervous laugh escape her and threw her arms around him, hugging him as tightly as her aching limbs would allow her. "I thought..."

He pulled her into his arms and lap, turning so he could make her more comfortable against the expanse of his chest. The sweater felt soft against her as she cuddled in tightly against him. "I am so sorry you got the impression I would ever leave you of my own free will. I'm an insufferable ass." His fingers ran through her hair and down her back to cup her ass, every touch unexpectedly soft compared to the usual forceful possession he took of her body.

"You'll be stuck with me now." Her lips brushed his jaw, feeling the unexpected stubble and her heart twisted with a sweet ache. 

"That's the plan. And of course, you will have to pay the price." His eyes twinkled as he took her hand.

"The price?" She asked, feeling her heart squeeze tighter at the warmth in his expression.

"Oh yes. Being mine forever has a burden of payment. Body, heart, and soul." He lowered his voice to a low rumble, "Are you prepared for that?"

She nodded, throat too tight to form any words. Oh fuck yes! The words struck deep through her, the hunger to be his only, and every moment pay whatever price he demanded.

He carefully slipped the ring on her finger. It felt big and heavy. Her throat constricted as she gawked at the thing. It was more than she deserved. She'd never worn anything like this. 

He watched her with happiness shinning in his gaze, "I couldn't be more happy and proud to be yours and never want to be untangled from you love."

She curled her fingers with his, snuggling in tightly to him so she could be sure it wouldn't ever end. Safe. Whole. Mine. She felt him thrumming warm against her and she tried to curl in closer to the sensation, feeling him brighten even more. A low growl vibrated through his chest. Grinning, he tipped his head and peered at her before kissing her temple, brushing her hair back behind one ear. He seemed to question just how she was doing it and she could only offer a little shy smile back. 

How the hell should she know? 

She blamed the red-head. 

They stopped by his house to get clothes for the days at Marcie's house. Part of her felt so wrecked by what happened. He noticed her standing before the closet, staring at her ill-gotten clothing and walked behind her, cupping his hands over her hips. "Are you alright love?" His breath felt warm against her hair.

"I just...." She sighed, "are you sure this is alright? All of this?" She motioned to her wardrobe and then turned, pushing her palms into his wide chest, gathering handfuls of his sweater. "You have been so good to me. But I can't stand it if you really think I'm desperate." With an effort she met his eyes but she could feel the pang of sorrow before she even met his gaze.

"Oh Vanderbilt." He breathed out her name. "This is all fine with me. Those were my fears of you figuring out that I'm a huge jerk and leaving. I love spoiling you Brat. I don't want you to change anything." He spoke quietly, and Vans could feel his desire for her to understand twined tight around him.

She nodded slowly and pulled him closer to her, pressing herself against him, letting out a shivery breath. "Ok. Well, in case you didn't know, I saw right to your asshole center the moment we met." She smiled softly and let go of the fabric at last to wrap arms around his shoulders. 

The way he crinkled up his nose made her laugh and she ruffled his short blond hair, standing on tip-toes to steal a kiss from him, not caring that it hurt both to stretch up and to press her mouth to his. 

"Such a Brat!"

She purred quietly as she regarded him, "So, pick out what you'd like to see me in then? Am I dressing down or being fancy?"

He tucked her under his arm and turned towards the closet and began to deftly pull clothes out. Jeans, sweaters, a frilly top and the cream colored dress he'd gifted her she'd been dying to wear. It wasn't quite nice enough for the party last night but too dressy for just wearing around the house. He even picked out sexy underthings and the pretty white silk robe that had also been part of their shopping trip. "I think you're going to need a bigger closet." He mused thoughtfully.

"Huh? Well, I have mine at...." She hesitated as it dawned on her—she wouldn't have that apartment much longer. "Oh. Crap."

"That's right Brat." He flashed a huge, cocky smile and squeezed her until she squeaked out her protest and he cursed softly, "Fuck. I'm sorry!"

"No. It's fine. Don't you dare treat me like I'm going to shatter." She pressed herself to him, glad when he held her. Her head whirled with the implications. Moving in with Travis! Getting married! 

Only because she was feeling weak and tired, they managed to leave the house without being distracted in one another. Stupid cliff fall! Stupid car smooshing her! A shame they were probably never going to discover who hit her and left her for dead. She fell asleep almost instantly with her face nuzzled into Travis' neck and his strong arms around her. Unlike the night of the party, she didn't feel grasping and...desperate. No, this was just right and he no longer needed to send her vague signals. She could feel the steady warmth of him, a confident, unwavering force. 

She woke when Travis began to stir, realizing the car was off as he rumbled softly, "Love, we're here."

He searched her eyes worriedly when it took her a bit longer than usual to rouse herself and shake off the sleep. The sharpening of his attention tickled around behind her eyes and she playfully poked at his stomach.

"I'm fine." She whispered and kissed him warmly on the lips. "Just enjoying my nap." 

As he helped out into the rain, she noticed the motorcycle parked haphazardly in the drive beside Marcie's red corvette. The big chrome and black Harley was the last thing she imagined the little man riding. She expected something a little more refined. There were two other cars there, including Leo's black Bently. 

"Who else is here?" She asked as he guided her up the steps. 

Travis gave a small shake of his head, "Marcie only said the four of us and maybe her new toy." He cleared his throat, "I'm behaving. I don't know if it's serious or not. I promise no causing trouble." He knocked on the door.

Marcie swung the door open after only a few moments and stood there with a brilliant smile of happiness. She was positively glowing. It felt like a gut punch! "Vans! Oh, I am so happy you're alright!" She swept in and gave her a careful hug, not seeming to notice how her apperance knocked the wind out of her.

The brilliant tanzanite necklace gleamed around it her throat, ringed by vivid purple and red marks. She was wearing a comfortable shirt draping off one shoulder and a comfortable pair of shorts. Her bruised legs were exposed, knees scuffed. Even her upper arm displayed the faint smudge marks of bruises. Her black hair was loose, the silken coils falling wild down her back. Overall she looked perfectly rumpled. 

"Holy shit Marcie!" Travis rumbled as he stared.

The woman grinned fiercely and hugged his stiff-backed frame, ignoring the outburst. "Come in! Get out of the cold!" She pulled them both inside with a light bounce in her steps.

Travis stared at her and asked in a quiet voice, tucking Vans closer, "Are you alright Marcie? You look like you've been roughed up."

Marcie corrected her shirt, covering her shoulder as though that would fix things. "I'm great." 

"You look like you fell down a cliff too." Vans blurted while Marcie led them through the huge house. 

Marcie's eyelids nearly fluttered shut and she glowed a little brighter. "Falling, but not the way you mean." As she pulled her hands through her hair, Vans spotted the obscene ring on her finger. 

Vans barely choked back her squawk of surprise as she pointed and of course flashed her own obscene ring. She was a real good one to point fingers about sudden engagements but seriously, the thing was glaring. "My God! That is beautiful." She whispered, throat tight. Too shocked to process what she was seeing. Marcie was engaged? She just met that guy!

"Mmmm." Marcie agreed and looked at it. "Thank you." When she lifted her hand, the diamonds seemed to shine all the brighter somehow, like trapped stars. It was a lovely ring, an artful sweep of gold and silver peppered with smaller stones around the huge central setting. 

When Vans reached out to see it better, Marcie saw the ring on her finger and chuckled quietly, smile turning brighter than both rings, "Darling! This is stunning!" She glanced over at Travis, her indigo eyes twinkling. "Congratulations."

Travis looked like he'd been smacked in the back of the head. Vans could feel the emotions rolling from the man, worried for Marcie overlaid with his happiness and pride. He really was concerned for his friend. 

He let out a rough breath, as he struggled with the engagement only slightly more impulsive than his own. Finally a sheepish smile curved his lips, "I guess congratulations are in order all around!"

"Thank you! Ursa is going to lose her mind. We just got her down from her excitement over this. Wait until she hears about you two." 

Ursa and Leo. Vans felt a strange stab of worry; would Ursa really be happy and not jealous? It didn't seem fair Vans and Marcie were getting engaged first after what Vans did to them. Would her friend resent it?

Marcie smiled encouragement, "Trust me." She drew them into the room where the group was gathered. A fire blazed in the hearth, warming the big room and here they found Ursa perched in Leo's lap and Mano sprawled out on a nearby couch, poised as though Marcie had just left the comfortable space of his lap. 

No longer the polished, pretty man from the party, this was a silver-eyed, predator that could see right through her. Marcie picked this deadly looking man? Vans glanced at Marcie who prowled back to him and realized the woman seemed just as dangerous as the man. They were two weapons, the sword crossed with a dagger. 

Vans did not want to fuck with either of them.

He wore an comfortable tee-shirt and jeans with his feet bare, tattoos showing around his ankles the way his legs were poised and he pulled Marcie's taller body in against him. While she made herself quite comfortable in hi slap, he lifted a hand and waved airily as the dangerous light dimmed and once again he was just a harmless guy smiling lazily. Not a hungry lion ready to pounce them. 

Ursa leapt to her feet, distracting Vans from her shock, "You are here! You made it! Oh, you poor thing! Stitches?" Her friend flung her arms around her for a soft hug.

"Yeah, it was really a crappy day yesterday. I'm good though." Vans blushed under the attention to her bruised face and the stitches. 

"Oh my gosh! Vans!" Ursa gasped and grabbed her hand to get a better view of the ring. "You too!" The smaller woman's smile grew wider and she did a little dance from foot to food. "Did this just happen? You have to tell me all about it! "

Vans felt herself pulled by her friend to the couch with Leo. Travis chuckled, tucking her against his side as they joined the other couple. 

"Fucking adorable." Mano rumbled into Marcie's hair. "I'm going to get a toothache that one is so damn sweet."

Ursa poked out her tongue, not at all phased by the little man and focused on Vans's story. She grilled her for details Vans had not even begun to consider. Dates. Locations. Size of the happy event.

"Don't worry; she did the same thing to us. Ursa darling, you have to let the poor woman catch her breath. Vans, a drink? Water? Juice? Chef has changed the menu at least four times already so I have no idea what is going on now." She glanced off towards the kitchen as though she could see and then rolled her eyes back to the room, sighing heavily. "We are seriously messing with his feng shui." 

Ursa grinned and let Leo gather her up into his arms and resettle her into his lap, "Fine. Fine." She squirmed against the big man and then cuddled her cheek into his chest. "Just as long as you both invite me."

"Ursa—I am sure you'll be here helping me for most of my planning." Marcie assured her. "We are going to tell some of Mano's friends tomorrow, after the interview."

"Interview?" The question came from everyone except for Mano. How could he look even more amused without breaking into laughter?

Marcie sighed and nodded her head, "I have an interview with a local company. I will not work for the Adlers. In fact, after what happened, I hope you understand my need to distance myself as far as I possibly can. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop inviting you all to parties but...." She glanced at the man who held her comfortably in his lap, "things don't need to get back to them about what's going on either."

"So, they are not invited to the wedding? Got it." Leo murmured and his expression looked troubled. "What happened hasn't set well with me. I doubt that I'll be staying on. It's not as though I don't get offers from other companies all the time but I was happy before. Now? I don't know that I can ignore what they are doing."

Mano spread his hands in a helpless gesture and then twined fingers with Marcie's, "You don't have to change anything. My mother and my aunt are the same creatures they have always been. No, they won't be attending the wedding. But really, you have worked for them for how long?"

"Years." Leo answered, not looking happy.

"Me too." Travis said. "You know that new tapestry?" He asked, watching Mano intently.

"Ah. The new addition to the dining room? She is exquisite right?" Mano asked, mildly curious.

Vans felt her throat go dry and curled closer to Travis.

"Why didn't I see this tapestry?" Marcie asked, frowning.

Mano curled his mustache, looking smug, "Someone waylaid you."

"You know where it came from?" Travis pressed quietly.

"There isn't anything wrong is there?" Mano asked rather than answering the question.

"It's a warning." Vans blurted softly.

The sharpness in her voice made Mano's eyebrows lift and he focused on Vans more intently. Oh, she really didn't want him to start digging into her with those bright eyes but it only took a glance for him to see whatever he was looking for. His attention returned to Marcie and he shrugged up his shoulders.

"She told me." Vans went on before she could think to censor herself. "The red-head. She said, 'The Seeker will stop his search. The old line ends. New lines begin.' She was fucking pissed off she's hanging in there." She glanced at Travis and reached for his hand, squeezing it, "When I asked her why she didn't just tell you, she said 'I will not talk to agents of the adversary'" She didn't like the memory of the threat, the hot needle prickles against her flesh when she thought she would get pressed against the threads. 

Mano's expression stayed neutral, as though he didn't hear her. He turned a curious look to Travis as he stroked Marcie's knuckles with infinite care. 

"Seeker?" Ursa asked and looked up at Leo and then over at Travis with questions bright in her widening green eyes. 

Mano chuckled, wearing the world's best poker face. "I don't talk to agents of the adversary either." From the way he looked at Travis, he knew exactly what they'd been doing in the dining room too.

Vans turned in Travis' arms to blink up at him, "I hope you will look for a new job too. Please, you shouldn't be working for those people."

Travis kissed her temple and pulled her in closer. "I am not quitting. I have been tasked to find Guntram and that's what I will do."

The room went strangely electric. No one said anything but the looks of disapproval came from all sides. No one looked pleased about this. Except Mano behind his unreadable mask. He only let a little smile through as he tipped down his chin slightly in acceptance of a challenge.

Vans felt the hairs all down her back and up her arms stand bolt upright. She thought of the beasts around the red-head's mount, and shuddered violently.

"Travis." Vans felt sick to her stomach, skin crawling. 'The Seeker will stop his search.' She felt the prickles of heat on her skin.

"I never said that I'd hog tie him and gift him back to his mother. Did I?" Travis growled around at the expressions. "You know what I'm good at? Finding shit. It's right in the title: Seeker. What the hell would I do without that task?"

"Look for lost puppies?" Mano suggested mildly.

"Fuck you Mano."

"Alright, stop." Marcie sighed and wriggled up from her seat, slapping away Mano's hands seeking to restrain her. "I'm going to check on dinner. Make sure they aren't going to need to run out for something else with the energy shifts in here." She gave Mano the warning look and he held his palms out to her and flickered a submissive smile up through his lashes.

Vans expected Mano to start in the moment that Marcie left the room, but he laced his fingers behind the nape of his neck and stretched out more fully, toes wiggling. Silent.

Ursa looked troubled still and reached to Travis, giving his arm a squeeze. "How can you continue to work with someone so obviously trying to do harm? Even her husband seemed pretty bent about what she's doing."

"If they don't have me doing the job, who do you think they'll have do it? Someone not as—conflicted?" Travis asked and looked at Mano.

The man rolled his shoulders, behaving as agreed.




Paying the Dragon's Price



"That sounds reasonable." Leo answered instead, low voice thoughtful. "If the old woman doesn't see right through your lies."

"What is the big deal about this guy anyway? I mean, I get he's the only child and so important to the Adler legacy and bloodlines and everything but what if someone finds him and drags him back in chains to his mother. Then what? How old is this guy now? He looks barely twenty in the paintings in the hall." Ursa asked quietly, looking from face to face for the answer.

"He'd be over forty fucking years old." Mano growled quietly. 

"That's too old for his mother to be—controlling him." Ursa said with a frown and leaned into Leo. "They don't really expect to use him like a stud bull on some woman right? Clearly if he wanted to be around, he'd be around."

"I was told the family is concerned he is hurt or in danger. They want to see him safe and whole." Travis shrugged. "I'm not interested putting him under their thumb. I'm tasked to make sure he is alright."

Mano smirked, "their concern is so touching." His voice dry. "If he were in trouble, what do you think you could possibly do?"

Before Travis could answer, Marcie returned to the room and motioned to them, "Dinner is ready. Let's sit around the table. No more work talk. That includes hunting missing Alder heirs. Alright?" She fixed each of them with a steely gaze before Mano joined her, wrapping his arm around her. 

Vans was taken aback by the height of the man. He contained such an imposing presence; it took a moment to reconcile the difference in his size beside Marcie's tall, slim body. She stood at least a head taller than the man. Particularly in this dressed down version, they were as strange a match as Ursa and Leo. Maybe even stranger because Vans could not imagine Marcie with anyone she looked down on.

Travis helped Vans to her feet and together they followed the others into the dining room. His warm hand caressing the small of her back tried to sooth away the tightness there, but it was less a physical sensation than something otherworldly setting her teeth rattling. She didn't want to let the topic go, she wanted to keep at him until he gave up the hunt. It bothered her that the Alders were using him. 

Marcie's dining room was set up almost as elaborately as the Alder table, complete with gold and white china and matching gold-rimmed crystal glasses. Even the silverware looked old and newly polished tucked in linen holiday napkins. The finishing touches were the fresh evergreen boughs and candles lit down the length.

"I'm not sure if you've met the chef at the other events. This is Chef Sean Torrez. He has agreed to attend us for the holiday and I promised him we would not harass him too much and happily eat whatever he is willing to make."

The man Marcie introduced was dressed formally, at attention against the back of the room while they took their seats. He was tall and slim with smooth swarthy skin and black hair. Soulful brown eyes watched them, as though measuring them. Vans felt the prickling sensation between her eyes as he regarded her. He cocked one eyebrow up in surprise as though he recognized her. She didn't think they'd ever met but there was certainly something familiar about him. 

Vans felt under dressed for the occasion in her battered condition and comfortable clothes. She was reassured seeing Ursa looking more ill at ease as she felt. 

"Don't worry, I don't bite." Chef Torrez assured with a rather cute little smile. He drew in a deep breath, and began attending to filling glasses with water and sparkling wine. He seriously took the whole feng shui thing to the next level. 

Marcie stood as the glasses once their glasses were filled, "I want to thank you all for spending this extended holiday with me. Most of you know I have spent my past five years alone and usually keep to myself until after New Year. I hope this might become a new tradition between us. I couldn't ask for better friends, or ever imagined my good fortune in tripping headfirst into love. Thank you for sharing my life with me and for allowing me to share yours with you." Her dark eyes twinkled with happiness close to tears. "And, I look forward to spending some time together without masks for a change."

They shared in the toast and none of them had dry eyes as they settled into their meal. Vans forgot all about how under-dressed, bruised and rattled she felt at the very first bite of oyster with crème fraiche and caviar.

"So, Chef Torrez is the nephew of the people I'm interviewing with tomorrow." Marcie said cheerfully as the man made rounds with yet another type of wine to go with another of dish. 

"That happened quick didn't it?" Leo asked curiously.

"It wasn't expected, but I do keep my information on-line. They must have stumbled on it."

"Convenient." Leo chuckled.

"Everything in its proper time. Right?" Marcie answered with an uplift of her glass, smiling a secret little smile.

Before Vans knew it, she was actually enjoying the elegance of the elaborate meal with the careful attention to each of the dishes. By the time they finally made it to coffee, port and their selection of pretty, very tiny, pastries, she wasn't sure she would make it up to her bed on her own power.

"So, did he sort of do something to the food?" Vans asked. She felt fuzzier headed than the sips of wine should make her feel.

"Well, he certainly prepared it perfectly." Mano answered as he teased Marcie with her bite of cake, feeding her the dainty pink slice from his fingers. Mostly he seemed intent on smearing her lips with the icing. No one, especially Marcie, seemed to mind this little game.

Vans wanted to correct him and tell him what she meant but instead she cuddled into Travis's side, feeling more whole and well than she had in a very long time. "Well, I think I'm going to have to be the wet blanket and tap out early. I'm sorry—just feeling really sleepy now."

In fact, she fell to sleep right there, like the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, snuggled into the curl of her fiancé's arm, without a single care in the world.

Dec 22, 2015

Vans woke to the sound of harp music, wrapped in warm softness. The song being played seemed like one she knew, but sounded so distant that she couldn't place it, a sweet sigh and pluck of strings filling the sleepy spaces in her head.

Smiling to herself, she curled herself into the heat, reaching up to wrap her fingers around feathers tickling her shoulders and sides. A surprised gasp of pleasure vibrated along her neck, stirring her curls.

She blinked awake fully and discovered her naked body was snuggled in silvery feathers and quickly released the hold on the shafts she'd been trying to wriggle herself into. "I'm sorry!" The music continued off in the distance, the player skillfully working the harp strings.

Travis pulled her in tighter and it felt amazingly intimate in the snare of his arms and those big, strong wings, like a second set of arms, tickling all along her as he ruffled them. "No. Stay." He whispered into her skin, purring low. "I like that."

"I didn't hurt you?" She asked and stroked the softer, fluffy covert feathers, away from the stiff primaries and secondaries. They were impossibly silken and under them, downy and warm where she could feel his skin. 

He groaned low and shuddered with pleasure, breath catching in his chest. His heart tripped faster, thudding strong and hard into her spine. "Fuck!" With a roll of his hips, he nuzzled his manhood against her ass, hard and bare against her skin. "Fuck no Precious Love. Perfect. Fucking perfect. I...have never had someone touch like that."

"Virgin?" She teased and gasped when he pressed a bite to her shoulder, nuzzling his face between feathers and her hair. The delicious spread of pain and pleasure flooded through her and she smoothed fingers through his feathers, gathering up both hands full to feel them tickle her palms and arms as she arched into him.

"Careful Love." He whispered, kissing around the bite mark to sooth the pain. The rippling expanse of pleasure from his strong, hot mouth made her yearn towards him in hopes he would apply another bite to her.

"Why?" She asks in a soft, desperate whine when he continued to hold her, softly stroking her body. The night rest had done wonders to her. She didn't feel sore at all. In fact, she felt better than she had in months.

"Someone was hit by a car." Travis murmured between the kisses that moved down between her bare breasts. "That same pretty someone fell asleep in her soup last night."

She squirmed but he didn't let her escape. The strength in her struggles made him growl and bite along the swell of her breast, teasing with the nearness to the nipple without actually touching the pleasure point. "I fell asleep after I had the whole....meal..." she murmured as the underside of her tongue tingled with memories of the dishes. The cake in particular was borderline-illegal-good.

"Before I could enjoy my proper dessert." He noted quietly. "You didn't pay the Dragon's price yet my pretty." 

"The what? For what?" She started to laugh but the way his touches swept along her body on all sides, whispering up and down in slow caresses tore the mirth from her and replaced it with a raw need that moaned out of her. When his mouth closed over her nipple she bucked her shoulders up, pushing the soft swells of her breasts into his lips.

He growled low, lapping along the peaked tip before suckling but then broke off prematurely so he could answer her question. Wet from his tongue, her nipple tightened even more and when his voice whispered over her skin, she thought she might burst into flames. "The Dragon's Price." He whispered, low and husky, sounding amused, "My price."

It was difficult to focus and she struggled with her need and her desire to stay with this conversation. He'd not mentioned a price for anything! Had she zoned out again? Did she forget?

When she whimpered in anxiety, he soothed her with a growling, "Ssssshhhh! It's the cost of being Mine." He purred and licked the very tip of her nipple with a single curl of his tongue. "And you must agree to pay it forever."

His touches seemed to be everywhere and when she responded with a heady shudder of pleasure, he snarled in delight. "Fuck! I didn't know it could be possible to make you even sexier my sweet Brat, but—you feeling *me*...." His voice trails off as he drew the length of one wing down from her shoulder down the curve of her breast and across her clenching stomach.

She melted under the touch that began as a soft tickle and quickly hardened to a rake of the hard, strong primary feathers. They flexed against her like so many nimble fingers, tips scratching and pressing hard into her, leaving faint and then angry red marks as he teased her. A moan escaped her and she felt her body rocking towards the touch for more and he rolled her over, letting her pin one of his wings under her back while he held her down with his big hands on her shoulder and hip.

"Fuck!" She whispered, blinking glazed eyes up into his, feeling burned by the intensity of the lust and affection in that look. "I would pay any price for this! For you!"

How had she never felt this before? These huge, strong wings all around her! Her mind spun with the reality that he could use those silken wings to cut her to little bits. Heat of excitement chased fear and became a boiling hunger in her. 

Oh yes! She wanted to feel that!

She pressed into the touches, feeling the pierce of her skin just under one breast, just enough for a single pearl of crimson to well up from her smooth skin.

"God, you are going to kill me." He sounded strangled as he watched her response, his pre-cum leaking from the swollen head of his cock, lovely pearls on her belly and hip where he hovered over her without touching her with that swollen, steely length of manhood.

His thumb pressed against her hip bone, rolling along the flesh and then slipping towards her inner thigh, an ever increasing grip of pain until she quaked with her need, feeling the heat of her pleasure slicking her sex, coating down her inner thighs and ass as her legs spread wider and wider as she possibly could in hopes he would nestle himself into her and claim her aching heat.

"Don't be gentle with me!" she begged and then sucked in a breath when feathers caressed her cheek and neck, so soft, like silk, whispering down and shimmering along her flesh with the greatest care.

"Ah, but I'm not used to this! Any of this! Feeling you. You feeling me. To seeing your expression when you touch...fuck....Vanderbilt....." His voice shook. "I need to be careful with the most Precious possession in my world. The price you'll be paying is not in blood Brat, but another bodily fluid." 

Bowing his head, he kissed the scratched spot, licking away her blood and traced along the raked marks until he reached where they were they began, mere pale pink whispers at her hip, and adjusted himself, coaxing her hips up with wing and arm, drawing one of her thighs over his shoulder. He growled when she hooked her foot around the strong shoulder joint where feather and flesh met and cursed low in his throat, his cock bobbing lewdly, painting up her belly with his pre-cum.

She started to reach for him, to cup his swollen cock in her hands but he soothed her with a soft, "Lay back Baby. This is your time right now. Don't you dare distract me more or I will slide into you and pleasure myself and leave you begging for release while I paint your pretty tits with my seed.

"Oh God! Oh God Please! Fuck!" She raked her fingers along his shoulders instead. Feeling utterly tangled and lost in him, she met his eyes, finding them bright and star-struck. She could have reached her climax on a word from him. Over her pounding heart and his, the soft, sweet song of the harp sighed out the love-sick song, not far enough for her sex-hazed brain to block it all out.

He pressed the heel of his hand against her sex, slowly rocking forward and back against her clit and cupped his other fingers around her swollen, dripping pussy lips. She cried out brokenly, "Please Sir! I'm going to....Oh Fuck!"

"That's it Sweet Brat. Cum for me. Let me have it!" He purred against her hip bone, applying steady pressure to her without ever increasing or dipping his fingers into her.

She came with a primal scream, arching as her climax rushed up her spine and coiled through her thighs and throbbed through the tight, heated muscles of her sex. She arched upward into his touch, body bowed towards his chest and those contrasting soft and strong feathers. She felt like a harp string too, the cry stretched and vibrating as she came wet and hard against his palm and fingers, soaking him and the bed with the unexpected fierceness of her climax.

In the back of her mind, she thought she heard the song echo her pleasure, but lost it in the constricting spasms coiling and uncoiling through her. It was only Travis—her Dragon-Sir and her. And from the way his fingers slowly pushed into the gripping wetness between her pussy lips, she was his sole focus too.

When he pressed into her, steadily deepening the entry through the pulse of her pleasure, his mouth hovered over hers, "I love you. I love you so much my Vanderbilt. My Perfect Vanderbilt." Feathering the softest kiss to her mouth as though she were the most fragile thing in the world.

Trying to control her orgasm was beyond her as his words rocked her. Destroyed her! She felt tears streaking down her cheeks as she sobbed out in pleasure and surrendered to him. She pressed into his kiss and he groaned into her mouth, letting her direct how hard the kissing would progress. The pain was hardly a whisper through the thrumming joy that overflowed her in a flood. 

She chased his tongue into his mouth and splintered into a new flurry of climax when he sucked against her, long and slow in time with his pumping fingers. A second joined the first and then a third as she rewarded his slow, steady strokes with another tightening of her body, fracturing and spinning out of control in an ever wetter mess of pleasure beneath him.

He broke the kiss as she melted under him. His tongue licked along her lower lip, gingerly over where she was wounded and met her eyes, his dark with lust. So dark. Consuming her. "Now you begin to understand the price!" He growled as his smile curled up his sensual mouth. Leaning in, he licked along the track of her tears and kissed her eyelids when they fluttered closed in bliss. "Are you alright Vanderbilt?" 

Inside her, his fingers pressed deep, the thrusting stopped so he could curl skillfully up into her g-spot, coaxing her to come towards him, as though he knew he could summon her pleasure with just a come-hither flex of his fingers. She moaned out her answer, a guttural response beyond rational words. She shuddered, crying out as he ruthlessly drew out another orgasm while holding her gaze, as though he couldn't get enough of seeing her break against him.

At last he slipped his fingers from her and lifted the fingers to his lips, letting her watch as he sucked the three of them that had been so recently washed in her girl cum. Her stomach tightened, sex gathering in a furious knot of desire as she watched him lick his fingers clean of his sweet treat she'd obviously denied him the night before. 

"Now—you have a choice." He murmured, sliding his pussy-slick palm along her cheek, leaving a messy, pussy-scented smear over her face from jaw to temple. He made sure to slide his thumb just under her nose so she could smell her own lust, heady and sweet, almost overwhelming her. "Do you want my cum Love? He leaned up so she could get a good view of his bare body, the nearly purple-crowned cock sprinkling her with pearly pre-cum even as he posed for her.

She nodded, as much as she could now that he was grasping a handful of her hair. "Yes. Fuck yes Sir! I want it. I want you!" She was dizzy with her hunger for him.

He murmured softly and squeezed the handful of hair until she was writhing with pleasure that painful grasp caused her. "How do you want me?"

The question and the way he wrapped her hair around his fist made her head swim. Her eyes rolled back for a moment and he very slowly released his grip to cup her cheek and his smile was tender and affectionate, his lusts and desires held back as he checked in on her. "I—I don't know." She admitted, nuzzling her cheek against his fingers.

"Well, I could fuck your beautiful tits, or your sweet, tight pussy." He watched her process this. 

She squirmed under the intensity of his question and the suggestions made her squirm and long for all of it. Everything! "Yes. I want it all!" Her voice caught in a gasp when he smoothed his thumb over her lips.

"Yes, greedy Brat! However, our earlier arrangement was for condoms you know." He stilled his caress of her mouth.

Her heart hammered harder and she tried to glance away, to the side of the bed to locate the condoms but all she could see was Travis, his bare chest and silver wings blocking out everything. "I know. Condoms are fine." Vans thought her heart was going to break free of her ribs as she watched his gorgeous body. His cock looked so fucking good.

"I know!" He chuckled softly, eyes softening, "things have changed exponentially. Haven't they? No one is ever going to get this cock again but you." He purred quietly and grasped the base of his cock and slowly painted the shape of a heart over the dappled pre-cum pearls that he'd left on her. "And no one will ever touch this little pussy so long as you're mine."

Her stomach tightened, quivering and straining towards him with a soft, needy croon. "Yes. Oh! Oh!!" her eyes widened at the implication that he was asking if she wanted to fuck without using a condom. She felt the heat flash hot across her face, torn between watching him drawing slick pictures along the smooth skin over her ribs and stomach. "I'm not on the pill." She gasped with a hick-up of panic.




Paying the Dragon's Price



"Oh, is that right? So, you're concerned about little Vanderbilts? I see. Hhhmmm...condom then?" He bared his teeth in an almost feral smile that made her tremble with longing.

She wanted to feel him driving deep into her, skin on skin with nothing between them but heartbeats and skin but having children? Oh no. Vanderbilt was not ready for that! "I want to touch you. Feel you. Stroke you. Love you. Oh Travis, Fuck I love you." She trembles as the words came pouring out and with a low, eager growl, he pushed his hips forward.

His voice softened, a quiet whisper, "Touch me Precious. Whatever your heart desires." 

When she wrapped her hands around his girth at the base, he moaned thickly, his pulse running wilder under her fingertips as she traced him up and down the underside, smearing his pre-cum into his hard flesh. For a long moment she watched him dwarf her hands, her fingers curling around the base and then cup her palm around the full balls.

"Vanderbilt." His voice sounded strained and she jerked her attention up to his face. Like his voice, his expression was tight, his jaw clutched tight around her name and when she met his gaze, he groaned, eyes slitting as his cock throbbed in her fingers. "You don't know what you're doing to me. Fuck! When I cum, there's going to be so much for you." His hips surged forward, pushing into her hands.

Leaning up, she bowed forward to meet the thrust and licked over the head, heart racing when his pre-cum coated her tongue. Addicted! She was so addicted to him. Even though it stung her lips to wrap around his thick cockhead, she did it anyway, loving how he shuddered in pleasure when she sucked wetly around him. Totally worth the discomfort!

She drew back, melting down into the curl of feathers that caught her and stroked him lightly with both hands. He held steady, letting her play with him, groaning and uttering low, dark oaths through his teeth while his eyes burned down at her. She could feel his restraint fracturing, hear it in the deep, rumbling breaths he growled out and see it plain in his gaze locked onto hers as though mesmerized by her.

"Wrap your silky little fist around me and stroke." He demanded through his teeth.

She readily obeyed, giving up her teasing as his tone broke. He pulsed in her grip and she squeezed tighter, feeling the storm in him desperate to explode through the last of his reserve. Squeezing in time with his thrusting into her hand, she felt his balls draw up tighter with every long stroke.

When he came, it was with a moan around her name and he reared up over her as his hips bucked forward towards her. The fountain of pearly cum arched through the air and sprayed her tits and up her neck and throat and another thick gush of his seed struck her cheek and into her hair. His eyes rolled at the image as though the sight of her painted in his cum burned him in some spectacular, beautiful way. 

"Oh God!" Vans gasped and he lunged forward and pinned her flat into the bed, his pulsing cock trapped between her belly and his and his mouth caught hers, lost in his hunger. It was primal and perfect, tongues tangling, the pain of her mouth a poignant, sharp bite of delight. His hard body pinned her as he coated her with more and more of his cum, the thick gush of it spurting up between her breasts. 

"I love you Vanderbilt." Travis moaned against her lips, easing up from the roughness and as he did. Gracefully he rolled over, pulling her onto him, still keeping her safe in the comfortable, leathery scented feathers.

"I love you too Travis-Sir!" She whispered breathlessly, running warm kisses along his face and the corner of his grinning lips. He looked amazingly sexy under her and she cupped his jaw with her free hand and rubbed noses with him. "Future Mister Charles."

He blinked at her, "Mister Charles? Oh, you think so future Mrs. Conte." His smiled so dangerous while feathers and fingers fluttered down her spine to her ass, patting her backside gingerly.

"I guess we have some time to decide." She purred at him and curled in, laying her cheek against his chest, grinning into the brilliance of his eyes. 

The harp music continued from a distant part of the house, sweet and bright. A different song now, but played with the same skill. No longer full of longing, this melody held the promising look to the future. She felt herself smiling, feeling like her own life were reflecting that waterfall of brilliance.

The future, where before nothing existed, overflowed with possibilities. Regardless of what name she put to it, she couldn't dream of more.