Elven Surrender

Chapter Six

Horror stopped Silver’s heart for a beat. It froze her lungs for an instant as a scream of denial rose up but couldn’t escape. Though she couldn’t feel the sorcerer’s magic, she knew a spell had been woven into the coin.

The sense of betrayal deepened when she realized why Joelle had insisted they go to the club last night. Somehow she’d known what was going to happen.

Agony ripped through Silver. The Mark made her null—helpless against the sorcerer’s spell that rendered her unable to fight, unable even to shout for help. Tears of rage and confusion and pain fell in a steady stream, a perfect outward reflection of the tears Joelle was crying.

Joelle sobbed again before turning away, her expression revealing her shame. “I prayed the dreams weren’t a true prophecy, Silver. I prayed they were just nightmares because the thought of being sent away, of marrying in haste so I wouldn’t be alone in some desolate village was terrifying. All I’ve ever wanted was to stay in New Holyoak. But then I heard Mother talking with some of the elders. They had the same the dream.

“They all agreed. The Mark would appear on your palm the night before the Rite of New Beginnings and if you came to the Turning Ceremony, then you’d stay in New Holyoak. I’d be given another territory and over time you’d become the most powerful witch in the coven.”

Joelle began walking, her hand gripping Silver’s tightly, ensuring that the medallion remained pressed between their palms. Inside Silver screamed, pleaded with her cousin to allow her to speak so she could tell her she had no intention of taking her place in the coven tonight. But the magic making her walk peacefully away from Wraith and Tynan kept her mute.

Tears gathered and fell more rapidly. Her heart grew heavier with each step. If they were watching her they could easily think that seeing her cousin had made her change her mind about returning to them.

“Oh, Goddess forgive me, but this is the only way,”Joelle said as soon as they got to a wider path.

A knot formed in Silver’s stomach. She recognized where they were and how quickly they’d be off elven lands.

Last night she’d entered the woods from a different location. She’d run blindly, worried about getting away from the sorcerers chasing her—only she hadn’t truly escaped them.

She knew what was coming even before Joelle said, “Etienne’s not as handsome or as powerful as some of the magi, but he’s less arrogant. If I were a null, I’d be happy with him as a husband. He’ll make sure you’re happy—with a spell at first—but it won’t be terrible. He promised the spell would work both ways. By the time it fades the two of you will be in love. And if the prophecy comes true, you’ll grow very powerful. You’ll find a place for yourself as a sorceress.”

Joelle picked up the pace. “Etienne, hurry! Hurry! If you want a wife you need to come here. Now!”

Silver willed herself to fight the panic and horror. Etienne Durand was a decent man and less arrogant than most magi, but she wouldn’t be bound to him without a fight. She wouldn’t accept this as her fate.

Pain lanced through Tynan’s heart. He wanted to wipe the mirror clean as soon as Silver left the clearing with her cousin.

The tears streaming down her face cut him like the sharp edge of stone and made him bleed inside. She’d gone to reassure her cousin, she’d promised to come back immediately—yet it was obvious she wasn’t returning.

“No,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “No,” he repeated, unwilling to let her go without a chance to coax her into staying.

“No,” Wraith growled and the air filled with the menace of an impending storm.

They left the cottage, their magic rising up, joining and entwining in a way that spoke of fated destinies, earth and air spells linked and rippling out before them.

The sun was high and the sky free of clouds, but the closer they got to the elven border the darker and more hostile the forest grew. Unnatural winds howled along the path, whipping Joelle’s words backward along with their hair.

Hope surged to life in Silver’s chest again. It pounded through her veins in time to the rising panic of her cousin’s racing heart.

Please, Silver prayed silently, knowing elven magic was responsible for the menace around them. Let them reach me in time.

But even as her prayer finished, Etienne emerged from the trees and hurried toward them. The sight of him caused Joelle to lunge forward just as a small sapling swayed and bowed in front of her.

It whipped across her ankles, tripping her and sending her to the ground. Silver started to tumble after her but was caught by a limb and slung backward, ripping her hand from Joelle’s.

Silver scrambled to her feet and ran. The wind aided her, pushed her so roughly she nearly stumbled.

Joelle’s shout chased her along with the sound of running feet and the beginning of a spell.

Hurry! Silver’s heart screamed. Hurry!

She rounded a curve and slammed into a hard male chest. Tynan’s arms enfolded her immediately, trapping her hands at her sides and nearly crushing her in a hug that resonated with the same emotions she felt. Behind her, racing footsteps came to an abrupt halt. Next to her Wraith cast a spell. In a heartbeat silence reigned, so pure that even the birds and insects honored it.

As soon as Wraith saw the sorcerer he understood Silver’s tears as she left the clearing with her cousin. She’d been ensorcelled, led away unwilling. He knew enough about human custom to understand immediately what the magi hoped to gain because of the elfling mark on Silver’s palm. A wife. What he couldn’t grasp was why Silver’s cousin had betrayed her.

It didn’t matter. Time was running out. The magic inside Silver was nearing its peak. They’d be lucky to get back to the cottage before the spell needed to be cast.

“Put the trespasser on her knees in front of us, brother,” he said, barely able to keep his hand off his cock when Silver looked up at him through dark eyelashes.

He took a minute to study her, making a show of looking her over as if he were a farmer studying a mare at auction. “She appeals to me. I think she could serve us well given that we don’t have time to arrange for another. What do you say, brother?”

“I’m in agreement.”

“Good.” He tilted his head and widened his stance, hoping the magi and Silver’s cousin were both too frightened to notice the stiffness of his cock pressing aggressively against the front of his pants. To Silver he said, “You will surrender yourself, attending to my brother’s needs and my own until we free you, or you will live out your life as a bird, warning of the dangers of trespassing on elven lands. Choose your punishment, human.”

“I’ll stay with you,” she whispered, sounding so deliciously submissive that his penis pulsed and leaked.

Wraith shifted his attention to Silver’s cousin and the sorcerer. For an instant he was tempted to utter the curse that would strip them of their powers and render them permanently null, but he refrained from doing it. Instead he stripped them of their will and put the same spell on them that they’d intended for Silver. Then he sent them away, lost in a haze of infatuation that would last until they were safely married.

As soon as they were out of sight he scooped Silver into his arms and kissed her deeply, gently, possessively.

“I was running back to you,” she said when he lifted his mouth from hers.

“I know.”

He claimed her lips again, kissed her hungrily before setting her down.

Tynan immediately pulled her into his arms. Pain at her near loss, pain over what she must be feeling because of her cousin’s betrayal echoed through his heart. “Be warned, we will never free you,” he said, pressing kisses to her neck, her cheeks, the corners of her lips.

“I don’t want to be free,” she said.

Urgency filled him and he captured her mouth, sucked on her lips until she opened for him. A tremor of need, of emotion rippled through him and his arms tightened. She’d haunted his dreams for years with the promise of exquisite passion and true intimacy. He’d felt as though he was being ripped into shreds when he watched her leave the clearing with her cousin.

In so many ways they were still strangers, but there was an utter rightness to their union. He had no fear of giving his heart to her as well as his body. They were meant to be together.

Tynan rubbed his tongue against hers, desperate to get as close to her as possible. The magic rose up inside her to greet him. It poured down his throat and went straight to his cock.

When his hands went to the front of her shirt, Wraith’s fingers gripped his wrist, stopping him. “Let’s finish this at home,” Wraith said.

Denial shuddered through Tynan. His penis screamed in protest, wept with its need to get inside Silver. But he knew Wraith was right. This wasn’t the place to call the magic that would change her.

Reluctantly he ended the kiss and stepped away from her. He took her hand in his, unable to stand complete separation. Wraith claimed her other hand and they hurried back to the cabin and into the bedroom.

“Strip,” Wraith said, peeling his trousers off.

Silver shivered at the sight of his cock. She removed her shirt and let it join his on the floor. Tynan’s sole article of clothing was added to the pile.

Tynan knelt in front of her, removing her boots the way he’d done the previous night, then tugged her pants off so she was standing naked before them. She opened her legs, whimpered as he kissed her bare mound and thrust his tongue into her slit.

She’d told herself that if The Mark was a portent signifying The Goddess intended her to walk a different life path, then there would be another sign providing direction. Tynan’s dream and Wraith’s carving of her, their words and touches—they were arrows pointing toward her destiny and she intended to go where they took her.

Betrayal was still a heavy weight in her heart, but it lightened as Tynan made love to her with his mouth. Liquid hunger poured into her with the touch of his lips and tongue, desire so potent she would have sunk to the floor if Wraith hadn’t positioned himself behind her.

His hands claimed her breasts. His cock pressed against the crevice of her buttocks. “Do you want both of us?” he whispered, tracing the shell of her ear before fucking into the sensitive canal.

“Yes,” she moaned. “Oh yes.”

His fingers tightened on her nipples. “Then beg for us. Tell us how much you want to feel our cocks inside you.”

Arousal gushed from her slit, sending Tynan into a fevered frenzy. She bucked and jerked, fucked herself on his tongue and ground herself against his mouth. It wasn’t enough.

A raging inferno burned out of control inside her. One that would never be extinguished, but only brought under control by their touch.

She begged. She pleaded. She impaled herself on Wraith’s cock as soon as he lay down on the bed.

Even lying beneath her, he still dominated. His kiss was a carnal demand that left her whimpering, pleading with her lips and tongue, with the softness of her body for him to let her have Tynan, too.

She shivered when Wraith’s hands stroked down her back and settled on her buttocks, parting them, using her own arousal to lubricate her back entrance for his brother. She cried out at the feel of Tynan’s cock head pressed against her opening, shuddered as he fought his way in, stretching her, making her feel full of magic and man.

It was dark fantasy and pure eroticism, to be taken by both of them, to hold their cocks inside her in shared intimacy. She moaned between them, felt as if her skin could no longer contain her emotions.

“You’re ours,”Tynan said. “Completely ours. For always.”

“Tell us,” Wraith demanded.

“I’m yours. For always,” she whispered, her inner muscles tightening on their cocks, sucking at them, pleading with them to start thrusting.

Tynan kissed her shoulder and neck, almost unable to bear the incredible sensation of being inside her at the same time as Wraith. Heat and magic radiated from her core, reaching with an insistence that could no longer be ignored. It was time.

He began the spell and Wraith joined in, their words spoken in a seamless blending of voices. It was torture to remain still, but at the same time, it was darkly erotic to feel his brother’s cock alongside his, separated by only a thin barrier.

They were both straining, nearly panting by the time the final words of the spell were said. Between them, Silver whimpered and shivered and begged for them to fuck her. There was no choice but to answer her pleas.

Groans and feminine cries of pleasure filled the room. Hips jerked as hands and mouths roamed. Flesh pressed and rubbed desperately against flesh.

Lust burned through their veins, pooled until there was only thrusting, retreating, claiming—the shouted sounds of unparalleled release as orgasm slammed through them and the magic that had been unleashed took them under.

They were still clinging to each other, still breathing heavily and trembling with spent passion when consciousness returned.

Silver felt different. Alive. Magical.

Around her colors seemed more vibrant. The air pulsed with potential.

She rubbed her cheek against Wraith’s, lazily stroked upward until her fingers could tease the delicate tip of his ear. He bucked and grunted, started to harden against her belly.

Behind her Tynan chuckled. He rose onto his elbow, smoothed the hair away from her face before taking her earlobe into his mouth.

Her nipples tightened instantly, became hard knots against Wraith’s muscled chest. “Again?” she asked, amazed at how quickly they could recover, thrilled by how often they wanted her.

“Always,”Tynan said, releasing her earlobe.

Fire streaked through her when his mouth closed around the top of her ear. He sucked and laved, traced the shape of it with his tongue until sudden understanding made her go rigid with shock.

When her fingers replaced his mouth in exploring the pointed tip, he said, “Forgive us for making you elf without asking you first. It was the only way to keep you with us and make you ours.”

Disbelief. Hope. Fear. Joy. So many emotions cascaded through her at once that she was left mute.

Wraith leaned in. He kissed her gently, reverently. “We’ll spend a lifetime ensuring your happiness. Tell us we’re forgiven for not allowing you a choice. The window of opportunity for changing you was small and so much was at stake.”

Silver’s heart grew full. She could come to love these men, deeply, irrevocably—she already felt the first stirrings of it.

“I forgive you,” she said, reaching for him only to still when she saw her palm.

The Mark was gone.

“Let us show you true magic,”Tynan whispered, his lips going to the sensitive tip of her ear again, his cock hard and ready against her buttocks.

Wraith’s eyes darkened with an erotic storm. He took her hand, placed a kiss on her palm. “Surrender to us,” he demanded. “Your destiny is to be our wife.”

“Yes,” Silver whispered, more than willing to embrace a future with them, to share her bed with Wraith and Tynan wrapping her in love and security.