“I don’t see why I couldn’t have gone out on the boat today,” Miren said. “We’d have been out on the ocean, a draugr and two mermen to protect me. Who the hell could get to me there?”
“A whale?” Darcy raised an eyebrow. “One call on a conch from someone like Liliana, and you’d have been in the drink, matey. Garrr,” she said in mock pirate voice.
But no one laughed. Mention of the council’s high priestess only turned the mood inside the kitchen more sour. Liliana had been the one who’d pushed for Bryn’s alliance with the hellhound. She was only interested in increasing witches’ power, which any witch would agree could be a good thing. But Liliana served her own selfish purpose. During their ceremonies and rites, she pulled all their power, making herself the focal entity. A star among her kind and the most powerful ally to the rulers.
Liliana’s ethereal blonde beauty belied her ugly heart. Something Bryn and her friends had seen from the start of Liliana’s rise.
“Do you think she’ll come?” Aoife said in a small voice.
“Since she sleeps with Merrick, I doubt she’ll let him come alone.” Bryn glanced up at the others. Liliana hadn’t hidden her interest in Merrick. In fact, she’d tried on more than one occasion to draw Bryn into a threesome, a chance to drain Bryn of her strength to feed herself and Merrick. Bryn felt nothing but revulsion for the pair, and even though Merrick had been her mate, she’d been only too happy when he stayed away at night.
She wouldn’t be so tolerant with Ethan. Not that she believed he would ever betray her. There was an upside to mating beneath your station.
Bryn winced at the snarky thought and pounded harder on the steak she was tenderizing.
“Ooh, you’d think she’d be in a better mood,” Darcy said, narrowing her eyes on Bryn.
Bryn bent her head. “I can feel you staring,” she muttered.
Darcy moved closer and set her chin on Bryn’s shoulder. “So tell us, what’s it like being with a troll?”
“A troll.” Miren shivered. “I still can’t believe that.”
Bryn beat the meat with her tenderizing mallet harder. No way was she going to give the women a play-by-play of what had happened between her and Ethan. She still quivered just thinking about it.
“I did a little research on Vindlér Construction.”
All gazes swung to Aoife.
Aoife shrugged. “An internet search. They have quite the story. Seems Ethan and Renner came south with a few of their buddies after Katrina hit. They didn’t have two pennies to rub together but managed to get construction contracts for the reconstruction in New Orleans—roads, bridges and even a couple of schools. They aren’t hurting now.”
Radha snorted. “Trolls building bridges. How cliché is that?”
Beyond annoyed with her sisters, Bryn set aside her mallet and walked to the sink. She washed her hands, took off her apron and headed to the back door.
“Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound like a bitch,” Radha said.
Bryn glanced over her shoulder. “And I forgive you. But snarking on Ethan doesn’t accomplish anything. Yes, he’s a troll. I’m fucking a troll. But I’ll tell you this, you should all be so lucky.”
She let the door slam behind her and stepped farther onto the porch.
“You don’t have to defend me to your friends.”
Bryn glanced to her side. Ethan stood there wearing jeans and a faded gray tee. Looking deliciously disheveled with mud on his boots and dirt stains on his clothing. “I know that. But they made me angry.”
“Because they were talking trash about me?”
“Because they were disrespecting my choice. It’s not all about you.” She waved a hand toward the kitchen door. “They resent being cooped up. And they’re likely feeling edgy and more than a little horny. So many of you around, and yet they can’t…taste the pie.”
One side of his mouth curved upward in a sexy crooked grin that made her stomach cramp.
“They have plenty of choices. Why not choose a partner?”
“Because they don’t want to be used. Owned. Don’t want to have every decision they make approved by a male. They want to keep their magic for themselves.”
“Do you feel as though you’ve lost anything…being with me?”
“I gave it away. To you, last night,” she said softly. “Willingly. And isn’t that the greater risk? To fall into a relationship, into love, and lose your sense of self? We’ve been on our own for five years. What we have, we built.”
“And you’ve done well. You’ve prospered.” Ethan reached out and took her hand.
Her fingers tingled, just a tiny spark that she doubted he’d intentionally given her, but every spark was power lost. Didn’t he understand that was what they all feared—giving away their precious light because they couldn’t help themselves?
Bryn cleared her throat. “Thank your friends for keeping it in their pants.”
He pursed his mouth. Humor shone in his dark eyes. “I’ll do that.” He stroked his thumb slowly over her palm.
Another tingle worked its way up her arm. She narrowed her eyes. “You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Is it working?” he murmured.
Were her breasts tingling? Did she feel a tug in her groin? Oh, yeah. “It’s been only five hours since we last made love.”
He arched a brow. “You’ve never called it that before. As I recall, you call it fucking, as in ‘fuck me hard, troll’.”
Bryn’s jaw dropped. “Is that how I sound to you?”
“Did I complain?”
“No, but…it was hardly respectful.”
“Seeing as you were allowing me to fuck you, I didn’t mind one bit.”
Bryn lowered her head. “I guess I’m having a bit of trouble wrapping my mind around it all. You being a troll,” she whispered. “Me wanting you so much.”
He lifted her face with a finger and bent toward her. “You can call it what you like. So long as you continue to want me.”
But it wasn’t just attraction. Wasn’t merely the call of her witchy libido. She stared into his eyes and realized she’d felt drawn to him, pulled closer and closer by invisible bonds since the start. “I don’t want to think of you as being beneath me. Of me being superior or more important. You’ve proven you’re smart and capable and in control of your base instincts. While I’m…” She was the one who whirled out of control every time he touched her.
Ethan kissed her. Maybe just to shut her up, but she didn’t care. She bunched his shirt in her fists and pulled him closer. “I can’t get enough of this, of you,” she said, closing her eyes and rubbing her cheek against his.
He brought his arms around her and hugged her hard, rocking on his heels, soothing away her riotous thoughts. Standing in the circle of his arms, she felt somehow…complete.
Her heart slowed, her body relaxed. Sparks flew along her skin as he rubbed her back. She imagined herself spilling into him and released a bit of moonlight. Shared it with him. Happy to do it.
When she pulled away, she gave a laugh, feeling sheepish over her upwelling emotions. They barely knew each other, and here she was falling in love. But what did he feel?
Ethan kissed her forehead. “Better now?”
“I am.”
“You should stay inside.”
“I know.” She sighed again. “Why are you here? Is it your turn to circle the porch?”
“I felt you.”
She canted her head. “What do you mean?”
“You were agitated, and I felt it.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s unusual.”
“Not when you’re bonded, or so I understand.”
“I never felt that way with Merrick.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Should have been your first clue.”
She patted his chest and noted the sudden tension in his muscles. He didn’t like thinking of her with Merrick. “I’m going inside now.”