The Thing about Elves Read online

  Jedrick stood. “As everyone knows, Tessa and I became the proud parents of twins just last month.” He smiled to his wife. “It wasn’t an easy process and she’s only been home for a couple of weeks, as have the babies. During the time she’s been home, we’ve tossed around about a thousand names before we finally decided. Tessa, would you please explain our thinking on this?”

  “Well…as Jedrick has said…we tossed a lot of names about.” She looked around the room. “We feel that every child needs to have a sense of where they came from and where they’re going. We wanted each of them to have something from the past, something of the present and something of their own.” She inclined her head toward Jedrick so he could continue.

  “We looked at our family history long and hard. We think we’ve come up with something that is both unique and special for each of them.”

  “Well…hurry up…we’re all waiting.” A look of impatience crossed Janice’s face.

  “Patience, Mother, patience.” Bevan patted his wife’s hand once again.

  “Thanks, Dad.” Jedrick smiled at him. “After much discussion, we’ve decided to name our daughter Angela Catherine Ilysa Locklin.”

  “And our son, Kincaid Ardan Bowen Locklin,” finished Tessa.

  Angie sat there stunned. She looked across the room to see an equally as stunned look on Ardan’s face who held his nephew. “Me? And Ardan?” she asked Tessa.

  “I know Angela isn’t your favorite name. But I knew you’d understand right away.”

  “You named her after my mother too.” Janice sniffed and brought the towel to her face.

  “Yes…Janice…we did. We thought it only appropriate. Like I said, each child has their own name, one from the present and someone from the past. But in Kincaid’s case, he has his great-grandfather and grandfather’s name. Ilysa is named for her great-grandmother and her godmother. I’ve never asked you properly…you will be their godmother, won’t you?”

  Angie could feel the tears well up in her eyes. “Of course, silly.” She somehow managed to squeak out the positive answer. She didn’t know what to say and if truth be told, she couldn’t say anything. Looking down at her charge, she smiled. “Promise me you’ll never be anything like me,” she whispered.

  “I hope she’s exactly like you,” Tessa whispered back and hugged her best friend. “You’re like a sister to me and the only family I have left. I hope you’re okay with this.”

  “Okay?” Angie sniffled, trying hard not to burst out crying. “I am definitely okay with this.” She looked up and saw Ardan coming toward her. He stopped momentarily at Jedrick and handed him the baby, hugging them both slightly before coming to stand before them.

  “Tessa, thank you. I’m sure it was hard to come up with something that would please everyone.” Kneeling down, he gazed at the baby’s face as it lay serenely in Angie’s arms. “She’s beautiful.”

  Angie watched Ardan as he looked at the baby and her heart nearly exploded with love for the man. She could not imagine having his children but she wanted desperately to do so. Finally, he looked at her and she could see that something was wrong. “Are you alright?”

  “We need to talk,” he whispered into her ear as he dropped a small kiss there.

  Turning concerned eyes to him, she wondered what was happening. “Now?”

  His eyes darted around the room. “Soon.”

  * * * *

  Ardan felt trapped. Maybe it was the fact that Jedrick and Tessa had forever linked him and Angie together by naming the children after them. He knew that his brother and his wife had not intentionally tried to make him feel this way but nonetheless, they had. Maybe if he just got away from Angie for a while the feelings would go away. Then again, maybe not.

  Somehow he managed to get through dinner and the required family gathering, each moment becoming more and more a slow torture. He wanted to love Angie, he really did. But for some reason, now that this had happened, he just couldn’t get himself to admit what he wanted or that he actually already loved her. What was wrong with him? They were so right for each other, so perfect. Still, he held back for some reason. There was nothing that made him believe she would ever willingly leave him. And he knew that she had told him she loved him when she thought he slept.

  The woman was perfect in mind and body and perfect in bed. It was too good to be true. He wondered when the other shoe would drop. The process of nor’ahkeem had begun shortly after they met and it had started in earnest the moment he bedded her even though he still did not want to admit it to himself. Looking across the game room he caught Angie’s eye as she sent him a tentative smile. She knew something was wrong, he could tell as he tried his best to smile back.

  His heart skipped a beat. How could he tell her he needed to make sure she was the one without breaking her heart? Or without breaking his own? He needed to make love to her, not have sex. Sex was what he thought he had been having with her for the last few weeks. Maybe he had been wrong. When he thought about it in that manner, his stomach churned. It felt like he did when he had been in college. This was no college fling, this was something built to last a lifetime and he knew it. It broke through him and almost released some magic.

  Slowly, he started to make his way to Angie when he felt a hand on his arm. Turning, he recognized his father.

  “Come have a talk with me, son.”

  Even though it came out as a request, Ardan knew it to be a summons. His father may be small and look like he didn’t have a chance with someone twice his size, but looks were deceiving. Bevan had twice the magic as any of his sons and he knew how to use it in ways his sons never learned.

  Entering his father’s den, he recalled the few times he had been here. The first had been the time he had tried to best Jedrick with a lightening bolt. He thought for sure he was going to get it when he realized that wasn’t what his father had in mind at all. That time, his father had showed him how to conquer his anger and use it for better things. The second time was when he went away to college. His father wanted to make sure he had a good grasp of the human world. Many an elf had lost their way while trying to do good for humans and Bevan wanted to make sure his son wasn’t one of them. The talk had worked and Ardan came through the experience relatively unscathed, except for his broken heart and total disgust for humans. Angie had cured that particular problem through her gentle and loving ways, of that he was sure. And now, here he was again, in his father’s office.

  “Is everything alright, Ardan? You really haven’t seemed yourself for days now. Your control on your magic has been slipping. I could feel it when I approached you in the den.” He indicated the chair closest to his desk. Reaching over he got his pipe and started to light the aromatic contents. “Great inventions, pipes. I just wish humans could figure out the way to make the leaf not be lethal to themselves.” He sighed then and gazed at his son. “I suppose that’s all in good time. Well?”

  “I’m not sure what you mean, Father.” Ardan knew his statement was cautious at best but as he wasn’t quite sure what his father alluded to so he thought tact was the best policy.

  “You know what I mean.” Bevan stared at him so long that he felt like a kid again, caught at something he shouldn’t be doing. “You love that young woman and nothing you do or say will change the fact, Ardan. You love her so much that the ironclad control you’ve always had isn’t so ironclad anymore.”

  He looked down at his clenched hands, practically feeling the magic rise from them. “What if she doesn’t love me, Father?”

  Bevan arched an eyebrow. “Do you know so little of human nature that you can’t tell by the way she looks at you? Or how she acts?”

  Ardan looked at his father, his restraint almost shattering to mere threads. “I don’t want her to do anything she doesn’t feel ready for and I’m not sure about us.”

  Bevan closed his eyes briefly before returning his gaze to his son. “That woman is so much in love with you she’d follow you to the ends of the earth,
Ardan. She would live anywhere you want just because she needs to be near you. How much more obvious does she need to make it, son?”

  “Da, I’ve got to give her the choice. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of us if we weren’t sure.”

  “It’s been years since you called me Da. There must be something else.” The concern, evident in his eyes, made his son look away.

  “What if this doesn’t last?” Ardan finally questioned after a few minutes.

  “Elves don’t just fall in love, son, they fall in love forever. When you find the right person, there can never be anyone else. I taught you that point so long ago. That’s why you have the process of Nor’ahkeem. There can be no mistakes. Nor’ahkeem won’t allow it.” Ardan swallowed hard. That’s what he had been afraid of all along…not that he would change is mind…but that the human object of his affection would. “It’s not me I’m worried about.”

  “Why do you think…no, why are you adamant… she’ll change her mind?”

  Ardan felt miserable. He felt so sure about his feelings, now his father wanted him to put it in words before he could say them to Angie. “I don’t know. I just know that I don’t want her to miss out on anything in life. And if she stays here, she won’t have those opportunities.”

  Bevan sighed. “That will need to be her decision, not yours. Sometimes those opportunities come in unexpected ways.” He got up and walked around the desk to stand in front of his son, leaning . “Have you ever watched her with the other elves? If you haven’t, you need to. Every time I have seen her in your clinic I’ve watched her. She has a rapport with them that I don’t even think you have. It’s like whoever she’s with has her undivided attention and they are the only person in the world at that moment. She knows people, Ardan. It doesn’t matter if they are elf or human.”

  “Maybe she should be the doctor,” Ardan muttered.

  His father chuckled. “Maybe she should.”

  “That’s just it, Father. If I have her stay here, she will miss that opportunity. Do you understand what I am saying?”

  Bevan sighed deeply. “Yes, I do. But I really think you should ask her. After all, it is her life we’re talking about. I do have one question for you.”

  “Yes?”

  “Did you ever miss any opportunity?” Bevan stopped and looked at his son.

  Ardan shook his head slowly, wondering just where his dad was going to go with this.

  “Why do you think she would? Why can’t you just accept the fact you may be the best thing that ever happened to her? Why do you overanalyze everything? Sometimes the things in life aren’t meant to be analyzed. They are the way they are for a reason. And the reason here is that you are supposed to love that girl forever, son. Just accept it and enjoy the ride. It just may surprise you.”

  Chapter 7

  Angie snuggled deeper into the blankets and cast a look toward Ardan. He had been so quiet since they had left his parents’ house. She knew something was wrong but she certainly didn’t know what it could be. Take that back…she knew exactly what part of it was…and while naming the babies after them was wonderful, it obviously bothered him. She just couldn’t understand why. It was so special to have someone named in one’s honor, she couldn’t imagine why he might be upset.

  He had disappeared in his father’s study for what seemed like forever. And when he emerged, he looked strained and tense. The situation hadn’t gotten better on the way home at all. Even with her snuggling up to him and trying to capture his attention, he seemed withdrawn and out of reach.

  “I think it was wonderful what Tessa did.”

  “Yeah, wonderful,” Ardan muttered.

  She tilted her head in his direction. “Is something wrong?”

  “I don’t know. You tell me.”

  The gap between them suddenly seemed more distance than it had ever been. “I—I don’t think so.” She knew that the confusion she felt must be written all over her face. “You aren’t happy,” she stated simply.

  “I’m not happy.” The tone of his voice spoke eons in regards to what he was really feeling.

  Swallowing hard, Angie wanted to burst out in tears. “Okay. Is there anything you want me to do?”

  “I want you to go home, Angie.” He turned to her then. “I need you to go home.”

  “Why?” she whispered. “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No…you’re perfect…and therein lay the crux of the problem.”

  “Wh—What?” she asked. “I don’t understand.”

  “We’re almost home. Let’s finish this conversation there,” he said, effectively cutting her off.

  Angie rode the rest of the way home in miserable silence. If she hadn’t done anything wrong, what was the problem then? Forcing herself to be calm, she reasoned it wasn’t as bad as she envisioned. Maybe it was something his father said. But no matter how she sliced it, she knew he would be sending her away. And soon.

  Slowly, she got out of the sleigh when it pulled up in front of the house. Walking in front of the reindeer, she reached up and patted each beautiful face. “I guess I’ll see you around, Dasher and Prancer. I loved how you two came whenever I needed you. You just seemed to know.” Each nuzzled her head and hands with what seemed to be a confused look on their faces.

  “Come on. Let’s go in before you freeze out here.”

  Grabbing her arm, Ardan pulled her toward the house. Practically shoving her in the door, he pulled her coat off. Reaching up, he began to unbutton her top. “I’m going to have sex with you one more time and then I’m putting you on that sleigh. And you’re going to go home.” He stopped and looked at her, shaking her slightly. “Do you hear me?”

  Angie glanced at him, rapidly blinking her eyes to keep the tears from flowing. “Alright—but—can I ask why?” She really hated it when her nose started to drip.

  “Not yet.”

  His mouth swooped to hers and savagely kissed her. “Got to get you out of my system,” he murmured and kissed her neck then her shoulders as he pulled her sweater off her body.

  Crying now, she ran her fingers up his body. He was burning up. “Ardan…please…stop this. You’re burning up.”

  “Yes, I am. For you.” His hands came up and plucked her nipples fiercely, as if he wanted her to associate his touch with pain.

  But slowly, the tone changed and he began caressing what he had moments before been tormenting. “Beautiful. So beautiful.” Leaning down he replaced his fingers with his mouth.

  And loving him the way she did, all Angie could do was respond. Her body arched toward him of its own accord, wanting…no, needing his touch. Running her hands over his shoulders, it didn’t take long for the heat that invaded him to infuse her with its hot, burning desire. Still, it bothered her that he was so warm. It was as if he were coming down with some type of illness or fever.

  “Ardan, please. You need to stop,” she murmured.

  Pulling back, his eyes nearly glowed with the heat of passion. “Stop? I can’t stop, Angie. It’s nor’ahkeem…it’s something that can’t be stopped…muileach.” He sighed and pulled her into the bed room.

  Frowning, she allowed herself to be pulled along. “What did you just say?”

  “Nothing.” He continued to remove her clothes.

  “Yes you did and it sounded like it was in a different language.”

  “Tha gaol agam ort.”

  The words were so mystical and lyrical; Angie realized she could hear them forever. Still, that didn’t solve the problem at hand. “Ardan, please, are you ill?’

  He looked at her, his eyes glazed. “Only with passion for you,” he murmured. When he couldn’t remove her panties, he ripped them off her body. His hands moved along her hips, caressing each nook and cranny he found. “Undress me and then spread your legs for me.”

  Angie gasped. This wasn’t the Ardan she knew. He was much more refined and standoffish when it came right down to it. This man was almost crude in his gestures. Something was going on h
ere and she would have to figure it out but right this very moment was not the time to do so. Lifting gentle hands, she pulled up his sweater over his head. Slowly, she unbuttoned each button of his shirt and languished in his moans as her hands touched is bear flesh.

  “Hurry up for the god’s sake, woman. I’m burning alive here.”

  She chuckled deep in her throat. “You once told me that good things came to those who wait. Is it any different now?”

  Ardan groaned. “Unfortunately, it is. Please, please hurry,” he begged.

  Confused, Angie continued at her task. What was going on? “Alright…I’ll be quick…please push off your shoes.” Finally, she got the shirt off him as she heard two thunks from his shoes. Quickly, she made short order of his pants and started when his penis sprang from its confinement. The head was the largest she had ever seen and looked somewhat painful.

  “Spread your legs,” he growled.

  Swallowing hard, she did as requested. Instead of being penetrated, she was surprised to feel gentle caresses on her groin.

  “I’m going to do this right, no matter what I’m feeling,” he ground out and pushed her completely to her back into the soft pillows on the bed. Slowly, he slid back down her body till he was even with her stomach. Briefly, he laid his head on there and breathed in deeply. “Do you know that the smell of your sex is driving me almost insane? If I don’t have you soon, I don’t know what will happen.”

  Leisurely, as if he had never made that last comment, he spread the lips of her labia to expose her clit and the soft piece of flesh covering it. Leaning down, he tongued her gently, rolling the hard nub between his teeth, his mouth firmly entrenched on her body.

  Angie groaned with intense pleasure. This was new…and different…and oh so sinful. Whatever this Nor’ahkeem was it certainly increased the sexual tension in elves to a fever pitch. Arching her hips, she met his mouth time after time.

  Ardan devoured her like a starved man, the heat from his mouth searing its feel into her very flesh. He lavishly licked and nipped her into a frenzy which could only end in one way. And she wanted that more than anything.