The Mating Intent-mobi Read Free Page B

screams cut off as he’d vanished into the soil.
    “Have you scented her yet, Olin?”
    The goblin rubbed his head and scowled. “Wouldn’t I have alerted you if I had?”
    “You were asleep.” Sighing, Gabriel dropped to the boulder beside his assistant. “I’m tired of waiting.”
    “You’re too impatient. She’ll be here. You know she will.”
    “Is that what your spies say?” Gabriel demanded. “What if she is not infected?”
    “Sienna’s infected, trust me. She took all the evil inside her from the Fae King of the Northern Light’s son. Where else could she go, filled with all of Terithen’s dark magick? This is the only healing pool powerful enough to drain it.”
    Gabriel watched the earth suck up the last of the topsoil. Cracks ripened in the ground and then the plastic bag began vanishing into the earth as well. Nothing was ever wasted in the gray lands. He rubbed his bearded chin, remembering Sienna with her long blonde hair, her sparkling green eyes and lilting laugh. She was tall, like other Elven, but with a hint of feminine curves.
    “It’s been twenty-five years,” he murmured. “That long and I still have not forgotten anything about her. Her scent, the way the corners of her mouth lift when she smiles, the feel of her hair through my fingers when we made love…”
    “Oh please. Spare me the sappiness. It hurts my ears.” Olin blinked hard and the Fae glamour vanished, showing his true appearance. Long pointed ears tipped with sharp, tooth-like spikes jutted out from either side of his knobby head, along with a long nose. He had red eyes as bright as stoplights. Olin smiled, showing rows of jagged, sharp teeth.
    He blinked again and once more looked like an elderly man, interrupted from a nice nap.
    “What will be your price for admission?” the goblin asked his boss.
    Gabriel traced a protective rune on the boulder, more out of habit than necessity. “The Blood Moon festival is soon. I need a partner for the orgy. She will suffice quite nicely.”
    Laughter rumbled from Olin’s barrel chest, a harsh sound as grating as an un-tuned violin. “You sly feline. You think she will agree?”
    He thought of the last time Sienna Bennett had shared his bed. The Shadow Elf guarded the Fae King. What price had she paid when she returned to her people? He knew not, for he’d never heard from Sienna again, despite his letters. All these years he’d never forgotten the Elf who’d captured his heart.
    “She will.” He gave a languid stretch.
    “And if she does not?”
    His expression darkened. “She will have no choice, Olin. Because she cannot return to her people without suffering greatly and I refuse to allow that to happen. Once she sets foot on my territory, I will protect her to my dying breath. We need her here as much as she needs us. We will be lovers once more. No matter what.”
     

 

Chapter 2
     
    It had been a lovely day for a hike along one of Florida’s longest and prettiest rivers, until she confronted the viper.
    Pit-like eyes focused on her like lasers. Black as the fire-darkened trees in the park, the seven-foot snake coiled, its jaws yawning open to display fangs within a stark white mouth.
    Keeping a firm grip on her hiking stick, Sienna Bennett stood her ground. She didn’t want to kill the snake, but didn’t relish getting bitten. Surviving a bite from a poisonous Florida cottonmouth taxed an Elf’s strength at the best of times, and her strength was spent.
    She didn’t know what agitated the reptile. She was far enough away to leave it undisturbed, snoozing in the sunshine. But this snake had slithered toward her, away from the brackish water and blocked her path as she’d hiked along the river.
    Sienna backed off two paces, but it followed her. Alarmed, she hoisted the stick. The snake’s peculiar behavior meant it wanted to strike and kill.
    Sienna twirled the staff in her hand and spoke quietly to the cottonmouth. “I don’t wish to hurt you.