Unexpected Sting Read online

  “That is rather hot.”

  She nodded. “So I was told at the time, but as you become an adult, you experiment with things, people, fruit.”

  His expression was surprised; she blinked and hastily said. “That last was a joke.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Hang on, I am just going through the fruit section of grocery stores in my head, and all I can come up with is a banana.”

  Stinger felt her cheeks get warm. “Okay, one time with fruit.”

  He grinned and whirled her around the dance floor.

  Stinger sighed and wished the moment could last forever. She appeared to have found Mr. Perfect. Perfect never lasted, but he looked like he could do a few rounds.

  Chapter Three

  She was at the bar with her mom, getting a custom cocktail. “Hey, Mom. Who was that guy you were talking with?”

  “Oh. You guessed already.” Her mother grimaced.

  “Golden skin, black hair, eyes that flick black when there is a lot of magic going on. The fact that he looks at you like you are the last marshmallow in the bag. Super tempting, but there might be hard edges.”

  Leetha snorted. “That’s an image. I don’t think much of me has turned to marshmallow yet.”

  Stinger smiled. “So, what’s his name? I am guessing that it came back to you.”

  “Abrax, scorpion of the fire winds. I was abducted on that last gig of mine and brought to his temple. I threw a tantrum and almost hurt someone who didn’t deserve to be hurt, and he stopped me.”

  “Impressive. So, it wasn’t love.” Stinger sighed. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I had you by conscious choice. I don’t regret a moment of everything that I could remember. But... at least I know why you are prone to overheating. That was his thing. The fire of the desert.”

  Stinger sipped at her cocktail. “Lovely. So, you threatened him if he tried to talk to me, right?”

  “Maybe. A little. A tad.” Leetha snorted and giggled.

  “I am going to talk to him.” She set her glass down and took two steps when her phone buzzed. She reached into her dress and fished it out of the inner pocket. Stinger headed outside and took the call. When she got the full message, she said, “On my way.”

  She tucked her phone back into her dress and went outside. Her mother called after her, but she looked back over her shoulder, and Leetha stopped in her tracks. Arthur looked like he would follow, but her mother stopped him as she summoned her firestorm and stepped into it.

  * * * *

  Arthur looked at Stinger’s mother and said, “Where did she go?”

  The woman grimaced. “She’s on-call with a lot of women’s shelters. When the person they are running from locates the shelter, she gets a call, and she is the one to greet them at the door. Sometimes they are human, sometimes they are not, but they are always monsters.”

  “So, she is out there in some city somewhere and facing someone who has threatened women.”

  “Yup. It helps her burn off some of her magic.”

  “How?”

  “You haven’t seen her stingers.” Leetha smiled.

  Arthur blinked. “Like scorpion stingers?”

  She shrugged. “More or less. They manifested when she was a teen, and she has amazing control with it.”

  A warlock came up and asked Leetha, “Is she on duty?”

  “Yes.”

  He whistled sharply, and a group of males gathered while he cast a viewing spell.

  Arthur asked, “What are they doing?”

  Leetha snorted. “Magus pay-per-view. Sort of. When they were teens, Royus locked onto Stinger’s signature, and if he knows she is on duty, he watches. At events like this, they place bets on how much damage she will do.”

  “Damage?”

  “Oh, yeah. My baby girl is a monster.” She grinned, and they watched as the woman in the pretty dress with black leather accents unfurled her bracelets as a car barrelled toward her.

  Arthur was agitated. He watched as she straightened the cables, and he gasped with the rest when she charged them with power a moment before the car struck and launched herself skyward. The whips lashed out and sliced the car into four pieces: one parallel and one perpendicular.

  The car continued and slid apart.

  The men cheered, and a few groaned.

  Stinger wrapped her bands around her wrists and went to the driver’s side door. She knocked on the window, and a clawed hand shot past her.

  Arthur watched as there was more hooting as the villain was determined to be a supernatural.

  Stinger opened the door and pulled him out, wrapping the glowing tail of one of her stingers around his throat. Arthur didn’t know what she was saying, but he could guess it wasn’t pleasant.

  * * * *

  “She’s gone, Robert. She’s been gone for hours. We have been waiting for you to try and find her; here you are.” She chanted it in a singsong.

  “Let go, bitch! I am going to teach Tara what it means to try and leave.”

  “Oh, you did that already. I was there for her intake. I told her what we would do to you if you tried to come after her, and here you are.” She whispered, “I am a woman of my word, Robert.”

  She dropped the leather and drew the energy through his body. His struggling form went limp. “Oh, dear. It seems the accident was rather unfortunate. You have no feeling below the neck. If you don’t want it to stay that way, put some effort into learning how it feels to be at the mercy of the folks around you. Don’t worry. The nice people at the shelter are calling 911. You will have help soon. Isn’t it nice to have people you can believe in?”

  She got up and finished wrapping the band around her right wrist. She walked toward the shelter, and the oracle rushed out and gripped her hands. They touched foreheads, and the oracle smiled. “Oh, you have met someone.”

  Stinger looked up. “Yeah, but I will probably send him running. I am about to head back to the wedding. Do you need any help?”

  “No, Tara is on her way to Crioss. The harpies have an excellent counselling centre, and thanks to Orvis’s intervention, they are taking more people with our recommendation.”

  She sighed and flexed her neck while Robert started sobbing. “Right; I have to get back.”

  “Take it easy on your male. He’s fighting a few thousand years of running. He’s working on it.”

  “Stop being an oracle, oracle.”

  She got her hair ruffled.

  “Go and help close the party. Cops and ambulance are on the way, and I have to do my scared caretaker bit.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Stinger walked into the middle of the lane and summoned the fire storm. She walked into it and let it take her back to where she was supposed to be. Back to the party.

  * * * *

  Abrax was grinning, and Leetha walked over to him. “Stop smiling like that.”

  “Why? Our daughter is magnificent.”

  Leetha looked at him, and then, she nodded. “You are right. She is. That is one thing that we agree on.” Her smile softened. “I didn’t care where she came from the first moment I saw her.”

  “She’s coming back!” The mages scrambled to disperse the viewing window and headed back to the bar.

  * * * *

  She landed heavily and staggered, dismissing the tornado and walking back to the party, trying to hold herself upright and move casually. The fire ripping through her made her wish for one of her little USB rechargeable friends to take the edge off. They were nearly to dawn now. Things would be wrapped up soon.

  Her mother came up to her and asked, “How bad is it?”

  She hugged her mom with one arm. “Pretty fucking bad.”

  “You didn’t get to vent a little?”

  “Nope. He was alone, and I restrained myself.”

  “Why?”

  “She was safe. There was no reason to kill him. He will learn about being helpless, and I might visit later and give him pain. Orvis might want to get in on this action, bu
t she’s really busy tonight.”

  Her aunt Kallie came up to her. “Hey, Stinger, can you close it up? Wait, are you okay?”

  “A little wobbly. Can you find some sacrificial guys?”

  “Sure. Do you have a preference for species?”

  “The dark elves are less likely to get affectionate.”

  She glanced over, and Arthur was talking to her father. That wasn’t weird at all. When they shook hands, she frowned and headed into the tent.

  Kallie had six guys lined up. Stinger moved forward, and one of them held her.

  He asked in concern, “Can you do this?”

  “Yeah. Not a fan of it, but I can do it.” She smiled. “Pick some music, and brace yourself. On the plus side, you should be able to take home any of the unattached females.”

  He smiled. “What about you?”

  “I think I am just going to go for a nap.”

  He chuckled and nodded to the DJ. The tango started up again. She looked at the man holding her. “Really?”

  He grinned. “The first one was very stimulating.”

  She sighed, squared up, and they started dancing. As she danced, she exhaled the power that was pent up. They went through the first few measures, and then, her partner staggered back, his eyes glowing hot red.

  Her next partner took over, and she continued releasing the feminine energy that kept rising in her.

  He fell back and was caught by some of the others. She took on the third, and then the fourth, fifth, and sixth. When the last one fell, she was still keyed up. She moaned and then screamed as the fire ripped through her. When she next saw Orvis, she was going to punch her in the gut. If Orvis got laid more often, then she wouldn’t be dealing with the overflow.

  She heard Kallie inviting someone onto the dance floor. She was picked up and held while the energy streamed out of her. She recognized the scent and struggled against him.

  “Easy, Stinger. Give it to me.”

  She looked at him, and he winced. She turned her head away and pushed at him. He didn’t move. She pushed again. Nothing.

  “Stinger. Give it to me. I can manage it.”

  She blinked and nodded, sliding her hands up his torso to his neck. He met her halfway. She felt the brush of his lips on hers, and she slid her tongue along his lips, teasing until he reciprocated. When their kiss deepened, she felt a tug at the energy inside her and the floodgate burst. The rush of power flowed out of her and into Arthur. It flowed into him in a rush, and then, it trickled to a halt.

  She tried to lean back, and he cupped her head. “More.”

  She kissed him, and the rush of energy from the last of the wedding night nearby rushed through her. She gave it to him, and her body was blissfully still.

  She leaned away.

  “More.”

  “There’s no more power; I am good.”

  He smiled. “Good. More.”

  Stinger blinked. “Oh.” She looked at him in surprise and kissed him again. Her legs were locked around his waist, and she was surprised that her hips were moving against him. Lust was still there, but it wasn’t something she was transferring; this was from the inside out.

  She was surprised. The lust she was feeling was her own, not filtered from all the men and women around her. She tried to burrow against him and then realized that he probably got that a lot. She slowed the kiss, and she was panting when they stopped making out on the dance floor.

  Stinger unlocked her legs and slid them down his body. She was still hanging a few inches from the ground. She kicked her feet a little. “Can you put me down, please?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I can. I don’t want to, but I can.”

  “Please?”

  He sighed and set her on her feet. She swayed but steadied. “Thank you.”

  “You might want to wash your face. There is blood all over it.”

  Oh. “My eyes were bleeding?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ah. I will go take care of that right away. Thank you for giving me a place to put the extra power.” She touched her cheek, and the blood was still evident.

  “You are welcome.” He chuckled.

  She nodded, bobbed a curtsy, and headed out to the restrooms. She looked at her face and knew why he had flinched. She had to give him credit; he had kissed a horror movie freak with enthusiasm.

  Her mother came in and said, “The party is breaking up. How long are you going to hide in here?”

  “Is he still out there?”

  “Yup. Wait, mine or yours?” Leetha smiled.

  “Mine. Yours is your own business. Are you going to take him home?”

  “I had toyed with the idea.”

  “Play away. I am going to crash and then head to Nana Baker’s. She has a list of chores a mile long.”

  “Where are you going to spend the rest of the night, sweetie?”

  “Up a tree.” She laughed. Kallie and Cian had offered her the treehouse for her napping needs.

  “Why don’t you go to a nice hotel?”

  “I just dumped the lust of two hundred people and five supernaturally horny people. I am not going to head into a hotel where everyone who isn’t asleep is having sex.”

  Her mom winced. “Right. That. Kallie and Cian are going to be doing it, too.”

  “I know, but they are family, so they are easier to tune out.”

  “I have that room above the garage...”

  “No, Mom. I don’t want to see how you two go at it, and I really don’t want to imagine how Maus is going to handle it.”

  “He’s a cat, Stiila.”

  “No, Mom. He isn’t. He’s a shifter at the very least. I know he has been in the house for ten years, but try bringing Abrax home and see what happens.”

  “Your father and I are not going to have sex.”

  Stinger patted her mom’s hand. “You think that if it gives you comfort. I am going to take a page from Nessa’s book and try to sneak past him.”

  “Do you have enough power to hold invisibility?” Leetha was genuinely concerned.

  “I am about to find out.” She grinned and pulled the invisibility spell around her. “How does it look?”

  “Like nothing. Well done, sweetie.”

  She muttered quietly, “Wish me luck.”

  She walked out of the ladies’ room as quietly as she could. Arthur and Abrax were talking quietly again, but they were between her and the route she had been planning to take to the open meadow where she could transport to Auntie Kallie’s.

  Abrax looked right at her, and he chuckled.

  Arthur followed his gaze. “What are you seeing that I am not?”

  She stepped sideways to avoid them, and Abrax said, “You wish to have a talk with my daughter?”

  Don’t you dare, don’t you fucking dare, you Egyptian cockroach. She nearly cleared them when Arthur said, “If you keep moving that way, you are going to step on the support wire, Stinger.”

  She winced, turned toward him, and saw that his eyes were pointed at her, but there was little discernment. She stepped over the guy-wire, and then, she bolted into the meadow.

  The stone pillar that shot out in front of her made her stop in her tracks. The ones behind her and to either side made sure she stayed put. She heard a scrape of leather on stone and looked up.

  “Hello, Stinger. You were going to leave without saying goodbye?”

  She looked up at him with the weak light of dawn backlighting him. “Oh, hey, Arthur. I just thought you were busy chatting with my father and thought I would leave you two alone.”

  “You think your father and I just hang out outside ladies’ rooms?”

  “I just met you tonight, and I haven’t really met him, so I don’t judge. You do you.”

  He snorted. “Back to being clever and less sneaky. I need your help.”

  She paused and faded back into normal visual range. “What would you need?”

  He rubbed the back of his neck and said, “I have taken in a lot of magic and
lust tonight, and while I can hold it in for a while, it is going to need to be released, and I would like to do that with you.”

  She turned scarlet. “Muh-muh-me?”

  “Hasn’t anyone simply asked you before?” He tilted his head.

  “No, they usually just start grabbing. For lovers, I usually make the first move.”

  He smiled. “I await your move.”

  “Uh, this is awkward. I do better with contact.”

  “Of course, you do; you power up from contact and then release the energy into your partner for the moment.”

  She rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment. “Fine, will you put your body at my mercy so I can relieve some of what I implanted?”

  He chuckled, and the stone receded back into the smooth lawn. “I will indeed.”

  He bent and lifted her hand before he kissed her knuckles. His tongue slipped between her fingers, and she flinched as the flick caused a small pulse of interest. Of course, he would know how to play her. He probably had women throw themselves at him on a daily basis, and he was capable of catching them.

  “Now, your place or mine?”

  “I am staying at my aunt’s place.”

  He grinned. “Mine then.”

  He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her against him. A portal rose up from the ground, and when it finished its sweep, she was standing in his hotel room again.

  Chapter Four

  He kissed her and stroked the sides of her hair, stroked her throat with his thumbs, and smoothed his hands over her back.

  Stinger was nervous when his hands tried to get a feel for her through her clothing. She pulled her head to one side. “I would rather just get the disrobing out of the way. I am getting nervous.”

  He paused. “Really? Why?”

  “While I have a lot of exposure to sex, I don’t do it that often. Certainly not with...” She gestured, and the sweep of her hand took him in.