A.O.E.M.: Under Your Spell Read online

  “I go where I please!”

  The sprite’s demeanor changed. Eyes going dark, it planted its hands on its hips and glared up at him. “No choice, Niko. You go, go, go. Now.”

  “I, go? I do not --”

  “Yes!” it barked, loud for such a tiny thing. “You do! Now!”

  Just as before, when he had commanded it, the world went dark. Niko felt himself being swept through time and space, leaving his physical form behind, taking astral shape on a plane he as yet did not know. His protests, soundless against a great rushing of wind, faded away behind him as he hurtled on.

  Then, with a great thump rattling his bones, he “landed” in the Summer-Shadowlands.

  On his hands and knees, he shuddered from the impact, then shivered from the deep and piercing cold saturating his very bones. Dark, all was dark. Night-time in the land of never-dying sun? Winter where it should ever be summer time? Disconcerted, Niko raised his head to stare about himself to take in his surroundings.

  The grass, once green, now lay brown and dead, matted down in clumps where it had not died out altogether. Trees, bare of any leaves, stretched empty branches toward a deep indigo sky. A full moon hung heavy and ominous, too large in the heavens to be calming, its white light piercing rather than soothing, casting sharp shadows onto the desiccated ground.

  “Ruination,” he whispered. “What has become of this place?”

  Jamie stepped in front of him, tall and tanned, naked from tip to toe, his golden hair and skin the only things of color in that place. “I think it was me,” he said simply. “I did this.”

  Niko raised himself onto his heels, unable to help staring. “You?”

  “I’m not sure how. I tried calling out for you, wanting you to come back. I fell asleep, and I was here. The longer I waited, the colder it got. It’s like it died without you being here. It needed you.” Jamie sank onto one knee in front of Niko. “I think I must need you, too.”

  Niko shook his head. “You? You are no mage. You should not have had such power.”

  “The way things should be aren’t always the way things turn out,” Jamie said. He glanced around them. “And it happened, didn’t it? This place died without you here, me all alone. It was so nice before. Do you remember?”

  Visions of sun-warmed banks and babbling streams flashed through Niko’s mind. “I do,” he said, searching for words. Truly, this was an impossibility. How had Jamie manipulated a place so old and full of power as the Summer-Shadowlands? “You are sure? It was not like this when you first arrived?”

  “No.” Jamie shook his head. “It was like before. Beautiful. Then the creek dried up, and the sun went down. The trees dropped their leaves. The grass died. I waited for you, though. I knew you’d come.” He touched one hand to his chest. “I can feel you, in here. Like a cord stretched between us. I can almost pull on it, it’s so real. I did tug at it. I think that’s what brought you here.” His eyes were clear and piercing. “Funny thing is, all I know about you is your name. Also, the fact that you fuck like a god. But we’re connected, somehow.”

  He reached out and touched Niko’s chest. “So?” he asked. “You want to tell me about it? What have you done to me? To us?”

  Niko gazed at the young, bronzed man before him for a long moment, lost for words. Jamie had changed since he last saw him. Nearly feral in his appearance, his hair wild and tousled, his cock heavy against his leg, and his skin glowing in the light of the moon. However the magic had set itself, the Summer-Shadowlands -- or were they Winterlands, now? -- had taken him over. Made him, in his astral form, a very part of the land itself. In this place, he commanded as much power as Niko now. A very dangerous situation, and one he would have to handle with much caution and grace.

  “I have done nothing,” Niko began by lying. “I fell asleep in my chambers, and dreamed. Dreamed of you. This place, this land, must have brought us together.”

  “Wrong.” Jamie shook his head. “That’s not what it was like the first time we met. You said different things. Ordered me around. You had the power, and you used it. Made me call you ‘master.’ Put me on my back and my legs in the air like a woman. And you know what?” His eyes glowed. “I loved it. Loved every second of it. No one’s ever fucked me like you, Niko, whether you’re a real man whose body is somewhere else, or just a figment of my imagination. I’m not about to let this go. I called you back because I wanted you. Now try again, and this time tell me the truth.” He shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. “I can tell truth from lies. I don’t know how, but I can.”

  Niko bit his lip. Dangerous, yes, very dangerous indeed. “I am Niko,” he began slowly. “A sorcerer. A mage, if you will. I command the element of Air.”

  “Did you cause the turbulence?”

  The words startled a laugh out of him. “No, my Pet. I believe you did, or so I am told.”

  “Pet.” Jamie rolled the short word around in his mouth like a honeyed sweet. “I’ve never belonged to anyone, but it doesn’t feel like a lie. Did you buy me, somehow? Use magic to claim me? I don’t feel like I’m my own man anymore. It’s like I’m waiting on your command. Just being this honest is costing me, Niko. My body wants to lie down and let you do what you want with it, beating or kissing or fucking.”

  As if unable to help it, Jamie maneuvered his way down onto the ground and stretched full length. One hand drifted to his cock, brushing it gently. It began to rise, filling with blood. “My body knows you like this,” Jamie said. “You look at me, and you want me. But I want answers, Niko. You owe me. Tell me what you did. I feel like I can ask you this, at least.”

  Niko stretched out a hand, unable to resist the lure of touching honeyed skin. Running his palm down one leg, feeling the softness of golden hairs and the firmness of muscle beneath it, he took in a deep breath and spoke. “A spell.” The words came from his lips with reluctance -- and indignation. He should not have to confess such things! Had he not woven the magic so Jamie would be his mate without question, without problems?

  “A love spell?”

  Niko shook his head. Again, he felt compelled to speak, unable to help himself. “No. And yes. A love spell of sorts. I bound you to me. Took your free will, so you would not be able to refuse.”

  Jamie raised himself on his elbows. “You what? Say that again, Niko. Use small words. And I’d better hear why you did this, as well as what you did.”

  Try as he might, Niko could not stop himself from speaking. “Your free will. I stole it for my own by making a statue of you and casting a spell over it. I bound it to a statue of myself, and locked it in a box of sacred wood. The cord you feel between us? I bound our images with a silver silken thread.” He touched his heart. “It’s that you sense. We are bound. I did not realize -- I did not think.”

  “You bet your ass you didn’t think. Niko, how could you? Didn’t you realize?” Jamie’s eyes were luminous, gleaming with honesty. “This isn’t the spell talking. I’m free here. You are the most handsome man I’ve ever seen. Did you think I wouldn’t want to fuck you? Think I wouldn’t be dying for it from the moment I laid eyes on you?” He stroked his cock a little harder as it rose and filled. “See this? You do this to me. No one else. It’s you, Niko. Wanting you makes me hard. Makes me alive.”

  “But…” Niko shook his head. “It makes no sense, Jamie. None of this. Your command over the magics. Over this place. Being able to call me. You want answers? I, too, desire knowledge. I need to know how this can be.”

  “Do you really?” Jamie met Niko’s eyes and held his gaze. “Or are you just fumbling? You don’t get it, so you’re reaching for straws? Does everything have to have an explanation for you, or can’t you accept the truth that some things just are? If we’d met any other way, I’d still want you. Would you still want me?”

  The air rushed out of Niko’s chest. “From the moment I saw you,” he said. “I watched you in a scrying pool, working at your desk, and I burned for you. I ached to take you and make you min
e. My pet.”

  “Pet,” Jamie repeated. “Why don’t I mind the name? I’ve dated guys who were into the leather scene before. Even one who wanted me to call him Daddy. But I’ve never been anyone’s property.”

  Niko tried to explain, feeling his cheeks heat. “I would have been your Master, and been kind to you, treating you with sweet fruits and lavishing attention on your body. I would have bound you for both our pleasures, and teased you to the point of no return. More, I would have made you mine. That is why I took your free will.”

  “Stupid.”

  Niko blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

  “I said, stupid.” Jamie leaned toward Niko. “You have no idea how to win someone over, do you? You don’t make them a slave, even if you want a pet. You talk to them. Laugh with them. Hell, you take them to bed and fuck them blind. But you don’t steal their free will because you’re afraid they’ll say no.”

  “I --”

  “Niko.” Jamie’s hand came out to caress his knee, dark against the paleness of the sorcerer’s skin. “I can say anything I want to, here. And I’m saying this. Break the spell. I’ll forgive you. When the plane lands, I’ll come to you. It’s what Chimera is all about, isn’t it? Finding soulmates for people like you. People who can’t get them any other way.”

  Niko licked his lips, dry as a bone. “Incisive,” he said after a moment. “Perhaps too keen. But you promise… you do promise?”

  “I swear it.” Jamie’s hand slid up to caress Niko’s thigh. “So you started off with a dumb move. We all make those. But like I said, I’ve never met anyone like you before.” A smile teased at his lips. “I might even give the ‘pet’ thing a try, if you sweet-talk me. While I’m on Chimera, anyway.”

  “I had intended for you to stay forever,” Niko said in a rush. “Never to leave me. I have been so lonely, Jamie.”

  “Yeah.” Jamie’s fingers stroked. “I get you. But you know, we don’t have to part when I leave Chimera. You could come with me.”

  “But my home, my work quarters, my things. All are here.”

  “I’m not saying we can’t talk about it,” Jamie pointed out. “But I could say the same thing. Every item I own besides what’s in the suitcases is back on the mainland.”

  “I would provide for you. Whatever you wanted.”

  “I’m sure you would. But like I said, we can talk. Or,” Jamie said, his fingers curling a little deeper, pressing a little harder, “we could take advantage of the moment now, and spend time talking later.”

  Niko stared at his mate. “Jamie?”

  “What, do you need an engraved invitation?” Jamie’s lips curved into a smile. “I’m asking you to take me again, Niko. Do what you want with me. We can pretend, just for now, I’m the pet you wanted. Go ahead and spoil me.” He laughed. “Do your worst.”

  Niko’s own cock began to swell at the sound of those words. Leaning forward, he rested a hand on Jamie’s chest. “Do you mean it? You still desire me, after all I have told you?”

  Jamie caught his hand. “I still do. And now, it’s up to you. Do you want me? If you do, come and take me.”

  Niko closed his eyes, drawing in a deep and lusty breath. With an invitation such as Jamie’s, how could he possibly say no?

  Chapter Six

  Niko crawled toward Jamie, reaching out to lay his hands on smooth, sun-kissed skin. His fingers tingled and ached to run through Jamie’s sandy hair, to glide down his skin and caress his cock, so silky, swollen and hard. His mouth watered. Perhaps he would allow himself another taste. Enough to whet both their appetites.

  Jamie drew in a sharp breath. “Yes,” he whispered. “Please.”

  Niko pulled back. “You heard me? What I thought, only for myself?”

  “Somehow, I did.” Jamie’s eyes were huge and dark with lust when he turned them on Niko. “Not the words, but the feeling behind them. You were thinking about giving me a blow job, weren’t you? Don’t deny it. I got this -- this picture -- of you, on your knees in front of me. Your mouth, open and wet.”

  “Do you… would you want such a thing?” Niko reached out to touch at last, savoring the soft texture of Jamie’s skin over his hard musculature.

  Jamie laughed. “You ask a red-blooded American male if he wants a blow job, and you doubt what the answer is? Niko, you’ve got to get out of your work chamber more often.”

  “It is where I spend most of my time,” Niko admitted, trailing one finger between Jamie’s nipples. Not yet touching them, but teasing him with the knowledge that, at any second, he might. “What will happen if I tease these sweet nubs first?” he asked, curious. “Tell me. You have the free will, it seems. What pleases you best?”

  Jamie grinned. “You’re headed in the right direction. I like nipple play. Some guys don’t, but me -- ahh! -- I’ve always been sensitive there.”

  “I had thought to decorate you with metal,” Niko murmured, pulling back from the light tweak he’d given one stiffened brown peak. “A ring through your cock as well, healed by magic, so we might play with it right away. But now I wonder if you would not enjoy holes through these first. I would hang bright silver hoops from each one, and attach them with a chain. Tug on it, ever so gently, and then perhaps harder, when we made love together, or lead you around by them to show off my beloved pet.”

  “Pet.” Jamie’s hand stole up to touch Niko’s and hold it still. “We’re back to new names and deeper meanings. Is a ‘pet’ all you want from me? You keep repeating it. Be honest. You know I can tell if you’re lying.”

  Niko took a long moment to consider the question. Jamie permitted his hand to move again, roving over Jamie’s chest and feeling out all the textures of his smooth skin. “I had thought so,” Niko said slowly. “Yet now, I find myself wondering.”

  “I think,” Jamie said, reaching a hand out and resting it on Niko’s thigh, “what you wanted was a slave. Not a ‘pet,’ who you enjoyed, or even an equal. Someone who’d obey your every command, and never even think of saying no. Or you’d convinced yourself to feel that way.”

  “Perhaps,” Niko admitted.

  “No perhaps about it. You were so sure no one would want you, you figured the only way you could get a man was by making him blind and stupid and unable to resist.” Jamie sat up a little. “Instead, you got me.” He frowned, thinking. “ ‘Pet.’ I don’t mind being called pet. It’d bug me, if it was anyone else, but coming from you, here and now, it feels… nice. Like ‘honey,’ or ‘lover.’ It’s just your word for the one you want to treat right. To spoil rotten.” His eyes darkened still further with lust. “To be in your bed at night.”

  Niko hissed in a sharp breath. “You read me too well, Jamie.”

  “Do I? Well, how about this, then: you’re hard enough to burst. All you can think about is fucking me. You’re remembering what it was like before. Hot, tight, wet, slippery, gripping. The best kind of sex there is. But, Niko…”

  Jamie curled his fingers against the sorcerer’s leg. “Have you ever been taken, yourself? Do you know what it’s like to be stretched, finger by finger? Do you know what it feels like, a burning pain melting like ice into the brightest fire when a cock stretches you so wide open you think you’ll split in two?”

  Niko found his lips had parted a little. He licked at them to ease their dryness. “No… no, I have not,” he said, voice hoarse. “I have been taken, yes, but not as you describe. My experiences were more… clinical. A payment for lessons learned.”

  “Then all the men you’ve met are fools,” Jamie retorted. “Niko, you’re one of the most fuckable guys I’ve ever met. You wouldn’t last five minutes in a New York dance club without at least ten groupies crawling all over you. Where have you been hiding yourself, that you haven’t ever been wanted?”

  “I have studied. Been to driest African deserts, and high Nepalese mountaintops. Buried into caves beneath the Antarctic ice. I have even left this dimension to study with masters from other worlds --”

  “And
the rest of the time you’ve spent locked up in your work chamber.” Jamie shook his head. “You’ve been so busy perfecting your magic you haven’t stopped to live life.”

  “There have been men before,” Niko retorted, stung.

  “Right, you told me. Payoffs for learning one new magic trick or another. Just enough to whet your appetite. To make you lonely, when you finally settled in one place for long enough to catch your breath.” Jamie sat up entirely. “That’s why you decided to go along with the Chimera idea, isn’t it? But you had to do it your way, to make sure it worked. You couldn’t stand the thought of being turned down.”

  Niko’s cheeks flamed red. “Jamie, you know too much,” he said, trying to inject a warning into his voice, but in the end sounding only small and broken.

  “I know I do. It’s this place. It gives me a look into your mind. Just pictures, images, but enough to know and understand you. You wanted a slave. You call me your pet. We’re bound. You never counted on me gaining my free will back, even for a moment.”

  “No,” Niko admitted.

  “Do you want me to show you what free will is all about?” Jamie rolled away onto his knees, and up onto his feet. He towered above Niko, tall and dominating. “Listen to me closely, Niko. I’m saying this, every word of it, because I mean it. I want you. I need you. After a taste like I had before, I think you might become an addiction.”

  Niko gazed up at the long length of honey-colored body, at the luminous eyes gazing down on him. “Tell me, then,” he said. “Tell me what you most want, and I will give it to you.”

  “You can’t tell?”

  Niko shook his head. “You can see into my mind, but yours is blocked to me. You must instruct me, Pet.”

  Hands came down to softly caress his hair. “It’s like silk,” Jamie mused. “You’re beautiful, Niko. The sight of you on your knees -- well, you can see what it does to me.”

  Indeed, Niko could. Jamie’s cock stood out at proud attention, long and thick, jutting from his nest of curls in striking demand. It wanted to be touched, to be held, to be kissed. “I do see it.”