Running for Home by Zenina Masters Page B

as he walked with her through the shifting sands.
    She ran her tongue around the base of the cone before wrapping her mouth around the ice cream and sucking upward.
    “I have to admit your technique is impressive.”
    She chuckled. “As you have admired it a few times in the last few days, you now know how I have been practicing.”
    He groaned. “Great. Now the freezer section of the grocery store is going to get me hard. Thanks for that.”
    She cackled and watched the waves beating at the shoreline.
    “So, your mom is a siren? What does that entail?”
    “She has a wonderful speaking voice and a flair for seducing humans. It doesn’t work on other fey, so she has picked her targets from the humans for the last four centuries.”
    “What does she get from them?”
    “A piece of their energy. It grows back, but it has enough power to give my mother more than the normal amount of magic.”
    She continued to ask questions as they walked through the sand. “And what is a pan?”
    “Forest dweller. He plays the pipes, and women flock to him. He can direct it at will.”
    “So, why did you become a hunter?”
    “I wanted to give and not take. The violence energised me, and the helping of those in vulnerable positions gave me reasons to come into work every day.”
    “That is a little perverse.”
    He grinned. “And you love me anyway.”
    She deep throated the ice cream until she was in danger of brain freeze, but when she pulled away and saw the darkly aroused look in his face, it was worth it. “Perhaps a little.”
    He pulled her to him, belly to belly and the darned fey ate her ice cream cone.
    “Fiend!”
    He mumbled. “I suppose I will just have to get you another. A taller one.”
    She laughed, and they slowly made their way back to the shop.
    A woman with brown hair, brown eyes and the fashion sense of a Walmart in a whirlwind came toward them.
    “Hello, are you Juno and Derix?”
    Juno smiled. “We are.”
    The woman chuckled. “Good. I have been looking for you. Now, do you want a balance ceremony with all the bells and whistles, or can we do this quick and clean?”
    Derix blinked. “Right now?”
    The woman nodded. “Right now. I am going to be the balancer here at the Crossed Streams or whatever they are calling this place. I need to practice, so since Teal and Tony are looking for replacements, I thought you two might be good selections.”
    Juno asked, “Right, what is your name?”
    The woman extended her hand. “Oh. Duh. Sorry. Melwiss. Melwiss Adnoski. Binding Mage. Call me Mel.”
    Juno shook her hand, and Melwiss’s smile turned her from plain to extraordinary. It was as if charm and magic were bubbling through every pore.
    When they had released the greeting, Mel rubbed her hands together. “Where do you want to do this?”
    Juno looked toward the shoreline. “Why not there?”
    “Perfect. Lots of space and nothing that can be damaged. Let’s go.”
    Derix smiled at Juno and blinked. “We are really doing this now?”
    “Yeah. We can always have a proper ceremony with family at a later date. This way, when your family first sees me, I have already been balanced. We will show up as equals.”
    He wrapped his arm around her as they followed the fluttering fabric of the mage down to the water’s edge.
    “Equals. Well, I suppose I could stand an increase in my social situation. Being your equal will be a huge step up.”
    She laughed and nudged him with her hip.
    Mel was standing with her back to the water, and she held out her hands. “Juno, take my left hand in both of yours; Derix, take my right. I will ask you some questions, and you need to answer out loud.”
    They followed the instructions, and Melwiss’s eyes began to glow. Power charged up and surrounded her in a column.
    In her mind, Juno heard a voice whisper, Do you give?
    “I do.”
    Derix spoke at the same time.
    The grip on the mage was all that was holding them up when their magic left them.
    Juno was dazed and