Faye tilted her head back to see Nick's expressionless face and tried kissing his jaw. She grinned as he turned away, continuing along the beach. They had somehow ended up alone after the circle and it's aftermath had disappeared.
As always, Nick remained completely oblivious to her. She had thought him gay, until she saw how he was with Cassie. He was the only male to completely ignore her, and Faye had always loved a challenge...
"What the...?" Nick mumbled to himself squinting at the distant beach. Much to Faye's confusion and something akin to amusement, Nick took off running towards a distant shadow on the sand.
Faye felt mild interest, but continued her sedate pace behind him.
Diana wrappedher arms around Hunter's neck and pulled him so that he was lying fully on top of her in the warm sand. He moaned slightly against her mouth and ran a hand along the length of her thigh carressing the incredibly soft skin there.
She still couldn't figure out exactly what had happened. One minute she had been lunging at him intent on destruction, the next, Diana found herself on her back with Hunter calmly lowering himself down over her.
Hunter broke the kiss to watch Diana's flushed face. She slowly opened her hazy blue eyes to watch back. His gaze was solemn as he contemplate what he was feeling for her.
He felt a tenderness for her that he had never experienced before. Bloodlust and simple lust were incredibly familiar to him, just not combined with the tenderness and an unwillingness to hurt her. To protect her no matter what. Hunter's lip curled slightly in disgust at himself.
"Hunter...?" Diana trembled at the look on his face and slowly reached up to touch the side of his head. He responded by lowering his mouth to her jaw and slowly trailing it down to the side of her neck. Diana sighed and tilted her head back to allow him greater access, when suddenly Hunter was pulled off her and thrown to the side by a glowering Nick.
Hunter cursed at being taken by surprise like that, and leapt up in a blind rage.
********************************
"What I want to know is how the hell did you two manage this." Chance glanced at Julian and Bonnie and sat back down opposite them.
"Never mind that right now." Bonnie waved aside the question impatiently and leaned toward him. "How is Mandelyne? When is the wedding? What's the news in Circle Daybreak? Had the final Wild Power been found yet? What is Hunter up to? I heard from Findabhiar that he's in New Salem. Do you know what he's doing there?"
Julian tugged Bonnie back into his arms and placed a hand over her mouth as she looked about to plunge back into her questioning. Chance had a look of utter bewilderment ib his face. Julian looked down at the little red-head he held and noticed her glaring up at him.
"Give him a moment to answer, Love, before you pounce again." Bonnie glared severely and tugged his hand away from her mouth. Then, she was lost as he smiled down at her. It was the smile she was getting to know as his truly happy smile. She was pleased to see it happening more and more over the course of almost a year they had been together. Plus it showed off the extremely cute dimples on both sides of his mouth.
"Should I cough or something at this point?" Chance grinned as they both jumped and looked away from one another to him. Bonnie blushed slightly while Julian's face shone with a gleeful smugness.
"Answer my questions please, Chance." Bonnie composed herself somewhat and smoothed back her unruly bright surls, Julian swiftly avoiding her upraised swinging elbows with a look of resigned exasperation on his face.
"Let's see, Mandelyne is fine. She's staying with Thierry and Hannah in Vegas for now. The wedding is in two weeks, and I expect you both to be there. We have not yet found the fourth, but Findabhiar's people are looking into a few possible leads. And all we know about Hunter is that he is in New Salem. Spies are currently being sent there to keep tabs on him."
"Thank you." Bonnie nodded pleased that she was now up-to-date. She then glanced at Julian before asking, "Has Findabhiar heard anything of Damon yet?"
"She recieved a letter from him telling her that he was going home to Florence for a spell." Chance stood suddenly looking at his watch. "I'm supposed to meet Mande in twenty minutes, so I'm going to have to dash."
"Say hello to her for us, and that we will visit her at some point this week." Bonnie stood slowly pushing up with a hand on Julian's knee. She went to Chance and went onto her toes to kiss his cheek.
He grinned at her and place a gentle hand against her portruding stomache. "Take care of the little one Bonnie, and explain to me how you managed this one at some point."
"Of course."
Chance suddenly laughed and said over Bonnie's shoulder to Julian who was still lounging in the large chair, "If she turns out to be anything like her mother, you're going to have your hands full, Julian.
Bonnie scowled and mock punched him in the shoulder as Julian's husky laughter joined in from behind her.
