“So how have you been?” Maeve asked.  “Are you adjusting well to being back in the human world?”

“It’s OK, I guess.  My friends were glad to see me, but they didn’t seem to notice any of the changes.  I’ve been pretty careful about the whole ***** thing.”  She grimaced slightly, and took an abrupt swig from her teacup.

“You are finding that the shielded ***** doesn’t fully satisfy your urges?” Maeve asked, knowingly.

“Yeah.  It’s not the same,” she sighed.  “But I know I’ve gotta be careful.”

“Yes.  If you value your lovers, you mustn’t harm them so,” Maeve stated, reminding her of what could happen to her bed partners if they were to be inundated with so much faerie magic at a time when their defenses were completely down.

Shane thought back to her first time with Maeve with a rueful smile.  It had been truly amazing.  So incredibly intense.  She could understand the danger of it.  She’d almost been sidhe-struck, herself.  If it hadn’t been for a naturally immunity inherited through her unknown father’s bloodline, she would right now be enthralled with the gorgeous woman seated across the table.  Hearing Maeve’s tales of mortals enslaved to other, less-scrupulous faeries, and their mindless devotion had made her shudder in revulsion.  Instead, their ***** had brought Shane into her powers—long hidden under the mask of her humanity, her mortality.

Maeve watched Shane intently, noticing her preoccupation, and the sudden light of lust in her eyes that were only partially hidden by her sunglasses.  She reached across the table and took Shane’s hand in her own.  The touch no longer elicited the fiery sparks that had been present at their first encounter.  Rather, it now caused an instant glow that seemed to come from under the skin and radiate between them, warming down to the marrow of the bones.

With a happy little sigh, Shane followed as Maeve led them deeper into the garden.  Settling down in the soft grass under the overhanging branches of a weeping willow, she tugged Shane’s hand pulling her down beside her.  They kissed, starting out gently, but quickly, their passion overtook them.  They tore at each other’s clothes, aching for the feel of skin on skin.  Hungrily, they moved against each other, devouring with their mouths; tasting with tongues, nipping with teeth, sucking with lips; their hands roving with purpose, pinching and squeezing, seeking and thrusting.  At each touch, each caress, the glow between them intensified.  As the light increased, so did the heat, until it was as if they glittered, with tiny droplets of moisture.  And when they finally came together, it was as bright as a thousand flash bulbs going off at the same time under the tree.