"Okay... why do you all look so weird right now?" I ask, searching their faces. They’re sitting around the kitchen table facing each other and seem to be in the middle of a very tense discussion.
"We have given thought to the situation," Rune says after a moment. "And we have all come to realize there is more going on than we initially...considered. Regarding the prophecy, your child, and... you."
Zev clears his throat, his gaze landing on my shoulder before moving to my face. “This is more complicated than my realm understood. I’m sure if my mother…”
“Your mother?” I ask, ignoring the way his forest green eyes make me weak in the knees. “Who’s your mother and what’s she got to do with any of this?”
Zev looks to the other two, who remain silent, so he continues, reluctantly. “My mother is the queen of our realm. All three of us are princes. It was--is--our duty to fulfill the prophecy in order to save our people. That’s why we were schooled together, along with Cara, the princess sent by the witches.”
Princes? Like actual freaking princes. Shit. No wonder they wanted to give my apartment a huge makeover. And here I’ve been putting them to work tending bar and cleaning floors. The thought makes me smirk just a smidgen.
“As I was saying,” Zev continues, his eyes narrowing on my mouth, “we do not believe our families understood the whole picture. So we have decided to send messages back to our realms explaining plans have changed.”
“Plans?” That snaps me out of any sexy thoughts. “The plans to kidnap my kid? So you’re not going to try to take Rain?” I ask, hope rising in me despite my best attempt to quash it.
Darius grunts with a mixture of annoyance and impatience. “What Prince Zev is trying to say is that while the prophecy still holds, and the need is still dire, we want to try to find another way.”
“So you’re all leaving?” I ask, and my heart sinks at that thought despite being entirely pissed off at all of them five minutes ago. In a game of Kiss, Marry, Kill, all three Sexies would qualify for each column. These postpartum hormones are a bitch.
“No.” Rune’s voice is firm. More alpha than I’ve ever heard it. “You and Rain still need protection. We will not abandon you. But while we wait for word from our respective families, we have decided to take a pledge that will give you--and us--reassurance of each of our intentions.”
Darius and Zev both shift uncomfortably as Rune speaks. Whatever he’s talking about, it’s meaningful. But… a pledge? Like… of allegiance? To the flag? That’s the only pledge I can think of and it sounds pretty useless.
“So, what, this is like a glorified pinky swear? How is this supposed to reassure me?”
“This pledge will bind us to you--for the time being,” he adds when Darius glares at him. “We will not be able to take your child without your consent.”
“Pft. Then you might as well throw in the towel. I’ll never consent.”
Rune nods. “I know that is how you feel now. It is our hope you will reconsider, given the consequences.”
Before I can interrupt to tell him where he can shove his pledge, and his hope, he holds up his hand. “Regardless, this pledge cannot be broken by any of us. It will run its course at the spring solstice, at which point we can all reassess. In the meantime, it will mean we no longer have to watch each other so closely. One of us can be with you while the others are tending to the bar or helping in whatever way you need.”
Rune pauses, then locks his gaze with mine and says softly, “We will be here at your whim, to serve, care for, and assist you. And, most importantly, to ensure the safety of your child.”
Oh my. Heat flushes my cheeks and my knees feel a bit wobbly suddenly. I want to fan my face but that seems a tad extra, so I hold myself in check. Play it cool, Bernie. Play it cool.
“Right. Okay. That sounds… fine. So when will you do this?” My emotions are tumbling around inside me. Relief, fear, gratitude, lust, all of it making me an emotional mess.
“We need the right ingredients,” Rune says, still leading the conversation. “The proper herbs, a dusting of fresh snow…”
“Sure. That sounds… reasonable, I guess.”
“And…” Rune hesitates, and Darius grunts again.
“Unicorn blood,” Darius says, finally. “We need unicorn blood.”
Chapter Eleven
“Cool story, bro.”
It’s the answer I would have given, but it actually comes from AJ, standing in the
doorway, having returned from whatever errand took her away in the dead of night.
“Unicorn blood?” She chuckles. “Yeah, sure, I’ll just swing by my uncle’s ranch and grab a vile.”
Darius studies AJ seriously, as is his way. It’s hard to tell if he’s annoyed by her sarcasm or wondering--
“Who is your uncle? What’s his family line?”
Yep. Wondering if her uncle really has a freaking unicorn.
AJ walks into the kitchen, laughing to herself, and pulls a beer from the fridge. Apparently grandpa didn’t finish all his Budweiser before he passed. Jesus, have I not cleaned out the fridge since I moved home?
“My uncle doesn’t have a unicorn, numbnuts,” she responds, leaning against the counter and popping the bottle cap off with a lighter.
Darius bolts to his feet, fast enough to startle even his magical buddies.
“Watch yourself, nymph,” he hisses, teeth bared. “Your powers are few and the stakes are higher than you can fathom. Cross me any further and you’ll see--”
Rune grabs Darius by the elbow, and it looks like those fae calming powers have at least some effect on vampires. Darius takes a deep breath and then slowly moves back into his seat, like a predator biding his time.
AJ looks between the two for a second, then laughs. She smells a little boozy. I’m starting to think her errand was a stupid one.
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask, trying to get the conversation back on track. “One of you goes to your world and comes back with some blood?”
“We can’t return until the message has been received,” Zev says, shaking his head. “For any of us to show up without the child and no prior notification would send the kingdom into a panic.”
“Really?” I ask. “Even if you told people, er, your kind, that you were coming right back to protect the baby?”
Now all three of them shake their heads, solemn looks on their faces. I’ll never be able to empathize with the severity of their situations, since I’m the mom of the baby they want to steal, but a small part of my brain recognizes the gravity of what they’re dealing with.
“Okay, three things need to happen,” I say as I turn toward the fridge, lost in thought and also immediately ravenous. I’ve been working too hard, sleeping too little, and acting as a full-time milk generator for a hungry newborn. I need to eat my bodyweight in carbs.
The minute I open the fridge door, AJ sprints past me, through the living room and out the door, yelling, “Don’t eat!” on her way out. The guys watch her go suspiciously, then turn back to me.
“She moves, and thinks, erratically,” Rune observes.
I nod. That’s as good a way as any to describe AJ.
I hear her feet scampering back up the outdoor steps, and she enters seconds later with a giant smile on her face and a massive pizza box in her hands.
“House of Pizza… ” I trail off, hoping I’ll still be able to chew while crying tears of joy. AJ and I spent half our high school years inhaling pizzas from this place. She opens the box, displaying a steaming, extra-large pie covered in sausage and mushrooms. It’s the best gift I’ve ever received.
“I thought you might want something other than Rune’s salad bar,” AJ says. “Also, while I was there I had a couple beers and practiced nymphing, so the pizza was free.”
“That’s… not a thing,” Darius says, perplexed.
AJ just grins. “It is now, bitches.”
Oh Lord. Nymph AJ is going to be a lot to handle. But also a lot
of fun.
I walk over to her and take the box, mouthing “I love you” as I do. Then I turn back to the guys. Not wanting the Sexies to see what I’m about to do to this pizza, I compose myself and finish my thought from earlier.
“All right, four things need to happen. First, I’m gonna eat every slice of this thing. Second, I want to know what’s actually in this goddamn prophecy you keep talking about. Third, you figure out where you’re going to get unicorn blood and then let me know if I can help. But, like, that better not involve killing a unicorn, okay? I’ve seen all the Harry Potter movies and read the books. I know how that shit ends. And fourth,” I conclude, moving toward my bedroom, “I’m going to sleep, waking only to feed my baby, and I don’t want to see anyone until morning.”
I hear no protest as I walk off, excited beyond measure for the face stuffing I’m about to do. But then, an unexpected blast of nostalgia, one unrelated to AJ, punches me in the gut and stops me in my tracks. The smell of the pizza takes me back a couple decades, to a summer day when I was a child.
I spin around, facing my housemates.
“Sorry, there’s a fifth thing. I need to go see my grandma.”
Rain only wakes me twice during the night to feed, otherwise sleeping like a little angel because that’s what she is. When I get out of bed in the morning, I quickly eat one of the four remaining pizza slices and then sneak into the bathroom to brush my teeth before heading to the front room.
I’m not expecting to literally run into a naked werewolf.
I smack Zev with the bathroom door, and he gracefully dodges the brunt of the impact--though it would do little to harm him regardless.
He grins and steps in my direction, not bothering to hide his nudity or the evidence that he’s happy to see me.
I pry my gaze away from his huge--
“Can I be of service?” he asks, and dear heaven help me I just want to throw myself at this man.
“Um. Sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here.”
He takes another step closer, until our bodies are almost touching. “I don’t mind sharing.”
I don’t even know what we’re talking about anymore. All I can think is 1: why aren’t we both naked? 2: how can I brush my teeth before this goes any further? And 3: who cares what my third thought is. Let’s go back to one.
Why aren’t we both naked?
I feel lost in the woods when I look into his eyes, and as his arm slides around my waist, pulling me against the hard length of his body, I go weightless.
He brushes his lips against my neck. “You feel it too.”
I don’t know what ‘it’ means, but yes, I certainly feel something.
He flicks his tongue against the spot he bit in the bath, and heat pools in my abdomen as my body aches in need of him.
“Careful, woman. You’re playing with fire.”
When he pulls away from me, I feel like a balloon that’s been deflated. And as he walks out, closing the door behind him, I lean against the bathroom counter and take a deep breath.
Damn him.
Once I can stand without shaking, I groom and dress for the day, then head to the living room.
The Sexies are still gathered around the table, and I wonder if they just stayed up all night staring at each other like weirdos--with the exception of Zev, of course, who at least had a brief break to torture me in the bathroom.
They explain that they did not, with Rune and Zev sleeping in shifts, while Darius of course remained awake since he’s a creature of the night.
While I slept, a few plans were hatched. I’m not allowed to travel without a guard, and I can’t be alone with just one prince until the pledge takes effect. Therefore, Rune and Zev will accompany me on my journey to see my grandma. Journey is their word, not mine--we’re driving like fifteen minutes down to Ipswich.
In the meantime, Darius will stay here to get his two hours of sleep and ask AJ questions about potential places to find a unicorn. AJ’s still asleep and it makes me really, really sad to know I won’t be in the house to see her face when Darius starts inquiring about the local mythical creature scene.
After feeding, changing, and bundling Rain, I get myself ready to step into the world for the first time since I became a mother. It’s an odd sensation, thinking of who I might see and what they might say, and it’s all made odder by the fact that I’ll have to explain the gorgeous, mysterious company I’m keeping.
As I buckle Rain down in the carseat in the back of my 2004 Subaru Forester--affectionately named The Boobaru by AJ--I’m surprised by how excited I am. I’m outside! I get to go for a drive! I’m like a happy retriever.
I try to hide my giddiness as Rune gets into the passenger seat next to me. His presence is a strange mix of calming and electric, accelerating my heart rate while wrapping me in a warm sense of security. Two days postpartum and I’m developing a schoolgirl crush on at least two hunks from another realm. Hard to tell if I’m lucky or cursed.
The roads from Rowley to Ipswich are shit, which makes the drive longer but gives Zev and Rune more time to break down the prophecy that’s upended my life and the lives of many others. From the way they talk, three realms are in the throes of chaos and on the verge of collapse because of this… situation.
“The issue for so many,” Rune explains, “is that you have to look back to the beginning of time, the origin story of each race, to understand the problems underlying our societies today. Most of the brightest fae, werewolves and vampires are not capable of that scope of thought.”
“Certainly not vampires,” Zev growls from the back.
“Well, let’s see how a human can handle it,” I say. “Start from the beginning.”
Rune nods, and it seems like both an affirmation to my request and like he’s queuing up a really long story in his head. I ease off the gas a little; no need to hurry when I’ve got the history of an entire world coming my way.
“The story starts with the Fates, who originally spawned the--”
“What’s a Fate?” I ask, crashing Rune’s story before it even has a chance to begin.
“They were the original witches--sisters, who had great power,” Zev offers from the back. He leans forward and grips my seat, his fingers brushing against my arm, not that I’m paying attention to that. “In addition to their own kind, they created all races of magical beings.”
“The first witch created vampires from her blood,” Rune says, continuing as if Zev hadn’t interrupted. “The second turned a rib into the first of the wolves, and the third gave life to the fae with the air from her lungs.”
“Okay,” I say, skeptically. “So far it sounds like the parts of the Bible I find hardest to believe.”
“I’ve read your Bible and I don’t disagree,” Zev says with a gruff chuckle that sends shivers up my spine. “But the fae have documented history from the second generation of existence.”
“And vampires being what they are, many direct descendants of the Fate’s creation still live today,” Rune adds. “Darius is only three generations removed.”
Well, shit. Looks like the paranormals brought receipts.
“Fine, you’re all made from witch parts,” I concede as snarkily as possible. “What was the prophecy written on? One of the Fate’s arm fat?”
“The different races dictated the Fate’s words in their own way,” Rune says, dismissing my attitude. “Werewolves maintained the story orally, speaking it to pups.”
“Singing,” Zev corrects. “We pass on our history through song.”
I make a mental note to start a karaoke night at Morgan’s and force Zev to sing this prophecy in wolf form.
“Very well,” Rune says, “sung by the wolves. Fae, as Zev mentioned, wrote fastidious notes, and the vampires tasked a group of immortals to preserve the story. Aside from a slight discrepancy here or there, each of the three races maintains a similar version of the Fates’ original decree.”
“So, wait…” I’m now invested in the story a
nd want to parse out some details. “What about witches? We’ve got three races invented by witches. Did the Fates forget to, you know, have babies or something?”
Rune shifts in his seat, brow furrowed as he thinks of the best way to answer me. Zev laughs again, and I swear he does this in the sexiest way possible, like he’s rehearsed sexy laughs in the mirror so much that it now seems totally natural. But there’s nothing natural about his level of sexiness. Nothing.
“The Fates did indeed spawn more witches,” Zev says. “For many ages they were the most powerful race, then they stood on an equal plane for centuries as the other races grew and eventually began to outnumber the witches. Then…”
He drifts off, his gaze shifting toward the increasingly uncomfortable Rune.
“Until what?” I ask, my eyes spending way too much time on Zev in the rearview mirror and not enough time on the road.
Rune takes his cue from Zev and picks up the story, though it clearly pains him to do so.
“A feud began between the fae and the witches, over the rights to some of nature’s gifts.”
“The fae began killing witches for their land and the magical materials they cultivated,” Zev says, clearly annoyed at Rune’s milder retelling.
“Which led to the vampires taking advantage of a weakened race,” Rune says, “and enjoying the powerful blood of witches fleeing the war. And, unless I’m mistaken, many a wolf helped the vampires with their tracking during that era.”
Now it’s Zev who’s looking out the window, unhappy with the truth that’s just been leveled at him. I feel like they’re both too close to the story and need a third party’s summation.
“So… you shit-birds killed all the witches?”
“Not all,” Rune quickly explains. “Once the vampires began to attack, a great many witches came to Earth, taking human form as we have done, and beginning new lives amongst your kind. They came to this very continent, around the same time as the Europeans, hoping to find a new world of their own.”
When the story transitions from a magical realm I can’t quite fathom to the land where pilgrims and puritans settled--where I grew up and studied the local history--a circuit breaker trips in my brain.
A Werewolf, a Vampire, and a Fae Walk Into a Bar Page 10
