Property of the Fae

by Laxmi Hariharan

  “Oh, fu— I mean hell.” My mate tears his mouth from mine.

  It’s cute how he tries to stop his cursing when he’s around the girls. I don’t have the heart to tell him that Charley can swear both of us into the ground. Some things are best kept secret.

  His nostrils flare, and I know he’s scented my arousal.

  His heart thunders, and I can’t stop myself from placing my palm over his chest. I love that I have this effect on him. Love that I move him, so he doesn’t care what others think when we dive for each other… everyone except my girls that is. The big bad alpha transforms into a teddy bear around my kids.

  He lowers me until my feet touch the sand, and my knees have stopped quaking. Yep, he does that to me. I don’t think he’ll ever stop having that effect on me, melting me into a puddle every time I see him. He rests his forehead against mine and groans.

  “My sympathies are with the man who’ll dare to take on the task of taming her.”

  I pull back from him. “You mean mating her?”

  “Same thing where you and your Firelings are concerned.”

  “So you think you tamed me, eh?”

  “Moi?” He skims a finger under his imaginary collar. “Nope. Not falling for that ol’ trick again. I know when I am beaten.” He allows his shoulders to roll forward. “Your wish is my command, milady.”

  “Whatever happened to my vicious alpha-hole?”

  “Whatever my woman says is law now. All the rules change once you are mated, Fire.”

  “Oh yeah?” I can’t stop the silly giggle that bubbles up.

  “Yep.” He drops his head and bumps his nose against mine. “Except when we are in bed, of course.”

  “Don’t remind me.” I huff out a breath, then rise on my tiptoes and press my lips to his.

  “Gross.”

  I hear the sound of gagging.

  “There you guys go again.”

  I peek around my mate’s shoulder to see Charley stomping away. Her long hair, now dyed black, streams behind her. She wears thick stockings, a skirt that falls down to below her knees, and a shirt that's two sizes too big for her.

  If my experience had made me want to flaunt my body, Charley’s gone the other way, trying to cover up as much of hers as she can.

  The wind blows, molding her clothes against her curves, leaving no doubt that there’s a sensuous, beautiful woman coming to bloom.

  “Wait another month, until you turn eighteen and your hormones kick in, we’ll see how you act then,” I yell after her.

  Charley pauses, shoots me a look over her shoulder. “Nothing, that’s going to be my reaction. Taking a mate is overrated, and I plan to find a way to control my heat cycle. I am never giving in to a man. Never.” She stomps away.

  Anger pumps through my veins. My insides churn. “Charley, don’t you dare mess with your heat cycle. It’ll screw up your reproductive system, you hear me.” I charge after her, and Tristan grips my arm.

  “Let her walk if off, Fire. You know she doesn’t mean half the things she says.”

  “Yeah.” I shake back my hair. “I shouldn’t have said that, but sometimes, that girl, gets under my skin.”

  “She knows you care for her; she’s only testing you, Fire. She knows you love her.”

  “She has a funny way of showing it.” I blink back the tears. This parenting thing? I suck at it.

  “She wants you to prove to her that you want her. It makes it all much more real. It’s her way of coming to terms with the fact that—”

  “—She’s safe and no one can abuse her now, I get it.” I blow out a breath and turn toward the gorgeous man, my mate. “You understand my girls better than me, and that, Soldier, is another asset in your long line of pluses.”

  “You can take advantage of my talents anytime.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

  I chuckle, then allow him to lead me toward where the crowd has grown thicker. Families are spread out; barbecues have been lit.

  I look around and spot Charley at the edge of where the ropes cordon off the fighting ring.

  Hawke steps over from the opposite side of the ring. His gaze catches on Charley. She dips her hand into the pocket of her skirt then pulls out a lollipop. Unwrapping it, she proceeds to suck on it, then thrusts up her chin at Hawke.

  Oh! Hell. My bad.

  She’s addicted to those lollies because of me, and damn if I am not aware of the impact of that gesture on the opposite sex.

  Clearly Charley doesn’t, for she pulls the candy from her mouth and licks her lips, all the while holding Hawke’s gaze. Hmm…or maybe my little girl is not as put off by the male of a species as she insists.

  Something seems to sizzle between the two of them, something so potent that even at this distance, I can sense the change in Hawke’s stance. His muscles coil with tension. His shoulders bunch. My heart flutters, and I turn to Tristan. I almost confide my misgivings, then bite my lips. Nope, if I hint any of what I saw to him, I can only imagine the explosive reaction. Tristan’s possessiveness extends to my girls, he’s made that abundantly clear. They are his as much as I am. Nah, I am going to have to take this up with Charley, on my own. At least for the time being.

  “No way, is that Doc who’s going to fight Hawke?” Tristan stiffens. “Didn’t think he’d accept the challenge, not when it puts his hands at risk.”

  “I heard the two of you fought not long ago.” I snuggle into Tristan’s side, and he pulls me closer.

  “Nah.” He cracks his neck. A gesture I am learning he uses only when he’s uncomfortable. “That was different.” A pulse ticks at his jaw.

  Hmm. He’s definitely hiding something.

  I am about to push him on it, when I notice a woman stalk up to Doc. “Isn’t that Alice? What’s up between those two?”

  “Man’s fighting too hard.” Tristan snickers.

  ‘Huh, Doc’s not yet stepped into the ring.” I frown.

  “I mean Alice. Doc’s been sucker-punched, and he doesn’t know it yet.” My mate grins, and it’s not a friendly look. It’s a can’t-wait-to-see-where-this-is-going-to-lead smug expression.

  Alice plops her hands on her hips. She turns her head up to Doc.

  I lean forward to listen to what they are saying, privacy be damned.

  The wind changes, and I hear their conversation.

  “Don’t you step into that ring, Doc. You have a talent for healing people, and I don’t know why you’d risk everything just to look macho,” Alice fumes.

  “Stand aside, woman,” Doc rumbles back. “I am Fae. I am part of the Fae Corps. Fighting is what I do best.”

  “You arrogant, stubborn alpha-hole.” She breathes hard.

  He glares at her, and his shoulders seeming to widen by the second. The contrast in size between him and the woman standing in front of him is marked. He widens his stance, “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  Bet the alpha is smirking at the pint-sized firebrand. Poor man. He has no idea what’s in store for him, does he?

  “Only you would refuse to recognize an insult when you hear it.” She shakes back her hair.

  He bends his knees then shoves his face into hers. She’s half his size and—did I mention that she’s human and he’s Fae? But the woman doesn’t budge.

  She stabs a finger in his chest. “You step in there, and I am gone.”

  “You challenging me?” His voice is silky, but there’s no mistaking the menace in his tone.

  “No, I am warning you.” Her tone is quiet.

  “I am so scared.” Doc straightens, then steps over the ring.

  Alice watches him for a second. Then she swivels on her feet and stalks away.

  Doc swaggers to the center of the ring, then he shoots a glance over his shoulder. His shoulders slump. He rubs his palm over his face. I swear his features are pale, or maybe that’s just the reflection from the sun above that’s bleached the color from his cheeks.

  Hawke tears his attention away from Charley. “You ready
, asshole?” He rolls his shoulders and bounces on his feet.

  “Yeah.” Doc stands hunched; every angle in his body seems bent out of shape. His spine curves, and his chin lowers to his chest. It doesn’t take an expert to see he’s barely present. His mind is obviously with the woman who just walked away from him.

  Hawke throws his fist, and Doc evades it. The next one catches Doc in the gut. He bends over, then straightens almost at once and shakes his head as if to clear it. The two circle around, Hawke crowding Doc.

  Doc right-hands Hawke who takes it without breaking stride.

  A scream rips through the space

  Tristan grabs me and shoves me behind him.

  Ryker freezes.

  Doc turns toward the sound, every muscle in his body tense. Then a roar rips from him, and he races toward the edge of the ring, clearing the ropes in one jump. He teleports.

  To find out what happens next, get Doc and Alice's story in TAKEN BY THE FAE, HERE

  Love antiheroes? Don’t miss ZEUS in TAKEN BY THE ALPHA. Lucy came to assassinate him, now he won’t stop until he’s ruined her.

  "One hell of a primal read. This alpha is a sex god." - USA Today bestselling author Lee Savino

  Read an excerpt

  Zeus

  “Boo!” I bare my teeth.

  The soldier cringes, and sweat beads his forehead.

  “Really, Z?” My second-in-command narrows his gaze.

  “Okay, a bit over the top.” I raise my shoulders then let them drop. But, hey, cut me some slack, okay? I like to play with my prey.

  Besides, I have a flair for the dramatic, one of the few redeeming features I inherited from my bastard of a father. Except, oh, wait, I was the bastard in that relationship, given he’d never acknowledged me… not until I had my fingers around Golan’s neck and recognition had dawned in his eyes. Too late, Pater. Thirty years too late.

  The soldier’s skin is stretched so tight over his cheekbones that I expect it to crack any moment. The scent of piss stinks up the warehouse. The fool, clearly a beta by the way his shoulders are hunched, has wet himself.

  I yawn aloud. The sound of my jaws cracking seems to snap the man into action, for he staggers forward, followed by his partner. They haul a rolled-up carpet between them.

  Loose threads trail from the edges to sweep over the wooden floor. The patchwork on the outside of the carpet is peeling. The fabric seems so innocuous, so unassuming, it’s precisely that which sends all my instincts on alert.

  A sliver of awareness ripples over my skin. Thud, thud, thud my heartbeat accelerates. The fine hair on my neck rises.

  What the bloody hell? I can’t take my gaze off that damn rug. “Unfurl it.”

  The edge of impatience in my tone must have signaled the impending flare of temper, for Ethan, my second, moves forward—not that the soldiers will dare try anything. The stripes on their vests mark them out as emissaries of the Leader of Scotland, and Kayden doesn’t have the balls to put them up to breaking into my stronghold. I drum my fingers over my chest. Nah! It’s exactly the kind of move I’d expect that twat to try to pull off.

  Adrenaline laces my blood. I curl my fingers into fists.

  That piece of shit wants me out of the way so he can take over my position. Well, he and most of those gathered here. Don’t everyone rush all at once. I snicker.

  The Scot nearest to me pales.

  He expects me to kill him. The body count I’ve left behind in the past year ensures that most fear me. But just this once, I might spare these men. Just to keep them guessing.

  I lean forward on the balls of my feet.

  The sudden movement draws a gasp from the beta. He bends and places his side of the rolled-up fabric on the floor. The other man follows.

  I take a step forward. Honestly, I don’t make any other sign of threat, I don’t even peel back my lips, or speak… well, okay, I glare at the soldier on the right.

  With an audible gulp, he turns and scampers down the big hall toward the still open doors. His partner blinks then scoots after him. My gaze is already on the piece of fabric left behind.

  “I don’t think it’s wise to open it, General,” Ethan warns.

  Since global warming unleashed tsunamis and wrecked the earth's sub-layers thirty years ago, trace metals all but vanished. Electronics can no longer be powered up and technology collapsed, leaving no means of communicating. It means the only way to check what's inside that carpet is the old fashioned way. To open it.

  “Consider yourself heard.” I crick my neck from side to side. “You’ve done your duty, Second, so can we get this charade over with?”

  Sure, his concern is genuine, and yet it doesn’t sit easily with me.

  Not since he’d betrayed the ex-General, AKA my dear departed father by aiding me in killing the old man.

  “Allow me, sir.” Solomon, my third, grabs the open seam of the curled-up piece of fabric. He heaves, but it doesn’t budge.

  Ethan moves to the other side, and together they tug at it. The cloth unfurls… and flattens out into a pool of turquoise and green.

  The light from the solitary skylight far above floods over it. The entire rug shimmers, as if made of liquid sunshine.

  My pulse races. The breath catches in my throat. My heart hammers as if it’s going to rip out of my ribcage.

  The next second, a figure springs up from the carpet and launches at me. Head bent, dressed all in black. There’s a blur of movement, and a blade whines through the space.

  I slide aside.

  The breeze displaced by the stranger shimmers over my neck. A flash of pain cuts through me as the blade nicks my skin.

  I thrust out my leg, and the intruder goes sprawling to the floor, only to turn in a move which should have been near impossible.

  It calls attention to the lithe lines of the body that is wrapped in that jumpsuit. The figure launches itself back at me, and I bend my knees and throw the stranger over my shoulder.

  There’s a thump behind me, and I hear the sword skitter across the wooden floor.

  I swivel around and close the distance to where the intruder leaps up from the center of the carpet.

  The colors fade, the room shrinks around me. My vision narrows in on the face, to where the dark cloth has unraveled from around the head of the stranger. Eyes of shattered green blaze at me.

  The hair on my nape rises.

  It's her, the woman from my dreams.

  A strand of dark-red hair slinks free.

  The scent of rain on cool dawn air bleeds through the space interlaced with that sugary scent of slickness.

  Blood rushes to my groin.

  Every instinct goes on alert. “Omega,” I rasp.

  Lucy

  I lift my chin, then farther up, then the way up, to meet his gaze. To call the General massive is an understatement. He is a monster. A man-mountain, the biggest, most powerful alpha I have ever seen.

  His blue eyes blaze at me.

  A ripple of fear mixed with something else—lust? Anticipation? —tightens my stomach.

  His face is all hard planes and dark angles. Long black hair flows to his shoulders. His lower lip is full, obscenely so. It should have softened his looks, instead it only heightens the feeling of lethalness that clings to him like a rich coat.

  It's the exact opposite of the faded vest that clings to his torso.

  His clothes strike a jarring note in the middle of the most prosperous pocket of this city, which is where we are; but it suits this alpha. Declares exactly what he is: an asshole who doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.

  Who takes pleasure in surprising his friends and outwitting his enemies—no, he doesn’t have friends…doesn’t need friends…or lovers or…how would he be as a lover? A dominant? A male who’d take without mercy? That feminine, omega core of me quivers in anticipation.

  A pulse flares to life between my thighs.

  An age-old instinct deep inside awakes…and insists this alpha will make sure
I am pleasured. He’ll bite me, lick me, suck me…and a piercing wave of desire twists my stomach.

  Heat flushes my skin, and yet I feel cold, so cold.

  I try to take a step forward, and it’s as if my feet are weighed down.

  The alpha thrusts out his chest and the force of his dominance crashes over me.

  My breath catches in my chest.

  I can’t move. Can’t think. Can’t do anything but stare at his face, drink in his features. Open my heart and absorb every last particle of impact that his sheer charisma has on me.

  I want to trace that long, hooked nose of his. To close the distance between us and bite his square, pronounced jaw. Lick it, nibble on it, then pull his head down between my thighs and make him rub his hard whiskers across my sensitive core.

  Heat floods my skin.

  My nipples tighten.

  I don’t need to look down at my breasts to know they'd be thrusting out, the sharpness of my arousal a palpable outline against the material.

  He must know the effect he has on me, for the strong cords of his throat ripple. His sculpted chest seems to widen as he straightens and plants his arms on his trim hips. His powerful shoulders block out the sight of the room. His entire presence sucks up the air in the space. The strength of his personality is a visceral force that crashes into me and threatens to overpower me. I want to reach for the throbbing space between my legs and relieve the pressure that is building in my womb. What is happening to me?

  “Do you know what I do to those who challenge me?” He growls.

  The rich sound grates over my sensitized nerve endings and shudders straight to my center.

  My thighs quiver, my stomach trembles, and I thrust my pelvis forward in blatant invitation. It’s as if my body has already arrived at a decision and the rest of me is struggling to catch up.

  I grit my teeth. "I am sure you are going to tell me." Every instinct in me tells me to cower... to give in to him. But I cannot. Will not. The part of me that is honed to fight back, insists I resist.

  I thrust out my chin.

  My heart pounds in my rib cage, and a pulse flares to life between my thighs.