And then the world contracted hard around us, the water moved again, Sasha and Holt came back like they’d been unmuted. Aspen lifted me slightly from him and turned me to face him. “This was my choice,” he whispered. “And I’ll have your full attention for our first time together.”
My brain wanted to go into overdrive and consider the consequences of what he’d just done. But I couldn’t gather the thoughts into a coherent ball with him so deep inside me. The lightning returned, arching through me, between us, along every nerve, every sinew, every bone.
He gently wrapped his hands around my hips and slowly rocked me into him. Carefully drawing out the pleasure until I wanted to claw my nails down his body to make him move faster, give me more. “You like the way I fill you, little goddess?”
I nodded, his words and tone ratcheting the pleasure building in my body. He angled his hips a different way and pressed up as he drew me down onto him and it finally gave me the pressure I needed. Fuck yes.
It clicked for him too because he changed the pace, moving faster. I could only stare into his eyes and then drop to his mouth where his teeth worried on the bottom edge of his lip. And then back up to his eyes. My fairy prince. So beautiful.
And then I splintered, it was a tiny spark in my belly that grew to a rumbling inferno. I clawed at his chest, closed my eyes, and dropped my forehead onto his shoulder while he fucked into me harder, faster. And with not even a sound he came, the only hint I got was the shudder through his entire body and the tight clutch his hands took on my ass. He stayed that way for so long I opened my eyes, my own orgasm ebbing away, and looked up at him. He stared down at me, a look so filled with wonder and awe I was tempted to glance behind me to see who he was really looking at.
He pulled my hands into his between our chests. “I’m so glad you became the goddess you were destined to be. I’m so glad you became mine.”
“Pump the brakes for a moment. What?” Panic began a slow thread through my chest, constricting my breathing in its wake.
“We have been joined. We will be married.”
“Uh… how romantic. You do remember that we haven’t seen each other in a decade and about the only thing I can do well is grow stuff.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You’ve been calling yourself powerless all night. Why is that?”
I pulled from his grasp and slid off him. We both hissed out a breath. I waved my hands at the other men who held each other and stared now. “Since my power woke in high school the only magic I’ve been able to manage is hearth witchcraft. I can grow things. Ease things.”
His forehead furrowed and for a moment I feared that flash in his eyes. “You are not powerless. You are a goddess. The power to give life to the earth. This is goddess magic.”
I snorted. “If I’m so powerful why didn’t you notice me when we were in school together?”
He huffed impatiently. “I came back for you. When we were in school, I could feel the start of the vessel. The part of you that would one day contain the magic. I felt it and knew I had to wait until that vessel filled. It’s overflowing now. Don’t you feel it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.” For the past five years I’ve felt different, but I thought it was the yoga and the low-carb diet Sasha forced me into. Or I attributed it to the fact I was about to hit my thirties and maybe I was finally comfortable with my power and in my own skin.
I pulled out of the water and sat on the chilled edge of the tub, the tile from the ledge scratching against my ass. “What does this mean for you, Aspen?”
He shrugged and climbed out of the tub raining water down on me and the entire floor. I waved my hand at the water and it disappeared in a puff of steam, as if I’d evaporated it all. He stood now completely dry head to toe with a slow curl of steam breathing off his skin.
I slid off the edge of the tub right into the water with a splash.
Sasha reached out to steady me and I clung to his arms. “What the fuck was that?”
He stared down at me, tears pooling in his eyes. “A goddess needs a consort to realize her full power. I think you’ve found him.”
I clung tight to his forearms and shook my head. “I can’t. I…” What did I say to that? If Aspen could help me realize more power than I’d ever known how could I give that up? Plus, it didn’t begin to cover whatever we faced with his family, his kingdom, and… I looked up at them all. These men were mine. Every single one of them belonged to me and me to them.
Holt climbed out of the water and helped me out. His hands lingered on my skin as if he mourned the loss of it.
I grabbed a towel from the stack and stepped into the cool, less humid air of the room. The food sat abandoned on the table and my stomach let out a gurgle. Food always helped me think.
I pulled out the various containers and organized them in a line to make it easy for everyone to serve themselves. Once I had a full plate, I climbed onto the bed and leaned against the pillows while I ate.
The men filed out around the bed and got their own food. Sasha sat beside me, leaning his shoulder against mine. I glanced up at Aspen who took the chair at the table and Holt sat across from him.
I watched them all while I chewed, the room silent and heavy. What time was it? I checked the clock by the bed. Five in the morning. I loved this time of day on the rare occasions I stayed up or woke early enough. “What about your parents?” I asked, staring at Aspen.
He swallowed a fork full of rice. “What about them?”
“Won’t they be upset?”
He snorted. “That I shall turn a goddess into a queen, why would they be? You will strengthen our people.”
Him saying that made it sound so very official, and so very permanent. I put the plate on the bedside table and went to him, knelt to try and speak to him, but he lifted me to standing. “No, goddesses do not kneel, even to princes.”
I let him draw me into his embrace as I spoke. “I want to find out what this is. I want to see it through, but I can’t walk away from Holt who had my heart first, or Sasha who’s kept it safe.”
He stared up at me. “I may be your consort, and soon your king, but… you are a goddess. I am at your will, Lady. You can bring them with you to fairy if they will come and have us all.”
“That wouldn’t be weird to your family?”
He shook his head. “Fairies, while we don’t have sex until we are married, don’t believe that a person’s love can be contained. Many of my—our—people take multiple lovers. You will take me as your husband, and these men as your lovers, and we will be happy.”
He said it all as if he’d decided. As if obviously the world couldn’t go any other way.
I turned to face Sasha. “Will you come with me to fairy?”
“You want me to be your royal sex slave. I’m so in baby.” His words were laced with mirth, but I’d never forget the need in his eyes.
I laughed. I couldn’t help it, not with his goofy grin and mussed hair. Then I slid my gaze to Holt.
He frowned down at his plate. He’d always been good at brooding. He made it look like an art form.
“I want you, so I’ll go.”
“A ringing endorsement.”
He threw up his hands. “What do you expect? I came here to get you back and now I’m competing with two other men.”
A thread zipped through me, head to toe, like a wick in a candle he’d just lit. “Excuse me. You came here after a decade to get me back. Like you were what, going to walk out of here with me on your arm?”
The air weighed heavily on my skin, humid, and sticky like it had in the bathroom. I recognized the edge of my power looking for an escape through my anger. Luckily, I’d long ago mastered my emotional balance when it came to my magic.
He didn’t answer me.
“Then stay here, Holt. And think about what you want. Some of me, or none of me. That’s what I’m offering. Plus, how many humans get to venture into fairy? None that I’ve ever met.”
I w
asn’t going to stand here and convince him of what he should do.
I sat on the bed again next to Sasha and took his hand. “Wonder what we will do until they open the doors?”
Sasha laughed and hugged me tight. “We don’t have to wait. I can take us all out of here wherever you want to go.”
I levelled him a glare. “You mean we didn’t have to be stuck here all weekend? What is wrong with you? I thought you could only transport yourself around.”
He shrugged. “I wanted to be stuck here all weekend with you. Besides, the only time you ever asked me to transport you it was so you didn’t have to pay for parking at Comic Con. And I couldn’t exactly teleport into the middle of it.”
He kissed me and licked at my lips like he wanted to claim more but didn’t. I sighed against his mouth, against the changes already forming in our relationship. “Well, why don’t we get dressed and go see what’s happening in fairy?”
Aspen stood and grabbed his pants. “Yes, let’s go home.”
Untitled
The End… For Now.
About the Author
Monica Corwin is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author. She is an outspoken writer attempting to make romance accessible to everyone, no matter their preferences. As a Northern Ohioan, Monica enjoys snow drifts, three seasons of weather, and a dislike of Michigan football. Monica owns more books about King Arthur than should be strictly necessary. Also typewriters...lots and lots of typewriters.
You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, or on the web at: http://www.monicacorwin.com. Monica Corwin is also on Instagram and Bookbub.
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Her Wolves
Margo Bond Collins
About Her Wolves
This is not how she planned to spend her autumn nights.
Sienna Luna always knew there was something off about her family.
She didn’t know most of them were werewolves.
Not until her uncle’s will named her pack alpha and she was forced to come to terms with the legacy no one had bothered to prepare her for.
Luckily for Sienna, she’s also inherited The Moon Moon, the premier werewolf bar in San Francisco, and it comes staffed with a pack of werewolves eager to teach her the ropes. And more.
But in order to rule the pack, she’ll have to choose a mate before the next full moon—and there are three gorgeous werewolves ready to volunteer. If only she could decide.
Worse, once she’s chosen her mate—or mates—she’ll have to face off against the Winter Queen of the Fae.
Her life is getting stranger by the moment.
One
“Sienna, honey, what I’m trying to tell you is that you’re a werewolf.”
Oh, God.
It had finally happened. My mother had lost her ever-loving mind.
I glanced from her to Dad, trying to gauge his response. Normally, he could be counted on to provide a thinking, reasonable influence on mom’s more creative ideas. This time, though, he was going right along with her.
“You know that’s nuts, right?” I waited for their responses. None were forthcoming. They just stared at me with slightly helpless expressions, like they didn’t quite know what to do with me. Believe me, the feeling was mutual.
“We were hoping we would never have to tell you.” Dad tugged at his collar like he always did when he was nervous.
“When you never shifted, we assumed you were one of the ones who doesn’t inherit the werewolf genes from both sides of the family.” Mom reached out to hold my hand as if to comfort me. I don’t know why—she was the one who was insane. Not me.
“Wait a minute.” My brain skittered to a stop. “Are you saying that you…” My finger wavered in the air, pointing back and forth between the two of them. “You think you’re werewolves, too?”
What the hell?
“Oh no,” Mom said. “Not that. Not exactly, anyway. We never took the bite.”
I dropped my hand back to the table. “Took the bite?”
“It’s all genetics.” Dad put on his professor voice, the one he used when he lectured to his literature students at the nearby community college. “The werewolf gene is recessive. Both parents have to carry it for there to be a chance for any offspring to be full werewolves.”
“And those who aren’t full werewolves?” I asked. I almost didn’t want to hear the answer—except I wanted to know exactly how far around the bend my parents had gone.
“There are two kinds of werewolves.” Mom leaned in close, her voice earnest. “Those who are born and those who are made.”
“If you’re born with the ability to shift, then you’re a werewolf, no matter what.” Dad flashed her a look that I couldn’t interpret. “But if you are not born with the shifting ability, and yet both your parents are wolves, or even carry the wolf gene, then it’s possible to be turned if a born werewolf bites you.”
“So, what you’re telling me is that the two of you believe you carry werewolf genes, but you can’t actually turn into werewolves…because you never let one bite you?”
They both nodded enthusiastically and let out deep sighs as if relieved that I understood what they were trying to tell me. I didn’t really understand—not at all—but I was determined to. Still, I couldn’t quite say that to them. I didn’t want them to think I was buying into their crazy. “You do realize that there is a distinct lack of evidence in what you’re telling me, right?”
“I know, sweetheart.” Mom patted my hand again. “That will come later.”
“Later?”
“Because there’s more.” Dad resettled his glasses on his nose and took a deep breath. Whatever he was going to tell me, he didn’t like it at all.
And if we were just now getting to the part that he didn’t like, after all that werewolf talk, then I was certain I wasn’t going to like it, either.
“We hadn’t planned to ever tell you this.” Tears threaded through my mother’s voice.
Great. Both my parents were insane. But I had to hear them out. I needed to know exactly how psychotic they were.
“Why are you telling me this now?” Mom had insisted I come over immediately after work for a family conference. It was unusual enough that I had fretted about it all day long.
Apparently, I hadn’t been nearly worried enough.
Werewolves. Seriously?
What had set off this insanity?
My parents gave each other one of those looks—the kind that long-married couples use to communicate silently with one another.
Or, hell, for all I know, the ones that werewolves use. I stifled the giggle that threatened to escape at the thought.
Dad drew in a deep breath. “The thing is, your uncle Desmond—”
“My uncle, really,” Mom interjected, and Dad nodded as if the precise familial connection were important right this moment.
“Your great-uncle Desmond passed away a week ago.”
“Yeah, I remember you mentioning it.” It hadn’t seemed important at the time. I hadn’t ever even met the man.
“Well, it seems he’s left you something of an inheritance.”
“Me?” I frowned. “What kind of inheritance?”
“A building,” Mom said, then paused—not in an I’m-finished-talking kind of way, but more in a that’s-not-all kind of way, so I waited.
“A bar,” Dad added. “In San Francisco.”
They both stared at me expectantly, but I didn’t know what it was they expected.
“Okay.” I drew the word out slowly. “That’s nice, I guess. I can always sell it, use the money to buy a house or something.” Real estate in California was expensive. This could be a good thing, give me a chance to get my feet under me, maybe even get a little ahead. Quit paying rent to other people.
Maybe find a job I liked—something other than retail sales.
“That’s not everything,” Mom interrupted my musings.
“What else?”
Again, that shared look before Dad spoke. “He left you in charge of his pack.”
“His what?”
“You’re the new Alpha of the San Francisco SoMa Werewolf Pack.”
Two
Less than a week later, I stood in front of the building that represented my inheritance.
I was the proud owner of The Moon Moon.
I’d tried to look it up online, but the first fifty entries were about a werewolf joke. Moon Moon, the stupid werewolf who could never get anything right.
I owned a bar named after a werewolf joke.
My life was turning into a werewolf joke.
The Moon Moon looked like it hadn’t been painted in a solid decade. The flecks of paint clinging to the exterior didn’t look like they were going to last much longer. I had no doubt the paint was chock-full of lead. In my new universe, that seemed like a small problem.
What the hell? Seriously.
“At least the bar is real,” I muttered to myself. I’d checked with the attorney in charge of Uncle Desmond’s estate to be sure my parents weren’t insane about that, too.
Folsom Street was famous for its leather shows during Pride, but somehow, I hadn’t expected it to be on full display several weeks before Halloween—though I guess I should have. It was, though, and I found myself oddly pleased by that. If I had to inherit a bar in San Francisco, I really kind of preferred the idea that it be a gay bar full of men in leather than a dive that smelled like cheap beer and the perfume of sorority girls.
I’m a bit of a non-conformist.
For a moment, I wondered if “werewolf” had some alternate, subculture meaning, like “bear.”
No. That wasn’t what my parents had suggested. They clearly believed they were descended from people who could physically change into actual wolves.
And I was descended from crazy people. Obviously.
The building itself was shabby and rundown, at least on the surface. As I drew closer to it, I realized that there were recent repairs to some parts of the structure, though none of it was repainted.
Wicked Souls: A Limited Edition Reverse Harem Romance Collection Page 48
