Winter Wedding

by Jen Talty

  “Wow. You’re being so accepting of all of this,” she said.

  “If he’s the king, then I get to focus more on other things. It takes a big load off my plate. Besides, it will keep you back here at the farm where you belong.”

  “I can’t believe you just said that.” She glanced over her shoulder.

  Dayton held a mug to his lips as he stood over the table, flipping pages of one of her art books.

  “We need you. And it looks as though an entire species needs you.”

  “Ha! Just think. You’re a Wolfairy too and that means you’ll have to bow to your queen.”

  Chaz laughed. “I’ll do that when you bow to your Alpha.”

  “This is too weird.” She waved her hand, closing the portal. “That’s kind of cool.” She flicked her finger. Fairy dust formed into a circle the size of a golf ball. She shoved it at Dayton.

  He held up his hand and flicked it back toward her.

  “Shit,” she grunted as the damn hot dust grazed her skin. She considered trying again, but decided it really wasn’t worth it. “Tell me the truth. Can we walk through the protective wrap?”

  “We can,” he said, setting down his mug. “But I want to stay in here. We might have read all of this, but we don’t know what it all means.” He held up a book opened to a page with two people lying in a bed together.

  She gasped. She’d seen the book of drawings sketched by an artist from the fifteen hundreds. The book had been found in a private library of an eccentric werewolf, along with a few others that related to the Royal Fairies. When she’d first seen the image, it freaked her out how much she’d looked like the figure on the paper. What she hadn’t noticed before was how much the headboard and dressers looked just like the ones in the bedroom of the cabin. Her stomach flipped and flopped like a pond full of jumping fish.

  “Pictures are hard to decipher when pulling knowledge using fairy dust, so I didn’t really understand this particular book.” He licked his finger and shoved some pages to the side. “There were eight blank pages in the back.”

  Her hands trembled as she took the book in her hands. “They aren’t blank now.” She swallowed the lump that swelled in her throat. “But I can’t make much out.” Squinting, she raised the book closer to her eyes. The faint pencil marks were barely visible.

  “The first one that was blank has the darkest impressions. It looks like two wolves fighting,” Dayton said.

  Quickly, she flipped to the front of the book. “This is the image of the wolf leaving Aria’s bedroom when the visionary split your soul. This is you.”

  Dayton stood behind her with his hands resting firmly on her hips. His hot breath tickled her ear.

  She slowly turned a few more pages. “These must be all the people you and your sisters’ souls passed through.”

  “These drawings document the entire legend.”

  “But it doesn’t tell us what is happening next.”

  He snagged the book, slapped it shut, and tossed it on the table. Turning her, he heaved her to his chest. His arms wrapped tightly around her waist.

  Her toes dangled on the floor. Fairy dust swirled around them. Different streams tangled with each other, merging together as if their dust was one.

  “We know what will happen next.”

  Unable to resist his embrace, she clasped her fingers together behind his neck. “We can’t see past us in…oh.”

  8

  “The pages on the book are filled in before they happen but based on what happened the page before, and the page that we’re in bed together isn’t finished because it doesn’t have the author’s signature,” Dayton said. His heart beat so fast, he thought it might pound through his chest. “Do you know who the author is?”

  Cheryl’s pink tongue flicked out of her mouth and glided over her plump lips.

  He swallowed a groan. His desire clamped down on his soul. He’d wandered the woods aimlessly, unable to communicate. His need for a connection picked away at his essence. Holding Cheryl in his arms filled every void. His desire stretched around them.

  “No one knows.”

  “You didn’t notice the changes until now?” he asked. His body screamed for him to shut up and take her delectable mouth and show her the passion she deserved. But his mind demanded knowledge.

  “I was only given the book this morning. I took a picture of the signature and sent it to a couple of people I know. I’m hoping they can find out who the author is.”

  He curled his fingers around the back of her thighs and hoisted her up, wrapping her legs around his waist.

  She locked her feet behind his back. Her breath came in short, throaty pants. Her chest pressed against his with every deep breath.

  “We’re going to have do something about you picking me up all the time. I’m not some dainty little flower that might snap if not handled with light hands.”

  A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “So, I can be as rough as I want?”

  She jerked her head back. “What do you even know about sex?”

  He burst out laughing as he tossed her on the bed. Standing at the edge of the mattress, he whipped off his shirt. “I might not have actually done it in my own body, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t experience it in one of the many souls I traveled through. Besides, everything with you is instinctual. It’s like we’ve been together forever.”

  “I wouldn’t go that far.” She pushed up on her elbows, her gaze gliding over his body.

  “You want to see more, don’t you?” He popped open the button of his jeans, looping his fingers over the zipper.

  Her smile gave him a warm shiver. Her fairy dust glided over his body, giving him a tiny taste of what it will be like to love her.

  To be loved by her.

  She reached up and traced her finger along his arm and down his hand, brushing his stomach gently.

  He grabbed her wrist before she managed to yank his pants off. “I’m shirtless, so it’s your turn.”

  Leaning in, she pressed her sweet, wet lips against his stomach.

  His muscles tightened and twitched. A wave of dizziness threatened to knock him to his knees. He grabbed a fist full of her long, dark hair. “Shirt. Off. Now. Please.”

  A deep growl rumbled to his throat as she pushed her lips harder against his skin. Her hands splayed over his thighs, inching higher.

  Tenderly, he tugged at her hair.

  Her head tilted, and she looked up at him with pouty lips.

  “Take your shirt off and I’ll let you have your way with me.”

  “I’m going to have my way with you regardless.”

  Before he had a chance to respond, she had his jeans to his ankles. As he kicked out of them, she managed to clasp her fingers around him, squeezing with just the right amount of pressure. He clenched his jaw. He tried to heave in a deep breath, but he couldn’t manage to get enough oxygen to fill his lungs.

  “Are you ever going to take your shirt off?”

  Her mouth hovered over him like bird flying over the water, waiting to dive for the right fish.

  “Men. You all have boobs on the mind.”

  “I wouldn’t mind your breasts gracing my vision.” He held his breath as she took him into her mouth. “Oh, my…” He hissed as she devoured every inch. Slowly, she glided her lips off, circling her tongue over the tip and then repeated the motion several times.

  His vision blurred. Perspiration beaded across his hairline. For centuries, half of his soul had been charged with protecting his sister. He lived in the corner of people’s minds, separate from them, but he still experienced much of what they did.

  This was like nothing he could have ever imagined. Every kiss and stroke of her fingers over his body sent him one step closer to the edge. He raised his hand, gathering some of her dust and mixing it with his, which only intensified the raw need to please her.

  “Cheryl,” he choked out.

  She popped her mouth off him, smacking her dazzling lips together.
Her hands gripped him, gliding up and down.

  “You’re going to be the death of me,” he muttered.

  “You don’t really want me to stop.”

  He reached down, cupping her chin, and yanked her to her feet.

  She gasped, but she did so with a smile on her face and her hands gripping his shoulders.

  “We have an entire lifetime to enjoy that sexual act. But for now, I want this off.” He grabbed the rim of her shirt and pulled it over her head. Her long hair bounced over a lacy, pink bra. Her breasts swelled out of the top. Her nipples pressed against the fabric, begging for attention. “And this.” He reached around her and with one hand, he unhooked her bra, tossing it across the room. “Oh, sweet Jesus.” Her skin sparkled as he traced his finger over her tight nipple. It puckered into a hard nub. He swirled his finger, gathering the dust, and then he twirled it around her nipples. They constricted even more, and he didn’t even have to touch her with his body.

  His fairy dust glided between them, sharing their sensations.

  She dropped her head back. “How are you doing that?”

  “Mastering my dust. It’s like having a third hand.” He churned more dust, letting it grab ahold of both her breasts. He stepped back, watching his dust knead and tug.

  “Let me try.” She mimicked his motions.

  “Oh, dear God,” he said as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.

  “I can almost feel what you’re feeling.”

  “I know,” he ground out. Waving his hand, he shoved all the dust to the side. “But I want these in my mouth.” He cupped her breast, raising her tiny nipple to his mouth. He licked and sucked, savoring the peach taste of her natural beauty.

  Her fingers threaded through his hair, massaging his scalp. He switched to her other nipple, pressing it between his teeth, letting them scrape the sensitive nub.

  The soft moans landing on his ears let him know she enjoyed what he was doing. Instinctually, he understood sex. Understood the demands of his body.

  But he really didn’t understand hers. He knew all the parts, what they did, and that he should do something to them. He even knew that something. However, he didn’t exactly know what she wanted. What her deepest fantasies were. What she desired in a lover.

  What she needed as a woman.

  What she expected from him.

  He dotted tiny kisses down to her belly button. His fingers worked the button on her pants. He slipped the fabric over her hips, gently pushing her back to the bed. “Show me,” he said.

  “Show you what?” She wiggled out of her tiny panties, tossing them to the floor. Her knees dropped open. “Is this want you want to see?”

  He swallowed. He’d never seen anything so beautiful before. He climbed on the bed, rocking back on his heels between her legs. “Use our dust to show me what you like.”

  “That’s kinky,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “If you don’t want to… oh wow.” He watched as the fairy dust gathered between her legs, swirling around her body, showing him how to touch, lick, taste, enter her body in ways that would ensure her perfect pleasure. The room filled with the rich scent of peach cobbler.

  “Enough of that.” She waved her hand and then grabbed his head, pulling him to her. “I think you know what I want.”

  He let out a slight chuckle and ran his finger over her womanhood. He dipped his finger inside her before raising his hand and licking his finger. “Oh, I could get drunk on that.”

  “Then I guess you’re going to get drunk.”

  Pressing his lips against her, he growled. Her heels dug into his back. Arching her back, she tossed her head back and forth, moaning and whispering his name over and over again. The longer he pleased her, the stronger the taste of peaches. His mouth filled with her delightful juices. How he wished he could stay inside this cabin with her forever.

  Her body jerked. She groaned, gripping the sheets. Her hips bucked wildly under his touch.

  He spread his hand over her tight belly as he inserted three fingers. His tongue ran over her hard nub, flicking it back and forth.

  “Yes… yes… yes…” She squeezed around his fingers, holding them tight. Her body trembled. Her stomach quivered. “Dayton.”

  He lifted his head and stared into her loved-filled eyes.

  She clutched her breast, tugging at her nipple. Her hips still rocked slowly. Her breath came in shallow pants.

  He stroked her insides softly, curling his fingers on the inside, sliding them all the way out and massaging her before entering again. He could feel her pulse against his hand.

  “I want you inside me,” she whispered.

  He lifted his body, nestling between her legs, keeping the bulk of his weight on his arms. He stared into her pools of delight. Fairy dust lingered over their bodies, coating them with their pleasure. He lifted his hips and slowly entered her, gritting his teeth. She was so tight and hot, he thought he might explode in less than thirty seconds.

  Her hands gripped his ass, drawing him in deeper.

  He dipped his head, catching a nipple in his mouth. He sucked and twisted it, trying to keep his focus on that part of her body, and not the wet hotness that consumed all of him.

  “Oh, my…Dayton,” she yelled, her body bucking violently beneath him. He could barely keep up the pace she demanded.

  He gripped the pillow. A deep howl that started low in his belly vibrated through his throat and echoed throughout the room. He slammed himself inside her with a quick thrust, holding steady as he spilled out inside her.

  His lungs burned as he gasped for air. He kissed the side of her neck, making his way up to her lips. “You’re amazing and wonderful and beautiful, and I will die trying to make you the happiest woman on earth.”

  “You’re off to a good start.” Her tongue met his in a tangled web of lust and love.

  He rolled to the side, holding her tight against his body. He ran his hands up and down her arm, feeling her soft skin under his fingertips. He never wanted this moment to end.

  But it had to.

  “My sister’s magic is fading,” he said.

  “I know. I can feel it. I also know you added a layer.”

  He cocked his head and arched a brow.

  “I can see it.”

  “Really?” He kissed her nose. “I didn’t want anyone walking in on us, so I thought it best.”

  “You’re smarter than you look,” she patted his chest. “We need to see if the book changed at all and get ahold of Chaz. We have to play this out, so we can get back to doing more of this.” She slid her hand down his stomach, brushing against his half-excited male parts.

  He grabbed her wrist.

  “Keep that up, and we might never leave this cabin.”

  She sighed, kissing his chest. “I’m going to go shower. I don’t need to step outside smelling like sex.”

  “Sure you do. That way everyone knows I’ve marked my territory.”

  “Sweetheart, it’s the other way around,” she said as she shamelessly stood. Her naked body glistened in the light from the fan. “I don’t need any bitches sniffing around my man.” With that, she snagged her clothes and sashayed across the room.

  Something told him that he might be King of the Wolfairies, but he wasn’t going to be king in his own house.

  Not that he minded.

  9

  Cheryl’s body tingled as she remembered every tantalizing touch Dayton had dared to sprinkle her with. The aftermath of his lovemaking still caused tiny tremors even an hour later.

  She raised the coffee mug and blew on the hot, bitter liquid. The book of images lay open on the table. The image of them in bed together now had a signature. The next image had darkened, showing them leaving the protection of the cabin in their wolf form. The following page had yet to evolve, but they both suspected it was the one where he took a couple of bullets.

  She didn’t want that image to be etched in the book.

  “Dayton? Cheryl? Can you
hear me?” Chaz’s voice crackled through Dayton’s barrier.

  “Loud and clear,” Dayton projected as he sauntered into the dining room smelling of fresh, clean soap and mountain air. “Are you ready out there?”

  “We are, but you should know another Royal was murdered. We found him at the southeast corner. His body appears to have been dragged off the property,” Chaz said.

  “Don’t we have security cameras there?” She leaned into Dayton when he looped his arm around her shoulder, kissing her temple.

  “Whoever it was knew the angle of the camera and its capabilities. We have a list of potential suspects. Nico and Isadore are briefing them now on the plan. We’ll see who shows their ugly face.” Chaz had always been one of those guys that feared almost nothing. He ran into the face of danger, not from it. That really hadn’t changed much since he’d mated and had children.

  If anything, it made him stronger and a better leader.

  “I don’t like us walking out there like that. Whoever it is will come at Dayton with a gun. That could do some serious damage.”

  Dayton squeezed her shoulder. “We have to do this, and you know it.”

  “I know.” She nodded.

  “All right then. Let’s get this show on the road.” Shifting in small spaces hadn’t been something Cheryl enjoyed doing. She’d always be the kind of werewolf who enjoyed getting a running start. Of course, that meant she had to strip down and run naked and that wasn’t always appealing. “We’ll be out in ten minutes.”

  “We’ll be ready.”

  She trusted her brothers with her life, and she knew they would do whatever it took to make sure the traitor was flushed out, giving way for the Winter Wedding ritual, sealing the fate of the Wolfairies and giving them the ability to shift and use magic outside the property line.

  “No heroics.” Dayton took her by the shoulders and stared hard into her eyes. Sparks of protective fairy dust popped from his lashes. “We stick to the plan.”

  “Until the plan doesn’t work, then we rogue.” She winked, though she wasn’t kidding. No plan ever worked out exactly as anticipated, and she’d already worst-cased it with her brothers and Isadore.