by Lexi Blake
Dev’s eyes flared and I sat straight up, all the languor of my previous orgasm fleeing in an instant because this hadn’t happened.
Oh, it had happened the other way. Daniel had taken Dev, but somehow they hadn’t gotten around to Dev taking Danny. There had been something deep between them, some place they’d decided not to go to, likely Daniel’s sexuality. Unlike Dev, Daniel hadn’t grown up in a place where all forms of sexuality were encouraged. He’d grown up human, and honestly, while I love my dad, he wasn’t the most free-thinking man.
But Dev and Danny had seemed happy with their roles, so I didn’t push.
“What are you saying, Daniel?” All that was left on Dev’s face was pure longing.
“I’m saying that the last few days have shown me what I should have known before. That you will love me no matter what. That the two of you see me better than I see myself, and I want to be the man I am in your eyes.” Daniel kept a hand on Dev and reached out to me. “If I get one thing out of this clusterfuck, it’s that I don’t need superpowers to be a good man. I need to love and respect my partners. I need to be okay with the things I want from them and know that they will always give them to me. Devinshea, I want you inside me. You’re already there. You’re already in every part of me.”
Dev’s face lit with what looked like pure joy. “There is nothing I want more, my king.”
“He’s excellent at it, Danny,” I promised him. “He has fucked my ass many times, and I’m always good in the morning.”
Danny wrinkled his nose. “You’re on vampire blood. You heal like lightning.” He shook his head. “Come here. I’ll love all of it. Let me have you both tonight. It’s how I always want to be.”
In the middle. Danny had never once been in the middle. All this time and he was finally going to feel what it meant to be center, to be surrounded and loved.
I let Daniel settle me on the bed, let his hands run all over my body as though he needed to explore though he’d touched me a thousand times before. He spread my legs and got to his knees, tasting me with all the passion Dev had shown him. He licked and sucked me until I came all over again.
Then he joined me, sex magic flying all around us. I call it sex magic, but it was really love. It hadn’t been sex that had made Summer that night so many years ago. It hadn’t been this physical act alone. It had been what it represented, and that was what Dev’s magic was all about. Love. Sharing. Communion.
“I love you, Z.” His gorgeous face loomed over me, that slightly too long sandy blond hair brushing over his forehead. He was forty years old, but he still looked like the twenty-one-year-old he’d been—in the flush of his masculine beauty.
“I love you, Danny.” I’d always loved him. Since I could remember feeling for a male beyond my father, it had been him and then Devinshea, the surprise cherry on top, that special something that made everything perfect.
Daniel kissed me as he brought our bodies together.
“Hold still.” Dev moved in behind Danny. “I promise this won’t hurt. Tell him, Z.”
“When he gets that magic going, nothing hurts. It all just feels right,” I told my vampire. He was still my vampire no matter what his body said. My vampire was still inside there, still waiting to roar back to life.
I could feel Dev moving, knew what this would be like for Danny since Dev had been my first, too. There would be pressure and then a crazy sense of being filled in a way he never had before. That first slide out was one of the most amazing feelings in the world. It would be an experience my vampire would never forget, and I was so happy to be here with them for this first time.
The magic rolled over me as Dev unleashed another wave and my need deepened. I needed to move. I needed Danny’s cock thrusting in and out of me, but Dev was driving this particular ship. It was how we could all truly be involved.
“Dev, please. I’m dying here.” I knew my faery prince liked it when I begged.
“Wait for it.” Dev’s words came out on a silky breath.
And then Danny pressed against me, his face lighting with something like wonder.
Like I said, that magic of Dev’s elevated everything. I’m sure there are human females out there who will give me horror stories, but having Dev or Danny fuck my ass while we’re riding that magic was nothing but pure pleasure.
“Oh, god,” Danny groaned. “It’s not like anything I’ve felt before. It’s so good. Being with both of you…it’s so good.”
“Now you know why I like to be in the middle,” Dev said with a hiss. His big hands were on Danny’s hips, holding him steady. “And I know what it’s like to be in control. I won’t let you down.”
He never would. He pulled back and thrust in, sending Danny into me.
We rode the magical tide, letting it take us higher and higher until I couldn’t hold out a second more.
I held on as the orgasm hit me and the magic made it exponentially more. It was a glorious bomb detonating inside me, but rather than destroying, this bomb healed and cleansed and brought us together. Danny shouted and then Dev was going over the edge with us. We all held each other, ending up in a tangle of bodies.
I was in between them, wrapped in their arms as the magic ebbed to a low, soothing hum.
They were kissing me, their hands caressing my skin, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before we went for round two.
And I knew that something had finally settled between my guys. Something beautiful and intimate. Something that had been a long time coming.
We would get through this. And we would win whatever war Myrddin wanted to start.
“What the hell was that?” Dellacourt. It sounded like Dellacourt was standing right outside the tent. “And what’s up with all the pixies?”
Dev’s lips curled. “I might have lost control there at the end. You know the pixies love a good fertility ritual.”
Danny kissed my forehead. “At least Arwyna will have someone to talk to.”
Arwyna would figure out what was going on. The pixies always knew.
“Come, husband,” Kaja said. “Come into the woods with me. Remind me what a beast you can be.”
As Danny got serious about going again, I could have sworn I heard a wolf howl.
Chapter Thirty
Summer
I woke to Marcus’s kisses and the sound of grumbling outside the walls of our tent.
“Well, I don’t care what the manufacturer said,” a masculine voice was saying. “Whatever the freaky trio did last night definitely got through the wards.”
Marcus chuckled and I felt his lips on the back of my neck. “Your parents had a good time last night.”
Didn’t I know it. Whoever was talking was totally right. I’d felt my Fae father’s magic spark to life as Marcus and I had headed for our tent. We’d spent hours by the stream. We hadn’t even talked. He’d simply sat with me. I’d been reflecting on everything that had happened, everything I’d learned. I’d been sulking.
And then I’d been in his arms. Marcus had hauled me up even as we’d seen Taggart doing the same to his wife. They’d disappeared into their tent. Kelsey had been informing Dean that he’d better strengthen the wards in their tent or things were going to get weird.
The good news was Dean was excellent with preventative magics. When I’d asked Marcus if Dean should do the same for us, he’d growled my way and I’d found myself on my back with his mouth on mine before I could take another breath.
And then I hadn’t wanted to do anything but be with him. All my doubt and fear had flown away and I’d let go of any thought but the pleasure he could give me. We’d ridden that wild magic all night, only falling into an exhausted, satisfied sleep sometime before dawn.
“Great, yeah, you had an awesome time,” the voice complained. “You and Charlotte will likely have a couple of kids by this time next year. So will Dante and Kaja, though I worry about them because they stayed out in the woods, and I’m pretty sure she was the one making the wolf howl sounds. An
d Kelsey and the kid apparently had way better wards than me. I had myself and my hand and no lube, Tag. No freaking lube at all. And what the hell happened out here? I don’t think all these plants were here last night. And where did all the freaking pixies come from?”
Marcus turned me over and I stared up at those night-dark eyes I’d come to adore. “Mr. Miles has taken exception to the fertility magic. He was left to patrol, and apparently it didn’t go well.”
I laughed, a thing I hadn’t thought I would do for a long time. “Well, that magic was far stronger than the wards.”
He gently eased himself between my legs, spreading them and letting me feel his cock against my core. “The wards worked. That was minor magic compared to what your father can do. I’ve felt it full on, and what hit us last night was nothing.”
That was news to me. It had felt pretty strong. It had filled me with lust and sweet need. I wasn’t the only one. “Oh? Then why were you so insatiable?”
“That, my dear, was your magic.” He lowered his head and kissed me before I could protest that I didn’t have any magic. “That was the magic that comes with being with the right person, the one you’ve waited for all of your long life. I will never get enough of you.”
He kissed me again and it didn’t matter that the air wasn’t thick with sex magic. He was right. We could make our own magic in this way. I wrapped my arms around his chest as he thrust inside me.
This was where I wanted to be every minute of the day. He’d invaded my soul, and I couldn’t imagine a single day without this man.
“I want to wake every day to this,” he said as he filled me. He lowered his forehead to mine and held himself there as though he wanted a moment to revel in the feeling.
Warmth. Fullness. Desire. Love. That was what I felt as he started to thrust in and out. He lifted his head and stared down at me as though he wanted every connection we could have—body, mind, soul.
He ground his pelvis against mine, stroking my clitoris as he found my sweet spot. It made me cry out, and I didn’t care if anyone heard. I wrapped my legs around him tighter and let my nails find the flesh of his back. I could be as savage as I felt. It only made Marcus hotter.
It only made him fuck me harder, and I couldn’t think of anything better than that.
He buried his face in my neck, never letting up on the hard thrust of his cock inside me. Then his fangs pierced and I swear I saw stars. The pleasure throbbed inside me, overtaking my vision and leaving me with nothing but the feel of him to hold on to.
He released my vein and then he was the one holding on to me as his body shook with pleasure.
He rolled off me and maneuvered until I was curled against him, my head on his chest. “I think I could stay here forever.”
I knew I could, but he’d had very different life experiences. “I doubt that. You’ve traveled all over your world.”
He sighed, a sound of pure contentment. “Yes, and that’s how I know that home isn’t a place. It’s a feeling. It’s belonging, and that can’t come from a place, though we can associate a place with the feeling. I love my home, but what I love about it is the memories I made while I was there, the love and friendship I was given while I lived in that space. And none of it compares to how I feel about you. I know you don’t want to hear it now…”
I’d tossed aside any silly idea that I couldn’t love this male during the long hours we’d spent together. I sat up, not bothering to cover my breasts. “Stop.”
He was so lovely lying there with his muscular chest on display. I loved how soft his skin was against mine. I adored the contrast of his dark hair to the snowy white sheets. I hated the hollow look in his eyes. “I won’t say anything.”
The problem was I wasn’t saying enough. Not nearly enough. “I love you, Marcus.”
He was quiet for a moment, but it was a comfortable thing, as though I could see the words settling into his soul. “I love you, too, bella. I never have and never will love anyone the way I do you. You are the love of my very long life. So stop worrying that you’ll be the death of me. I will accept any fate we meet so long as we meet it together.”
I felt a tear slip to my cheek. He knew the worries and fears that crept into my every moment of happiness. “Charlotte Taggart has it wrong, you know. I’m not some fated goddess.”
“The planes need a power source to take over for the Day Queen. Have you considered that your name reminds one of sunshine?”
I stared down at him. “I want to be normal.”
“There’s no such thing,” Marcus said. “You are so young, my darling. What you realize when you live as long as I have is to appreciate the uniqueness in every single creature and to understand that things that bind us—this sameness you speak of—is found in our souls.”
“Who says I have a soul?” It was something I’d long worried about.
He sat up. “That is your father talking.” Marcus frowned suddenly. “Summer, have we considered that despite the fact that you look exactly like your mother, you are in truth much more your father’s child. You were born of Daniel. It was his will that created you.”
“Yes. I was born outside of natural creation, and that’s why I wonder if I have a soul.”
He seemed to think for a moment. “You were created directly from a man who wondered the same thing. Summer, what if your binding magic works on Daniel because you share a soul with him? Because he gave you a piece of his and that makes him so similar to you that when he got to the same plane, the magic bound his as well?”
“Are you saying I’m the reason my dad doesn’t have his powers?” I touched the charm at my throat. It was still solidly there, giving me comfort. “I don’t think it works that way. Dad is a vampire. It’s who he is. It’s not magic, per se.”
“I assure you it feels like magic at times.” Marcus stood, giving me a spectacular view of his backside. He reached for one of the clothes cubes we’d been given. “And I’ve begun to wonder about the binding spell itself. If Charlotte is right, your magic can’t be bound by anyone but you. What if Erna tricked you into binding your own power? You said there were rituals for you to perform.”
I’d meditated for many long hours, ruminating on what I wanted to happen.
What if Marcus was right and the only thing holding me back was me?
The idea made me sick. Like physically ill.
“Hey, love birds,” a deep voice said. “We need to move. I’ve got intel that the same witches who invaded my office just came through the gate. We’re moving out in ten minutes.”
Marcus passed me a cube and I was dressed in an instant. There were many bad things about the Vampire plane, but their tech often came in handy. It meant Marcus and I were ready quickly.
He took my hand and we walked outside.
To a different forest than we’d been in the night before. Or rather more of it. It had been green and alive yesterday, but this was…more. It was like every plant had grown and was more vibrant than it had been mere hours ago.
And everywhere I looked there were pixies. Tears sparked in my eyes because it had been so long since I’d seen a kaleidoscope. The gorgeous jewel-colored pixies sparkled in the morning light. They’d been my constant companions when I’d lived by the sea.
“This is what your Fae father can do,” Marcus whispered. “I’ve always been fascinated with this magic. It feels like…life.”
It was life. I breathed in the morning air as I saw Dean and Kelsey emerge. Kaja was in her wolf form, standing by her husband as he gathered their things. Charlotte Taggart practically glowed as she studied the pixie she held in her hand. Her strawberry blonde hair framed a gorgeous face.
“Baby, I know you’re fascinated, but we have to move,” Taggart said.
Charlotte didn’t look up. “It will be well over an hour before they get here, if they even take the same path. And their vehicles aren’t as fast as our bikes.”
“I assure you they’ve got locator spells going,” Taggart
replied. “And we’re on foot. We have to hope the kid can throw them off.”
“I can cloak us for a while.” Dean had his backpack on and seemed ready to go. “But if they’re smart, they’ll use a spell that will variate, and it will get through eventually.”
“But maybe we’ll be on the other side of the gate by then.” Miles had his sonic rifle slung over one shoulder.
Charlotte finally looked up from studying the amethyst-colored pixie. “Summer, it’s so important that we can use the bikes, don’t you think? If we can then the likelihood of our getting out of this safe and sound goes way up. I hope we can outrun them. The witches would be cruel to your vampire.”
I wasn’t sure what she thought I could do, but I agreed with her. I couldn’t stand the thought of Marcus being hurt. “Is there any way they can be recharged? Perhaps Dean could think of a spell.”
“Ian, you should check the bikes again.” Charlotte frowned down at the pixie in her hand. “I wonder why they’re not acknowledging you. They practically attacked the priest and your mother when they came out for coffee this morning. Affectionately, of course. But they wouldn’t touch your human father. They gave him a wide berth. Like they’re staying away from you.”
They used to cling to me. I couldn’t walk through our village without a pixie escort. But they knew what I’d done to their kin.
“Yes, I find it interesting.” Marcus sounded thoughtful. “They avoid Daniel and me at home because we’re predators. They love humans, though. They’re fascinated by them. So why would they avoid Daniel now?”
Taggart walked back into view, his jaw slack. “The bikes recharged. We can use them. They’re as good as new.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
“No,” Taggart corrected. “That’s a miracle because the systems were fried. It shouldn’t have been able to recharge. You understand how unlikely it is that all four bikes would go out in the exact same way, and then all four bikes would be perfectly fine the next day. My wife is right. You’re the Day Queen. We need to find a way to get you to the Summerlands.”
