Everything is as it should be at last.
We step out of the shower cabin and I pat her dry with a towel. She borrows my t-shirt and shorts as I slide into my jeans and cut.
“Ready?” I ask.
“No,” she shrieks.
I grab her hand and pull her to the bar. As we enter it, all the family clap and cheer. Kadmiel abducts Talia into his embrace and kisses the top of her head.
Well, it’s not bad. It looks like he can digest it. He frees Talia and steps towards me. A wide grin crosses his face, a grin I know so well. We’ve been in a battle so many times, side by side. Kadmiel always has this grin on his face when he’s going to chop a head off.
I steel myself as he sweeps his arm and punches me in the face. Blood spurts from my nose.
“Kadmiel, I love her,” I say.
The following thrust almost breaks my jaw and I fall down.
“You’d better do,” Kadmiel growls.
Talia
I watch the bruise forming on my husband’s cheek as my dad sweeps his arm and crushes his lower lip. Micah falls on the floor and lies flat as a swear word rolls off his tongue.
“That will do,” Dad says.
“Really?” I stand opposite him.
“What did you expect me to do, huh?” Dad growls.
“I love him,” I say. “He loves me. I expected you to be happy for us.”
Dad grunts. “I am happy.”
Mom flashes him a glance of pity and puts her hands on her hips. “We have four daughters, Kadmiel.”
“So what?” Dad growls as my mom shakes her head.
“They will fall in love and slip out of your dictatorship.” Mom tilts her head, a half-smile playing on her lips.
Dad waves his finger. “We’ll talk later, woman.”
Which means he will fuck that disobedience of hers out of her later.
I roll my eyes, as do my sisters. Yes, living in one house with my parents is sometimes really awkward.
I lean over Micah and help him stand up. Blood marks his face in thin streaks. I stroke his arm then glare at my dad.
“You owe them all,” I say. “You know that, don’t you? You owe them all even if it’s your own daughter to be used as the repayment. They gave up their wings so you could have your wife and your precious little daughters.”
Dad nods. “I know.”
“Let’s celebrate,” Adva says as her lips form a thin line.
We spread around the table as my mom offers Micah a dampened cloth so he can wipe the blood away from his face. The two elves stare at me from across the table with their cold eyes like I’m a piece of art on the exhibition. My eyes fix on Ettrian’s. Suddenly, curiosity floods me and I feel my inner angel like never before. Right. Ghosts are not tormenting me now. I’m free. I’m strong. I’m so fucking eager to taste my own abilities I’ve always had but never had a chance to explore them.
I focus and invade Ettrian’s mind. Images flood me then a gust of energy hits me— earth after rain mingling with pure neutrality and the elf kicks me out of his mind.
All the eyes are locked on me.
“That’s very rude, Talia,” Micah says, but he grins like he’s having fun at my expense.
“She’s very unique,” S’Ylla says. “And nosy. Nosy like a mermaid.”
“Sorry,” I say, the fire of embarrassment blazing in my chest. “I couldn’t stop myself.”
“She’s very rude,” Ettrian says and shoots me a warning glance that makes me shrink into myself.
“Let’s eat,” Adva says.
Images float through my head and I feel dizzy then hot. I can see Theo die at Micah’s hand, his funeral, and my family fall asleep one by one. Then I see archangels ruling the Earth like they’re kings and demons are at their service.
A tiny hand grips my elbow.
“You need fresh air,” Adva says into my ear.
She helps me stand up as white sparks dance inside my head.
“Your first grandchild, Kadmiel,” Adva says. “Can you sense it?”
“Fucking hell,” Dad growls. “You’re right.” He shakes his head. “I’m not that old to be a granddad.”
“You are,” Sabrael says. “But lucky you. There’s a young wife in your bed.”
A wave of laughter wafts through the air.
Adva pulls me behind her as my family’s excited voices fade. The cold air invades my lungs and my head clears.
“Grandma, something bad happened to our family. To everybody. I saw—“
“We were together there in the future,” Adva says in a cold voice, shoving me onto the bench.
“Yes, you and me after we’d fallen asleep.”
“Nobody else remembers. Only you and me. Maybe Micah. The elves fixed that mess.”
“How do you know?”
She takes a sharp breath. “I just know.”
“We have to tell my dad.”
“We shouldn’t mess with the timeline more. Be quiet.”
“But—“
“No buts.” It’s Ettrian’s voice.
I see his tall frame then my glance meets his.
“I don’t understand,” I say.
“Enjoy your baby and your husband,” Ettrian says, “and leave this with me. Something is coming.” He nods. “I can sense it, but we can’t alter the timeline more. We have to be careful, so keep it for yourself until I figure out what’s going on.”
Adva strokes my head. “I’m so happy for you.”
Another figure emerges from the clubhouse and moves towards us. I recognise Micah. He picks up the pace and kneels in front of me.
“Can you sense it?” Micah asks, sheer joy coating his voice.
“I don’t know,” I shriek.
I can’t focus. Emotions flash through me—fear, sadness, relief.
“I can sense it,” Adva says. “You’ll have a boy.”
I know I was pregnant with Theo in my other past, but it feels like someone else’s memory not mine. Like it’s my friend’s pain of loss not mine.
I’m pregnant with Micah and that feels right.
“Let’s put you to bed,” Micah says, leaning over me.
He scoops me up and carries me to our home. His joy pricks my skin like electricity.
I will be quiet as Ettrian has advised me. I don’t want to spoil Micah’s happiness. The guardian inside me also tells me to be careful. The timeline is very fragile. If we alter it too much, the consequences could be disastrous.
A sense of guilt jabs me like a thorn. He’s my husband. We should be honest to each other. We should trust each other. We should be able to talk about everything.
Micah
I enter our bedroom and lay her on the mattress.
“How are you feeling, baby girl?”
“I’m fine.”
“And the baby?”
“Micah,” she says, waving her hand. “It’s too early.” She levers herself up on her elbow. “It’s just its energy, nothing more.”
Right. It’s too early.
“I need to talk to you,” she says, her voice coated with an eerie seriousness.
I perch on the bed. “What is it, Talia?”
She sits on the bed, cross-legged. “How much do you remember? I mean when we all fell asleep?”
My heart stops beating then starts racing. She knows. Maybe she wants a divorce or maybe she wants to smash my face?
“That elven dick knows everything,” she says. “His sister probably too. You?”
“I met them in the past.”
“Wow.”
“You?”
“I was in the Middle Ages and—“
“You’re lying to me.”
She huffs out. “Right. You know me better than I do.” She leans slightly forward. “Adva and I were in the future. It was horrible, Micah. The archangels ruled the world. With the demons as their soldiers.”
“Adva remembers?”
“Yes.”
“We have to keep quiet, Tali
a.”
“I know. Sometimes one heedless word can alter the timeline.” She clings to me. “Tell me the elves will know what to do.”
“They’re wise, Talia. They’ll know what to do.”
Chapter 14
Talia
I saunter towards my husband. He’s sitting on the bench beside Theo and they’re watching our little boys playing in the sandpit.
“Supper is ready,” I say.
Micah rises to his feet and grabs our son, Declan, throwing him over his shoulder.
“Are you going to eat with us tonight?” I turn my face to Theo.
Theo shakes his head. “Rive has invited Rebel and me over for supper tonight.”
Micah slaps Theo on the back. “Come to ours tomorrow then.”
“Thanks, bro,” Theo says and grabs his boy.
A delicate pain envelops my heart. Theo’s eyes radiate pure love for Rebel. His son is everything to him.
Rebel wasn’t everything to S’Ylla though. And neither was Theo to her.
My dad said he’d kill her if she as much as steps into the compound. She must have sensed it because nobody has seen her for months.
I loop my arm through Micah’s and we go to our kitchen. My husband washes Declan’s hands under the tap and puts him into the travelling cot as I start piling plates with the food.
Declan cries and moans so Micah feeds him and bathes him.
As my son drops off to sleep in his bedroom, we tidy up the kitchen and Micah drops into the chair at the table, pulling me onto his lap.
“I’m worried about Theo,” I say.
“The guy has no luck with women,” Micah says.
“And he’s the gentlest of you all. That’s a shame.”
Micah’s jaw muscles twitch.
I kiss his unshaven cheek. “Don’t be jealous.”
“I am jealous. Is it something bad that I want you only for myself?”
I purr. “And I want you only for myself.” I kiss his lips. “I hate it when you go to the casino with Ettrian.”
“We have to earn money. And the guy is even better than me.”
“There are women in the casino. Beautiful women. Human women.”
Micah wraps his arms around me and nibbles on my earlobe. “You’re the most beautiful woman on the face of the earth.”
“I’m not, but thank you anyway. Kai is the most beautiful girl of us all.”
“Kai is a little rodent.”
I laugh. “Murray?”
“A flea?”
“Yara?”
“I don’t know.” He rearranges my body so I straddle his lap. “A talkative parrot?”
“Just don’t you dare to tell her this. Ever.”
He palms my breasts and his eyes burn with lust. “I want to have you bent over the table.”
“Oh really? And what are you going to do with me?”
His lips move down the side of my neck as he squeezes my breasts roughly. “I’m gonna fuck you in the ass. Interested?”
I cup his face in both my hands as my pussy pulses. “You’ve never wanted it like this.”
“You were kind of pregnant, remember?”
I snort. “I was very pregnant. Not kind of pregnant.”
He slides his fingers under the straps of my vest and lowers them, exposing my breasts. “I want it dirty.”
There’s been more demons around the compound recently—five within the last three months. Micah is not commenting on this threat, but I know deep down he is worried about Declan’s and my safety. The Hungry Dogs MC are trying to take over our area and flood the market with their warlock moonshine. We clash with them regularly.
I know Micah wants to shake it off.
He always shakes off tension by fucking me.
He spreads my breasts and kisses a wet path between them then draws one fully into his mouth, biting my nipple lightly.
I grab his shaved head and moan. My arousal wets my panties.
Micah grasps my waist and lifts me, laying me on the table so my back rests against the top. He removes my shorts and panties, and he folds my legs. My body shivers in anticipation.
His mouth touches my inner thigh as his hand cups my mound. He growls with excitement.
“So fucking wet,” he rasps.
His mouth moves up to my pussy, and he runs his tongue along my slit. Heat surges through me and tension starts building in my tummy.
He kisses my pussy, licks me then sucks my clitoris gently, pushing a finger into me. I grab his head and urge him to give me more. To give me harder and faster.
He pumps his finger in and out, his tongue lapping over my clitoris. I ascend. I shatter. I scream with pleasure.
Micah grips my waist and rolls me so my chest rests against the table and my feet touch the floor. He drives his cock into my pussy, filling me, stretching me.
My mind is still whirling as he inserts his finger into my mouth and I taste my own arousal. I suck his finger like I would suck his dick as he thrusts into me slowly.
His low growls travel in the air. The smell of our desire hangs heavy around us.
Micah pulls his finger out and circles my tight hole with in. I suck in a breath as he pushes in.
It feels different—decadent, erotic. Foreign.
He slides his finger deeper, causing me a stinging pain. But his cock moving in my pussy gives me pleasure. These sensations blend, creating an intoxicating jolt.
Micah pushes two digits into my tight opening and I let out a hiss of pain, easing my weight onto my elbows. He leans over me and his lips capture mine. I kiss my juices from his mouth, a bit salty in taste.
His fingers slide in and out of my tight hole, stretching me, and the stinging fades. He pulls his cock out of my pussy, and I feel the head pushing at my other opening, replacing his digits.
Micah braces me with his arm and enters me gently. The head of his cock goes past my sphincter and he stops moving. I stiffen in his embrace as my breath stops in my throat and sweat beads my forehead. Pain claws at me.
“So fucking good with you,” Micah rasps into my ear, his breath heavy, scorching.
I start panting. “You’re too big.”
It burns and stings. My throat pulses. My insides twist.
“Breathe, baby.” Micah kisses my gasps.
He lowers and causes my chest to press against the table. His hips move against my ass and he goes deeper. I wiggle, but his body immobilises mine.
I feel his thumb massaging my clit. Flutters of pleasure radiate from my pussy. The pain recedes. I feel stretched, full. Delirious.
“I want you to cum on my cock,” Micah demands.
He starts thrusting into me, his thumb rubbing against my clit.
I melt.
I sizzle.
I rise towards the ultimate white unity with the universe.
Micah fucks me harder and I hear him moan. His balls slap against my ass with each punishing thrust. Our bodies sway, clenched together, and I cum with a scream. My body trembles violently as my husband moans his satisfaction.
“Love you,” Micah says.
“Love you more.”
He pulls out of me and I feel his come trickling down my inner thigh.
“It’s fucking messy,” I say.
“You like it.” His voice is coated with contentment.
“You like it too.”
“Love it. Love everything about you.”
“If you love me so much, take me out on a date or something.”
“You want to go clubbing and get drunk?”
“With my lovely husband. We got a deal?”
“We got a deal.”
We go to the bedroom, wash, and drift off to sleep.
The next morning, I visit my favourite graveyard and work with three ghosts. I’m very strict about that number—three ghosts a week. My first case is a nineteen-year-old who died in a car crash. The images of her tragedy seep into my mind, but she has no awareness of her death. I block my emotions to hav
e a cool head as S’Ylla taught me and I turn into a grey mist.
The ghost looks like a normal girl to me now.
I hold her hand in mine. “Hey.”
She shudders as her wide blue eyes fix on mine. “I’m lost in the fog.”
“I know. You had an accident, sweetie.”
“An accident?”
“You died.”
She sucks in a breath.
I stroke her arm. “You don’t breathe, sweetie.” I hug her. “It’s cool to be a ghost, believe me. I know something about it.”
We stand opposite each other and I see dread then surprise on her face.
“You can stay or go farther,” I say.
“My grandma…”
“Yes.” I nod.
I see her deceased grandma so I shove her forward. A sense of relief wafts through me, and I disconnect from her. I’d cry if I stayed with her.
A whisper bangs against my brain.
The wolves’ bitch.
The wolves’ bitch.
They’re coming. They’re howling.
“Shut up,” I growl.
The ghosts have been whispering this message for a few months. Well, we’ll see sooner or later.
Kai
Beauty and the (Elf)Beast Retold
Shadow Immortals MC Book 2.5
Chapter 15
Kai
He scares the shit out of me each time I see him. My sisters and I keep our distance in case he wanted to cast a spell on us with his elven magic or something. Thank God, he is away most of the time, busy doing club business.
My uncles like him. My dad likes him very much. He made him the club’s enforcer, after all.
Yet, Ettrian hates my sisters and me like we’ve killed his relative.
He never speaks to me. He will just shoot me his icy cold glance and pass me as though I’m a piece of furniture.
We’re celebrating my eighteenth birthday tonight. Garlands and balloons adorn the bar and candles give the interior a misty yellow aura. The musky scent of wax mingles with the smell of cooked veggies. Bottles clink, cans click, the men’s raspy voices mix with the women’s laughter. Joy simmers in the air, orange like a candy, almost tangible.
The whole family sings for me then I blow out the candles on my birthday cake and all the people clap their hands. My sisters hug me and kiss me on the cheek. Dad crushes me in his embrace, as do my uncles. My mom sniffles and wipes the tears trickling down her cheeks away with her fingers. She’s always so emotional when we celebrate birthdays. Always so loving and warm.
Talia: Sleeping Beauty Retold (Shadow Immortals MC Book 2) Page 7
