“Montague…,” I groaned.
“I don’t mind just watching,” he said. “For now.”
“He’s already fed,” Harris said.
“That doesn’t count!” Montague hissed. “You had burgers earlier.”
“I don’t think she’s going to have anything left to give,” Harris said. “It’s going to take me forever with you watching like that.”
“You’d better get used to it,” Montague said. “I like to watch.”
Well, that was obviously a bunch of lies because Harris growled and flushed and pumped hot seed into me about two seconds after Montague’s slightly threatening declaration was delivered in a soft, sexy voice, his eyelids heavy, savoring the sight of me.
They were drawing closer, all of them, a protective shield that surrounded me with their affection. As I lay there in the aftermath of Harris’ release, I was still tingling with yearning, although my body was so tired I could have drifted back into dreams. Montague reached for me, his fingers impatient as his hands slid under my armpits and caressed down to my nipples. I was a little ticklish there and giggled.
“Shh.” His grin flashed fangs at me before his lips met mine, their softness not concealing their need. I was hungry too. I needed someone to satisfy me. When he drew back, his lips gleamed in the shadows with my own kisses.
“Kind of a sloppy kisser tonight, aren’t you?” He laughed. “That just means you can’t help yourself. Can’t hold back. I bet you feel empty inside with the memory of Harris… Shall I take care of you now?”
Montague was so handsome, the way his dark hair fell across his brow, artfully disheveled, his masculine jaw with a little shadow at the moment. He could have been an actor, I thought. Casting directors seemed to love a good stubble. Anyway, he made for a perfect vampire. No wonder a vampire clan targeted him. I mean, the cheekbones alone, and the fact that he seemed perfectly young but also maybe a little older than his years.
“Let me look at you when we’re together,” I said, trailing my fingers down his cheek.
“Whatever you wish. How about this…” He took my legs in his hands and edged closer to me, settling my legs onto his shoulders. This brought us together almost naturally, spreading me out as his thighs wrapped around my hips, and my hands moved around his neck for support. My leg muscles were stretched satisfyingly, giving me some bonus endorphins.
“The best thing about her is she’s so flexible,” Harris said.
“Oh, that’s the best thing about me?”
“Probably,” he said, with a languid disdain that was definitely on purpose just to get a rise out of me.
“Shut up,” Montague said. “And watch how it’s done.”
“Not sure I’m happy just to watch.” Harris slid in behind me and took my breasts in his hands, supporting my back so that now I was between them, my back resting against Harris while Montague spread his hands on my hips and started fucking me. His motions were tight but fast. The friction and speed were amazing on my already sensitive inner need and I could relax into their touch, the support of their bodies around me. I had all of Montague’s beauty to admire, the strength and grace of his neck, a line that moved to the taut muscles of shoulders and arms as he held me, urging my hips in and out as his cock stroked me, teasing my G-spot slowly but surely until…
I was gone. The orgasm was like a storm rolling in, slow and intense, rippling through my entire body. I felt how heavy I was in their arms. Montague held my legs up so they didn’t slide off his shoulders. His seed spilled into me. I never knew it would turn me on to feel so wet with two different men’s seed inside me at once, but it turned me on to think of them sharing that space inside me. I bit back my cries, hurting my lip.
“I’m dead,” I said, shutting my eyes. “I need to pee. But I’m dead.”
Montague scooped me up in his arms before I could even think twice, whisked me out of bed and plunked me down on the toilet. “Pee,” he said.
I stared at him. “Are you going to watch that too?”
“Well, I’m waiting to bring you back to bed.”
Heat rose to my cheeks. “Damnit.”
“What, you ready for more already? I bet Harris is. We could do this all night.”
I felt so swollen with lingering arousal that I could hardly even pee, although the gorgeous naked man looking at me like he had all day probably didn’t help. “Better…save some for later before you kill me.”
“I thought you were already dead.”
Chapter Six
Firian
Honestly, I don’t know what was more difficult to get used to, losing my ability to turn into a fox, losing my ability to conjure things with magic, or losing my ability to vanish into Etherium any old time. I had the horrifying realization that when normal people were having a boring or awkward time, they were just stuck there.
“You’ll get used to it,” Adia told me, unprompted, while I was finishing off a bowl of guacamole in the kitchen as the rest of the family was swapping memories.
“Will I?” I knew just what she meant.
“Mostly…”
“I’m not quite sure I believe you. Did Sally ever get over losing her magic?”
She sighed. “Well, I think they did their best to distract her.” She wiggled her fingers at the maturely handsome, wolfish men who rarely left the older witch’s side. “She saved their lives and they adore her, and they gave her a very exciting life jaunting around the world.”
“Well.” I raised my eyebrows. “I don’t think our rock band is going to be invited anywhere. And what about you? Did you and Richard have any kids?”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t think we could. We tried.”
A twinge of pain went through me. “So I’ve heard.”
“We have a little cottage in the countryside. It’s very sweet. We’ve done a few different business endeavors. I can’t say it hasn’t been enjoyable. We’ve been very happy together and I prefer the peace and quiet. The people in town are so kind. I mean…every life is complicated.”
“I just wonder if the ache ever goes away.”
She shook her head. “No. You learn to live with it, though. You really do. But it’s a part of us, a big part to give up, no denying that. But I’m supporting Sally. That’s all that really matters, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” I agreed with that.
I guess the conflict came from the feeling that maybe Charlotte needed something more. Or was I just jealous? She gave up her magic to keep Harris alive.
Of course, I would never forget Harris going out in the rain to try and help her. I knew he actually cared, so I couldn’t get too upset at his prickly moods. I guess I would have saved him too. Ugh.
It just felt so…wrong. This. Trying to be normal.
Charlotte deserved an interesting life. A good life, too. But not just…a boring one. She wasn’t that kind of girl. And I wasn’t that kind of familiar, for that matter.
The vacation was over soon enough, and her parents started contacting realtors to move to Atlanta, and packing up their stuff, like they couldn’t stand one more minute in this place. Her extended family didn’t go back to Australia yet either; they rented a house, “just to stay nearby for a bit.”
Charlotte seemed stressed. She didn’t know where she fit in now, whereas when we were at Merlin College and studying magic, she seemed to be coming into her own day by day. Now she was spending too much time staring at a computer screen, trying to run away from her bad dreams, worrying that Daisy hadn’t called, fretting over her future.
“Where’s Charlotte?” her dad asked.
I was stealing oatmeal from her dad’s pantry because I had these guys living with me and they ate a lot. “She’s back at the cabin.”
“Playing her game again?”
“Yeah.”
“Is she okay?”
“Probably not.”
“She doesn’t like change,” her dad said.
“I think she does really well with
the right kind of change. I know she’s really happy to have family. But, she was a really special witch. And that was all hers.”
He leaned against the door. “Are you just making off with my entire container of steel cut oats?”
“Evan, let’s be real here. You never eat these. Your doctor told you to buy them.”
“You know too much about me.” He narrowed his eyes. Then he leaned in, slightly conspiratorial. “Do you know what was in that letter?”
“What letter?”
“Oh—“ He scratched his hair. “Shit. I was sure she’d tell you everything.”
“Too late now. What letter?”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I put down the oatmeal and bolted for the stairs. I immediately started opening her drawers.
“Firian!” her dad snapped. “That is unacceptable!”
“I am the one person who always does everything in her best interest,” I said. “I am not always sure she does, but I do.” Charlotte was not a super subtle person, so I found a letter in the very first drawer, under a layer of notebooks and some books on necromancy.
Charlotte,
One more test for you. One chance to redeem yourself. When you have licked your wounds, come to the Wyrd tree and speak my name…
Queen Morgana, Seventh of the House of Coral, Her Royal Majesty the Queen of all Faeries.
“So you didn’t read this,” I said.
“Definitely not,” he said. “It was in the mailbox, but without a postmark or anything. Sealed.” He paused. “What does it say? I mean—no—don’t read it.” He tried to grab it from me.
“It’s short,” I said. “I already read it. It’s from the faery queen.”
“Ha ha,” her dad said. “Seriously.”
“That wasn’t a joke.”
“There’s a faery queen? A faery? Like a Titania-and-Oberon faery queen? Emily never told me about that.”
“We don’t know anything about her, but she’s…” I sighed. I didn’t have time to school Charlotte’s dad about faeries. “I need to talk to Charlotte.”
I definitely wasn’t mad at Charlotte. I couldn’t be. That wasn’t possible. But why didn’t she tell me about this letter?
“Charlotte?”
“Shh,” Montague said. “She’s sleeping.”
Charlotte was slumped in her computer chair, drooling slightly. “Wake up,” she murmured. I picked up a pen and drew a small mustache on her face. This small rebellion made me feel a lot better like I wasn’t mad at her anymore, not that I ever really was, of course.
“Oh—Firian.” She clutched my arm. “Was I sleeping?”
“I want to talk to you. Let’s take a little walk.”
“A walk?” She groaned. “I don’t want to walk in the forest anymore. We’re leaving anyway.”
I put the letter in front of her. She rubbed her eyes. “Shit. Fine.”
I guess we were having an argument, sort of, because she grabbed her coat and started walking along a step ahead of me with her arms crossed. Well, she tried to stay a step ahead of me, but I had longer legs so nyah nyah. I got in front of her and walked backwards.
“Why would you not even tell me about that letter?”
“I just—I wasn’t going to act on it, so…”
“You still could have told me.”
“Well, it wouldn’t have mattered.”
“What did you think I would say when I read the letter?”
“Just come out and say whatever you want to say, Firian!”
“You’re worried that I’m upset that we lost our magic.”
“Yeah. Well, obviously.”
“Why wouldn’t you talk to me about it? You’re upset you lost your magic.”
“I lost it saving Harris’ ass!” she said.
“It was the right thing to do.”
“You’re just saying that because you have to.” Her sad face was even cuter with the scribbled mustache on her face. She would be so aggravated when she noticed.
“Are you trying to make me say verbally that I actually like Harris?” I asked. “Fine. I do like Harris. But I also think that you need to fight to get your magic back. If the faery queen wants to bargain with you, maybe you shouldn’t just shove that in a drawer.”
Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. “So I can put all of you in danger again?”
“So we can have our witch back.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “You’re a witch and nothing has ever made you seem more purposeful. I watched you through middle school and high school, and I loved you but I know you never stood out there. Your destiny was to be a witch.”
“Stop!” She turned from me, wiping her tears quickly. “I finally have a chance at a normal family and life, and—“
“Normal? Really?”
“Okay, not normal, but not like, fucking dangerous! Dad’s really happy, overall, and I’m excited for him. I bet he’ll start playing music again, and yesterday he was in the garage playing with Claude and Guy, and you’re all here safe and not gored by demons or with the council trying to hurt you. I don’t need magic now. I have all of you and Harris’ ring to protect me.”
“But what about you? You’re going to live your life based on the idea that someone could get hurt?”
“Well, yes, Firian, that is actually a thing, trying not to get killed.”
“I know when you’re not happy,” I said. “You were happy studying magic. You still have your magic study books. You were taking it more seriously than any of your high school classes.”
“You think I should actually go talk to the faery queen?”
“Yes. I think you must. My girl…” I ran a hand through her hair, which was currently loose around her shoulders. “It’s going to eat at you. You’re going to wonder what she could give you. And everyone isn’t safe. You keep having nightmares about Daisy and Ignatius. You know you left some business unfinished.”
She bit her lip, leaning slightly into my touch. “It’s so annoying how you won’t let me just lie to you.”
“You need a familiar to keep you on track, that’s all. How about this? If you get your magic back, I’ll give you that anime fox yokai sex you wanted.”
She scoffed, but pursed her lips, thinking. “Like ears and a tail? Role playing?”
“Oh, like hentai.” I pulled her a little closer. “I could probably find some tentacles to invite.”
“No, like pretend to be dangerous and enigmatic. Don’t make any stupid jokes or show up in a Garfield shirt. I want you to wear yukata and say something hot. Like you are a tormented demon and my love is the only thing that eases the pain of your immortal existence.”
I laughed.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “You failed the test. I’m not doing it.”
“I’m only laughing because you make me laugh, mortal,” I said. “You are the first such girl to amuse me in my thousand years of eating the flesh of mortals.”
“Well, that’s dark.”
“You said you wanted me to be a fucking tormented demon. Make up your mind.”
“You’re right. Go on.”
“No. To be continued,” I said. “After you talk to the faery queen.”
“Are you blackmailing me, Firian?”
“This is not really blackmail. It’s just a fact, I can’t give you a foxy night unless you get my magic back.”
“Oh, I do want that foxy night.” She brushed my face with her fingers. “I really don’t like this. I don’t want you to be human like Adia. I don’t want to be…normal.”
“I know.” I met her lips, slowly, feeling the sweet warmth of her breath brush my cheek before I teased my fingers across the plump softness of her lower lip and then finishing with the joining of our mouths, giving it a minute before I slipped my tongue against hers.
I hadn’t spoken about this to the other guys beforehand, but I wasn’t surprised at all when Montague, Alec and Harris were all more than willing to make one last drive back to th
e Wyrd tree. After all, no human witch or warlock had met with the faery queen in centuries, as far as we knew. Should we be afraid? Maybe. But someone also had to be the first person to climb Mt. Everest or try out skydiving. Charlotte had an invitation from the faery queen herself, and that could mean anything, but I didn’t think we had anything to fear.
Chapter Seven
Charlotte
I guess I didn’t realize just how much I missed my magic, until Firian told me, but he was right. I took my books on necromancy out of the drawer with relief, like I was visiting old friends. I smelled the pages and flipped through creepy drawings of people rising from graves. I had Samuel Caruthers’ legacy tugging at me, but it didn’t feel like a burden so much as a promise.
I thought the other guys would try to stop me.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this letter?” Harris said. “I hope you weren’t trying to protect us. You’re certainly not protecting yourself, what with all the moping.”
“I haven’t been moping! I’ve been brooding. Like a dark mage.” I tossed my head.
“You’re too cute to brood. Sorry.”
“You’re too sexist to charm me with comments like that. Sorry.”
“All right, kids, let’s just get our bags packed already,” Alec said, shoving me and Harris apart. “We have a faery queen to visit.”
“I’ll drive,” Montague said, which was obvious because no one else knew how to drive, although he had been giving Harris some lessons. I should be learning myself, but instead I’d been—brooding. You know. In a cool way.
“Dad, we’re going to North Carolina for the weekend. I’ll be back.”
“To meet the faery queen?” Dad said.
“Firian told you about that?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m still processing that information. Faery queens. I hope she’s not dangerous.”
“It’s a wonderful thing,” Mom said. “It’s certainly what Samuel wanted.”
Battle of the Hexes Page 4
