The Pixie & The Prince

by Charity Parkerson

  The Pixie

  &

  The Prince

  CHARITY PARKERSON

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  --Warning: This book contains graphic depictions of sexual activity including oral sex and masturbation. It is intended for mature audiences not offended by explicit representations of sexual activity between consenting adults.

  Copyright © 2013 Charity Parkerson

  Photographers:© David Acosta Allely | Dreamstime.com

  © Scott Griessel | Dreamstime.com

  © Curaphotography | Dreamstime.com

  Cover art designed by : Designs by Charity

  Edited by: Dionne Lister

  All rights reserved.

  DEDICATION

  For everyone who loves Tam

  SEXY WITCHES

  The Sexy & The Undead

  Wanted: Hexed or Alive

  The Pixie & The Prince

  Tasting Temptation

  And coming soon…

  The Wizard & The Wanton

  Mirror, mirror that twinkles and gleams, why must you always steal my dreams? Although I knew it from the start, I still allowed you to break my heart.

  PROLOGUE

  “Hurry. You must come with me.”

  Some of Thomas’ panic must have shown on his face because Samuel followed without question.

  Samuel the Dark was the most feared warrior in the heavens. He was also the most respected. The dark angel’s long stride threated to overcome his own, as if he knew better than Thomas where they headed.

  At the door to Mistress Katrina’s quarters, Thomas waved Samuel inside before following and barring it against any interruptions.

  A painful cry sounded from the bed, and Samuel rushed to the edge. His black wings and dark hair flattened in his race to get there.

  “Mistress Katrina, you are injured!” he cried.

  Katrina was everyone’s favorite fate—the beauty of her golden hair and eyes were matched only by her generous heart. She waved away his concerns.

  “Sit with me,” she bade, wincing as she scooted over to make room for him. Looking pale, he did as she asked.

  “Tell me what ails you, Mistress, so that I may assist you.”

  A tired smile touched her lips. “Thomas informs me that out of all the soldiers, you are the strongest.”

  It seemed to Thomas that Samuel blushed, but he neither agreed nor disagreed with her statement, proving that he was also humble.

  “More importantly,” she continued, “he tells me that you are his closest and most loyal friend. I need that loyalty now.”

  “Anything,” Samuel agreed without hesitation.

  Glancing in Thomas’ direction as if drawing strength from his presence, Katrina took a deep breath before meeting Samuel’s eyes once more.

  “I need you to take my daughter and keep her safe. You must never allow anyone to learn that she is mine, and in exchange, I grant you your freedom. You are a slave to this place no more.”

  Samuel’s mouth worked, but no sound escaped as he seemed to search for words. Finally, he repeated, “Your daughter. You’re having a baby? Right now? You’re having a baby? But how….” he began, but her dry chuckle cut him off.

  “The usual way, I imagine.”

  Samuel shook his head. “I was going to ask how have you kept this hidden?”

  Her eyes shifted to Thomas once more before answering. “I am not without my ways, or without friends.”

  CHAPTER ONE

  “Babies are very wet,” Tam mused aloud as she stared into Liam’s huge blue eyes while he gnawed on her forearm.

  “Aww, he’s teething,” Lena explained.

  Brushing her free hand over Liam’s dark curls, Tam added, “He reminds me of Freddie with all this chewing on Tam’s person.”

  She nuzzled his nose and fell into her best baby voice. “Yes, your uncle thought Auntie Tam was delicious too, back when he was a sweet zombie. Now he’s just a jackass.”

  Everyone has that one person whose kiss rocked his or her world, and then everyone else fails in comparison. For Tam, that one man would always be Freddie Perry. His sandy-brown hair and hazel eyes had caused her insides to go all gooey, and his slightly wicked smile always made her sigh. She wasn’t pining. Nope, she was not.

  “Where is Freddie anyhow?” Lena asked, peering around the room as if expecting to find him hiding in the corner. “And how did y’all end up with Thomas guarding your house?” she asked, indicating the dark-haired angel standing by the front door.

  Swallowing past the growing lump in her throat, Tam answered. “Oh, you know Freddie.” Actually, Lena really didn’t know Freddie all that well, but Tam didn’t want to cry at the mention of his name, so she swiftly grabbed onto Lena’s second question.

  “Thomas was a wedding gift to Samuel and Ella from Mistress Katrina.”

  “That’s awful!” Lena cried. “He’s a person. She can’t just give him away.”

  Said gift was only three feet away, and Tam could tell by the set of his jaw that he was trying to pretend he wasn’t eavesdropping. Coming in around six-foot-nine, Thomas was taller than most of the dark angels, plus his wide shoulders and defined muscles were proof of all the battles he’d fought.

  Tam shrugged. “Meh, Thomas isn’t a person; he’s even better.”

  The angel did smile then. “Don’t hold back, baby,” she called, and he gave up acting as if he’d not been listening.

  “I get to wear pants here,” he said cheerfully, pointing at his crotch.

  Both women automatically stared at the huge bulge in the center of his jeans that ran down one leg. Although Tam had been paired with Thomas and Samuel since birth, and they were like family to her, she was not unaware of their good looks. It was more that she was immune to them.

  “Oh my,” Lena said as she reached over to cover Liam’s eyes. “Those are some nice, hmm….” she trailed off.

  Thomas’ sweet, brown eyes shined with happiness. “Truly,” he agreed. “It is a great honor that Mistress Katrina has bestowed upon me.” He snapped his teeth together as if realizing he’d said too much, and he went back to staring straight ahead.

  Lena’s gaze became calculating. She slowly slid her hand inside the neck of her shirt and bra while staring hard at Thomas’ profile. He, in turn, was watching her out of the corner of his eye. Tam could see the sweat beginning to form on his brow.

  She clutched Liam closer to her chest and stared back and forth between them. “Uh, Lena, don’t tease him. If he gets hard, one of us bound to lose an eye.”

  A look of confusion passed over Lena’s face before she began to blush. Pulling a tiny stack of cards from the inside of her shirt, Lena waved them in the pair’s direction. Thomas’ shoulders sagged in relief.

  “I’m so sorry!” Lena squawked. “Sometimes I forget that other people can see me when I do weird things.”

  “You had all of them in your boob?” Tam asked, feeling a bit impressed and jealous.

 
Thomas reached down and readjusted the line in his jeans. Lena possessed a quirky inner beauty to match her striking exterior, and it drew men to her like Fairies to shiny objects. The most alluring thing about her was that she was clueless about her effect on the opposite sex. If Lena caught a man staring at her, she immediately felt her butt, expecting that her dress was tucked into her underwear. Being in Lena’s company was almost addictive.

  Luckily for Tam, Lena was happily married to a wonderful man, and Tam wasn’t forced to beat men over the head with her wand to keep them away.

  Lena nodded absently while keeping her eyes locked on the cards. “The Page, the Ten of Wands, the Two of Cups, hmm,” she mused while shuffling the deck once more.

  A nervous flutter began in Tam’s stomach. How much could Lena see? Dropping her hands to her lap while still grasping the cards, Lena stared into space. Tam wanted to crack a joke and break the spell, but her swollen throat cut off the words.

  Tears filled Lena’s eyes and she blinked rapidly against them. “So much longing. So much suppressed love choking the life from everyone.”

  Tam felt a tear roll down her cheek. That answered her question. Lena could see everything.

  ***

  When hearing the term Stockholm syndrome, the mind automatically conjures a picture of chains and whips—someone held captive until they crave the sting of the whip, until they no longer notice the weight of their restraints. One day they wake up and feel some twisted form of … love.

  The victims that no one will ever hear or see on the news are the ones that have no physical shackles. They are not held prisoner in some rundown building, and a finger is never raised against them in anger. Their prison is the one inside their mind. Whipped by manipulation and immobilized by the need to please, these people never have a voice or champion. There is no key to unlocking the door on an invisible cage.

  That was how Freddie would describe his duty to the Mirror lands. If he could be different then he would be. In his heart, he belonged to Tam. She was the only person to ever look at him and see his soul. By genetics, he belonged to his people. Staring into the speculum, he watched her moving in and out of view, as if pacing a hole in the floor. Shortly after his return to the Mirror lands, he had the speculum moved from its hiding spot in the woods to his personal bedroom.

  The mirror itself had been shattered inside of its frame many years ago, but those cracked lines did nothing to hinder him.

  “She has spunk, this one,” his mother, Astrid, said as she moved to flank his side. “I think that I will like her.”

  “You will love her,” Freddie agreed, draping his arm over her shoulders. He couldn’t take his eyes from Tam. He knew in his heart that she could feel that she was standing within arm’s length of him.

  “I don’t understand,” Astrid mused aloud. “Why does she not come to you? She is very powerful.”

  “I don’t know, Maman,” Freddie answered absently while he mentally willed Tam to step through the mirror. Lifting his free hand to the glass, Freddie traced one of the cracked lines with the tip of his finger, causing it to seal as if it never existed. The burst of magic left him feeling weak.

  “Who is the large angel? That does not look like Samuel.”

  Freddie spared only a glance for the dark-haired creature watching Tam’s back before answering his mother’s question. “That is Thomas. He is her guardian angel.”

  As the words left Freddie’s lips, Tam wrapped her arms around Thomas’ waist and hugged him tightly. The small repair in the glass shattered once more beneath the force of his fury. Guardian or not, Tam should not be holding another male.

  “Oh dear,” Astrid muttered. “I recognize my cue to exit,” she said as she left him alone with his rage.

  ***

  After moving from the Hall of the Gods to Ella and Samuel’s house, Thomas and Tam had been assigned the room that had once been Ella’s office. It wasn’t a huge space, but since it was large enough for them both, and Thomas was not one to care where he slumbered, it wasn’t an intolerable situation. In the heaven’s, he slept many nights upon the hard stone floor. Therefore, the queen-size bed that rested in one corner of the room was good enough for him. Tam strung a miniscule hammock in the upper corner and flashed into the tiny version of herself at bedtime. It worked out nicely, and Samuel’s son Liam was able to have his own bedroom now that Freddie had returned to the Mirror lands.

  Tam paced in front of the ten-by-ten mirror that covered one wall, stopping at each end, popping her hip and then changing directions before strutting to the opposite end. Her eyes never left the silvery surface.

  “Are you practicing for the cat walk?” Thomas asked, even though he knew that she was watching for any sign of Freddie. For Tam, everything revolved around the man she had cared for while he’d been cursed to live as a zombie. Her obsession to have Freddie beg her to be with him was one that Thomas could sympathize with all too well.

  “I think I have a shot at being the next top cat,” she answered absently.

  Thomas turned his back to her, unable to stand watching her attitude-filled trek a second longer. Staring out the window, he mused how the darkness of night could make everything seem all that more empty, including his heart. Lena claimed they were suffocating on their repressed love. Thomas rather thought they were choking from a lack of it.

  Katrina was the more tenderhearted of the fates. Rowena was the flighty one. Selena did what needed to be done without flinching, and that’s what made her the best to lead. However, Katrina was the Fate that Thomas had been guarding since his arrival. He cursed his duty for the torture that it was while secretly praying that he wasn’t ever reassigned.

  Standing alert, Thomas kept his back pressed to the closed door, barring all others from entry as he openly stared at Katrina’s tear-swollen face. Sometimes it was too much for her. The other fates had no problem snipping the lifelines of unsuspecting mortals or breaking their hearts, but Katrina was not immune to her effect on the world.

  “Why do you look at me so?”

  Thomas turned his face away not wishing to embarrass her. However, he did continue to watch her out of the corner of his eye.

  “I’m sorry Mistress Katrina,” he said dutifully.

  She wiped away a stray tear and patted her nose with a handkerchief. “I know,” she said, sighing heavily. “I look a terrible mess.”

  Her words startled him into meeting her eyes once more.

  “You are the most beautiful woman in existence,” he confessed, and her lips parted in surprise.

  He was a slave unworthy of her notice, but he did notice her every second of every day.

  “It is your duty to say so,” she said, waving away his words, and a burst of anger ripped through his chest.

  “Order me not to,” he quietly demanded.

  The fury in his voice caused her eyes to narrow, but she obliged him.

  “Do not say so again,” she ordered.

  “There is no other woman more beautiful than you,” he said defiantly.

  Katrina stormed across the room, coming to stand toe to toe with him.

  “Do you really dare to defy me?” she asked, almost growling. Although she was tall for a woman, she still had to tilt her head up in order to glare at him.

  “In this, I do,” he admitted solemnly.

  Her golden eyes lowered to his mouth before meeting his stare once more, and she reached up, cupping his jaw with her hand.

  Every muscle in his body tensed in an effort not to reach for her. Brushing her thumb along his bottom lip, she lowered her voice. “You do not have permission to ever kiss,” she began, and his control snapped. Lowering his head, Thomas captured her mouth with his own.

  All of the days of watching her and the years of fantasizing about her taste were nothing in comparison to the real thing. In that moment, he dreamed of something he’d never dare admit—he longed for something he would absolutely never have. He wanted to own her.

 
Why did he always think of that night? Why wouldn’t she leave his head?

  “The air is very heavy here. Why is it like this?” he asked, pushing open the pane of glass and dragging oxygen into his lungs. He could not breathe.

  “I don’t know,” Tam answered, sounding distracted. “Ella says it’s something to do with wet heat, but I haven’t decided why the air is so lusty here.”

  Thomas snorted, knowing that she was joking. Giving up, he turned back to find Tam with her nose pressed to the mirror and looking cross-eyed at her own reflection.

  Freddie was on the other side waiting for her. Thomas could feel it. All Tam needed to do was step through the speculum and into his arms. Why she would not, he did not understand. He’d tried reasoning with her, but no matter what he said, she would not go. Tightness formed in his chest as he pictured Katrina’s blonde hair wrapped around his wrist as he controlled their kiss. What a fool he was to want her.

  Catching his eye in the looking glass, Tam said, “You’re a free angel now. Why will you not go to her?”

  “It is my duty to protect you,” he answered as if by rote.

  “I free you of your duty,” she retorted. “Now, go to her.”

  “My duty is not to you,” he stressed. “It is the duty of my heart to protect you.”

  Turning to face him, she rolled her eyes, but wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him tightly.

  “I love you, Thomas,” she told him, and his heart turned over in his chest.

  “I love you too.”

  Wrapping his arms around her shoulders, she rested her head in the center of his chest, and he stared at their reflection in the mirror.

  A shadow moved behind the silvery surface, reminding him of how equally torn her heart must be.

  Leaning away, Tam took his much larger hands into hers.