by Joyee Flynn
“I’m sorry I called you a nurse,” Tyler mumbled to the Queen, his eyes still closed. “I didn’t want them to know who you were because Paul would have taken you for ransom for Ayden or some shit.”
“He might have been able to catch me, but he would not have been able to keep me for long.” She gave Tyler a wink as he opened his eyes. “If you will permit me, I can speed along the process.”
“Sure.” Then Tyler gasped as the Queen did something to heal him, the bite marks closing right up. The moment he stopped bleeding, I could feel my heart beating again. God, I couldn’t ever lose him.
Chapter 12
Tyler
“You don’t have to keep carrying me, I’m fine.” I chuckled, rolling my eyes. Mav gave me a dirty look and lifted me out of the SUV he borrowed from one of the warriors. “The Queen healed me, big guy. I’m just hungry and would love a bottle of water.”
“I’ll get you what you need,” he said gruffly.
“Are you pissed at me?” I whispered against his neck as he carried me into Barnabas’s house.
“No,” Mav growled. Yeah, that totally sounded like he wasn’t. Silly me. He laid me on one of the couches in the front room off the foyer before closing the door as he left. Okay, I’d just sit here until he came back, I guess.
About five minutes later I thought I was going to lose my mind. I mean, there were only so many times I could twiddle my thumbs and count my toes before I got bored. Plus, I felt like a kid who was sent to a time-out, except my mate was doing it and well, I wasn’t a child.
“I got you clothes, too,” Mav announced as he came back into the room with a tray of food, a few bottles of water, and a set of clothes over his arm.
“Thanks, this is great,” I said quietly. He set it all down and studied me closely.
“Why are you quiet? Are you tired? Do you still hurt?”
“Because you say you’re not mad but you’re really not happy,” I answered with a shrug before taking a bite of the sandwich. “Because I feel like you’re grounding me to my room, and I don’t like feeling like I’m in trouble. I don’t understand what’s upsetting you or why you’re not telling me. But fine, don’t tell me what’s on your mind. Why would I want an honest answer to my question?”
I had just enough time to set the sandwich back down before he was on me, pinning me against the couch. He flung away his shirt that I had been wearing as a skirt to keep covered and undid his jeans. I gasped as he spread my legs wide, pushing one over the back of the couch, and thrusting the head of his cock into my hole.
I stared at him in shock as his gray eyes filled with tears. When my body was ready for him, my hole nice and wet for him, he pushed the rest of the way into me. I closed my eyes and moaned at the pleasure.
“Look at me!” he ordered, grabbing my hair roughly. I did as he wanted. Mav leaned in so his forehead touched against mine. He started slow, long, deep thrusts as his eyes never left mine.
“Mav, I don’t understand,” I whispered. I wasn’t against having sex. Hell, I loved being with my mates. But there was a desperation to my mate and what we were doing that I needed to understand.
“I could have lost you,” he choked out. Mav buried his face in my neck and wrapped his body around me as he started thrusting faster. “Twice in as many days I’ve almost lost you, and this time if I did, I wouldn’t have been able to win you back. Don’t you get it, Tyler? I wouldn’t survive losing you. All my years on this earth and I’ve finally found what makes me whole. You’ve been in my life not even a week, and I would crumble if you weren’t here.”
I rubbed his back gently, kissing his neck as he took me. “Hey, I’m not going anywhere, my mate.”
“You don’t know that!” He growled as he pushed up on his arms. Now he was fucking me with all he had, and I had to grab onto the arm of the couch so I didn’t get thrown off. “That asshole could have torn out your throat if you hadn’t turned in time. He could have killed you before any of us could have even gotten to you. You jumped right in there without any backup or other wolves on your side.”
“Mav, you guys were my backup.” I used our mental link because I knew how much he treasured it and because he was pounding into me so hard I couldn’t get enough air in my lungs to talk. “I knew I wasn’t going in alone.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he shouted. Now he was slamming into me hard enough to move the sofa across the floor. “We failed you. You spent most of today showing us you were faster and stronger, Tyler. The wolves are and we couldn’t have helped. Hell, the fight was like a flash of fur, and the next thing I know, you’re hurt, the others are shifting, and I was useless. You could have died and I was powerless to stop it.”
“No you weren’t,” I snarled in his head as I grabbed his hair and pulled him down to my face. “I was coming to hide behind your big ass when the Queen stepped in. You would have protected me or figured out how to get around that they’re faster. You’re smarter, Mav. You were afraid, I get that, I was, too. But you would never let that fear stand in the way of protecting me.”
“I didn’t know what to do,” he whispered, a tear dripping onto my cheek. “I’ve never felt so powerless.”
“You’re not. You have the power now, and I need to feel it. Make your cub come.” I clamped my muscles on his cock and Mav bit me. He didn’t take any blood, but I knew he needed to feel attached to me in every way possible. Plus, the bite marks would remind everyone who I belonged to. I was good with that.
I came so hard I saw lights flashing. My mate roared out his release and filled me. When we were spent, he collapsed onto me, smashing me into the couch. It was perfect.
“Now that you’ve calmed a bit, think about what happened,” I said gently as I ran my fingers through the soft black strands of his hair. “If I’d come darting behind you to hide, what would you have done? How would you have handled that they’re faster?”
He thought about that a moment before he had an answer. “I would have used my gift. Can’t fight or run if you’re having an orgasm. Then I would have knocked them out and locked them up.”
“Yes, you would have.” I kissed his temple and held him tightly.
“You knew that’s what I would have done?”
“Yeah, Mav.” I chuckled. “I know you. You’re smart and would figure out an advantage over someone faster or stronger. It’s how you’ve managed to stay alive this long with constant threats around you.”
“You’re not just a pretty face, are you?”
“Nope,” I groaned as he pulled out of me and helped me sit up. “I’ve got a pretty ass, too.”
We were laughing when Asterio came barging into the room, his eyes darting around until he found me. “How are you? Are you okay? Do you need anything? I had to—”
“I could use my mate,” I purred as I lay right back down and spread my legs. Asterio whimpered as he watched Mav’s cum run out of my ass. “Come feel me, Asterio. I’m here, I’m fine, and I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good,” he growled before pouncing. Then he pounded me into the couch… Twice without even stopping for a break. Holy shit, were my men studs!
When we were done, he carried me to our room for a shower while Mav kept trying to feed me. Yes, while I was in the shower. Then they made sure I hydrated and checked me for bruises and oh my god they were insane. But I drank up the attention and preened under their gazes. Someone cared. They cared enough to worry. It made me feel something I’d only felt a few times in my life. Hope.
“Okay, so you’ve got to talk to the peeps going to Greece and then we’re doing the next episode of Planet Earth?” I asked when I realized they were going to fuss over me all day instead of getting anything else done.
“But you were hurt, cub,” Mav said hesitantly, biting his lip.
“Mav, I would have healed already even if the Queen hadn’t helped. But she did and I feel great. Maybe another sandwich or one of those leftover cupcakes and I’ll be golden.” They e
xchanged a look and I understood. “Besides, I’d like to hear all about Greece, too. I mean, we’ll go there to visit one day, right?”
“Yes, you’ll love it,” Mav said with a sigh of relief. Yeah, I’d gotten it right. They didn’t want to leave me alone, but they also didn’t want to order me to come with them. Score one for me!
“Then let’s go sell some fae on the idea of moving to Greece!” I practically raced out of the room. Otherwise they would have stood there all day fussing over me. Even though I agreed to come with them to the meeting, Asterio still looked hesitant about my leaving the room.
Five minutes later we were in the ballroom as some of the fae let everyone know about Mav speaking. Ten minutes later, my mate was talking to a full room. I felt really bad for him. Everyone seemed to want Mav to promise that they were going to be happy in Greece. How could he do that and not lie? He didn’t know them or how they would like the culture. He could only give them the facts.
But then it was also questions about this world versus their plane. Well, since Mav had never been to their plane, again, they were barking up the wrong tree. And some started to get upset when he kept answering, I don’t know. I understood they were scared, and they had questions, but they just weren’t the ones Mav could answer. I wasn’t sure anyone could since the Queen hadn’t spent much time here either.
It was really taking a toll on Mav and then I started to get pissed. I stood up, put my fingers in my mouth, and gave an ear-piercing whistle. Even Mav froze and turned to look at me with shock written all over his face.
“Look, guys, I get that you have questions but some can’t be answered. Mostly because you’re asking my mate to answer things based on your opinions and experiences,” I said loudly, making sure my voice carried. “He can’t answer how you’re going to like Greece when that would be your opinion and he doesn’t know you. Ask him facts or ask someone else and stop getting annoyed that he doesn’t have the answer. He’s not a genie!”
A few people calmed down then and stopped letting the mob mentality fear turn them into idiots. Mav answered questions for about fifteen more minutes and then it was over. When we were alone, I waited for my mate’s wrath for stepping in. Instead, I got something else.
“I love you,” Mav growled as he pulled me into his arms. I let out a surprised yelp because that was the last reaction I’d been ready for. “You are so smart, and sexy, and sweet, and I’ve never had someone jump in and defend me like that before. You totally brought the group back to reality all to protect me.”
“I didn’t like the way some of them were talking to you. It was either smack them verbally or my wolf was going to start biting people in the ass.”
Mav’s smile fell. “You heard what I said, right? That first part.”
“Yeah,” I whispered, staring at his nose instead of his eyes. I couldn’t deal with what I might see there. “Saying thank you sounds lame, but I’m not sure what else to say. Can I ask that you give me a minute to process that? I’ve never had anyone say they loved me before, and I honestly don’t know how I feel about it.”
“Do you know how you feel about me?”
“Yes,” I answered instantly, taking the chance and meeting his gaze. “You’re my everything. You and Asterio are the two most important people in the world to me and my heart is yours.”
“Then I can give you all the time you need,” he said in a husky voice. I knew what that meant and my hole quivered in anticipation. Next thing I knew, I was plastered between the two of them naked as they took turns fucking me. It was fantastic.
They cleaned me up as I practically purred in Asterio’s arms and then they re-dressed me. He carried me as if I was the most precious thing in the world to the media room.
“Hey, cat,” I said brightly when I saw Rory was here.
“Hey, dog,” he shot back and stuck out his tongue. We’d been teasing each other like this since we’d met, and I really liked the little guy. “You smell like sex.”
“Shame for you that you don’t.” I stretched as I waggled my eyebrows at him.
“I just shower after my fun.” Rory giggled. “My mate takes good care of me especially during the full moon.”
“Oh god, the full moon,” I gasped as Asterio lowered me to my feet. “Ah, I kinda forgot to tell you guys something about how the full moon affects shifters.”
“You get hornier than normal?” Mav asked in a teasing voice. Wow, he didn’t know how right he was.
“You know how you get on my blood?” I waited until he nodded. “That’s how I’ll be for three days.”
“Awesome!” Asterio exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. “When is the full moon?”
“In a few days.” I laughed, glad they were taking the news so easily.
“Which is why when Barnabas told me you guys wanted to do a dance, I thought I should come right over and start the planning before I was too distracted.” Rory batted his eyelashes as if he was the most innocent person in the world. Yeah, right.
“Let’s start with the music. I think Barnabas has an iDock somewhere and we can play with ideas,” I suggested. Mav, Rory, and I told Asterio we’d be right back and went to go get our stuff and some planning tools. He nodded and said he was going to play with the TV a bit and learn how to use it.
I smiled and gave him a kiss before we left. Barnabas ended up joining us along with the Queen, getting a portable iDock and his mates’ iPods for songs as well. It took us less than ten minutes until we were back at the media room… And walked in on Asterio dancing.
Oh, it wasn’t just dancing though. He was moving his hips to the M&M’s commercial that had LMFAO’s “Sexy and I Know It” in the background. My seven-and-a-half-foot-tall mate was taking dance lessons from a cartoon candy.
“I don’t know whether to laugh or start groping him,” Mav said as we walked into the media room.
“I like this song,” Asterio announced with a smile. “But I don’t understand how you guys know which candy to eat?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, not catching on even remotely as to what he was talking about.
“Well, if some of the M&M’s dance. How do you know which ones to eat so you don’t get a live one?”
“We never explained cartoons to him, did we?” Mav was biting his lip so hard to keep in his laughter that I was surprised his lip wasn’t bleeding.
“No, maybe now would be a good time before he starts trying to set free all the chocolate in the house,” I joked. Asterio looked at us like we were nuts, and the next thing I knew, we were all laughing so hard I swear I thought I might pee my pants.
When we calmed down, Rory was actually the one who explained about animated drawings that could be seen on the TV and given voices. And like some of the movies he would see were just make-believe. Asterio nodded along, listening intently until Rory was done.
“Okay, good. Because I liked that chocolate Tyler gave me, and I would have felt bad if I’d eaten someone in the process of enjoying it.” I gave Asterio a hot kiss in response. My mate was sweeter than any chocolate and had a heart of gold. I was a lucky wolf because I actually had two of them.
Chapter 13
Asterio
I loved how my mates were so patient explaining everything to me. Sure, they laughed sometimes, but now I understood that it wasn’t at me, or that they thought I was stupid. It was more the amusement at how I saw the world. If nothing else, I knew that would keep our relationship interesting.
“I found the answer,” Queen Magdalena said with a smile as we all sat down.
“The answer to…?” I asked, trailing off as I eyed her over. She sure looked like the cat that ate the canary.
“To why your blood affected Mav the way it did.” I watched as she brought out a very old, very large book that I vaguely remember having been in her library back on our plane. “I remembered something about vampires in the writings about why our plane was created originally. It seems in ancient times, all paranormal crea
tures used to persecute the fae for having strong magic.
“The vampires in particular used to think they could absorb our power if they drank our blood. They were wrong, but it seemed, according to the writings of our ancestors, that being wrong didn’t stop them from trying. So, while our ancestors figured out a way to build our plane from our magic, they cast two spells to protect us from the vampires.
“One was the creation of our warriors. They blessed all the pregnant fae to have babies that would grow to almost twice the normal size of a fae. They were to be stronger, faster, and able to protect their race. The second was to bespell our blood so if a vampire drank it they would not only no longer wish to hurt us but become overwhelmed with the desire to please us to the point of insanity.”
“That seems like an accurate description of how you were acting,” Tyler drawled as he shot Mav a smirk.
“Is there a way to reverse it?” I asked nervously, afraid of the answer. “I need to be able to provide what my mate needs.”
“Hey, none of that,” Mav said gently as he took my hand and raised it to his lips. “You and Tyler give me everything I need.”
“Tyler enjoys it so much when you bite him and I know you like doing it that I feel like something is missing between us since you can’t bite me.” It was hard to admit, but he had to know the truth.
“Fear not,” the Queen sang. “Our ancestors foresaw that the fae might have vampire mates and put a reversal spell in here. Mav needs to bite you, but not drink until I say the incantation, and then your blood will no longer affect him that way.”
“Okay, let’s do this,” I said excitedly, yanking my mate onto my lap. Mav laughed and gave me a quick kiss.
“Thank you for wanting to try this,” he whispered in my ear. “I’d love to bite you.” I shivered at his tone as I felt his fangs against my neck. The Queen gave the signal and he sank them in my flesh. Then she muttered something under her breath and I felt power surround us.
