Clenching my jaw, I turned back to the four fae princes. “She’s probably going to be hostile. It’s not aggression. It’s just her personality.”
“Are we doing this here?” Naveen asked, glancing around the empty, dark garage.
“Oxonos was supposed to let you in before I got here.” I glanced at the door that clearly led to the house. “But he’s probably scared that you’re here to arrest him.”
“Did you tell him that we don’t do the queen’s bitch work?” Winter growled as he continued to glower my way.
I wasn’t the biggest fan of the term ‘bitch work,’ but I got his meaning. The four fae princes protected the queen’s life, eliminating every possible threat to her, but not out of any loyalty to my mother. They did it out of self-preservation and loyalty to one another. When the queen said jump, they said, “If it’s not going to kill you, then go fuck yourself.”
Taking out my phone, I shot off a text to the illustrious owner of the house and waited for a response. It took nearly a minute, but Oxonos answered my text by unlocking the door to the house and slowly opening it.
Zeezee entered the house first, with me behind her, and then my two brothers preceded the other two fae princes. Oxonos’ pallor looked almost gray as he greeted us from the hallway.
“This way…” He paused to gesture deeper into his house. “I have tea and appetizers.”
“Hey Oxy,” Zeezee said as she paused before the man.
Oxonos pointedly ignored her, his face flushing. After a second, his eyes came up to meet mine. “She’s not welcome in my home.”
“Zeezee has an explanation. She’s just as much a victim as you are. More so, even, as you managed to avoid the attack.”
He shook his head. “She is not welcome here.” His voice had a harsh edge, as if a strong current of emotion ran just beneath the surface. “You cannot trust her.”
“You really love dogs,” Naveen said with the slightest smirk at the corner of his lips. He examined the walls where every few feet, there was a painting of a canine.
Oxonos mumbled something and hurried down the hall, leading us into a sitting room. There were several chairs pushed into the space around tea tables laden with steaming saucers and finger sandwiches. Oxonos needn’t have bothered. I was the only one who took a seat or a cup of tea, and I did it to be polite. Everyone else stood along the walls between paintings of terriers and hounds, watching each other warily.
“That creature you saw at the royal court was an incubus demon,” I said, realizing that it fell to me to get this started. “Someone conjured him at that party to frame the werewolves for Queen Titania’s murder. We don’t know who ordered it, but we know which necromancer conjured the demon. Zeezee, why don’t you tell them what happened, starting from when Nancy gave you the charms.”
Zeezee told the story with all the gentle sensitivity of a club to the head, but she was thorough. The princes’ expressions might as well have been stone for all that they showed. Even Marius, who was all warmth, watched with a glare that could freeze water.
The moment Zeezee finished, Oxonos slammed his hand down on the armrest of his chair. “Zeezee Riley is a liar who would say anything to shirk the blame. Take her to the queen, please, and tell Titania I had nothing to do with this woman’s plotting.”
Zeezee lifted her middle finger and pointed it around the room. “Go fuck yourself. I came here on good faith because you all are coming to attack my packmates. You think you’re going to drag me off to your bitch queen for something I didn’t do?”
I stood. “No one is taking you anywhere, Zeezee. Oxonos is speaking out of desperation.”
“I’m sorry, Mack,” Summer said, speaking up for the first time. “But I’m going to have to agree with Oxonos. This sounds implausible, to say the least.”
“Which part?” I asked, shocked that my half-brother was doubting Zeezee’s story.
“Yes, Summer, which part seems particularly implausible?” Autumn asked, sounding genuinely curious.
“You know what? Fuck all of you. I’m going to wait in the van.” Zeezee headed for the door, but she paused halfway across the room. Lifting her foot, she kicked over Oxonos’ tea tray, sending hot tea splashing up the walls and finger sandwiches scattering over the floor. Then she stormed out of the room. A second later, the door to the garage slammed shut.
Oxonos gasped, leaning away from the mess as if it might jump up and attack him.
Naveen gritted his teeth. “I really hope she’s not going to key my car.”
“My car,” I reminded him. “And she might.”
Autumn inhaled deeply, his chest expanding and shoulders rolling back, and then he sighed. “Well, if it was a frame job, they picked the perfect werewolf. But she’s right. There’s no possible way that one woman and her mate could have killed twenty-two fae and left, unscathed. It didn’t add up from the start. We guessed that she utilized some sort of weapon or spell.”
“She probably did,” Oxonos said as he drew himself up. “Zeezee Riley was all too excited to accept my proposition when I asked if she and her mate wanted to sleep with the queen.”
Naveen lifted one of his dark brows. “You suggested it?”
“At the queen’s bequest. She said her daughter Mab was coming, and she always enjoys scandalizing her heir. Having sex with a werewolf couple in a party setting seemed fittingly scandalous, so I made the arrangements. Zeezee works for me, and we had a sexual relationship, so I immediately thought of her. I put my trust in her.”
Autumn worked his jaw back and forth. “The queen definitely never mentioned to me that she initiated all this.” He looked over at Summer. “Did she tell you?”
Summer paused just a second and then shook his head. “I can’t recall her saying anything.”
Oxonos clasped his hands together and dropped to his knees. “Zeezee Riley is responsible. Please, explain to the queen that I had nothing to do with this.”
We all looked at the willowy fae on the floor.
“Summer, you want to handle this while we go talk in the hallway?” Autumn asked. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen my brother calming a fae that was clearly not in his right mind. Of the four fae princes tied to the queen, Marius was famously the most kind.
“No problem,” he said, crouching down and laying a hand on Oxonos’ shoulder while the rest of us moved out into the hallway. We could still hear the low murmur of their voices, but that couldn’t be helped.
“The queen isn’t going to believe an alternative explanation without iron-clad proof,” Autumn said as soon as we were a few paces into the hallway.
“Hopefully I can bring that by tomorrow,” I said. “But I’m going to need your help to keep back the hunt. We’ve got a plan to trap the incubus tonight, and then we’re going to make it reveal the person responsible. We’ve got a necromancer who specializes in demons on the case. Whoever’s behind this has her little brother and is using him to control the demon. If all goes right, I can deliver the proof to the queen by tonight.”
“But?” Naveen asked.
I sighed. “But I’ll need you to lead the other hunters on a wild goose chase away from the Full Moon Gentlemen’s Club until tomorrow.”
Naveen raised a hand. “I’m down.”
Winter snorted, and Autumn said, “No one will believe Naveen for a second. The only way you’d get the hunters to keep out of your way is if Spring told them the exact time and place of where you’re laying this trap for the demon.”
Spring tilted his head, clearly seeing Autumn’s point.
“I’ll do it,” Winter said. “I could give a fuck about my credibility. They’ll probably only follow me for a couple hours. Hopefully that will be enough.”
“I think it will.” It wasn’t ideal, but it was more than I was expecting.
“The rest of us will wait at the palace, guarding the queen, ready for when you bring the proof. Use the portal at the Robertson’s house. It’s only ten blocks from that club
. They’re hunters and will be out all night. Just make sure you dismantle their protections.”
“Not a problem.” I threw a thumb over my shoulder. “I should probably check on Zeezee before she smashes through the garage door and leaves me stranded.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Scarlet
The crowd at the Full Moon was growing by the minute. People lounged across velvet couches, sipped martinis, and doled out dollar bills as if they were printed on gold.
Though the sun had not set, it was impossible to tell from inside the club. The furnishings were fine, from the crystal chandeliers to the gleaming wood surfaces and plush couches.
It was exactly the kind of club I’d expect Oxonos to run. It looked like a respectable gentleman’s club on the surface—extravagant, even. In the private corners, however, the unmistakable sounds of slurping, smacking flesh, and muffled gasps told a very different story. I wasn’t the least bit surprised when Nancy turned to me and said, “When we were planning this, your sister made it clear that it’s best to avoid the back rooms. She said the owner doesn’t care how the men and women here make their money, so long as they’re making money. A lot of workers give more than lap dances. There’s a certain expectation if you go into a private room with a patron.”
I leaned into the curtain at the side of the stage, still blocked from view. “I can’t believe my sister works here.”
“From the sound of it, your sister loves working here—including heading into the back rooms.” Nancy lifted a beer, took a swig, and shrugged. “Hats off to her if that’s her thing. I don’t enjoy my job most days, and I get paid shit for it. According to your sister, she makes good money. She says werewolves are immune to disease and only at risk of pregnancy certain times of the year, so she fucks who and when she wants. Makes sense to me.”
Obviously, my sister was telling stories she had no right to tell outsiders.
“Not exactly,” I said, with a non-committal shrug. The first part was true. Like most supernatural species, werewolves didn’t get sick or contract diseases like humans and mages did. But werewolf births were exceedingly rare. Around the time I was born, werewolves became fertile about twice a year, usually syncing up with their packmates. That hadn’t happened in years.
“I’m starting to get some demon activity.” Nancy stared at a rune painted on her arm. “Do you see anyone you recognize? If our theory’s correct, it’ll be someone the queen wants to have sex with.”
Feeling my heart flutter in my chest, I stepped out from behind the heavy velvet curtain on one side and onto the edge of the gleaming wood stage. Even though I was mostly out of view of the patrons, I drew more than one hungry gaze. Several patrons in suits attempted to get my attention by craning their necks. Like all the women and men here, I wore nothing but a black thong, and I could feel their gazes sliding over my naked curves. Because of how widely Zeezee had advertised her sex show, the patrons expected me to pull one of them up onto the stage to fuck.
After Lance had laid me out on his bed and licked my clit until I writhed in orgasm, I thought I’d be wrung out. But I already felt a hot hunger building below my belly.
I had no desire to have sex with anyone but my boyfriends, but having the men and women of the audience watch me with lustful gazes made every inch of my body tighten with awareness. I could see why Zeezee refused to quit stripping no matter how much my parents nagged her about it. It might be a job for her and a kink for me, but even so, there was something magical about being on this stage.
My biggest disappointment was that Darrel and Lance wouldn’t be in the audience. As much as they both said they wanted me to explore my sexual fantasies, they drew the line at watching.
Lance had volunteered to guard the parking lot while Darrel patrolled nearby, driving up and down the surrounding streets. Both were merely back up and might have to leave if my pack called. Darrel’s pack had arrived a few hours ago, and they were all on surveillance. So far, there had been no movement from the fae.
Looking over the room, I spotted Mack and Aaron at the bar, both sipping beers and watching me. A small crowd of women and men had gathered around the pair, clearly hoping to pick them up. A pulse of jealousy woke in my belly. I knew that under the circumstances it was ridiculous, but I felt it all the same.
“I don’t recognize anyone in the crowd but Mack and Aaron,” I whispered to Nancy.
“Well, he’s definitely here at the club somewhere,” Nancy said from the wings as her rune turned a brilliant red. She pulled down her sleeve over the mark. “I’m going to need about thirty minutes, at most an hour. Can you give me that?”
An hour? The idea was as terrifying as it was exhilarating. I knew that everyone here had their phones and all recording devices confiscated at the door, so this would go no further, but still. There were at least fifty patrons out there and half as many workers.
“Scarlet?”
Swallowing hard, I whispered, “I’ve got this.”
Not used to such high stilettos, I stepped out onto the stage and completely skirted the pole, shining from the center of the room. Pop music with a techno bass beat pulsed through the air, thrumming through my body.
In the brightly lit areas around the stage, a crowd of humans in suits sat beside several dragon shifters with their colorful hair and sheen of scales. Troll and human women sat directly before the stage, their hands overflowing with dollar bills and their laps full of male strippers.
Mostly naked women and men carried drinks and gyrated on laps. Some gathered at the bar, sipping drinks along with the patrons. The air pulsed with sexual energy, and Elvira’s blaring pop songs took on a more sensual edge.
Turning away from the stage, I ran my hands down my sides and over my hips in a slow, sensual movement, rolling my hips. I’d never stripped before, but after dancing half my life, the motions came naturally. I moved into one of my more sensual dance routines from when I was in high school, slowing it down and stroking my hands along my curves. Bending at the waist, I peered back at the crowd, making sure I had the audience’s full attention.
Letting my wolf surge forward, I extended one claw. My wolf obliged, and I sliced through the band of my black thong and let the material slide to the floor, baring my sex to the crowd.
Whistles and cheers greeted my ears, and I felt my confidence swell. My heart galloped in my chest as I straightened and turned around, kicking the thong to the side and standing naked before the audience. My wolf preened at the attention, loving every second of it, drinking up the admiration like sustenance she’d been missing.
Several of the patron’s gazes glowed. I told my pack to stay away tonight, meaning that other shifters had a similar reaction when their animal-self filled them.
I rolled my hips to the sultry rhythm, turning slowly with my arms rising above my head, letting the crowd see every inch of my body. The rush of the entrance faded, and a moment of hesitation flickered through me. What if I was making a mistake?
But I needed to do this. Not only to catch the demon, but because I’d probably never have another chance to live out my deepest, naughtiest fantasy. I didn’t want to be a stripper and take off my clothes for money every night like my sister. And what other guy besides Mack, the man who knew and understood my deepest longings and needs, would whole-heartedly do this with me—for me?
No one, that’s who. Despite what my mother had said, Mack wouldn’t be easy to lose. I knew that if Mack stayed with me, he’d lose his family forever. I loved him too much to let that happen. For his own sake, I had to let Mack go. Before that happened, I wanted to fulfill every fantasy he had. Tonight was about my fantasy, though, and I wasn’t backing out. We’d set everything up, and I was fucking doing it.
As the song began to wind down, people tossed bills onto the smooth, polished wooden stage. My pulse picked up speed as the tempo of the music changed to a sensual rhythm.
My gaze lifted, finding aquamarine eyes. I pointed straight at Mack, maki
ng sure there would be no confusion as to who I was choosing. Hoots and hollers rose through the crowd as Mack grinned and made his way through the tables. My heart skipped at the familiar figure he cut. His tall, strong build drew the admiration of most of the women in the audience as well as some of the men. Before climbing up and joining me, Mack paused to meet my gaze, his hands on the gleaming edge of the stage. The expression in his eyes clearly asked if I was still okay with doing this.
Biting my lip, I nodded and crooked a finger, and he immediately did a pull up onto the stage.
Nervousness stirred in my belly as I ran my hands up and down his body. I turned and rubbed my ass against him. Mack’s hands grasped my hips, matching my rhythm. No one on earth could move like Mack. When he danced, his body was like warm oil, each motion smooth and graceful and yet pouring with sexual energy. Even fully dressed as he was now, he could draw the attention of a room full of people. His hands slid down my bare skin, leaving trails of heat in their wake. He turned me in his arms, cupped my ass, and squeezed me against him, a glow of warm hunger in his aquamarine gaze.
“Pink peppercorn,” he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
Breathing a nervous laugh, I slid my hands across his tight pectorals, toying with his buttons as I undid them. A shivery feeling worked its way into my belly, as if I’d never done this before. As if I were still that naïve girl under the bleachers with her best friend.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked, peeking up at him from under my lashes.
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” Mack said, his hands sliding up to my waist, caressing the sensitive skin just inside my hipbones with his thumbs.
I tugged his shirt from his pants and spread it open, revealing his lithe, muscular chest and chiseled abs and drawing an inhalation from both the crowd and me. They could only watch, though. This beautiful man was mine alone to touch. I leaned forward, stuck out my tongue as far as it would go, and dragged it over Mack’s rigid nipple.
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