by Joyee Flynn
“No one’s asked me that,” she answered, blinking at me in shock. She thought about it a moment and nodded. “Yes, I’m distracted. We drive by the Mariuses and I think that I need to speak with Elena and whatever else is going on and the next thing I know I’ve not heard a word Terrance has said and he’s yelling at me again.”
“Can ya open a portal big enough for a car?” I asked with a shrug. “Can we drive through one?”
“Yes, we can.” She smiled widely at me. “You have an idea, don’t you?”
“We can drive around where I’m from. There’s nothing but open fields and ya are a people of nature, Ma says. No buildings to distract ya, no landmarks to remind ya of ya obligations. Just open road and miles of fields. We’ll drive along and let ya get ya feet wet.”
“I would like that very much. I was going to give you Bevin’s fantasy for a favor from him, but I will give it to you for the lessons. I would ask something from him and tell him I will owe him a favor. A big one.”
“I will pass along any message ya wish and persuade him however I can,” I chuckled.
“I’m sure you will,” she drawled. “It seems when my mate threatened to leave me in anger, my wings were ruffled slightly.”
“She blew like a volcano on the show we watched on the Discovery,” Baylor told me. That wasn’t exactly how that should have gone, but he was close so I let it go. “She zapped him. I mean, smoke coming off his ass zapped him.”
“Yes, thank you, Baylor. I have a temper. We know that.” She pinched the bridge of her nose and focused on me. “Anyways. As a symbol of our mating and my regret I hurt him, I was hoping Bevin could create some glass wolf for me? Maybe crystal I could wear around my neck to show that my mate is always by my heart?”
“I will ask but it sounds like he deserves to be zapped for threatening to leave ya,” I answered honestly. “Ya don’t just go tossing that threat around.”
“I agree, but his saying if I wasn’t going to appreciate him he was going to leave in anger isn’t the same as what I did to him,” she assured me. I shrugged. I hadn’t been there so I’d take her word for it.
“I promise I’ll talk to Bevin. I’m sure he’d love a challenge of something like that. He’d probably do it without the favor in return. He’s got a big heart like that.” I know I had a sappy smile on me face. Just talking about him warmed me heart.
“Ahh, love,” the Queen chuckled. I nodded.
We finished up, her highness giving me the charm and then chanting over some potions and giving me a box of twelve. I blinked at her in shock, saying I didn’t need so many. She said honestly it was easier to do things in bulk sometimes, and she figured Rian would want it once too. I shrugged. Probably. I thanked her again, and we set up her first driving lesson for the day after tomorrow, as long as everyone wasn’t going to war or anything.
They were still trying to interrogate the traitor and figure out what to do about Dubois and Cyrus Diaz’s family. I was really glad I had no part in those decisions! For now, all I had to worry about was claiming a mate.
As soon as I left Barnabas’s house though, I realized I didn’t need the charm. Being that close to the Queen’s magic had canceled out our gifts anyways or something because I hadn’t felt Rian’s feelings… Not until I was driving back to the palace and felt a thrill go through him that he had claimed Bevin. And they were having sex again. I pulled over on the side of the road and tried to learn how to breathe again as I processed all of this.
So it hadn’t been that he didn’t trust us together or us snowballing. He hadn’t trusted me. Why? Why me? Had I not been just as gentle and loving as Rian since we screwed up? What had I done that was so different? I didn’t know, but I didn’t want Rian to feel me despair and screw up his happiness at claiming our mate. I slipped on the charm and pulled back onto the road, angrily wiping away tears as I drove back to the palace.
What was I going to do now? I had twelve potions to make me huge to give me mate the fantasy he wanted except it seemed he didn’t want anything from me.
* * * *
Rian
Bev and I were done with our second round when I made him more food and brought it to bed. The little imp kept demanding I feed him nothing but cock, and while I wanted to accept his kind offer, I needed to make sure he was taken care of in other ways as well. I did notice that he was better and not so loopy after he bit me again. Maybe sex and biting me got rid of some of the hormones that shot back into him?
“What’s wrong?” he asked me as I climbed into bed with him.
“I feel strange,” I answered. “Weird. Like I’m alone in me skin or something.” I gasped and almost dropped the plate as it hit me. “I don’t feel Ronan. Me god! Three hundred and thirty-three years of always being able to feel him and I don’t. It’s almost creepy. I felt grief earlier and I thought the Queen couldn’t do it, but then I wondered why he didn’t know I claimed ya and we didn’t need the bubble or whatever.”
“Maybe we should go find him?” Bev looked worried and pushed away the plate when I tried to get him to take it. “If the Queen was able to make it work then why did he feel grief? We need to find him.”
“Give him a bit,” I chuckled. “Maybe he’s just testing it out and having some fun. It’s hard having some privacy when someone always experiences what ya feeling. Maybe he wants to come up with a surprise for ya that he doesn’t want even me to know about. Eat up and if he’s not back in a bit, we’ll gather the troops and go looking for him.”
“Okay,” he sighed and bit into another sandwich. “Could he have sensed we mated and his feelings have gotten hurt?”
I thought about that and shook me head. “Nah. We’re the calm twins. Everyone else in me family flies off the handle with their Irish tempers and crazy emotions. Honestly, we’ve never had an emotion spiral before or anything until we drank from ya. That’s why we didn’t know what to do about it or how to handle it. We’re pretty easygoing. I’ve never known Ronan to have a problem and not come and just talk it out.”
“Yeah, but when it comes to love or matters of the heart, things aren’t ever logical or calm,” he said quietly before taking another bite. “I’ve seen it over and over again with all the mated couples or threesomes in this coven.”
I blinked at him a few times. Shite. He was right. I watched him eat and glanced at the clock, getting worried meself. Where was Ronan?
* * * *
Ronan
“Who’s there?” Brian growled as his warrior mate, Zane, came out with his sword raised.
“Go back to bed, ya numpties,” I growled. “Leave me to drink ya booze.”
“Ronan?” Banning gasped as he came over to where I was kneeling in front of their liquor cabinet. “What are ya doing here?”
“I dropped the car back off to the palace and had nowhere else to go,” I admitted.
“When did ya get here?” Brian raised an eyebrow and glanced at the empty bottles lying around. “A while ago I see.”
“Yeah, ya were all fucking like rabbits and screaming like banshees,” I slurred with a snort. “Nice to know ya’ve been bad boys and Zane needed to show ya who ya belonged to. I’m proud ya turned the tables on him and chained down ya slaver and all that before ya fucked him and rode him.”
“Did ya come here to drink our booze and pick on us?” Banning growled. “Don’t embarrass our mate, Ronan.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, tears falling again. “I’m jealous. Ya mate wants ya. I’d love to be playing bedroom games with me mate. I wasn’t picking and Zane’s great. Ya have no reason to be embarrassed. I’m the shameful one.”
“What are ya talking about? Bev adores ya,” Brian said gently as he knelt in front of me and brushed me hair out of me face, tucking it behind me ear. Somewhere along the way, me tie fell out and me hair was a mess. I normally kept it back lower on me head but I just didn’t give a damn right then.
I glanced at me eldest brothers and their mates’ concerned
faces, snickering that there were six of them, and realized they just wanted to help. I told them everything about what Vega revealed to us and vamoosing to get the Queen’s help, leaving out the detail about Bev’s fantasy, and then realizing it wasn’t about us but me. So I didn’t want to go back and see them blissfully mated. It seemed like a better idea to crash at their house and tie one off.
I glanced at the bottles on the floor and winced. “Sorry about that. I’ll work off the booze.”
“No worries,” Zane said gently as he helped me to me feet. “Most of them were housewarming gifts. We’d never have drank them all and we’re growing crops for a vineyard. We’ll never be at a loss for alcohol.”
“Ronan, I have a bunch of missed calls from Rian,” Banning told me as he waved his phone.
I nodded, swallowing the hurt I felt and me pride. “Tell him I love him, love them both, and I hope they’re happy together. I won’t bother them and if they could just send me me things. I’ll stay wherever the King wants me to because we’re on probation.”
“Ya need to talk to them, Ronan. I’m sure this is a misunderstanding,” Brian said gently.
“I walk out the door to get help and make his fantasy come true and they mate while I’m gone,” I whispered as tears kept falling. “What is there to misunderstand, Brian? The love I feel is one way with Bevin. I did something that Rian didn’t. Or they connected in a way we didn’t. Or he did something I didn’t. I don’t know, but I wasn’t wanted or missed.”
“Aye, he’s here and he’s shite drunk,” Banning muttered. “What happened? He says ya mate doesn’t want him. That ya claimed him when he was gone because Bevin’s scared of only him.”
“It’s complicated,” I heard Rian say.
“Ask Bevin if he’d want me if I’m seven and half feet tall and hung like a fae warrior!” I called out. “I got twelve potions from the Queen to do it! They last three hours each!”
“What?” Brian gasped, his eyes going wide. “Why would ya ask her that?”
“Bev had it on his bucket list,” I answered. “He was upset none of the warriors told him they wanted him because then he could have sampled what sex be like with a massive fae before he mated. So I begged her to give me something that would make me as big as one so I could be what he wanted. I traded her for it. She gave me a dozen. She said it was easier to do them in bulk, but I think it’s a bribe so I keep me end of the bargain.”
“What did ya trade?” Banning groaned.
“Driving lessons.”
“Shite,” Brian swore. “That woman is not made to drive. I adore her, but sometimes the saying about old dogs learning new tricks is true and the woman is how old?”
“She won’t say but she’s older than Asterio and he’s three thousand years old,” Zane chuckled.
“She’s smart,” I defended, feeling loyalty to me student-to-be. “Everyone is always asking her for things. She’s got a lot on her plate and it’s always about everyone else. She wants to learn this. So what if it’s not easy? So what if she’s not patient? She’s done so much for all of us, someone can take the time to teach her how to drive a damn car!”
“Ya right,” Brian conceded. “I didn’t think of it like that, but ya right. I just heard that she zapped her mate when he said he was done teaching her.”
“That wasn’t all he said and I don’t blame her. Ya don’t threaten to leave just because ya pissed.” His eyes went wide and I shook me head. I said too much already.
“Apparently there are two hotheads in that mating,” he muttered.
“We don’t know what that’s like,” Zane drawled, giving my brothers a pointed look.
“But apparently ya like spanking them when they lose their tempers,” I joked. Which of course led me to wonder what it would be like to play with Bevin like that. And then the tears started again… Because I wouldn’t ever get to find out. It wasn’t that I had fucked up and he had rejected me. We had both fucked up. So why did he want to keep Rian?
“Is this the charm?” Banning asked quietly as he fingered the stone at me neck. I nodded. “Ronan, ya need to take it off. Rian says ya would understand if ya did. He feels lonely and empty almost not being able to feel ya.”
“He can feel Bev all he wants and I can’t,” I whined like a child. A drunk child. They tried to get me to see reason, but after four bottles of rum and whiskey, yes, four, I wasn’t listening. Honestly, there might have been more. I saw four only, plus the half-empty one I had in me hand. I went to take a drink of it but Zane took it away.
“That won’t help any and you’re not listening. I’m telling you that I don’t think things are as bad as you think they are.”
“Where is he?” Bevin yelled as he and Rian walked into the house. His eyes darted around until he found me. Then he raced over and smacked me arm hard. “Don’t you ever do that again! We were worried sick about you. I was scared demons got you because I snitched and they knew you were my mate. I was freaking out.”
“What?” I gasped. “But ya mated Rian the moment I was gone.”
“No, we had sex when I got loopy again,” he explained as he pushed me legs down and plopped on me lap, straddling it. “I was horny after you guys were playing with me and I screwed up. I didn’t know how important it was to wear my mates’ marks. I hurt Rian and asked if you guys could bite me somewhere else so I wouldn’t be scared. I broke his heart and when I saw that I took a chance. That doesn’t mean I love him over you. I’m falling for you both.”
“Truly?” I was filled with such hope that I prayed that this was real.
“Yes.” His cheeks heated up and he leaned in and pressed his lips to me ear. “I think I love you. I just need more time to be sure. I’ve never been in love before and I’m not as old as you guys. I’ve not seen much love. I didn’t have parents who showed me what it was like. Hell, they hated each other. I think this is what love feels like. I trust you. Even after what happened I trust you as I did Rian to claim me. I want you to. You haven’t changed your mind, have you?”
“No!” I whimpered. “I thought ya didn’t want me. I went to the Queen for help. I also asked for a favor so I could give ya something to show how much ya mean to me.” I glanced over to Brian. “Do ya have blood? Coffee? I need to sober up. I can’t claim him drunk. I won’t dishonor him that way, and I won’t scare him that I’m not in control.”
“You are so forgiven for worrying me for being that sweet,” Bev purred as he rubbed his cheek against mine. “I missed you. Next time you promise to come talk to me if you think something’s going on. Am I so easy to walk away from?”
“No,” I growled as I rolled us over and pinned him to the ground. “No you’re not. Me heart shattered into a million pieces that ya let Rian claim ya when I left, but I love ya both enough that I was willing to leave so ya could be happy together. It would have killed me, but I would have sacrificed me happiness for both of yours. I want nothing but me mate and me twin.”
“Ya have us, Ronan. Nothing comes between us,” Rian said gently. “Not even a man. And our mate would never make us choose. Bev be too good of a man for that and fate wouldn’t be cruel.”
“I know he is,” I agreed, meeting me twin’s eyes. “Which is why I knew he’d never, ever tell me if he only loved ya. He would have done what was right and been with us both, and I couldn’t do that to either of ya if he didn’t want me.”
“Hey, I do want you so it’s a moot point. No more assuming things,” Bev chastised. “I know we got a rocky start, but we’re past that now. You’re going to sober up and give me hot, hot sex where you claim me. Then we’re going to sleep and start tomorrow together as mates.”
“Yes,” I hissed as I licked along his collarbone. “Why are ya not loopy anymore?”
“If he keeps biting us it doesn’t last as long,” Rian answered. “We figured that out earlier. So if he starts to get tipsy, ask if ya be his, and he’ll jump ya and bite ya.”
“Gladly,” I groaned as I ma
ssaged Bev’s ass. Then I nibbled on his ear and he let out the prettiest yowl. “And I have a mating present for ya if ya want.”
“I love presents,” he giggled.
“Banning, can ya fill Rian in far away or in the bathroom with the shower running where me mate can’t hear it?” I wiggled me eyebrows at Bev and he giggled again. It turned out Banning had put the phone on mute when I had opened me big mouth so I didn’t blow me own surprise.
We made out until Brian came in with the coffee and blood. I downed two bags and four cups before I felt sober. Then we left, after I apologized to me brothers and their mate again. On the way back to the palace, I told them what the Queen had said, about her driving lessons, and her request for Bev.
“Actually, I might be able to do better than that,” Bevin hedged as he nibbled on his lower lip. “I can etch in glass too. I’ll let her know if someone can get me a drawing of his wolf, I can etch it into some layered glass so it looks like it’s captured in crystal. I can’t draw, but I can copy sketches and put them into glass.”
“Just another way ya are amazing,” I whispered in awe. How cool would it be to have such gifts?
“I hear I’m not the only one with amazing talents I don’t brag about,” Bevin said quietly as we walked down his corridor. I blinked in shock and then glanced at Rian who nodded. “Don’t be mad that he told me. I was worried that you could have been taken, and he was trying to reassure me you could handle yourself.”
“I’m not mad at all. I’m glad ya know,” I replied honestly. “It’s just weird that someone else knows. We’ve never told anyone. Not even our parents or family.”
“Why not? I would think it’s a big deal.”
“Exactly. It’s a big deal,” I answered. “We didn’t know how others would take it or if they’d have to let someone know. Our das are Councilmen. There might be rules on telling people. We’ve never heard of it before.”
“Heard of what?” Rylan growled, stepping out of the shadows. “What’s a big deal and why are you hiding it? And why did you dismiss your guards, Bev? I’m going to kick your scrawny ass.”
