“But it’s not a no,” he replied and went to the kitchen humming.
Sometimes he was so childlike. It was “serious” Fox that always threw me for a loop.
“Pizza?” Fox asked, phone in his hand.
I yawned and stretched with my arms above my head. “I’m going to call it a night.”
Nico followed me to my bedroom and climbed into bed right behind me, wrapping his arms around me to make a safety net of warmth. “I can’t stand the thought of being away from you,” he whispered and kissed the top of my ear. “It hurts just imagining it.”
“Same,” I whispered back, stroking one of his forearms where it was wrapped around my chest.
“I’m not trying to convince you,” he whispered. “I’m just sharing my feelings with you.”
“I appreciate that,” I said honestly. “And I know being apart for two weeks, even if you were in the next town over, would still put us all on edge. Or, possibly lose our shit. Not being able to touch any of you for two weeks?” I shuddered.
“Same,” he whispered and kissed my head.
“Can I talk to you?” I asked Justin, my boss, popping my head into the doorway of his office. He was in his mid-forties with graying temples and a gnarly scar on his right cheek. Rumor around the office was that he got it in a bar fight when someone suggested that video games were only for children and adults who played were childish.
He looked up and waved me in. “What’s up?”
I closed the door and sat in the chair in front of him. His office was covered in video game memorabilia that I drooled over every time I walked by. So many of the items were rare and super valuable.
“I need to talk to you about-”
“Wait, let me guess. You’re here to talk to me about the Summit,” he said with a smirk. “The two week trip the princes are going on.”
“How did you know?” I gaped.
He laughed. “I’m a werewolf.”
Then, he did something I had never seen before. He grew wolf ears out of the top of his head, complete with fur. It reminded me of several anime shows I watched and before I could stop myself, I leapt up and touched one of them.
He didn’t growl or snap at me, which I took as a good sign. Coming to my senses, I plopped back down into my seat, my cheeks warm. “Sorry.”
“You’re a princess to our pack. You’re allowed to touch us without worrying we will bite you,” he said with a smirk. “Though, I doubt Prince Deryn would like seeing you do that.”
“Deryn’s never done that,” I whispered and pointed at his ears.
“I started doing it for conventions. It’s easier to let my wolf ears out than to purchase some fake ones,” he admitted. “I get a lot of girls wanting to touch my ears and even more when I let my tail out.”
I bet he did.
“So, about the Summit?” I said to bring us back on topic.
“You’re good to go. Just make sure you email me your work, so I know you’re working,” he said. “If I declined your request, I know I’d have an angry prince visiting me, and I’d rather avoid that. Plus, you are ahead of schedule on all of your projects and all of your work has been stellar. So, I don’t see any harm letting you go.”
“Thank you!” I screeched and stood up. “Thank you, so much.”
“You’re welcome, Princess.”
I flinched. “Please, don’t call me that here. People will think I’m getting special treatment. I don’t want that. I want equal treatment. I want to earn my place in the gaming industry.”
“You are,” he assured me. “I would have booted you out of here a while ago if your writing wasn’t so great.”
“Thanks,” I said, shocked at the huge compliment. As soon as I left his office, I sent a message in our group chat.
Me: I can go with you.
Deryn: Really?
Rhys: Good.
Nico: Sweet.
Fox: Yes! Woohoo!
Me: Yes, Deryn. My boss okayed it since I’m ahead of schedule on my projects.
Rhys: I’ll get the paperwork all in order.
Nico: We should celebrate tonight. Pizza and party games?
Me: Sounds great!
Deryn: You touched another wolf’s ears?!!!
Damn, how had he found out so fast? Had Justin really called and let him know? Why?
Me: He grew wolf ears out of the top of his head! Like in that show I’ve been watching. I just leapt up to touch them without thinking. He’s part of the pack, so I’m allowed to touch him. Plus, it wasn’t like I touched him inappropriately. It was just an ear.
Deryn: -_-
Me: Jealous monster.
Fox: You’re ruining our happy mood! Jolie is coming with us on our trip! We won’t have to be separated from her!
Nico: I agree with Fox.
Deryn: We’ll talk later.
Me: *static* what’s that? *static* you’re breaking up. *static* I think I’m going into a tun-
Fox: XD
Deryn: >:(
Rhys: lol
Nico: o(^o^)o
Me: BYE! xoxox <3
When I got home, Deryn was waiting for me in the lobby.
“Hey, handsome,” I greeted him and kissed his cheek.
“Show me how you touched him,” he ordered me and folded his arms across his chest.
“Grow ears,” I ordered him back.
Shockingly, he did as I asked and two ears popped out of the top of his head. I reached up and rubbed one of his ears and then stepped back. “That’s what I did.”
“No wonder he called me,” he growled, his eyes now his wolf’s eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“That goes into my top three turn on spots,” he told me, his body crowding mine as he moved closer. “Touching me like that makes me want to take you right here.”
“He hadn’t seemed flustered,” I told him. “He said he does it at conventions all the time.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure he walks around with a hard-on all day.”
“I didn’t know,” I whispered weakly. “I wouldn’t have done it if I’d known.”
“You grow ears,” he ordered me.
Me? I could shift, but I wasn’t sure I could just grow ears. “Can we go to my apartment first?” I asked. There wasn’t anyone else in the apartment lobby with us, but I still didn’t want to do it here.
He nodded, the ears disappearing, and we went to my apartment, which was empty.
We faced each other and I focused on the image of a girl with wolf ears and a wolf tail, but a human body. It wasn’t difficult, since I had watched a ton of anime movies with characters like that. My scalp began to tingle and my lower back throbbed.
Suddenly, they just popped out. I screeched since my tail was stuck in my pants and hurriedly pushed them down in the back, to let it out.
Deryn groaned and growled at the same time, something I hadn’t ever heard before. “That is so hot.”
Hurrying towards the mirror in the bathroom, I looked at myself and had to admit, it was sort of hot.
“Come here, please,” he requested.
I walked to him, sashaying my hips so that my tail swung side to side.
His eyes darkened and he got a hungry look, one I recognized all too well. With one hand, he reached up and touched my ear like I had done to him.
Holy fangs! It felt amazing and I moaned out loud, tilting my head so he could rub it more.
“See?” he asked, stepping forward and continuing to rub my ear. “It feels amazing.”
“I’m sorry,” I moaned. “I didn’t know. I won’t do it again.”
“I know you didn’t know. I’m not mad at you. I was at first, but once I realized that you weren’t aware, my anger disappeared. However, it is important that you learn about things like this, so you don’t repeat your mistakes.”
“Deryn,” I whispered, “does it feel as amazing when you touch my tail?”
He dropped the hand that had been touching my ear and I whim
pered at the loss of his touch. His chuckle quickly followed my sound and then he gently stroked my tail.
A gasp wrenched out of my throat. It caused warmth to flow low in my stomach, a sensation I had not been prepared for. Wow.
“Whoa,” he whispered. “I’ve never done the tail before.”
“Too much,” I whimpered. “It’s so sensitive.”
“Did you orgasm?”
I shook my head and swallowed thickly. “Almost,” I admitted and reverted back to my human form.
Deryn’s phone rang. He ignored it, eyes still darkened.
“You should answer that.”
He groaned and put his phone to his ear. “What?” A moment later, he said, “fine,” and hung up. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the doorway. I followed, just glad to shake off the sexual tension from a moment ago.
We met the rest of the guys for pizza and games at Deryn’s apartment. He released my hand with a smile.
“Jolie!” the three guys yelled when I walked in. Clearly, they had started drinking before we arrived, but I was okay with that. They were all happy drunks.
“Guards!” I yelled back and raised my arms in the air.
Fox popped the top on a bottle of hard cider for me, which I gratefully accepted. They came over and we held our bottles up.
“To a wonderful adventure,” I said.
“Adventuring!” Deryn yelled.
“Adventuring!” the five of us yelled at the same time.
Yeah, we were nerds, and we were perfectly okay with admitting that. How I had lucked out to find four hot nerds was beyond me, but I knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.
We took a big gulp of our drinks and then went to the couch to play games. These games were serious, but we were still having fun. Once we got a few more drinks in us, they would be hilarious and ridiculous to watch. We had recorded ourselves one night and watched, as many of us couldn’t keep our kart on the track since we were so drunk. The amount of cussing and swerving karts was one of the most hilarious things I’d ever seen. I had saved that video to my hard drive, ensuring I kept it forever.
The pizza came and we ate while sitting at the table together. It always made me happy to eat at the dining table with them, like we were a family.
“We are a family,” Deryn grumbled at me.
I jerked my head up and asked, “What? I didn’t say that out loud, did I?”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Fox scowled.
“Me neither,” Nico admitted.
“I heard her,” Rhys said.
I have a third nipple, I thought in my head.
Rhys and Deryn rolled their eyes.
“Still nothing,” Nico said.
“Me neither,” Fox said.
“What the hell?” I growled.
Now I couldn’t even have my thoughts to myself?
“It’s not like we did it on purpose,” Rhys reminded me. “Why did this suddenly start? What changed?”
“I don’t know,” I whispered and shoved more pizza into my mouth. Sometimes, I was a stress eater. This was one of those times. Who wouldn’t be stressed when two of the four men you were dating could suddenly read your mind? Nothing would be secret anymore.
“Got a lot of secrets to hide?” Rhys asked with a smirk.
I glared at him.
“Stay out of my head.”
“You’re yelling your thoughts at me,” he accused.
“We need to talk to the Elders tonight,” I said urgently.
“Tomorrow. None of us are in any shape to see the Elders,” Rhys countered.
The guys continued eating, drinking, playing, and having a good time, but I just wasn’t into it anymore. Slinking off during one of their epic battles, I climbed into Deryn’s bed and stared up at the ceiling.
If they all ended up able to hear my thoughts, what was I going to do? Not that I could do anything. It would change everything. There would be no freedom. Everything I thought of would be on display for them. I could never surprise them. How were they going to react to hearing my thoughts about the others? Oh, Goddess! I couldn’t have sex with the other two now! They would hear everything I was thinking about and, uh, this was so unfair. Just once, it would be nice if just once my fucking curse didn’t make things worse.
I jolted up in bed.
“That’s it!” I shouted.
“What?” Nico called from the living room.
“Nothing!” I shouted back. Had the two not heard my thoughts? Were they too busy playing or too drunk now?
Rhys likes fingers in his ass. I thought as loud as I could.
No laughter.
No growling.
They couldn’t hear me. Perfect. My plan was in place and I just had to keep them from hearing my thoughts until I completed it. Step one, go to sleep now!
“Why is she singing children’s songs in her head?” Rhys growled from the back seat of the SUV.
“Stop!” Deryn begged, leaning forward to set a hand on the back of the passenger seat.
In order to keep them from hearing my thoughts, I’d resorted to singing all of the catchy songs that I knew. Children’s songs were the best because they were easy to remember and often repetitive with few breaks. Less time for stray thoughts to slip in.
Deryn growled and rubbed his temples. “Martin, please drive faster.”
My other two guards sat in silence, barely knowing what was going on.
Martin chuckled from the driver’s seat next to me. “You’re torturing them for something, aren’t you? What did they do?”
“They didn’t do anything,” I answered and just as a stray thought started to slip in, I started singing my favorite rhyme, over and over. And over.
The SUV stopped and we all leapt out, racing into the Elders’ room where they were waiting for us. I slid to a stop and bowed low, keeping my songs up.
“What’s troubling you so much?” Dragon Elder asked.
“Rhys and I can hear her thoughts now,” Deryn told him.
“We can’t think of any reason why we could suddenly start hearing them, but we can,” Rhys agreed.
The Elders looked at me.
“Walls are up. No idea how it’s happening,” I replied and went back to rhyming.
“What is it you wish to ask us, Jolie?” Elf Elder asked.
Damn. He was so good at reading people!
“Break my curse!” I shouted. “I-I mean, please break my curse, Elders.”
“Jolie! No!” Rhys yelled.
“I thought we had discussed this?” Deryn said.
“Please,” I begged and dropped to my knees in front of the Elders. “I’m sure that the curse is what did this. I’m sure the curse will continue doing things to ruin my life. No more. I can’t have it ruining things anymore. Everything is going so well and I can’t risk it. I can’t lose anyone else.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I didn’t move to wipe them.
“Jolie,” Deryn whispered in shock.
I could feel the four of them wanting to move closer, but they held their ground out of respect for me and the Elders.
I have to do this. If my curse takes one of you… I couldn’t even finish that thought.
“Very well,” Wolf Elder agreed. “We will break your curse.”
“It is going to hurt and you might very well die, so speak with your guards and then we will take you to the room we use for this sort of event,” Dragon Elder told me.
“Thank you,” I gasped. Part of me had been sure they weren’t going to do it.
The Elders left and I spun around to find a mixture of anger and worry on four gorgeous male faces.
“I love you,” I whispered. “I love all of you, individually and together. Thinking of a life where one of you is missing…it’s torturous. This curse is always hurting me in the worst way possible. You are what matters most to me now and I know it will target you next. I have to do this.”
“What if you die?” Rhys asked,
pulling me into his arms and burying his face in my hair above my ear. “What will we do then?”
“You will become kings. You will find mates. You will do what you did before you met me,” I whispered and hugged him tightly. “You will do all this knowing that I loved you more than anything and will always be part of you. I’ll always be in here,” I whispered and touched his chest.
“No!” Deryn yelled. “No!” He flipped a chair over and growled loudly, his body shaking and fists clenched.
Without hesitation, I went to him and wrapped my arms around his back. “It’s okay, Moon Moon. I love you, too.”
“Please, don’t. Please reconsider,” he begged in a tight voice. “If I lose you, I lose everything.”
“You won’t lose me,” I whispered, trying to put as much assurance into those four words as I could.
I hugged Fox who hadn’t said a word and he hugged me back, drawing my scent in deeply before he pushed me to Nico. “I’ll see you once your curse is removed,” he whispered and turned his back on me.
“Stay strong,” Nico ordered me, grabbed my chin, and tilted it up. “You’re strong and powerful. You carry a piece of each of us in you. You can survive the curse breaking.”
I nodded and kissed his cheek. “Yes, sir.”
With one final look at the four men I loved, I went into the room the Elders had gone to.
“It will be alright,” Dragon Elder assured me. “We will do everything within our power to keep you safe during this.”
Nodding, I went to the bed he was pointing to. Well, not a bed, more of a cot. It was the only thing in the room we were now in. Bare walls, stone floor, and one single cot.
I sat down and they pushed my shoulder, guiding me down onto the cot.
“Close your eyes,” Dragon Elder ordered me.
I followed his directions.
“Center yourself.”
Done.
“You’re going to feel tingles along your stomach and chest. Just stay relaxed. After the tingling ends, you’ll feel burning, and immense pain. Stay strong and it will be gone, never to bother you again.”
“Okay.”
I could do this. I would do this.
The tingling wasn’t so bad, and the burning was uncomfortable. The pain, wasn’t immense. The pain was excruciating. I screamed and thrashed on the cot.
Royally Exposed Page 7
