Elements of Desire

by C. M. Stunich

  “Fuck yeah, sug,” he groaned, pushing me back down and thrusting up into my mouth. It was hot as hell to see him coming undone like that, like the pleasure was almost too much to take. Good thing he was an elemental. I could get him to blow his load and then fuck me right after for as long as I needed him to. Score! “Just don’t stop. I got cheated outta two group sex sessions, so there’s a lot to make up for.”

  I scoffed—with his dick in my mouth, quite the feat—but that only seemed to excite him more. Pulling back, I gave Shane a look.

  “You did me from behind in the SUV! That’s hardly getting cheated.”

  “I got tail end of the tail,” he murmured with a sly smile that drew my attention to his full lips.

  “The tail?” I said, quirking a brow and squeezing the base of his shaft hard enough to make him buck. “You mean your wife. Show some respect!” I changed my mind about letting him come in my mouth and crawled up to straddle his hips, rising up on my knees to guide him where I wanted him to go.

  As I slid down the length of his hard cock, I swear … I felt something shimmer in that metaphorical pool of silver magic inside of me. It was just a ripple, a light breeze across the surface, but it was there. No mistaking it.

  I paused for a moment, trying to figure it out, but then Shane was grabbing my hips with inked fingers and thrusting his pelvis up and into me, encouraging me to move. At that point, I was pretty much gone. I had a war to worry about, soul mates to re-bind, a twin and a grandma to confront, but at that point, I could give two fucks less.

  Leaning forward, I put my palms on Shane’s chest and started to work my hips in these rhythmic undulating motions that made every muscle in my new husband’s body go tense. He cursed under his breath in that deliciously sinful Southern accent of his, blue eyes focused on my face. I touched the side of his with my fingertips, teased across his stubble, and reminded myself that even if Gemma had unbound him from me … he was mine.

  “Say it,” I told him in a husky, sexy voice that would’ve had a hell of a lot more impact if Shane knew what the fuck I was talking about.

  “I love you,” he groaned in response which basically stole all my thunder, turned my cheeks red, and caused me to stop moving. Shit. Feelings. I was so not good with feelings.

  “Why do you people keep doing this to me?!” I groaned, just before Shane flipped me over and started kissing at my neck, sucking on my earlobe, working his way over to my lips. If I had to keep hearing the L-word, I was going to break into pieces and drift away on the wind. It was just … too goddamn embarrassing!

  “Keep tellin’ you we love you?” he asked, looking baffled. “I thought the ladies loved that shit?”

  “Don’t be genderist,” I scolded, because I wasn’t sure that enjoying hearing the L-word was sexist per se. “Some ladies. Maybe even a lot of ladies. And men, too,” I continued, groaning when Shane thrust hard and stole the words from my throat. Asshole. “But not this one,” I managed to choke out. “So stop.”

  “How about no?” Shane asked, thrusting into me again and taking my face between his big hands. “I love you, Arizona Smoke, and whether you like it or not, I’m gonna tell your ass that the rest of your damn life.”

  He kissed me before I could protest, flicking his hot, warm tongue against my own. Shane reached down with one hand and took hold of my ass, adjusting his hips so that when he thrust, he was grinding his pelvis against my clit. Good for him. He was willing to hunt for more than just unicorns ...

  I wrapped my legs around Shane and threw my arms around his neck, kissing him so he’d stop saying weird shit.

  It worked.

  Instead of using his mouth to embarrass me, he used it to tease my tongue and teeth, kiss down the side of my jaw, nibble at my earlobe. His right hand massaged my breast, thumb tracing over my nipple.

  Pleasure built up in all the places he was touching me, coalescing together in my chest, making it feel tight. I was determined not to come before Shane which shouldn’t have been hard because, you know, he was like a dude, but I couldn’t help it. With a gasping breath, I arched my back and pressed my breasts into him, tightening around his shaft and coming with a ridiculously embarrassing sound that I just knew the rest of the guys were going to hear and comment on.

  Shane chuckled as I lay there sweating and gasping and panting, kissing me on the mouth, and then he came with a hard, smug, male sound of triumph that basically forced me to pinch and twist his nipple until he gasped and rolled off.

  “Asshole,” I whispered, and then, because I knew I just had to say it back, I mumbled, “I love you.”

  And then I was up and grabbing my skirt and shirt, yanking them on sans undergarments and moving back out into the main part of the plane.

  Both Warden and Reg clapped at me with big, stupid grins on their faces.

  “That last sound was ...” Warden touched his lips with his fingers and kissed them. “No porn star could’ve done better.”

  “Eat shit,” I said, slumping back into my chair and grabbing the champagne bottle. “You all suck.”

  But what I meant was … that they were all pretty okay.

  Like just okay though.

  I was so not smitten.

  Not at all.

  Heh.

  Let’s just say, if I were Pinocchio, I’d have a nose as long as Reg’s erect dick.

  When I’d first inherited my grandma's crumbling old Victorian mansion, with its busted plumbing and peeling wallpaper, I'd been pissed. Like, legit. During her final days on earth—as a corporal being rather than a ghost—I'd busted my ass taking care of her. Hell, I'd lost my job for her, and then she left me this dump.

  But that was then. Now, coming home from my—albeit short—honeymoon with my six husbands, I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.

  "Hello, house!" I yelled with a huge grin as we entered the foyer and dropped our bags.

  "Happy to be home, Firebug?" Billy asked, running a hand down my back and making me shiver. The weather had gotten cold in the few days we had been gone, and the short walk from the car had me thoroughly chilled already. Last I’d heard, the place was dripping with CUM, but it looked okay now. Apparently COCS had cleared the CUM out while we were gone. Heh. Acronyms.

  "So happy." I smiled, inhaling the familiar old lady, sort of musty scent of my house. "Now we just need to restore our bonds and then kill my bio parents and all will be well in the world again."

  "Excuse me?" Bio Mom—Nevada—sneered at me. "You can't kill us. We're your parents. That is highly against Elemental Law."

  I snorted a laugh. "Like you lot give two shits about elemental law, you're a homicidal maniac trying to drain both your daughters for their magic. Let that process for a second." I squinted at her and she scowled back at me. Damn, she really did look like Gemma. And me … I guess. We did sort of have the same nose.

  "What do you want to do with her, Sug?" Shane asked me with a yawn, his hand clamped tight around Nevada's arm.

  Nevada. What a ridiculous name. More to the point, how did Gemma end up with a normal name?

  "Uh, good question. Maybe stick her in the wine cellar? It has one of those fancy lockable wrought iron gates so it’s probably the safest place for her." I pondered this for a moment or two. "But make sure she's tied up well enough that she can't touch my wine."

  "You got it," Shane agreed, tugging Nevada toward the basement stairs with Dustin following for back-up.

  "Shane!" I called out, just before they disappeared through the door. "Grab me a bottle or two while you're down there!"

  Shane grinned and shook his head, and Dustin gave me a saucy grin before they continued down to secure our prisoner. What we intended to do with her, I had no idea. But surely she'd come in handy?

  Groaning and rolling my shoulders, I made my way to the grand staircase leading upstairs. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to go take a soak in that gorgeous tub you built for me. We haven't used it nearly enough so far."


  "I'll go get the water started," Reg offered, skipping past me up the stairs. "It takes days to fill if I don't help it along."

  Billy eased past me as well. "I'll get it warm. See you in there in five?"

  "Hell yes," I agreed, letting George and Warden take my bags so I could just haul myself up the stairs. Not being able to use the bathroom to clean up during our flight had meant I was badly in need of a wash … and I'd lost track of my panties so this skirt would need a fucking good scrub too.

  "Hello, Mr. Plant," I wearily greeted the giant cactus in the middle of my bedroom. He used to be a small, potted plant sized cactus who lived on my bedside table, but a small mishap when my magic was going all screwy after becoming a shimmer had seen him grow. Exponentially. Like a soft dick going hard, to put a pervy spin on it.

  "Shit, I was supposed to shrink him back down weeks ago, wasn't I?" George murmured, following me and dropping my suitcase near the closet.

  "He's fine." I shrugged. "I'd hate to confine him to a little pot again now that he's experienced such freedom. Besides, it's kind of like an alternative design aesthetic, don't you think?"

  George gave me a bemused smile and shook his head. "Whatever you say, Blossom. I'll go and grab some fresh towels for everyone and see you in there."

  I sighed a happy smile as I watched him leave, my thoughts only broken by Warden's warm breath on my neck.

  "What are you thinking about, Smokey?" he whispered in my ear. "You look as pensive as an elephant in Siberia."

  "Did you just call me fat?" I frowned and his brows shot up.

  "What?" he stuttered. "I didn't … I just meant … what?"

  "Kidding." I grinned. "I know what you meant. How, I have no idea. But I seem to speak your language these days. I was just thinking how thoughtful George is, to fetch towels for everyone. He really is such a nice guy, isn't he?"

  Warden smiled. "He's the best. Now, are we going for this bath or what?"

  "Yes! I just wanted to get rid of these dirty clothes." Not bothering with false modesty—because, I mean seriously? these guys had seen my every crevasse so a little nudity was nothing—I threw my clothes off and dropped them on my floor. Stark naked, I threw Warden a saucy wink and wandered down the hall to my epic bathroom.

  Talk about being treated like a queen. Not like, the Queen of England. That chick did not seem like the kind of gal who'd enjoy a bath with six sexy elemental dragons. Besides, who even knew what she looked like these days? Totally obsolete in my opinion. No … this was being treated like Queen B. You know … Beyoncé. The only queen who was relevant! Hah. Actually, I wasn’t even a fan of her music. I preferred classical myself.

  "Okay," I sighed, stepping into the steamy room and seeing three of my husbands already inside the tub, "I do love you all. This is exactly what I needed after that trip …"

  Just as my toe touched the water, Shane's voice filtered up the stairs, followed by the sound of footsteps.

  "Honeycomb!" he called again, and my shoulders tensed. There was something about his tone that just promised bad news. "Hey." He arrived in the doorway and the look on his face confirmed my fear.

  I gusted a long sigh, and retracted my foot from the tub. "What is it?"

  "Darlin', I don't know how to even tell you this …" Shane trailed off with a grimace. "Mother Mary, this is hard news to break."

  "What is it?" I demanded, half-panicked now at his reluctance to tell me.

  "Christ, it's not that hard," Dustin muttered, leaning on the door frame with a lazy expression on his handsome face. "What redneck here is trying to say, Lucky Charms, is that all yer wine is gone."

  For a long moment, I just stared at him, then burst out laughing. I mean, I was laughing so hard my tits were jiggling and I might have even leaked a little down below. Hey, I was nearly thirty and still hadn't cleaned up from my romp on the plane.

  "Why … are you laughing, sugarplum?" Shane looked beyond confused while I cackled away. "I'd have thought you'd be taking this really hard."

  "I'm sorry," I snickered, trying to get my giggles under control and wiping tears from my eyes. "It's just … I could have sworn Dustin just said all my wine was gone. But that's impossible—even I don't drink that much. You know, for an old lady so hell bent on shaming my alcoholism, she sure does have a huge supply of wine." I pondered on this for a moment, tempted to call Grams out but then remembering I was naked.

  "Uh …" Shane was still frowning at me, and even Dustin looked concerned now.

  "Gobshite," Dustin snapped. "That's exactly what I just said. All. Your. Wine. Is. Gone."

  "Wait. Fucking what?!" This time, I heard him clearly, and my heart stopped beating.

  Snatching a towel, because this was no time to be naked, I raced down to the wine cellar and threw open the cage door. Sure enough, the long room that was once filled to overflowing with expensive bottles of wine, was empty.

  Well, empty except for my scowling bio mom who was chained to the empty wine racks down at the far end.

  "What did you do with my wine?!" I bellowed at her, tucking the towel around me tighter and then getting right up in Nevada's grill. "Tell me now or I swear, I will tear your soul from your body and then feed it to my dog!"

  "Um, babe?" Warden murmured. "You don't have a dog."

  Throwing a quick glare at him, I turned back to my bio mom and growled menacingly. "I will get a dog, just to feed your soul to. And he will be a mean dog."

  "Sugar Darlin', I hate to say this, but I don't think Nevada had anything to do with this one," Shane offered, placing a firm but gentle hand on my shoulder and pulling me back a step so I wasn't quite as in her face.

  "Nevada?" I repeated in disgust. "Now you're friends with this … this … wine thief?"

  Shane sighed. "No, love. Just sayin' that the cellar was empty when we came in here. It must have happened while we were at your mama's place."

  He had a point; Nevada had been with us the whole time. That didn't excuse the other bio parents, but …

  "Who would do something like this?" I wailed, my anger turning rapidly to anguish as my eyes took in the hundreds—thousands—of empty wine slots.

  Billy grunted a noise, swiping his finger in the dust on top of one of the now empty shelves. He held his fingers up to the light and rubbed them together, then sighed.

  "What?" I demanded. "Do you know?" Tears were pouring down my face now and I clutched desperately at Billy's shirt.

  Now, at this point you might be forgiven for thinking my reaction was a bit melodramatic. It was just wine, right? Not like someone raided my panty drawer or ran over my fictional dog. But it was more than that. That cellar full of wine was my Gram's true inheritance to me. Not the house, or the shitty plumbing, or the bad wiring. It was the wine.

  As much as she called me a lush and a drunkard, she loved me. And I loved wine. That cellar, fully stocked to the gills with expensive and rare wines was her way of telling me how much she appreciated me … and now it was gone.

  "Pixies," Billy spat, wiping his fingers off on his towel and leaving a sparkling streak on the fabric.

  "Pixies?" I squeaked, my eyes wide. What the hell did this mean?

  "Uh-oh," Nevada snickered, her chains clinking as she shifted. "Did someone happen to piss off the faery queen recently?"

  My blood ran cold and I whirled back around to face her. "What? Why would you say that? What does that bitch have to do with my missing wine?"

  "Goddamn, you really are the dumb one. Pixies are fairies. Fairies work for Francesca Rosethorn, the Faery Queen. See where I'm going with this?" She rolled her eyes. "We really did pick the right daughter to raise. Fuck me, you're dense."

  I stared at my bio mom for a really long time before reacting. When I did, it was with a shrill, bloodcurdling scream of frustration and I threw my fist into a support beam in anger.

  Fuck. Me.

  The pain that radiated through my hand was like nothing else. What the actual shit? I thought hitti
ng things was supposed to make you feel better, not worse? It always seemed to work for guys in movies and books, right?!

  "Babe," Reg sighed, grabbing me by the wrist and kissing my bruised knuckles. "That maybe wasn't the smartest thing to do."

  Nevada snickered and I wished I'd hit her face instead of the post. For one, it would have probably hurt less, and for two, fuck her.

  Casting a dirty look at the egg donor, I stormed back out of the cellar and up to my bathroom. Crisis aside, I still needed a bath. And a plan.

  Francesca fucking Rosethorn and her faery court were going to be getting a visit from me again real soon, and this time I was going to cause a whole lot more chaos than just knocking over her dildo throne.

  No one fucked with my wine cellar and got away with it.

  Much to my annoyance, we did not immediately storm the faery court and demand they return all my wine to me. Even worse still, I found those fucking pixies had drawn glittery dicks all over Mr. Plant's cactus fronds, and whatever they'd used was like some sort of permanent marker. It just would not come off. The marks were hard to see from far away which was why I hadn’t noticed them before, but up close, they had serious details like ball hairs and stuff. Gross.

  "Arizona, are you listening?" Dustin barked at me and I snapped out of my sulking daydream. I couldn't remember him ever having called me Arizona, and that itself was enough to shock me.

  "Um." I wet my lips and stared at him wide-eyed from my place on the couch. "Yes?"

  "What did I just say then?" He scowled at me, all business. Was it bad that it was really turning me on?

  "Um," I said again, trying to ignore the fact that my nipples were pebbling the thin fabric of my tank top and my cheeks were flushing with heat.

  He didn't wait for me to make up a bullshit answer, just sighed and rolled his eyes. "Leprechaun, I'm gonna need you to take this seriously. CUM doesn't fuck around. If they say they're gonna behead yer friends, then they will. Is that what you want?"