by A. B. Marie
I give him a once over and scowl at him. “Why? You think you have a small cock? Looks plenty big to me.”
He just shakes his head and teleports into his room, I presume. We all jump into bed in the master, sans Graham, and pass out.
Chapter 6
Maya
________
It’s been a month since Nolan officially opened the doors to his little private tutoring building, and he’s loving it! He makes his own lesson plans for each student, and depending on how proficient they are, they have one day a week where they all show off what they’ve learned. He breaks everything down by subject, but since they’re all different ages, he gives them a lot of one-on-one time to ensure they understand. All of them come from families that couldn’t afford the academy or are unable to send them to a more affordable academy, since Goddess Academy is the only one here in the UK.
Graham, Mark, and I have been so busy at the shop, that I think we’re at the point now where we can finally hire some help. Collins finally started only working three days a week and is home for the other four. He keeps Luna at home with him on Thursdays and Fridays, and he usually takes her shopping, to parks, and to libraries for story time. He’s such an amazing dad.
The twins have finished up most of their PI shit that was piled up from the summer break and are thinking about hiring employees to take over. They say they want to continue to work the larger cases or repeat clients. They want to focus on the clubs on the weekends, and be home more, which I understand. It’s hard being away from Luna a few days a week while I’m at the magic shop; I pump milk for her over the weekend and while I’m at the shop, since she’s not eating too many solids yet.
She turns one in a couple of weeks and I’m organizing a small birthday party for her. We are inviting Nolan and Graham’s parents, Collins’s mom, and Penny. I just hope she doesn’t bring over one of her online dates again, that was a mess.
The last woman she brought over a few weeks ago was a witch, and was all over Collins, begging him to show her his ‘magic touch’, drank half of our whiskey stock, and ‘passed out’ in the pool. Penny just frowned at her date and continued moping and floating in the pool, completely ignoring her. I was close to hitting her, along with stabbing them both.
I’m not a jealous person and Collins can take care of himself, but that really pissed me the fuck off. Who comes to someone else’s house, gets introduced to a group of mates, and still rubs up all over one of them? She might not have passed out in the pool on her own… But I’ll never own up to it.
Apparently, our friendly little cunty psycho, Amelie, is leaving the treatment center that’s a few hours away. Ross received a phone call from her therapist yesterday, explaining the terms of her ‘release’ and will be staying with a friend in the city. It’s not like they do house checks or look up she’s leaving with. Unfortunately for her, Ross basically washed his hands of his her, and hung up after making sure she’s staying on medications. I’m not sure I will be able to hold myself back the next time I see that witch.
I’m sitting in the magic room at home packing up what we’re taking with us to the shop on Monday, and decide to teleport over to Nolan, who’s sitting in his office in his private building, grading some piles of papers. “Hey, baby. Come with me?” Not giving him a chance to reply, I grab on to his arm and teleport us to the island. The sun is setting, and I strip naked and run into the water. I sent a text to Collins to let him know where we are.
“Ever since you and Mark started practicing bringing other people jumping around the damn world, I really need to start making sure my phone is in my pocket. I take it you want me to join you?” He’s still standing on the beach with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Do you need to phone a friend? I have mine.” I wiggle it in front of his face then make it disappear; I sent it to my pocket just to mess with him. I smile at him and use my magic to get him naked and I sent his clothes back home to London. Not sure where they landed, though. He groans and stalks toward me and picks me up.
“You’re a pain in my ass, Maya.” He kisses me down my neck and pulls my hair back hard. I arch my back and moan, waiting for more. “Hmm, you could have just asked. Or I could have fucked you across my desk. You’ve been naughty.” He yanks off my clothes and tosses them into the sand. He checks my pussy to see if I’m wet, and instead of stretching me out or making me come, he slams into me and groans. He sits for a few moments to give me a chance to catch my breath and to adjust to his cock, then fucks me until we’re both yelling out and orgasming hard.
“I love this place.” I say while we swim around in the ocean.
The sun is down now, and the only light is coming from the moon above us. After we float around and talk about nonsense, Mark pops up scowling at us from the shore.
“Really? You’re lucky we have so much damn milk in the fridge, Maya. You could have just told us you were leaving. This was the last place I fucking looked.”
“I told Collins!” I chuckle at him. “Should have checked here first!” We walk over to him and I pick up my clothes. “Sorry, Nolan, your clothes are somewhere at the estate.” I shrug and look at him from over my shoulder.
Mark chuckles. “They actually landed in the laundry room while Maggie was folding towels. Right on top of the stacks of clean laundry.” I laugh and I grab ahold of Nolan and pop us into my master bathroom so we can shower. Ross and Troy are sitting on my bed talking and they scowl at us.
“Where did you go?”
I smile at Ross, “The island!” They roll their eyes and Ross hands Troy a few bills from his wallet.
“Told you fuckers!”
They turn on the TV, and I hop into the shower with Nolan and we get clean.
“Your mama will be right here, sweetheart… Maya! She’s asking for ‘mama’. She won’t take her bottle either.” Collins calls from outside of the bathroom.
“I’m coming!” I dry myself off with a thought, pop into my closet to throw on a robe, and walk over to my sad Luna girl. “Come here, baby.” I kiss Collins on his cheek and walk over to the nursery. “I’ll bring you with us next time. We just won’t have any adult time.” I chuckle to myself and get Luna down to sleep after she chugs down milk. I asked Nolan’s mom when I met her how long she breastfed for and she just laughed out loud at me and said that if it were up to the boys, they would have breastfed until college. She had to trick them when they were young, that all the milk was gone and they needed to drink water and eat more food.
Luna isn’t even a year old yet, so I’m not too worried. I pump enough milk to sustain her if I can’t be with her during the day. Or, hide away at an island for several hours to fuck my mate.
It’s Saturday night and it’s Luna’s birthday party tomorrow. We’re all up drinking and setting up the backyard with a little ball pit, a few tables and chairs, and balloons all over the place. Mark also thought it would be a good idea to get the girl a puppy. It’s not like there’s fucking nine familiar animals already in the estate. Malek, Gerard, and Maggie’s familiars are all cats, and keep to themselves or sleep in their quarters. They will come out to play every now and then, but all of our familiars are younger and annoy the shit out of the older cats.
The said puppy is barking at Lola, my kitten familiar, and trying to chase her around. Lola just flicks her tail and either turns invisible or pops away and lands on my shoulder to hide. We learned a few weeks ago that my familiars can teleport to me, when they showed up at the magic shop after I purposefully left them at home.
At least the little fluff ball is cute. Mark picked out a Labrador retriever, because, why not? Luckily, we have magic so we can clean up his messes hands-free, and the dog hair out of the pool when we teach him to swim.
“I’m done for the night. Who’s staying with the little barking ball of fluff tonight?” I ask while I start walking back into the house. Collins, Troy, and Graham all pop away and I laugh while I do the same. Looks like Mark and Nolan have to fi
gure it out, since Ross is already upstairs sleeping. Nolan pops up and runs to the bed and snuggles down.
“He’s the one that bought the damn thing! He can sleep with it!” We all laugh and pass out, tomorrow our baby is turning one.
Chapter 7
Maya
________
Malek outdid himself for the party. There’re two cakes: one for the adults and a tiny ‘smash cake’ for Luna. There are appetizers on trays in the kitchen, living room, and along the food table outside. There’s various bowls of hummus of all flavors, homemade pitas, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, and a bowl of chips for Troy since he refuses to eat healthy most days. He just fired up the grill to prepare lunch, we decided to keep it simple and have burgers and grilled vegetables.
Mrs. Riggs and Mrs. Collins are clapping as they watch a stumbling Luna walk around the backyard trying to chase her new puppy. The little black fluff ball is barking at her and running in circles. Mrs. Riggs looks my way, “What did you name him?”
I shrug and look over to Mark, “He can name him, since he will be the one sleeping with him and training him!” They laugh and grab another mimosa from the table.
Mark scowls at us. “What about Hellion?” The guys and I all groan and the moms look at us with a funny look. We shrug and change the subject, but I think Hellion is fucking perfect. Maybe we can ask Lucifer if hell hounds are real.
We are all passing Luna around and finishing up the appetizers when Penny shows up with someone we would never expect.
Amelie. I growl and get up to stalk over to them and try to restrain myself to not murder them on the spot.
“You have five seconds to explain.” I growl out at them both.
Penny looks sheepish. “I didn’t recognize her last week on the dating app and we’ve had a few dates. She’s really amazing, Maya.” She looks over to Amelie with hearts in her eyes and the latter smirks at me before covering it up and giving Penny a kiss on the cheek.
“Come on, Maya, isn’t it time I meet my niece?” Fuck, this idiot wants to die. She’s even dressing like Penny now. Her dark brown hair is in an elaborate up-do, her dark brown eyes are alight with her madness, and she’s wearing bright a bright pink dress with yellow heels. I grimace, it’s one thing for someone bubbly like Penny to pull off, but not on Amelie. Penny’s long, red hair is braided down her back and is wearing a rainbow-colored dress and purple heels. Her blue eyes are so damn happy I want to puke.
I groan and pop over to Ross and Troy who are sitting in the grass clapping for Luna to walk to them. “Your sister is here. With Penny. They’re dating. I’m not dealing with it. We stay with Luna, within two feet from her. At. All. Times.”
Ross startles and jumps up to stalk up to Amelie and drags her inside the house. The rest of the guys come over and we all sit and watch Luna walking and falling down in the grass while playing with some balls from the ball pit. I don’t see where Penny went, probably after her psycho ass girlfriend. I can’t believe this shit.
I check out the rest of the yard, and I see that Mr. Riggs is talking to Malek about how he likes his burgers and is going on a tangent about proper barbeque temperatures. Malek just grimaces and nods at him, probably holding himself back from smacking him in the head with his spatula.
Mark is pissed, “What the fuck does Penny think she’s doing?”
I shrug. “Signing her death warrant?” I hold my hand out and my switchblade pops into my hand from where I leave it in my closet, on the top shelf, with the rest of my weapons stash in a small safe. I put it in my pocket and close my eyes. “I swear to fuck I’m going to drown Penny in the pool.”
We spend the rest of the afternoon playing with Luna in her ball pit and handing her presents for her to rip open and play with her new dolls and toys. Malek is cleaning up the mess from all of the appetizers and lunch to start up on some casserole for dinner and getting the cakes out of the fridge. Ross was in the house with Amelie for a while, and when they came back out, he just dumped his body down beside us and groaned.
“She said she will only stay for the cake, and ‘promises’ to be on her best behavior. It’s up to you, baby.” I just roll my eyes and get on with our day.
“Son!” I hear a booming voice call out from the backyard. I run out of the house and see Mark’s mom and dad, along with my birth parents smiling down at Luna who is looking up at them from Collins’ arms, blinking widely.
Gretchen, Mark’s mom, looks the same as she did the day she died – gorgeous and dainty, around five-foot-three with long, brown hair and bright blue eyes. My mother is openly crying while holding her arms out to hold Luna, and she looks so ethereal, she’s almost hard to look at. Her long, golden blonde hair is swinging around her hips and her sky-blue eyes are wet with tears. She’s wearing another gorgeous, floor length gown that matches the color of her eyes. She holds Luna in her arms and speaks low into her ear.
I walk over to my father that holds his arms out and we have an awkward hug.
“Daughter. You look like a true goddess!” I give him a small smile and a grimace. I’m still not used to the glowing skin, hair, and eyes. My hair is still a lot lighter shade of purple, so glossy and sleek, and my violet eyes twinkle and glow like the stars in the sky. My skin looks so damn luminescent sometimes that I call myself Twilight, the guys always groan at me ever since I made them watch the movies.
I only wear my dampening necklace when we leave the house, so I’m in my full goddess glory today. He walks around introducing himself to the shell-shocked parents and I laugh. He’s shirtless, wearing black cargo pants with combat boots, and his red hair is messy. His dark brown eyes are alight with humor and his booming laughter is shaking my bones.
My father and Richard are giants at seven feet tall, while my mom is the same height as me. I have no idea if all goddesses are as short as us or not, my mom is the only one I’ve met.
I give the Kreuss’s a hug and my mother hands Luna over to Gretchen. She sniffles, “Maya, she is so beautiful.” I smile at her and give her a small hug before I kiss Luna’s cheek.
“Thank you. How is living on the Heavenly plane?” I ask Gretchen.
She grimaces. “It’s been hectic, but Lucifer is pulling back his forces and has been trying to find a ‘middle ground’ to end the war. He still believes all gods and goddesses should be punished for killing his mate.” She shrugs and hands Luna over to Richard. He looks like a taller, bulkier Mark, with his short dark brown hair, glowing emerald eyes.
“How long are you all able to stay? I still have a lot of questions.”
My mom gives a sympathetic look, “We can try to stay the night, but it’s still hectic on our plane. No one trusts that Lucifer is really in negotiations for the right reasons, so everyone is on edge. Plus, we shouldn’t be here for long, who knows what the other demons or council members will do once they feel our magic.”
“Okay, well, we should at least sit and talk after I put Luna down to bed?” They nod and watch Luna play after they finally set her down.
I lead Gretchen and my mother over to everyone and make introductions. Penny is smiling and shaking hands, while Amelie looks terrified and is just sitting in the corner, not moving from her seat. Serves that cunt right. Richard and Gretchen try to talk to her, but she just scowls at them and chugs her drink. I smile widely at her and she pales. Oooh, I should announce to everyone who she is.
Malek announces that dinner is ready, and we spread around the tables outside, while he serves us shepherd’s pie and gives Luna some grilled chicken and steamed veggies with a side of cubed cheese. She claps and starts feeding her food to Hellion, that’s sitting under her chair. I get up and drag Gerard, Maggie, and Malek into seats and force them to eat with us.
Collins leans over and whispers in my ear, “Do you think Amelie will get the hint soon?” I shrug and smile over to Mark who keeps hugging his mom and keeps shaking his head.
“Not sure. She’s persistent.” We finish our meals and Malek sets
up the cakes on the food table. We sing to our Luna and hand her the little smash cake. We all have our phones out laughing while she smashed her whole face into it. She just giggles while licking her hands and lips. This girl is adorable. Her hair is growing out enough to put into pig tails, and her clothes are a mess from dinner and the cake. Tonight will be a long bath night.
Right when I pick Luna up to take inside to get ready for bed, I feel a sinister magic rolling and the fucking King of Hell shows up, sitting on a chair in my backyard.
His gravelly voice booms out, “Why isn’t Luna wearing the black diamond?” He looks at all of us and scowls.
“Because she’s a baby, Lucifer. She puts everything in her mouth.” I purse my lips and watch his black eyes glow to blue when he looks at my daughter.
He gives me a sharp nod. He snaps his fingers and produces a small package into his hand and sets it on the table. “Be sure she wears this one. It is charmed to only come off by you, Maya. My mate needs to be protected.” He looks at her again and vanishes.
I glare at where he just disappeared from. “Well, at least he should stay away for another year.”
All of our parents start yelling after shaking out of their stupor, aside from Richard who just smirks at everyone. “I wasn’t lying now, was I?”
“I have to go speak to the others about this. There has to be a way to stop this!” My dad yells and picks up my mom and throws her over his shoulder. “We will see you soon, my daughter.”
“Put me down, now!” My mother’s tinkling voice shouts out at him. “We are staying here for at least a few ours with our daughter! She deserves answers!” He scowls at her and slowly puts her down. “He will still be her mate tomorrow. Go sit and have a beer.”
Leaving them to it, I start to walk inside to get Luna in the bath and ready for bed, when I look over to Amelie on my way, “You can leave now. Penny? You can stay or go. We have a lot to talk about.” I thank Malek for all of his hard work and start the bath in the ensuite in her nursery.
