Captured by Dragons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms Book 2)

by Lidiya Foxglove

  “Why not?” Hiron said. “We’re a family.”

  “Because it says family bathroom, not family sexroom.”

  “I don’t see a bath either,” Hiron said.

  Fair point.

  “We will all feel rejuvenated,” Rafe said. “And I do believe we need it after a day of the traumas we’ve experienced.”

  I snorted. Xado was obviously terrified of all the costumed characters although trying to play it cool and Hiron was breathing very erratically on the Mission: Space ride until I worried he might puke. Of course, Rafe was just muttering about Declan all day.

  They whisked me inside the small room. It was at least, a very clean bathroom. My skirt and shirt were immediately lifted, my panties jerked down, and hands started roughly pleasuring me everywhere, like they had been waiting an eternity just to graze my nipples and slip their fingers between my legs. I was turning to mush in no time. Then Hiron crouched and started carefully licking the center of my desire. “How I have missed your taste,” he said.

  Xado brushed his mouth against mine. “Indeed…” He tenderly kissed my lips. “I hope you’re having a wonderful time, Dakota, but this place is torture…no privacy, and all these small children in their headdresses, when all I can think of is how much I want to sink my cock deep inside you…but then we would all want you, and there isn’t time enough for that.”

  “But the homecoming is going to be worth the wait,” Rafe said. “Especially when we get to see you in that bikini.”

  “Ohh…” I moaned. “You guys can’t keep your minds off of me for one second, can you?”

  “No,” Hiron said. “And believe me, I have tried. But the sight of you, the smell of you, the sound of your voice…every bit of you stirs my senses.”

  I smiled blissfully. “I’m not complaining.”

  My phone vibrated. “Oh no, Mom’s probably texting to ask where I am…”

  “Move over, Hiron,” Rafe said. “I’ll finish her off quick.”

  “I could finish her off just as well,” Hiron said sharply.

  “But I haven’t tasted her mouth or her nectar, and I’m the one who found this private room to begin with!”

  He jostled Hiron out of the way, Hiron putting up some grumbling resistance, and then Rafe’s tongue was stroking over me so fast that I was almost in tears from trying not to scream out loud. I came hard and fast and was left reeling as they all jerked my clothes back into place.

  “You guys are the worst,” I said. “But also…the best. And I think I love you.”

  “And we can hardly help loving you,” Xado said.

  “But I know it’s a big deal for human girls to say that, because they usually get to choose,” Rafe said.

  “I mean it,” I said. “You guys make me feel really in the moment, and really accepted. I can see how much you love each other even though you have some tension over Rafe’s music. And I realized that even if Mom never understands that…I still wouldn’t change a thing. I feel really free.”

  “How strange.” Hiron smiled, gripping my wrists in his hands and pinning them against the door. “When in fact, you are not free at all.” He kissed me one more time before Rafe elbowed us both aside.

  “Sadly, we don’t have time to get into a second round and you both know it.” He yanked the door open.

  Thankfully, Mom was clearly so caught up in whatever deal she was negotiating that she seemed totally unaware of any glow I might have. “I think it’s time to head over to Canada for your cheese soup, babe.”

  Later, after a long day at the park, we were all sweaty and tired and we were dying to relax by the pool for a bit.

  “Mom, do you want to go swimming with us?”

  “Oh no. I’m tired and at some point in your life there is no swimsuit you can bear to see yourself in. I didn’t even bring one.”

  “Okay…”

  “I see where you get it from,” Rafe said once her door was shut.

  “Yeah, I’m starting to see that too.” I unzipped my bag and took out the swimsuit, still feeling kind of nervous. I could never have worn this in public without Rafe, Xado and Hiron in my life. I wonder what else I’ve been holding back from? I loved swimming, and I couldn’t imagine getting to a point where I wouldn’t do it just because I felt unattractive. Of course, Mom had her own pool so maybe she had enough. But pools were more fun with other people.

  The guys were just stripping out of their clothes and into swimsuits right before my eyes. “Ooh, baby,” I purred. “You guys are going to be the hottest show at the Contemporary tonight. I’ll be right back.”

  “You can change in front of us,” Xado said.

  “Sorry, big guy. Once in a while I’m going to make you wait.”

  I slipped into the bathroom, locked the door, and yanked off my tank top and skirt. I tried very hard not to scrutinize my body. I wasn’t very comfortable looking at it, but the guys were, and why should they like my body more than I did? If I got my head out of some women’s magazine model-perfect ideal, I did have some very nice curves. I’d also gotten a little sunburned. Oops. I couldn’t believe Mom never whipped out the sunblock, come to think of it. Man, she really must have been distracted by the whole demon thing.

  I fastened the bikini top at my back and tied it behind my neck, pulled on the bottoms, and stepped out before I could think too much about the bits of me that jiggled.

  All three heads turned immediately. Xado walked up to me and ran his fingers along the bottoms just above my hips, pulling it away from my body. “Mmm…”

  “Damn.” Rafe whistled. “I told you it would look good.”

  “Well, you haven’t seen the other girls at the pool yet.”

  “You went to all that trouble putting it on in private…” Rafe took my hands in his and lifted them over my head. Then he pulled the top up, revealing my breasts, and plucked my nipples as they immediately pebbled. “Just in time for us to undo it all…” He looked up at Xado. “I think it’s time we claim her thoroughly…and make her our true bride.”

  “All of us,” Xado agreed, tugging the bottoms lower.

  “If we do it here, it will be a poor start,” Hiron said. “We’re in the Fixed Plane, and we can’t shift to our maximum potential. Seems like a waste of good binding spells. And the beds here are quite small.”

  My core was hot and I felt a little wild with readiness to take them all, but I had to agree with Hiron. “The pool will probably close,” I gasped, as Xado was now fingering me with deep, expert strokes of two fingers.

  “This verges on cruelty,” Xado grumbled. “I will soon starve without tasting her pleasures.” He quickly stroked me to another orgasm, which I didn’t expect. I guess giving me a release was the easiest hit of power they could get from me. Good deal for me, anyway. I was drifting down from the clouds as we went to the pool.

  But then I hit the real world hard. Damn, what were all these tired kids doing up so late? The hotel pool was packed and tiny children almost immediately went neglected as the head of every mom in the place whipped toward my guys.

  “Rafe!” a man’s voice shouted across the way.

  Rafe’s face was sort of like the face of a person who just realizes he has stepped in a pile of dog shit. Then he smoothed it over as the man got out of his deck chair and came around to us. He was definitely older in appearance than Rafe, his skin leathery and his voice rough like he smoked, but there was a dark and dangerous aspect to him that was very familiar to me. Some of the pool crowd was watching him too and I realized upon further reflection that some people seemed to have signed photos sitting next to their towels.

  “Declan…”

  “Man, look what the devil dragged in. C’mere.” Declan gave Rafe a hug. “How ya been? What brings you here?”

  “This is my bride, Dakota.” Rafe put an arm around me. “She’s from Florida originally.”

  “So the time has finally come, eh? The long spring is over. You’re a more patient man than I’ll ever be, that
’s for sure. Are you coming to the show tomorrow?”

  “No, I think we have other plans.”

  “You haven’t seen me play in fifty years! It’s gonna be a great show. Your little Florida orange blossom here would probably enjoy it, wouldn’t you, honey? Huge crowds here. They really get into it.”

  “Oh, we’re going to the Magic Kingdom tomorrow,” I said. I could see why Rafe didn’t like his cousin.

  “Too bad. I could probably get you a great spot up front.”

  “We’re on such a tight schedule, I didn’t even know you’d be here.” Rafe shrugged.

  “Do you do a song on your set called Lost Girls?” I asked.

  “Yes. I do. Good taste.” He gave me a faintly suggestive smile.

  “It’s my mom, actually.”

  “Then, bring your mom,” he said. “And I’ll give her the V.I.P. treatment.” He grinned at us both and strolled out of the pool area.

  “We should go to the concert,” I said. “Mom would love it. And she looked so tired when she went to bed…”

  “We all look tired,” Rafe said. “This place is tiring. I don’t want to go to that concert.”

  “Is it really so bad? You took such different paths. I want her to have fun.”

  He gripped my shoulder. “I will do it for you.”

  “But let’s not let my mom out of our sight when he’s around either,” I said. “And if he calls me honey again you can fight with him or something. Sheesh.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Rafe

  “Did you ever see Rafe play?” Dakota asked Hiron as we saw the concert stage in view.

  “Never in the Fixed Plane, no.”

  “Really?” She looked at me and then at him.

  I glanced at Hiron, the weight of past disagreements between us, but I tried to keep it casual. “I don’t care if he did or not.”

  “But you weren’t curious to see? Rafe, did you ever play anywhere really cool?”

  “Sure. Lots of places that were cool at the time. Hiron wouldn’t have fit in at all.”

  Xado laughed.

  “I have to say, this is quite something,” Dakota’s mother said. “I never would have guessed some of the music I liked as a kid was made by demons. I guess it explains why he seemed so mysterious and handsome. I had a poster of him on the wall for a little while, before the Beatles came along.”

  Jealousy surged through me. I could have been a wall poster.

  I mean, yes, I would also be an old man now, but…

  A crowd of mostly older people was already gathering to get good seats for the show. I suspected these would be the true fans and random tourists would fill out the rest of the stage. Still, look at this place.

  I looked at Dakota, beautiful as she was, my whole life ahead of me now, and wondered why I couldn’t just let it go.

  I remembered when Declan offered me a “break”. Playing guitar on his record, the one he just knew was going to be a hit.

  Right, I remembered thinking. This dumb song?

  Well, he was right.

  I glanced at Hiron. I’d never told him what really happened. All these years, I’d let him carry some of the burden for dragging me out of the Fixed Plane.

  We wandered around until a suit-clad older guy I’d never seen before came up to us. “Are you Rafe Holland, Junior?” he asked, offering a hand. “Man, Declan wasn’t kidding. Spitting image.”

  “Uh…yeah.” Great. I had to get downgraded to being my own son now, and not the guy who actually played on a record. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Mr. Keen’s manager.” He shook my hand. “He’s made arrangements for you. Come on. Mrs. Carr…I hear you’re a fan.” He gave a schmoozy smile to Dakota’s mom. I had zero idea how they found out her name, but that nosy cousin of mine must have ducked off to the Sinistral Plane just to ask about us back in the village while he knew we were all out.

  “It’s true, Lost Girls was one of the first songs I really fell in love with,” Mom said. “I would never have guessed I’d ever meet him!”

  “Tell him yourself!” The manager led us back behind the outdoor stage to where Declan was finishing off a drink of witch-brewed throat tonic. I remembered that smell.

  “Ah, you did come!” he said. “And is this my—let’s see, my cousin-in-law’s mother, what does that make you? Family, right?” He held out an arm to hug Dakota’s mom. She looked a little bewildered.

  “I’m so honored to meet you and excited to see the concert, Mr. Keen!”

  “Now, I’m afraid I never got your name before.”

  “Oh, it’s Tamara Carr.”

  “Tamara, that is a beautiful name. And you do go by Tamara and not ‘Tammy’? I suspect you are a very sophisticated woman.”

  “Oh well, I do try.” She laughed.

  Yeah, he was just soaking that shit up. While it didn’t take anything away from Dakota’s mom to give him attention, I still didn’t like seeing it. Declan patted me on the shoulder. “Have a drink, take a seat… We’re starting soon. I might throw in a few surprises, Rafe, so brace yourself.”

  “I don’t like surprises.”

  He just laughed. Dakota and her mom grabbed water bottles, and someone showed us to seats right in front of the stage. I glanced back at the increasing crowd. Admittedly, Declan’s audience was as old as you’d expect. It was a little weird to think how all these humans were probably my contemporaries. I didn’t feel old, because of course, I wasn’t old, but Declan was. You would really think I could let go of my fury toward him.

  But damn it, he was still playing in this huge venue and the crowd was still excited to see him. It didn’t matter if they were screaming hot young things or old ladies in elastic waistband shorts fanning themselves with Disney maps, the energy they gave him was the same. I couldn’t blame him for a life well lived, but I could blame him for…other things.

  “Rafe?” Dakota’s fingers brushed my arm. “You really look upset.”

  Hiron glanced at me. “Declan is somewhat of a horse’s ass.”

  “Yeah, but…he’s an old man, right, and he’s always been alone,” Dakota said. “Is this really the life you would have wanted? I mean, maybe it is, but touring is lonely. Nicole has told me stories about how her family was affected by being away so much, being up so late, all the travel and the swings of fame and fortune…”

  “No, Dakota. It’s not what I wanted at all. I don’t regret it.”

  Hiron snorted. “Yes, you do. Rafe, I told her truth. That you came back here to save the castle.”

  I swallowed. Maybe after all these years, I should tell Hiron the truth and try to let it go. Finding Dakota meant starting our lives fresh. Soon we would have children.

  “Hiron,” I said. “That’s not true. I never told you the real story. When you sent me that message asking for my help…I was relieved. You gave me an excuse to cut out.”

  “What do you mean? You never had a record deal?”

  “No, I did.” I grit my teeth. The memory was still agonizing. “It was just after Declan had invited me to play guitar on Rock Jubilee. As soon as I got the offer, he called. He was like, ‘Did you get the call? Did they offer?’ He told me he’d pulled strings for me, talked me up to the record execs. He said he was ‘sticking his neck out for me’ because I needed it. He said I’d probably do better if I recorded more ‘fun’ music and he said the label wanted me to do some songs he had written. You’ve all met him now, so you can probably guess that subtlety is not his forte. Just imagine that guy taking credit for all your accomplishments.” I jabbed a thumb at the stage, although it was still just a sound check and Declan remained out of sight.

  “Maybe…he was just trying to help you?” Dakota asked, although uncertainly. I bristled at the question, but I think she had a gentler view of the world than I did.

  “No. He certainly didn’t want to help me. He wanted to ruin my pride.”

  Hiron frowned, his eyes growing sharp.

  “So, I fina
lly had my chance. The money was good, and they would have probably put me on tour with him right then and there. It would all be thanks to him. No matter how much success I eventually had, he would be able to say forever that it was all thanks to him. And there was no way out of that. Even if I held out for another deal, he could say he started the buzz. I just couldn’t—fucking—stand it. Your letter came asking for help and I was…relieved. I could come home like a hero saving Antaria, and not…” I shrugged.

  “You should have told me,” Hiron said.

  “I didn’t want to tell anyone.”

  “We are a brotherhood,” Hiron said. “I remember the two of you as children, always competing. I believe every word of your assessment of Declan’s character. What he did was low. One does not undermine a man’s pride.”

  A burden lifted off of me, seeing that Hiron was entirely on my side. He had never seemed to understand my yearning to go to the Fixed Plane. I had mistaken that for a lack of support. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have told you a long time ago. It wasn’t fair to tell you I made a sacrifice to join you.”

  “Rafe. I understand. Any man in your shoes would do the same. You had no good way to retaliate and so you protected your reputation.”

  Suddenly the stage lights burst on and the band started playing one of Declan’s B-grade hits, “Winter, Spring, Summer”. The audience burst into cheering, some people already dancing at the first notes, as Declan strode out and grabbed the microphone. He didn’t have as much energy as he used to, I noticed. He barely swayed his hips where he used to be all over the stage. Still, what kind of consolation was it that after fifty years of success he was almost too old to play anymore? It was certainly too late to rewrite history.

  Dakota’s mom started dancing too. “I’m sorry, I take it you guys have some issues with him…but he still sounds great!” she shouted at Dakota.

  “I’m glad you’re enjoying it, Mom, I really am.”

  “Now, this next one is for a special audience member,” Declan said. “This one is for Tamara, and all the girls out there who found out where they were going. Lost Girls!”