Chapter 28
Danika followed Mathis back to another room with a giant bed. She’d never seen a bed that size. And her whole being was going to change. She’d felt the beginning of it, but there was no going back.
Then again, Adam couldn’t go back to being human either.
Paavo lay back on the bed. He beckoned her forward. “I want you to straddle my hips and take me in. Then Mathis is going to get you ready and enter you slowly. Adam said he’s had you anally.”
She nodded. “He has. Enough that shouldn’t take too much work.”
“No, but you’re going to experience a fullness you’ve never felt before. And Adam is going to drive our tempo. I’m hoping that knowing you, he’ll figure this part out quickly,” Mathis explained.
Adam touched her face and kissed her lips. “Enjoy everything.”
“You too.” She kissed him back and climbed up where Paavo suggested. She looked into his eyes and slid down his length.
“Lie down, relax. Don’t worry about anything but pleasure, and if we need to change things, we will,” Mathis promised, moving behind her.
He ran his fingertips up and down her back in slow, teasing strokes. Then something warm and fluid slid down her crack, and Mathis slowly pressed one finger into her before adding a second. Then his cock pressed in slowly. “Give her a second, Adam. She needs to adjust.”
That was an understatement. Part of her wanted to flip over and do this looking up so she could see Adam, but she felt him. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to be looking at everything going on. She already felt cocooned in warmth.
“Now,” Mathis stated.
* * * *
At first, this seemed liked a brilliant fucking idea. And then, Adam started to overthink. His only concern was Danika going through the awakening. And if he chickened out, she wasn’t going to go through with it.
“Babe, I’m ready,” she said, her voice breathy, sexy.
Adam poured lube over his hand and rubbed it down his shaft before moving behind Mathis.
Mathis glanced over his shoulder. “She’ll be fine. We’ll make sure of that. She’s adjusted to both of us, and I can take anything you give me.”
Adam gripped Mathis’ cheek and slid in slowly, pushing him slightly.
“Oh damn,” Danika moaned.
“Tell me it’s good damn,” Adam murmured.
“So good,” she answered.
That was all he needed to fall into a slow but steady rhythm.
Magic started to build within the first couple thrusts. All hers. Blue specks of light danced off her body, flowing through the room. He knew, without a doubt, this was working. She was going through the awakening.
Her awe filled him as well as her own pleasure. It was some kind of miracle he continued to move, driving her sensation higher.
* * * *
Danika held onto Paavo’s shoulders while she went on the ride. When Mathis slid out, Paavo pushed in, and they worked in harmony, a counterbalance that was totally unreal. And through all of that, she could almost hear Adam’s thoughts.
She gave in to the call of magic, letting it flow through her. She felt a hint of Mathis and Paavo’s magic coaxing hers to the surface. It burst as her legs started to shake. Somehow, she teetered on the edge of release while power burst free, and all the dull aches and pains in her bones and deep inside evaporated.
The magic she had rejected her whole life slipped into place and mended all the things the lack of magic had caused. She felt whole, healthy, ready to tackle the world.
Then Adam started pushing faster as he grew close.
Mathis caught her breast, pulling at her nipple and twisting as the pleasure grew like wildfire and wiped out all thought as she floated in bliss.
Memories didn’t assault her like some Fae claimed. She sensed the knowledge there, ready for her to reach for, but she didn’t need it. No, she just wanted to float there, happy, blissful,
She blinked as they continued to move and she cried out again as another orgasm followed. This time, her vision blurred and she closed her eyes as she collapsed on Paavo, letting him hold her while they made love to her.
She drifted away as everyone fell apart.
* * * *
Adam stared up at the ceiling for a moment. What he experienced that night, he would never forget. But what he shared with Danika, when it was just the two of them was better. It was more. It was them.
His curiosity was sated.
Mathis climbed over Danika to hold Paavo, while Adam pulled Danika into his arms. She’d passed out, and he couldn’t blame her.
Paavo reached across Danika and took his hand. “Tonight was beautiful. And you’re welcome to stay and rest, but I’m sure you both will want to be home, with your baby, before morning. There is a bathroom there. I’ll bring your clothes back. And if you want to talk, or want more, we’ll be in the living room, where this all started.”
“Take care of her. She’ll take care of you,” Mathis added.
They left the room.
Adam held her close and pulled in a breath. Something was different. Not between them, but something inside Danika. He felt her magic flowing free. Felt her essence as if it were whole. And the pain he’d sensed in her was gone. She was whole in a way she may never have been before.
Her hand skated up his chest and her eyes fluttered open. “You okay?” She wiped away his tear.
“You’re here, you’re healthy, you’re whole. I couldn’t be happier.”
“Sorry I passed out. It was…intense.”
“In a good way?”
She nodded. “Yeah, in a good way. But I feel like I need a shower after all of that.”
Laughing, he climbed from the bed and held out his hand.
“Shower, then home?”
“Mmm, that sounds perfect. But I do want to thank them. They gave us forever.”
“We will.”
Chapter 29
“And where is the prick?” Rory demanded.
Mercer rubbed at his head. “Don’t know. He knocked me the fuck out with that monstrosity.”
“A solid gold baseball bat. He got into his hidden stash to get that. Which means he probably went there. We should wait at the van. He can’t teleport anywhere but to the point he entered.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s how it works, you buffoon.” Rory kicked the bat across the room and grabbed his keys. “Come on. We’re going back there. He’s a dead man.
Mercer didn’t bother arguing. He knew he was already in plenty of trouble. He’d killed the prick once before, or so he thought. But that made sense. That he escaped the inferno by stepping into his supposed pot of gold.
“How was I truly supposed to know he had survived?” Mercer asked.
“You know he’s alive now. You didn’t kill him.”
“If we catch him, I will incinerate him.”
“Good, then we just have to figure out where he calls home. That’s where his stash will appear. And I want that stash.”
Mercer didn’t say a word. He understood going after Finnian. And clearly Rory had either forgotten about his daughters, or didn’t know about them. Which meant they were safe, and he planned to keep it that way. As far as he could tell, they didn’t deserve to pay for their father’s crimes.
* * * *
Finnian woke with a start and rolled off a pile of his belongings. The room was cavernous. The more he added, the more it grew. He dug around, looking for the gold-plated handguns, and shoved one down the back of his pants. He kept the second one handy as he envisioned the last place he’d been.
The van was gone. There were no cars around. Then he heard the roar of an engine and spun in time for a fireball to hit him square in the chest. The gun went off and he kept pressing the trigger, firing at Mercer as his eyeballs burst in the flames as his blood incinerated.
The last thing he knew was hellfire.
* * * *
Pain pierce
d Mercer’s chest, stomach, and thigh. He fell to the ground as he touched the hole in his chest. Toxic magic. At least he’d go out with a secret.
Rory moved into his line of sight and Mercer couldn’t help the grin. He already knew he could cast magic against the bastard, but he was dying. He flipped the fucker off before his hand dropped back down and his eyes slid shut.
At the edges of the darkness, he heard Rory chanting. He wanted to flip the bastard off again, but the enchanted bullets sucked him into darkness, where death lay in wait. He welcomed it with open arms.
* * * *
“Oh no, you don’t, you bastard,” Rory growled, dropping down beside his best tracker. He could feel the seal of their pact slipping, but he had no intention of letting the big guy slip out of his bonds.
He wrapped a hand around Mercer’s meaty forearm and pulled him through the realms until he stood at a Paineater’s doorstep.
Rory banged on Brynhild’s door. “Come on, Bryn, you owe me a favor still.”
She threw the door open with a snarl. “Who says?”
Rory nodded toward Mercer with an evil grin. “Take your anger out on him. You can have anything you want from him if you deal with the damage from those damned bullets.”
She hefted Mercer over her shoulder and carried him into the house. “If I do this, you will leave him with me for one week. That magic won’t be so easily removed. I need time.”
“Don’t leave him incapable of hunting my prey, and you can have two. But I need him alive and capable.”
“He will be.” Her eyes narrowed. “Leave. Come in a week, no sooner.”
Rory stepped through the realms until he was back in the home he owned in Seattle. It was time to find out why Finnian chose Washington.
Was his home there? Or was he there for someone?
Chapter 30
The next morning, Danika woke and set a foot on the floor. Only her foot didn’t touch the floor, it touched metal that slid into more metal that sounded like a pile of coins. She sat up straight and looked around.
The whole bedroom was piled with money, gold, jewels, and random treasures. “What the fuck?”
Her phone rang and she swiped it off the nightstand. “Yes?”
Adam’s hand closed over her shoulder. “What happened?”
Dominique answered, “He’s dead. Dad is dead. You have half of his hoard, don’t you?”
“I, uh…” She reached for any knowledge and found memories of her father in a cavern filled with this kind of shit. She also knew that once dead, his belongings were passed on to his awakened children. “It just winds up here?”
“Wherever you consider home,” Dominique answered.
“What do we do with it?”
“Well, you stash it, like he did. You need to pick it up and think about your safe place. That’s where it will wind up. That’s your stash, your pot of gold, your hoard.”
“Do you have a stash?” Danika asked in disbelief.
“Not like this bullshit. I can’t even move off the bed. Dane can’t open the bedroom door. I need to deal with this. Just think about how he did it. If you need help, call.”
“Right. Thanks, Dominique.” She hung up and turned to Adam. “My father is dead. And I got half of his shit.”
Adam scanned the room. “I don’t even want to know how he got all this shit.”
“Neither do I, and now I need to figure out how to put it somewhere safe. Somewhere no one can get to.”
“Anything I can do?” he asked softly.
“Check on Makayla. Maybe make breakfast. This is going to take a bit. I guess I have to touch it all to get it to go into my own private treasure trove. It’s going to take forever.”
“No, it won’t. I’ll let you know when breakfast is made, then you can take a break.”
“You’re amazing, you know that?”
He took a quick kiss. “That would be you, Dani.”
“Only because I have you.” Turning, she picked up a handful of coins and envisioned an empty room. The coins left her hand and fell to the floor in the imaginary room. She picked up a handful of jewels and did the same. She scooped up armfuls of stuff and did it again.
After what seemed like forever, she picked up two gold plated guns with an arched brow.
Adam stepped in. “What the hell?”
She laughed. “My father liked expensive things. Gaudier the better.” She envisioned the once empty room that had expanded as she dumped more and more stuff into it and let go of the guns. They fell into the pile.
“If we ever need anything from it, I can retrieve it.” She envisioned one of the fancy gold coins and it appeared in her hand like magic.”
“That’s handy.”
Nodding, she lifted a shoulder. “I never wanted anything from him. All of it is dirty.”
“I don’t know, there was stuff that looked older than him.”
“My father has been around hundreds of years. He loved to befriend collectors. He stole from them.”
“Yeah, but whose treasures did he inherit?”
“Doubt anyone as greedy as he was. But I have never met anyone on his side of the family.”
Shaking his head, Adam opened the door wider. “Breakfast is ready.”
Smiling, she hopped up and moved to him. “What about Makayla? We’re going to have to go to the store. And I need to invite everyone over.”
“I’ll make some of the calls,” Adam promised.
* * * *
Adam glanced over at Danika while they were in the checkout line. “I’ll be right back.” He slipped past the cart and made his way to the lottery machine on a whim and got a few scratch tickets for ten bucks.
He came back with a smirk.
She rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
“You wouldn’t, so I did.”
Makayla turned in the seat. “What, Daddy?”
He pulled a coin out and scratched the ticket. All five were winners. Nothing major, the smallest five dollars, and the largest a hundred. “See, Mommy is lucky.”
Danika shook her head. “You got the tickets, not me. That’s all you.”
“You too. Besides, we’re getting enough food to feed an army.”
“We’re having all our friends and family over. I just hope they don’t freak out and we won’t have to have Robert remove their memories.”
“Nah, I think we can introduce Henry to Erik, and maybe they can get to the bottom of the hauntings in that old asylum.”
Her eyes lit up. “That is a good idea.”
Grinning, he nodded, then headed for the customer service desk to cash in the tickets.
The girl at the counter smiled. “Have a good day, Mrs. Dean.”
“You too.” She took the receipt and pushed the cart, and Makayla to Adam.
He winked as he joined them. “So, time to make a feast.” He winked.
“I help!” Makayla said.
“We’ll find something for you to do,” Danika promised. Though they both knew it would involve the play kitchenette.
* * * *
Danika opened Makayla’s door and found her still napping. That might be for the best. Anne and Henry would be there any minute. The conversation would go one of two ways. Utter disbelief, or acceptance.
She hurried downstairs, and Adam met her at the bottom of the stairs. “Relax. I’ve known Henry forever. And sure, he only deals with ghosts and hauntings, but he’s open-minded.”
“Yeah, I know.”
He took a step back and ran his eyes over her with a slow, sexy smile. “Wish we had more time.”
She licked her lips. “You just had me ten minutes ago, on the bathroom counter.”
“Well, I do have the sexiest woman in the world for a wife.”
She stepped closer. “And I have the sexiest man for a husband. Now knock it off. They will pull up any second.”
“Why do they always have to be so damned early?”
She laughed. “Fifteen minutes. And becomi
ng a werewolf made you hornier.”
He took a step closer. “Is that a complaint?”
“No, just a warning.” A giggle escaped as he pulled her into his arms.
The bell rang.
Adam pouted as he stepped toward the door. Then he smiled as he pulled it open. “Evening, Henry and Anne. Good to see you.”
They stepped inside, Anne smiling. “You look well. And much less stressed.”
Danika nodded. “More than you know. We need to talk.”
Her brow pinched. “Tell me you aren’t giving up.”
She laughed. “No. Not that. Just come in and sit.”
“What about this?” Henry asked, holding up a bottle of wine.
“I’ll take that, then let’s chat.” Adam took the bottle to the kitchen.
Henry’s head cocked, but he took Anne’s hand and led her to the couch.
Adam came back and sat with Danika on the love seat.
Danika took a breath, before blurting out, “Before you decide I’m brushing off the cancer, I need you to know a few things. One, I did have cancer. Two, I was born half Fae. Three, I’m no longer mortal, and I no longer have to worry about cancer.”
“Wait, how are you half Fae but no longer mortal?” Anne asked without blinking, or giggling. She wore a straight face.
Danika sat up straighter. “Why aren’t you surprised?”
She smiled slightly. “I grew up with stories about Fae. I remember my aunt telling me about how certain Fae have hair colors humans don’t have. She very much believed they were real. And then when we did the genetic testing, nothing came back the way we suspected.”
Better Than Luck Page 16