Shameless Fae (The Fae Bounties Book 1)

by Cilla Raven

  Oh, the balls on this fae! Fucking human, whatever! I think as I send my palm into the side of his face so hard, his head whips sideways. “What if I don’t care that you’re a human at all, huh?” I push him back again. “That doesn’t change anything! What if I still wanted you? Probably even more now? Would you still hate me?”

  Quinn drags his eyes back over to mine, and the sheer power I see within them is enough to make my knees weak. “You don’t want to fuck with me like that,” he says in a warning tone as his body visibly shivers at my words.

  I push him again, but he just says, “Keep playing, Princess. See what happens,” taking a step toward me with that signature cocky arrogance I can’t help but adore.

  “I. Want. You. Too,” I say, punctuating each word angrily as I step toward him in challenge. “What are you going to do about it?”

  Quinn reaches out his hands, one pulling me by my hip, the other grabbing a fistful of my hair and leaning my head back, as his lips slam down onto mine in a punishing kiss I return just as passionately, rising up onto my tiptoes so I can reach him better.

  My mouth parts, shamelessly begging his tongue to dance with mine, and he gives in to my request without hesitation, his hot tongue sliding into my mouth like a sneaky serpent as tingles erupt all over my body and wetness seeps out of me. He tastes like a forbidden fruit I’m not supposed to have; consuming, decadent, powerful, sweet, and fierce all rolled into one irresistible human.

  I send my hands to his face and neck, pulling him to me just as hard as he’s pulling me to him. My knees get weak when his fingers dig into my hip, and rather than break our kiss or let me fall, he sends both of his hands down to grab each one of my ass cheeks and squeezes as he lifts me up by them. Instantly, my legs wrap around his hulking frame, and my fucking thighs quiver at the feel of him there.

  His arousal is now just as apparent to me as mine was to him, the long, hard length of him brushing up against my core through my pants just enough to drive me mad with desire. He starts moving toward one of the beds in the tent, and with each step he takes, another pass of his tongue breaches my lips, setting my skin ablaze.

  Quinn leans forward and lays me down on the bed, but as soon as I’m there, he lets go of me and stands back up to his full height, confusing the fae out of me as my insides pout.

  “On your knees,” he commands, and that little broken part of me fucking purrs at his words, which has me up on my knees on the mattress in seconds, like some kind of starving, ravenous beast.

  Carefully, he reaches his hands up to the back of my neck and unties my halter top strings, slowly pulling them toward my front as his eyes stay locked on mine as if he’s giving me every chance to back out now. But there’s no way in all of Faedom that’s happening, so I just stare back at him, licking his taste from my lips as he drops the front of my shirt, exposing every inch of my chest to him.

  It’s everything I can do to not cover myself up out of pure reflex, but I keep my hands loose at my sides, never showing him how nervous I am about what he thinks as he rakes his eyes over my breasts hungrily. However, if the tent in his pants and the way he licks his lips are any indication, he’s not disappointed by what he sees one bit.

  Quinn bends down some and sends his hands threading into my hair as he kisses me again, and this time it's slower, more intentional, as if he’s savoring me, and the thought of that sends a shiver down my exposed spine. I send my hands out to his chest, feeling the strong muscles beneath his flesh, and my wet core only gets wetter with the contact.

  His hands grip my hair and pull my head sideways as he kneels down on the bed in front of me and starts kissing, licking, and sucking the skin along my jaw over to my earlobe and down the side of my neck as my breath hitches in my chest.

  One of Quinn’s strong hands leaves my hair, sliding gently down my neck, leaving a trail of fire behind his touch as he moves it over my collarbone and down to my breast, a moan escaping me as he squeezes it.

  My hands move out to grasp his powerful arms as he drops both of his hands to my waistband, his fingers rushing to unbutton my pants as his mouth descends on mine again, distracting me completely. Pulling his mouth away from mine, he watches the lower half of my body as he jerks my pants, underwear and all, down to the mattress.

  One hand flies back up to grab the back of my neck as he kisses me again, while his other hand rubs up and down the front of my thigh in this soft, tantalizing movement that makes my back arch, and the mixture of the feelings, both the roughness he pulls my hair with, and the softness of his tongue and touch, combine to have me practically panting for him.

  Sliding two deft fingers over my clit and between my folds, I hear his sharp intake of breath at how wet I am, the sound meeting my ears as his touch drives me crazy, gliding around all the most sensitive parts of me as he stares deep into my eyes.

  His stare is possessive and intense, it asks a question, promises the world, and eats me alive, devouring me whole.

  Reaching down without a thought, I push his loose pants down, letting all of his impressive size spring free in the space between us.

  I wrap one of my hands around his velvet cock while the other slides up his abs and over his pecks, one thumb circling one of his pert nipples while the other circles his tip, lapping up the precum there and spreading it out, just as two of his fingers plunge deep inside me, causing another moan to escape my lips.

  Quinn’s fingers move slowly, feeling me on the inside, moving in and out of me as my head falls to his shoulder, and my eyes fall to watch his movements, savoring the way the muscles in his forearm twist and flex every time he enters me.

  My hand slides up and down the length of him as he drops his head and rests it on that space between my neck and my jawline, a sigh escaping him that warms my skin and makes my heart hammer inside my chest as we both work each other into a frenzy.

  Suddenly, he pulls away from me completely and stands up. He kicks out of his pants and comes right back over to me, pushing me back on the bed as he reaches down to where my shirt still hangs around my belly, grabbing it and sliding it down my body, pulling it and my pants off in one smooth motion until I’m lying there bare before him.

  My wings slid out on either side of me as I fell to my back, and out of my periphery, I can see and feel that they have spread themselves out, each feather bristling with want as they curl around me and beckon to Quinn to come even closer.

  He moves between my legs, his cock resting on top of my mound as he stares down at me with a look that sends another round of shivers through me. “They’re black again,” he says, and something about the way he says it, like he hates them and loves them at the same time, has my wings twitching and aching to touch him, so I send them to his back, letting them rub him lightly, and the look in his eyes as I do becomes absolutely ravenous.

  While he holds his weight above me with one hand planted into the mattress beside my ribs, he sends his other hand out to rub the top of my wing, the sensation of his touch there nearly having me coming apart at the seams. I bite my lip as the neediest moan I’ve ever heard myself make in my life escapes me, causing his eyes to darken and his cock to throb over my mound.

  I can’t take not having him inside me anymore; not with how worked up I already am, not with how he’s looking at me, and definitely not with how his hand feels as it slides over the feathers of my wings like they’re both the source of his pleasure and his pain. Reaching down between us, I grab his cock, and he lifts his hips enough to offer himself the room he needs to position himself right outside my entrance, and as I guide him to where I want him, his lips come down to meet mine in a slow and sensual kiss that has my toes curling.

  When I release his length, bringing my hands to his face, he slides into me, stretching me around him as he moves deeper and deeper… so deep, I almost wonder if there’s any end to him until he’s sheathed all the way inside me, his balls resting against my ass as he fills me.

  He breaks our kiss a
s he moans loudly into my mouth, and I catch every bit of it as my core tightens around him at the pure bliss I feel because of him.

  I send my hands up to his back as he starts moving, starting out slowly at first, but then steadily increasing his speed as the tension in my body rises with every powerful, soul binding thrust he pushes into me.

  No words are forming on my tongue, no thoughts entering my brain. I am just pure emotion and unyielding feeling, lost utterly in Quinn and everything he’s making me feel right now as he pounds into me like he’s possessed, and the sounds I hear myself making in response make me sound like I am too.

  As he makes me climb higher and higher, my grip on his back gets tighter and tighter as my nails dig into his flesh just so I have something to hold onto. As I scream his name through my release, quivering around him as my orgasm tears through me, his forehead falls to mine, and he growls out my name through clenched teeth while he stills and comes deep inside me.

  Quinn stays there as our breathing begins to slow, his forehead still resting on mine, and as our eyes meet, I practically melt at all the emotion I see swirling in the depths of his blue eyes.

  “I just can’t hate you, Z,” he says, and my breathing stills as the shock of those words weave through me. “No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I want to. I just can’t.” His eyes close as he talks, almost as if he’s ashamed of what he’s admitting, but all that does is make me see the real him more closely.

  Lightly, I put my hand on the bottom of his bearded chin and tilt his head up so his eyes open and lock on mine as I say, “Then don’t.”

  Chapter 19

  Quinn collapses beside me, and for a while, we just lay here in silence, breathing quietly around our thoughts. As my mind replays what just happened, going over the scene and all of its minute details, a small smile forms on my lips.

  Since the first suitor came calling when I was eighteen, I’ve never shied away from sex. In fact, most of the time, I’ve embraced it and enjoyed it while it lasted, taking what I wanted from my suitors when I wanted it because they were attempting to do the same thing to me. I knew what their real motives were, why they were doing everything they could to win me over just so they could get what they wanted from me in return: my kingdom.

  However, what just happened with Quinn was dramatically different from all of my past sexual experiences because I knew he wasn’t thinking about how he could weaponize the sex we were having and how he could use it against me for his own personal gain like those I’d had before. He wasn’t checking off a box labeled, ‘sleep with the princess,’ so he could go back and brag about his exploits to others, either.

  He wasn’t looking beyond me at all. He was right there in the moment with me because I was what he wanted right then. Not my title, not my kingdom, just me, and I wanted him in return without a single thought given to the fact that he’s human.

  “I think I need you to tell me your side,” Quinn finally says, pulling me out of my thoughts, and I glance up at him, wondering if he’ll actually hear me now.

  I hesitate for a second, but soon the need to show him that I’m not the evil royal he thinks I am becomes too overwhelming to ignore. “Chancellor Extol runs the country while my father is away,” I say, starting off with the point that I think is most important for him to grasp first. “Also, I actually hate my father and Extol, but as the princess, I’m only allowed to show up, I’m not actually allowed to do anything that really matters.”

  Quinn looks at me questioningly, like what I’m saying doesn’t make much sense, so I explain further.

  “If I were a prince, yes, I’d be running the country in his stead when he leaves, but since I’m not, I’m of no more use to them than a figurehead. Father sends all of his orders to Extol, and never even has the decency to tell me where he’s going, what he’s doing, or when, or even if he’s ever coming back. The way my father sees it, he doesn’t need to tell me anything, and the sooner I’m married off, the better. I can’t go into their meetings about how to run this nation or help make decisions on how to deal with other nations. And even if I do step out of line and tell them what I think, I may as well be talking to the ceiling for all the good it does.

  Technically, I can’t even go anywhere without an escort of some kind, and fae forbid if I were to leave the city walls and put the entire nation’s royal bloodline at risk. That’s why I can only hunt down bounties at night because I’m watched so closely during the day.”

  “But you came to find us at the warehouse during the day,” Quinn points out.

  I nod at him before I say, “Yeah, the only reason I was able to do that was because everyone… Well, most everyone was gone on the royal hunt, so I thought I had time to capture you guys and turn you over before I had to return. I had no idea what I was walking into, though.” A small chuckle escapes me, and I’m surprised to hear one from Quinn at the same time.

  “I know you probably thought, like Shara told me tonight at dinner, that I was following in my father’s footsteps, but the reality is, my mother is who I’ve gotten all of my morals from, how I know right from wrong, and why I think the way I do. She never saw a reason to treat anyone differently just because of who they were born to be. She was friends with everyone, human and fae alike, and she was unapologetic about it too,” I say as a small lump forms in my throat as I think about her.

  Quinn smiles as he looks away from me and up to the roof of the tent as he says, “Yeah, I know. She was pretty great.”

  Slowly, I pull myself away from him and sit up as I look down at him with fear and confusion warring in my mind. “What do you mean, you know?”

  Quinn’s eyes soften as he looks at me, and something in me tells me to relax, but I just can’t seem to calm my nerves at all. “Let’s get dressed. I have something to show you.”

  I want to argue, demand that he tell me how he knows my mother, but another part of me seems to think that whatever it is he wants to show me will answer that question, so quickly, I get up and get dressed while he does the same, and within the next few minutes, we’re walking side by side through the torchlit paths between all the tents.

  “Where are you taking me?” I ask as we walk, the silence between us only increasing the trepidation I feel.

  Quinn doesn’t look down at me as he says, “You’ll see in just a second.”

  When we have reached the opposite end of the row of tents, Quinn reaches out to open the door on the last tent at the front of the camp for me, and as I step inside, my breath catches in my throat.

  There, in the center of the small tent, is a carved statue of my mother with flowers of all kinds, laid at the base around her feet. She’s standing with her wings stretched out wide behind her as she holds a sword in one hand and an apple in the other, a look of determination set in the curvature of her brow.

  “What is this?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper.

  To my surprise, Lazlo, Priya, Roan, and Shara all come in behind me right then as if they’d been watching and waiting for the moment Quinn would bring me here, and something about it melts my heart as Shara answers the question I asked Quinn.

  “Z, your mother started this rebellion, and after her death, a few of our artisan fae sculpted this to help all of us deal with her loss.”

  “What?” I ask, completely thrown by her words.

  “She couldn’t make a difference as queen, especially with your father as king, so she went out and started doing what she could. Your mother asked me to help her, especially in the area of food production, and since then, we’ve been doing everything we can to help the people that need it the most,” Shara explains as tears form in my eyes again tonight.

  “Ah, Ghosty, don’t cry,” Lazlo says as he throws his arm around my shoulders. “Or I’ll have to start singing again to cheer you up.” His words bring a bubble of laughter up from my throat despite the conflicting emotions I feel, and he smiles down at me as he hears it.

  “I really thought y
ou were intentionally neglecting your mother’s memory and everything she started here,” Priya says, drawing my eyes to hers. “But I can see now that you really didn’t know, so I’d like to apologize for assuming the worst when I discovered who you were. I am truly sorry.”

  All I can do is nod at her because my throat is too tight to speak, but that seems to be all the response she needs since she turns back to gaze at my mother’s statue, along with me and everyone else.

  “You can stay in here for as long as you would like,” Shara says. “This tent is always open for you, and everyone else here. I’m going to go get some sleep, but come find me in the morning, and we’ll get started on finding those fae that took her from us.”

  I nod at her before she walks out of the tent, and as I stare at my mother’s statue, the likeness of which is so accurate, it actually seems as if I’m seeing her again, I lose all track of time as I get lost in thoughts of her. At some point, I realize that everyone has left and that I should probably get some sleep too, but that thought is fleeting and doesn’t actually make me move toward the door until much, much later.

  When I finally emerge from the tent, I start to make my way back to the Doconqueh’s tent, but I barely make it four steps before I’m surrounded by the very people I was going to join. None of them say anything, and I don’t thank them for letting me have my time with my mother, or for hanging around to make sure I was okay afterward. I just walk back to their tent, go inside, and at Lazlo’s suggestion, take his bed for the night while he sleeps on the floor right next to me.

  And for the first time in a very long time, I sleep soundly, with a sense that somehow, everything is going to be okay after all.