by Erin R Flynn
We did, Darius asking what was up as I hurried to the abandoned gas station to use the toilet. It was still better than squatting by a tree even if it didn’t flush. The others went as long as we were stopped. I went for the apples, but Wilson stopped me, lifting me up and spinning me around in a hug.
“You are my favorite person ever,” he declared. “Warm water sucks. Years of it. Nothing cold! And now we get cold water.”
“Wow, our standards of what makes us happy have fallen,” Wolfe chuckled. “Put her down, Brother.”
“Brother?” I asked as Wilson set me on my feet. I glanced between them and saw they were identical now that we were in better light than last night or I wasn’t hiding from embarrassment.
“We’re twins, and we’re all cousins otherwise,” Wilson explained. “So we’re all related, not just taking the clan’s name when mating into it.”
“Got it.” I studied the five as we all grabbed water and apples for quick breakfasts so we could get back on the road. They all had those cool golden eyes. They were the same build too, about six foot, muscular but that lean swimmer’s build instead of Jaxon and Darius who had some bulk and girth.
Their hair was shades of caramel but all cut differently. Vance had his short, business like, whereas Callum’s was a bit floppy around the ears, and Asher’s was in a tiny ponytail that had pieces falling out. The twins were on the other end with buzz cuts that looked new.
And they were all missing their glasses.
“Glasses?” I asked, glancing between them.
“We don’t need them,” Vance answered. “We all had transition lenses without a prescription so they got darker in light and hid our eyes. Yeah, there are other people with golden eyes, but it draws attention, and some know it means we’re pureblood leopards, so it’s better to blend.”
“Pureblood? So you guys were born and some can be scratched or bitten?” I inquired as we loaded back up.
“No, if someone’s scratched or bitten that just fucking hurts,” he said as he pulled me onto his lap again so we had more space in the semi cab for others. “Not every shifter mates another shifter or of the same animal. Say a shifter mates a human, they have a kid that’s not only leopard. It used to be a real thing.”
“We don’t care, but you’ll meet leopards who don’t have the eyes because someone along their family tree wasn’t full leopard,” Callum explained. “So he was letting you know it’s not the only sign to look for. Bringing in new blood, even if not only leopard blood, is smarter than inbreeding like some species have had a bit too much of.”
“Cats are more mellow, but some species it’s not allowed to breed outside your species,” Vance took over. “It’s stupid to not allow it, as if I have a baby with a wolf shifter, it will either shift into a leopard or wolf, but be full shifter blood and who cares? People get way too worried about crap, and the apocalypse hasn’t changed that.” He sighed. “It’s made it worse sometimes.”
“I don’t remember before, but yeah, people so focus on the wrong crap,” I grumbled. “Thanks for explaining. I need it in small chunks or it gets overwhelming and Darius swears he sees the top of my head pop off. It feels like it.”
“No worries, we all have something we don’t know or understand,” Callum replied. “Like I was going to ask you how come there are so many more dots in North America than anywhere else?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but from what I’ve read in books I can pick up along the way, trying to find out about the pieces or what I’m burying, the US has stolen a lot of art and artifacts. Europe as well. I mean, it was an African burial mask we got and not in Africa. The Chinese coins said they were on loan, but even that medal had an ancient medallion.”
“Makes sense. So how many are all left? Where did you start?”
“Only North America is left, and I figure it would have me circle around until I land on that last, big blood dot,” I explained between bites. “And I woke up in Australia, figured out what I could there before catching a ship to India. From there I bounced around a lot, but I think… I was always falling into a chance at a ship or a ride or around something bad. I think it was laid out for me.”
“As long as you were smart enough and listened to your gut, Aether wasn’t going to make it unreasonably hard when you’re doing as She wishes,” Jaxon muttered. “It helped build you into a badass princess, but there was no need to excessively beat you down, especially when you’re a corrupted magnet and have nobles who are sleezy chasing you.”
“Yeah, it definitely wasn’t easy though,” I sighed as I finished my apple. “I appreciate not excessively hard, but if this is all a master plan of Aether’s, not sure I needed to almost get killed or caught several times. Granted, I always managed to escape before I was sold or raped or eaten, but things got dicey a lot.” I swallowed loudly. “Learned how to kill early.”
“We all did so you’re not alone there,” Vance comforted, taking my apple core from me and tossing it out the window with a few others before rolling up the window. “Get some sleep.” He shook his head when I opened my mouth to tell him I was fine. “You were alone, scared, and on the run for years, Inez. That’s not getting real sleep, and it could have been the same before you remember. Sleep.”
“Your body needs it, and we can sense that,” Jaxon echoed. “We’re not doing anything anyways, My Princess. Sleep and recharge.”
I nodded, snuggling up to Vance and ignoring he was a stranger to me. I drifted off to them discussing ideas of what vehicle to try for next and other plans. Asher’s idea of getting a few electric pickup trucks or SUVs in case we needed to take off or handle bad terrain in a city was my vote, but I fell asleep before I could say it.
And woke to Darius’s huge dick in me, riding him.
I moaned and kissed him, moving his hands to my breasts and totally into being woken this way. “You wanted to fuck your princess again?” My fangs came out when he squeezed my skin hard. I leaned in to bite him, but he teased me, ducking away and making me chase him. I ground my hips harder. “Fuck me, Darius. Fuck me all you want because you love me, not the princess. Don’t want me because I’m a princess.”
I tried to bite him, but he tipped his chin down. I ramped him up with what I was saying and came hard, desperate for his blood.
“I don’t think you should have my blood, sexy bite,” Vance growled.
I flinched, blinking at him and realizing what was going on instead of what I’d thought.
“Get your hands off of her,” Jaxon seethed from my left, standing next to the semi on our side, the door open.
“In my defense, she put my hands on her perfect breasts,” Vance defended. “I was sort of dozing too.” He cleared his throat. “And she really wants you to love her for her and not just long for a princess.”
“I heard,” Darius muttered. “I do.”
“I thought we were having sex,” I whispered, moving my hand to hide my face, completely mortified… And sliced my hand on my fang. So that part was true. I was dressed and had humped Vance and his jeans covered hard on until I’d orgasmed in my sleep. “Sorry.”
“I’m not, it was fucking delicious,” he murmured. “Anytime you want some relief, let me know. I’d prefer you knew it was me next time though.”
“Sorry,” I whispered again, ducking my head.
“You did nothing wrong,” Jaxon said firmly as he yanked me off of Vance and fixed my shirt. “And you can drink from shifters, your knights if you want.”
“I know, but you said she just started feeding and was delayed in her development or whatever, and I didn’t know if my blood would make things worse or hurt her,” Vance defended.
“He was telling her to wake up,” Asher added.
“It’s fine, it’s—I did it,” I muttered before anyone else could get upset. “Why did we stop?”
“We’re almost to Columbus, and we’re about to be out of charge too,” he explained, kissing my neck. “Apparently you knew that if you were dreaming of drin
king Darius and sex. Can we make that dream come true?”
“Please say yes,” Darius murmured as he moved behind me. “Let me make love to my Inez who has my heart.”
My embarrassment was forgotten and I about vibrated with happiness. Not at knowing we were going to have sex and them feed me, no, at hearing he wanted me for me, not because of who or what I was. I cared for him so much already, and I didn’t care if he was a noble or vampire or alien. I just wanted him.
And Jaxon. I wanted them to want the woman, not the princess.
Apparently they did, lavishing me with attention and tenderness as we had some fun, not mentioning I was their princess once.
16
Jaxon
We decided to spend a few days in Columbus after Inez retrieved and buried the items she needed to. We were careful to do it far outside of the city, all of us agreeing it was the smart plan in case the Fort Knox base could move out this far before we could get back around. It was also the plan we had with filling trailers of weapons. We got a lot done that first day, clearing buildings and hunting monsters.
She was wiped that night as we camped at Delaware State Park north of Columbus. Darius had wanted to move further away from the city, as there were a lot of corrupted, but we had eight of us now and it made it easier to clear them if we weren’t that hard to find. Inez had made the suggestion we set up camp a good ways away from where we were going to hunt though so we didn’t have to smell it.
Smart woman. She was always smart in whatever she did.
We were attacked and big time, our sexy princess sniping up on the trailer to thin them out and distract them as we slaughtered the rest. Even the leopards gave her a range of impressed looks, never having met a princess like her, but even more than that, as it was awesome she’d taught herself how to shoot and get so good at it.
You know, during an apocalypse and on the run where she clearly had loads of free time.
She needed the rest with all the energy she was using, so we didn’t get our alone time, and as much as I wanted to be with her, I wanted her healthy more. We had all the time in the world, so there was no need to rush things. If anything, finding her and joining her quest with Darius reaffirmed my belief that things happened for a reason and would unfold as they should, so pushing did nothing.
The next morning we got right back to it, clearing another gun store and loading a trailer Asher left for us before taking the full one. We’d found a barn and shed business just west of the state park, and it had so many displays and trailers full of supplies it would be an easy place to look over. And it was far enough away from the city that someone could slip in and get a trailer as long as they were smart.
And we liked being smart.
Inez gave an adorable yelp, letting me know that the first ghost had appeared from the corrupted she’d killed last night. I set down the load I was carrying and moved over to her, freezing when her gaze darted around wildly. She backed up from something I couldn’t see, having her hands out in front of her.
“Too many, this is too many,” she panted. She blinked up at me when I grabbed her, those gorgeous, deep green eyes making me think of home, feel at home with her, even though I hated to see the terror in them. “Too many. There’s no way I killed this many last night that already showed up this fast.”
“Oh fuck,” Vance worried behind me. “What if she’s getting our ghosts too now that we took the oath to serve her? How does it work? I mean, before there was corrupted even?”
“I don’t know this young,” I admitted. “Once in power, the ghosts of any killed or died in the coven or area would find the princess and find peace through her. That’s all I know. She’s not there yet and only what she’s killed, she said.”
“Well, and now ours,” he grumbled. “Fuck, what do we do?”
“Stay with me,” I whispered to Inez, cupping her face and making her focus on me. I gave her a soft kiss. “You can do this. I know you can do this. Focus on one and just work through them.” I winked at her when she nodded, kissing her again after she handled one. “That’s it. Just one at a time, and then we’ll go relax, take a nice nap.” I kissed along her neck as she worked through them. “Have our alone time.”
“I can’t,” she shouted, shaking against me. “Too many. There’s so many!”
I pulled away just in time to see her eyes roll up in her head as she went limp in my arms. I swallowed the panic that threatened to tear through me, knowing she wasn’t dead or hurt bad, just overwhelmed. “I’m sorry, Inez.” I lifted her in my arms and turned to the others, seeing the same fear in their gazes. “We need a plan.”
Wilson snapped his fingers. “Didn’t she say they would find her a bit later if she moved? Outside too many can gather. Find an electric car and drive her around so she can have one or two at a time. I mean, they can’t all sit on top of each other, right?”
“No, their energy doesn’t allow it any more than two of us can meld,” I muttered, trying to remember what else I knew. I nodded. “That could work. I’ll find one, and you guys can drive her since we’re faster and she’ll be upset at what she thinks is wasting time and energy on her.”
They all snorted. Yeah, nothing was wasted on her and she still didn’t seem to get that all of this, all we had now, was because of her.
I raced off, and the first electric vehicle I found at a dealership was a compact car. Perfect. I found the keys inside and set her on the hood where the plug was. “Wake up, love. Please wake up.”
Her eyelashes fluttered, and then I was staring into those sexy green eyes again. “Hurts.”
“I know, I know it does, but we have an idea. Charge this car, please trust me,” I begged, knowing the ghosts would be back soon.
She nodded and did it, looking completely wiped. I tucked her in the passenger’s seat and got in, ignoring that my head was touching the roof if I sat up straight. “What’s the plan?”
“They catch up when you’re moving, right? They can’t all fit in the car,” I told her as I started it up.
“Smart,” she rasped, rubbing her chest. “There were so many, Jaxon. It wasn’t just the shouting but it was—their upset was pulsing in me.”
“You’re feeling more because your body’s getting what it needs. We’ll figure this out.” I reached over and took her hand after I threw the car in gear. “You’re not alone anymore. We got this.”
“We got this,” she repeated as she squeezed my hand, trying to steel herself to handle what was coming even though I could tell how scared she was.
But she did it. My awesome, amazing, and badass princess didn’t even flinch when they started showing up, focusing on them and doing what she needed to. By the time we were back to the others, I saw a smattering of seeds in the back seat.
“I’ve got water and some snacks,” Wolfe told me as I got out, ready to take over. “We decided I’m doing a grid and checking out anything we might have missed not on the navigator units, especially if I find solar panels on houses and can locate more batteries.”
“Glad we have a plan,” I muttered. “That dealership had SUVs and trucks, so if she starts itching, take her there and let her charge up what we want or bring her back for the semi. Just watch for the itching.”
“Got it.”
“Too many,” she whimpered, the ghosts probably gathering around the vehicle now that she was back.
He about dove into the car and took off as he handed her what he’d brought.
“I know,” Darius muttered as I stared at them driving off. My heart clenched as she moved further away. I glanced at him, and he shrugged. “I felt the same the first time she left my sight with you, a few times until I got to know you better. She’s ours, and letting someone else near her without us or help her is hard.”
“It is,” I agreed. “Thanks for giving me the chance even when you were feeling this.”
He shrugged. “You looked at her the way I feel about her, so I knew you were just as sunk.”
“I so fucking am,” I admitted, getting back to work not just because we had a plan and I wanted to, but I ached to see her smile at the good we did. “How many corrupted have we killed today? We need to stop.”
“Let’s see how this works and what she says,” Darius countered, shaking his head. “If we stop killing corrupted who could turn around and eat an innocent or a kid, she will feel that guilt.”
“You guys should hurry and kill as many as you can so she and we don’t and she won’t feel that,” Vance interjected.
“Yeah, but then she’s not getting the energy or seeds,” Asher argued. “I agree with Darius. She’s not a baby even if she’s a baby in our world. Respect her enough to let her make the decision about what affects her.”
“I do,” I said firmly, agreeing when they framed it like that. I had been in the mindset of how to help her, how not to see that fear in her eyes again, but they were right that it was her call. Still, we didn’t go hunting until she could decide one way or another.
It was about a half an hour before they came back around and relief filled me until Wolfe hopped out and shook his head. It was still going on.
Fuck.
She hurried to charge up the semi since it was there along with the cargo van, and then he had his twin come with them so they could hit the dealership. I shared a worried look with Darius when they sped off.
“Just how many fucking ghosts are stalking her?” he whispered.
“I killed at least a hundred last night,” Vance muttered. “So did my cousins. We were joking about taking a tally, and she did a lot in herself with wounding them so they died. I would think that counts, plus all the ones we did in during the day? We were going through boxes of bullets like nothing.”
“We went through a case of boxes of just the 9mm ammo,” Asher said. “Even if only half those bullets were kill shots, that’s five hundred we did, and I was getting up close and personal as I darted around the packs.” He looked out where they had driven off, shaking his head. “I was having so much fun killing the monsters, trying to push back the crazy, I never dreamed it would be on her. Fuck.”