by Erin R Flynn
“Yeah, that was a lot for you guys too, and I feel like a baby being tired when I was just carried around, but it is really hard to find my feet again, and it’s like I almost use power to lock in on the item.”
“Probably,” he agreed, swinging me up in his arms once Cerdic finished and had my bag, promising he’d logged it all. We headed back for the meet up, which was the hotel we were taking over in Prince George. It had been cleared out, but it was kind of creepy to be there when I could now feel corrupted for a longer range and knew how many were all over the place waiting for night.
Damn.
“We have a problem,” Jaxon warned us as we arrived.
“Oh, good, we haven’t had one of those yet today and I was starting to assume we were going to get shot,” I drawled.
His lips twitched, and there were several other looks of amusement from others. “The wildlife numbers exploded here as well, which is good. Unfortunately, it’s completely disproportional, and we think we need to do some thinning.”
I shrugged. “Okay, we planned on hunting and thinning a bit. So what?”
“Wolf isn’t good to eat, as in most hunters won’t as they’re such scavengers like coyotes that it’s not really safe,” he explained, nodding when I winced. “Yeah, the wolf population is huge, like ridiculously huge, and they’re eating all the prey including half a cow ranch we found. The bears too. There are just too many.”
“There are so many that another season or so they will start starving after they ate all the prey,” Sebastian added. “The population of both has exploded.”
“Okay, well, crap,” I sighed, glancing at James. “Do you guys eat wolves when you’re cats?”
“Yes. It’s not as much fun as bear, but yeah, I’ll chomp on a wolf leg.”
I nodded. “Could we do it smarter like save the meat for when you guys shift on a trip, but keep the fur? I mean, at least don’t waste the fur, right? We could have rugs and whatever at the coven, as it will get cold there. I checked the almanac, and it does get cold there in winter.”
“Smart,” Sebastian agreed. “We have someone truly gifted in that area in our coven. I’ve recovered pelts for him before, as my princess loves a nice fur blanket in winter from the animals who fed her coven. If we skin them here and either butcher the bear meat or wolves for the shifters to eat later, I know how to preserve them to make it to Ireland.”
“Half come back to Inez, as that should be fair for the gobs of meat you guys got to send last time,” Cerdic suggested.
“Of course, along with some custom items for her and her nobles as she allowed us such a generous chance as we don’t have anymore at home.”
“Sounds fair,” I agreed after a moment. “Yeah, sure. How far back are we culling?”
“A lot,” Jaxon admitted. “Like a lot. At least a thousand wolves.” He shook his head when my eyes went wide. “That’s not even half of what’s in the immediate area. We are not exaggerating that the population exploded. They’re about to decimate the herbivores and prey.”
“Well fuck,” I sighed. “Let’s get the hotel up and going first and then we’re focused on the plan to clear out Prince George. Once it is and we expand to lead corrupted here, I think we have a hunting day. Come up with some plans to do it best like shifters drive them towards us, as wolves will run from lions and other huge cats, right?”
“Yes, and even the wolf shifters in our group,” James confirmed but winced. “Though, that’s sort of mean to make them do.”
“Yeah, don’t. That’s cruel.” Even if they were natural wolves and decimating the population of other animals, that was too much. “They can work on clearing and whatever else.” I glanced at Sebastian. “Can you start gathering what’s needed to preserve the hides while us normal people sleep?”
“Yes, of course, Princess,” he said, his eyes dancing with amusement.
With that handled, we grabbed lunch that had been heated in the oven they’d plugged into charged batteries for now. I started with the front desk as we ate, acting like that was all we were doing, but wanting the most visible areas fixed first.
I chowed down on my meatball sub. The mix of different meats like bear with beef and pork with venison were awesome infusions, and I went for a second one when I was still hungry. I looked forward to the ship returning with more cheese from Nora’s coven and especially now that they were getting back into cheese that had to be refrigerated because they could.
But the ship was also going to come back with a lot of stuff to fix, so I hoped there was a good trade for that and I didn’t have to get into bullshit.
I found something interesting at the front desk and brought it with me after I finished eating. I headed to the electrical room to fix circuits, panels, and more while Callum and my leopards handled getting everything back online with the batteries that were powered up. Plus, he would put a solar array on the roof and more so the building was self-sustaining.
Especially since the waste and water treatment wasn’t all that bad to get online so plumbing worked again. It was fairly close to the hotel, but eventually I would have to be careful to not break pipes or lines when I tore down buildings.
Right, that would be fun.
“What are you looking at?” Trisha asked me, getting a yelp from me which made her chuckle. “Oh, so it’s secret, huh?”
“No, I just startle easy,” I muttered, showing her the catalog of a local artist’s studio.
“Window shopping?”
“No, I saw something I liked and sort of mentioned before but wasn’t sure what I wanted, and now I think I do.” I flipped a few pages and showed her the chakra charm necklace that had charms with stones and pretty designs that would lay flat on the person’s body.
“That’s cool. We can check for it.”
“No, I want this but with rings.” I shrugged when she gave me a confused look. “I can’t wear more than one engagement ring on my left finger. So someone gets that and others get second place? That’s shitty. I mentioned to Jaxon I wanted earrings, but I like this much better.”
“So like how women would clip their wedding bands on a necklace when it might get in the way or for a dirty job?”
“Yeah, but this reminded me of a survivor I met at a camp who had the rings clipped like charms but they all hung together and she kept it under her shirt so no one stole it. They all bunched up together, but I thought it awesome that she had all the rings of the women in her family, as they were handed down and she managed to grab them before running so she carried her ancestors with her.”
“I get it.” She took the catalog from me. “That would be really pretty for sure as long as someone’s taste isn’t gaudy or crazy.”
“I think they know that wouldn’t be me,” I chuckled.
“Want my advice?” she asked as she handed it back, smiling when I nodded. “I’d also start looking at rings to give. You might want to personalize them, but I think it an important visual sign of who is yours and you’ve accepted when so much else is in the air.”
“Smart,” I agreed. “Wanna snag a chopper with me tomorrow and check out what’s in Edmonton since I know Kristof hasn’t cleared it out yet?”
“Sure. We can go early before your ghosts since that will start again and then you can nap after.” She snorted. “I haven’t had naps in like forever, but the night is so short here that we’re going to be up most of it hunting. Your coven apparently believes in afternoon siesta.”
“Of course,” I drawled.
“I’ll ask a few of your female knights too so we have a full chopper and backup.”
I nodded, knowing they worried about me, and while I used to go all around alone, now I’d had an assassination attempt and I had to always be smarter. “Maybe some shopping too. I miss having my holster and guns or short katanas. I don’t mind the dresses, but maybe there’s some mix of not completely always unarmed.”
“You might look like a comic book hero,” she warned.
�
��Can we make me a hot comic book hero?” I checked.
“Yes, but I would also leave the skirts and dresses for your period. You spoil them too much. Really, you do.”
8
I was lying in bed after dinner, everyone agreeing to take an hour and get a bit settled in before we headed out to the staging area and Kristof laid the path of my blood I’d given him earlier. I bit my lip and reached for the cell phone I’d traded some messages on, wondering if I should tell Branko my idea about the rings and ask for a male perspective.
But first, I wanted to listen to his messages again. I shivered as his deep voice and sexy accent filled my ears.
“I’m really not sure what to say. I wasn’t all that great with the phone before. I felt stupid doing a video where you just watch me talk. I mean, I get that when people don’t see each other, but I see you every meal. So I figured a really long voicemail, but I didn’t know what to say. Part of me wants to be dirty and tell you how I handled my hardon for you, but I didn’t want to be that guy who sends dick pics.
“I mean, I will, for sure, but to start that’s just too much. So I went back and forth before even starting the recording. I decided I wanted to tell you what I felt the first time I saw you, Inez. You weren’t just the sexiest and most delicious woman I’d ever seen but—”
I yelped and paused it when someone touched me. I blinked at Darius who was smiling up at me.
“You were touching yourself,” he chuckled, nodding to my hand massaging my breast. “I was just going to help you enjoy that message even more.” He held up a different phone for me. “And you can tape that for him. We can give him extra storage cards for when you just want him to keep something special.”
“You are so awesome,” I whispered. “Why are you so into this and helping me?”
“Because I love you and this is making you smile,” he murmured. “Plus, you are extra tentative after you leave the phone for him like you are actually doing something wrong, but you’re not. Plus, this gives me a chance to record me eating you out. Can I have a copy of that too I can carry with me?” He smiled when I moaned. “See, that’s why.”
He handed me two phones, one with a super large storage drive and another with a normal one… And a bunch of tiny cell storage disks.
“Eventually I want to upgrade to tablets,” he told me when I handed them all back and charged. He quickly turned one on and started a recording. “Undress for me, Inez. Let me see all of my princess.”
I shivered, tossing the phone on the bed and then slowly peeling off the dress I was wearing. I had already taken off my boots so my undergarments were all that was left, and I did that slowly as well, making sure he got lots of angles like Jaxon always seemed to want. Then I climbed onto the bed and picked up the message where I had been, and Darius set the phone propped up to keep recording.
“—you were asking another man to undress. It made me do a double take, as I’d been dying for some shore time and then I find perfection walking over to the lion and asking him to undress for her and shift. And then you did it again. I was floored, not having seen someone be so open when they found their spirit animal. Normally it’s maneuvering and all kinds of plotting.”
I moaned as Darius licked me, pushing my leg down so the camera had a better view as he reached up and pinched my nipple and I helped, touching my other breast as I kept listening.
“And then you had lots of spirit animals. You were such a surprise, Inez. All that power, all that beauty, and you are so kind to everyone. I knew I needed to meet you, longed to meet you, and then you started bleeding. Fuck. Just fuck, was it nice. My senses are stronger than the other nobles on the ship. I would try to rest, and all I would smell was your blood calling to me.
“I was constantly aroused and dying for you, and that’s never happened to me before. Sure, I’ve smelled princess blood that enticed me. We’re programed to respond to it, but none have made me desperate like yours did, even if I could just be near you. And I’m desperate for you, Inez. I hope this was okay to tell you, and I look forward to your message back. Sorry if it was awkward, but it’s hard to go first.”
Then he said it all over again in Russian—as he was Russian, not Polish or Ukrainian I found out—because he knew I loved when Jaxon spoke Gaelic to me. Apparently I loved Russian from him too because it was like magic to set my body alive.
“Come for him,” Darius pushed in between licks. “Come for us. You like him talking Russian to you, don’t you?”
“Fuck yes, so much,” I moaned, getting what he wanted and for me to talk more. I moved my hand to his hair and fisted it as I held it to me while moving my hips. “Shit, right there, please, right there. I want to come. Make me come hard, my fiancé. Make me come hard for Branko to see how you please me.”
He growled and doubled his efforts, bringing me before the message even finished. I set down the phone when it finished and stretched, giving Darius a look that I dared him to leave it at that.
“The Russian of that message is more romantic than the English version.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “How do you know that? You speak Russian?”
“Kristof does and hears everything.” He chuckled as he moved over me, clearly planning to do more.
“Do you want me now or after the fun of hunting and then you both can fuck me in the shower as we clean up?”
“Both, I want both,” he groaned, leaning in and kissing my neck. “How about I speak Arabic to you? Maybe some Hebrew? I know several languages.”
“And what would you do as you talked to me?”
“Relieve more of my princess’s stress of course.”
I nodded, so he did, fingering me while saying what sounded like the sweetest everything. I melted into the bed, kissing Darius and thanking him. “Now out. I want to reply and get him the message tonight.”
“I’m so abused,” he chuckled, licking my nipples before rolling off the bed.
“Right, you’re just spoiling me because you heard Trisha say I spoil you guys and should cut back on the dresses.” I burst out laughing when I saw he was totally busted and had heard it. “I feel naked not being armed. Accept that and maybe I’ll pick up some more fun for when I’m around the hotel. That’s a good compromise.”
“It is. You record your message, and I’ll get him this on the side and figure out your new hiding spot.”
“Already done,” I told him. “The keycard with the sticky is by the door. I already got us another supply closet that was cleared out of any nasty and now is just supplies we’ll all need while here. We just need to find another hiding spot in there no one will look at.”
“Or a new trading system that maybe won’t lead to someone else snagging the phone.” He shrugged. “He’s ancient. I’m sure he could rig something hidden or a spot behind a painting.”
“Fair enough.”
He left after he got dressed and grabbed the stuff. I recorded a message for Branko in response to his latest one and then told him my thoughts on the rings and what Trisha had said to me. I liked the idea, really I did.
Oh, and I told him I was still naked and messy from the fun on the video. I think I smirked the whole time.
I finished, cleaned up, and threw on something more than the dress as things could get dicey. I glanced down and frowned. I always went for yoga or workout pants for comfort, but Trisha was always in cargos or military pants… Which meant pockets. I didn’t want to act like I was trying to be a younger Trisha, but maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to remind people I was badass too.
Apparently that couldn’t be done in a skirt.
“Maybe if I add the weapons again,” I muttered, shrugging it off and heading out the door.
Darius found me and said Branko agreed the location wasn’t ideal, so I gave him the phone with the message, and he would do the handoff while Branko came up with another plan. I could admit my plans could always be improved upon. Everyone’s could.
“There’s no bridge,” Kri
stof told me as we headed to the vehicles.
“What?” I asked, not sure what he meant.
“Oh fuck,” James growled. “He means from the highway to your kill zone. There’s a river that runs along there.”
I nodded. “The navigator said it’s like twenty feet wide so that won’t be deep enough to stop them.”
“It was inaccurate then,” Kristof sighed. “It’s at least two football fields. It’s not a raging river, but it will be enough to stop them.”
“Okay, we can still make this work,” I muttered, picturing the map and snapping my fingers. “Got it. Leave two trails. One along that highway we planned, and that’s your guys’ side, and another that splits and runs along that river before it cuts over. We were going to try and split them off east to you and west to us anyways. We just do it sooner.”
“I need more blood, and we’re still not sure they’ll go directly for you,” he reminded me.
“Well, my blood has always worked great, and out of my body trumps inside.” I shrugged; what else was there to say? We were rolling the dice on this but in a controlled way for sure. “And I’ve got more blood to give. What do we do if they all head to you?”
“Flare guns,” James answered. “Kristoff can wormhole around and make the call with what he senses, but if we go help them, we’ll shoot a flare gun into the area that the nobles should back out of.”
“Understood, good,” he agreed. “I will also let them know that if you fire a flare from your side, they need to change direction to you and you will focus on the front line solely so we can cut them from behind.”
“Watch the landmines,” I reminded him. He nodded and turned to leave, but I fisted his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. “Not a scratch on you, got it?”
“Yes, My Princess,” he chuckled, giving me the softest kiss my heart fluttered it was so damn sweet. He went for the jar that had my blood he was to lay a path with and was ridiculously gentle as he cut my hand with his fangs so it didn’t hurt and I doubled what was in the jar. I moaned as he licked the bite closed and the extra drops. He pulled me back for a kiss this time. “Be safe and enjoy your guns.”