by Erin R Flynn
“I have never injured either of you to the point I deserved any of this as both of you seem to always ignore what you have done. Olivia, you hate her, but she started none of this. I love her and still you do it, thinking all about you and not our family coven. Again. You learned nothing and risk it all again.” He kissed my hair once more. “I wash my hands of both of you. I have no twin or sister from this day.”
My heart ached for him as he walked out of the dungeon, his head held high, but I could see the slight slump of his shoulders.
I didn’t even realize what I was doing until Vitor grabbed me. I struggled, to no avail, the dagger in my hand taken away from me, but still I would have attacked Olivia with nothing but my bare hands.
And from the look in her eyes, she believed it.
“I am seconds from doing the same,” Matilda said quietly. “Olivia, you step one more toe out of line or hint you might and I will disown you. The coven will never become yours then and you will be a princess all on your own. Ceawlin, I would do the same, and our alliance with your princess would dissolve. It might anyways as she gives nothing and Inez gives everything. You both disgust me.”
She turned and followed after Cerdic, trying to keep it together, but I saw the first tears trailing down her cheeks.
Trisha must have as well because the nail gun was in my hand a second later. I got two shots into Olivia’s chest before Vitor took it from me too.
“Oh no, please, let her,” Hanna purred as she gave both her distant relatives a scathing look. “I will stand by my cousin’s choice on how to handle this, but let me be clear, I would have already done it and will do much worse than her threats if you misstep and risk the house of Wessex again.” She left as well, and that just left Nora with my people.
“Well, I think I’ll add to that as the final nail in the coffin,” Nora said, her musical voice sounding like a darker song than normal. “Hurt my son or daughter-in-law and I will gut you both, savvy?” She waited until they nodded. “Wonderful.” She beamed at me. “Now, I’ve already picked up that you forgot we were arriving early, so what was on the docket that will amuse us?”
“Party stuff, which I could actually use help with,” I admitted with a sigh. “This is my first fancy party and I get it, but it’s the apocalypse, so I don’t get it, you know?”
“I do, as you put everyone else before yourself,” she chuckled, taking my arm. “We will make it fabulous, and you will stop feeling guilty that you didn’t do the same for Jaxon and Darius. That is life. You will have a fabulous five-year anniversary party and renew your vows.”
“I like that,” I admitted, shocked she hit the nail on the head of what else was going on inside of me. “Yeah, I like that a lot.”
“Good.”
I stopped just before we reached the door. “Release him. He can have a trailer outside and stay to witness his brother’s happiness. Warn everyone to keep an eye on him and Olivia though. I’m not taking any fucking chances they’ll still behave.” I glanced over my shoulder at them. “I do this for Matilda and Hanna. After this you will leave and never come back to my territories again.”
“Nicely done,” Nora praised under her breath when we were upstairs and out of range.
“I just don’t have the patience to be polite, and as much as I’d like to say it’s because of everything that happened, it’s not. I’ve always been this way.”
“Yes, but your first memories are already being in the middle of ‘everything that happened.’ I would give myself a bit more leeway.”
She wasn’t wrong, and I was going to say that, but I gasped as I saw something in the entryway that hadn’t been there before. I pulled my arm away from hers and moved closer, my hand rubbing my chest.
“It’s lovely, truly lovely,” Nora complimented, her tone confused.
“It was a promise to my princess,” Darius said from behind me. “One I have not lived up to, but I hoped she remembered what we shared, and she might take it as the reaffirming of what I said then. I will never leave you, Inez. We’re in this together, always.” He moved closer but didn’t touch me. “I know it seems I abandoned you, understandably, but I wasn’t ever going to leave. I won’t.”
I nodded I heard him, but I had no idea what to say. I took another look at the gorgeous glass chandelier we had seen after we first met when I was recovering items for my quest and headed to the dining hall for dinner. All our guests from their courts, plus several who had been staying with us, were there settling what needed to be.
“Trisha’s never going to let you out of the bachelorette party we have planned,” Lara warned me.
“No, we’re still doing it,” I agreed. “We’ll just add some people to the list.”
“Fair enough. We need some better coordination though.”
“We do,” I sighed, realizing that was mostly my fault. “I was thinking of making Hope my right hand. She’s like Cerdic and moves between all the chaos and we need that. He can coordinate with the nobles and projects as my husband, and she can on the actual coven stuff. I would like you to become the territories coordinator or we can think of titles later.”
“What would that involve?”
“Making sure we’re not leaving anyone behind,” I muttered. “They found those homeschool bundles and only a few clans got them. We need to make sure everyone is getting the right information and you’re a cut-to-the-chase sort of person. I think that the best way to handle this. Or at least better.”
“I would very much like that position. Thank you, Inez.”
I snickered. “Thanks for doing it so I don’t have to.” I shot her a wink and headed to the end of the table with Nick and a group gathered, including Hope, who were working with Maggie to be my wedding planners sort of.
“These are appetizer options,” Hope explained as I took it all in. “Friday afternoon, everyone is landing, and we will bring them a light repast to their trailers or rooms.” She waited until I nodded. “The entrée will be individual venison Wellingtons, those potato stacks you love, and roasted asparagus.” She chuckled when I made a gag. “Yes, but they’re fancy.”
“Doesn’t make them tasty.”
Nick shook his head at my antics. “True, but we have some options for Saturday and Sunday depending on how… And your eyes just glazed over.”
I shrugged. “Everything you make is great, Nick. Make what’s easy with all this crazy. It’s all fancy, and not what they can get as easily as we can, so just whatever works.”
“We’ve taken that into consideration, I promise, just give us a few things you like so we can fill in the rest. Please.”
I nodded and tried a bunch of this and that, telling them what I liked best. I wasn’t shocked when they gave me knowing looks. Yeah, I picked everything that I knew was made with filling machines or could be prepared beforehand. I shrugged. It was still all amazing.
“May we interject?” Hanna asked, looking exceedingly amused.
I nodded. “I don’t want anyone killing themselves for this. It’s all luxury and awesome.”
“Agreed, but there are tricks to fill in the gaps and make it all shine brighter,” she explained.
I agreed, sitting down and trying some more stuff. I smiled when we got to the individual cheesecakes. “These are all so awesome, Nick.”
“Thank you, Princess,” he said. “These are for Friday night. We need you to pick a few options.”
I glanced around and frowned. They were all so cool. “What if we did them all the same and let people do toppings options? I saw this thing when we were looking for ideas that was like this really cool dressing and condiment stand. What if everyone got one of those with toppings on their table? You could do two cakes and let them mix and match.”
“That would be fun and different,” Matilda agreed. “Could you manage it?”
“Yes, as making the cheesecakes all one or two options isn’t hard. It’s the finishing and plating.”
“Chocolate cheesecakes t
end to be overwhelming and too much,” Olivia said as she joined us, ignoring the shock of many of us. “If you had a regular one and a swirled mocha one, I would think that best of both worlds and certainly would cover most people’s tastes and still work with toppings of any range.”
“That is smart,” Trisha agreed, letting me know she was there as well. “We’re not changing your bachelorette party.”
“I heard,” I chuckled. “We might have more guests, if they’re interested.”
“What sort of fun is planned?” Hanna asked.
“Oh, I’m sure my kind but they won’t tell me officially,” I chuckled darkly, smirking at Trisha. “If you didn’t bring bathing suits, we can get you some.”
“Yes, fine, the party will finish at your vacation house,” Trisha confirmed. “You just said no strippers.”
“Yeah, thanks, we’re not having any either then,” James drawled.
“I very clearly said they could have anyone strip for them that they wanted, but if they touched, they died.”
He gave me a wry look. “Well, one, we can’t just call up strippers in the apocalypse, and two, you get seriously jealous.”
“Yes, but they love when I do,” I purred. “Why do you think I’m always having one of them keep lookout when you guys have your full moon fun? They come back to me and I make it clear who they belong to, so they can look at every naked woman in the world, but they come back to me.” I met Kristof’s gaze across the table. “However, someone still walks on eggshells, so no strippers or naked women for him.”
He shrugged and came closer, squatting down and moving his hand to my thigh as he cupped my cheek. “I’m a very, very blessed man who gets to see the woman I love undress for me, and that is all I wish. All the naked women in the world could not give me what you do, my love.”
“Even if I never give you that again?” I worried.
“Yes,” he said immediately, shocking me. He chuckled when I couldn’t hide it. “Oh, Inez, you give me everything and so much more than that.” He leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. “Let me show you my mating gift after dinner. Let me show you what you mean to me.”
I nodded, nervous to do the mating gifts thing. Kristof had said the moment we planned this that he was getting me something, and knowing him, it would be big.
Sure enough, it was. About a half an hour later, we were under the castle again in a separate area that had the first coven vault… Which was now filled.
“How?” I whispered, taking in the pallets and pallets of gold bars.
“At first, I was melting down what I raided, but I had some help to do it better,” he answered. Right, Vitor could break down stuff into energy beads, but Darius was the one to manipulate metal. Well, not the only one probably, so someone else must have helped him.
“This is amazing,” I murmured. “Thank you.” I turned and hugged him. “Thank you so much.”
“It’s just the start,” he promised. “We’ll get to the point of taking stones out of rings and getting everything basically separated. One day, there will be a whole vault of the most gorgeous and amazing pieces of jewelry that pales in comparison to my breathtaking princess.”
“I love you,” I whispered before kissing him. He kissed me back and then took me up a notch. “Do you want your present?”
“I didn’t realize I got one,” he admitted.
“Silly old fart. Of course you do.” I kissed him again and danced over to Branko who had helped me with it. “We’ve got enough ready, right?”
“Yes.” He gave me a wink before looking out to the others. “Follow us after the vault is resealed.”
He grabbed me and whisked us off to a rail yard just off the path to Salt Lake City. He set me on my feet and nodded to where everything was.
I thanked him and took Kristof’s hand, noting we had the whole group still. I led him over to the first shipping container and smiled before letting go of his hand. I went to open it, but he didn’t let me, doing it instead.
Someone behind us let out a whistle at what was inside.
“Magnificent,” Kristof murmured as he went closer. “Absolutely magnificent and in pristine shape.”
“Not just this one,” I chuckled, winking when he gave me a shocked look. “You always comment on any of the cool classic cars we come across. You’re so focused on helping me and keeping me safe that you never ask for anything selfish.” I rolled my eyes when he opened his mouth. “The grotto isn’t selfish if it’s for us. This is for you.”
“You’re telling me each of these containers has some classic or cool car?” Cerdic asked.
“Some have two,” Branko answered.
“There’s like fifty containers out here, mate,” Cerdic muttered, his eyes not buying they were all for this.
“Kristof is good at sharing,” I reminded him, smirking at Kristof to make it clear I liked when he shared me. He was on me before I even realized it, pressing my body against the side of the container as he kissed me desperately.
“Leave, I’m thanking my princess,” he growled as his hands went under my ass and he lifted me.
“Wait, wait, later,” I moaned, as he ground his jeans-covered hard-on against my body. “I have to give Cerdic his too.”
“He can have you with me,” he argued.
“Well, I want to give her my gift too,” Cerdic interjected. “You’re not the only one who’s been plotting.”
“I like plotting.”
Kristof pressed his lips against my ear and spoke at a level hopefully most couldn’t pick up. “You like my huge cock stretching you wide so you scream my name as I make you orgasm again and again.”
I shivered. “I do like that.” I smiled at him. “So you like your present?”
“I love it. It’s perfect, just as you are.” He chuckled when I blushed, doing it more when I punched his chest in retaliation. “Fine, where is her gift?”
“Your hand is still going under her shirt,” Cerdic drawled.
“That’s okay,” I panted as my fangs came out. “I can tease him worse than he can tease me.”
Kristof nodded as he stared at my fangs. “Yes, you can, My Princess. Those will be in me later tonight as I will be in you.”
“I should thank you for my gift some more.” I slid away from him along the shipping container wall, and unlike when I’d done that before when I’d been scared of him, this time I liked the look he gave me.
A lot.
Cerdic waved Kristof to hurry up. “Close up the trailer. You can appreciate your score later. And I do expect you to share.”
“Us too,” Jaxon added. “You might be in charge of the collection, but that seems a gift for all of us.”
I snorted. “Not me. Branko was telling me how much some of those were worth. No way. My driving skills are too shitty.”
“You will ride me,” Kristof said, smirking at me when I went to correct him. Yeah, he meant it the dirty way for sure.
So I didn’t correct him, sauntering off as he watched, knowing I had his full attention.
4
I sort of recognized the place Cerdic brought us to. I’d fixed it and restored the utilities. I’d done that so many times and places that I was having a hard time remembering. Another few moments of blinking at it and I had it.
“Albuquerque,” I said, snapping my fingers. “We’re not far from the coven. We were going to have this be one of the ‘suburbs’ of the coven, right?”
“Yes, and with the help of some of the new vampires, some work has been done already, including my present to you for our mating.” He took my hand and pulled me inside of the building. It was nice as it was much cooler inside than New Mexico, even at night, as the sun hadn’t set yet.
I blinked at the freezer in the store part of whatever this was. It was loaded and it wasn’t old stuff… And it said “Ice Cream.”
“You fixed an ice cream shop?” I gasped, giving a squee when he nodded. “It’s back online?”
�
�Yes, you fixed it, and we’ve had people working here to get real product going. There will be an array of flavors for Saturday,” he explained. “And it’s a gelato factory, not just a small shop made by hand or a base in one machine with mix-ins. It also has a bakery where all the toppings are made. It has all the machines at the milk plant, but on a smaller scale to only handle for the gelato.”
“So we could have another dairy farm right here with those milking machines and bring it here? That’s a lot less back-and-forth for sure.” I gave another squee when he nodded. “What sort of flavors?”
“Nick came up with a lot of them,” he chuckled. “We’ve been pulling in all the ingredients we could to store safely here and he just keeps coming up with more. He wants to try for a whole range of rotating flavors, especially with what everyone keeps getting from South America for you.”
“I really like the fruit there,” I muttered, agreeing I was spoiled even if he hadn’t said it.
I glanced all around and then turned and stood on my toes for a kiss. He chuckled, leaning down and giving it to me, his trimmed goatee giving my skin that delicious scratching that I loved when it was him.
“I’m not sure what I have for you is good enough to deserve a gelato factory. Can I offer you something more?”
He groaned, like groaned, as his hands moved along my back and down my ass. “You give us everything, Inez.” He licked his lips before leaning in and pressing his lips to my ear. “Do I get positions with you too, my wife?”
I shivered, liking that word on his lips. “Yes, there are three I was hoping we could try if my husband wanted. Maybe when we celebrate giving me your oath privately? Loudly.”
Another deep and long groan came out of him to the point his chest vibrated with it. “Let’s start sampling ice cream or I’m going to stuff you full of something else.”
“While we eat ice cream?” I asked—sort of offered—laughing when he groaned again. He loved drawing it out, always the patient Zen master.
The place was shut down for the night, but we pulled out a container of every flavor and started sampling with our own spoons. It was so, so good that I wanted to eat them all until I couldn’t eat anymore. One was a chocolate marshmallow heavenly blend with toppings that just exploded over my taste buds, but the marshmallow made me think of something.