Worst timing ever. And, I wouldn’t even put it past the guys to cockblock on purpose. Fuckers.
“We’ll be there in ten minutes,” I called and caught Rand’s chin in my hand. “Listen here, buddy. You woke me from the most comfortable dream with the promise of sex. You better go to pound town like your life depends on it, and still leave time for me to brush my teeth and get dressed. They expect us in ten minutes.”
I squished his lips together as I waited on an answer. His mouth fought to work into a smile, but it was hard with me squeezing his cheeks like that.
“It wouldn’t be polite to leave you unsatisfied.” His words were garbled, but I sent silent praise hands up at his response.
“Good, get to it.” I let go and slid my arms above me in a sensuous move I knew would enhance the girls. It didn’t disappoint as his gaze zeroed in on them.
“One orgasm coming.” He smirked, and it was adorable. At least until he straddled one leg, pulling the other up by his ear while simultaneously flipping me to my side. I shrieked and braced my arm on the bed in front of me.
He slammed back in and powered into me at almost a superhuman speed.
Oh, God. Ah, damn. This was hitting the spot, and soon he had me keening like a damn cat.
“Yes,” He groaned.
I fluttered around him, and like a freight train, my orgasm barreled into me. He chanted my name over and over as he came, and all I could do was hold my breath until the pleasure wracking my body subsided.
“That was amazing; you are now dubbed my quickie partner,” I said into the mattress. I had no idea if he actually understood me or not, but the sentiment was still the same.
He laughed and slapped my ass. “I’m always here for you; whenever and whatever you need me for.”
“I…I can’t believe you smacked my ass,” I sputtered.
“Why?” He pulled out of me and lifted me out of bed into a standing position.
“Because you’re the sweet one of the bunch. You don’t slap asses,” I said it like that made any sense.
“I thought Egan was the sweet one,” he handed my clothes to me and ushered me into the bathroom. Finally snapping out of it, I brushed my teeth.
“He is sweet-ish. But he’s also possessive and aggressive on occasion. You’re always sweet.” I tugged my shirt over my head and slipped into my pants.
He was waiting by the door when I left the bathroom, and he opened the door on my approach. “Now you know there’s a whole other side to me, and it’s reserved all for you,” he whispered in my ear, and lightly squeezed my ass as I walked by.
I grinned and kept walking; I wasn’t complaining. This was a new side to Rand, a playful side, and I freaking loved it.
When we entered Yunez’s rooms, all the guys looked exhausted.
They were soaked in sweat, and Egan and Jari weren’t even wearing shirts, instead using them to dry themselves. Scattered around the room, they seemed like they were waiting. When they glanced up at our arrival, they took up various sprawling positions around the floor. How considerate. They hadn’t wanted to get the furniture messy.
I waited for someone to make a rude comment or a snide side eye, but nothing. Rand was stiff as a board beside me as he ushered me to the loveseat. He sat down, and when I stepped past him, he pulled me down into his lap.
“I’ve wanted to do this with you since I met you,” his boyish expression sent the warm fuzzies through me. I guessed he had seen the guys pull me into their laps many times, and a small pang in my heart went out to him. I did try to sit in his lap one time, but it was under the influence of Nato’s mind powers and did not have good memories attached to it.
“Then today’s your lucky day,” I grinned and turned around.
Sage was staring at us with an unusually blank look. As the firestarter for my bonding with Rand and the biggest complainer, I expected him to act like an ass again because let’s face it. It was just who he was.
But that wasn’t the case at all. He stood up and walked over, narrowing his eyes with each step closer.
“Hey, knock it off, we talked about this, man.” Jari kicked his foot from where he was literally flat on his back.
“Hush,” Sage said and crouched in front of me. The whites of his eyes showed all the way around his iris’ as a lonely finger lifted toward my cheek. Déjà vu was hitting me hard, remembering the time Jari and the others discovered my changed mark.
Oh man, was it a different color now? We never discussed what would happen when I took a Manno bond.
“Guys, come look at this,” Sage tilted my chin this way and that, inspecting my cheek. The others appeared out of nowhere, and for a second, the idea that they could have Edward Cullen’s spider monkey speed popped into my head. A short bark of laughter popped out before I could stop it, but I immediately sobered.
Not the time, Isolde. Not the time.
“Holy hell,” Egan whispered, and Rand bent around me to see what they were looking at.
“Wow, I swear I stared at your face right up until we walked out the door, and this wasn’t there.” Rand slid a hand on my stomach and pressed me into him as if to anchor himself to the present.
Nato grimaced, “We’re okay with adding you to the LL, but no need to go talking about what you were doing.”
Rand’s mouth popped open, “I wasn’t talking about anything sexual, I mean—”
I mushed his lips together so he imitated duck lips and shook my head, “They don’t care. They have wild imaginations and nothing you could say would make them feel better.” And, that was the truth. He could tell them we cleaned toilets with our own toothbrushes, and they’d still find some way to make it sexual.
His lips tried to open, but I pinched them together even tighter. Nope, wasn’t going to let him get the opportunity to make this worse.
He found my tickle spot on my hipbone, and it worked, damn it. My hand fell away as I wracked with squealing giggles.
As soon as his mouth was free, he stopped.
“I was going to say go look in the bathroom; you need to see this.”
It couldn’t have been anything bad. The corners of his mouth were twitching, but the others were still dumbfounded, staring at us with empty faces.
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, trying to see what happened before I was even close to the mirror. And boy, I saw it.
The Zien mark that had previously graced my face had faded, and a completely new mark had taken its place. This was unlike any of the four houses. A perfect circle of dark gold, with the line thicker on one side than the other, and five little wavy arms evenly around the circle. It was a little golden sun.
The guys crowded behind me, and when I faced them, three of the five had the same mark. Nato, Jari, and Egan and before my eyes, the mark appeared on Sage and Rand.
“Check for my other marks,” I said as I spun so they could check my back. A glance at my wrist showed that it was gone.
Wow. Each house mark the guys mimicked, to show that we were mated were gone. Instead of Nato having the Zien mark, and Jari having the Levan mark and so on, we all had this new mark.
“They’re both gone,” Egan trailed a finger over my shoulder before pulling my shirt back down. Then he leaned around me to get a look in the mirror. No gasp or shock from him, he probably saw the marks on the other’s faces.
“Okay. I’m ready for that history lesson now,” I murmured as I glided by them and found a spot in the corner of the same loveseat I was just on.
“You okay?” Rand claimed the seat next to me and covered my hand with his. He seemed to need the touch, and the others were willing to grant him this time. Maybe his words to Sage before we left had burrowed their way into each of their hearts. I doubted they’d ever admit it, though.
The others took their spots back on the floor, and we waited.
Yunez had to know that we were waiting. And, the crazy bastard was making us wait for answers. That was it; I needed to track him down. My body t
ensed, ready to spring up, just as the door from the hallway opened, and Yunez strutted inside.
He was happy and calm; clearly in a good mood.
“Isolde, my love, you are absolutely glowing,” he stopped in front of me to kiss my cheek before he continued to the chair angled toward the rest of us. We all seemed to know that he claimed that spot.
“See?” And, by that, I meant had he seen the marks would morph into one.
“Yes, I knew that was going to happen. It was actually going to be part of the first history lesson that I had planned for you. Then we were distracted.”
Nice way to put it.
“I’m listening now.” I would not bitch about not being in the know on these little tidbits of information. Especially when it was my own damn fault this time. I could have been getting caught up the whole time we were here and chose not to.
“We’re all ready to listen now,” Nato scooted backward and leaned into my legs. He gripped one foot with a warm hand, and I breathed a little easier at the contact. Amazing how such a small touch could provide such comfort.
“Hell yeah, after you kicked our asses, I’m ready for some answers,” Jari smirked and propped himself up on his elbows.
Quiet chuckles whispered around the room before we all focused on Yunez. I would have been so uncomfortable at the receiving end of so many shark gazes, but he simply smirked.
“There is quite a lot that has been left out of the history, but I am sure you realize it was not so much left out, as it was hidden.”
A chill ran down my spine. I had this weird feeling like I was listening to a ghost story that was about to get real. As in shit just got real.
“Fennin were always a proud race, even before we created Fennina. We once ruled the world with courts very similar to how humans portray the Fae.”
I raised my hand. Bad timing, but a question popped into my head that didn’t make any sense. “Why are there only stories about Fae with powers, like Jari’s? They even believed that iron is deadly to the fair folk.”
I paused, realizing that I referred to humans as they, and grouped myself in with the Fennin. It wasn’t life altering, but in a way it was, because I had come to accept these people as my own.
“That’s simple.” Egan straightened, “Our people never wanted to have direct contact with humans, believing they were beneath us. The members of Janer House were always within our courts working with the buildings or armies. The Zien members, if they came into contact with them, may have used their powers, but the humans would never have remembered it. The Caen house preferred the company of animals to people. That left House Levan to deal with them. And, when magic was used, they remembered. And for some reason, they separated the Fae by seasons.” He shook his head as if that last didn’t quite make sense to him.
“Huh,” I fell back in the seat. I guessed that did make sense. I’d seen more than my fair share of arrogant assholes here. Rainer, Aamori, and Theon were just a few. It wasn’t a stretch at all to see them barricading their precious people from dirty humans centuries ago. “Okay, go on.”
Yunez cleared his throat and continued. “In the beginning, there were five houses. The House of Levan, House of Janer, House of Caen, House of Zien…And, the House of Manno. Mannos weren’t hidden, and Mazzas were revered. And yes, before you ask, there were enough Mannos to have their own house. And, likewise, Mazzas have always been sparse. No one really knows why, except for the fact that it really does seem like they only pop up in dire times.” He shrugged like that particular piece wasn’t important.
“Mannos were actually almost single handedly responsible for building Fennina. The creation of a realm is no easy feat. And while there are some massively powerful members in each house, the Mannos were gifted in all houses and didn’t require as much time or energy to do the job. Because of this, Mannos were in a position to make the majority of the decisions based on their interests. For instance, the sky is lavender because the then leader of the Manno House thought it was a beautiful color.”
“Okay, I can see how that would peeve a lot of people who had over-inflated egos, but it’s not a reason to go into hiding,” I rubbed my forehead, processing all of the information he was dumping on us.
“No, my sweet Isolde, it is not. It was after we were here that everything went to hell in a handbasket.”
I snorted, “You say we, but you weren’t alive then…right?” Nato said he was around seven hundred or something, but that was just a guess. With all the revelations, I wouldn’t be surprised if he said he was the real King Tut, who ruled a different race for shits and giggles.
“No, no. Of course I wasn’t.” Yunez actually sounded offended with his hand to his chest. “How old do you think I am?”
“Uh…” My gaze bounced around to the guys waiting for them to jump in at any moment.
Nato raised a hand. “We already told her you were around seven hundred, the oldest living Fennin.”
“Well, that is true but also not quite. I am seven hundred and seventy-three to be exact.” That extra seven decades didn’t even faze me at this point. “But I am not the oldest. There are actually many Fennin older than me, only they are generally repulsed by society and hide themselves away.” An odd note in his voice said that wasn’t quite the whole story, but I’d let it pass. For now.
Yunez flipped his hair out of his eyes, ever the surfer guy. “Once we were here and our culture settled, the other houses didn’t quite forget how powerful the Mannos were. Everyone knew they were gifted in each house, but after witnessing how they almost singlehandedly created a realm, they were jealous. The other houses, Janer in particular, had it out for the Mannos. They undercut them wherever possible, in business or friendship. You can imagine how greed and envy can kill a person’s good morals.” He spread his hands and studied them as if he was contemplating this exact thing now.
“But they were the strongest right? Why would it have mattered if the other houses were jealous?” I had to ask, even though I hated feeling like a school kid that missed out the whole last year of classes.
“Because even when there’s a superhero, he can be overpowered by the masses. There were many Mannos, but the other houses far surpassed them in number. Over time, Mannos were blackmailed to do favors for other houses. Usually by holding someone they loved over their heads. I won’t bore you with all the facts, but at one point, the Mannos said enough, and pulled away from society.” He paused, lifting his amethyst gaze to mine. “They wiped the minds of all Fennina, leaving nothing in history to lead back to them.”
Egan scratched his head and readjusted himself so he was closer to me. “Then why leave the Mazzas in history?”
Yunez shrugged like he wasn’t sure but answered anyway. “I wasn’t around then, but the best I can guess is Mazzas have always been small in number. Always only when we need them, and they have always been revered. Why erase something that was always a sign of hope to our people?”
That was so much. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there were still huge gaping holes in the story. He gave us the watered-down cliffs notes version, and still the information smacked me in the face like a cold, wet washcloth.
The Mannos were the strongest of the Fennin. But because others were jealous, they were mistreated and essentially forced to remove themselves from society to live a peaceful existence. Because that’s what it boiled down to, right? They were miserable trying to live in their own society, so they made it as if they never existed. And, it worked.
“When was this?” I rubbed my bottom lip with an index finger.
“About two thousand years ago.” Boom. Yunez just mic dropped us again.
Everyone let that sink in. No more questions were shot his way, and no more fidgeting. We could all have been the Fennin version of a wax museum, and no one would have known any different.
Yunez twisted a lock of hair across his forehead and smiled enigmatically. “I believe that’s enough for now. Why don’t we grab some dinner and on
e last training session before bed?”
That got a reaction from the guys. Mainly pained groans. Big babies.
I was so good with a brain break, I jumped up and headed toward the kitchen. I was learning I was definitely one of those people that needed time to process information before cramming any more words inside. If he tried to tell me more, I was afraid it would slide right out of my ears and into a puddle on the floor.
Almost in a daze, I pulled some dishes out of Yunez’s fridge. A salad, a pasta salad, and some kind of fruit salad. We were lacking on protein, but I had other more important things to think about right now.
Cool air whistled across my ear and I jumped, swatting my hand backward. I caught Jari’s nose and pinched it.
“Ouch. Not cool.” His voice was nasally from the lack of air traveling through his nostrils.
“Where’s the meat?” Okay, maybe I was concerned. A girl needed some substance to get her through the day. Especially one like today. Bonding, then giant vague revelations.
“Oh, I found his stash while you were with Rand.” He winked and opened a cabinet above my head. A thick cloth bag fell out, landing right on my forehead before Jari snatched it up.
“Is that…jerky?” I said.
“Yup. Yunez apparently has a thing for it. Who knew?” Jari popped a piece in his mouth.
We all took seats around Yunez’s table, which was much bigger than ours, seating at least ten people. Everyone stayed to one end, apparently going for the cozy vibe. I landed right in between Rand and Yunez. My kneejerk reaction was to tense up and wait for someone to make an ass out of themselves, but nothing. How many times would it take before I truly believed they accepted these guys into the fold?
“Pass the fruit, Nato?” Egan held out his hand.
“Sure. Salad, Sage?”
Salads were passed around until all plates were full, as well as the jerky bag. It was the oddest lunch I’d ever had, but somehow, made perfect sense at Yunez’s table.
“So, what did you guys practice earlier?” Rand cleared his throat and picked up his fork.
Looking around, my entire LL was here, plus Rand and Yunez. Well, my LL plus Yunez. Happy rainbow tears were about to leak from my eyes at the contentment settling in my soul. Just kidding; there were no rainbow tears of joy, but the euphoria was real. We were all together, sharing a meal, and no one was trying to kill anyone.
Secrets of the Mazza: A Paranormal Romance (Mazza Series Book 3) Page 12