Ruby’s Pride

by Romy Lockhart

  Geez, these guys take this whole mating thing so seriously. I shrug at him. “Maybe you just need to kiss me a little longer the next time.”

  “Is that all?” he asks quietly, his gaze drifting to my lips.

  He moves forward, intent in his eyes. I splash him and turn away, swimming in the direction of the waterfall.

  “You’ll have to catch me first,” I call back.

  I’m almost at the waterfall when I feel his hand around my ankle. The gentle tug makes me kick a little harder, but he doesn’t let go. His grip tightens, and suddenly I’m being yanked under the water. I fight to gasp in a breath before I’m pulled down hard and fast. Panic swells within me when I find I can’t make him let go by trying to kick him. I can’t seem to hit anything. What the hell?

  I turn as I’m dragged deeper and deeper into the seemingly bottomless middle of the lake. I freeze in horror as I see it isn’t Corwin who has a death-grip on my leg. The creature below me is a dark mass with red slits for eyes. It doesn’t appear completely corporeal. Something glitters through the smoky darkness, and I see there’s an approximation of a human body within the mass but it’s difficult to make out what he really looks like.

  I kick out with my free leg again and it does nothing to the creature, just swirls the glittering dark cloud around a little. I’m totally fucking screwed. My lungs feel fit to burst and I can’t get away from this thing. This darkness.

  Wait. The note! This has to be what it was talking about. I mean it was kind of vague, but I think the darkness it mentioned killed witches, and I’m apparently one of those. Why else would it be trying to murder me? None of this helps me right now, and I’m starting to lose vision. I seriously need to do something, and fast. If only I could figure out what.

  Then strong arms grab my hands from above and I see Corwin in double vision before I pass out. All I can do now is hope he manages to save me.

  Chapter 10

  “You never should have taken her out to the stream,” Ransom’s angry voice awakens me, close by, but not right next to me.

  I shiver and open my eyes. I’m in a bed, tucked into nice, soft sheets. Back in their cabin, I guess. Better than being trapped at the bottom of that lake with whatever the hell that demonic creature that tried to kill me actually was.

  “There has never been anything wrong with the stream before,” Corwin argues back, in a quieter voice. “Keep your voice down, Ran. She needs to sleep.”

  “She needs to go back to her own world and stop causing trouble here.”

  “She can’t go back.”

  Ransom’s laughter is sharp and bitter. “You mated with her. I cannot believe you would be so stupid, brother. She is not a human and she cannot give you what you want so badly.”

  I hear floorboards creaking and close my eyes. I get the feeling listening in on their conversation is going to be so much more enlightening than trying to get straight answers out of them, so I play pretend I’m still asleep while the door creaks open.

  “How is she?” Corwin asks quietly.

  “Still sleeping,” Ax tells him, his voice low. “Did she really mate with you?”

  “She did.”

  “Warner won’t like this,” Ax says.

  “It isn’t up to Warner who Ruby decides to mate with.” Corwin’s voice is still quiet, but this time it sounds less certain. “We all agreed. It is the human’s choice who she decides to mate with. If she decides we are all her mates, then we are all her mates.”

  “She’s not human,” Ransom insists. “She is a witch, and that is why the shadows tried to take her. No witch must be allowed to live in this realm.”

  The silence that follows his angry words worries me. They believe what he’s saying. I don’t like what that means. It feels like forever by the time Corwin blows out a weary breath.

  “Then what do you believe we should do?”

  It’s Ransom’s turn for silence, it seems. I count down the seconds until he speaks. It takes him three minutes to put his proposal forward.

  “We take her to The Well.”

  The Well? What the fuck does that mean?

  “We have no evidence that The Well is a portal to the human world.”

  “Do you wish for the darkness to get her?”

  “Do not be foolish,” Ax snaps. “No one wishes for the darkness to get her.”

  “Then what other choice do we have?” For a second, I almost think it’s Corwin talking, but he sighs before Ransom finishes the question.

  “It will be her choice,” Corwin says softly. “She is not our prisoner.”

  “She would be foolish to stay here,” Ransom barks.

  I hear someone storm off, and I’m almost completely sure it’s him. Opening my eyes, I sit up in the bed. The mattress creaks and Ax appears in the doorway, pushing the door open wider. He stares and I notice that I’m naked under the covers. I pull the sheet back over my breasts and his cheeks burn red.

  “What’s going on?” I ask, my voice scratchy. I cough a little and he rushes to my side.

  “Do not try to speak. You’ve been through an ordeal. You must rest.” He sits down and puts his palm against my forehead, as if he’s checking if I’m getting a fever. It’s kind of sweet, really. This is a new side to him.

  “Can I have my purse?”

  He frowns at me, his blue eyes confused. “Purse?”

  I bite back a sigh. These guys are going to drive me totally insane. “The little bag I keep my things inside.”

  “Oh, your pouch? It is right here.” He opens the drawer of the bedside cabinet and passes me my purse. His fingers stroke mine as I take it from him, reluctant to let go.

  I quickly pull the note from my purse to read it again. Whatever this is—a dream, a nightmare, an honest to God whole other world—I need to find a way out. That thing that grabbed me before would have drowned me if I’d been alone. I’m supposedly a witch, yet I don’t know how to be one. If there’s magic in this body I have no idea how to use it. Let alone how to utilize it to defeat that thing that seems to be made of shadows.

  “I need to go home,” I tell him, putting the note back. “Will you help me?”

  He hesitates to reply, making me wonder what his take is on this whole thing. Ransom and Corwin made their feelings perfectly clear. I’m not sure what his are. He doesn’t seem to be sure, either.

  “If you stayed,” he starts, shaking his head as I’m about to tell him I can’t. “I know you have to leave, but if you could stay. If it was safe. Would you want to?”

  Would I? If this wasn’t clearly some crazy fantasy my mind made up to keep my thoughts busy while I’m being held hostage somewhere in the real world, or some kind of fever-dream brought on by the trippiest drugs ever invented, would I want to live in the woods with four insanely hot brothers? The answer probably depends on what I decide to focus on. Yes, to all the smoking hot sex. Yes, to the avoidance of my crappy situation back home.

  But none of this is real, and I’m not supposed to be here.

  “I don’t know,” I tell him, the most honest answer I can give.

  He looks disappointed. I reach out to touch his face, stroking my thumb over the fine layer of stubble on his jaw. He leans in to my touch and holds my hand where it is, his touch light and unthreatening.

  “I wish you didn’t need to leave,” he says finally.

  I do too, though I don’t dare say it out loud. It’s time to pull my big-girl panties on and cut myself free of this fantasy. Reality awaits. I can’t ignore it for much longer.

  Chapter 11

  Ax leaves the room to let me get dressed in private. I close the door on his curious gaze and drop the sheet to the floor before I check the closet. Apparently, the clothes inside belonged to Dorothy. I frown at the musty items on the rack and decide I’m going to have to keep wearing my seriously short red dress. With no panties.

  Sighing, I pick out the least dusty and ancient looking thing, and screw my nose up. Ugh. I mean, at least i
t would cover my ass, but it looks like something someone’s grandmother would wear to go to bed. Not to mention the fact that it’s been gathering so much dust that just looking at it makes my throat close up.

  Why couldn’t it be clean and cute, like a slutty version of Dorothy’s dress from the movie version of the story or something? I picture that dress in my head, only with a plunging neckline and knee-high socks involved. My fingers sparkle and the granny-dress glows and freaking transforms!

  “Holy shit-balls, Toto.” I turn the now gorgeous item over in my hands and a sexy glittery red bra and panties fall out from underneath. The perfect underwear to complete the look. I guess I’d been thinking about it without realizing it.

  I dress quickly, wondering how using magic could be so simple. I dress and then look in the mirror on the wall next to the closet. Something weird happens when I look at myself. My clothes look amazing, of course, but they sparkle strangely and then the color drains from everything. And I mean, everything.

  “Fuck, no.” My gorgeous red heels have turned white! They’re freaking ruined. I frown at the now very white get-up I’m stuck with and groan my ass off. I look like a slutty bride. All I need is a veil and a visible garter.

  I close my eyes and imagine everything in red; my all-time favorite color. I’m blessed with a bright scarlet color when I open my eyes, but it quickly sparkle-fades again into white.

  What the hell... Wait. I used magic. White is the color for that here. That has to be something to do with it. It can’t be signaling some kind of secret desire to stay here and marry four guys. That’s just a little too crazy.

  I take a breath before I pick up my things, ready to leave the room. At the last minute, I pick something else out of the closet and turn it into a shoulder-bag which naturally turns white to match the rest of what I’m wearing. I’m actually kind of glad I wasn’t wearing my red dress when I cast my first unwitting spell. It doesn’t change color as I slip it into the bag. Nor does my purse.

  I walk along the hall into the lounge/kitchen area and Corwin’s jaw drops as he looks my way.

  “I didn’t know our grandmother owned such enticing clothes.”

  “She used her magic,” Ax comments, his gaze guarded. “The clothes were not white. I don’t believe any of them looked so appealing before either.”

  I shrug lightly. “Hey, at least I’m a good witch.”

  I think. I haven’t turned green so I’m taking that as a sign that my magic isn’t of the wicked variety.

  “We shouldn’t leave without telling Warner,” Corwin says, glancing at Ax who shakes his head.

  “I’m not leaving you alone together to mate. You can go find our mute brother if he must know about this. I’ll wait with Ruby.” Ax folds his arms and stares Corwin down.

  I watch Corwin glance from me to Ax before sighing and shifting in about three seconds flat. He darts out of the house and into the woods in lion form. Tension hangs in the air between us as we wait.

  I realize I’m starting to get hungry, but I refuse to mention it. The kitchen looks worse than basic. No running water, no refrigerator. Just some ancient looking kind of stove and a bunch of cupboards that are likely stuffed with utensils dustier than Dorothy’s old clothes.

  I don’t want them hunting down a deer or something just so I can have lunch. The thought of it turns my stomach besides. Maybe we’ll pass a fruit tree or two on the way to The Well.

  “Are you feeling okay?” Ax asks me, breaking me from my thoughts. There’s concern in his gaze.

  “Sure,” I tell him, nodding.

  “Why does it feel as if you are lying to me?” He seems genuinely perturbed at the idea of me bullshitting him.

  I blow out a breath. There’s no point in telling him anything. He won’t understand. It’ll only make me sound crazy. “That would be because I’m a bitch.”

  “A bitch?” he asks, one blond eyebrow twitching upward.

  “Kind of like a witch, but starting with a ‘b’.”

  He laughs, and holy hell, it’s such a deep, guttural sound I feel my knees weaken just hearing it. It’s probably a very good thing that I’m leaving soon. Sleeping with one of these guys was bad-girl enough. Any more action and I’m fairly sure I’d cross a line that would turn my skin green. Y’know, considering that seems to be an indicator to the wicked in this place.

  “You are a bitch. I like it. Are you only Corwin’s bitch, or can you be mine, too?” His gaze turns heated so quickly I barely have a chance to catch my breath before Ax runs his hands over my shoulders, apparently straightening my sleeves.

  I cough. “My eyes are up here,” I tell him when he raises his gaze from my cleavage.

  There’s no hint of shame there, but there is a little mirth. “I was just admiring what my bitch did with her dress.”

  Is it awful that I’m kind of into it when he calls me that? I think it’s the possessive way the words roll off his tongue as his gaze scorches my skin. “I didn’t say I was yours, Ax.”

  He smiles as he runs a finger along the low collar of the dress, his skin grazing my breasts.

  “Your eyes told me,” he says, moving in a little closer to brush my hair back from my ear and whisper, “You’re in heat, Ruby. I can smell your musk. You got wet the moment I came close enough to touch. You want me to part your legs and bury my cock inside. That’s what makes you mine. You don’t need to say it.”

  My body tingles all over as his hands move to stroke my breasts through my clothes. My nipples are already hard in anticipation. I’m pulsing with need when his thumbs rub those hard tips. I just want him to rip my clothes off and do whatever the hell he wants. I close my eyes and hear him bite back a moan right before his hands push up my skirt. His hands tug my panties down over my hips. Then he parts my legs and I open my eyes to find his desirous gaze fixed on my pussy. His fingers stroke through the fine short hairs before he moves them lower to explore.

  His first pass over my clit makes me tremble. I’m wet and my body is tense with growing need. He pauses and rubs his knuckles back over that swollen mound. I gasp out a breath. Now he’s fascinated. He stares at me, rocking his knuckles back and forth slowly over my clit.

  “You like that,” he whispers in wonder. “What else do you like?”

  “Everything,” I moan, as he begins to bring me to climax with his fingers. I’ve never been touched like this before. Like I’m something to marvel over, something special. Like every inch of me is completely enthralling and worthy of unlimited attention. The earth shatters under us as I come for him, my groans low and desperate under his relentless attention.

  “Everything?” he asks, with a hungry growl, his fingers pressing into my drenched cleft.

  I start to nod, incapable of finding the right words. He falls to his knees in front of me and begins worshipping my pussy with his tongue. Oh hell. A guy with experience always made for hot sex, but I had no idea virgins could be so incredibly intense. I lean on the edge of the soft arm chair as he devours me like a demon possessed. Moaning so loudly he could wake the dead.

  The rush of a second orgasm pulls through me like a freight train and I come screaming out his name while I grab fistfuls of his gorgeous blond hair to keep him from moving away.

  He stops licking and I feel his lips pull into a grin against my inner thigh.

  That’s when Corwin walks back into the room, double-taking at us and raising a eyebrow at me. Oh, right. I let Ax go, and he moves away reluctantly. His mouth is shiny as he turns to smile at his brother. I push down my skirt and try to get my heart-rate under control. It’s pounding so loudly I can barely think straight. Yeah, right. That’s why I can’t seem to keep my panties on.

  My willingness to get naked with these guys has nothing to do with the racing vessel in my chest and everything to do with my overactive libido. Two brothers in one day. That’s got to be a new record.

  “We are mated,” Ax tells Corwin, sounding proud.

  “Ugh, men,” I mutt
er, folding my arms. They’re all the same, really. They all have that built in desire to brag when they nail a girl.

  “I can see that,” Corwin says, sounding very measured.

  He’s jealous. I can see the faintest hint of irritation in his dark-eyed gaze before he appears to dismiss the feeling. He doesn’t smile though, and that’s not like him.

  “We should get going. Warner is not close by. He will understand why we need to do this once we return.”

  It takes me a second to figure out what he’s talking about. “He won’t be mad I went home without saying goodbye?”

  “He will... understand.”

  Ax snorts, and Corwin narrows his eyes at his brother.

  “Wait, is this really Ransom?” I can’t help it. He’s acting so sour I’m actually beginning to doubt he’s the same guy who calmly and reasonably talked me into coming to a cabin in the woods with four strange men last night.

  “He may as well be when he’s in this kind of mood,” Ax tells me, wiping his mouth with his hand and licking at his knuckles.

  I bend forward and wriggle my panties up my legs. Both men stop and stare as I hike up my skirt to bring them home. The deep ache I feel when I move reminds me I’m still horny as hell. Coming is great and all, but I’ve always been the kind of girl who needs to be fucked to feel satisfied. I’m going to have to put up with big blue lady balls all day because we didn’t get the chance to finish.

  “We can’t waste another moment,” Corwin tells me, heading to the door.

  “Couldn’t we though?” Ax asks, gazing back at me. “I didn’t really get the chance to...”

  “When night falls, the spirit of darkness will come for Ruby. We can’t risk her life.” He frowns at Ax.

  Nodding slowly, Ax offers his arm to me. I take it and we get moving.

  We’re off to find a magical well that will send me home. It doesn’t have quite the same ring as a wizard, but what can you do? I’m sure it’s a wonderful well.

  Chapter 12