Perfect Pride

by Kaye Draper

  I murmured sleepy agreement.

  Halstad shifted and stood to pull our clothes off the sticks where they'd been drying. He sent a wave of magic through them, using what was left of his own energy reserves to provide us with something dry to cover up with while we slept.

  "You going to be okay overnight?" I asked, watching him add more wood to the fire.

  It was probably the worst time ever to be noticing how hot he was. But I was noticed anyway. Halstad didn't have the innate, animal grace that the rest of my supe lovers possessed. If anything, he was built more like the men in my own clan—thickly muscled and…solid. There wasn't an ounce of fat on the guy.

  And he was hung like a horse.

  I smiled smugly to myself, and of course he chose that moment to look up. He froze, standing there naked with our clothes draped over one beefy forearm. "Enjoying the show, gryphon?"

  I grinned. "Since you’re partly human, I was just wondering if you were going to get all fat and smooshy, now that you have the leisure time to sit around eating junk food and watching Netflix instead of working your ass off for the guild."

  He rolled his eyes and came to join me in the little grass nest we'd made earlier. "I don't know," he said seriously. "How would I live with myself if a girl was more built than me? My manhood would curl up and die."

  I laughed. "You'd be cute with a little beer belly though."

  He shook his head at me, but a fond smile curved his lips upward. "You're such a weirdo, girlie."

  I shrugged and lay down, using the shirt he offered me as a pillow instead of covering up with it as he probably intended. I was pleasantly warm, thanks to the fire and my shifter nature. I wasn't sure about Halstad though. He was essentially human, just with a little extra magic sparkles. "You going to be warm enough?" I asked him.

  I tried to keep my eyes on his face, I really did. I knew he was hesitant about our relationship. I wasn't going to force him into anything. Even if this was the perfect fucking time to curl up and forget the world existed for a while.

  Gold and purple eyes met mine, and a shy smile twitched at one corner of his mouth. "I was hoping you'd keep me warm? I'm not as sensitive to the elements as a human. But…I still don't like the cold."

  I held out my arms in invitation. "I will bear the burden of being your heater,” I said grimly. “Somehow."

  He shuffled around, placing things in easy reach just in case we wanted our clothes at some point. Then he slid into the nest with me, rolling to press his naked body along mine, treating me to acres of smooth muscle and pleasantly wiry chest hair. I slid a hand up his arm as he rested his hand on my hip and drew me in for a kiss.

  Halstad didn't kiss the way I thought an angry, manly-man battle mage should kiss. Each time, I expected domination and force, but was met with a surprisingly gentle and vulnerable touch. Just like the rest of my pride, he left me breathless and reeling. But with Halstad, it felt…dangerous, somehow. Like he needed something from me that I was terrified I couldn't give him.

  Maybe my brain was damaged in the fall earlier.

  I pressed closer to him, dragging my fingers over his scarred, battle-hardened body as he kissed a path from my lips, along my jaw to my neck. His lips ghosted over the faint scar where my neck met my shoulder and he chuckled. Only a bite from another shifter would scar like that. "Fox bites?"

  I blushed. Because apparently, I wasn't as immune to embarrassment as I thought. "Maybe," I said, sliding my hands down his back to cup his muscular ass. He wasn't going to freak out and go all possessive, was he?

  Halstad ran his tongue over the faint scar where Hisashi had marked me. "Good," he breathed on a chuckle. "That boy needs an alpha like you." He pulled back and I was surprised and confused to see the lust lighting his mismatched fae eyes. "Did you…bite him back?"

  I huffed a laugh as he rolled, pulling me over to sit astride his hips as he lay on his back. "Maybe."

  He slid his hands over my body, the touch of his big, calloused hands surprisingly gentle on my hips and breasts. His big cock was trapped between us, pulsing with need. I leaned forward and kissed him, sucking his bottom lip into my mouth, then letting it go with a loud pop. He groaned under me, but didn't make any move to hurry things along.

  I eased back and stared down at him. His long lashes lowered as he avoided my eyes. "I…will you bite me too, Gesa?” he breathed, voice barely a whisper. “Hold me down and dominate me? Fuck me like I belong to you?"

  I stared at the mage in shock as his chest hitched and he stopped breathing, breath held, eyes averted, and just a hint of a blush staining his scarred, stubbled cheeks.

  Something clicked in my head. Gods, I really am slow sometimes. When will I ever learn to stop judging a book by its cover? He tried to tell me, a while back. I just didn't get it.

  "Halstad," I breathed.

  His eyes met mine, and I saw the vulnerability and shame there. This was why he was so afraid of intimacy with me and the others? Gods, it would be hard enough to trust one person with this, let alone a whole house full of sarcastic assholes like my pride.

  I braced one hand on his chest and leaned forward to run a hand through his hair with the other. Slipping my hand into his hair, I gripped it and tilted his head back, forcing him to meet my eyes. "I told you, whatever you need, right?"

  He let out a shaky breath and his big body relaxed beneath me. It felt like he'd just surrendered something precious, put his life in my hands. He trusted me so damned much.

  I sat back. "I'm not gonna lie," I said on a shaky laugh, "I don't have a fucking clue how this works. But I'll try, okay?"

  He nodded, his Adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed.

  I looked down at this powerful, scary-assed mage and realized he was giving me everything. I had never been so glad my pride was so slutty and my friends were so weird. Because Oisin had told me about subs. Thanks to him and Orion the backward incubus, I had an inkling of what Halstad needed.

  He was powerful as fuck. Big, gruff, often placed in unthinkable situations where he had to think on his feet. Strange as it was, he needed to lose control—not in the same way he did when he was following the guild’s orders. This was different, this wasn’t slavery, it was…escape. And he needed me to take on the burden of control for him.

  Luckily, I was strong enough for us both.

  "You tell me if I do something you don't like, got it?" I demanded.

  "Freedom," he said, face open, and younger than he'd ever looked. He took my hands and guided them to his wrists. "It's my...safe word."

  I swallowed down the growl that wanted to come out at that. But I squeezed his wrists. Pushing his hands flat to the ground. "Stay like that. Don't move until I say you can." I grinned. "And no talking."

  I watched his eyes as I moved down his body, licking and biting. The mage didn't move a muscle. But his cheeks were flushed, and his cock was so hard it looked painful. I purposefully touched everything but his dick, enjoying the thrill of being completely in charge. No way would that happen with a male gryphon.

  Halstad's depleted magic swelled. I could feel it under his skin, wanting to help free him, but he held it back. Just one more show of complete submission. Gods, he was perfect.

  "I'm going to ride you now," I said, amazed I could still blush over dirty talk, even after life with Oisin and Kai.... "And you aren't going to come until I say so. Understand?"

  He nodded. "Yes ma'am."

  I paused. "I really don't want you calling me 'master,' but we need to work on that. 'Ma'am' is awful."

  He twitched, but didn't move out of the position I'd put him in. "Understood."

  His eyes were begging me to just get on with it. So of course I took my time.

  I think he liked the torture just fine.

  When we finally collapsed into the grass, we were sweaty, and shaky, and there was sand everywhere. I ran a hand over the warm pink curves of Halstad’s muscular ass. I’d never spanked a guy before. I kind of wanted t
o do it again. But it was hard to make sure I didn’t use my gryphon strength. “Did I hurt you?”

  He snorted and rolled over onto his back. “Do I look injured to you, idiot gryphon?”

  I smirked. No, no he didn’t. He looked well used.

  "So," I said when Halstad folded his arms under his head and gazed up at the stars through the leaf canopy overhead, "you just made me a dom."

  He smirked, the raw vulnerability from before gone, but not yet replaced by his usual mask. "We'll get you there."

  I curled into his side and he looked over at me. "Most people don't understand," he said softly. "They see me, make assumptions. Then they get really fucking disappointed when I can't be what they want."

  I stroked his washboard abs. "Welcome to my life," I said wryly. "I am never going to judge someone for not fitting into society's little box."

  He huffed and pulled his shirt over his legs as the fire burned down.

  "Warm enough?" I asked, already half asleep.

  "Never felt so warm and fuzzy in my life," the mage whispered into my hair.

  I think I smiled. But maybe I was already asleep.

  Chapter 13

  "Well, isn't this cozy," a bored voice drawled from somewhere nearby.

  I groaned and rolled over, away from Oisin. I knew that tone. That was the tone that promised he was going to get even with me for something in a really devious and roundabout way.

  I needed to find the sickeningly sweet fae wine we kept by the bed. Distract him before he really got wound up. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to walk when he was done with me.

  I smacked into something solid and opened my eyes, completely disoriented. I rubbed a hand over my face, grimacing at the gritty scratch of sand. Why the fuck was I covered in sand?

  Oh. Right. Sirens, sea monsters, and naked mages.

  I closed my eyes again. "Go away, fae. Come back in about eight hours. With coffee."

  Oisin squatted by my side as Halstad huffed and sat up, looking around blearily with his mismatched eyes. His blond waves stuck out from his head at odd angles from sleeping with his hair wet. I was sure mine looked worse. I studied the nasty greenish-purple bruise on the mage's temple. I was all healed, and I still felt stiff and disoriented. Halstad didn't quite have my superhuman healing abilities.

  "When the fuck did I get hit by a truck?" the mage ground out, searching for pants and pulling them on.

  Oisin tilted his head, not bothering to even pretend he wasn't ogling my mage's impressive package. "Well…" he replied. "Sex with Gesa is kind of like a traffic accident sometimes."

  I shoved the little asshole, keeping my face blank, even though I was actually just relieved he was here, in one piece, looking as ridiculously perfect as ever, even if he was dressed a bit more flamboyantly than usual. "Oh like you're one to talk," I groused at him as I took the clothes Halstad handed me.

  The mage was still barefoot and shirtless. He twisted that rippling torso to and fro until his back cracked and he let out a groan. "I'm getting too old for this sleeping on the ground shit."

  Hisashi was standing nearby, looking out at the water. "How do we get her back here?" he muttered. At least one of us had priorities.

  I shimmied into my clothes, sighing at the crumpled, crispy feeling of salt-drenched cotton and denim that had been rinsed in a stream and dried by the smoky fire. Plus, I still had sand grating here and there as I moved. "I don't have a clue," I answered him.

  Hisashi turned to me and held out his arms. I stepped into his embrace, letting out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding. We were all whole. At least those of us present.

  Hisashi sent a ghostly touch of misty magic over me and pulled back to peer into my eyes. "Are you really okay?"

  His gaze was probing. I knew he wanted to ask more detailed questions but didn't want to violate my need for secrecy. I nodded. "I was worried. I got…flung. Busted me the fuck up. But…Halstad said he couldn't sense anything wrong that might hurt them." I put my hand on my stomach.

  Hisashi let out a long breath of relief and pressed his forehead to mine, closing his ice-blue eyes. "Thank the Gods." He lifted his eyes to meet Halstad's. "So you know?"

  Halstad shrugged and shook out his shirt before he pulled it over his head. "Stuff like that tends to happen when you put your ugly bits together. They’re yours then? Congrats, pup."

  I snorted. Hisashi shook his head. "Well, we could have planned better. But I won't say I'm not happy." He squeezed my hand.

  Oisin watched us all with narrowed eyes. "Are you lot sure you want the kraken back?"

  At my confused look, he shook his head, tossing his long braid over his silk-clad shoulder. "You do realize she hoards, right? Everyone is so happy about these children, but I guarantee we won't see them at all, once the kraken wraps her tentacles around them."

  I rolled my eyes. He could just say it. My eyes met his and I quirked a smile at him. He was reassuring me. That they were all okay with this, and that Kai would come back to us and be just as happy as the rest of us secretly ecstatic idiots.

  Oisin winked at me and stood. "So, Hisashi is right, we need to figure out how to find Kai. And why the hell she decided to murder us."

  I was stumped. We had tried waiting for her. We had tried finding her in her own element. Hisashi had tried pulling on their bond. I didn't know what else to do. "I really, really hate to say this," I said, panic already clawing at my chest. "But…maybe we need to just go home and let her come to us?"

  I turned to Hisashi. "You guys used your magic to travel back to the bookstore didn’t you? There wasn't any sign that she was trying to reach us there?"

  Hisashi shook his head. "We only went as far as the mainland. The fae swindler over there used what was left of his compulsion magic to get us somewhere to sleep and some clothes. Once our magic had time to replenish, we came right back here."

  I arched a brow at Oisin. That certainly explained his style choices today. Hisashi was wearing a worn-out T-shirt and cargo shorts. But Oisin was wearing the loudest silk shirt I'd ever seen, and some sort of billowy pants printed with tribal designs. All of it was about two sizes too big. And orange didn’t go well with his pale complexion and flaming red hair.

  "What?" the fae demanded, lifting his nose and crossing his arms. "It's silk!"

  Hisashi laughed. "They couldn't find anything else in size miniature. That belonged to the daughter of some city official." He shook his head in disbelief at the fae's antics, but couldn't stop the fond smile from crossing his face. "I'm pretty sure he talked her right out of her best ceremonial clothes."

  "You have no shame, do you?" I asked the fae king.

  He just waved a hand in a flippant gesture. "Shame is a senseless emotion."

  Halstad muttered something and magic flared, tearing my attention away from Oisin. The mage tossed a piece of driftwood out into the water and stood there with his hands on his hips, waiting.

  I studied him in the light of the rising sun. Oisin's words still rang in my head. Shame was a stupid emotion. But I bet Halstad carried around more than his fair share.

  As usual, the mage stoically ignored the snark around him and focused on the job at hand. I thought he was trying to send some sort of signal to Kai. But it wasn't a tentacled beast that responded to his summons. It was a mermaid.

  Well, merman.

  I watched curiously as a guy with a swimmer's body and long, flowing green hair swam up and cautiously regarded us from the hip-deep water. "Do you belong to the kraken?" the merman called, undulating in place in the nearly waveless ocean, showing a flash of blue-green fin here and there.

  I stepped out into the edge of the surf. "We do. We're trying to find her and bring her home. But…she was a little out of sorts yesterday. Didn't go so damned well. Fucking sirens."

  He watched me for a minute, then nodded, as if coming to a decision. "One moment."

  He disappeared beneath the waves.

  A few seconds later, he re-emerged
, accompanied by a few other merpeople, some male and some female. They waded out of the water, forming legs as they came. I suddenly wished I was more inclined to travel the ocean. Because, wow.

  "The kraken is enraged," the man who had spoken before said in a soft voice. "I've never seen anything like it in my fifty years in the water."

  I sighed. "The sirens did something to her. They tricked her into coming here. Told her there was another of her kind looking for her. Then they somehow managed to make her do their bidding."

  He nodded. "Our people were attacked. Most of us were driven away from our home. But some…did not survive." His seafoam eyes glinted with the promise of retribution. Those damned sirens weren't long for this world, if that look was anything to go by.

  "I'm sorry. The sirens made her do it. She would never attack you otherwise. In fact, she made friends with some merpeople the first time we came through here." I felt like a pet owner trying to convince someone my dog didn’t usually bite.

  A woman stepped forward and waved to me. I recognized her from our first encounter with the sirens. She was the one that swam next to our boat and frolicked with Kai on the way there. "We knew there was something amiss," she said timidly. "The kraken I swam with was not the same as the one that attacked our people. There was no reasoning with her. No human spark."

  I growled. Halstad put a hand on my shoulder and Hisashi spoke up. "We broke whatever hold they had on her." He grinned. "And Gesa introduced the queen to her fist. Repeatedly."

  Oisin paced forward, fiddling with the end of his braid in that way he did whenever he was thinking. "It's possible that our dear fishy simply didn't respond well to the mind manipulation. You never know what you will get when you try to subdue a creature so ancient and powerful." He glanced at me. "Perhaps she needs time to recover. Here in her element."

  I hated it. I absolutely did not want to leave here empty handed. I wanted my clingy, perverted kraken back. Now.

  But when it came to magic, I had to trust that the rest of my pride knew a hell of a lot more than I did. If they said this was what we needed to do, so be it. "I don't like it," I ground out, clenching and unclenching my fists.