“And we have followed the protocols,” he explained, his expression serious. “We’ve watched you for months, mourned for your loss when you father passed, learned your favorite meal is honey-covered nuts roasted with lamb, admired your morning routine of picking wildflowers from the field.”
“For months?” My voice climbed. “You know how bad that sounds?” How could I not have known someone had followed me this long? Had they been in my house this whole time, seeing me sleep? I shivered, unsure how I ought to feel. But they hadn’t harmed me either.
“Why is it bad?” The bridge of his nose pinched. “It is a great appreciation and respect in my homeland. It’s a process where an elf selects his mate, then—”
“Wait up.” I shuffled further up on the bed. “You think you’re an elf?”
He laughed, the sound loud. He mumbled a few words under this breath, and a surge of sparks danced over my arms, my hairs raising.
Luca’s skin shimmered, and I froze, watching him. His ears elongated, his facial features softening and appearing more beautiful than I’d ever seen before.
I rubbed my eyes, but he stood there in all his stunning glory, smiling.
“You changed into an elf!” My mind swirled and shut down because how many surprises could I take in one night? Or I was still hallucinating. I balled the blanket in my fists, breathing too fast.
“We are elves from the deep forests of the Tritonian realm.” He sat on the edge of the bed, the mattress bowing under him. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk as if we were long-lost friends.
I studied his skin and how smooth it appeared. My fingers tingled at the urge to reach over and touch him.
“Your father mustn’t have told you what you are?” he asked.
I shook my head because right now none of this was making much sense.
“You’re a half-elf, but it doesn’t matter to us. Females are almost extinct in our race, killed over the centuries by the orcs.”
“No, you’re wrong. I’m a human.” This was ridiculous. I wasn’t an elf… sure, my ears had grown along with one wing. I reached up and found my ears were normal sized. My breaths sped up, and I held myself tight, terrified to admit that part of me considered it might have been a possibility. Heck, what did that mean then? Dad chose not to tell me the truth, or maybe he hadn’t known either. Or what if someone had put a spell or curse on me? But why and who hated me that much?
But at the mention of orcs, my mind also sprung to Luronk, fear silently hammering in my chest. “An orc chased me home,” I blurted out and rushed out of bed, leaving the blanket behind, darting to the window. I glanced down from the second story into the front yard, where three large figures paced around. One of them was Luronk. The other two were just as large and disfigured. They spoke to each other, arms flaying about, yet their voices didn’t reach me. “Shit, there are three orcs out there now? How long was I passed out?”
When I turned around, Luca stood by my side, and I flinched, as I hadn’t sensed him move. He stared out the window and then down at me. “You weren’t sleeping long, but your transformation has sent your scent out across the land. More of these beasts will arrive soon.”
“None of what you’re saying makes sense.” And as he looked outside once more, I quickly sniffed my armpit. I didn’t smell that bad.
But when Luca faced me once more, he pushed a hand to the back of my head, cradling me, pinning me in place.
I should have panicked, but his presence had the opposite effect, not to mention igniting the fire within. I’d never felt this way before with anyone. Or perhaps this was fear and adrenaline, twisting my delusional emotions. Yet all I could do was fight the urge to lift myself on tippy toes and discover what his mouth tasted like. Ridiculous thoughts.
“You must have turned eighteen tonight, right?” His eyes flickered to the window when footfalls sounded outside my room. Moments later in marched the other two men. Or was it elves? Luca’s attention skirted to the newcomers and offered them a slight nod as if they understood exactly what he meant by that movement.
“Yes,” I finally said as the two took a seat on the bed as casually as my friend Bee would if she’d come over for a girls’ catch up. She often popped over for tea and we’d head into the woods to hunt for wild mushrooms. But this was different because I shouldn’t have been comfortable with these strangers in my home.
Luca’s hand glided to my chin, and he tilted back my head. Before I could react, he kissed me with such ferocity, my legs buckled under me. Our mouths clashed, a powerful electricity shaking me at the core. With his other arm, he clasped me around the waist, pressing me against his strong body.
A surge of fiery energy sparked across his lips and onto mine, snapping throughout my body from head to toe. I trembled with an uncontrollable desire, a rekindling of a feeling I’d never known existed. Luca responded as if sensing my reaction and pushed my back up against the wall, his tongue pushing into my mouth. His body grinded against mine.
“Enough,” one of the other men shouted.
Luca broke our connection at once, but his eyes continued to devour me. His departure left me cold. However, when I laid eyes on the other men, they stared at me with similar looks, gazes trailing up and down my body, their earlier stoic expressions morphed into something more primal and raw.
I hugged myself and hurried over to my wardrobe and pulled out the first dress I found, a floral piece I slipped over my head and down my body, the hem falling to my knees. The frilly sleeves and square neckline reminded me of the last time I’d worn this… at Dad’s funeral because it had been a glorious spring day and butterflies had fluttered around me all day.
Dad had always told me funerals were to be celebrated, and he’d made me promise I would never wear black on the occasion of his.
Maybe I ought to change outfits, but the heaviness of three sets of eyes on my back reminded me this wasn’t about what I wore, but a means to cover myself. I shut the wardrobe and turned around.
“Now, let me tell you what will happen,” I began. “You’ll detail exactly what you are all doing here in as few words as possible. No rambling. Why there are now three orcs outside my house. And what it will take to get rid of you all.” I held myself tall, even though I crumbled on the inside. This was foreign territory for me.
“I told you everything,” Luca replied with confidence, then faced the two men. “She’s ready—I tasted it—so we need to do this fast before more orcs arrive.”
The others nodded, and I frowned, waiting for someone to explain what the heck was going on.
“I’m Brey,” the white-haired man said, patting the bed next to him. “Best you come join us.”
“I’m fine where I am.” It worried me how easily I’d let Luca kiss me and how I’d wanted it, so it was better I kept my distance from all of them. “Just talk.”
“Every female elf inherits their power and wings at the age of eighteen,” Brey said. “During this time, your body unleashes a scent into the air, which is meant to call prospective mates to you. But it comes with a downside. It is also a beacon to orcs to find you. This race of orcs can transform with magic they stole from us and take human form to trick unsuspecting elves. They hunt down females for their wings because that’s where you hold your magic. Once you transform and your wings are finally released, orcs will hunt you down to rip your wings out, and you’ll die.”
“Why would they do that?” I asked, hugging my middle.
Luca interrupted. “To eat them. It gives the bastards your ability for a few days, along with adding years of youth to their lives. Our females have been hunted close to extinction, so we live scattered through Tritonia in a hidden section of the realm. Every female has several males to protect them because men don’t grow wings. A few months ago, your father sent a message to my father, explaining he was gravely ill, and he asked for protection for his half-elf daughter. He claimed you were still a child, so the three of us came to watch over you. But we nev
er expected to find someone so radiant and close to the time of her Divinity. It’s what we call your transformation.”
So my dad had known I wasn’t a human but had never told me? I bit down on my lower lip, refusing to let the tears flow, hating that I felt betrayed. I understood he’d done it for my safety, but he had been all I’d had left in the world, and yet he’d never told me the truth. Never allowed me to decide my own future. What would he have done when I turned eighteen? Was this why he’d built our house into a fortress? His decision hurt because now I couldn’t even tell him how upset I was with him. He must have known of the repercussions; otherwise, why had he contacted the elves to come rescue me? What had he been thinking to keep this from me? And was he or Mom the elf? How had they met and come together? Dad never told me a thing, insisting one day he would tell me the truth. But after his death from illness, I’d lost the chance to discover anything about my past. And it burned me up to have lost all ability to know who exactly I was.
The dark-haired elf lay back on the bed on bent elbows, smiling as if all would be right in the world. But that wasn’t how I felt. “We swore a pledge to your father to protect you.”
“You spoke to my father?” The wardrobe held me upright as my legs were giving up. I pressed my hands to my stomach, gasping for air. “How could he not have told me about this?” My voice squeaked, and I cleared my throat.
The dark-haired stranger was on his feet and he brought me a glass of water from the bedside table. He took my hand and placed the drink in it.
“Take long breaths,” he whispered.
I drank the water in several gulps and he took my glass from me. “Thanks.”
“Call me ‘Truid.’ And we never had the privilege of meeting your father before he passed. But we pledged our allegiance to you before we even laid eyes on you.”
“How could you do that?” I asked, trying to keep up with their stories.
He shrugged, as if such a question had never crossed his mind. He took my wrist and guided me over to the bed, urging me to sit down as they stood around me.
“I’ll lay it out for you,” Luca said, running a hand through his shoulder-length blond curls. “You are a half-elf. If we knew you were turning eighteen tonight, we would have stopped you from leaving the house. We’re here to keep you safe and alive, but to do that, you need to choose which one of us you want as your mate. Even all three if you so choose.”
“What are you talking about? Mates?” I said, convinced they had lost their minds.
Brey studied me as if I were a bird in a cage. I was unsure if that meant he found me attractive or terrifying, but the pity in his gaze was clear. “You’re as beautiful as a flower, but inside you lies tremendous power. You have grown up without your heritage, without understanding your strength, without knowing what was required of you.”
“And that is?” I narrowed my eyes as his gaze fell down the length of my body and back to my face.
“Each of us has bestowed upon you multiple gifts,” he started. “These would connect us with your heart once you accepted them, but you haven’t yet chosen.”
“I don’t understand, and what has that got to do with the orcs?”
Luca placed a hand on my thigh, his touch sending tingles up my legs. I held back the desperation to moan from how amazing his hand felt. “Little one, we need to stop your energy from spreading outward through Haven Realm before every orc is on your doorstep. They can’t enter your home while we have magic stopping their entrance, but our defenses can only hold up so much against dozens of orcs’ brute force.”
My head hurt. “Is this some kind of trick where you’ll end up killing me and you’re just saying anything to distract me?” I asked, eyeing the room for any kind of weapon.
“You need to believe us,” Truid insisted. “For your own safety. And the priority is you choosing who will be your mate.”
I ran a hand over my face. “I know nothing about elves, and suddenly I am one and must select one of you as my mate. Why do I have to pick one? How is that going to eliminate the orcs?”
The corner of Luca’s mouth curled upward with a mischievous grin. He nudged Truid, saying, “Be kind. I’m sure she’s a virgin.”
“Hey,” I called out. “For your information, I’ve had two previous boyfriends and I am not a virgin. Not that that has anything to do with this. Now, will someone speak without riddles and tell me what is going on?”
Truid squared his shoulders. Nothing like feeling as if I were under interrogation.
Now if I were dealing with attacking intruders, they would have finished me by now. So I’d hear them out, because after my night with Luronk, I wasn’t ready to be alone. As insane as it sounded, I’d take the company of these three men over the shifting monsters outside. I shivered just remembering the scene of Luronk running after me on all fours. I wasn’t sleeping with the lights off ever again and tomorrow I’d re-enforce all the doors and windows in my house.
“Your father told us in his letter that your mother was an elf and had been killed by orcs shortly after she gave birth to you,” Truid explained. “She ran away to be with your father, a human. We searched for her because she put herself in danger being away from us, but we never found her.”
My throat thickened and it shouldn’t have because I didn’t know my mom, but to hear this hit me hard. “She was murdered?” I squeaked. My father had told me nothing about her, just that talking about her was too painful.
Brey kneeled in front of me, his golden eyes full of sorrow as if he understood the loss of losing one’s parents. “Your union with one, two, or all three of us will keep more orcs from finding your scent and coming for you. So we need to move fast, but I understand this isn’t what you want to hear. I wish I could spend months spoiling you, taking you out, showing you the world before you make this decision.”
“So… what does this connection comprise of?”
Luca grinned. “Sex.”
I raised a brow. “Sure it does.” I got to my feet and pushed past them. “I’ve had enough of this conversation. You’re trying to trick me and must think I’m a fool.” Standing near the window, I found no sign of the orcs, and I was torn between kicking these men out or allowing them to stay a while longer, as I didn’t want to be alone. Still, their words swirled in my head, everything from my dad’s secrets to Mom’s brutal death to me being a half-elf to this whole my-scent-attracting-orcs-thing. How in the world did sex stop that? I was being tricked. Maybe the orcs and these men were all friends and were playing a trick on me to get laid.
Footfalls closed in, bodies around me, their warmth enveloping me.
“Where are the orcs?” Luca snarl, a tremor underlining his words.
Truid marched across the room. “Rain, you stay here. We’ll see what we can do.”
Brey and Luca headed out, leaving me alone, but not before Luca glanced back at me, winked, and blew me a kiss. He shut the door behind them, and I collapsed on my bed.
What the hell was going on?
Four
I paced back and forth in my room, wracking my brain, putting the puzzle of my life together. As much as I didn’t want to believe these strange men… or elves, I couldn’t ignore the coincidences. Their stories answered so many questions about my past. Why Dad had never talked about my mom. Why he’d refused to leave our town, why he wouldn’t let me travel to the other realms, and why for years he’d told me that for my eighteenth birthday, he would take me to Tritonia. Precisely where the elves lived. So did that mean he’d intended to surprise me with the truth then? Oh, have a wonderful birthday, Rain, and by the way, you’re really an elf and must pick a mate and have sex with him so you don’t die at the hands of orcs. I sighed and collapsed on my bed, curling in on myself.
The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want it to be real.
A loud grunt sounded, and I hurried to the window. Truid was in the arms of an orc, his face struck with terror as he was raised over the monster�
�s head and tossed aside like a ragdoll. My heart jumped to my throat. “Truid!” I called out even though he couldn’t hear me.
On instinct, I bolted out of the room. Here I was contemplating my life while these three men were fighting orcs for me. I couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to them.
Downstairs, I rushed to the front door and ripped it open just as Brey rushed toward me, blood staining his face and dotting his white hair.
“Inside!” Brey barked. He caught me in his arms in his haste and carried me inside. Raw intensity filled his eyes, and I lost myself in them. The tightness of his jaw, the splash of blood across his brow, the furious beat of his heart against my chest had me captivated. He carried me deeper into the room with such ease and grace, I wanted to kiss him with my appreciation. Without a word, he released me and I slid along his body until my feet touched the floor. He whisked around and rushed to the door as Luca and Truid raced inside, shutting the door, locking it.
With these men fighting the orcs, they had become so much more to me than intruders in my home. They were now my protectors.
Brey placed his palms flat on the wooden panel and whispered hushed words. A blueish current crackled around his hands and snapped outward, across every wall and ceiling, vanishing deeper into the house.
“Whoa, what is he doing?” A surge of energy slithered up my spine, covering me in goosebumps.
Luca clasped my hand, our fingers intertwined, and something about their touchy-feely approach calmed me. “He’s safeguarding your home. His affinity comes from storms and can harness some of their power.”
I couldn’t stop staring at Brey. The reality of their existence as elves hit hard. My doubt dissolved because watching him master the threads of power crackling out of his hands amazed me.
Truid shook his head, his expression hollow as he stared outside. “More orcs have arrived, and they’ll overpowered us.”
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