The thought made pain shoot through my abdomen. I’d been in pain for so long. Finally I had hope, albeit a thin sliver. My first love, my husband, was back, and along with him, the possibility of an unconventional, yet incredible relationship with three gorgeous men. I gave an exaggerated sigh. I’d probably just end up dying on a hike.
Michael put his foot down and refused to allow us to go on the excursion that late in the afternoon. He argued our need to eat and rest before such an unknown adventure. He didn’t mention me specifically, but I knew his only reason to stop our expedition was my human limitations.
My heart swelled with love to have him in my life again, protecting me and caring about my well being. I felt like a genie granted my most fervent wish. I got what I asked for, but the genie twisted the wish so that it was warped and almost unbearable. My five-year long wish came true, but I also loved two other men. At least they were willing to share. I didn’t see how it would work. It’d be too hard.
I grabbed the cooler of blood to take an inventory. I’d filled a bag that morning, so I couldn’t do another until right before we left the next day. There was enough for three more days. “Boys, we need to resolve this in the next couple of days. You can’t keep splitting one bag a day. You’ve got to be weak.”
A huge grin split across Mama Pacha’s face. “If this goes well, we'll be in our homes and celebrating by this time tomorrow!” She bustled out to see if there was another room she could rent for the night. There was no doubt she’d be able to charm her way into a nice place to sleep.
Chapter Fifteen
Elias and Michael ran out to the market to get the toiletries we needed, then we took turns brushing our teeth and washing up for the night. I didn’t bother showering, my hair got oily so quickly I knew I’d have to wash my hair in the morning before we left anyway. As vain as it may have been, I wanted to look as nice as possible for my trek into an unknown world. I was glad I’d been able to pack a little bit of makeup before we took off on this crazy trip.
I was finishing up my teeth when a soft knock came at the door. I cracked the door to see Michael and pulled him in the minuscule bathroom with me. He pressed up against me from behind and rubbed his hands up my spine. It wasn’t an erotic move, more intimate and loving. A shiver swept up my spine at another beautiful moment to remind me how thankful I was to have Michael back in my life.
When I finished rinsing my mouth, I turned and tucked myself into Michael’s arms. “I wanted a quiet moment with you,” he said.
I was glad to have some privacy with him. “Michael. We need to talk.”
He looked down at me. “I know. Big day tomorrow.”
“Yes, tomorrow. But we also need to talk about our future, our kids. And we need to have a more private conversation about the past five years. I understand that what happened to you was hard to tell, but—”
“There’s plenty more. I couldn't go into great detail. It was too much. And I want to hear every detail of what you endured. It was torture for you as much as for me.” He rested his chin on my head. I giggled, remembering the multitude of times he’d done it in the past.
“Why are you giggling?” he asked.
“I was thinking about the fact that I couldn’t count how many times you’ve dug your chin into my head to annoy me. If you told me then that one day I’d miss the dig of your sharp chin and heavy head on my scalp, I would've called you crazy.” Tears pooled in my eyes. “But I sure did miss it.”
“Of course, right. I did too. I wished and hoped one day I’d feel your breath tickling my neck again, while you hugged me standing on our stairs so you’d be tall enough. It always caused goosebumps to crawl over my body when you did that.”
I laughed at the memories, and the relief to be able to enjoy those memories again. “Okay, Michael. Like you said, we have a big day tomorrow. Let’s focus on that. Once we're done, once our grand adventure is over, we have to talk about our past and our future. But there's one thing I need to talk to you about first.” I took a deep breath. “Elias and Anthony.”
“Riley, I told you, I’m okay with it. It was our dream for years to form a strong bond, a lasting relationship, with one woman. And if you are happy for that woman to be you, then that thrills me. If you decide you’re not okay with that woman being you, then say the word.” He squeezed my shoulders and pulled me even closer.
“I’m with you, Riley. They’ll be my friends and brothers forever, whatever happens with you. But you and I, we're forever. I chose you fourteen years ago, and when I chose you, I chose you for the duration of your life or mine, even though you didn’t understand it at the time. I choose us, Riley, whether us means two strong, or four strong.” He turned us around and grabbed his toothbrush.
“I’ve always planned to try to make your life longer. Now we have help, and maybe we'll end up with a huge family with a lot of love. I’m thankful to my brothers for protecting you, for getting you out of there before the Junta caught up to you and turned you into a brood mare.” He brushed his teeth, his back to me. I slipped my hands around his waist and hugged him close.
“You have to let me go tomorrow,” I said into Michael’s shoulder. He stiffened and spat his toothpaste into the sink.
“I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“This seems to be our only option. Your people have been searching for the secret to their long life since…well, since they were created. They haven’t found it yet.” I squeezed him tighter and he grabbed my hands. He was upset, angry at the thought of me going off into an unknown world, a place he couldn't follow.
“Michael, I’m not sure we can trust Mama Pacha. We need to make sure she goes through first, if it even works. Then I’ll go. You have to wait, let Elias and Anthony go if you want to, but wait until you’re sure it’s safe before you go. If something happens to me, you have to be around for the kids. You have to take care of them.” He turned around and faced me again, a glob of toothpaste on the corner of his mouth.
“Please don’t go. Let us research your lineage. Let us try to find out what you are. I’ve never heard of a Unseen species that the Unseen lineage wasn’t dominant. You’ve got to be something rare.”
“Great. Even if we manage to make me Unseen, they’re still going to be after me.”
“Naw, there’s lots of rare creatures out there. They usually leave them alone once they get over their initial novelty.”
Talking about the maybes of the future was wearing on my nerves. Hell, I might not even survive the next day. I didn’t want to worry about what we may or may not do once it was over. “Let’s push both beds together so we can all sleep side by side. I don’t think Elias and Anthony would mind sharing the other bed, do you?”
Michael smiled and opened the bathroom door. He walked into the bedroom and asked the other two guys if they’d mind.
Anthony answered for both of them. “Coya, I would snuggle with a porcupine for you.” I smiled and pulled him into a hug.
“I want us to all be together tonight. Tomorrow is so uncertain and scary. I want tonight to be safe.” I wiggled my eyebrows at them. “No funny business. We need our rest.”
They crammed the beds together and we climbed in. As much as I joked about getting rest, we lay there wide awake and talked for hours. We talked about our hopes and dreams. I found out Michael dreamed of having more children. When I told him I was on birth control he seemed disheartened. He perked up when I told him how easy it was to have it removed. “If we survive this, and I can stay with you for the rest of your lives, I’d love to have as many children as my body can handle.”
Elias told us he dreamed of learning more about biology and one day cracking their DNA. He wanted to study the Unseen and find ways to use science to make them safer. He even thought there might be nothing more to magic than science we didn’t yet understand and he wanted to discover those secrets.
Anthony, as smart as he was, wanted to work in security. He loved figuring out how the Unsee
n were vulnerable and how he could increase their safety. He wanted to work with the magical practitioners of the community and further secure their homes, meeting places, and official buildings.
Michael revealed a passion for teaching. I guess it tied in with his desire to have lots of children. He wanted to educate young Supay, teach them about their history, and how to survive in the world once they were grown. He also loved to teach defense, and turn them into competent fighters, something he wanted to work with Elias and Anthony on in their spare time.
Of course, their history would have to be rewritten now. Hopefully, we would be able to get more answers tomorrow and be able to fill in the rest of the Unseen in the near future.
All I wanted was to have a future. I would either succeed, or I would die. I might not die specifically the next day, but if my journey didn’t kill me, the Junta would. They’d either kill me for all the trouble they thought I’d caused or by breeding me to death. Please let me succeed tomorrow. I prayed, to anyone that might listen. Let me find my people and please, please let them have a way to keep me with my family.
I also hoped that even if my people couldn’t extend my life, the guys could bring water from the spring. The magic might not pass through the portal, but then, it might. If we could find a way to extend life, we could create more Unseen. That was a dangerous concept, but it would be good for them to have options. When someone fell in love, they could be with their beloved. They might not have to face the life Michael thought he was in for, to watch me die of old age.
We grew silent, thinking about each others’ hopes and dreams. Sleep was slow to come, and then the nightmares came with it. I was woken by Michael thrashing beside me. I shook his shoulder and shouted his name.
Elias and Anthony were beside me in an Unseen second. They appeared without me actually seeing them move. They sat Michael up and Anthony slapped his face. By the time his palm connected with Michael’s face, he was screaming out in earnest.
When Anthony hit him, Michael lashed out. He kicked and hit and he was yelling, “Don’t touch me! Riley! Help me, Riley!” He cried, fat tears coursing down his cheeks. It broke my heart to watch and not be able to comfort him. As soon as he got physical, Elias snatched me across the room, out of harm’s way. Anthony pinned Michael down, and I was pretty sure he was trying to use his calming ability on him, based on the stabbing pains in my forehead.
“Does it work on other Supay?”
“It does, but it’s much harder to do. If Anthony hit a human with that much power they’d go straight to sleep,” Elias explained.
Michael eventually drifted off. They moved him over to the cot in case another nightmare plagued him. “He only got violent because you slapped him, Anthony.”
“I know, Coya,” he replied. “I feel bad, but I was trying to wake him up. I’ve never known him to be such a deep sleeper.”
“Neither have I.” His violence was concerning. “Most likely he has PTSD. We’ll have to be there for him in coming months and years.” I turned to Elias. “Do the Unseen have any sort of Psychiatry? Or therapists?”
“We do, actually. That’s a field the Junta has always been comfortable with, so we’ve been allowed to study it. We have several in the Supay clans alone.”
“Good. We’ll have to convince him to go. He needs help, more than we can give.” I lay down in one of the beds. Elias and Anthony sandwiched me and we snuggled the rest of the night. My sleep was patchy and interrupted, even after Anthony tried to give me some help. I was too nervous and paranoid about our mission the next day to fall into a deep sleep. ighing, I rolled over again, putting my back to Anthony.
Elias’s eyes twinkled at me. He was awake, too. “Can’t sleep?”
Pursing my lips, I shook my head.
“Want to go explore?” Grinning, he looked mischievous, like the old Elias—the one I’d become best friends with.
My mouth split into a wide grin, and I nodded my head.
He helped me out of the bed so we wouldn’t wake anyone, and I leaned over Michael before we left, making completely sure he was out cold and resting.
Once I was satisfied he wouldn’t wake up while we were gone, I tiptoed past Elias into the hallway. The door made a barely audible click as he closed it.
I scrunched my shoulders up and stifled a giggle as I looked around the moonlit hall. “Now what?” I asked.
On tiptoes, he walked to the top of the stairs, then motioned for me to follow. Before he descended, he crouched down and pointed at his back. Yay, a piggy back ride!
Knowing they were hyper-strong erased all of my qualms. Michael had done this several times in our life, and I’d let him, but I hadn’t had fun; I’d been worried the entire time that I was too heavy for him and might hurt his back.
Not anymore! I launched myself—quietly—at Elias, hopping up as high as I could. He clutched my legs and hoisted me so I was secure, with my arms around his neck and face hovering near his ear.
“Onward, noble steed,” I whispered in his ear. All I got for my sass was a swat on the thigh.
In retaliation, I bucked and swung my arm around like I’d seen bull riders do, but I ended up slamming it into the wall of the stairwell as he began the descent. Snorting, he shook his head at me.
I shook the sting out of my hand and stopped trying to ride my friend. Boyfriend. Whatever.
At the bottom of the stairs I pointed toward a door I was sure we weren’t supposed to go through. He grinned and stuck his ear to it.
“Anything?” I whispered.
“No,” he hissed back as he carefully turned the knob. “Silence.”
Maybe the owner sleeps upstairs, too. He stuck his head in the door. It was pitch black to my eyes, but I was sure he could see more.
He looked sideways at me, grinning before stepping inside and flicking on the light. The sudden brightness hurt my eyes, and I buried my face in his neck.
“Look, Riles,” he said, bumping my head with his.
I peeked out to find a spotless, homey kitchen. It was like I’d stepped into my Gigi’s kitchen, twenty years before. Yellow floral curtains billowed in the open window, and the countertops were faded from years of use. The white cabinets had more than a couple of layers of paint on them and ugly flowers as handles.
Sliding off of Elias’s back, I walked over to the refrigerator and peeked inside. It was completely stocked, no doubt to keep the guests fed. “Do you have any cash?” I asked, looking back at him while the cool air washed over me.
“Not down here, why?” he said with a strange look, probably wondering why I wanted cash right at that moment.
“Because I’m about to eat some of this food, which will inconvenience the owner. I want you to pay her and pay her well.” I pursed my lips and gave him a pleading look.
He laughed at me, popped a kiss on my forehead, and disappeared. I’d just begun to look around the kitchen, my imagination searching for places a boogie man could hide—are they real, too?—when he appeared again. “You moved so fast it looked like you teleported or something.
“Nah, I was so close to the door it gave the illusion of disappearing. I just ran.” He held out his wallet. “How much are you planning on eating?”
I pulled out a can of whipped cream. “Just this,” I said with a wicked grin.
His eyes widened, and he opened his wallet. “Bless that woman for having that particular type of whipped cream in this house.” He pulled out a fat stack of bills and put them in the fridge in place of the container.
Without any preamble, I found myself sitting up on the counter, back pressed into the cabinets with some small appliance or another digging into my hip.
Elias pulled my hips forward, thankfully, until my core was pressed to his. He was tall enough that the counter was a great height. I’d slept in one of Anthony’s t-shirts and my panties, and hadn’t given a second thought to exploring the house so scantily clad. I found myself glad for the lack of pants as Elias swept the crotch of
my panties to the side and rubbed his finger inside my lips, searching for my core.
Finding it quickly, he inserted his two middle digits deeply inside, turning his hand palm-up.
I sucked in a steadying breath, fighting the desire to cry out. “Eli, they prepare food here!” I said, feeling like a jerk for putting my butt on her counter.
Instead of responding, he pressed his mouth to mine, caressing and coaxing me to open my mouth. I pushed my tongue toward him, and he took it into his mouth, letting his teeth graze it. The thought of a bite from him pushed all thoughts of propriety out of my head.
Completely eradicating my reservations with his fingers, he stroked in just the right spot until I was bucking against him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, riding his hand through a violent orgasm.
He finished me off by pulling his fingers out and pressing them against my little nub of nerves. I cried out, being quiet becoming impossible once he moved his mouth away from mine and put his lips to my neck.
He had a monster bulge I hadn’t even noticed until my brain began working again. Sticking his fingers in his mouth, he looked me in the eyes and licked and sucked my juices off of them while keeping eye contact with me. Oh dear lord, that’s hot.
“We’ve gotta find somewhere more private,” I whispered urgently as I jumped off the counter.
“Hell yes,” he said. “Though, I’m happy to fuck you right here on this counter.”
His audacity caused me to burst out in laughter as I rooted around under the sink until I found an all-purpose cleaner. I sprayed down the counter and wiped it clean with a paper towel. “There,” I said before turning to Elias, who waited for me at the kitchen door.
“That was very nice of you. Now can we go?” He raised an eyebrow and nodded his head toward the door.
I checked the room to make sure it was the same as when we’d entered. I almost left the whipped cream sitting beside the refrigerator. Snatching it, I turned back to Elias, who had moved while I was turned and was right behind me.
Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem Page 58