by J. E. Cluney
And I drew.
18
Lucas.
“So, this chick I’ve been getting with, she keeps bringing up a threesome,” Skip sighed as he sat on the lounge beside me. Oliver was perched on the other lounge, stuck in his little cat form unhappily. He was sitting in the one spot where the sunlight was filtering through the window, lighting him up like a little angelic cat.
“And?” I mused as I sat back and put my legs up on the coffee table.
“With another guy,” Skip said in disbelief, like the thought was absurd.
“And?” I cocked my head at him, a smile playing on my lips.
“Dude, that’s gay,” Skip scoffed.
“Two guys banging the one chick is gay?” I laughed.
“Well….” Skip grumbled, seeing the slight fault in his logic.
“Sex is sex. There shouldn’t be any labels around it. If you like someone, you can screw ‘em. If you want to share, then you share, if she wants to be shared, why not try it? You might find you like it,” I smirked.
“Have you ever had a threesome?” Skip queried, his face sober. This was something he was really curious about.
“Of course. Unlike you, I’m willing to adventure around a bit,” I said playfully as I danced my fingers up his arm.
He quivered at my touch, but didn’t pull away.
It was a strange thing we had going. He was always adamant he wasn’t gay, but he’d never turned down my slight flirtation. Go figure.
“What’s it like?” he asked, and I left my hand on his shoulder as I furrowed my brow in thought.
“Fun, exciting, exotic. Sometimes it’ll be a girl and guy, sometimes I’ll mix it up. I’ve perfected a very interesting spell,” I winked.
“What spell?” he asked.
“I can turn myself into a woman if I so please,” I shrugged like it was nothing.
In fact, it was a rare spell to master, only warlocks were capable of it.
It was used for many things, such as infiltration, spying, sabotage, and more.
I’d mastered it simply for the chance to feel a woman’s orgasm. I wanted to see how everything felt for them. And you know what? It was bloody fun.
Skip’s eyes widened and even Oliver sat up in shock as they both stared silently at me.
“What? You’ve never wondered what it would be like? What an orgasm would feel like?” I wiggled my eyebrows, and I could’ve sworn Skip was on the verge of worshipping me. I’d achieved the greatest thing ever in his eyes.
And there was something else in those bright blue eyes, a curious look.
A look that sent hot shivers through me.
I smiled as I remembered the moment Skip learned my dirty little secret. How it had opened up our interesting relationship. I was eighteen at the time and Skip was seventeen. He was visiting to celebrate me moving into my grandfather’s house. Oliver had moved in after being cursed and being practically run out by his family for being the laughing stock of their name.
Dickheads. I wouldn’t forgive them for that. He was just a boy.
I stared at the laptop before me, raising an eyebrow as it pinged with a new email.
Ah, James had gotten back to me, my friend in the force. He was one of my occasional flings, well, until he’d moved to Brisbane. Although, I did still have fun with him when he came back to visit.
I’d asked him to help me find some family of Allison's, so I opened the email hopefully.
The usual sweet words and update on his life. Mostly work, and a new dog.
Good for him.
But what piqued my interest was the info he’d dug up.
The odd death of her parents, and some relatives on her dad’s side.
Strangely, all other relatives were deceased or living internationally. Except for her aunt and cousin, who still resided down at Maroochydore.
There was an aunt and uncle on her father’s side, Natalie Smoak and Dixon Smoak. Natalie was her father’s sister, his only sibling. And she was living at Maryborough.
Good.
I opened up Facebook and searched for her, having to sift through a number of profiles before finding hers, to my surprise. I’d expected it to be private or non-existent for some reason.
“Hey.”
I growled at the intrusion as I turned in my chair to spy Marcus entering the library.
“Relax, didn’t mean to intrude on your study,” he rolled his eyes.
I cocked my head, sensing a shift in his aura. My mouth tugged upwards, although I wasn’t overly pleased inwardly.
“You slept with her?” I asked, although I already knew.
“Yeah, unexpected, but whatever that dream thing was about, it made us crazy. Drawn together,” he said as he folded his arms. He was trying to act like it meant nothing, but I knew there was more to this than the occasional hook-up he had at our little parties.
“I know, I sensed that. I was hoping by finding some family, I could figure out what’s going on,” I said as I turned back to my laptop.
“And?” Marcus sighed as he strode over to peer over my shoulder.
“Just an aunt. All other relatives are either dead, living overseas, or that horrible wench from Maroochydore,” I murmured.
“Right,” he breathed. “Is her aunt’s ex-boyfriend Brett still alive?”
“Yes, they split years ago though,” I shrugged, although I could sense his annoyance. I’d dug up info about her aunt when Oliver had told me about her scars. I wanted to know. Her aunt’s two partners whilst Ally was living with her were known to law enforcement for assault and misdemeanors. One of them was responsible.
“And Wayne died,” Marcus clarified.
“Yeah, messy death too,” I frowned. “Actually, I noticed some similarities between his death and her parents.”
“Like what?” Marcus leaned closer, reading over the email, his interest caught. Too bad the info wasn’t there. It was from database searches I could use myself, although tracking Ally’s family had been difficult, so I’d asked James for help, knowing he had more resources at hand than I did. Supernatural law enforcement files.
He’d attached some files to this email too for me to check over, birth and death certificates, family trees, etc.
“They were all eaten. The supernatural council covered up her parents’ death as a car accident, although from the sealed reports they have, the car was attacked and the parents eaten. The bodies were mauled and mangled, difficult to identify.”
“Allison doesn’t know that,” Marcus murmured, and the pain that lined it made me purse my lips. He really was connected to her somehow.
“And probably better she doesn’t. It’s not a pretty way to die, no need to tell her,” I said firmly.
“No guarantees she won’t find out. We can see into each other’s heads apparently,” he muttered. “Know what the other is feeling.”
“I can help shield you. A small spell, should lessen this bond, although I don’t want to press it too much as I don’t know what it is,” I said. I knew a few spells to help with telepathic stuff, or bondings by magic. I’d even been asked to use the telepathic blocking stuff on those afraid of Emma Hall finding out their secrets. Who, of course, was now a good friend of Ally’s.
Not that I cared much about her, my mind was blocked from her ability, and those inside this house were warded while within its walls. It was just part of the strong warding I had on it for safekeeping. My grandfather had a lot of old, valuable stuff, so the warding protected it from those who were not given permission to enter.
“That’d be good,” he murmured, although I could tell his mind was elsewhere. Probably wondering what had mauled her parents and aunt’s boyfriend.
“Could’ve been a werewolf attack, or any other shifter. Hard to say, although they were never able to pin it on anyone, and the bite marks were unique too, not distinctive to any known shifter species,” I shrugged, although it did bother me a bit.
I liked Ally, she was sweet and be
autiful, and had a natural way with all of us. She fit in perfectly here, and I knew that I wasn’t the only one with a soft spot for her. Even Marcus had one for her, which was glaringly obvious now.
“She can’t just be pixie, there has to be something else in her,” Marcus said firmly as he straightened and stretched, following it with a yawn.
Dawn would be upon us soon, and he’d retreat to his bedroom like usual.
“Well, I can do some digging into her family tree that James found. He’s given me some links to databases to add to my collection to search through if needed.”
“James, he’s the police officer you get with sometimes?”
“Yeah,” I nodded.
“Well, let me know if you find anything,” he murmured as he glanced out the window. The sky was slowly greying as the sun contemplated rising.
“She has work today, maybe wake her up before the other two,” I suggested.
“Right,” Marcus smirked, knowing full well how our two other housemates would react to the knowledge she’d been with Marcus.
Ollie, little Ollie who was the most innocent of us at times, but definitely more experimental in the bedroom than the other two despite what they might think, would be a little crushed by it. He’d been coveting after her since she’d come here. But he had been respectful, understanding that she may not want to ruin the housemate vibe by starting anything.
Then there was Skip. He’d had the hots for her since he met her, and finding out what it could be like to be with a pixie had only made her more a prize in his eyes. I’d done my best to sate his desire to stop him from trying to have her, but he didn’t exactly hide his interest in her. He wanted to see if it was true about her orgasms, something I’d heard about animatedly from him. I knew it was true, as I’d been with a pixie myself, but he wanted to find out himself, not taking my word for it.
Typical.
As for me? Maybe there were no housemate off-limit rules anymore. Marcus had crushed that rule. And I had a feeling she wasn’t just going to settle down with him because of one night of fun. Maybe I’d try my luck.
19
I awoke shivering as someone shook my arm gently.
“Mmmm?” I groaned as I opened my eyes and struggled to see. I rubbed them in an attempt to clear my vision before tugging the blanket around me.
“You need to get up, you’ve got work today. Not to mention I don’t think you’ll want the others to know you were in here,” Marcus chuckled as he stroked my face.
I blinked as I adjusted to his voice, and then everything flooded back.
Well, technically we hadn’t had proper sex.
“Work,” I muttered, hating that I had to get up. But to be honest, it was probably warmer elsewhere once I was dressed. Marcus was freezing me right now with his morning cuddle.
“Sorry, I can’t help it. I am kinda dead,” he smirked as he nuzzled my back.
“I thought you spent your nights doing stuff? Have you been in bed this whole time?” I asked, touched at the thought.
“No, I left after a while to do stuff, I try to only sleep during the day mostly, but I came back a while ago. Wanted to enjoy it a bit before I woke you up,” he breathed as he kissed my still naked back.
“Are any of the others up?” I asked softly. Guilt chewed at me at what Oliver would think. I knew he had a thing for me, he couldn’t hide it well.
“No, well, just Lucas,” he sighed, a hint of annoyance in his voice. “You really worried what Kit will think?”
“I know he likes me,” I murmured.
“Well, that’s obvious,” he said bluntly.
“And I don’t exactly know what this means. Last night, it was…” I pursed my lips as I pulled myself into a sitting position, staring down into those icy, gorgeous eyes as they stared up at me. His dark hair was tussled as he lay back against the pillow.
“Great, but you also don’t understand the pull,” he murmured.
“Do you?” I frowned.
“Not really. Since we shared that dream, I’ve been drawn to you so much more than before. I don’t understand it,” he said as his jaw hardened.
“Why did we share it? What magic did that?”
“Yours, I think. Lucas thinks it could’ve been me, but I know it was you,” he said honestly.
“My mischief magic?” I snorted.
“No, something else,” he mused as he reached up to stroke my cheek tenderly.
The sight of his naked torso was enough to make my cheeks flush once more. At least he had the rest of himself covered, or I might struggle to get to work on time.
He smirked as he read my mind.
“I can’t wait to have you,” he purred.
“Yeah, but I’ve got work, and they’ll be up,” I said as I flicked my head at his bedroom door.
“Why does that bother you?” he asked softly.
“What?”
“The other boys knowing.”
My cheeks flushed as I mulled this over, but the unsettled grunt he gave told me he’d found the answer.
“You like them all, and you’re not sure you want to settle down,” he said. I couldn’t detect the tone in his voice, and nothing came to me from his thoughts or feelings.
“Can you tell what I’m thinking all the time?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
He knew this, but humored me anyway.
“Almost always, ever since yesterday’s dream thing, I can sort of… I don’t know, I guess reach out, feel your feelings and thoughts. Some just get broadcast pretty loudly, mostly the sexual ones,” he shrugged.
“Weird, it’s not the same back, I can see a fair bit, but not everything, can’t feel everything. Not today,” I murmured, and his frosty eyes flashed momentarily before he smiled softly.
“I am curious what it means, what your power is. I mean, if someone had asked me if I’d be pissed to be linked with you before yesterday, I probably would’ve said yes. But since it happened, I dunno,” he frowned, that godly beautiful face lit up by his bedside lamp in a soft golden glow.
“Same here,” I smirked. “But for some reason, we’re connected now. We know each other inside and out.”
“Still strange, but it’s like I know there’s no point trying to…” he pondered it for a moment, and I reached out with my mind. It was strange, like I just knew how to do it all of a sudden.
“Hiding, putting up your walls,” I finished for him. It wasn’t so easy, seeing into his head, almost like it was masked a little.
“See? Wouldn’t have thought I’d be a fan, but I don’t hate it,” he said. “It’s like… I don’t know. Like you’re a part of me. I can be myself, and I know that you know exactly what I went through, as I know everything you did.”
“Yeah,” I cringed. I hated that he knew everything about me. All my secrets, my ugly past.
“Hey, I won’t tell,” he said as he sat up with me, his voice low and soothing.
“Thank you,” I murmured as I looked around the room. My eyes fell on the open sketchbook on his desk, and I slid out from the covers to investigate. The boys had said he’d stopped his art when he’d been turned. Maybe he’d just been hiding it.
Marcus flitted up to join me, trailing his cool fingertips down my bare back and making me shiver.
“I guess I finally got inspired. Had something to draw,” he murmured as I looked at the realistic sketch of me sleeping. I just stared, my lips slightly parted at the breathtakingly real image. He’d even begun coloring it in.
“It’s beautiful,” I breathed, wanting to touch it but fighting the urge. I didn’t want to ruin the perfect sketch. I was sprawled out in the bed with sheets covering most of me. The moon was seeping in through the open window, dousing me in a soft glow and casting shadows.
It was a peaceful, beautiful picture, and it was hard to believe that it was, indeed, me.
“I had a beautiful model,” he said smoothly as he kissed my shoulder.
I quivered at the touch b
ut groaned.
“I need to shower and get ready, what’s the time,” I asked, wishing I could see if the sun had risen outside. But the tinting had moved into place, guess that answered the question.
“Probably around six-thirty or nearly seven now,” he said softly.
“Oh.” I guess I had more time than I thought.
Movement from out in the hall made my stomach knot up, and I turned back to Marcus. He just shrugged, his eyes trailing over my naked form hungrily.
“I should shower and get ready,” I said softly, although the look in his eye made it hard to leave.
He just nodded, but leaned forward to leave a sweet kiss on my lips. It was almost enough to make me stay and climb into bed with him. God, I wanted to.
But today was my first day at work. And I needed this job.
I gathered up my clothes as Marcus sighed and crawled back into bed, and I murmured a soft goodbye as I dressed and hurried out into the hall.
“Have fun, Cupcake?”
I nearly screamed as I practically ran into Lucas standing in the hallway.
My cheeks burned as I stammered in an attempt to form words, but he just gave me his lopsided grin, his hair a disheveled mess. He wore the same pajama set from last night, the purple one with stars, and the pink bunny slippers.
“Relax, it’s your sex life,” he chuckled. “We’ve all got one.”
I gave him a half-hearted smile as I tried to release the tension in my shoulders.
“Guess the housemate boundary rules are in the wind?” he mused as he cocked his head at me.
“Um…” I didn’t know how to answer that. Were there actual rules? They’d just been my own personal rules, but I’d broken them.
“Skip will take this as you being fair game now,” he winked as he turned towards said shifter’s bedroom door. “As will the rest of us.”
I just gaped after him as he gave me a little wave before slipping into Skip’s room. There were so many things to question about this moment. Including him going into Skip’s room. I guess that confirmed my suspicions.
Or he could be waking him up if he’s got an early class? I thought to myself.