by Kim Faulks
“Grab her hands,” I murmured and stared at the Unseelie Queen as her face turned red. “You won’t be touching anyone I love ever again.”
Not one guard moved, they were rooted to the spot, staring, as the Queen’s eyes burned with hunger. A hunger Redemption knew all too well.
It was the tortured gaze from Boroch that I focused on. “That drug is racing through her. If I were you, I’d chain her up to stop her from tearing herself apart.”
On command, the Queen let out a moan and rocked forward. Her hand slipped from around her throat to cup the small swell of her breast, while the other burrowed between her thighs.
Boroch’s face reddened. He glared at the Hellhound, then pushed against his hand. “Let me through.”
Rival glanced over his shoulder, finding me, and then at the Queen, who was rubbing herself in front of everyone.
“Now!” The guard roared.
I nodded and Rival stepped aside. She was so small like this, so weak and pathetic, nothing more than a whimpering mess of a woman who reached under the layers of black lace to spear her fingers under the edge of her panties and into her slick pussy. “Fuck me,” she growled as Boroch stepped closer. “I want you all to fuck me.”
Boroch flinched at the words that spewed from her lips. “My Queen,” he murmured, and reached for her. “Let me help you.”
“Fuck me,” she snarled, her eyes blazing with inhuman hunger.
She dragged her fingers free from between her legs, gripped the neckline of her dress, and yanked.
Lace tore down the middle, spilling her small, pale breasts free for all to see. “I want Redemption, and you. I want what she had.”
Mab turned her head as Boroch reached out and grasped her hand. “Okay, anything you want.”
One hand went around her wrist as he bent and grasped her legs behind her knees with his other arm.
“I hate you,” she snarled in his ear. “I’ve always hated you. You were a poor substitute for Redemption. A poor fucking substitute indeed.”
He never flinched at her words as he carried her, but not to the bed, to the hanging iron chains that reached from the ceiling. “I know,” Boroch answered. “I’ve always known.”
The snap of the lock cut through the room as the woman was transformed into a sickening mask of hate and rage. “I’m going to kill all of you!”
She swung her free hand, slapping his cheek. The guard’s head snapped to the side as she lifted her hand once more.
He was faster this time, catching her wrist in one massive hand and lifting it toward the shackle on the other side. A moan tore free as her body stretched. Still the guard held her around her thighs and barked an order. “Get her a damn stool!”
The iron shackles hissed as they hit her skin, and that sickening stench of burning flesh filled the room. But there was nothing Boroch could do, not now, as she rocked forward and whimpered.
Her body writhed in her guard’s arms. She pressed her breasts against his face. “I will let you finally have me. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? All those times you begged to let you inside me.”
Boroch’s face turned red as he looked away.
“She never let you fuck her?” Redemption murmured, drawing my gaze. “In all these years, she never let you…”
“No,” Boroch answered. “She kept herself for you.”
“Jesus Christ,” Rival snarled. “No wonder she’s twisted.”
“Enough!” Boroch snapped as one of the Queen’s guards rushed into the room carrying a heavy, wide wooden cabinet. “That’s our Queen you’re talking about. I’ve murdered men for less.”
He turned the thing on its side, using is as a platform for her feet to find purchase. He was right, no matter what she’d done to us. Not matter how twisted and controlling she was, She was still Queen to a race of people.
“I…I…” she whispered. Her dark eyes had a glazed look as she scanned the room. “I don’t know where I am.”
She glanced at Boroch and flinched before fear turned to agony. She closed her eyes, body swaying as the wave inside her rose. A vein at the side of her temple bulged as she ground her jaw.
There was nothing to do but watch her and wait. She writhed. She screamed. She lashed out, snapping her teeth at those closest beside her.
Until finally the wave was over.
“If she dies,” Boroch warned and watched his mistress.
“If she dies, it’s her own fucking fault,” Redemption took a step closer. “Her own jealousy and greed put her here, nothing else.”
Still the guard was transfixed, as was the entire chamber filled with the Queen’s guard and my men.
“Who are you?” Mab murmured.
And that far away look in her eyes took on another sheen, one that was broken…beyond repair.
“I’m your guard, my Queen,” Boroch bowed at the waist, and there he stayed.
“Queen” she murmured as though she’d heard the word for the first time.
The need rose inside her once more. She wept, crying like a child, and then lifted her head to scream.
The shrill sound bounced off the walls, making me wince. Cries echoed from the men as they clapped their hands over their ears, until, in an instant, the horrifying sound ended.
The Unseelie Queen stood there, swaying like a blade of grass in the wind.
But there was no wind.
And there was no surfacing, not for her mind. Not anymore.
“I’m feeling rather tired now,” she murmured. “I think I’ll take a nap.”
Her knees buckled as her eyes snapped shut. Tendons pulled taut as the shackles bit into her wrists.
“Christ’s sake, is she dead?” Rival lunged forward, until Redemption lifted a hand, stopping the Hellhound in his tracks. “No, but she is…different.”
He glanced to the leader of the Unseelie army. “Uncuff her.”
Boroch flinched and held his stare. “You sure?”
“No, but there’s only one way to find out,” Redemption took a step, moving with the Unseelie guard.
The unsnapping of her shackles brought nothing more than a soft sigh. The Queen wound her arms around Boroch’s neck. Her head tilted, making a home against his muscled chest. “Thank you,” she murmured.
Her eyes fluttered open and then closed, and what I saw in them chilled me to the bone. The savage Unseelie Queen was gone, and in her place was someone I didn’t know.
“My Queen?” Boroch murmured, cradling her against him.
“Hmmm?” She opened her eyes and lifted her head, taking in his mammoth size.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.
“I’m just fine, Sasquatch,” she responded, before her lips stretched into a smile. “Sasquatch,” she giggled at the name, and didn’t stop.
Boroch looked at us with a mixture of horror and apprehension. Redemption gave a shrug. “At least she’s not demanding your head on a platter.”
“You going to take me to bed now…Hmm?” The Unseelie Queen purred like a goddamn kitten.
“Let’s get out of here,” Rival growled. “This place gives me the damn creeps.”
“The portals?” Redemption looked to Boroch, who nodded.
“I’ll open them,” he murmured. “But don’t think I’m letting this go. You’re coming back here…to help me with this.”
Redemption glanced at the stranger in his arms. “I think you’ve got that well covered, but if you need a battle-weary soldier at your side, you can call on me.”
Boroch strode forward. “No, but I’ll be calling on you as a friend.”
He cradled the Queen with one arm and reached out with the other, grasping Redemption’s outstretched hand in his.
“Lorn,” Boroch murmured in acknowledgement and lowered his gaze in a bow. We shared a dark secret between us, one that burned in his gaze. “I owe you a debt. If you are ever in need of anything, call my name and I’ll be there.”
Rival, Gabriel, Titus, and now Redemption t
urned their heads and stared at me.
“Care to explain?” Redemption murmured beside me.
“Not really,” I nodded to the commander of the Queen’s Unseelie guard and turned away.
There were some things that shouldn’t be shared, not even with your lovers. Especially ones that’d cause embarrassment in another.
Boroch turned then. His men scattered as he strode toward them, carrying his Queen through the doorway and into the dark.
We were alone. Redemption was still naked, and although the sight of him in the amber glow was tempting me to stay a little longer, I just wanted out of here.
I sighed and felt the weight of the last…god knows how many days settle on my soul. I grasped Redemption’s hand and reached for the others. “Get me out of here.”
“With damn pleasure,” Redemption growled. “Just as soon as I find some damn pants.”
“Fuck the pants,” Rival snarled and looked him up and down. “You look better naked, anyway.”
Redemption just smirked and shook his head before stilling at my gaze. “He’s not shy, that one.”
“Definitely not,” I met his smile with my own. “It’s what I love the most about him.”
“Apart from my huge penis,” Rival tacked on at the end.
I just turned, stifling a laugh, and made my way toward the doorway, leaving the Hellhound at the rear.
“You didn’t agree, Lorn,” Rival called. “Lorn…you didn’t agree…”
“Dear God, is this how it’s always going to be with him?” Redemption murmured beside me.
“Afraid so,” Titus answered for me. “Better get used to having your balls fondled, that’s all I can say.”
Gabriel let out a growl and the rush of air through his feathers filled the darkness. We walked, and then climbed the long row of stairs with weary bodies. I rested when I needed to, and felt the warmth of Redemption’s hand on my back. He’d catch me if I fell. They all would.
And I’d catch them…even in the darkness.
With an Unseelie Queen at my back.
Darkness lifted inside me as we made our way out of the dungeon and into the hall. There was no dark mist clinging to the walls now, no monster waiting for me just around the corner. I made my way past all the abandoned rooms to the now empty throne room, giving it a glance as I passed.
My stomach clenched as I neared that room filled with scratched out pictures. Redemption’s hand found mine as the quickening of my breath caught his ear. His comfort was all I needed. I strode past the rest of the rooms, not giving them a second more of my time.
For in my heart and my mind, I was already home.
I was back there, with the soft sunlight spilling through the sheer white curtains of my run-down apartment. A laugh cut through the hallway, soft and musical, bordering on insanity. A Queen’s laughter. One that I hoped would remain.
Boroch’s days would be filled tending to the Queen he loved, and I hoped that in her own small and twisted way, Mab would come to love him.
We strode through the dining room, and then the kitchen before finding our way to the foyer.
And with one turn of the wrist, the front door opened and we were finally free…all of us.
Heavy boots crunched on the pebbles as we left the Unseelie castle in silence and headed for the track that would lead us through the forbidden forest.
Redemption said nothing, only turned his head to find me. He never looked at his home, not once. Dark Unseelie eyes bored into mine. The warmth of the others was at my back.
“Lorn, when we get home, I think it’s time to have the talk.”
My steps faltered at Gabriel’s intense tone. Still I didn’t slow, and I didn’t stop. He’d been quiet since the dungeon, hanging back as the others touched and comforted.
But right now, my soul was weary. Too weary for another battle…too weary for another loss. Still, I nodded. “If that’s what you want. We can talk, Gabriel. We can always talk.”
There was no soft silver light amongst the shadowed forest now. The massive silver stag was gone, like he’d never been here at all.
We left the first trees behind, stepping out into the clearing. In the middle was the silver swirl of the portal. My heart leapt at the sight. Home. I didn’t know where we’d live. But I knew where home was.
My steps picked up the pace, until I was running. The whoosh of outstretched wings and thunderous slam of boots kept up until the portal rose in front of us, swallowing the air as it reached into the sky.
I sucked in the cold air, feeling it invade my lungs for the last time as I turned to face them…all of them.
Blue eyes burned with the kind of intensity I’d never known. “Let me go through first…” Gabriel started. “You know, just in case.”
I gave a nod and stepped to the side. “Good idea.”
He was gone in an instant, dragging his thumb across my cheek before he stepped through. The swirl of the portal consumed him. An ache flared through my chest at the sight, until I turned to the others, catching their desperation to get out of this place, and…stepped.
The bright glare of sunlight was blinding. Horns honked, and the faint sound of a jackhammer hit me. I hadn’t realized how much I missed the business of this world. How the smells and the sounds could be so ingrained into my soul that, with their absence, I was lost.
I blinked into the glare. Shapes blurred as the heavy thud of steps echoed behind me.
Shadows moved in, the towering machinery of the canning factory came into view. Someone cleared their throat with an “Ahem.”
I turned my head, to find Gabriel on the ground, kneeling on one knee.
He lifted his head, and those same blue eyes cut away the remnants of the Unseelie darkness in a second as he glanced at the others.
One by one they nodded, and once more I felt like the kid who was a day late for the party—the one who was always unable to get the joke, as Gabriel lifted his hand.
In the center of his palm was a tiny circle of blinding light. A band, not of gold, but of pure sunlight.
“Lorn Payne,” my Archangel started and then stilled. His voice cracked, and then turned husky as he forced the words. “Will you marry us?”
Marry us?
I spun, heart hammering, the words swelling like a balloon in the center of my chest. Rival held my gaze, the orange flames of hell dancing in his eyes. I turned to Titus, to the man who broke me out of the goddamn Hell where my soul was trapped, and then to Redemption—the man my heart had once belonged to.
And now would have to share.
“Do…d-do you want this?” My question hung in the air.
Their expressions changed, one by one, and I could almost hear the word. Duh…
“Hell, yeah I want this,” Rival murmured, and then bent at the knee until he, too, knelt in front of me.
Titus dropped without hesitation “Never wanted anything more in my damn life.”
I glanced to Redemption, who just shook his head. “I once told you I’d never bend my knee for anyone. Not on the battlefield and not for love—”
That weightless feeling in my chest sank.
“But you aren’t just anyone,” he continued, and then lowered that powerful body toward the ground, stopping on one knee.
They blurred into one. One glorious love. One glorious chorus as all four of my men spoke the words. “Lorn…will you marry us?”
I couldn’t speak, couldn’t hear anything but the hammering inside my head and those words swirling over and over. Will you marry us…
“Yes,” the word was a croak, forced past the lump in my throat. “Yes, I’ll marry you…I’ll marry all of you.”
Gabriel was the first to rise, stepping closer to grasp the tiny band of light in the center of his palm and hold it between his fingers. I couldn’t look away, not from the clear ocean of his gaze, not from the tiny smile creeping up at the edges. “I’m going to have so much fun,” he murmured, reaching for my hand, and sliding the b
and of Heavenly light onto my finger.
I couldn’t grasp his words, only stare as the soft warmth hit my nail, raced along my finger, and then consumed my hand.
“I’ve always wanted to plan a wedding.”
I jerked my gaze from the band to his once more.
“Oh, shit,” Rival murmured. “Pink boy’s gonna have a goddamn field day.”
And then that smile on Gabriel’s lips turned into a full, beaming grin. “I can see it now,” he waved one hand through the air as though he could conjure every jeweled, beaded…gilded….sparkling…pink object into existence with a simple thought.
“I’m not wearing pink,” Redemption growled behind me. “It makes my skin look washed out.”
A sharp bark of laughter tore from Titus’ lips. I glanced down at the ring as the light ebbed, leaving the most perfect diamond-encrusted band behind. I forgot about them for a second. Forgot about everything but the shimmering ring on my finger, and the realization hit home.
I was going to be married.
“Now that’s finally done, I’m fucking starving,” Rival growled as he rose to his feet.
They all stood, all watching me with love and concern. “Me, too,” I managed. “Rule number one, no more soup…ever.”
“Sounds good to me,” the Hellhound snarled and turned toward the exit from the abandoned warehouse. “But first I need a shower, then food, then sleep…”
“Wait, aren’t we forgetting something?” Gabriel called behind us.
Not one of us stopped.
“Who’s going to tell her father?”
Feet skidded, towering, muscled bodies froze on the spot.
Rival turned toward me. I saw fear in his eyes as he answered. “Not me.”
“Me neither,” Titus followed. “He scares the Hell outta me.”
“I’ll do it,” Redemption growled. “After all, it was me who got us into this mess in the first place.”
“Mess?” I warned. “You calling me a mess?”
He smiled and turned toward me, shaking his head. “I’m calling love a mess. I fell hard for you the moment I met you, and I dare say it was the same for these buffoons. So, I’ll man up and face the Lord of Hell. What’s the worst that can happen?”