by Lillian Lark
I try not to blush. This more detailed version had not been the one told as a bedtime story. He continues past my discomfort. “I woke in the morning to find Hester gone and a feather left in her place. If I had left that would have been the end of it. I’d never have experienced the joy of being your father and Luca wouldn’t exist. But I felt as if she had part of my soul instead of just my seed—”
I clear my throat, hard. “Dad!”
He just laughs at that, but I see him blush. I never want to hear my father talk about his seed again.
“So, I pursued your mother. Using all the skills I possessed, I tracked her down and began the very painful process of courting her.” He goes silent at that and we come to a stone bench. Dad gestures and we both sit. We’re coming to the point of his story now.
“I will never regret convincing your mother to be with me, but it wasn’t an easy process for her. There were many things she had to give up. The harpies have held to their way of life for generations upon generations. There was a time that your mother would have been tasked with killing me.”
It’s an ugly truth. Not nearly as ugly as killing off boy children, but still ugly.
“She lost her birthright because of me. The harpy community barely looks to your mother for anything, treating her as if her opinion holds no weight, for the mere crime of marrying the father of her children. After almost three decades, your aunts have just barely started to warm up to me but still pretend as if I’m not there the majority of the time.” My father takes a moment, looking down at his clasped hands.
“I feel guilt for what she’s lost, what being with me has cost her but I’m a selfish man who would pay any price to be with her. I can only try to make our life together one that is worth what I’ve taken from her. If you take both of those men as mates the harpies will reject you and your children.”
He’s just repeating what Mom said but the pain in his words reaches my heart and tugs.
“Your mother is terrified for you to face how the harpies will react, that’s why she yells. And she is Hester and Hester always yells when it comes to her clutch. I’m telling you all of this not to sway you, but so that your decision will be an informed one. I love you and your mother loves you too. In a loud way.”
“I think I might be attached to them, Dad.” My lower lip shakes. “I don’t want to let them go.” It comes out in a trembling wobble and Dad wraps his arms around me and I let a few tears fall for every injury my parents have had to deal with just to be together.
“My most independent child. I wouldn’t want this burden for you. If you are sure about this, you have my support.”
“What about Mom’s?” I ask. Dad shakes his head but a voice interjects with a sniffle.
“You will have my support, Zephyrine.” The tears can be heard in my mother’s voice. She approaches from the greenery, obviously hearing part of our discussion. Her eyes are on my father as the tears track down her cheeks and my dad’s body tenses in displeasure over them.
“Lucas, I have never regretted choosing you and this life over being a proper harpy. You are my soul and our children my joy. I would make the same decision every day of our life no matter how many times I have to put your socks in the hamper or fend off the bitchy words of my sisters.” When she chokes on the last part, Dad abandons me and pulls her into his arms.
I have never seen my mother cry. It takes the fierce matriarch from earlier and makes her into a woman who has had to make decisions similar to the ones I’m facing now. The tears don’t last for long and Mom pushes Dad’s body away to address me, the awkward audience to this heartfelt moment.
“If you claim these men you have our support. They will have to prove themselves worthy of you in my eyes, but I will trust your judgment not to run them off at family gatherings. I’m sorry I questioned you in such a manner, I just worry.” Mom’s face is strong as she speaks, and I rush to hug her. I press my face into her neck.
“I love you, Mâmân. I’m nervous about the mate situation too, but it feels right.”
Mom sniffs again, this time on purpose. “Okay then. Shall we get on with dinner? I don’t think we can keep you out here for long without your new puppy dogs following you out.”
I snort. Just because my mother says she’ll support me, doesn’t mean she isn’t still going to give the men a hard time.
Asa
Once Zephyrine and her parents come back into the house, I can ease my grip on Gregory’s thigh. I wanted to follow our mate out just as much as he did but Zephyrine needs to settle this her way. Regret chokes me at the sight of her tear-stained face.
Gregory pats my thigh when I tense. “Family stuff. You were right to keep us here.”
It’s clear what he’s talking about because it appears as if none of the people who went outside has come back without shedding a couple of tears. I try to ease myself back.
“Dinner is ready,” Amara says. She had jumped up from the card game to finish food preparation when Hester had left after her daughter and mate. Luca sighs in frustration.
The kid would have gotten more money if we kept playing. He’d already made a tidy sum from Gregory and me. Only losing to Sophia, who I suspect is a card shark. We would have to bring our A-game next family dinner. Sophia did say that they do this every other week.
I imagine that our social calendars just got fuller. With Gregory’s pack events and now dinners with the Shirazi family, our little triad needs to work out a group calendar to keep track of everything. Luckily, I only have Mace instead of a large extended family.
When Gregory and I updated Mace on the relationship situation he had laughed himself silly. I counted that as him being supportive.
The cards are cleared away and the food dishes are placed on the table. Mountains of food.
“So, are we going to all play nice for now?” Sophia asks brightly. I’d mistake the woman for an imp with her penchant for trouble except that she looks so similar to Zephyrine.
“These are my mates. Deal with it on your own time.” Zephyrine sounds tired. Her parents just nod and the other siblings shrug. It isn’t the ringing endorsement that we desire, but it is a start.
Greg frowns when Zephyrine sits across the table from us before everyone starts to fill their dishes. The gesture could be a thoughtless one, but we’ll check in with her later.
The range of flavors in the food is foreign but delicious. Adaptation is the name of the game when it comes to being long-lived. Gregory is a foodie so his delight at the meals is exuberant and genuine. Hester starts to warm to him sooner than I’d expected. Conversation flows well as we eat. Amara is on Gregory’s team too as soon as she finds out about the bakery.
“Wait, you own the bakery, Taste?”
With that, the sternest sister starts to crack.
“You won best paranormal establishment in Spelled Out!”
Did he? There’s a moment of loss for something we would have celebrated together and missed. The bakery had been a joint venture, but I ceded much of it in the wake of the breakup. The idea that I had been home heartbroken while Gregory had accomplished such an achievement hurts but I’m still so proud of him. Gregory looks a little bashful at Amara’s exclamation.
The loss and hurt is accompanied by a twinge in my heart that Zephyrine’s family is taking to Gregory so well. I anticipated it, it’s hard to dislike someone as affable and honest as Gregory, but it still has the ability to make me feel left out. I am not as affable and honest as Gregory. This isn’t a competition but if it were, I’d lose.
Will there come a time when Zephyrine and Gregory will realize they’d be better off as a couple instead of a triad? The thought is a dark one in the light atmosphere and I mentally push it away. I’ll have to address the worry eventually. Worries like that are snakes in a hay bale, lying in wait to strike.
Everyone participates in dinner clean up and wine is poured and passed around as we all move to the living room for after-dinner lounging. Gregory sit
s on a chair across the coffee table and snatches Zephyrine to sit on his lap. The move makes me smile. It’s the cost of the distance she put between us at dinner.
“So, Asa, what do you do?” Luca asks. As I detail my work, I can see the interest in Zephyrine’s brother and wonder if it would be too soon to take on an intern. It would serve a dual purpose. Ingratiation into the family and encouraging a bright kid. Zephyrine accepts a full glass of wine from her mother and that’s when things get strange.
Gregory looks happy just to be around Zephyrine, rubbing her back as she leans back into him. He’s nuzzling the crook of her neck when he stills there and really scents her. I watch in curiosity as he sniffs into her hair and she giggles. My own curiosity is amplified when Gregory grabs Zephyrine’s wine glass and chugs the contents.
“What the fuck?” Zephyrine isn’t giggling now. The rest of the family just gapes at him and he beams back. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile so wide. Suspicion itches the back of my neck. Zephyrine is actually pissed. “Why did you do that?”
“Well, that relationship ended earlier than I thought,” Luca mutters, but I’m not listening. Hester tilts her head like an inquisitive bird before snapping commands that have all the Shirazis’ jumping like she’s cracked a whip.
“Time to go!”
“Whaat? But it just got interesting,” cries Sophia. Hester just gives her daughter a look and Sophia is out the door. Zephyrine looks around, confused.
“What is going on?”
“You will call us later, now I think you need to have a talk with your mates.” Hester is abrupt to the point of rudeness but a moment later the house is emptied of Zephyrine’s family.
“Asa, did you possess my mother?”
“No,” I snort. Demon possessions are very rare and over publicized. Demons born on this plane don’t have the capability. Zephyrine turns on Gregory’s lap then.
“What the fuck was that all about? You drank all my wine!”
Gregory is still smiling like a fool. “You’re pregnant.”
It’s good I had the foresight to put down my wine before he answered, or the glass would have slipped through my fingers and ended up shattered on the floor. Pregnant? Shock immobilizes me. Zephyrine also appears shocked.
“No, I’m not. That’s impossible.”
“Yes, you are. I can smell the scent change.”
“No, I’m not. You’re wrong. Harpies control their reproduction through magic. We don’t accidentally get pregnant.” Zephyrine escapes Gregory’s arms and tries not to pace.
I clear my throat a little. “Soul magic?”
“Yes.” Zephyrine tilts her head in my direction.
“Soul magic like a shifter mating bond?”
Zephyrine’s face pales and I think she might faint. Gregory and I both move toward her, but she waves us away before covering her face with her hands. Her wail of: “No no nooo” is audible if muffled.
It’s something I’ve always considered impossible. Something I’d never be able to give Gregory naturally, even though he’ll make a fantastic father. A tiny stab of pain hits me at the insufficiency but it doesn’t last.
I take a moment to run a hand over my face before a grin cracks me. I laugh a little at the extraordinariness of it. A baby. Demons do not procreate very efficiently so I’m assuming Gregory is the father. I look to Gregory and he looks like he wants to hug me. We obviously both see this as a good thing. Zephyrine, however—
“Darling, is this so bad?” I try to use my most soothing voice. She just gets more distraught and shakes her head.
“Neither of you get it. It’s too much.”
“Maybe you want to walk through the garden again?” Gregory’s happiness melts in the face of Zephyrine’s radiant distress.
“No, I don’t want to take a walk in the garden!” The windows start to shake. Gregory and I stand up straighter.
“Zeph—” It looks like Gregory is in pain. “Do you not want to be pregnant?” He chooses his words carefully and I laud his efforts for broaching such a difficult subject. Paranormal-being birth rates are low, but abortion is still a valid option. A stab of agony hits my heart at the possibility but it’s Zephyrine’s choice.
Zephyrine gives a little sob and I take a step closer just to have her step back again.
“It’s not that. I don’t want to do that. I didn’t choose this but now it’s done.” Her voice comes out rough. Anxiety runs off her in waves. She drops her hands and looks at us both. “You don’t understand.”
Apprehension lines her face and I itch to wrap her in a blanket and cradle her. Gregory obviously wants to do the same, his arms keep lifting in her direction before he lowers them again.
“What don’t we understand?” he asks.
“Harpies come in threes!”
Oh.
The floor must tilt and the breath goes out of the room. The silence deafens before it’s shattered by Zephyrine starting to cry.
“What? Like….” Greg starts.
“Triplets!” It feels like Zephyrine’s anxiety is beginning to morph into anger. I prefer her anger to the anxious crying. Triplets. That makes sense, Zephyrine and her two sisters look very close in age but I hadn’t put it together until she said it.
I find my voice. “What if it’s a boy?”
Luca was a single birth unless there were more Shirazi siblings we hadn’t met yet. The heat of the glare Zephyrine shoots me makes me want to take a step back.
“The first clutch is always harpies.” Zephyrine’s anger dissolves too soon and now she’s starting to panic. She takes deep breaths. “You two should go. I don’t think this is going to work out.”
I rock back on my heels with that blow.
“No.” I don’t realize I’ve even spoken until she looks at me in angry confusion.
“What do you mean, no?”
I move smoothly until I’ve captured her; Gregory comes up on her other side. The group hug stops Zephyrine from gouging our eyes out and calms her.
“Three sounds wonderful.” Because now that I think about it, three sounds wonderful. Sisters to support each other. “That means there is a baby for each set of arms in our relationship.”
“I don’t want to hear about it!” Zephyrine sounds angry and grabs my face, causing a moment of concern for my own safety, because … harpies.
Instead of attacking me, Zephyrine starts kissing me like I am oxygen and she is drowning. I try not to let the contact lull me away from the situation, but the pull is strong. Maybe she is drowning and wants to pull me down the way her cousin kind, sirens, did to sailors.
When Zephyrine breaks the kiss, she’s gasping, “Please take my mind off of it.”
I swell with importance; this is something that I can uniquely do for her, do for all of us. Gregory looks at me in a hungry way and I grin at him.
“It would be our pleasure.”
Zephyrine
Panic swells in my throat and my mind won’t stop spinning. So many emotions accost me. Which feelings are real, and which will fade when my mind starts functioning again? Fear or joy? Anxiety or hope? Panic or happiness? Each twirl in me until the next takes its place.
The look on Asa’s face is predatory and thrill prickles my nerves. “What are we going to do with you, little bird? There are so very many options when we know how prettily you beg.”
Breathe, I just need to breathe. Focus on whatever wicked things these men come up with and breathe.
Pregnant. Oh gods. This isn’t supposed to happen this way. I am the only harpy since the beginning of time who has accidentally gotten pregnant. Reproductive agency is something unique to my kind and I had completely taken it for granted until now.
The group hug helps some. My mates’ bodies pressing into mine, making me feel secure. We barely know each other but their happiness is catching. I let that happiness buoy me so that I won’t sink under the waves of concern taking up room in my heart.
This relationship over
whelmed me before the possibility of babies. Any control I had is now long gone, shot out of the water. I need someone to keep my head above it all.
Asa brings me back to his seduction with a touch to my face. It startles me that my cheeks are wet, and he wipes away the tears.
“Shhh, little bird. We’ll give you what you need. I don’t think us being gentle with you will be enough. No, that would let your mind wander.”
Yes.
Asa’s smile is tinged with knowing. Breathe. Greg’s arms slide around my breasts, leaning me back into his embrace as Asa reviews the arrangement. One of Greg’s hands lingers on my belly before he realizes I might not appreciate the reminder of that right now and smooths it away.
Asa takes in that motion and his face fills with a wholesome type of greed. I blush. The moment Asa starts, the game snaps the coiling unease in me into lust.
“Zephyrine, you are wearing entirely too many clothes. Wouldn’t you agree, Gregory?”
Greg grunts in agreement and starts to tug off my summery jumpsuit. I let him without argument, squeezing my legs together. I yearn for this escape.
Some semblance of power emboldens me when I’m standing in front of them in a plain bra and panties. The ravenous way Asa looks at me gives me the urge to preen. Greg pulls off the bra and soaked panties until I’m naked and the shyness of being exposed kicks in in a delicious way that has my skin heating.
Being with my mates is a freeing thing. Greg presses his erection against my ass, his rough jeans abrading my naked flesh. I let myself be held up by his body as his hands trace up and down my hips and arms. It tickles, adding to the anticipation.
“So exquisite,” Asa murmurs. His eyes devour me and he places a hand on my chest, over my rapidly beating heart. “Gregory is going to keep you where I want while I enjoy my fill.”
My sigh is shaky, but I submit to Asa’s actions, shivering as he kisses my neck before his mouth moves lower and his hot tongue laves my nipple. My hands come up to grab his hair, but Asa catches them. I flex my hands and give a mewl of distress. I’m lost, I need an anchor. Asa grins at me before moving them up over my head, into Greg’s hair. “Keep those there, darling. Gregory doesn’t mind if you pull a little.”