by Owen Oakley
Interesting enough, he must’ve had breakfast thinking I would be there. Surprise, I wasn’t. He makes a bee line straight for me, wrapping me in his arms.
The stubble from his jaw tickling me. “Missed you at breakfast. Are you okay?” Worry consume his eyes, searching mine.
I muster a smile to the best my ability to ease the stress that overwhelm his face. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I lie.
I look pass Cairo to see Roman awaiting his turn, and when Cairo doesn’t release me, he clears his throat.
Cairo sighs. It was something they both would have to adjust to. His time was up, and I give him a soothing pat on the back.
As soon as Cairo let me go Roman sweep me up into him and smells me as I did him. I’d never grow tired of smelling cinnamon and spice on him.
I didn’t want to let go because when I did, I would have to face Demetri. “I missed you last night,” he says, and I tense at the thought of being there and them unaware of my presence; also seeing what Demetri did.
How long had he been doing it? Twelve weeks had passed since I’d been here. It only made me wonder even more.
“The sacrifice of leaving you was worth it,” Roman continues, bringing me away from my thoughts. I squint at him. “The energy I got from the party will last me a great deal for the journey I’ll be able to protect you.” I roll my eyes and gave him a playful shove.
“I sure as hell hope so,” Cairo barks out behind us. Oh, come on it’s too early, and I need coffee if we were going down this path again. Roman choose not to retort, thank God for small favors.
When I steal a glance of Demetri; he stands off next to Aiden and by the realms, the room was filled with too many sexy men in it!
I want to scream in frustration. The most intoxicating part? They all want me, and the feeling was mutual. I take a deep breath, and try to get my traitorous hormones under control, but it’s difficult.
My face grows flush, and I was super wet. The heat in my belly and core was stirring up ten times greater than it ever had.
A beautiful butterfly shoots from my forearm, then another and another until soon they flutter all around us while orchids blossomed with beautiful color on my skin.
Just great.
Demetri smiles, showing his deep dimples. How could I forget he knew what my tattoo coming to life meant?
I was still pissed off with him and wouldn’t fall into temptation.
“I’ve always wondered why your tattoo did this,” Cairo states in awe, looking at a butterfly that lands on his finger.
This was not up for discussion. With a wave of my hand the butterflies disappear, and my orchids retracted back into a mere tattoo. “Shall we?” I ask pointing to the books, while killing any discussions about what they’d witnessed.
We gather around the books and Aiden stood beside me, whisking his fingers against me. It sent a sensation up my arm and warmed my insides. Tricky Fae. He threw me a smirk. “The potion and spell is ready. With it your true selves will be glamour while keeping your abilities intact.” He looked at Roman and I for understanding and we both nod. “It tastes horrible, but it will work. Best if we don’t do it until about an hour before your departure. It will last for two days and that’s it. After that you’re on your own and will be fully exposed,” he instructs with seriousness.
Gee no pressure, just find my father in a huge dangerous realm within forty-eight hours no biggie.
Foxtrot appears on the table with all purposes to still the attention away from anyone who had it at that moment.
Sabine do you think your new lover has enough for me. I round on him, choosing to ignore his little comment.
“Oh, no you’re not going with us!” My voice squeaks and Aiden chuckles.
“How did I know he’d want to go?” Aiden removes another vial from his pocket. I scowl.
“He’s not going!” Aiden shook his head while the others just stare opting to stay out of it. Good fucking idea.
“Fox is your familiar, and he gives your magic a boost. He could become a sprite or something.”
That’s a negative!
“Blend in and give you both much needed help, you’ll need it,” he finish.
I hate when people make sense about the things I was against. Foxtrot was my responsibility regardless of his abilities or not. I’ve read what happens to someone when they lose a familiar. Not happening.
“No!” I yell out.
You don’t have a choice. I’m going with or without you.
I sneer at them all, putting my hands on my hips. Fox was a pain in my ass. “Whatever,” I say seeing the many eyes on me. “My opinion doesn’t matter anyways.”
Demetri roll his eyes and all of that pent-up anger from last night I’d tucked away come surging again. “Don’t be like that baby,” Cairo ever the gentle one. I ignore it.
“Give us the layout.”
I explain that I connected the forest to the outer parts of the realm, and we need to teleport in a less open part of the forest, which would be closer to a set of caves I designed on top of a hill.
Aiden places a map on the table encouraging Fox to flutter to the other end. I accept the pen from Aiden and circle all the solid areas to travel and the ones we needed to avoid.
The others remain silent as I construct a route that won’t get us killed. Eilien itself was a different story. Unlike Ardam the realm within the sky.
Eilien was one step shy of the underworld, hence the dangerous forest and the even deadlier supes that live there. My father chose Eilien, the least likely place someone would go or think about going.
Through the debriefing I manage to kill three hours. Lunch was on the agenda, having skipped breakfast I was ready for it. Or at least I thought I was before Demetri stands up. Great.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” he starts. No shit Sherlock. “The forest not only have dark and deadly creatures and plants, but the forest itself has misty agents that could make someone turn on themselves and the person with them.” He gives me a pointed look. “You must follow Roman’s lead and do everything he tells you to.” He says only to me.
Oh. Hell. No. “I don’t need protecting Demetri. I’m not some damsel in distress.”
“Why must everything be a fight with you?” He ask through gritted teeth. I shrug.
“Right now? It’s a disagreement, but if a fight is what you’re looking for, then I’d be more than ready to give it to you.”
The air shifts: everyone was more tense. As they should be! It would never be a fair fight between Demetri and me. My mates would side with me regardless of the situation.
“You’ve been in this world all of a short time and just because you created it doesn’t give you the knowledge you think. Just do as Roman says so you won’t get yourself killed, it’s just that simple!”
“Or is it?” He looks at me with confusion. This man has been hot and cold since day one. Now I was stuck with an image of him fucking me over and not in one way.
He made me feel and look inferior and weak and I be damned if he does it a second time within a twenty-four-hour span.
“You’ve tried to break me from the moment I entered this realm with your poisonous words. You’ve threatened by me. By anyone with a power greater than your own. Like I said days ago.” I step closer to him. “If you want me dead, do it! Just because I don’t have a swinging dick and balls between my legs doesn’t make me less of a supe than you! I am a goddess you’re simply a man put into power through a legacy of your family; I was born this way.”
It was a lot, but it was everything I’d held in from the moment I met him. My posture was straight as an arrow and I didn’t blink not once. Hurt flicker across his face before his hands balled into a fist and his jaw tick.
“Sabine!” Roman calls out to me in a calm yet warning tone. I whirl on him.
“Sabine nothing! He’s made me feel like nothing for months on end. Contrary to what he thinks I won’t just crawl on all fours and take it!”
They weren’t idiots, they knew there was an underlying situation that had transpired. Roman takes a step back with his hand over his mouth, staring at me. Busted.
It didn’t matter I was done with this and my hunger sprang back with a vengeance. Cairo tried to walk with me, but I needed my space, from all of them.
Note to self never let Fox talk me into doing anything ever again.
41
Demetri
“W
hat the hell just happened?” This had turned into a nightmare. First, she doesn’t show for breakfast and now the little outburst. The comment carried a hidden meaning and made me question what Roman had been telling her. Hell, there were so many people last night I’m not sure if Roman knew what I had done. At least he hadn’t confronted me about it.
It was a foolish and reckless mistake that was more than likely all over the realm by now. The Lord fucked the demigoddess I could imagine it now. I ran my hand over my face followed by an aspirated sigh. Surly it wasn’t Roman, but then again; she and he were mates now.
The thought keeps forming until I train my eyes on him and narrow them.
“Oh, don’t even!” he says, but I refuse to let up. All it takes is a slip of the tongue and it’s out. His shoulders slump forward. “I think Sabine was at the party last night. She was glammed.”
I throw up both my arms. “What!” Cairo and Aiden shout seconds apart from each other. Of course, she was the woman is infuriating.
Tell her to get rest and stay in her room, and she does the complete opposite.
My heart was beating fast in my chest. The comment wasn’t from something she’d heard but from what she’d seen. Fuck! It was too late now. I couldn’t take it back and sorry wouldn’t cut it at this point.
She must think I’m some sexist or sadist. Yes, my sexual activity can be intense, but it wasn’t like that, although it was hard to explain. “How did you two let that happen?” Aiden asks calmly.
Cairo, however, was far from it. “I knew I should’ve moved her in with me!” I snort. I disliked him so very much.
“She’s a grown woman, she does what she pleases, that’s for sure,” I chuckle. The others just look at me. Okay this wasn’t amusing, but I was attempting to get out of my head and sometimes that included humorless rants.
Cairo stops pacing. “Hold on what happened at the party? She’s upset and I’m sure it’s not from seeing an orgy.” His gaze darts from Roman to me.
How to explain this? I seek Roman for help and the bastard holds up his hands taking a small step back. Some brother he is. I prepare myself before I launch into what happened last night. I tell them everything.
Roman explains how he saw a blond woman he’d never seen before sandwiched between a few guys— that seem to make him, and Cairo upset— and how she watched me and the woman I glammed to look like her and the hurt and disgust plausible on her face.
I collapse in the chair next to the bookcase. The guys were worked up, and I need to see everyone square on just in case they tried anything.
They take turns shouting about how ‘I should be ashamed,’ ‘how could I treat a woman that way,’ and ‘what would possess me to do such a thing.’
Berated like a child and I was over it all and them. I go to a party and do one thing, and I’m the bad guy. Well, you know what?
“She’s not fucking innocent or some saint!” I yell over them, bringing the room at attention. I get my bearings and rise from my chair. “Sabine has two mates and a potential third.” I look over at Aiden who had already dropped his head.
I wasn’t blind, and I paid more attention than they knew; to her, as much as I hated to admit it.
“You can’t be serious!? Fuck!” Cairo was an alpha. I still couldn’t believe he would share her.
Roman barks out laughter that emerge from the pit of his stomach. His voice bounces in an echo around the room. We stare at him like he has lost his mind. “You’re a damn idiot you know that Dem? I love you and you’re my brother, but you have no clue the woman Sabine is. If you’d get your head out of your ass, you’d see that she wants to be with you too.”
I must’ve misheard him. The woman hated me and after what she saw there was no way she’d forgive me.
Cairo’s hand slammed on the table. I thought I was the one with anger issues. Another reason I want no part of this mate situation, it makes the person too possessive, clouded judgement.
I like my tunnel vision and a clear head just fine.
“I will not accept anymore of you. Roman, I can understand, and I’ve gotten over it. But the ice prince and sadistic mage is where I draw the line!”
He must not know Sabine all that well then. As she has already showed she does what Sabine wants to do. I laugh and for a second, I almost used my magic on him for the disrespectful comment, but I’ll make an exception.
“It’s not up to you. If she has feelings for us, which she does otherwise she wouldn’t have gotten upset by what Demetri did. You must deal with it or don’t complete the bond,” Aiden tells him. I lean back on the wall because this was no longer my conversation.
I had every intention on upholding the oath. This was minor. Pass.
With that Cairo disappears. Love was a hell of a drug and even more deadly, a distraction.
42
T he sun dipped, and the moon illuminated the skies. My nerves had set in but there was also excitement. Not to travel through a deadly forest but to meet a family member, my father. Everyone gathered in the portal room where Demetri and I traveled from to meet Traci. It was still the same, plain neutral brown walls with hard wood floors engraved with clouds, arrows attached to a compass and other weird symbols that I’d never seen before.
We bunch together in the room meant for travel and not to hold a gathering, but we make do and have enough space for everyone to spread out their arms and legs.
Foxtrot wraps himself around my leg and I can feel his heartbeat against it. He was so persistent about going, but it was clear he was just as nervous as the rest of us.
Cairo and Roman stay close to me, while Aiden mix and rearrange vials. Demetri inspects his portal and slice the palm of his hand with a dagger he’d conjured. I didn’t recall him having to do this before; we just stood in the center of the carvings, he muttered a word and we took off.
“What are you doing?” I ask. He bends over pressing his palm against the circle’s edges and repeated the process until there was blood flowing in the deep trenches of each symbol.
“To travel to another realm, it requires my blood. That’s why we require a written request for anyone who wishes to travel outside of Ardam. The list is long. I don’t grant access too often.” I look over at Cairo who only smiled. I wonder if he’d gotten permission to go get my laptop from Demetri.
Although, I’m uncertain on how he did it at all. “Everyone needs permission except my board of council members and strong alphas, he’s an exception to the rule,” Demetri adds as though he was answering the question inside my head. “Stick around you’ll be able to come and go as you please.”
I was more than confident that I could do that already but that was something he didn’t need to know. “Aiden, are you almost finished?”
Aiden tap the vials twice and then closed his eyes. I watch as the colorless liquid begins to glow a bright aqua blue, bubbling to the top and hiss.
This can’t be safe.
We’re about to find out. Foxtrot look just as skeptical as me. Roman remain his usual cool self.
I appreciate it even more when my confidence was running low. “Ready?” Aiden asks us.
Roman, Fox and I take our vials. Well, I pour Fox’s into his mouth.
It may look pretty but it tastes like balls!
I chuckle. “How would you know what balls taste like?”
Roman was about to throw his back when he heard what I said. The guys’ brows furrowed. I intended to communicate that through my head, but I guess not. “Sorry, something Fox said.” Their faces morphed from confusion to amusement and it was just the thing we needed to lighten the mood.
Bottoms up!
I tilt my head all the way back, not giving the liquid time to rest on my taste buds. But it still caught the back of my throat and even though I don’t gag the flavor of it makes me want to puke.
Fox was right I do not know what balls taste like, but this had to be what unclean ones were like. Roman’s mouth puckered, no doubt experiencing what Fox, and I had. We didn’t have to wait long for the potion to take effect.
“I still feel like myself,” I say looking down at my normal hands and body. The glamour changes you even in your own eyes.
“Well you sure don’t look like you and your aura is different,” Aiden confirms. I examine myself again. I guess it was a good thing that I appeared differently to him and still felt like myself. My powers weren’t suppressed like they normally were under this spell.
He was right, after looking at Roman I saw that he was now a handsome centaur and I couldn’t help the giggle, that turns into a fit of laughter.
“Aiden? You had to turn him into a—”
“Into a what?” Roman shifted on his feet, wringing his hands.
“A Centaur!” I bark out as I wipe the tears from my eyes. Cairo sneers at Aiden.
Aiden the sneaky culprit repress a grin playing at the corners of his mouth. Demetri covers his mouth and shakes his head. “I wouldn’t laugh too hard dear mate,” Roman says with a smirk that silence my laughter.
Oh, God! “Aiden what did you do?” He sniggers. “You look cute as a gnome.” I groan.
“That way you can ride on Roman’s back. To him you’re light enough to carry and he’s big enough for you to ride.” He realize his choice of wording too late and grimace.