Emerald (Jewels Cafe Book 9)

by Jade Waltz

  Silence filled the room as darkness overcame the night sky. The three of them stared at each other as if daring the others to reply, refusing to meet my gaze.

  “Fine, I will answer,” Maw announced. “A Sylex is a triad’s mate, their prize which they won over by their mating bubble dance. If she believes they are worthy, she will select them to sire her offspring and tend to her nest’s needs.”

  “It is a great honor to be selected by a breeder. They are the only one in their sisterhood triad capable of reproducing. The other two are fierce warriors and protectors of the community.”

  “So, when does a breeder become a Sylex to a triad?”

  “After they claim a triad, marking them and their nest with her scent to deter any other breeders looking for a triad to take care of them,” Vesuv replied. “You see, Sylexes weren’t ever supposed to leave their nest, but when our home planet was threatened, they took arms and helped defend it with their fellow sisters.”

  “And now, we are a dying species without a planet to call our own… or at least be able to roam freely without worry of imprisonment or harm. The small number of breeders we have on your planet are mated and haven’t gone into heat. The rest of us, the unmated triads, are left wondering if we’ll have an opportunity to have a Sylex, or if we have to let that hope die with our species.” Maw grabbed my hand, his deep blue eyes holding my own, and refused to let me pull away. “Your life was connected to ours as soon as you took a sip of that cursed pumpkin spice latte.”

  What. The. Fuck?

  I bit my lip and tried to hold in the laughter that rolled from me. He pulled his hand away as pain flooded his eyes.

  “Wait, you are serious?” I gazed at the other two brothers, and they too looked hurt. “I may the densest person at the moment but give me the benefit of the doubt. I just woke up after being unconscious for two weeks. Are you serious?”

  “Yes, Emerald,” Chryso replied, refusing to face me. “After many talks with one of Jewels Cafe’s co-owners, it turns out, between his lack of skill and his hard determination to try to seduce his co-owner from being a best friend to a mate, he cast a spell. The problem was the ishing amateur didn’t know what the ish he was casting, and instead of the spell targeting Amber, it targeted on the cafe itself. Now, anyone who orders a pumpkin spice latte from their establishment will be an unknowing victim of the spell—and if they had a name based on a jewel, they would be rewarded with multiple… mates.”

  “The local covens is useless when it comes to researching anything. Due to lack of talent, or perhaps asinine usage of an ancient starcaller spell, instead of using it for its original creation and casting it on a willing target who wanted help to find their mate, he tainted it by using it on a drink for his own impure reasons! Somehow, the spell became a curse, and no one knows how to break it,” Maw growled. “The authorities don’t believe it exists and all of these… forced connections are correlations but not causation to each other. Which means they won’t punish them for what they did to their customers.”

  “So… what does this mean for me?” I mumbled.

  What he said sounded crazy, but there was a truth to it. The instant I met all three of them, I felt a connection to them. Never once did I feel like I was in danger or scared—even when Maw was upset about me almost burning down his house. He had the right to be angry. Some unknown foreign female was now bonded to him and nearly destroyed everything he built. I would have been furious too.

  But now, I know why they have been trying to provide me with everything I need. It was what they did—the males took care while the females defended.

  “There is a way out of the spell… but it may be painful for those who are already experiencing the effects of the mating bond—the mystic connection that shimmers like stardust to their destined mate,” Vesuv explained. “The longer the bond is left uncompleted, the harder it will be to those bonded to resist each other… and for those who want to break it.”

  “I’m guessing you three are already feeling tortured by this bond being left unanswered,” I sighed.

  “We never wanted this to happen—”

  “Chryso, I was the one who took the sip.” Placing my hand over my chest, I addressed the three brothers. “Not you. The four of us are victims of their curse. What do you want to do about it?”

  Vesuv’s cheeks darkened as he averted his eyes. “I… we would like a chance.”

  “In the end, the Fates willed us together, and the Stars allowed it to happen,” Chryso revealed. “You were meant to be ours for some unknown reason, but it is up to you to determine whether or not you will have us.”

  “But if you are willing to accept us, we want to do it the right way,” Maw blurted.

  “And what is that?”

  “By presenting our bubble dance to you.”

  Maw rushed into the basement with one goal in mind—make Emerald something that would make her proud to be their Sylex. He only had one day to pick out the emeralds he wanted, create a design, and craft the piece.

  Tomorrow was Christmas Eve, and in two days, it would be their Celestial Void, the annual breeding day for the Alzaqi. They needed to make Emerald feel welcomed and have her give them the approval to present their mating bubble dance to her. He hoped they got to her with their discussion, explaining everything about their species and the real world around her. Emerald said she wanted to sleep on it and see how she felt about everything in the morning before she gave them her decision.

  He was afraid to get his hopes up. After spending all of these years protecting his triad, he was now freely giving a female power over them. It wasn’t the fear she would cause turmoil within the triad but was passing his reins to another.

  Even though breeders weren’t as deadly as their warrior sisters, they were still stronger than a protector Alzaqi, which he was. Emerald wasn’t an Alzaqi, and having a female who was physically weaker than his weakest brother, Vesuv, was something he would have to adjust to.

  Now, he had to worry about protecting another within their nest. Would he be able to go through his day without being paralyzed with worry about leaving Emerald alone?

  She was a human in a world of supes, and now that she knew about the secret life around her, she would be more prone to get into trouble.

  Spells, hexes, and supes in general worried him. It would take nothing for a feral shifter or a vampire to kill—or worse, turn her. The answer wasn’t to lock her in their home and restrict her to their property. He wasn’t going to have their nest to become a prison for her—even if she accepted the general manager position, he was prepared to offer her if she decided not to reject their bond and stay.

  He sorted through his bins filled with emeralds and picked out the most exquisite pieces. If Vesuv wasn’t able to get rid of her scars, he hoped the gems could ease her mind about her appearance. They tried to explain to her, it wasn’t how a breeder looked that made them attractive, but their scent—and he was becoming more and more addicted to her scent every day that passed. He waited for the day she would mark them with it so they could carry a part of her around with them wherever they went.

  “What should we do about Christmas Eve?” Vesuv asked as he walked into the basement with Chryso following him.

  “Humans tend to spend a lot of time cooking and filling their house with treats,” Chryso replied. “It’s Christmas Day that is a bigger deal to them—and New Year’s.”

  “She is too weak to be on her feet for the rest of the holidays,” Vesuv said as he went over readings on his 3D projection. “We can still spend time with her, and perhaps each take some time to get to know her a little more while the others prepare for the next day.”

  “Is each one of us giving her something? Or we are going to give her something as a triad?”

  “Triad,” Maw announced as he opened his design tablet. “We will always be a whole when it comes to her. It would be unfair for me to give her something priceless as Vesuv makes her cookies. Our goal should be
to show her how we run things around and act as a triad. You saw how doubtful she was when we tried to explain to her that sharing a female with your triad brothers was normal and a part of our nature. She needs to be shown we don’t get jealous of each other and work well together.”

  “How are we supposed to handle the Celestial Void?” Chryso asked as he climbed into their relaxing pool. “Are we going to spill our seed in our empty-nesting pool to get the mating rage out of our systems… or…”

  “We are not going to pressure her,” Maw barked, glaring at his brothers. “If she isn’t our Sylex when it comes, we will handle it ourselves.”

  “But… how are we going to accomplish… mating with her?” Chryso glanced at his healer brother. “Humans have many positions and locations which they use to mate. Are we going to be required to stick our injectors in her… pussy?”

  “Why are you asking me? You are the one who spends all of his free time sword fighting with cucumbers and studying human reality shows. There has to be something in there we can use.”

  “You don’t want to know all the weird things they do to each other. Sometimes, I wonder if they are even trying to reproduce.”

  “It doesn’t matter. We accepted we would not be able to reproduce,” Maw stressed. “If she never joins us for our Celestial Void but is willing to be our Sylex, I will be delighted.”

  “We’ll need to study Chryso’s research to make sure we please her. Earthlings are very sexual beings, and we need to keep her happy.”

  “Understood.”

  “Agreed.”

  Waking up in the large bed was proof it wasn’t a dream. The three brothers were aliens, and we were now connected because I had to prove myself to Chase. If only I’d kept resisting his attempts to up-sale the pumpkin spice latte, I wouldn’t be in this situation. But I had to try to prove to him anything pumpkin spice was disgusting—and got myself cursed. No wonder it tasted so good—it wanted to trick you into finishing the drink.

  The brothers gave me the option to accept them or reject the whole mating bond thing. The question I needed to ask myself was—did I want to walk away from everything?

  They say good things come in threes—and for those who wait.

  Then why should I refuse them? There were three dedicated males—and even though they might not be human, they were willing to work everything out with me. They had been waiting for a Sylex to come along to accept their nest and their dance—and their beliefs told them I was the one for them.

  They were my three good things… and I was the good thing they had been waiting for.

  I wasn’t going to lie to myself and say I wasn’t scared, but now that I knew the truth about the world around me, it wasn’t going to protect me from the crazy supes walking among humans. There was no way I could go back to not knowing, and refusing the destined connection would be foolish.

  It wasn’t like I had anything else going for me.

  I climbed out of bed and searched the room, finding a walk-in closet full of clothes exactly my size. After I freshened up, I threw on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before going downstairs to see if anyone was awake.

  Vesuv was in the kitchen in his alien form, wearing a pair of black harem pants, his back to me as he whipped a bowl of eggs. I slowly walked into the kitchen to try to scare him.

  “Good morning, Emerald,” he teased, shooting a smile over his shoulder. “It’s nice to see you up and about.”

  “How did you know it was me?”

  “Your smell.” He placed the bowl onto the counter and turned toward me, inspecting my body. “Do you want to watch me make scrambled eggs and omelets?”

  “Sure.” I shrugged.

  His hands gripped my hips as his thumbs traced the edge of my shirt, sending a shiver through me as he lifted me onto the counter. His icy blue eyes searched mine as he took a deep breath.

  “You smell exquisite today.”

  “Merry Christmas Eve to you, too.”

  “Happy Holidays.”

  I huffed and rolled my eyes. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning to you, too.” Releasing his hold, he looked at me sheepishly. “How did you sleep?”

  “Well.” I tilted my head to the side and studied him. “How did you sleep… in your swimming pool?”

  “Resting pool,” Vesuv corrected.

  “You do know it looks like a swimming pool filled with unicorn puke.”

  “No, because unicorn puke is black.”

  “Wait. What?” I gasped. “Unicorns are real?”

  “No.” He stepped back and returned to whisking his bowl of cracked eggs. “I wanted to see your reaction.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I curled my finger toward him. “Come here. I have something to tell you, but it’s a secret.”

  He looked at my hand skeptically before stepping closer and tilted his ear toward me. I cupped my hand and leaned forward.

  Large.

  He instantly shuddered, falling to his knees on the floor as the egg mixture splattered everywhere. He cupped his ear with one hand and his crotch with the other, breathing heavily.

  “Vesuv!” I screamed. “Are you okay?”

  I was too afraid to climb off the counter by myself. I didn’t trust my body yet and was afraid of landing on top of him.

  “What was that?” he gasped. “Why did you do that?”

  “I was trying to tease you… I may have a thing for elves ever since I saw Lord of the Rings. Your ears screamed lick me, and I had to try it once,” I explained, cringing at my own explanation.

  “What happened?” Maw demanded. “I heard a crash and a scream.”

  “Emerald licked my ear.”

  “Why?” Maw asked. “You do know they are the major turn-on point for the Alzaqi, right?”

  “No one told me,” I replied, looking down at my hands, unable to meet his broody gaze. “It’s not my fault you guys didn’t explain it to me.”

  “Because no one thought you would lick everyone’s ears.”

  “It was only one ear!”

  “It only takes one, Emerald!”

  I sighed. I was ruining the morning, and now, they probably thought I was insane.

  “I promise I’m not some crazy person. I didn’t know it was such an erogenous zone for you guys. I won’t do it again—”

  “No! They didn’t mean it,” Chryso pleaded as he walked into the kitchen.

  “Seemed like they did.”

  “They were caught off guard,” Chryso explained. “I promise, they wouldn’t say a thing once we became official.”

  “That’s the thing… I wanted to tell him, I accept your offer to be your Sylex. I’m just worried about messing everything up, like just now.”

  Silence fell as the sunrise’s rays beamed into the kitchen, making the brothers look almost ethereal, their scales glistening in the light.

  “Emerald… that isn’t something to joke about,” Maw cautioned.

  “I’m not joking. I slept on it and thought about it this morning. I’m sure things won’t be as easy as it would be if I were an Alzaqi, but I’m willing to work hard to make things work out between all four of us. It may take some time to get used to each other and everything, but I’m willing to accept your offer if you’re still willing to have me.”

  “It’s okay, Emerald. It was a simple misunderstanding,” Vesuv sighed, wiping the egg from his scales. He paused and jerked his head toward me. “Wait, you want to be ours?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  Christmas Day and I was in a house with no holiday decorations. Not that it mattered—they had their own holiday they believed in—but it was odd being somewhere that didn’t have at least one thing related to the holiday season.

  I was cuddled up in Vesuv’s “Release the Kraken” blanket, drinking hot chocolate with little star marshmallows on top as I watched the parades on the television. I didn’t care much for the announcers and didn’t understand why they needed to babble about crap that had nothing to do with ei
ther the parade or its occupants. Every year, it seemed to get worse, to the point I didn’t know why I should even bother.

  I muted the volume and decided to call my family and wish them Merry Christmas.

  Vesuv was in the kitchen, making breakfast after banning me from helping. It was safe to assume, he was afraid I was going to ruin another meal. Maybe making breakfast wasn’t something I should do. I was already two for two, and if I failed again, that would follow my whole three rule.

  Opening up the laptop, I entered the password Chryso gave me and signed into Messenger. My mother was currently online. Good. I clicked video call and placed the laptop on the end table as I brushed my hair with my fingers, waiting for her to answer.

  “Hello?”

  The image of a familiar short Asian-Pacific American woman with tan skin and long straight dark hair appeared, all dressed up in her candy cane pajamas.

  “Hi, Mom!” I waved. “Merry Christmas!”

  “Oh, heavens! Cedric! Cedric! Our baby Emerald called us!”

  The camera shifted as my father, with his graying blonde hair, sat down next to my mother, wearing matching pajamas.

  “How are you doing, Dearie?”

  “I am doing fine, Dad. I wanted to wish you both a Merry Christmas before things get crazy again.”

  “Oh, gem. We understand how the hotel business is. We’re glad you called.” She studied my video feed. “Where are you? You don’t look like you’re in your room.”

  I sipped my hot chocolate as I tried to think about an answer.

  “Did I hear screaming?” Chryso asked, walking into the room.

  My face burned, and I jerked my head toward his voice. He stood in his alien form, wearing nothing but his tentacle boxers.

  “What—”

  “Chryso! What are you doing? It’s too early to put on your merman makeup. We aren’t due to the charity drive until after lunch.”

  Chryso looked at me in confusion. “Should I be wearing less?”

  “Emerald! Tell us where you are, and why is there a man dressed up as a silver demon with you.”