Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Signup for my Newsletter
Authors' Note
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Back Matter
Elements of Desire Cover
Pack Obsidian Gold Cover
Tiger's Ambush Cover
Allison's Adventures in Underland Cover
Allison's Adventures in Underland Chapter One
Keep Up With The Fun
More Books By C.M. Stunich
About the Author
Arizona Smoke, supernatural badass, and wife to…six husbands?!
Elements of Ruin
Elements of Ruin © 2017 C.M. Stunich and Katrina Fischer
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
For information address Sarian Royal Indie Publishing, 89365 Old Mohawk Rd, Springfield, OR 97478.
Contact the authors at their websites
www.cmstunich.com and www.tatejamesauthor.com
Cover art and design © Amanda Carroll
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, businesses, or locales is coincidental and is not intended by the author.
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Authors' Note
Welcome to Elements of Ruin, the second of three books in the Hijinks Harem Series. This book is best read in bed with a glass of wine and a smile. If anything, this book takes itself even less seriously than book one, Elements of Mischief. Make sure you're prepared for plumbing puns, outrageous acronyms, and steamy group sex scenes.
P.S. This is a reverse harem paranormal romance novel meaning our main female character has six love interests and she doesn't have to choose between them.
Get ready for a crazy ride!
Love, Tate James and C.M. Stunich
There was a succubus lying passed out on my couch.
She was surrounded by four very hunky, very ripped plumbers with torn clothes, blood spattered across their skin, and … was that bone sticking out of George's arm?!
“I think I'm gonna throw up,” I said, but I wasn't sure if that was from my husband's injury, the bruises on the side of my best friend's face (well, one of my best friends—sorry, Britt), the fact that Warden was missing or … hell, I had a whole laundry list of things to throw up about.
“Here,” Billy said, handing over a bottle of fireball whiskey he'd snagged from god only knew where. I didn't bother to ask, taking the alcohol from his hand and swigging a giant mouthful. When I was finished, he snagged it back, grabbed George's arm and poured booze all over the earth elemental's wound. “I called the healer; he's on his way.”
George took it all like a champ, sitting stoic and still, his dark brown eyes focused on a spot on Gram's carpet instead of the fucking bone protruding from his bronzed skin.
“Can he … you know, fix this?” I whispered to Billy and got a semi-bemused eyebrow raise in response.
“He can fix most anything that isn't fatal, but we're gonna owe the bastard more than just a bathroom remodel.” Billy raked long fingers through his charcoal colored hair and then lit up a cigarette with his magic. His orange-brown eyes locked onto mine and held me there, shaking with adrenaline in the middle of Gram's living room.
I almost died; Maxi Pad aka Warden almost died; we almost lost.
Bio Dad Daniel almost got what he came for.
“Chill, Firebug,” Billy said after a moment, enfolding me in one arm and using the other to keep the lit cherry of his smoke away from me. I think he was misinterpreting my quivering for fear when really, it was fucking rage that was making me shake. “Everything's gonna be alright, okay? We'll figure this thing out.”
The door burst open before I could respond, cracking the plaster on the wall and making me cringe. Oh well, at least I had four handymen husbands around to fix it, right?
“What the hell happened here?!” Britt raged, storming into the room dressed in skinny jeans with her thong sticking out the top and a pink half-shirt that said Fuck Breast Cancer. “I pop out to the store for some snacks and then this bitch shows up?”
She pointed at Siobhan's prone form as Shane ran a warm washcloth over her wounds, carefully wiping away dried blood to reveal the extent of her injuries. As he cleaned her up, I noticed a slight flickering around her form and then … wings. Fucking wings flickered into existence, hanging over the back of the couch and draping across the floor.
Siobhan's glamour was broken—kind of like mine. Guess it was rat tails for both of us …
“Who the hell is this?” I heard Reg ask just before a growl speared the room and I flicked my gaze over to find a rugged Charlie Hunnam looking dude standing in my doorway. The way his lips were pulled back from his teeth, it didn't exactly take a genius to figure out this must be the alpha male of the Hudson Valley Pack, the one Britt was fucking.
“Alright, boys,” I said, moving over to stand between Britt and Siobhan, between my husbands and my best friend's new werewolf lover. “Keep the pissing match to a minimum, okay? You guys might be overwhelmed by whatever the hell it was that just happened out there, but remember—I was in a three day mother fucking coma. Nobody in this room is more confused than I am.”
“I'm glad you're okay …” Britt started, coming over to hug me and then pausing. She flipped some dark hair over one shoulder and chewed at her bubblegum pink lower lip for a moment. “Are … are you okay, though?” she asked, tilting her head to the side like a cocker spaniel. She pushed me back to arm's length and looked over my bleeding neck, the purple bruising at my throat, my torn clothing … “Girl, what the hell happened here?”
“I have six husbands,” I said, but then, that didn't exactly feel right. Warden was so not my husband—even if I was still harboring some pretty intense feelings toward him. And this other guy? I mean, I hadn't even met this other guy yet, this metal elemental whose soul was inextricably tied to my own.
“Oh, sweetie,” Britt said, squishing me into her breasts for a hug while Charlie Hunnam stared at me over her shoulder, looking all cute and scruffy with his dark blonde beard and mussy hair. “What happened outside? First off, that naggy old bitch from next door is going through your garbage again. Second, your fruit trees are lying on your driveway. And third, your husband's bone is like, sticking through his arm …”
George groaned and turned his head away, like the mere mention of his injury was making it hurt all of a sudden.
I pulled away from Britt and took a deep breath, trying to figure out how to explain the craziness that'd just happened outside.
My biological parents had attacked with
their undead dragon—er, sorry elemental—and almost killed me and Warden and all the rest of the boys by proxy. My neighbor was apparently some super powerful faerie that owed my dead grandmother a favor, and Siobhan was passed out and bleeding on my couch.
Where to start …
“Oh, and Aldrich,” Britt continued, gesturing back at her new beau, “he dragged the rotting corpse of that thing inside the garage. Hope that was okay? I know you don't get a lot of traffic down here, but we figured an undead elemental dragon might attract some unwanted attention.”
“Sugar plum,” Shane said, grabbing my attention with that sultry Southern drawl of his. “I think your girlfriend's wakin' up.”
I moved around the couch, ignoring Britt's dramatic eye roll as I went, and knelt down next to Siobhan's head, sweeping her brightly colored orange curls back from her face. I'd tucked her Louboutins in her arms and she lay clutching them as she blinked herself awake. I knew how much she loved those damn shoes—she once told me she'd know she'd made it when she could wear jammies and Louboutins around her apartment all day and work from home as a sex phone operator.
Huh.
Maybe that comment should've tipped me off to the whole call girl thing, huh?
“Babe, are you alright?” I asked as she struggled to sit up, reaching a hand to her forehead. Shane handed the washcloth to me and I took a turn dabbing at the wound near her temple. “What happened? What are you doing here? I thought you were in Barbados?”
“Ask her what she knows about the incubi and succubi involvement in all of this shit,” Billy said from behind me. I tossed him a death glare that told him to shut the fuck up. No matter what, I knew Siobhan wouldn't actively plot against me. She could be a little self-absorbed at times, but that was her worst quality—she'd never hurt me on purpose.
“I know where Daniel's going,” she said, and I had to wonder how the hell she knew my bio dad's name when I'd literally just met the asshole. “I know where Daniel's going,” she repeated again, hands shaking as she tried to shove her high heels on her feet. Bright green eyes met mine and held there. “He's going after Dustin, Morgs.”
A shiver ran through me, pooling in my gut and making me feel sick. “Who the fuck is Dustin, babe?”
“Your sixth … your metal elemental. Morgs, I am so incredibly sorry. I should have told you sooner, but I didn't know for sure he was yours until yesterday and by then it was too late …” Siobhan looked like she too was about to vomit. Her face was ashy and her hands trembled where she clutched them in her lap.
“What do you mean too late?” I asked carefully, not truly wanting to hear the answer but desperate for whatever information she had.
“Morgs, I'm sorry … they took him.” Tears ran down my friend's face and her breath hitched in a sob.
“Who took him, Siobhan?” I was growling the words from behind clenched teeth now. Sure, I had never met this Dustin character before, but I had a soul bond with him. He was mine, damn it!
“The Chaos United Movement. Rachel and Adonis, and their enforcers came and took him last night. There was nothing I could do, babe, I swear. I tried my best, but I'm a lover not a fighter …” She gave a small, helpless shrug of her shoulders.
“Just … just give me a minute to process this, okay?” I screwed my eyes shut tight and rubbed at my temples as I stood and stepped back from the couch. A warm hand caressed my upper arm and I cracked my eyes open to see Reg in front of me, holding another bottle of Grams' stupidly expensive wine.
“Here, have this, and come sit. It sounds like your friend has a story to tell and you just almost died …” He gave me a nudge in the direction of where Shane sat in an armchair. As I took the bottle of wine from him and stepped closer to Shane, the tattooed air elemental grabbed me by the waist and deposited me into his lap. Yanking the cork out of the bottle, which Reg had thoughtfully already loosened for me, I took a long gulp.
“Okay, start from the beginning, Siobhan. Why the fuck does the … Chaos United Movement … wait, does that seriously spell cum?” I frowned and squinted at the beaten succubus on my couch. Billy covered a laugh with a cough and George punched him with his good hand.
“Uh, yeah. C.U.M. is their acronym. Why?” Siobhan blinked at me in confusion and Britt snorted.
“How fitting that the governing body of a bunch of whores is called CUM,” my wolfish bestie smirked and I gave her a sharp look.
“Let’s not throw slut shaming stones inside our glass house, Britt,” I muttered and she shrugged, leaning back into her new boyfriend's embrace. Still couldn't believe Britt had a boyfriend. Or that he was the local werewolf pack's alpha.
“Okay, off track. Siobhan, why did … CUM take this guy, Dustin? And how are you involved?” I turned my attention back to the pale and trembling succubus and tried not to get distracted by her huge wings lying flaccid over the back of my couch.
“Please don't hate me,” she whispered in a small voice, tears streaming down her cheeks again. “You know how I said I was in Barbados with a new client … ?”
“Yeah …” I didn't like where this was going.
“I lied.” She hiccuped another sob and her eyes pleaded with me. For what, I wasn't totally sure.
“You weren't in Barbados?”
“He wasn't a client. He was my boyfriend …” The pieces started clicking together in my head and I took another sip of my wine to gather my thoughts. Shane's hands tightened around my waist and I grudgingly admitted to myself that I loved knowing my new husbands had my back.
“I swear, Morgs, I had no idea who he was until it was too late.” Siobhan whispered through her hiccuping sobs and Britt started growling.
“Furball!” Billy snapped. “Shut up. Your dog noises are downing out the succubus' explanation.”
Britt turned her snarl on my fiery husband and I leapt out of my seat to stand between them, just in case a fight broke out. Britt's fucking boyfriend was just grinning about it all too. Wanker.
“That's enough! If you all can't shut the fuck up, you can leave the damn room. Is that what you want?” I speared both Billy and Britt with a dagger-like glare and they both stubbornly said nothing.
Holy Lord of Plumbing, save me from stubborn supernaturals!
“Siobhan. Spit. It. Out. I have literally almost died today, my ex-best friend and first love almost died and has now taken off, and I battled to the near-death with my seven freaking bio-parents who wanted to drain me of my magic and take over the world like a bad episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” I flopped my ass back down into Shane's lap and took another swig of the wine still clutched in my hand.
“Oh, you mean like that really annoying season with Buffy's little sister, Dawn? The one who is like super, super annoying and it turns out she's like not even real?” Britt babbled and I shot her another look. “Sorry, shutting up now.” She mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key.
“Ah, okay.” Siobhan squinted at Britt like she was deciding if my other bestie had gotten more or less ditzy since they last saw each other. “Right. The beginning.” She sucked in a deep breath and her wings quivered. “So Dusty and I met about two months ago at a party in the Meatpacking district—” She was cut off by Reg snorting a laugh this time and I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Sorry, ST. Succubus call girl … meatpacking … never mind. Shutting up.” He too zipped his lips but a lazy smirk lingered on them. Guess he wasn't particularly concerned about almost dying, about his boyfriend … er, husband? … whatever's bone sticking out his arm, or the fact that my bestie was fucking our mystery soul mate.
Was it weird that I was jealous?
It was totally weird, right?
“Go ahead, Siobhan,” I said, trying not to imagine my girlfriend rolling around in bed with some faceless guy that was supposed to be mine. Trust me—I'd seen Siobhan rolling around with enough real men that I didn't really need anymore visuals. Between her and Britt, I felt like I had two wives on top of all the husbands�
�I saw their naked asses enough to qualify for a fucking ring.
Siobhan flexed her wings which was like, totally weird as hell because my best friend of a decade was not supposed to have huge leathery black bat wings dangling over the back of my Gram's ancient floral sofa. She caught me staring and then playfully brought one forward, tapping me on the cheek with a pointed crest.
“We didn't sleep together—in case you were wondering,” she added, her voice that perfect porn star rasp. Siobhan smiled, wincing a little as her bruised and battered face stretched with the motion, and tucked some orange curls behind one ear. “I wanted to try, you know, actually dating someone.” She paused to give me a look. “I fuck every guy I feed from. It's sort of old news to me, and Dustin …” She trailed off, nostrils flaring slightly. I noticed a bit of dried blood at the edge of one and offered her the rag.
She took it as I lifted the bottle of wine to my mouth, drank a very generous amount, and passed that over, too.
“I was drawn to him, Ari,” she said, looking down at her lap for a long moment, green eyes sparkling. When she glanced back up at me, I noticed they were far greener than I was used to—without her glamour on, Siobhan's eyes were emeralds. I felt that tug inside of me, that hey I'm a sexy succubus and you should totally be attracted to me thing, but my elemental blood kept it from affecting me much. “But I think I was drawn to him because of you.”
I nibbled on my lower lip and reached a hand up to touch the blood on my neck, pausing as a warm cloth slid down the side of my throat; it was Reg. I rested my hand over Shane's and leaned into his touch.
“Dustin, he's … well, now that I think about it, he reminds me of you.”
“You started dating and not-fucking a guy because he reminded you of me?” I asked, watching as Siobhan cringed, prodding at the edge of one bruised eye with her fingertips. “Have you been hiding a secret crush from me all these years?”
She smiled at me, but the expression didn't quite reach her eyes.
Elements of Ruin (Hijinks Harem Book 2) Page 1