Ferris Braden [Beyond the Marius Brothers 6]

by Joyee Flynn

  “You are beautiful, Rylan,” he whispered as we gazed at each other over the top of my car. “I mean, wow, baby. I just want to kiss every inch of you and find each hot spot.”

  “I look forward to it.” I swallowed loudly and hit the fob so the car unlocked. He pulled on his shirt before getting in the passenger’s seat. I got in and started it up, listening to his directions how to get to the place he was staying.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?” I asked, startled by his breaking the silence after twenty minutes of just driving.

  “For finding me. I know I’m not acting like it but I’m so happy you found me, Rylan. I think I’m in shock actually.”

  I nodded like I had a clue as to what he was talking about, but I didn’t. But then it hit me why he would have that reaction. “How long have you been looking for your mate?”

  “Since I was five,” he chuckled. “As soon as I heard the term and my mother explained it. The idea of someone just for me, that would always be there for me, love me, I was hooked.”

  “I’m glad,” I said, giving him a wink. “But how long ago were you five?”

  “Oh, I’m a thousand years old.” Bingo! He’d probably given up hope of ever finding his mate.

  “You into younger men?” The moment it was out of my mouth I wanted to smack myself in the head. Wow, was that heartless after what I’d learned about Jalen’s crush. “I didn’t mean it like that, Ferris. I meant me.”

  “I know,” he said quietly as he took my free hand and raised it to his lips. “Age is just a number to me. It’s maturity really that matters. How old are you?”

  “Thirty-five.”

  “Yeah, you’re an adult so no problems there,” he chuckled nervously as if not sure it was the right thing to say. We pulled up to the driveway we needed and I turned in to it.

  “I can’t get over how big your coven is. I mean all those estates we passed by, they belong to your coven, right?”

  “Yeah. This is the founding coven of the East Coast so when the vampires settled here, long, long before it was ‘discovered’ in the history books, they spread out. When humans started coming over from Europe, everyone just pretended we only beat them by a decade or something.”

  “And you’re—oh shit!”

  “What’s wrong?” he asked as his head whipped around to look for trouble.

  “Can you guys have two mates?” I quickly pulled up to the house and threw my car in park, barely remembering to shut it off before getting out. Ferris was right behind me, sniffing the air.

  “No, but the fae can,” he answered as we both focused on the man standing on the front porch.

  “Yes we can,” the man said slowly as he eyed us both over. “I’m sorry to bother you and just show up. I knocked but no one was home.”

  “Can we help you with something?” Ferris asked calmly. I had another idea of how to handle the situation though. I raced over to the man and jumped him.

  “Mine!” I snarled as my teeth extended. I sank them into his neck and drank down his sweet blood.

  “Oh fate,” the fae moaned as he held me to him. “Am I your mate?”

  “Both of ours,” Ferris answered as I moaned and humped against the large man.

  “Hello, hotness,” I purred as I licked his bite closed. “I’m yours. My name is Rylan Zeev and this is Ferris.” I frowned and glanced at Ferris. “I didn’t get your last name yet.”

  “Braden. I’m Ferris Braden.” He extended his hand to the massive fae, his tongue licking his fangs. “And you are?”

  “Onah.” He shook Ferris’s hand, his eyes glazing over with lust.

  I shivered at how deep his voice was. I mean hell it was a whole new level of baritone. “I didn’t even know the fae were real.”

  “We just came over from our plane a few months ago. Sorry I didn’t know we were mates. We can’t tell by scent like you guys can.”

  “No worries.” I shrugged and slid down his body.

  “Why are you letting me go?” he growled and wrapped both arms around me. “You said you were mine.”

  “I am but I don’t think I can live the rest of my life mashed to the front of your body.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Onah teased. “I must remember to thank the Queen.”

  “You guys have a Queen?” He nodded and I felt like everything I’d known about supernatural beings was going right out the window. There were fae, they had a Queen, and I was mated to one. Go figure.

  “Why do you need to thank her?” Ferris asked curiously.

  “She found me reading a bit ago and demanded I shower and dress in a pleasing manner. Then she had one of her grandson’s security drop me off here, saying I was ordered to come here. She was very clear that I had to be here at an exact moment and I was to wait until she told me otherwise. She has the gift of foresight and can see things sometimes. I didn’t make the connection until you said I was your mate.”

  “I’ve met the Queen a few times. Are you on her security detail? I would have smelled you sooner.”

  “I was at the first meeting at your warrior compound. That vampire touched my wings.”

  “Clove,” Ferris supplied for him. “Right, okay, there were too many people for me to have smelled you then probably and I didn’t get close. But I have since.”

  “After that meeting, I was sent on a mission because I have exceptionally strong tracking magic,” he explained as he still held on to me tightly. “The Queen explained to me about your demons and asked me to try and seek them out. I’ve been searching for them for months. I just got back last night. There’s a big meeting your Council is calling to discuss what I found.”

  “Did you find their headquarters?” Ferris asked, his eyes practically bugging out of his head.

  “No, but I discovered several nests of them and I learned part of their plans before executing one cell of them.” Ferris gave the gesture to go on. “They’re kidnapping whole packs of shifters for their blood.”

  “Oh that’s bad,” I whispered as I glanced between them. “Let me guess. They’re staying away from the wolves though, right?”

  “Yes, they have not threatened or taken any that I’m aware of,” Onah answered with a raised brow. “You speak as if you know why they would do that.”

  “Yeah, wolf blood will make them horny like it does vamps. But certain other shifters affect them differently. If a demon was to drink from me, they’d be able to go out in the sun until my blood wore off of them. Granted they’d have one hell of a sunburn but they wouldn’t go up in flames like normal.”

  “Holy shit! How could we not know that?” Ferris exclaimed and yanked out his phone. “I need to call Barnabas immediately. We have no record of that.”

  “It’s why some of our kind feel all high and mighty. We have different gifts and abilities. Like my blood wouldn’t affect vampires like wolf blood does.”

  He nodded and held up a finger to hold me off. “Your honor? This is Ferris Braden. I have some news you need to hear. I’m assuming the Queen has told you what the warrior Onah found out?”

  I didn’t even have to lean in to hear what the man was saying. My hearing was excellent. I could hear a whole conversation a block away as if I was standing right next to the people.

  “Yes, Ferris. We’re devising a strategy to go in now at the High Council Estate. We’re taking a quick break and I thought I’d check my messages. What do I need to know?”

  “My other mate is a margay shifter. He says if demons drink certain other types of blood that they can walk in the sun until the blood is out of their system.”

  “What?” The man on the phone bellowed. “I need you here right now, Ferris. We need to talk with this man. We have no knowledge of this.”

  “Will you go talk to the head of our High Council?” I sighed and gestured for the phone. Ferris shook his head and hissed at me. “This is like my boss’s boss’s boss, Rylan.”

  “I know, but we didn’t get around to talkin
g about who I am. This has to be handled correctly, Ferris. Please trust me.”

  “Don’t get mad if he calls you kitty or something because I’ll get fired,” he whispered hesitantly as he handed it over. I stepped out of Onah’s arms, not sure I could have this conversation as his hard dick was pressed against my back. I gave them both a wink and put it to my ear.

  “This is Prince Zeev of the ruling clan of the margays,” I said, flinching when both my mates went pale.

  “Ferris didn’t mention it was you, Prince Zeev. I’m head of the East Coast High Council, Barnabas Leopold. But you’re basically mating into the family so everyone calls me Bas.”

  “Thank you, Bas. I appreciate you dropping the formal bullshit,” I chuckled. “Ferris didn’t know. We just met, the wolves had some issues, we came back to where he’s staying to relax, and met Onah. Ferris asked him how come they hadn’t met, he filled us in, and I told them what I knew. That pretty much sums it all up and why I didn’t get to tell them who I was.”

  “Well, sorry to screw up your meeting and blow that door wide open for you,” he said with a sigh. “Is there any chance you’d come speak with our High Council? We had no knowledge of this.”

  “It’s a highly guarded secret,” I groaned as I realized my father was going to be pissed in an epic kind of way. “Look, I’m not disparaging you guys when I say this, but demons were once vampires. If it became common knowledge what our blood could do for demons, if they ever turn into one, who do you think they’d come after first?”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Bas cursed, getting the idea. “Look, I know our coven and to my knowledge it’s been centuries since any of them have turned demon so I’m confident that wouldn’t happen. However, the other point you didn’t mention is if people know, the information can be tortured out of them as well.”

  “Yeah, that would be safe to say as well,” I agreed, smacking myself in the forehead. “My father is going to whip me and take away my crown for this. It just came out when my mates were talking about going to slaughter the demons. How could I not tell them what I knew?”

  “You couldn’t,” he said gently. “Look, I’m head of the High Council. So right now only I know. I won’t tell anyone yet. Let me think on this for a bit on how to handle it. I can’t sit on the information that demons can go in the sun, but maybe we can change the answer as to how it happens to keep your kind safe. I’m sure you planned on getting to know your mates but is there a chance you could come to dinner tonight at my house?”

  “Um, yeah, if you warn people I didn’t bring any formal attire. I wasn’t planning on this being a diplomatic trip. I really just wanted to check out your coven as nobody, not my position.”

  “I’d like to hear more about that as well because I bet you have an interesting reason behind that, one that doesn’t involve spying,” Bas said carefully.

  “No, not in the way you mean it,” I chuckled. “I don’t know if you’ve ever met my father, but he’s a pompous ass, as are most margays. I heard of a coven that accepts all species and I wanted to see it for myself in the hopes that maybe one day our pack could be like that. I hate all the politics and elitist bullshit. People are just people.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. I have a feeling we’re going to become good friends, Prince Zeev.”

  “Please, it’s Rylan, but most just call me Ry.”

  “I’ll see you and your mates for dinner then, Ry.” We said our good-byes and hung up. Balls.

  “You’re a Prince?” Ferris exclaimed as I handed him back his phone.

  “Yes, and I’m sorry for not telling you sooner, but I didn’t think I should announce that in a group of strangers. And then you were kind of having a meltdown. I was going to ease you into that news.”

  “Are you next in line or something?” Onah asked.

  “Yeah, I take over next year.” And that’s when both my mates fainted.

  Balls.

  Chapter 3

  Onah I groaned as I came back around. Then I wanted to moan in embarrassment. I meet my mate and he drops a bomb on me, granted, a really, really big one, and I just faint? People were going to take away my “warrior” title after they heard about this one.

  But on the bright side, I wasn’t the only one.

  Rylan sighed and squatted down in front of us, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Guys, it’s not like I’m going to be the King of France. There are only like two thousand margays. Hell, that’s not even enough to be mayor of a small town in this country from what I hear.”

  “In this country? Implying you’re not from here,” Ferris hedged as he got to his feet. I stayed on the ground. I had a feeling another bomb was coming and since I had farther to fall, being over seven feet and all, getting back up just yet didn’t seem smart.

  “No, I live in Italy.”

  “Okay, let’s grab your bag or whatever and go inside. I haven’t had lunch and I need to sit down,” Ferris mumbled before walking over to the car.

  “I’m sorry,” Rylan whispered, looking as if we kicked him in the nuts.

  “You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said firmly as I stood. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

  He nodded and we went over to his vehicle. I still thought it was an ingenious invention and I really loved driving them. I took his suitcases from the trunk as Ferris grabbed his backpack and then let us inside. We silently followed him. Rylan shot me a worried glance and I realized he might know more about why Ferris was acting like this.

  I mean, I got being in shock but the way the man moved seemed forced after maybe receiving some type of rejection. But why? Neither of us were rejecting him. Maybe he looked more dejected actually as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

  Very strange.

  We walked into a massive kitchen, almost as big as the Queen’s had been at the palace. Just thinking about it had me sighing. This world was cool, but I had always lived on the other plane, grew up there… It had been my home.

  “Wow, okay, guys, you’re making me want to curl in a ball or run away back home,” Rylan said quietly a few minutes later as we made sandwiches. “Is being mated to me so bad?”

  “No!” we both exclaimed together.

  “I’ve been on a mission for months and I haven’t had a chance to even breathe since I got back until this morning,” I explained gently as I finished making my sandwich. “I’d gotten a chapter into a book and the Queen came rushing towards me demanding I leave again, so it’s kind of been a whirlwind day. Add to that, my people just left everything they knew to come onto your plane and it’s overwhelming.

  “I saw this kitchen and I realized that I missed my home. I’ve lived there for over a thousand years. I like your world, I’ve visited often, but nothing replaces home.”

  “And you know I’ve had about as equally a crazy day,” Ferris said gently before shooting me a glance. “We can get into that later. Let’s just relax, maybe go lie down before we have to go to dinner at Bas’s house, and just get used to each other’s company.”

  Rylan nodded, not really looking appeased. “I know you guys are both much older than me and have been searching for your mates for a while. But I just have to know something.” He waited until we both nodded for him to go on. “Are your hearts closed off because you looked too long to no avail? Is there room for you to let me in?”

  “No,” I said as Ferris answered, “Yes.”

  “That’s nice and confusing,” he grumbled before biting into his sandwich.

  “No, my heart isn’t closed off,” I clarified.

  “Yes, there’s room for both of you,” Ferris added as I nodded in agreement.

  “Okay, then I can take things slow and let this all digest with you guys.” He gave us a weak smile, as if not sure what else to say or do. I decided to go with showing a funnier side of myself.

  I handed him one of the carbonated beverages I loved. “I’ve never admitted this, but your soda that you have here makes me feel like a child aga
in. I brought back several cases with me once after a trip to your world and shared them with my friends. It was the silliest thing I’d done in so long. We chugged them down and had burping contests and we were so loud the Queen came to investigate.

  “She lectured us about behaving like proper warriors, but I saw her slip a can into her pocket before she left the room. We swore we’d never tell anyone and made a pact to keep the burping day a secret.”

  “And yet you told us?” Rylan asked, his eyes lighting up and chasing away the sadness.

  “You’re my mates. You won’t betray my secrets.” He smiled brightly as did Ferris. Good. On to better topics then. I bit into my sandwich and we all sat at the counter, glancing at each other and simply being together.

  “Have you tried beer yet?” Ferris asked in between bites. I shook my head and Rylan got a wicked grin on his lips. “It’s got the carbonation of soda that makes you burp, but it’s also alcohol.”

  “Like wine or barley wine?” They both gave me curious looks. “I know you have wine here. The Queen told me about the vineyard.”

  “Yes, but we don’t know what barley wine is,” Rylan hedged.

  “It’s very strong,” I chuckled. “It burns when it goes down sometimes and if you don’t eat beforehand can knock you on your ass after a few glasses.”

  “That sounds like whiskey.”

  I smiled at Ferris and nodded. “Yes, it’s like the whiskey I’ve had here but stronger.”

  “Oh man, don’t let me have any of that then,” Rylan giggled. “I’m a lightweight unless it’s vodka. Then I might be able to drink you guys under the table. But to answer your earlier question, Onah, yes, beer is like that. It’s nowhere near as potent as whiskey, more like a light wine but I’m not sure how strong your wine was where you came from.”

  “Not very strong, more like grape juice with a kick.”

  “Then beer might be slightly stronger than that to you but somewhere in that range.”

  “I’d like to try that very much,” I said with a smile. “Oh, and one of those roller-coaster parks I heard of. I was at a motel during my mission when Asterio called me, going on and on about this place that was filled with death- and gravity-defying inventions called roller coasters. They sound quite ingenious and fun.”