Falling Into Faerie After

by Mercedes Jade

  She’d actually buried that metal contraption in the backyard, digging the plot herself and giving it a headstone made out of cardboard stapled to a wooden stick. She’d taped her very nice neurologist’s picture to it and painted a big red X over it. We were never letting Dr. Jansen look out back.

  “Thanks, mom,” I said, tossing my empty bottle in the recycling bin and picking my bow back up to head out of the kitchen for my overdue bath.

  My apartment only had a shower. I had managed to get a huge, king-sized bed into the bedroom just like at my parent’s house, but the bathtub was not transportable nor easily copied. For one thing, my whole apartment could probably squeeze into my ensuite here, and the hot water needed to fill the deep soaker tub would drain the supply for the entire triplex. Taking a bath was one of the best luxuries of being home.

  I was going to miss this bathtub.

  I closed the bedroom door behind myself. My bow and quiver I set on the dresser and then I started peeling off my clothes as I walked towards the bathroom. Even with the superior water pressure and supply here, I still needed to give the tub time to fill. I walked onto the cool tiles of my ensuite pulling my hoodie over my head. My t-shirt quickly followed, stuck to my skin with sweat that felt gross when I wasn’t actually working out. I bent over the tub and pushed the button to close the drain plug, quickly turning on the taps to start the water going.

  This was a way better idea than a shower. Jackson could be sweet sometimes when he wanted and giving me time to bathe was awfully considerate. He probably was worried about me. I know the twins had noticed the distance between us since Faerie, which had been my fault but well-intended.

  I was really going to miss my family.

  Walking over to my counter, I got out a book of matches. I prefered the soft light of candles instead of bright lights overhead when I took a bath. My mother always bought soothing scented candles and stocked them in the bathroom for me. Each one I lit was a delightful discovery, scents teasing my nose as I tried to identify it without checking the label on the bottom. The ones nearer the tub were my honey-wax favourites, the simple scent reminding me of one time when my mother had tried to make candles. I had to lean way over the tub to light them on the other side where my stepfather had a shelf built to hold them for safety.

  Blowing out the last match, I leaned back to check on the water. Putting my hand in the stream, I adjusted the temperature, then I crumbled some bubble bar and threw in some citrusy bath salts I loved. I wiggled out of my loose jogging pants, bending right over to pull them off my feet and feeling naughty as cool air kissed my exposed skin.

  I had a penchant for sexy lingerie and this was one of my tartier sets with crotchless panties and a bra made out of little more than red lace and ribbons that could quickly transform into an open-cup version to match my panties. My nipples hardened at the thought. There was something about being half undressed, the important parts accessible but still enough lace to give the illusion of being wrapped up and feeling like I was offering a sneaky peek at the present underneath.

  Of course, the lingerie was just for me, never intended to show to a lover. I had been a virgin when I bought it and the one to experience my first time with me a few weeks ago had stripped me of my dirty, wet clothes underwater, so lingerie would have been a waste.

  The Fae put a lot of store into bargains and that was how I thought of losing my virginity now, a transaction in which I got to safely shed some of my inhibitions since I was on a contraceptive shot and it allowed me to provide protection to someone which I had unintendedly bound myself.

  There were deeper, messier reasons, but I had slammed the door on those thoughts a few weeks ago after I stomped out of Faerie with the twins in tow and shot the figurative middle finger to Dain.

  What would the King of Darkness think if he saw me now? New toned muscles hardened my upper arms like the calluses on my fingertips, earned perfecting archery that I had been born to master.

  I let my slim fingers slowly trail their roughened tips up one thigh, remembering the shadowed gaze that had looked over my freshly fucked body when Dain had seen me last and then pronounced his victory.

  His heartless words had broken the last of the blissful ignorance that the Fae had wanted me for myself, or at least my body when I had shut down their dreams of babies with modern contraceptives. I had no idea what Dain really wanted but I still suspected I barely escaped with my soul. All of my Marks had taken a slice of my heart until I was left with my snowflake.

  Trust wasn’t something I could afford any longer.

  My fingers skimmed over my exposed labia almost lazily. I wasn’t surprised to feel wetness as I thought of the look I preferred on Dain. It wasn’t the commanding, powerful stare when he first met me in a parking lot and he ordered me to behave, or the dark, possessive inspection as he watched me receive my Marks while he waited for his turn.

  I plunged my fingers into my pussy, arching and gasping, not as indifferent to those looks Dain had given me as I wanted. Still, it was the flash of vulnerability and need I had caught when he realized I was choosing to leave him.

  Moments later, I had sent him plunging backwards off the rock he had been standing and into the lake with arrow after arrow I loosed at him point blank. It had been a quick decision that didn’t leave time for regrets, only violence and escape and so much fear I thought my own heart was going to beat itself out of my chest. Even with his quick reflexes and my baby knowledge of archery back then, he couldn’t stop me from unloading my quiver into him.

  He hadn’t even tried to evade.

  I dropped my fingers from my pussy, clenching against the rapidly dissipating ache as my climax rolled back down from the peak I couldn’t quite reach on my own. I had been so mad at Dain’s betrayal that I had wanted to hurt him back then when I stopped him, but now I couldn’t banish the sick feeling of guilt that twisted my mind against myself at the worst times.

  I had reinforced the Claim bond that compelled Dain to protect the rest of my Marks by fucking Orin, then I left Dain in a confused storm of emotions. There was only one thing I was sure of now, no take-backsies existed for stabbing someone in the heart.

  Cupid’s arrows were also a bitch to dig out.

  Chapter 3:

  All little girls dream of their future, and as lame as it sounds, many of those fantasies feature a prince in love with them at one time or another. Dain had been the strong, silent type that snuck up on me despite the trite dreams I had forgotten. I should have been warned of the danger to my heart by that first perfect kiss. Even now, I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when he started meaning enough to me to make it hurt so bad when I broke it off.

  My heart must have been damaged before the Fae had played their games on me.

  I didn’t want to hurt Dain back any more.

  Maybe I would talk.

  Sharp words could be as painful without excessive violence. At least then, I would know Dain would survive instead of relying on Eloden’s mocking assessment that a dozen arrows to Dain’s chest would only slow him down.

  Or I could beg.

  Possibly it would be a pathetic and lurid affair when we met next if I didn’t get my newfound libido under control.

  Kill Dain or fuck him?

  Dropping my head forward, I breathed out Dain’s name in the privacy of my bathroom, although I hardly needed the help to invoke his image. I really had to climax, my body tense with arousal. I could ignore it but the tension would come back later, as I had learned, and I really didn’t want to feel so uncomfortably turned on when I planned a platonic night with my brothers. Awkward much?

  This raging lust was a torture I had suffered since escaping Faerie. The sex god would love for me to blame him, but I was sure it had more to do with the magic of the Claim and my Marks.

  Sure, I used to get horny before the Fae but my resolve to stay a virgin and keep my possibly defective DNA from producing any children had been unchallenged until they found me. There w
as the teensy important knowledge they imparted that I couldn’t pass on defective genes to consider, but this out of control libido was more than reasoning out my inhibitions to procreate.

  Any of my Marks touched my body and I had started thinking about sex. It started when I first met them on Freaky Friday and I wanted to stroke my hands through Dain’s hair. Fucking Orin definitely made things worse. When Loren kissed me earlier, he had lit a fire I would be left to put out on my own.

  I was going to close my eyes and think of the sexy tattoo on Dain’s shoulders while my fingers fixed this problem. It wasn’t anything to feel guilty over. It was normal to masturbate and everyone had their fantasy bad boy. Mine just happened to be more audacious because I had almost killed him.

  How much more wrong was it to talk dirty to Dain? Nobody could hear me whispering or moaning. The bath water was loud and I kept my voice soft as I told Dain every dirty, sexy thing I was going to do when-

  A male hand reached over and shut off the tap to my filled tub, its match clamping over my mouth to muffle my scream. It burned way too hot to be anything but a Dark Fae without enough glamour to block me from feeling his immense power. The moment of relief that it wasn’t my brothers catching me in a mortifying position was quickly eclipsed by the ‘oh shit’ realization that I was in too much danger to worry about something as mundane as embarrassment.

  A growl filled my ear as the Fae bent me even further over, plastering his hot, hard body over mine from behind. Thankfully, he was still dressed, although my scraps of lace and ribbon could hardly be termed decoration more than anything resembling functional clothing. All he had to do was lower his pants and stick his fully aroused dick currently pressed up against my ass into the convenient opening that I had unknowingly prepared.

  My first instinct was to bite the hand smothering my mouth, but I didn’t want to test the restraints of the Fae that had captured me further, figuring it had to be someone that knew me well enough to find me in my home. They had all explicitly warned me not to bite. Loren might let me get away with it, but the rest of them wouldn’t be endlessly patient. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to start listening. I licked instead in a hesitant taste and welcome, a hint of salt on my tongue as the Fae behind me growled even louder.

  Loren plopped himself down beside me, sitting on the tiled edge surrounding my tub. He eyed my predicament, lingering on the frivolous ribbons tied in a bow to keep my bra cups half-decently closed. A couple inches of creamy decolletage were already bared above and below the dressed nipples, sticking with the theme of impractical coverage.

  Another growl convinced me that I wasn’t being captured so much as protected from Loren’s perceived threat, further evidenced as my captor licked his fading Mark at the back of my neck and finally dropped his hand from my mouth in time to hear my soft whisper of his name.

  “Falin,” I said, trembling. The last time I saw him was as a huge dragon descending from the midnight sky and burning Fae soldiers like a blowtorch against straw kindling.

  Loren’s velvety browns shot up to Falin with interest. He had mentioned wanting to meet this Mark despite Kheelan’s warning prediction of jealous possessiveness. Loren had bragged he could handle both of us with ease.

  I would laugh at the widening of Loren’s eyes as Falin straightened to his full, threatening height behind me, if I hadn’t also been fighting my own fear of the dragon. I hadn’t always been afraid of Falin, adjusting to the hard face he presented, pierced and rebellious, before he had gone and shown me that there was a deadly edge to his facade he kept hidden. Falin had practically taken down the Light army on his own.

  “Who is this trespasser, baby?” Falin asked, wrapping a hand on my stomach and spreading his fingers open to claim as much of my exposed skin as he could palm while he waited for me to answer.

  Falin was also trespassing, technically, but I couldn’t build up the nerve to deliver the snarky comment I wanted. I trembled a little. Maybe he would mistake it for being nearly naked and cold. No greeting, I missed you, or even an apology for spying on me pleasuring myself, not that I really expected the latter from Falin. An offer to join me would have been more likely.

  “He’s a thief,” I explained, then I really damned Loren. “Kheelan’s friend,” I added.

  Brown eyes met mine and they weren’t as amused as earlier. “Kitten, I didn’t steal anything you didn’t offer first.”

  I almost choked on my indignation. I had been tricked, seduced when my worry over Kheelan’s injuries left me vulnerable, and they had bound me for their games. All my angry words came out at once as I sputtered a response. I wiggled, fighting Falin’s hold so I could get to my quiver and bow in the other room.

  “Is this the healer Eloden said you nibbled?” Falin queried, no strain in his voice as he handled me like a captured wild animal, giving my barely clothed ass a swat to settle down.

  It echoed in the bathroom like a gunshot and I froze, determined not to scream. Sonofabitch, he didn’t have to spank my ass so hard.

  I turned to shoot an anxious glance at the bathroom door.

  It was shut and I could see the lock turned, at least putting to rest my worry that my brothers would catch me with my uninvited guests and looking like I was hosting a bachelor party on my own. My eyes swung from the door to the Fae that was no stranger, although now I feared him more than Loren.

  Falin had his wings hidden but he had stripped some of his glamour, darker and heavier feeling magic surrounding him. It boosted his familiar goth-punk look, tall and lanky, with black hair shaved on the sides and long bangs in need of a trim, all edged into dangerous with a plethora of facial piercings that were probably even more of a frightening warning for most of the iron sensitive Fae. I’m pretty sure that would include Loren since he was a Light Halfling. Falin’s lizard green eyes were almost fluorescent in my dim bathroom, flickering lights from the candles dancing with the power burning in his gaze.

  This was the dragon staring back at me. I lowered my head as I submitted without issuing a challenge.

  “Baby?” Falin said, sounding puzzled. His familiar voice wasn’t the comfort it used to be to me.

  Dragon, a fire-breathing monster that could snatch me with his clawed feet and fly me away in the night to never be seen again. Primal fear kept my head bowed.

  Falin snagged my chin, trying to pull my gaze back up.

  “Loren,” I whimpered in answer to Falin’s earlier question. It almost sounded like a plea but the other Fae would have no reason to save me from one of my Marks, especially after the way I had kicked him in the woods. “His name is Loren and I didn’t bite him, really,” I corrected. At least not the first time. “It was more we bashed mouths and my fangs caught his lip,” I explained, the fine tremble of my body translating to a tremor in my voice.

  I hated the weakness, stepping back as Falin growled at me when I twisted my chin out of his fingers. The back of my thighs hit the cold of the tiled tub surround.

  Hands as freezing as the tiles grabbed me by the hips and lifted me up over the ledge, depositing me into the steaming tub. Falin’s growl rumbled the whole time but he didn’t interfere with the strong arms carrying me like I weighed nothing, although he did turn up the volume when Loren’s quick fingers plucked the ties holding my flimsy bra cups closed. I submerged myself in the bubbles.

  It was weird bathing in my lingerie, but I supposed if it was meant to be worn fucking, then bathing with it on wasn’t that much of a stretch. Heck, I had jogged in it despite the poor support for my bouncing tits. I sank further into the tub thinking about my exposed breasts as I eyed the two males that had Marked me. The bubbles were hardly reliable protection from their lustful gazes.

  “You look like you need some help bathing, kitten.”

  I know what Loren really meant with all the emphasis he put on bathing. My ears were pinking, steamy heat working with the embarrassment at being caught playing with my fingers while fantasizing Dain had fucked me in the Faerie
lagoon after Orin.

  “Get out,” I said, trying to put some mettle in it.

  There was at least half a foot and leather pants that would shrink if submerged between me and Falin. As for Loren, there was Falin between me and the less well acquainted Fae, which was plenty of discouragement for most other males.

  Loren smirked at me, making me question his sense of danger. “Do you want me to scrub your back?” he offered.

  I doubted Loren planned to keep his hands to my back for long.

  “She told you to leave,” Falin said, reliably warning Loren off.

  Falin once had stolen me right out from underneath Aeric’s mouth and Kheelan’s hands when they had been playing with me too long after laying Kheelan’s mark. I doubted he was going to stand there and watch while Loren tried anything.

  “I believe the lady was referring to you,” Loren remarked, never taking his warm gaze off of me. “She can’t even meet your eyes,” he pointed out, no need to add that I was looking into his ordinary brown eyes just fine.

  Normally, this is where I would rip them both a new one and send them fleeing with verbal abuse I had built up over years of keeping anyone from getting too close. Instead, I decided to inform them that my brothers were coming and politely ask for them to leave again. I really hadn’t planned to use my potty mouth, still leery of Falin like Loren had noticed.

  “You both enjoyed the last free show you’ll ever get from me, so turn around and exit the way you came in without freaking out my family,” I said.

  Not surprisingly, they didn’t shift a muscle.

  I did my best to imitate Falin’s growl.

  Loren chuckled. “Now that’s a proper purr, kitten.”

  “Fuck off before my brothers start pounding on the door and demanding I leave enough hot water for them to shower,” I said, feeling more like myself.

  I smirked at Loren.

  Falin grabbed the bottom of his shirt and ripped it over his head, revealing a sleekly toned six-pack with beautiful inked lines and scripted Fae tattooed on his chest, rippling under the flex of his bulging pecs built to power his wingspan in his dragon form.