by Anh Leod
“The pregnancy keeps you strong,” Nana said.
“I guessed that. But we shamed Magnus and then our mating made him weak. I couldn’t let his rivals destroy him.”
“It would mean your life in the end too,” Barkley said. “You behaved from selfish motives.”
“It wasn’t fair!” Bijou shouted. “I wanted my archives, my research, more than my own mate and King let me have my selfish way. Pompey and I were mates but I wouldn’t stay with him. I let him suffer, but I couldn’t let him die.”
“Do you want to be free of him now?” Barkley asked.
Magnus tensed as Bijou answered, “No, not even if it were possible. I’ve learned to love him and I cast the spell out of love. I didn’t know it would work. I only hope he can forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” Magnus said softly. She squeezed his hand.
“The Brotherhood and Legion are enemies,” King said. “But in balance all these years. Now you have destroyed the equality of our gifts.”
“Exactly,” Bijou said proudly. “And if you war with the Legion, they’ll win now, because they have me.”
Magnus squeezed her hand back, wondering what effect her words would have on her brothers, who stood still as stone next to the human woman.
“You need to return the book,” Nana said.
“It doesn’t matter.” Bijou tapped her head. “It’s all in here now. I’m a trained historian. I will remember. You’ll have to kill me if you want equality again.”
“The hell they will,” Asta said, stepping forward. “We stand with her.”
Magnus looked at the steely gaze of his brother-in-law. He saw one who had chosen family over clan. Then Duke stepped to his brother’s side, followed by the human woman.
“Aren’t you equal now?” the human asked. “From what I’ve heard, a bunch of Brotherhood youths messed with this guy’s ass and now he’s got one of your secrets. Doesn’t that mean all is fair now?”
“Vi,” King reproved. “Our rivalry goes back millennia.”
“Yeah, but I’m talking about now. I know I’m just Cere’s mate, but it all seems pretty simple to me. Bijou is the Brotherhood’s historian. She’s important. And now she’s married into another clan. You should be allies now.”
“Against who?” King asked.
Vi shrugged. “Aren’t there some werepanthers or someone else you can hate?”
Magnus saw amusement momentarily override the anger in King’s eyes.
“I’m sorry I stole,” Bijou said. “How about you shame me? Magnus and I can have matching tattoos on both butt cheeks. You can formally drive me from the clan.”
“Yeah,” Vi said. “That sounds fair. Not that it changes anything between us, of course.”
Bijou smiled at her.
“I have an election to win,” Magnus said through his teeth. “They aren’t touching you. I kept the bargain I made with King. He can’t make any shaming public. Shape-shifters vote too, you know.”
“She’s going to you in less than six months,” King said smoothly. “So yes, the bargain is broken.”
“I take it back,” Bijou said. “The election is important. There’s a common cause. The Brotherhood doesn’t have anyone in politics and we need someone with a finger on the human pulse, as it were.”
“The mayor of Cherry Blossom has never done us any favors,” King said. “Not that we’ve needed help from the human government or ever will.”
“It couldn’t hurt. We’ll have the wildlife preserve deal completed soon. It will be a great source of food and safe recreation,” Magnus told him.
“Are you saying the Brotherhood will be welcome there?” King raised an eyebrow.
“If we’re allies, yes.”
King glanced at Barkley, who shrugged.
“You can’t allow this,” Nana protested. “My family has protected our magical knowledge for seven hundred years. It has never left us before.”
Magnus hid a smile. Little did she know, but he was sure he had secret copies of all her files in his own archives. His father had many faults, fortunately.
“Nana,” Bijou said gently. “Remember my tarot reading? The Wheel of Fortune? The Temperance card? We have to accept change and compromise. I have the knowledge now but I will protect it.”
“The Legion will protect it?” Nana spat.
Magnus could see his mate was taken aback by the vehemence of the old woman. “As alpha I vow it,” he said. “Bijou has been faithful to you, has she not, except when her child was threatened?”
“You were threatened, not her child.”
“If a child’s parents die, the child is threatened,” King said. “This, I can accept. However, Bijou, all your privileges as historian of the Brotherhood are revoked. As of now, you are Legion. There will be no more deals and this house will be stripped of your research and archival materials.”
Bijou swallowed hard. Magnus put an arm around her. “My life’s work,” she whispered.
“It is no longer your life,” King said harshly. He gestured to one of his advisors. “Take Nana and search the house. Remove any part of the Brotherhood’s archives.”
Magnus glanced at Duke. He could see the boy was wondering where he stood after standing with his sister and her mate. “Are we allies or rivals?” he asked King.
“Does it matter?” the shape-shifter snapped.
“Bijou has family.” He tilted his head in her brothers’ direction. “Will they be punished for maintaining a relationship with my mate?”
King looked to Barkley. The advisor stared at both of them for a long moment. “I don’t see any deceit in them,” he finally said.
“They will not be shunned for loving their sister,” King replied.
With Nana out of the room, it seemed like the tension had dropped to a great degree. Magnus could see the relief in Duke as his shoulders relaxed.
There would never be a better moment to formalize this relationship. He couldn’t see a reason to have a rival at the leadership level with the Brotherhood anyway. It was time to modernize relations. He rested the shotgun against a wall. “In front of these witnesses, I, alpha of the Legion, affirm an alliance with the Brotherhood of the óêõëß.” Magnus clenched his fist and placed it over his heart.
King, though stern-faced, made the same gesture. “In front of these witnesses, I, alpha of the Brotherhood of the óêõëß, affirm an alliance with the Legion.”
It was done. Magnus nodded, unsmiling. “Let it be forever so.”
“This house is owned by the Brotherhood,” Barkley said. “Take your personal things now, Bijou. It is no longer your home.”
Leave it to an ancient to inject a sour note into the proceedings. “You’ll like my house better anyway,” he told Bijou. “Hot and cold running archives at your fingertips.”
She tried to smile, but only the edges of her lips twitched. “Will my brothers be welcome at your house?” she asked.
“As long as they don’t raise their claws to me,” Magnus said, glaring theatrically at Duke, who grinned.
Bijou sniffed. “My luggage is in the guestroom.”
“I’ll get it,” Asta said. Duke followed him out of the room.
“And I’ll help you pack,” Vi said.
“Do we need to get a truck?” Magnus asked, taking his arm from Bijou’s shoulders and turning her.
She pushed her hair away from her face, frowning. “No. I really don’t have that much. You’d better go. I know you’ve got meetings, you always do. I’ll see you at your house tonight.”
“I’d prefer you call it our house,” he said.
“I will. I just have to get used to it.”
“It will be okay, Bijou. Let’s get you packed,” Vi said, taking her sister-in-law’s arm.
After a quick chat with her brothers and a moment with his guards, instructing two to stay with Bijou and the others to follow him, Magnus went out back to Brutus’ car. He did have a great deal to do with the rest
of the day, including finding out what the Septimus did with his own car. The Legion would have to retrench. At least it should be clear now who was loyal. He’d have to call a clan meeting and share the events with them as well as figure out how to recover from the political meetings he’d missed.
A long day still stretched ahead and then he’d come home to a grieving mate. He hoped the hours would pass quickly. Bijou had said she loved him and he wanted to know if she meant it.
Chapter Ten
That evening, after she’d said a rapid, unexpected goodbye to her single life and home of two years, Bijou set the last box containing her clothes into the bedroom closet of the Legion alpha house. She’d had to do this part herself, since her brothers and sister-in-law were blocked from the bedroom by the magical mate door. There was no way for her to keep it open so they could help her with her boxes. The mystery of the door would keep her entertained for a while. She wondered if the Legion archives contained more material in the ancient tongue, maybe even histories to explain where it came from. Pompey had hinted that it might.
For now, she wanted to focus on putting her relationship on a solid footing. As she put clothes back on hangers, hangers into free spots in the closet, her mind wandered over the last three months.
One thing was certain, she knew. Magnus Pompey was true to his word. Her lifetime of trust in Barkley and Nana had been shaken but her confidence in her mate had only grown. The action she had taken, removing the book from the archive, would have been allowed, even encouraged, in her traditional role as the Brotherhood’s historian. Nothing had ever been hidden from her before, or so she had thought. Everything had gotten weird when she was in between clans. Even though she’d lost months of research time it was a relief to be back on solid ground.
She was Bijou, Magnus Pompey’s mate. Soon she would be his legal wife, the mother of his daughter. Even if the Legion had a historian of its own she could still continue her research.
How though, would she set their new relationship on a good path? She ripped the tape off the bottom of a box and flattened it, then walked out of the closet to put the empty box in the hall with the others. As she passed the bed she had an idea. Hopefully Pompey would delay his return long enough for her to get in a nap first so she’d have the energy to execute her plan.
* * * * *
A long day, Magnus thought, but it had been a satisfying one in so many ways. When he stepped into his gently lit kitchen the house was quiet, but he could sense warmth at its core. Bijou was home. Light filled his heart as he set down a bouquet of roses. She was alone. He hadn’t been sure she would be. She would have been perfectly in her rights to have her entire family here rearranging his furniture and making the home her own, even this late at night.
Obviously, she’d chosen a more restful evening and for that he was grateful. He wanted her all to himself, so he could start to show her the love he felt for their new family. Did she even know how much he had learned to care for her, how honored he was by her sacrifices for him? He kicked off his shoes next to the kitchen table and loosened the knot on his tie. Normally he’d go to his computer at this time of the night and do a couple of hours of email, but tonight surely his staff would understand he needed a break. He put the flowers into a pitcher he filled with water, shut off the light Bijou had left on for him above the stove and walked surefooted through his dark house.
His bedroom walls glowed with flowing patterns. When he stepped through the door he saw candles on all the tables of the room, scenting the room gently with amber and grapefruit. His exhaustion immediately lifted with a lungful of the energizing, sensual scent. He set the pitcher of roses on the bureau.
Bijou was draped across the bed, a filmy white nightgown covering her lean, beautiful body. In front of her was a deck of oversized cards.
“For me?” she said, glancing up.
“Of course. You liked them last time.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
“What are you up to?”
“The night I met you started with a tarot reading. I’m not a master of the cards, but I’ve learned a little since that night and I want to know about you now.”
“Okay,” Magnus said, amused enough to ignore his throbbing cock for now. He supposed there could be some truth in such divinations, considering all the wonders they knew to be real. “What do I do?”
“Put your hand on the deck. I’m going to do a simple spread just about you. Think about yourself, but don’t ask any specific questions.”
It was hard to think about himself without thinking about her, the way her breasts were pressed against the gown, the way he could see a shadow of her pubic hair under the gown.
“Magnus,” she said with a warning glint in her eye.
“Right.” He sat on the bed and put a hand on the cards, closing his eyes. Jupiter, now he could smell her body. Her pussy was wet, not fully opened yet, but becoming aroused, her beautiful lips engorging. Still, he could smell her determination and knew he wouldn’t gain access to her sweet body without going through this ritual first. He closed his eyes, tried to think about himself, who he was, his hopes and dreams, now so intertwined with thoughts about her and their child.
“Cut the deck.”
After a moment, he took his hand off the cards, pulling the first few with them. Bijou restacked the cards and taking the first three, put them face up in front of her.
She frowned.
“What?”
“I’m not very good at this yet.” She rubbed her nose. “Okay. The one on my left is who you are.” She tapped the card. “The King of Swords. That makes sense. I figured you were Wands or Swords.”
“Why?”
“The day we met, my problems showed up as Swords. And this card means a reliable man with authority.”
He smiled. “Glad to hear you think so.”
She rolled her eyes. “The next card is what you need.” She tapped the card in the middle. “Temperance. That popped up for me too.”
“What did it mean for you?”
“It was an alternative solution. That’s nice. What you need can also be what I need. A life of balance.”
“We’ll have a healthier family if we can balance our needs, to be sure.” He trailed his finger playfully up her leg but at her glare he removed it.
She nodded, her attention moving to the last card. “This one indicates how you’ll get your life of balance.”
Magnus saw a naked man and woman on the card, with a god or angel figure above. Looked good to him!
“The Lovers,” his mate said, satisfied. “Love conquers all.” She scooped up the cards and put them to the side of the bed, blowing out the candle there as she did so.
In the dim light on that side of the bed, he saw her hold out her arms. “Come here, mate.”
He pulled off his tie and dropped it on the floor, then moved toward her on all fours, like a wolf on the prowl for his mate. She pulled him to her, turning him so that the back of his head rested on her shoulder as she unbuttoned his shirt. He raised his arms so she could undo the cufflinks and pull the sleeves from his arms.
As the fabric came away from his right arm he felt a click. Something soft and furry yet hard settled around his wrist. He jerked it away and his arm clanked when it hit the limit of the silver chain attached to the wrist cuff she’d caught him in.
She wriggled around him, grinning, making sure most of his body received her gliding touch. “You didn’t think I’d miss an opportunity to get my own back, did you?”
“You are full of fire, parum lupus,” he said, moving forward for a kiss.
She darted away, pulling the sleeve from his other arm. He let her encase his right wrist with the matching cuff.
“At least take off my pants if you are going to assume control,” he told her.
She ignored him and crawled off the bed, standing on the side where candles still glowed. “I realized today that I trust you. I want you to know you can trust me too.”
>
“So you aren’t going to leave me here?” he asked, not that he was very concerned. She wanted him.
“No.” She put her hand to the strap holding her gown to her shoulders. “I’m going to love you.”
He forgot to breathe as she let her nightgown fall down her beautiful, creamy, enlarged breasts, her skin so pale he could see the delicate tracery of blue veins. Her nipples were large, jutting and rosy. His cock pushed painfully against his zipper as he imagined putting his tongue to them. She pushed her nightgown down broad hips, the curve of her belly slightly more rounded that it had been when they met. His long, lean Bijou was curvier now, more womanly.
She moved to the base of the bed, leaning over him, her hair brushing his abdomen as she undid the clasp holding his slacks together.
“Be careful with the zipper,” he said.
She smiled and took the pull in her mouth, dragging it down slowly, tooth by clicking tooth. When he sprang free, she pushed his pants down his legs, dropping them to the floor, then took him between her hot, moist lips, her tongue cradling his length.
He muttered thank yous to the gods as she sucked him. Her long fingers took command of his balls and the base of his cock as she tortured him with long licks. He begged her to stop so he could pleasure her too, but instead she took him deep in her throat. He thrust against her, lost in the pleasure of her hot wet mouth. His hands jerked against the chains. He wanted so badly to pull her head to him but he was bound.
Somehow, that made it even better, his whole body captured in passion. He bowed away from the bed, every cell in him screaming for release. She sucked harder, faster, matching the rhythm he needed perfectly. Just when he was ready, so ready, she reached one finger underneath him and circled his small rear hole. When she dipped in he came with a shout, jerking hard against his bounds, shooting his seed against the back of her throat. She swallowed greedily, eager to take everything he had to offer.
He raised his head, wanting to watch as she licked him completely clean, a wide smile on her mouth.
“You’ll be here every night from now on?” he whispered.