Broken Fae

by Caroline Peckham

  "Come on, we're going to have a Christmas do over with you and Leon when you get back, but today you need to go see your mate. Moms packed your bag already so you just need to get your ass dressed and we can go."

  "Fine," I said, caving as I wriggled out of his hold and shot away from him to the closet at the back of the room. I stayed inside as I quickly changed into a Christmas dress that Latisha had given me the other day which was pale blue and covered in snowflakes. It wasn't my usual style, but it was cute and festive so who gave a fuck if it was cheesy?

  I shot into the en-suite next to pee, brush my teeth and fix my hair and makeup before meeting Roary by the door in record time.

  "Show off," he teased, leading the way out of the room.

  We walked down the long corridors with the sound of Christmas carols coming from the kitchen and popped our heads in the door quickly so that I could wish his moms a merry Christmas.

  Reginald wasn't awake yet but they promised to pass on my Christmas wishes to him before chasing me out of the house so that their precious Leon wasn't kept waiting. I rolled my eyes at the way they fawned over their boys but gave in and let Roary lead me down onto the drive with an overnight bag slung over his shoulder and an amused smirk on his lips.

  "Why do you have that look on your face?" I asked him but he just shrugged like he had no idea what I was talking about.

  We walked down the gravel drive together with the cold air making my breath rise in little clouds of fog as I looked around at the trees which surrounded the Nights' property and realised that this place actually felt like home to me now. Maybe not in that way that someone who fully owned their space could claim, but I’d never experienced that anyway. I just felt safe here and wanted, like I truly belonged and that made the ache in my heart hurt a little less as I considered it.

  "If we arrive there and it’s a total blood bath then I'm going to thoroughly enjoy reminding Leon about this for every Christmas to come until the end of time," Roary joked as we reached the gates at the end of the drive and the guard on duty there let us out.

  "You wanna give me more information than that about what I'm going to be walking into?" I asked, arching a brow at him.

  "Nah. The look on your face will be priceless."

  I didn’t get another word out before Roary pulled a pouch of stardust from his pocket and tossed it over the two of us.

  The stars spun and shifted, whirling all around us as they transported us through the sky and my stomach swirled before I was deposited somewhere much colder, my boots sinking into a solid foot of snow as I caught Roary's arm to steady myself.

  "Where are we?" I breathed as the cold assaulted me and I stared up at the large wooden cabin before me. Smoke rose from its chimney and made me ache for the warm embrace of the heat inside as I shivered.

  We were standing high on a cliffside and all around us was nothing but snow and forest for miles aside from this one little point of shelter in the middle of fucking nowhere. I threw an air shield up around us to block out the howling wind and Roary smirked at me as he stepped forward to knock on the door.

  It was wrenched open a moment later and Dante stood there shirtless in a pair of what I could have sworn were Leon's jeans.

  "Did we pass?" he asked Roary. "Have you come to take us the fuck away from here?"

  Roary laughed just as Leon raced up behind Dante wearing a green check shirt that made me think of a lumberjack and leapt onto his back. Leon shouted excitedly as he pointed at me where I was standing behind his brother, waiting to figure out what the hell was happening. "Stop ogling my brother and you might realise your prize just showed up."

  Dante's gaze slipped to me and his eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t think we’d passed the damn tests,” he muttered.

  "Hey," I said, moving forward to stand at Roary's side as Leon dropped from Dante's back and dragged him away from the door so that we could enter.

  Gabriel had just moved to stand from the couch with a deep frown on his face, wearing jeans that matched Dante’s and a green check shirt like Leon’s. A door to one side of the room banged open as Ryder appeared too, wearing nothing but a pink towel wrapped around his waist as water ran over his scarred chest.

  "What the hell is going on here?" I asked with a frown.

  "Your crazy mate kidnapped us," Ryder growled. "And forced us to do all kinds of fucked up shit."

  "He's lost his fucking mind, Elise," Gabriel added, shooting a glare at Leon in accusation.

  "Calm down, boys, it's not like I was torturing you," Leon said, rolling his eyes. "This was important shit we've been dealing with and now that you've all passed my tests, you can have your prize."

  "What did he make you do?" I asked in confusion as my gaze skimmed over the Christmas tree standing in the corner by the roaring fire and the plate of Christmas cupcakes which were sitting out to cool on a wire rack on the kitchen counter.

  "It doesn't matter," Ryder snapped, pointing at Roary who was leaning back against the front door with his arms folded, watching the show like he couldn't get enough of it. "Are you here to take us home?"

  "That depends," Leon interjected, moving to stand between Ryder and Roary with his arms spread to keep them apart. "Elise is here now and it’s Christmas and my gift to her is you three assholes...actually, give me a sec..."

  I raised an eyebrow as I looked between the guys in the room, trying to gauge the mood as I worked to figure out what the fuck had been happening here for the last few days. Had Ryder been here ever since Leon had snatched him when we got back from visiting my mom? And what about the others? Not to mention the most important question of all - why?

  Leon pulled open one of the kitchen drawers before rushing towards Gabriel and placing a shiny red Christmas bow on his head. Gabriel scowled as he instantly snatched it off again, but Leon had already moved to slap the next bow on top of Ryder's wet hair. He leapt aside before Ryder could take a swipe at him and then deftly stuck the last bow to the front of Dante's jeans, right on top of his junk. Dante muttered something in Faetalian but he seemed kind of amused and left the bow in place unlike the other two.

  "Happy Christmas, little monster," Leon purred as he moved towards me, grabbing my chin in his grip and tilting it up so that he could kiss me.

  I fisted a hand in his hair just as his lips brushed mine and yanked his head aside as my fangs snapped out and I drove them into his throat instead.

  Leon growled as the heat of his blood swept over my tongue but the aggression in the sound was lost as he tugged my body flush with his.

  For a moment I let myself drown in the heady taste of his blood on my tongue, closing my eyes as I drank deeply before pulling back suddenly and sweeping Leon's feet out from under him so that he crashed down onto the rug before the fire on his ass.

  Roary laughed loudly and the others seemed pretty happy about seeing him on the floor too.

  "That's for leaving me alone for three days at Christmas, asshole," I ground out and Leon pouted.

  "I'm sorry, little monster, I didn't want to do it, especially as it's your first one without Gareth, but I knew the best thing I could give you for Christmas was this," he said, giving me the big eyes that always made me wanna cave and forgive him for his shit. Dammit.

  "I still don't understand what this is?" I muttered, looking around the cosy cabin at my kings again.

  "It's the whole pride together for Christmas," Leon said with a grin as he got to his feet. "Or at least, I hope it is. Because this is the final test."

  "I'm sick of your damn tests," Gabriel grumbled, rubbing at the fresh stubble which coated his jaw. He was usually clean shaven and I had to say I quite liked this rougher look on him even if it was paired with that garish shirt.

  "Well, you can escape them now if you want to," Leon said, getting to his feet and raising his chin as he looked between the three of them. "Roary is going to head back to Alestria now and he won't be back again until tomorrow. You can either leave and go enjoy
Christmas with your family. Or alone as the case may be for you two sad sacks," he said, waggling a finger between Gabriel and Ryder. “Or, you can stay here and spend Christmas with Elise, give her your gifts and figure out if we can make this pride work as a more cohesive unit, at least in private."

  Ryder sneered at Dante in response to that suggestion and Dante glowered right back but none of them made a move, their attention slowly shifting to me.

  My gaze fell on Gabriel as he continued to scratch at his stubble, seeming conflicted over the decision and Leon elbowed me like he wanted me to say something.

  "I bet Elise would like you all to stay, wouldn't you, little monster?" he pushed when I remained silent.

  I shifted a little uncomfortably beneath all of their stares and nodded slowly. "I mean...if I had the choice I'd want to spend Christmas with all of you, so yeah. I'd like you to stay."

  "Ryder and Gabriel have literally no plans anyway," Leon stage whispered to me. "They were gonna just spend Christmas all alone like poor little lost boys."

  "Fuck you," Gabriel snarled. "I had to make the choice to isolate myself from people to protect them. It's not like I wanted to be alone all the damn time."

  My heart twisted at his words and in the blink of an eye, I was in front of him, reaching up to cup his cheek in my hand as I tiptoed up to look him dead in the eye. "Stay," I breathed, my heart pounding with how much I wanted that and with how much I knew I couldn't bear the idea of him being all alone anymore. "Your place is here."

  "With us," Leon added firmly and there was something so right about those words that it felt like my soul was glowing with the truth of them.

  "Alright," Gabriel agreed and I swear I could actually feel the tension slipping from his body as he leaned down to touch his forehead to mine and exhaled deeply. It felt like he was agreeing to so much more than us spending Christmas together and my heart squeezed at the possibility of that.

  "Inferno has a nice big family waiting for him back home," Ryder said as he leaned against the bathroom doorframe, his arms still firmly crossed like he was using them as a barrier against the world. "So why don't the rest of us stay and he can fuck off back to the festivities with them?"

  I frowned as I broke away from Gabriel and Dante scoffed dismissively. "It's not my fault if I have a family who love and adore me and you don't have a single person who gives an actual shit about you, serpente."

  Ryder looked ready to spit venom and I shot between them, giving Dante a scowl to warn him to back down before I spoke. "The two of you were once so desperate to keep me away from each other that you made a deal to force us apart. Then you realised how fucking stupid that was and agreed to break it so that we could be together instead. And that's what I want. It's all I want. All of us, together."

  "I hope you mean that in the naked sense, little monster," Leon purred and I rolled my eyes. The idea of that was more than a little terrifying...although...

  "Can I get the fuck out of here before the cum starts flying?" Roary asked. "Happy Christmas and all that shit, but I didn't expect to spend my morning watching the four of you stuff Elise's stocking and I could really do without that visual, thanks."

  I couldn't help but laugh and Leon smirked like the cat who'd gotten the cream as he followed Roary back outside into the snow. None of the others followed, so I guessed that meant we were all staying.

  Ryder's gaze slid down me and I found my gaze catching on the way that pink towel was tied around his waist. He cocked his head at me as he realised where my attention had fallen and I swallowed thickly as he backed into the bathroom again. The angles we were all standing at meant I was the only one who could see him once he was inside, and the smirk he gave me said it was intentional.

  He dropped the towel with a flick of his fingers over the knot and I bit my lip as his dick was revealed to me in all its hard, pierced glory. The look he gave me was a clear invitation, but I was pretty certain that following him into that bathroom was a sure fire way to piss off Dante at the least and I doubted Gabriel would be impressed either.

  I bit my lip and he must have seen the refusal in my posture because he rolled his eyes and tossed the door shut. But not before I saw him gripping his cock in his fist and sliding his tattooed fingers up his shaft, the word lust taunting me and leaving me with that mental picture as I turned back to the others.

  "Happy Christmas, bella," Dante purred, moving forward with a smile on his face, the tension running from his body now that Ryder was out of the room.

  He leaned down to kiss me and I tasted the depth of his passion on his lips, but the familiar brush of electricity was missing.

  "What’s happened to your storm, Drago?" I asked him with a frown.

  "Your mate gave us all a shot of Order Suppressant when we arrived," Gabriel growled. "To make sure we couldn't escape. We haven't been able to access our Order gifts since we got here. Except Ryder obviously. Not that a giant snake is much good to us."

  A laugh spilled from my lips before I could stop myself and I wished I could have been a fly on the wall here for the last few days to see exactly how the four of them had managed to get along up until now.

  The door opened again as Leon returned, carrying my bag and looking way too damn pleased with himself as he clapped his hands once and rubbed them together like a cartoon villain.

  "So, I got you three assholes with big dicks for Christmas, you wanna find out what the others got?" he asked with a teasing grin.

  "Is it another asshole with a big dick?" I teased.

  "Yeah. Are you hungry though? Maybe we should all eat before you open them, wouldn’t want you to lose an eye because you have low blood sugar and your reactions are slow. Gabe makes a mean pancake when he wants to." Leon flopped down on the cream couch and gave Gabriel a pleading look.

  "I didn't know you could cook," I said, looking around at Gabriel with a smile.

  "Yeah, I've been cooking for myself for years." Gabriel moved over to the kitchen area and I followed him, watching as he prepared the batter and Dante started getting various toppings out of the fridge. The thing was packed full of food, so I had to assume Leon had been well prepared for this little kidnapping exercise.

  Gabriel quickly made a stack of pancakes while Dante laid five plates out along the breakfast bar and placed the toppings in front of them for everyone. I took on the task of making coffee, the three of us brushing past each other as we inhabited the small space.

  Ryder reappeared before long, stalking over to join us wearing the same damn outfit as Leon and Gabriel which made me snort a laugh before I could stop myself. He pointedly didn’t look Dante's way as he took a seat at the end of the row and I placed an unfinished cup of coffee down in front of him.

  "I'm just realising that I don't even know how the three of you take your coffee," I admitted as I glanced between Gabriel, Ryder and Dante. We’d really never had time to do the whole dating thing. Whenever we hung out it was always some dramatic, heated experience and it had never transitioned into anything this domestic. The thought of that made me kinda sad.

  "Black, no sugar," Ryder supplied and I laughed.

  "I should have guessed that," I said as I leaned forward and poured a dollop of cream into his coffee followed by a heaped spoonful of sugar.

  He gave me a flat look before lifting it to his mouth and drinking. The touch of a smirk at the corner of his lips told me all I needed to know about whether or not he liked my additions and I tried not to look like a smug bitch as I made coffee for the others too. Dante liked it sweet and Gabriel just wanted his burning hot. I already knew that Leon liked his made with half cream and as he came and took a seat beside Ryder, I passed it over to him.

  Gabriel gave Leon a plate of pancakes first and Dante tossed a heap of blueberries and strawberries on top for him before Ryder absentmindedly leaned over and drizzled golden syrup across the lot.

  Leon looked as smug as a dog in a diaper as he tucked into his food and I narrowed my eyes at h
im suspiciously as Gabriel began plating up for everyone else. He handed me mine next then dished up three more plates for the other guys to grab themselves.

  Ryder started eating his without any toppings and with enough aggression to suggest they'd insulted his mother and I rolled my eyes at him before throwing strawberries, blueberries, cherries, chopped banana, milk and white chocolate chips on top of them then slathering the whole thing in syrup.

  He gave me that I'm unimpressed look which he tried way too hard to perfect and I shot it right back at him before spearing a forkful of his newly upgraded breakfast and pushing it into his mouth.

  "So, what have you guys been doing up here for three days?" I asked casually as I perched on the breakfast bar and alternated between eating my food and feeding Ryder.

  He tugged on my leg and unlaced my boots one at a time before tossing them aside while he continued to eat what I’d made him without protest.

  "All kinds of team bonding exercises," Leon said through a mouthful of food. "These assholes needed a crash course in how to be friends and how to share their toys."

  Ryder pulled my feet into his lap and encircled my ankles with his big hands as he continued to let me feed him, rubbing his thumbs against my flesh in slow patterns that made my skin tingle.

  "He forced us to make cards for you," Dante grumbled, but he didn't really seem all that annoyed.

  "And gifts," Gabriel added, glancing my way.

  "Ooo there's gifts?" I asked excitedly, although as I said it, I realised there was an issue with that. "I didn't bring my gifts for you guys though as I didn't realise I was coming here. Maybe we should just leave gifts until we're back in Alestria and-"

  "No," Ryder growled, cutting me off as he finished the last bite of his food. "I had to make that damn thing, so I want to see you open it."

  "Yeah, little monster, don't ruin our fun,” Leon implored. “We can just have a fiveway later and you can call that your gift to us."