by Jackie Nacht
Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
The notorious Puck has met his match.
The Gathering is called and after several years the King of the UnSeelie is bored out of his ever lovin’ mind. He sends his most trusted emissary, Puck, to the Earth realm to find two human changelings to mix the courts up a bit. Puck immediately sees the human he would like to take back to the fairy realm, but unfortunately he is more suited for the Seelie than the UnSeelie.
Torque is trying his best to get through college and make the most out of his future. When he meets the knavish Puck, sparks begin to fly immediately. When a hot and steamy encounter between the two puts Torque in danger, Puck will have to make some tough decisions. Will he take the human back—and if so, will his King accept him?
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Taming Sweet Puck
Copyright © 2012 Jackie Nacht
ISBN: 978-1-77111-328-1
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
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Taming Sweet Puck
By
Jackie Nacht
Chapter 1
The in-between in the valley of the fairy was considered a sacred place for the Fairy King and Queen of fairies, so it was no wonder Puck would choose that to be his place to go and relax. Despite the rumors in the mortal realm, the in-between was the place where the magic of the Seelie and UnSeelie magic mixed. Mortals thought that the two courts lived on different realms, which was completely wrong. In fact, you could see Titania’s court acting like imbeciles just across the lake.
Titania’s court was all sunshine, rainbows, and eternal Spring Break. Oberon’s side, which was where Puck lived, was night, shadows, and cold enough to never see your balls again. So, when he wanted a few minutes to get away from the UnSeelie, he came to where the magic mixed, making it fall and spring in one. The closer you got to the UnSeelie, the more Fall it would become. After all, the UnSeelie were considered the death court, too. Spring was closest to the Seelie side, which was in a constant state of having small buds on trees and flowers.
Puck’s favorite thing to do was to lie on the dry fallen leaves and either look up at the starry night or meet with his brother, Foster. They would meet here as much as they could and talk until the morning hours. Foster chose to live on the Seelie side for whatever reason. Puck had spent a day there and wanted to pull out every pixie’s wing and duct tape every giggling mouth.
Ooh, that sounded like a great idea…maybe he could do that tonight while they were sleeping off their partying.
The Gathering had been going on for over a decade now. It was the longest time in a while that Puck had remained in the valley. He liked to go over to the mortal realm and play havoc on them. It was petty of him, being immortal, but he needed something to pass the time, and Oberon loved hearing the stories.
Sure, over the years, the entire UnSeelie court would go over there and have fun. Despite what a lot of mortals thought, they weren’t all bad. Oberon always left the truly evil ones in the valley to be guarded until they returned. It wasn’t that long anyway, since time was so much slower here. In fairy, a day or two would pass and the UnSeelie would actually be away for a couple weeks in the human realm. There had been many times Puck and Oberon got into a great deal of trouble over there.
Oberon and Puck had always been really tight. Puck was one of the few fairies that were a mix of Seelie and UnSeelie. While all the UnSeelie sported white hair and fathomless icy blue eyes, Puck had dark red hair that looked like an autumn leaf with white morning frost tips and pale green eyes. He loved being different and so did Oberon. When Puck made the choice to go to the UnSeelie court, Oberon had immediately made him his emissary. Sure, Puck might have screwed up a time or two, but Oberon trusted him completely and it was vice versa. It was a rare commodity amongst the fairies.
As if his thoughts conjured the fairy himself, Oberon came walking up to Puck. He was close to seven feet tall and completely ripped. He was shirtless and wearing black pants that were actually made of black fog. When he got pissed you could see tendrils creep along the ground like a plague. The UnSeelie were immune to his black fog, Puck included. However, Seelie and mortals met an untimely death when pissing off the king.
“I thought I’d find you here.” Oberon sat next to him resting his elbows on his knees.
“Bored?” Puck inquired.
“Yes, you think you could go over and find us a worthy changeling? We need new blood to mix it up—something to entertain us, perhaps. Of course you’ll have to bring them one too.” Oberon jerked his head towards the summer court.
It was a known fact that summer and winter had made a pact that if one was to increase their numbers, you had to make sure both courts had a changeling to keep the numbers equal. There was a precious balance between Seelie and UnSeelie. If one member of a court was lost, they could go over to the mortal realm and acquire a changeling as replacement. It was extremely rare to lose a Fae, but it had happened once or twice.
“Do you want a male or female?” Puck asked.
“Your choice, I trust your judgment.” Oberon leaned back on his hands and looked up at the stars.
Puck picked up a fallen leaf and began fiddling with it in his hands. “You missing her again? Do you want me to go over there and talk to her?”
Oberon sighed. “No, she’ll come around eventually. I know I fucked up this time—maybe a changeling will soften her up.” The fuck up had been crashing their Midsummer Night’s Eve celebration. There was nothing like celebrating the beginning of the summer with freezing rain and a foot of snow. To top it off, Puck had the buttery sprites wobble their way over, pushing snow cone machines he’d seen on the mortal realm. Titania had thrown a temper tantrum like a three year old getting her toys taken away.
Puck stood up, brushing the leaves off his ass. “When do you want me to leave?”
“You can go now if you want—there’s nothing going on. The quicker you get back, the less monotonous this place will be. Will you pick me up me up some beer while you’re over there? You know what I like.”
“Sure. Anything else you want?” Puck raised his eyebrow, knowing what was coming.
“Yeah, go and get her a new wardrobe. You know, the high-end summer dresses and sandals she misses so much since she came back here. Tell anyone, and I’ll banish you to go live with all the Frankie and Dee Dee’s over there. Got it?”
“Crystal,” Puck chuckled.
He walked away, excited for the first time. It had been millennia since the king last requested changelings. It
was an honor to be the one chosen to find them. He looked down at his own clothes, thinking maybe it was time for him to get a new wardrobe from the humans himself.
* * * *
Torque sat at the dining room table studying for his last final exam before the winter break. He had been studying calculus all night long and was now functioning by means of coffee flowing through his veins. The exam was an hour away and all the way across campus so he needed to wolf down a quick breakfast before hauling ass. He needed to get a B on this exam if he wanted to keep his scholarship. The rest was covered by financial aid but it wasn’t enough to keep him in school if he didn’t pull a miracle with this final.
Torque had just got done stuffing a piece of toast in his mouth when his older brother Axle walked in the door with three of his friends. They looked like they were coming off a week of partying…which they had. Axle was Allergic to school—they couldn’t have been any more opposite. Axle was dark haired, huge muscles, over six feet tall, and into anything illegal, where Torque was a blond, blue eyed small fry. He was barely five and half feet tall and weighed a hundred and twenty pounds. It was amazing that they were actually blood brothers.
The only thing they had in common was that their awful father named them after the transmission system parts he’d spent twenty years working on. He had died a couple years ago, driving drunk into a tree. Torque didn’t miss his father at all. The only thing his dad had been good for was beating the shit out of Axle and him. The one good thing Axle did was take custody of Torque so he could finish high school.
It was amazing they could even survive under the same roof. Torque’s way of getting by in life was being a bit of a smart ass, which his brother hated. Axle didn’t have a funny bone in his body. The last time he’d smiled was when Rugrats were popular.
“Where have you been?” Torque mumbled around his piece of toast.
“Out.” Axle was famous for his one-word answers. All of his friends chuckled. It was a known fact that all of Axle’s friends despised Torque. They would try to fuck him first, and when he denied them, then they hated him.
“No shit. Where were you?” Torque began gathering his books into his bag.
“What are you…my fucking mother?” Axle scowled and fell onto the couch, muddy black boots and all. His friends spread out all over the living room and began passing out one by one. God, Torque hated each and every one of them. Axle’s friends treated him horribly whenever Axle looked the other way. It was okay for Axle to treat him like chewed gum on the bottom of a shoe, but not his friends. Twisted, huh?
“Original…and you know our mother wouldn’t have cared less what you were up to all night long.” Their mother had never been in the picture. Ever.
Axle groaned, “Fine, I went to a club, found a couple people to fuck, and we went at it until about thirty minutes ago. Happy now?” Axle looked over the couch at Torque.
Well, Torque figured there was a middle ground between staying out and fucking all night long. The thought of his brother getting it on was enough to make him lose his toast. It was just as nasty as thinking of your parents, which Axle kind of was to Torque, albeit a bad one.
“On that note, I’ll leave you guys to go take my final. Enjoy your hangover,” Torque said, walking to the front door to grab his parka, hat, and gloves.
Torque made his way outside of the rundown apartment complex only to see another one of Axle’s friends leaning against the wall, finishing off a cigarette. Donovan was the worst of all of them. He wouldn’t let up on Torque even after he’d rejected him. Torque made sure never to be alone with him. He knew he would not come out of it unscathed if Donavon ever got him by himself.
“Well hello, sweetheart,” Donavon began to stumble his way over to Torque.
“I got to go, Donavon. They’re all up there crashed—just let yourself in.” Torque skirted around him on the icy sidewalk.
“Wouldn’t you be the perfect cherry on top to my night? Come up with me.” Donavon commanded.
Eww… The thought of being on the end of his string of nasty people just grossed him out. Donavon didn’t care how he got off just as long as he did.
“No thanks, Donavon. I have a final and just…well, never, okay?” Torque began to walk away and Donavon came at him with his pug face full of rage.
“What the fuck, man? Who do you think you are? If I say I’m going to have you, then that’s what’s going to happen. Now get your ass upstairs!” Donavon roared.
Torque had had enough. He turned and ran as fast as the slippery surface would let him. He could hear Donavon shouting at him but never looked back. This was a great way to start his morning.
Chapter 2
It was amazing what a little magic could do when going into the mortal realm. Puck was able to acquire a top of the line car, hotel suite, and enough cash to outfit the entire Fae in high fashion for the next century. He’d just spent the last month getting a completely new wardrobe for him and the queen. Puck also picked up a few things for his king. Armani and Gucci were going to look amazing on Oberon. Puck was wearing dark designer jeans and a black shirt while sporting dark sunglasses.
Even though Puck had scored on the clothes for everyone, so far he’d struck out at finding a couple changelings. He was currently driving his rented Veyron to the local college to see if anyone had any potential. He had been there several times and while he knew he was going there to stalk a certain human that had caught his eye several times, he could not find anyone to take back to fairy land.
Puck knew he wanted to acquire someone who was old enough to take care of himself. Sure, there had been a time when the Fae had stolen a few infants…but that was when the Seelie chose. The UnSeelie hated playing nursemaid, so they tended to pick older humans. Puck was so not into changing another dirty diaper.
He parked his car and started making his way towards the central part of campus to scope out potential changelings. Looking around the college campus, Puck kept his eye out for the blond guy who had caught his attention the very first time he came here. The stories humans told about him were only partially true, and what they did have right was only half the story. Besides scullery maids, he’d kissed a lot of gentlemen in his time on earth, but those stories never made it into the storybooks. None of the stories ever explained that Puck liked both sexes.
So, it had become one of his favorite things to do since he’d come back—watching the guy with the blond hair, blue eyes, and sleek muscles run all over campus going from class to class. He was a distraction that kept Puck from his real goal of seeking out two changelings. They’d probably walked by him several times and instead he was looking for the young blond man.
Promising himself that today he would take his task seriously, he began looking around the campus. There was an abundance of young women or men to choose from. Puck was checking out a brunette female when he got plowed face down into the snow.
“Oh my god! I am so sorry. Here let me help you up.”
Puck turned, wiping the white snow out of his face, pissed as hell until he looked up to see big cerulean eyes looking at him in concern. It was the guy he had been looking at for the past month. The little man squatted down and grabbed him by the hand to help him up, which was ridiculous because Puck had a foot of height and a good eighty pounds of weight on him, at least. The guy began brushing the snow off the front of Puck and desire immediately shot through him as he brushed the front of his pants.
Puck grabbed the guy’s wrist before he could notice how affected he was getting. The guy had long eyelashes casting shadows over his cold reddening cheeks. His lips were full and a darker shade that Puck had rarely seen on a male before. He could tell his hair was blond, even though he couldn’t see it under his hat, because the man had blond brows furrowed in confusion.
Confusion happened to mortals a lot when they encountered the touch of a fairy, however innocent. Puck was considered one of the more powerful Fae and even the slightest touch would cause raw desire
to course through their bodies.
“I’m fine…” Puck elongated, waiting for a name.
“Oh, Torque. Look, I’m terribly sorry to just steamroll you like that. Had a bit of a run in with a jerk back there and now I’m over sharing…like you really care why someone would go all defensive tackle on your ass. Whew, it’s kind of hot out here. Doncha think?” Torque began fanning his hand in front of his face.
“Ugh, it’s twenty degrees outside and snowing. I think it’s relatively cold actually.” Puck wanted to tell Torque that him being hot had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with being turned on.
“Ugh, yeah, I guess it is.” Torque’s cheeks turned even a darker shade of red in embarrassment.
Puck was highly amused with the guy. It had been a long time since he’d smiled, but here he was looking down at Blondie with a stupid grin on his face. “Well we can remedy the cold. There’s a coffee shop down the road. I’ll treat.”
“Sure, I could use another coffee—I’ve been up all night… Oh shoot, what am I saying? I have a final I have to take. I can’t go.”
“How about a rain check?” For some strange reason Puck wanted to see Torque again. He knew he needed to find a changeling for the UnSeelie and clearly this guy was about as opposite as they come. However, he could have some fun with him while he was looking. He could be here for weeks and it would only be a matter of a couple days in the valley. He had some time to kill.
“Ugh, sure. Let me get your number.” Torque began fishing around in his backpack.
“I got a better idea. How about I walk you to your exam and pick you up when you’re done?”
“It’s going to be a couple hours, though.” Torque began struggling, trying to put his backpack back on.
“I have a few errands to run anyways. I’ll come back for you,” Puck said, helping Torque out.