by S. A. Price
“So,” she said as they walked, his hand on hers as it rested on his forearm. “This whole thing...the beginnings of Faerie, and this task.”
He nodded to her. “It’s pretty amazing. I... Well...”
She squeezed his arm as they made it to the door of the room they were given and he opened it. The light, a species of wisp if she was correct, bobbed above them, white and soft gold lights giving the room a dreamy effect.
“We need to talk,” he said as she walked in further and slid the long vest off her shoulders.
“We do? ‘Cause I was pretty sure you were planning on never speaking to me about anything.”
“Now that’s unfair,” he said as she sat on the large chair and slipped off the slippers they had given her. “You think I’m unaffected by you, but I’m not.”
“And yet have been fighting this thing between us for months. Why change that now? Because of what’s at stake?”
He shook his head. “I have literally wanted you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Alyx. Don’t think me pushing us off has anything to do with who you are. It’s all been me, and my insecurities.”
She cocked her head. “Oh?”
“I might be a prince, but I am not good enough for you, to be your guard, to be in your life.”
She scoffed. “So now you aren’t as good as Scur? Khalid? Please, Abaxley, you are a goddamn prince.”
“A prince with goblin blood.”
“A man with goblin blood that’s already bound to me,” she countered. “Did you know?”
He shrugged. “I had a feeling. I didn’t want you to go through any sort of...anything because of me.”
She laughed. “Bax, baby, this isn’t Faerie of Poppy’s reign, and if it was, I would tell whoever thought to judge us to fuck off and die.” She stood. “I need you, I’m not whole, and there’s a piece of me, it resonates with you in a way that doesn’t touch what I have with Khalid and Scur. You are my prince, Bax, you are meant to keep my heart safe.” Grabbing his hands, she pulled them to her and placed them on her chest. “You consume me so much. I can’t even focus a lot of the time.”
“I can’t be everything to you, Alyx. You live your life in the human world, and I can’t.”
“They hell you can’t,” she countered. “Why, because of your skin color? I’m not worried, Bax, and you shouldn’t be either. So, what else are we going to have to get out in the open so that you can see we are perfect together? Hell, the Nomart think we already are together, and don’t think I didn’t notice you didn’t allow me to correct them.”
“Because you are mine, Alyx. I just...” He sighed. “I don’t want to be a liability. Fuck, I don’t have any powers.”
“Technically, I don’t either. Females in the Mayhem line rarely get anything more than our fighting ability.” She smiled. “So, if you’re a liability, what does that make me? A princess without inherent magic?”
He pulled her close. “Alyx...”
“I need you, Bax. If you don’t want this, just tell me, and I’ll accept it. I just...”
He lifted her up and kissed her, the action sending stars winging through her mind. Something inside her released, sighed, and then purred as she felt his hands on her. Hot, branding her beneath the clothing that was between them.
The kiss was perfect, just the perfect amount of pressure, need, and response. He wasn’t a balls to the wall kisser like Scur, or a hard and dominant like Khalid. No, Abaxley was slow and deep, and gods, so sensual that she felt her body vibrate from the need he was stoking, and quickly. Lazy sexy, as if he knew he was worth the wait in this regard. His tongue bullied hers in such a playful way she was all but screaming for him to do more, to stop fucking around and show her he wanted her. As the kiss ended, she nipped his bottom lip. “Sweet Jesus, Bax...”
“So is that a yes to getting you out of these clothes?” he said softly in her ear. “Unless you just wanna make out...”
“I want to make you mine, Bax.” She whimpered. “No teasing. We go further and I’m keeping you.”
“There is no culmination of this that doesn’t end with me fully bonded to you, Princess. So...” He nuzzled her ear. “Should we go for it?”
“If you don’t, I’m going to throw you on the bed, tie you to that frame and take what I want.”
Abaxley gave her a slow smile. “Can’t we do both?”
“Put me down,” she said and he obliged, watching her to see what she would do next. Alyx grinned and made quick work of the dress she had on, standing in front of him in nothing but a pair of underwear and jewelry.
“Holy shit,” he said and scrubbed his hand over his mouth. “I never would have thought...”
She moved forward and ran her hands up his thighs, finding purchase on the lip of his pants, and pulled down, the linen bunching at his ankles. She laughed. No underwear, and Jesus Christ, he was glad to see her. “Now it’s my turn to say holy shit.”
“It’s not like you haven’t seen it. If I recall correctly you did not forty-eight hours ago.” He pulled the tunic over his head and then palmed himself.
“Yeah but...” She licked her bottom lip. “He wasn’t excited to see me.”
“Well, he is now,” he groaned and stroked himself. “What are you going to do about it?”
She was mesmerized, watching him touch himself, and she squirmed, feeling her panties get wetter by the second. Gods, did she want him in her mouth, sliding down her throat... But that wouldn’t get the bond to snap in place, and right now, she was dying for that, to feel him like she felt Scur and Khalid...deep in her soul.
“Alyx...” he taunted and she slid her panties down her hips and then walked forward to him. He grabbed her, lifting her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She moaned into a kiss and Abaxley slid into her.
Stars behind her eyes became sparks, and then the wall was behind her and Abaxley was moving, with that lazy grace, stirring his hips on the down stroke. The kiss became more hurried, but still rolling her along at a more pronounced clip. She felt the knots of need tighten while everything else relaxed into a comfort she didn’t know she could have.
“You feel like heaven, like home. Baby...come on... Can you feel it?”
She could. The magic was building, but it wasn’t hers, or his, but the bond, the bond that was desperate to set between them. “Bax, baby... I need more...”
“You are going to get what I give you, Princess, because I know exactly what you need.” She whimpered, feeling her core clench and he growled. “Yes...fuck yes...” He nipped her throat and she squeezed his hips with her thighs.
“Bax...if I don’t come soon, I’m going to die.”
“We can’t have that, this is just the appetizer. I can’t wait to take my time with you.”
Jesus. If he wasn’t already taking his time with her, she wasn’t even sure she would survive. “I need...”
“And you shall have.” He took her harder, faster, the feeling throwing her over the edge in moments.
“Bax!” she cried out as he growled into her neck and bit her. She came, feeling him follow her, and the bond clicked into place.
Color exploded behind her eyes, her body broke out in goose bumps, and she felt it, two heartbeats in sync.
Panting, she kissed his shoulder and moaned, the thrum of him still inside her, her sheath fluttering, bringing her over the brink again. “Oh my god...”
“Like that...” he said in her ear. “I bet you do. I have been dying to do that to you.”
The orgasm rolled in her body, bringing her to the heightened awareness of the two of them, the world around them fuzzy and out of focus.
“What... “
“Goblin thing. Your orgasm gets doubled over when I come inside you. More pleasure, more possibility you will keep me as a lover.”
“I...” she sagged in his arms. “I wasn’t giving you up.”
“Of course not, but I have wanted to do that to you since I first saw you.”
&nb
sp; She chuckled. “And you thought you weren’t good enough for me.”
“Still don’t think so, but I didn’t say I wouldn’t be the fuck of the century.” He kissed her shoulder. “I love you, Alyx. This is forever now.”
She realized he was kissing where he bit her. “Did you draw blood?”
“A little, but that’s not why I did it. You hold a piece of me now.” He slowed his breathing, his heartbeat slowing as well. “Feel that? You will always be able to find me, and I you.”
“Wow,” she murmured. “You barely touched me, and I’m ready for a goddamn nap.”
“Then I did my job.” She was off the wall then and felt him kneel, and then she was lying on the bed. “Sleep. I’ll wake you in a bit for round two.”
“You better.” She opened her eyes and looked at him, the smile with the white teeth, his luminous eyes, the hair that flopped over his forehead. “Fuck, you’re beautiful.”
“Isn’t that my line?” he said and leaned in, nipping the top of her breast. “Sleep, we have a lot to do tonight.”
“Oh? Aside from round two?”
He nodded. “At least another three after that. We have some time to make up for.”
“Amen,” she said and smiled as sleep claimed her.
11
Waking up with her men, well two of them, in bed with her was heaven as usual, but this morning, having a third to fill her heart... It was sublime and she felt that much more whole.
Cuddled into her berserker, she kissed his nose, and she felt him grunt as she pinched his nipple, and then she turned to see her faeblin, sleeping sweetly at her back.
Scur and Khalid had met them in the room after their first walk, and then switched out after they had gotten some sleep, shower and talked. Khalid was focused on making sure the place was defensible for the peace-loving Nomarts. She loved that her captain cared past her own guard, and knew without a doubt that Khalid was not only an amazing man, but going to be a wonderful father when the time was right.
They had welcomed Abaxley as hers, Scur making a colorful comment or two and Abaxley had shot him the finger and held her close. It felt good to be with the three of them, another piece to the puzzle that was her princesshood.
Tickling Abaxley’s nose, she giggled and whooped as he grabbed her and pulled her to him. “What time is it?” he said, voice still heavy with sleep.
“I have no idea,” she said as she watched Khalid walk in with what looked like a cart filled with food. “Hey,” she said, “everything okay?”
“There’s another storm coming,” her captain said. “Think it would be a good idea to eat then head out before we get caught in it. Even though it’s not far to the portal once we leave, if we get caught in what we got caught in yesterday...”
She nodded. “It could be days before we leave. We got lucky yesterday. Smart, as usual.” She slipped from the bed and then went to Khalid, kissing him on the cheek. “And the Nomarts, anything different from them?”
“They were the ones who told me.” He smiled at her before pulling her back to him, kissing her square on the mouth. “I spoke to a lot of their people, and I’m glad to report they can take care of themselves and their borders. Though I did repeat my offer for Hunt assistance. When we do find what we need and they can finally come out of the dark, I think a few of them should think about joining the Hunt.”
“Always fucking recruiting,” she heard Scur say as the bed creaked. He walked over to the cart, dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs that he must have pulled on when he got up. “I’m just glad we’re taking a damn portal out.”
“I need to look more at the journal, but I think there’s more than what Cetus has stashed about,” Abaxley said as he got out of bed and pulled on a pair of underwear as well. “The quicker we get back, the better, I think,” he said, meeting them at the cart.
“So have we decided what we are going to do?” she asked him and palmed his ass. It felt good to touch him, to establish the connection as much as possible.
“About?” he asked as he poured some juice.
Your people...our courts?”
“Oh.” He gave her an easy smile. “The portal will take us to an area a little outside the stronghold, so we can go there first, and I can talk with my advisors. Is the Sithen able to handle the two hundred of us, you think?”
She looked to Khalid, who had been working with the Sithen for the past few weeks.
He nodded. “We can easily accommodate that many people. The land the Sithen occupies is actually one of the largest of the courts. I had plans to talk to you about. I knew Bax would eventually come to his senses and the only obvious course of action was to integrate his people with ours. Pristina and I did some searching and there is an entire village a few miles southeast of the Sithen proper that the faeblins can establish.”
“In Faerie?” he said, and handed her the juice, then started pouring another. “Because much like me, their skin color...” He sighed. “I don’t think it will work for the human realm.”
“That’s the beauty of it, it does lie in Faerie. It seemed the former tenants of our Sithen didn’t much like their people residing there, so there is an entire village that was built for them.”
“How did we not know about that?” Scur said before shoving an entire muffin in his mouth.
“Did you know anything about the Sithen before we got there?” Khalid asked and Scur shrugged. “There is a lot we’re still discovering, but I think it would be the best solution. It will also give the faeblins a chance to build something that is theirs and a place where the other members of Arcane can live and work.”
She smacked Scur on the back of the head. “Swallow before you speak. Crumbs everywhere...” she said and then smiled at Abaxley. “See, we just need to figure out what to do with the goblin stronghold.”
“Burn it for all I care,” Abaxley said, sipping his drink and then put the drink down. “Or give it to the Hunt.” He shrugged. “It was never my home, just a place of pain and disappointment.”
“I vote for the latter,” Khalid said. “Bax, if you’re serious, I think you and Alyx should talk to Jed about it. With him opening the doors to the Hunt, they’re going to need more room, and the stronghold could be used for training and extra housing.”
He nodded. “And if they find anything else hidden...” he offered.
“How long ‘til the weather hits?” she asked as she walked past them into the bathroom.
“The Nomarts think within the next hour, so we really do need to get moving.”
“I’ll get our gear packed,” she heard Scur say. “I let them know last night where we left the snowcat, if they had a need to keep it. That sucker is still probably running like a champ.”
“If not then we can have Hendrix send a transport to pick it up,” she said as she started her bathroom ritual. Fifteen minutes later she was ready, hair in two braids, teeth brushed and clothes on. She was slipping her boots on when Abaxley sat in front of her.
“You sure you are cool with bringing my people to the Sithen? I mean, clearly there’s some issues if people are shaking others still.”
“One bad apple doesn’t ruin the bunch for me, and if there’s someone that is a shitty traitor, well, we can handle it together, so your people know that they are safe and shit like that won’t be tolerated.”
He nodded. “Then we need to get rambling.”
Another fifteen minutes had them at the hallway that led to the stairs, Osia and Kenno with them.
“Thank you so much,” she said to them both. “We will be in touch with our progress.”
“We will look forward to hearing from you,” Osia said, patting Alyx’s hand. “Kenno and I have no doubts you will succeed. A princess who is smart and resilient is needed for this kind of mission. One whose men will stand beside her. Faerie has chosen well.”
“Agreed,” Scur said. “Our princess isn’t the kind to give up in the face of adversity.”
She blushed an
d then bowed to them. “And we will tell Queen Verity as well. She will want to open lines of communication I’m sure.”
Abaxley bowed to them as well. “It has been a pleasure.”
Kenno grinned. “I’m sure it has. Please inform your people that they are not the sum of their parts, but what they choose to do with the life given them. Being goblin is not inherently bad.” He shook his hand. “We all have choices.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more, Kenno,” Khalid said before turning to Alyx. “You ready?”
“As much as we would love to have you stay,” Osia said, “you really must be going. The storms are never predictable and have a tendency of coming quicker than expected.”
They left moments later, after another flurry of goodbyes, and made it to the top of the staircase in less time than it took to get down them. Exiting the tunnel and into the world, it was dark again, and Alyx felt the whipping cold down to her bones. “How long is the walk to the portal?”
“Not far. We are in a good place as none of us have been out in the elements long. Still,” Abaxley said, pointing to the horizon, and the heavy clouds coming in. “We need to hurry.”
The entrance to the subterranean world closed and they were once again in the middle of nowhere, alone.
Abaxley took point, and Khalid was behind him, with Alyx then Scur bringing up the rear. The landscape around them was bleak, small rock outcroppings in the distance, and she felt like they were being watched.
“Anyone else feel that?” she said into the mic of her headset, knowing they could all hear her.
“Yeah, and I don’t like the feeling,” Khalid said. “Kind of reminds me of the feeling I get when I’m in a war,” Scur said, his voice low. She could practically feel the tension rolling off him. “Could just be the storm rolling in, screwing with the atmosphere, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.” He took a step closer to her and laid his hand against her hip. Unlike most of the times Scur touched her, there was nothing sexual about his touch.