by Jade Alters
Then, she confers with her wizards, and when she turns back, she smiles at me like we’re old friends. As if she didn’t originally come here to kill me. “Ms. Pruitt! We do apologize for the inconvenience. We’ll be able to reverse Hardhum’s spells against you as well as the spell you originally cast by accident. And then you are to free to go. No charges.”
“Ah!” I cry out. Overwhelmed, I fall to my knees.
The DMA people are looking at me funny, but I don’t care. I don’t know what their problem is. I finally have justice. All the Loves crouch down around me, enfolding me in their arms. Sidjus looks a little grumpy about the whole thing, but he seems to be taking it all out on Hardhum. In the background, I can hear him lecturing that creep as to why it’s wrong to frame other people for casting forbidden spells. It doesn’t look like Hardhum is listening. But I don’t care. I just squeeze my eyes shut and let my guys squeeze me tight, basking in their love for me. I thought I couldn’t cry anymore, but now tears are streaming down my face as they hold me. The wizards are working on reversing the spells and sparks are flying. At some point, I smell sulfur. But soon enough the guys break away, and the Inquisitor informs me that all the spells have been broken, but it shouldn’t at all affect my bond as a fated mate.
“I am impressed, you know,” she says to me, in a conspiratorial whisper. “Shared fated mate? It’s so rare. Quite wonderful.” She eyes the guys up and down and I almost growl, feeling territorial. But she only winks at me and says, “Good for you.”
Good for me indeed.
Darren
Victoria is on her knees and our arms are around her, right where they should be. We’re all kind of tangled in a group hug. This day has been so long and stressful with so many twists and turns. I can’t imagine how overwhelmed Victoria must be feeling right now. But it’s over now. She’s free, and she’s ours.
“Oh my God,” Ian says, pulling away now. We all start to pull apart, getting to our feet, and dusting off our knees. The DMA is gone, having taken Hardhum with them. Ian is pointing to the blood drops left in the circle for the fated mate test. We’re all kind of half in the circle, and now he pushes us back, his eyes on the blood, which is apparently moving. “Guys, look. It’s happening.”
Ian stands behind Victoria, wrapping his arms around her and we watch as our blood on the outside of the circle slowly begins to creep inward of its own volition. Since the DMA reversed Hardhum’s sabotage, the spell is working now.
I was already certain, deep in my soul, that Victoria was our shared fated mate. When I look at her, I see our future together. I see us sharing our deepest secrets and fears and dreams with each other. I see myself closer to my other leash mates because of her. I see us sharing this love for the rest of our lives. It won’t always be easy. Nothing this good ever is. But we’ll be together, fighting for each other with understanding and compassion.
As certain as I am, it’s so satisfying now to watch those drops of blood creep across the grass into the middle of the circle to join with Victoria’s blood. It’s like a visual confirmation of what we already know. It’s like the universe assuring us that, yes, we were right all along. We belong to her, and she belongs to us.
The DMA removed the magical shield, which means regular, non-magical humans suddenly notice us again. I see a couple of passersby looking at us funny; four guys and a girl staring into the grass, seemingly at nothing. If they look closer, they might see the circular burn mark in the grass.
The practical part of me hopes that burned grass grows back pretty quickly. We don’t need the neighborhood knowing we practice magic. Humans can get really weird about that stuff, and it’s already going to be apparent pretty soon that the four of us are in a relationship with this one woman. Humans can be weird about that stuff too.
The blood joins and we can’t help ourselves, we all embrace each other again, basking in our affection for one another, and secure in the knowledge that we’re safe now. All the bad spells are broken, and the bad guy has been caught. All we need to do now is live our lives together, and get to know Victoria better. I find myself impatient for that. I’m impatient to start the rest of our lives.
As we head back inside, we all have this feeling like we’ve been away somewhere. It almost feels as if days have passed. Gus comes trotting up to Victoria, and he meows plaintively, rearing up on his hind legs to paw at Victoria’s knee. I know he’s been fed today, but I could swear the thing looks as if he knew what was happening. It’s almost as if he knew that Victoria was in terrible danger and now she’s finally safe. Victoria coos at him and picks him up. We take turns scratching him between his ears. He’s been standoffish with us. We were actually relieved that he was only standoffish. Pets can be awfully tricky with shifters. There’s no doubt that the cat sensed our fox natures and hasn’t been sure if we’re friendly or not. But he seems to have warmed up to us, and he purrs when I scratch him under his chin.
“I’m so hungry,” Mitch says sighing, as we all plop down in the living room.
Brendan says, “I’m too tired to cook.”
Ian squishes in between Brendan and I and leans his head on Brendan’s shoulder when he says, “Fuck that. Let’s order out. What do you want to eat, Vic?”
Victoria is standing in front of the four of us, all squished together on the couch and she smiles fondly before lying down on top of us, her head in my lap. “Pad Thai sounds good,” she says, smiling sleepily. I pet her hair and we all laze about for a few minutes before somebody summons the energy to take out their phone and order food.
The food takes a while to arrive. It’s long enough for us to enjoy lazing around on the couch doing nothing with our beautiful fated mate in our laps. When she giggles, she bounces up and down, and eventually, Mitch starts tickling her until she becomes a squirming, breathless ball of joy in our arms. But again we get quiet, just enjoying each other’s presence for a while.
“How do you guys live so long?” Victoria says. She turns on her side, still laying across us and Ian absently rubs her leg. “Can I live a long time like you guys? Or is that only a shifter thing.”
“Oh!” Brendan laughs softly to himself. “No, it’s a potion. It’s been passed down in our clan. We’re not supposed to give it out. It doesn’t make us immortal or anything. Just lengthens our life spans. Slows down aging.”
“Oh…” Victoria blushes and looks a bit sheepish. “That’s okay. I don’t need to-”
“Goofball!” Ian says, laughing and squeezing her leg. “You’re in the clan now, of course. You’re one of us. We’ll give you the potion. You only have to drink it once a year. It’s easy.”
“Okay,” Victoria says, grinning at us. “Ooh, I get to be young for ages with my hot boyfriends.” She wraps her arms around my waist while she lies there and nuzzles my stomach. “Wonderful. Mm, you’re cozy.”
I might be cozy, but I’m about to get hard with her so close to my groin, and that will be great later, but I know we’re about to eat. I tangle my fingers in my hair and bite my lip, trying to control myself. Victoria gazes up at me and I see the mischief in her eyes as she squeezes me a little tighter. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and I smile down at her even as I shake my head with wide eyes. She bites her lips and while the others are busy talking, pushes the hem of my shirt up just a little and kisses my stomach.
Now I’m definitely getting a little hard, and I hiss, “Victoria!” She splays her hand along my stomach and I bite down on my lip hard as her hand slides down, down…
Knock, knock, knock!
“Food’s here!” Ian says.
Everyone wants to get up then and Victoria blushes when she mouths “sorry” at me before getting to her feet and straightening her shirt. I kiss her hair. It’s not like it was bad.
“We continue this later?” I say in her ear.
“Count on it,” she says, grinning at me as we head to the door.
Dinner is a boisterous affair. Brendan busts out the wine and we put o
n some music in the dining room as we spread out our Pad Thai, shrimp cakes and angel wings. The sleepy mood is gone at the prospect of good food, and it takes us three times as long to eat because we can’t seem to stop talking. The main topic of conversation is the DMA and Ian goes on a rant about his problems with the institution. He thinks their methods are both inconsistent and flawed, and he gets so worked up about how much Sidjus sucks that he gets this one little throbbing vein in his neck. We’re all pretty familiar with Ian’s Throbbing Angry Vein, and when I point out it to Victoria she almost snorts Thai iced tea through her nose, she’s laughing so hard.
We talk about all kinds of things that don’t even matter, and something about it is so freeing and joyous. Brendan and Victoria talk about books, and then we each start talking about our favorite books.
I find out that Victoria is a fan of the Swords of Saturn series. Somehow this never came up before, but even though I’m the resident geek of the four of us, all of us have read all of the Swords of Saturn books. In fact, we’d just finished reading the most recent one just before we met Victoria.
“How is this not come up before!” Victoria says, swatting my arm.
I laugh at that and shrug helplessly. “I don’t know! But what did you think of the new one?”
All that leads to a seemingly endless conversation during which we discover that we hate a character who Victoria loves, and we love a character who Victoria can’t stand.
The conversation gets quite heated, especially once we’ve all eaten and the wine is getting heavily poured. Then, Brendan changes his mind and agrees with Victoria and we all label him a traitor, but Victoria sits in his lap and kisses his cheek, so I guess he really is smarter than the rest of us.
Soon, things quiet down again and the light gets low. We go out to the veranda and relax in the moonlight. Victoria sits between me and Mitch on the porch swing, and we chat about whatever happens to come up. We tell Victoria about living in Cannes and around Europe. We talk about how we all met in San Francisco and felt like we’d found something special in each other and never wanted to be apart again. Victoria leans her head on Mitch’s shoulder I watch their hands tangle together. Next, she reaches over with her other hand and grabs mine, and our fingers mingle.
“Do you think you want to stay at the bookstore a long time?” Ian asks her from his seat on an Adirondack chair.
“Oh!” Victoria perks up, and then frowns, looking off at the view into the arroyo. “For a while, I think. I’m happy there for now. But sometimes I think about writing my own stuff. I don’t know.”
“You should!” I blurt out, excited by the prospect. “Do you write usually?”
“Sure,” Victoria says, looking sheepish. “Just as a hobby really-”
That leads to all of us begging to read Victoria’s writing, and she seems bashful enough about it that Ian finally tells us to shut up. But she’s still smiling, a little pink in her cheeks, looking pleased by all our attention.
Sometimes, it does feel as if she’s still not quite used to the idea of our intense interest in her. Like she’s surprised, or as if she believes she doesn’t deserve it. When the wine runs out and the others disappear inside for one thing or another, I can’t help but bring it up.
We’re still in the porch swing and Victoria gives me a sweet smile. She nestles up against me as I put my arm around her. I feel embarrassed when I sniff at her hair, but I just really love the scent of her shampoo and of her. I feel her giggle as she snuggles up to me.
“Are you sniffing me?” She says, wrapping an arm around me.
“Sorry.”
“No, I like it.” She smirks at me and I dip my head, kissing her softly. We sit like that, lazily swinging and kissing for a bit and feeling utterly content.
But I guess I can’t leave well enough alone. That’s what Brendan says anyway.
“You know, you deserve all this, right?” I ask her. “I don’t know. Sometimes I get the feeling like you think you don’t.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Victoria murmurs, but I can hear her hesitance. I don’t know if my sense of empathy has heightened or if maybe our connection has allowed us to sense each other’s feelings more easily, but I can tell she’s secure about this. “I think, I just… don’t feel special enough. I mean, I’ll happily take it. But the Inquisitor talked about how rare it was to have a shared fated mate, so it just seems crazy that I would be like… chosen. You know? It just seems like too special and precious a thing for someone like me.”
“What’s someone like you?” I say, taken a little aback. “You’re smart and sweet and beautiful. You’re interesting to talk to, and you’re creative and compassionate-”
“Okay, okay,” Victoria whispers, looking so bashful and cute that I have to kiss her again.
“Hey, don’t stop me now,” I murmur in her ear. “I like telling you nice things.”
“Well, I’ll take ‘em then,” Victoria says, before kissing me back.
“Hey, I want some,” Mitch says, returning from inside. He sits on Victoria’s other side, and she laughs and reaches up to scratch his head and tousle his hair. Mitch hums happily and ducks his head to kiss her neck. The three of us are just lazily kissing each other for a while under the moonlight. Everything smells like the jasmine hedges next to the pool.
“You want to go for a swim?” Mitch says in Victoria’s ear.
“Oh, that would be so nice… I don’t feel like getting my suit though.”
“Who needs a suit?” Mitch says and I know that wild look in his eyes. It makes me laugh when he abruptly stands and picks up Victoria in his arms.
“Oh my God, Mitch!” Victoria is laughing even as she swats his chest as he carries her down to the pool. “Don’t you dare!”
The ruckus attracts Ian and Brendan who appear, watching with amusement, as Mitch carries Victoria down the steps and into the yard, before promptly jumping into the pool as our mate squeals in his arms.
“Sounds good to me,” I mutter, taking my shirt off. I kick off my shoes and jump in. The pool is cool, but not cold, and it feels refreshing after this long day. It feels like the perfect capper to this day to jump in the pool and laugh and swim. I dive under the water and grab Victoria’s legs just as she’s righted herself, cackling as she shrieks when I lift her up out of the pool only to splash back down into the water with her in my arms. Ian and Brendan dive in and there’s a riotous splashing fight that gets so loud I’m sure the neighbors are on the verge of calling the cops. Considering what went on in the front yard for the bulk of the day, it would be pretty hilarious if they did.
Victoria swims over to Mitch, and in seeming retaliation for tossing her in the pool, she grabs him by the shoulders and playfully bites his neck. Soon enough, they’re making out. I watch, both fascinated and aroused as she backs him up to the wall of the pool and pushes his soaking shirt up, forcing him to take it off. She grabs the shirt and throws it over his shoulder onto the ground where it lands with a splat. And then they’re on each other again, her palms sliding up his well-sculpted chest and around his neck. Brendan and Mitch are talking, but I see them looking over with interest. With the opportunity presented to me, I swim over and help Victoria peel off her shirt before sliding my arms around her stomach. When she bares her neck and looks up at me, I take the hint and tongue kiss her neck. The three of us get lost in each other, Mitch and I eagerly exploring Victoria’s body sandwiched between us as she takes turns kissing us. Even in the cool of the water, my cock is quickly hard and I squeeze her to me even as I press her into Mitch. She moans, reaching back to tug me closer. Mitch breaks a kiss with her and looks heatedly into her eyes, and then he’s unbuttoning Victoria’s jeans. I watch his hand disappear into her panties under the water and I watch her eyes as they slip shut. I unclip Victoria’s bra and slip it down off her arms, tossing it aside. I go back to mouthing at her neck as I cup her breasts in my hands, squeezing gently and tweaking her nipples. Based on the tempo of Victoria’s m
oans, Mitch slowly and agonizingly fingers her. Mitch and I catch each other’s gaze, and I see my own awe mirrored in his eyes. Hesitating only slightly because this is new to us, I press Victoria closer to Mitch and reach for him. I tug him forward and then we’re kissing with Victoria egging us on. She moans her pleasure while Mitch continues to finger her and bucks up against him. The three of us become lost in each other’s pleasure as Mitch fucks Victoria with his fingers. I knead her breasts from behind and leave love marks along her throat. We watch as Victoria throws her head back and comes on Mitch’s fingers. She cries out with abandon as she turns her head, and I plunge my tongue into her mouth, our kiss heated and deep.
If anything, I’m only more riled up, and Victoria seems giddy but no more sated than she was before. The realization hits us as she smiles shyly and climbs out of the pool. She leaves Mitch with a kiss on his cheek. It’s her way of telling us that this is only the beginning, and it makes my cock throb harder with desire.
Finally, we make our way inside. I run to get a giant, fluffy beach towel to wrap Victoria up because she’s standing there, wide-eyed and shivering, her arms crossed over her breasts. There’s a buzzing feeling between us now as we head inside, drying off and slinking upstairs. Everything that needs to be said is in the looks we’re giving each other. It’s silent and heated.
It feels as if there’s some unspoken understanding that we’re all meeting in Ian’s room and not going off to bed in our own rooms. I saw the heat in Ian and Brendan’s eyes as they watched us in the pool, and I saw Mitch’s tented pants when he climbed out of the water.
And frankly, I’ve never been hornier in my entire life.