by Erin R Flynn
“Five minutes per contestant,” Bacchus announced to the line already forming. “Five minutes to try, and if you succeed, you get an hour at Elder Devil’s ear to sit at her party.”
“That’s better than all day,” I agreed, knowing he would hear me.
“You guys are so much fucking fun,” Andrew chuckled, shaking his head.
“Want to join him?” I purred, making a second pole appear. “How about if you don’t give in, I’ll let you screw me while you drink from Hunt?”
He snorted and stood. “I can hold my load, Soraya. I’m thousands of years old.”
“Pride gets them every time,” I chuckled when he hurried to get restrained as well.
“What trick do you have up your sleeve?” Victor asked from the next cabana.
“None. I just know people, and they would want a chance with him because he’s an ancient and you guys have a lot of power,” I told him. “They’ll line up to get on his radar.” I rolled my head and looked at him. “Besides, when has Andrew ever been patient?”
I hated being right. I shook my head at the women who jumped at the chance. It made us look so bad and why I couldn’t even tear into men sometimes when they looked down on women.
“Men would line up and do the same just to get a chance at you and your power,” Brax reminded me as if able to hear what I was thinking. He sighed when I gave him a look. “That’s not why I want to date you, Soraya. I’m just saying men would do it too because you’re looking at those women like they’re a disgrace to women everywhere. Men are just as bad. People who want power are in both sexes.”
“Fair enough,” I conceded after a moment. A few minutes into the first round, the coven’s lead attorney appeared, dipping his head in apology for interrupting. “You’re fine, darling. What’s up?”
“It’s regarding the matter you asked me to look into for the London nest,” he said as he handed over some papers. “We’re of the agreement this is not about the money but to entrap them in an admission of crimes.”
“I figured,” I muttered as I took the papers from him. I sighed as I read over the highlighted sections. “Oh wow, they’re normally more careful when trying to pull something.”
“Yes, well, they are betting those hidden in the shadows are desperate to not come into the light.”
I grunted my agreement and flipped a few pages to see what they’d found. “Victor, they already have a developer waiting to build on the land. This whole thing is about the land.” I handed over the papers when he sat down next to me. I looked back at Samuel. “How do you suggest we proceed?”
He glanced at Victor, understanding who he was now, and cleared his throat. “It depends on how much of your weight you’re willing to throw in here, boss. The nest has no weight at all on something like this. This developer has already outlined the amount of money it will bring into London, the jobs—all of it.”
“Yes, well, as long as they don’t mind how immoral it is to do,” I drawled. “What about having it named a historical site?”
“They would want to inspect and have access,” he reminded me, and I sighed. Right.
“Give them our full weight and bust those tossers,” I told him.
“Soraya, wait—” Victor tried to argue.
I shook my head. “No, this is bigger than you, Victor. It sets a dangerous precedent. Their laws didn’t keep up with us, and now they’re trying to trap you all into some sort of fraud so they can steal your land. What if they do that with the enchanter estate next? This is too far over the line. Catching your circumventing and demanding you get caught up or pay the right amount if they change the laws is understandable. This is just nasty.
“This cannot be allowed.” I met both of their gazes. “Go nuclear and hit hard. The last thing they want is this made public. Embarrass them that they came after some of the oldest British citizens, and dig up what else this builder has been up to. If you need help or you believe there’s a smoking gun somewhere, let me know and I will go for it. And remind them how much income the government makes from supes in the UK.”
“Sounds like fun, boss,” he said as he took back the papers. “We’ll handle it.”
“You always do,” I praised. “If your team needs more support, let Helen know since we’re expanding the coven building.”
“Thanks, boss.”
Well, it might not have been good news, but at least it was progress and they’d found the trap before Victor and his nest had fallen into it.
15
“Thank you, Soraya,” Victor said quietly. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’m sorry they’re trying to screw you over like this.” I had another thought and made my phone appear.
“What can I do for you, boss?” Angelina greeted. She was head of our PR and was a genius on spin.
“Could you join me at the pool at The Resort for a bit? I know you’ve probably got your hands full with this morning’s stunt, but I think I need to pull another one and would like your guidance.”
She popped over to us with a smile. “Anything you need. What are we plotting now?”
I filled her in on the situation with Victor, loving when her expression turned to disgust at what the government was trying to do. I made a thick folder appear and handed it to her. “I’d like you to get with Samuel and figure out the best way to leak that. I’ve regularly donated to the British Museum since it was open. I’m the reason it was able to open almost three hundred years ago.
“I would like you to use that and link it to the nest. Let’s see if they’ll be so quick to screw over their oldest citizens when they realize they haven’t done all their homework. Also, they’ve been aiding us in the project to save all that land in Peru. I believe Jerome has a lot of before and after pictures. Some of the trees in their orchards are older than most of London’s roads, and they want to tear it all down to build whatever.”
“You are so much fun to work for, boss,” she chuckled, flipping through the folder. “I’ll get with everyone and assign a team to it immediately. We were debating how to spin the Peru project, and this is good. People are already posting whispers about the cartel there being gone and now the land regrowing.”
“We know nothing about that bad cartel, but you can make public the fact I bought the land to regrow and protect it, and the nest and some lions are aiding me in the project.”
“Got it.” She glanced over her shoulder when a different food truck appeared. “Oh, I love pudding. Good timing.”
“Did you get any time off lately if you’re working this weekend?” I asked, hating that I was adding to their piles.
She gave me a bright smile. “I took Monday and Tuesday off so I was ready for whatever popped up during the tribunal. I’m good, I promise.”
“Good. Arrange some sort of bonus or party for your department. We’ve been giving you a lot extra lately with all the problems.” I waited until she nodded. “Do you need more help?”
She slowly nodded. “If we’re going to keep doing big projects like the New York subway and stuff, yeah; we’re getting slammed with calls for comments and whatnot.”
“Hire who you need as long as they’re cleared through Tommy.” I winked at her before she popped over to the food truck, lost in my head for a bit as I stared at Hunt and the games going on.
“You okay?” Brax asked, his tone worried.
“What? Fine. Just thinking,” I told him. “Did you need something?”
“I was just asking if you wanted anything from the pudding truck, as apparently there are such things as pudding trucks.”
“Yes, thank you. Whatever is fine.” I accepted the kiss he offered before leaving.
“Something else is going on in your head,” Victor said quietly when we were alone.
I sighed, pushing my hair off my shoulder. “I’ve been having this feeling for a while that I won’t be enough. That just me won’t be enough for whatever was coming either for what my coven needs or… I don’t kno
w. I never thought I could beat my father, and I assumed that had been the feeling when I saw Helen with a bomb on her neck. But I beat him. It’s not fully sunken in, but I did.”
“And?”
I looked at him and let him see the worry I was feeling. “So why am I not relieved that I was enough? Why do I still have that feeling haunting me?”
“Soraya, we all have that feeling,” he whispered as he stared out at the water. “I’ve had that feeling for the longest time as leader of our nest. I remember having that feeling when I was human so, so long ago. I thought I wouldn’t be enough to protect my family. I thought I wouldn’t be enough to keep Andrew and I fed when we were made vampires and left to figure it out alone. I hear humans worry of the same now with money issues. It’s normal.”
“So you think I’m feeling something normal, but since I get weird feelings or dreams, I’m assuming it’s that?”
“Maybe.” He shrugged. “You are a miracle, and I would never sit here and tell you what you feel. I’m saying as someone who has lived over five thousand years that I always have felt that. It’s part of having responsibilities.”
“Thanks, I’ll think on that.”
I watched the fun, noting Andrew was struggling and Hunt was looking in the distance.
“Time!” Bacchus called.
“She cheated,” the woman who’d been pleasing Hunt accused. She pushed to her feet and stormed towards me. “You cheated. You did something to them to make them not finish.”
“No she didn’t,” Andrew and Hunt snorted together.
She glared at them. “She could have done it without you even knowing.”
Well, maybe she wasn’t as stupid as most.
I stood and went over to Hunt, running my fingers along the collar. “Pet, why don’t you tell her what you thought of her performance. Tell them all, honestly and without trying to sugar coat it.”
“She had no finesse,” he blurted, looking horrified he did. “She slobbered all over me. No gag reflex is great, but it’s not sexy to be so gross.”
She scoffed and stormed off. I gave Hunt a wink, went over to Andrew, and made him admit the same.
“You are so, so much fun, Soraya,” Bacchus praised after everyone stopped laughing at what Andrew admitted.
I went back to Hunt and traced the lines of his abs. “Amuse me by being blunt with them, and I’ll let you mount me and bite me for all to see.” I smirked at him. “You want to be possessive with me in front of all these people, pet?” His naked dick twitched, and I had my answer. “Hopefully you don’t give a good review of any of them.”
“Even if I do, that doesn’t mean I want them more than you,” he defended.
Fair enough.
Bacchus started the next round as Brax joined us with several pudding options.
“You totally did something, right?” Brax said under his breath.
I snorted. “Of course I did.”
Victor and Brax both had trouble not laughing, and it took them a few minutes to calm down and eat their pudding. Andrew lost shortly after, cursing the whole time he came. He took his annoyance at losing out on the woman, drilling her right there bent against the bar after she freed him. She looked thrilled to experience it.
“I so want to play next,” Cameron admitted as she joined my group along with Sangria. She nodded over to Brax’s siblings. “They look like they want to play too. Do angels not get sex on the other plane?”
“I can hear your thoughts and know you’re pumping me for information, which you won’t get,” Brax informed her, his voice even. He gave me a curious glance. “You’re the first I’ve ever spent time with that hasn’t pumped me for information.”
I snorted as I finished my pudding and laid down on my stomach. “Because I hate when people do it to me. Plus, knowledge is not always power. A lot of times it’s a burden. I know more than I feel I should most days, so keep the other secrets, please, don’t add to my shoulders.”
“Wait, I meant to poke, not start serious,” Cameron cut in when Brax tried to reply. “Let’s go next, Soraya. You, me, and Sangria.”
Sangria shrugged. “I’m game. I was checking out Tommy this visit, but he is apparently off the market.”
I followed her gaze to find Helen and Tommy sitting at a cabana down the way, enjoying their pudding. She once again had some bland one piece on, and I fixed that, smirking when I heard cussing.
“Wear something so unflattering again and I will just make you naked,” I threatened. “Make sure someone rubs you with lotion.”
“You are so, so mean,” Brax chuckled, shaking his head. Then he burst out laughing. “Tommy’s grateful though.”
Yeah, that was funny.
“You kids have fun,” I told Cameron and Sangria, shrugging when they both gave me shocked looks. “I think I’ve done enough this time around people will be talking about for a while. I could use some time being entertained instead of being the entertainment.”
“Fair enough,” Sangria accepted, Cameron agreeing.
Hunt ended up passing, which wasn’t a shock to me. When there was no contender left, I went over to him and took off the restraint I’d put on his collar. Then I stroked him for all to see, letting him finish on me much to their shock.
“Fuck, that was better than any of their blow jobs,” he groaned when he was done.
I smirked at him, knowing it was the truth since I hadn’t fixed that yet. I altered his collar so he didn’t have to admit anything anymore and released his hands. The second he was free, he scooped me up and tossed me into the pool, coming in right after. He tore the suit off of me and moved me so I was facing my cabana before banging me with all he had and biting my shoulder.
He pressed his lips against my ear when we were done. “I know you rigged the game, but I could have done it. All I wanted was to be inside of you the whole time. None of them could come close to you and what you make me feel. That first time I rubbed against you in the ocean was better than what they did.”
“Good pet,” I praised, tilting my neck so he could kiss me. Hearing that helped heal some of my old wounds that seeing my father had reopened. I would accept that even if in my heart I knew this wouldn’t last.
Nothing lasted forever, and it was stupid to think otherwise.
We got out of the pool and went to the cabana. I waved my hand and put on another of the same suit since he’d ruined it. He put up the cover for shade when I started rubbing my skin and situated me between him and Brax as we watched the impressive show Cameron and Sangria put on. They lost a few times, but really they didn’t seem too torn up about it as they had fun with the winners later.
They started a trend though, and by lunch two other elders had their turns, and two more were going after we ate. Glad I wasn’t the only dirty fucker.
It honestly made me feel better that others were letting loose so big because I’d been having so much sex and partying that it was enough to even tire me out. I thought about it all during lunch.
To round out the tribunal, we went all out. There was a crazy fry truck, that cool grilled cheese one again, New York pizza, that fab fried chicken sandwich and wrap one, one that made huge crazy burgers, and a sausage, hotdog, and brat one that Brax seemed thrilled about. We ate our fill, drank more than we should, and all misbehaved.
I’d just finished dancing naked on Brax’s lap again when people got distracted by a shaved ice and cool ice cream truck. He must have felt my mood as he cupped my cheek and asked me what was wrong.
“I will probably retreat for a while after this is over,” I blurted, having absolutely no grace when it came to matters of the heart.
He gave me a gentle smile and then a soft kiss. “I understand. It’s what I’m feeling too. Letting loose like this and going to such… Yeah, I’m waiting for my norm to hit me and take a step or four back. I’ve heard the same from Hunt before you cut him off from me.”
“It wasn’t for you, and he can still think things at you.”
“I know. I agree with the decision.” He moved his other hand to my face as well, holding me where I was. “And take whatever steps back you need, Soraya. You’ve been through fucking hell recently and with too much pressure as we ask you to save the world. You blew off some steam, and I get it. I get this isn’t your normal. I’m glad you went a bit wild and crazy. Hell, I had fun doing it with you, but life isn’t a party.”
“No, no it’s not,” I agreed, relieved I’d brought it up like an adult instead of being dismissive like I normally might be.
It helped me enjoy the last night of the party, as we never even went into the ballroom and instead had everything delivered out to the pool. Hey, night swimming was just as fun even if the temperature got a bit cold.
I had two sexy men who were dying to keep me warm and a line of others if I wanted.
And I might have sampled a few of them while taking too many shots. Hunt and Brax didn’t mind at all, both making comments that they loved watching and were glad I was having so much fun. As long as I came back to them, they had no problem with what I did.
That was the catch though. I had to come back. They assumed I would come back and I was theirs enough that I would return. Maybe that was what weighed on me? How did one get used to that idea after centuries of not having that weight on them? It had been about nine hundred years since I’d been real with a man besides a few lame attempts sprinkled over the years since then.
I was scared I would fail. It all boiled down to that and not feeling like I was enough, the pressure of it all hitting me for some reason. I spoke with Sangria, and she suggested I needed some wins. Yes, I’d stopped Colin, but that was another problem to handle. Same with my father and the elders. I needed a win on something that was already weighing on me, not to conquer the new problems as they arose.
I sat with that, and it was on my mind when I snuggled down to sleep between Brax and Hunt, reminding myself there were perks to being attached, as sleeping with two delicious men was much more fun than always sleeping alone. Besides, I could kick them out if I needed space. That was normal, right?