“Did you really sneak out of bed on me?” I teased, mumbling into my pillow.
“I see how it is,” said an amused voice. “I leave for a few days, and you move out of my room.”
“Aaron,” I said, rolling over and blinking up at my first true mate. “You’re here?”
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you can summon the proper guilt later,” he said with a wink. He pounced onto the bed, rolling over and settling beside me. He propped his head on one hand, the other slipping down to my hip. “You do feel guilty, right?”
“Guilty?” I asked, with a half-asleep snort. “Darrel’s my mate, too.”
“Oh, we all know that.” Aaron waved a dismissive hand. “Trust me. And it’s okay if you move in here. I could use that extra drawer.”
“Really?” I asked, feeling suddenly shitty for assuming Aaron wanted me to crash in his room forever. I’d just moved in. A weird feeling writhed in my stomach, and I realized that I’d just assumed a lot of things about living here. Who just up and moved into someone else’s home after knowing that person for a week? Maybe they’d been tolerating me, thinking it was going to be a short visit, and then I just kept staying.
“No, Honey. I was kidding. I’d tie you to my bed and keep you in my room if you’d let me,” he said with a wicked grin. “If you let me do that, I might even free up some closet space.”
“Aaron Knight,” I said with mock sternness. “Are you implying that I pay for closet space with sexual favors?”
“It’s not a favor if you want to do it,” he said, leaning over to brush his lips over mine. “But any time you want to thank me, I hear that blowjobs are the new thank-you cards.”
Heat suffused my core as I remembered the taste and feel of Darrel’s cock in my mouth last night. I didn’t expect to like it so much. I wondered if taking Aaron into my mouth would turn me on as much.
He inhaled deeply, and I realized the smell of my lust was pumping into the room. His brows rose and gaze glittered. “I was joking, but...” He pounced and rolled on top of me. “Wow.”
I laughed and threw my arms around his neck. “Tempting as that sounds, it will have to wait,” I said, linking my hands behind his neck and kissing him again. I could hear voices in the other room again, which meant both Darrel and Lance must be up. I checked the clock and was surprised to see it was barely seven.
“You’re all up early,” I commented.
“You... might not want to go out there,” Aaron said as he pressed his body up the length of mine.
Waking up like this, I definitely didn’t want to go out there. But with the way this was going, Aaron and I might end up doing something we shouldn’t be doing in Darrel’s bed. Aaron had this way of making me forget everything, and that would be very wrong right here and now. I kissed him one more time and said, “I kind of have to go out there.”
“Alright, then you probably should know that Darrel told Lance and me over coffee that we both needed to start dating you rather than only trying to fuck you. After that, he said some shit about the cosmos and marriage.”
I reeled back. “Please tell me you’re kidding.”
Aaron gave an apologetic grimace. “Not this time. And for some reason, this really seemed to hit a sore spot with Lance. They’re about two seconds from murdering each other...” When I wriggled against Aaron, fighting to get up, he corrected, “With glares, not fists.”
I fell back. “I could kill Darrel myself.”
Annoyance surged through me, but I also immediately knew that I should have seen it coming. Darrel was forthright to the point of being overly blunt. He was also too perceptive. Settling back, I stared up into Aaron’s citrine eyes. “Why is it that the things that I like most about you guys are also the things that drive me up a wall?”
“I’ve never had a relationship that lasted past a couple of fights, but I’m guessing that one is pretty normal.” He gave me a look that I couldn’t quite read. “Lance seemed to take it all uncharacteristically personal. He said something like, the only one you expressed any interest in dating was Darrel, who was also the only one of us you automatically fell into a serious relationship with. You might want to stay safely in here with me until they stop fighting. I slipped off because I figured it didn’t apply to me. I’ve been trying to date you for weeks, and you’re just using me for my body.”
He said it like a joke, but his words gutted me. “This isn’t my thing, Aaron. I just made some stupid off-hand comment to Darrel about wanting to get to know all of you better. And you haven’t been trying to date me.”
He leaned his forehead against mine. “I haven’t? What about two weekends ago when I tried to take you bowling?”
“Bowling? That’s a friend date.” I shrugged. “I didn’t know that you were asking me on a date-date.”
“You and Mack had been joking about how you used to go bowling, and he always won and gloated, so you swore it off forever but ended up wanting to sneak there without him.” He gave me a look like, “see?” “I also asked you to go dancing, to that movie you re-watched the trailer for five times about the chick thing, that ghost tour, kayaking in the lagoon you have to hike to, to make pottery shit...”
Crap.
“I’m sorry, Aaron. I just thought all of that was friend stuff, and I’ve been so busy.” It sounded lame even to my ears. I hadn’t been too busy to watch movies on the couch with him or to have watching movies turn into pausing that movie so he could tongue fuck me before bending me over on that same couch. He had every right to call me out on my shit. “I’m not using you for your body, Aaron,” I said. “Or your closet space.”
He gave me a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring but only made me feel like more of an asshole. He moved his hips, pushing my legs apart so he could settle between my thighs. “I was just teasing you, Scarlet. We’ll date when you’re ready. And Lance probably has a stick up his ass about something else. They’re both going to be pissed that I snuck in to see you, as they want you to sleep. A lawyer named Jane is picking you up in an hour and a half so you can start investigating.”
Just thinking about that made me want to go back to sleep. All of my enthusiasm for solving this mystery died with my confidence that Zane was innocent. But I would do all I could to investigate. That was my duty as an alpha. “Wait, when did you even get here? I thought you weren’t coming until Saturday.”
“Lance called me about the murders around midnight.”
I furrowed my brow, doing the math. “You drove through the night?”
“I might have,” he said, rubbing his nose along mine. “I figured you might need my help with scenting.”
Shit. Now I felt even worse. He drove through the night to help me only to get shit from Darrel for trying to fuck me rather than date me, when it had always been the other way around. “Why are you such a sweet man?”
Aaron covered his heart, his eyes widening with innocence. “Sweet? Come on, Scarlet. You know my reputation better than that.”
“Well, I’m glad to have you on the investigation with us. I’ve seen firsthand that the rumors about you are true.”
“Yes, you have,” he growled and pushed up, rubbing his hardening cock against the juncture between my thighs.
“I meant the rumor that no wolf in the world can match your scenting abilities, and I need all the help I can get.”
“My mistake,” he said through a chuckle as he nuzzled into my neck. He pushed against me again, sending a pulse of lust through me. “Want to do something really bad?” he whispered, his tone making the words sound even more devious.
“Nope. Nope,” I said, just as much for myself as him, my breaths coming fast. “Not in Darrel’s bed.”
He lifted away, giving me a look that made my toe’s curl. “It’s not like we haven’t done it everywhere else in the apartment.”
I pointed into Aaron’s face. “There is a line, Mr. Knight, and this is firmly on the wrong side of it.”
He chuckled,
but he let me up.
I squeezed my eyes shut, attempted to pull my shit together and convince my racing heart to slow, and then I rolled out of bed. “First order of business is coffee.”
Throwing open the door, I stumbled into the kitchen to find Darrel not with Lance but Mack. I pulled up short at the sight of my fae bestie looking painfully beautiful as ever, and my second True Mate wearing the stone-faced expression he reserved for dealing with fae and talking about fae, including my best friend. And here I was wearing a man’s T-shirt that hung halfway to my knees, with my strawberry blonde hair sticking in twenty directions and a bad case of haven’t-yet-ingested-coffee. I was in no way ready to greet this day.
I grabbed the hem of the shirt—Darrel’s T-shirt—and tugged at it while raking my other hand through my tangles. Mack had been my roommate for a year and a half, and he’d seen me at my worst. But that was before he’d taken my virginity, and our entire relationship turned on its head. It wasn’t enough that we were two different species who were supposed to be enemies. No, I had to find out I had two—maybe three—true mates the same day we took the next step in our relationship. Usually, he, Aaron, and I hung out together, and there was no awkwardness about the whole True Mate bond thing. But this was the first time Darrel and Mack had been in the same room since Darrel and I had cemented our mate-bond.
Trying to act like there wasn’t tension crackling through the kitchen, I crossed the room and plopped down at the table. “Good morning.”
Aaron threw an arm over Mack’s shoulder. “Morning, sweetheart,” he said as he mussed Mack’s dark hair. “What are you doing here?”
“Morning, darling,” Mack said, giving Aaron a big kiss on the cheek before throwing me a saucy wink.
“Stop it, you two are making me jealous,” I joked, though watching Mack and Aaron playfully flirt didn’t make me jealous. They did it all the time when the three of us were together.
Their teasing play broke up the tension in the room, and Darrel turned to the stove and flipped a pancake.
“And good morning to you, sexy,” Mack said as he wriggled away from Aaron’s arm. With a grin, he snagged the coffee pot and poured me a cup.
“You’re in a good mood.” I took the cup and gulped my first taste of warm heaven. “Has Queen Titania calmed down?”
“No. I think my anxiety just hit its breaking point. I wish I had better news, Scar.” He fell into the chair beside mine. “I came by to talk to you, but I didn’t want to wake you. I figured you could use the rest after meeting my mother.”
I took another sip, relishing the bitter burn.
“You met his mother?” Aaron asked, a smile forming as he looked from me to Mack. “That’s a big step. Does that mean you’ll be moving in here with us soon? I might have to get a bigger bed.”
Darrel cleared his throat and glowered at his brother. “Queen Titania threatened Scarlet,” he said, stepping behind my chair and resting his hands on my shoulders. “In three days, all of us might be going to war.”
“I’m not going to let that happen,” I said. What I told Aaron this morning couldn’t be truer. The reasons I was falling in love with Darrel so easily and completely—his honesty, bluntness, perceptiveness, and dogged protectiveness—were also the reasons he was getting on my last nerve this morning.
Mack shifted in his seat. “Actually, I came to explain what’s happening with Queen Titania and to help Scarlet.”
“More threats?” I asked, holding in my groan.
“A decree…” He swallowed, dropping his eyes to his hands. “I want to preface this by saying that I will not let this happen. If all else fails, I have a way to stop her. But a fae messenger is going to arrive to deliver this message, and you should hear it from me first. The fae messenger is a trap. It will be someone she wants you to kill. If you kill them, she’ll attack immediately without waiting for Zane to be released.”
“Just come out with it, Mack,” I said. I flicked my gaze over to Darrel, and he nodded slightly. Swallowing, I added, “We can handle your message without killing the messenger. What’s the message?”
“She’s calling for a hunt. Whoever brings her Zane alive will be able to make any request. The hunt starts the moment the police release Zane Reed from custody. The queen has granted permission to kill anyone protecting him—up to twenty-two wolves.”
Chapter Nine
Scarlet
Silence followed Mack’s words. It wasn’t a huge revelation after everything the queen spewed at me last night, but I’d hoped that Titania had returned home and calmed down after the police station. Considering the years of peace we’d had with the Spring Court, I’d hoped she would decide to handle this discretely.
Obviously, all my hopes were in vain.
“What happens if Scarlet proves Zane is innocent?” Aaron asked as he slipped into the chair on the other side of me.
“Or if I can’t prove it and handle the situation myself?” The words made me feel sick, especially with who I suspected of actually committing the crime. At the end of the day, though, this was my responsibility.
Mack shook his head. “If you kill Zane yourself, Queen Titania will call for the hunt to deliver the heads of twenty-two werewolves. But if you can provide enough evidence that Titania believes Zane is innocent, she can’t start a war.”
“Like hell she won’t,” Darrel growled.
“She won’t. She’ll have to call off the hunt,” Mack said, ignoring Darrel and taking my hand. “It’s complicated, but it all started when my mother tried to steal Oberon’s kingdom.”
“What?” Aaron asked, looking as shocked with the abrupt change in conversation as I was.
“I was a kid. My mother, she’s ambitious. She’s also obsessed with King Oberon. The feeling isn’t mutual. Probably to get his attention, she attempted to usurp him.”
“What does this have to do with anything?” Darrel growled, his wolf shining through his eyes.
“It has to do with everything. King Oberon cursed her for a hundred years—and in that time, if she does anything to grab power from anyone else, Queen Titania will wither and die.”
“Then maybe we should let her,” Darrel grumbled as he pushed away from my chair.
“Darrel.” I turned, ready to really let him have it, but Mack held up a hand.
“He has a right to say that. A lot of people have a right to say that. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.” Mack inhaled deeply and rubbed his thumb across my palm. “After Queen Titania was cursed, my mother bound a fae prince from each kingdom to her life force for the length of the curse—including Oberon’s favorite son and heir. If she begins to wither, she will drain each of them of their life force to keep herself alive as long as possible. Which means before she dies, all of them die, too.”
“You’re talking about the four fae in the police station?” I asked, realizing who he was referring to. “She bound her own son?”
“Yeah, my brother, Naveen. The queen has a lot of us. Her disposable sons.” His voice held years of resentment.
Guilt hit me, strong and hard, and I squeezed his hand. He’d been suffering this shit for years, wanting to confide in his best friend, and I’d blocked his every attempt. Like an asshole, I’d assumed that because he was a celebrity prince with infinite resources and I was dirt-poor, that all I was doing was shielding him and his perfect life from my baggage. All this time, he’d been suffering this alone, and I’d been right here, refusing to comfort him. “I don’t deserve you.”
“What?” His brow furrowed, and I realized I’d said the last part aloud.
I felt too sick to repeat myself. “So, the queen plans to kill just enough of us that it will be revenge only, a life for a life?”
“If she starts killing werewolves, the surrounding packs will attack her,” Aaron said.
“And she’ll use whatever alliances she has in place to wipe out all of us without this curse killing her,” I said, feeling sicker by the second.
&n
bsp; “Taking over Heartland by a fucking loophole.” Darrel’s fists clenched. Smoke curled up from the pan behind him.
“The chocolate-chip pancake,” I cried as I leapt to my feet, making my chair topple over.
All three of the guys spun, startled.
“Scarlet, he has a stack of probably twelve there,” Aaron said, but I was already moving.
“The shit may be hitting the fan in life, but that is no reason to ruin breakfast.”
Darrel yanked the pan off the burner, turning me back to the table. “I’ll take care of this,” he said. “You just eat.”
Across the table, my phone lit up with a text, reminding me that I’d set it to silent. I checked through my messages, seeing the tenant directly below Zeezee and Zane’s apartment was reporting a leak from their roof.
Well, shit.
Are you home? I texted Zeezee.
Still at work. She sent back almost immediately.
You’re working at a strip club at seven in the morning?
She didn’t respond.
Zeezee, I’m going into your apartment. Come home now. We need to talk. That’s an order from your alpha.
She didn’t respond.
I dropped my forehead onto the table. “Shit on a stick. She has finally driven me to it. I’m going to kill her.”
A moment after I said the words, my heart sank as I remembered that I might truly have to execute my little sister. Tears pricked at my eyes, and I blinked them away. No. That wasn’t going to happen. There had to be another explanation.
“I thought your landlord was letting you take today off?” Darrel asked as he held a big stack of chocolate pancakes over the table.
“There’s a leak coming from Zeezee and Zane’s apartment. I might as well fix it. If I’m in there, I have an excuse to comb it for evidence of his innocence.”
“Trying to rot out all of our teeth in one meal?” Aaron asked as he leaned in to examine the food. There was an odd tone in his voice, as if he was forcing a jovial note. Darrel started forking pancakes onto plates, setting three in front of me, himself, and Mack.
Filthy Fae: A Dirty Alphas Novel (Heartland Forest Book 2) Page 7