by Joyee Flynn
“Thank you. I feel the same way, Rylan.” I blinked in shock because that was a powerful statement she just made to everyone there. Basically she was saying our kingdoms had a much deeper bond than just allies. Wow. “You mentioned earlier that I couldn’t understand your position because the margays’ blood was not bespelled like the fae. That could be changed. That would also be a powerful threat to keep the covens in line.”
“You would do that?” Rylan asked, hope in his eyes as his shoulders relaxed. I knew this had to be weighing heavily on him.
“I don’t know if my magic alone would be strong enough. From what I read of the spell my ancestors wrote of, it took several elders and the King at the time to make the magic work for all the fae.”
“I don’t know if I’d be of any help being half fae but I am of your bloodline,” Barnabas Leopold said. “I would give whatever help I could.”
“As would I, my Queen,” Asterio agreed, stepping forward. “I am three thousand years old and you know my magic is powerful.” Several others did as well and the Queen confirmed that with their help that would be enough magic to make the spell work. Something clicked in my head and I gasped.
“That’s how they’re making humans become demon,” I blurted out.
“By fae bespelling demon blood?” Rylan asked, his eyes going so wide that they looked ready to pop out of his head.
“No, I heard Dubois say they had witches when he was talking to the traitor.”
“Wait, one thing at a time,” Rylan sighed, shaking his head when everyone looked ready to question me at once. “Okay, if you talk to the covens and they agree to this, I will drastically reduce their punishment, but they cannot go unpunished.”
“I understand.” I swallowed loudly as he stared at my mates. “What is your ruling, my King?” He stared at them for several minutes. Just when I thought I was going to go insane at the silence and waiting, he finally spoke.
“They agree to stay a part of this coven, reside at the palace. No going back to Greece and taking you off with them out of my range of authority and where I can’t watch them.”
“Aye, of course,” Rian said immediately. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Ronan nodding as well.
“Consider yourselves on probation,” Rylan hedged. “We will tell the other covens that your sentencing included a year of service to the crown and the margays, educating vampires about the true effects and dangers of not being prepared for the rush. I can’t outlaw direct biting besides mates, because that wouldn’t even have helped us here. That extra aggression you guys feel seems to have been half the problem.
“Plus, I’m a pain in the ass. Not a bastard. It’s none of my business what people do in their bed as long as no one’s getting hurt. So I want that made clear and you both will be in charge of teaching this coven and any other covens who want advisors. Maybe even require them all to go through a seminar.”
“Aye, we will do that. Of course,” Ronan agreed.
Rylan nodded and then narrowed his eyes at my mates. “And lastly, you’re not allowed to be alone with Bevin until I say otherwise. You swore not to bite him and I will leave that up to him if he changes his mind. But until I feel you can control yourselves around him and drink from him if he wishes without worrying for his safety you’re not to be alone with him. This is non-negotiable. Am I crystal fucking clear?”
“Aye,” they both whispered.
“My King, I ask that you at least let me choose the guard,” I said quietly. “If they are to see every aspect of my alone time with my mates, I would beg that it be someone I was comfortable with.”
“You’ll need more than one,” Rylan replied with a nod. “But no vampires. Until we’ve cleared that there were no other traitors in the coven, I don’t want your only line of defense against your mates stepping over the line potentially someone who wants to cause you harm.”
“As you wish, my King.” I sighed in relief. That was way better than executing them. It was just a fucking accident after all. Granted, a really big one, but welcome to life… Shit happens.
“Anyone else have anything to say before I finalize my sentencing?” Rylan asked, looking exhausted and ready for a nap.
Desmond and Elena Marius moved closer, each putting a supportive hand on Ma’s shoulder. “Only that we have contacts on all the High Councils that have covens with margays in them, King Rylan,” Desmond said. “We will make sure they all know about the situation and the severity of the consequences. No one wants another accident to happen.”
“Good, thank you. I appreciate that. Fine. Sentencing over.” Rylan stood and stretched. “Alright, everyone, thank you for coming. The palace is still on lockdown until we handle the issue of the traitor. I’d ask the key players in the next discussion with Bevin please join us for dinner.” He glanced at me then. “In an hour? That should give you time to shower, change, take a break after what you’ve been through. Then we’ll make sure you eat and get some good sleep.”
“That sounds great,” I admitted. I started to get up, but after being in that position for so long after how tired I’d been, I started to fall right back over. Instantly I was in Rian’s arms, him having been the closer of the two. “Thank you.”
“Thank ya,” he breathed. “Ya saved us, and after what we did to ya, I’m not sure we can ever thank ya.”
I nodded as I thought about it. “Just be patient with me. I’m not sure I’m okay with being alone with you both yet or letting you bite me ever again. I don’t want you dead or to deny you. I’m just scared.”
“We understand,” Ronan said, giving me a sad smile as grief swam in his eyes. “Can we help ya to ya room?”
“I’d like that.” I glanced at Rylan and nodded to their shackles.
“Right, release them. Any fae who’s willing to be Bevin’s constant protection, no matter where he is or what he’s doing, please step forward. Vega and one more always need to be at his door or shadowing him if he’s not safely in his room.”
“Did I at least tell you who the traitor was?” I asked Rylan. He held out his hand and helped me up. I kept my voice low so only he and maybe the other margays and wolves in the room would hear me. The second my mates were free they were surrounded by their massive family. Wow. That was a lot of people. It must be nice to have a big family like that of people who truly cared for them.
“Jon is secured at the High Council’s cells under their estate,” he answered at the same volume. “That’s what you were trying to tell us, right?”
“Yes, and I think it’s just him though.”
“Good to know,” he sighed. “Okay, just tell us all at dinner. Take a break, get cleaned up, and say hi to your mates now that I’m not threatening to chop off their heads.” His eyes filled with tears as he pulled me into his arms. “I can’t lose you, Bev. I’ve lost too much and too many people. I wouldn’t survive losing my best friend.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Ry. I love you too.”
“Good, okay,” he mumbled, clearing his throat, probably remembering people were everywhere. “Glad we got that straightened out.”
“Goofball,” I snickered.
“Your guard choices await.” I leaned back and glanced at Rylan’s face, raising an eyebrow when I saw he was trying not to burst out laughing. We broke apart and I turned to see every fae warrior that Queen Magdalena had transferred authority of to Rylan. Sure, they were still her people, but they also swore an allegiance to Rylan since she didn’t need that many. In turn the margays helped her people in many, many different ways.
“Seriously? You guys all that bored you want to sit in the room while I sleep?” I giggled nervously. “What’s up with that?”
“King Rylan did say all the time and everything you do,” Zion answered, wiggling his eyebrows at me. “I figured that included showering.”
“He’s taken,” Rian snarled as he shoved the warrior aside. I hadn’t even seen them move out of their family circle with the wall of fae blocking
my view. “Ya can’t have him.”
“I just said the order was to watch him all the time,” Zion replied with a shrug. “I’m a voyeur. So sue me.”
“That one likes ya too much,” Ronan bitched as he was suddenly there, hugging me from behind. I flinched and he ran his hands down my arms, soothing me. “Ya not have anything to fear, me heart.” As if showing me, he leaned in and gently kissed my neck. “See? Just want to love on ya a bit. Nothing more.” Then he moved to the other side and did the same thing, his lips lingering a little longer. “Me heart, ya be perfect. I love that ya shiver at me kiss.”
“I love the accent,” I admitted as I melted against him. “Okay, no Zion.”
“Thank ya, me heart,” Rian said as he moved to my right. Ronan made room for his twin, and then I was sandwiched between them, both of them touching and kissing me gently on my neck, ears, and my hair. Oh god, I was going to end up being a puddle on the floor. “Ya go ahead and pick so we can get ya cleaned up and take care of our mate.”
“Okay,” I moaned as I shook at their attention on me.
“Don’t tease us,” Ronan breathed in my ear as his lips pressed against it. “Ya make noises like that and we be thinking of other ways to take care of ya besides showing ya we can be gentle. Ya have to know what the side effect of ya blood did to us.” I flinched and he swore under his breath. “I’m sorry, but we can’t just ignore we screwed up.”
“I know,” I mumbled. At least I didn’t pull away, right? I focused on the guards. “Lavache and Teagani. Zion can be with Vega on the door and whoever else they have rotate out with them.”
“Good. Then let’s get ya taken care of,” Rian purred. I was up in his arms in a flash. I directed them to my rooms as I took in Ronan’s form. He really was the carbon copy of Rian. Weird but awesome because they were gorgeous. It was true that they weren’t as bulky as warriors. But I kind of liked that. They were already so much taller and bigger than me. I mean, their arms were thick with muscles enough to be the size of my thighs.
They didn’t need any more than that. What they had was delicious.
It was almost amusing because Lavache and Teagani argued on the way to my suite. Apparently me in the shower made them each want to take the first shift.
“Ya didn’t know ya were so popular, did ya?” Rian asked me softly.
“No,” I answered honestly, glancing from him back to the warriors. “I was kind of pissed about that earlier.”
“Why?” Ronan inquired. I opened my mouth and then snapped it shut. I couldn’t tell them about the conversation. That would be so mean! Especially after the rocky start we got off on. “Ya can tell us anything. There shouldn’t be any secrets in a mating.”
“I concur but there’s things I can still keep to myself,” I hedged. “And there’s no need to put salt in open wounds right now. We’re just starting to act like mates.”
“I agree and we appreciate ya kind heart,” Rian said gently as Ronan opened the door to my suite. “But I think now that we know something be up, we’ll be more worried than any damage knowing what it is could really do. Please?”
I sighed as he set me on my feet. “Zion told me he wanted me, and I blew up that if he had told me months ago when we’d met I could have known what it was like to have sex with a fae warrior then. I would never cheat. And it’s really not a big deal. I swear. I think it just hit me that I now know who I’ll be having sex with for the rest of my life and then he was rubbing it in my face that I could have experienced something that I can’t now. I’m sorry.”
“No, we understand.” Rian bobbed his head, but I saw the sadness in his eyes. “Like ya bucket list. Ya would have liked to cross that off.”
“Maybe. I don’t know.” I shrugged. “It was more just no one tells me anything. I don’t like that. Why did everyone keep that they wanted me from me? It would have been nice to feel wanted especially adapting to moving here, becoming Rylan’s Chief Advisor, and healing after the trauma my people went through. I’ve been so stressed out. I could have used the relief and fun of sex.”
They both nodded again and I started to feel awkward. Ronan was the first to speak, and honestly if I didn’t have the crazy good hearing of a margay then I wouldn’t even have heard what he said. “We wouldn’t stop ya if ya still want to sample what Zion offers.”
“No!” I gasped, immediately closing the distance between us and hugging him. “Never! Never think that I don’t feel blessed. Yes, we got off to a bad start but I would never forsake my mates. I wouldn’t ever have mentioned it. It’s not like it’s always been my fantasy. I mean my biggest fantasy is—” I snapped my mouth shut so fast I felt my teeth click.
“Is what?” Rian asked. I shook my head and backed away from them. It was too soon to tell them and then it would be like I was really teasing them. I headed to my attached bathroom, realizing my mates were following.
I shivered when I felt Ronan’s hands against my back as he undid the ties of the hospital gown. “What be ya fantasy, me heart? Let us give it to ya.”
“We won’t judge ya,” Rian assured us. “We have fantasies too. We’ll share them all with ya.”
“Truly?” I whispered, hoping that was true… And that I could be enough for them.
“Aye,” they said together.
“Two men,” I mumbled, slipping out of the gown and moving into the bathroom to turn on the shower.
“Ya want two men loving on ya?” Rian purred as his hands slipped into my sweatpants. His hands moved down to my ass when I was pretty sure that wasn’t needed to take them off. He gave it a firm squeeze before trailing his fingers between my cheeks and fondling my hole. I toed off my flip-flops and nodded. He kissed my neck again and his tongue traced the shell of my ear. “Inside ya at once?”
“Yes, that they take me in every way,” I moaned, shivering at the contact of his hands as he pushed my pants down. “That I’m enough to satisfy two men and they want no one but me.”
“Ya be more than enough to satisfy us both with this sexy little body,” Rian assured me. I stepped out of my clothes and shook my head.
“Only because my blood makes my mates horny. That wouldn’t happen with normal vampires. It wasn’t about my blood in the fantasy,” I said sadly and stepped into the shower.
“Good thing the curtain’s see-through. Otherwise you’d have to leave it open and there’d be a huge mess,” Lavache snickered. Yeah, that was what I was focused on right then.
“Bullshite,” Ronan growled as he stepped into the shower with me. I gasped and spun around to face him, shivering with fear when I saw his fangs out and his eyes had changed color to black.
“Ronan, take it down,” Lavache warned.
“I’m not going to bite me heart,” Ronan snapped. “I’m pissed he doubts his own value.” He pinned me against the tile, his large body surrounding mine. I felt his erection against my body as he grabbed my ass and pulled me closer. “I not be hard because of ya blood, Bev. I saw ya naked and know ya be ours. That’s what set me on fire. Never doubt that we wanted ya before we ever tasted ya blood.”
“And we chased ya because we cared and wanted ya something fierce,” Rian agreed as he joined us in the shower. Good thing it was a big one otherwise there wouldn’t have been room for all of us. Ronan turned me so my back was pressed against his body as Rian surrounded me from the front. “Ya be everything we ever dreamed of and more. Fuck ya blood. We drink from the bags.”
“You have a birthmark,” I whispered as I reached out and touched it, trying to ignore the pole between his legs. Damn, my mates were very big boys. I bet they were at least nine, nine and a half inches each and wider than my hand. My hole clenched at the idea of them filling me with such fun.
“Aye. One of each set of twins always has it,” he said as he moved my other hand to his heart. “The first of the two to pop out. Technically I’m older than Ronan.”
“By two minutes.” Ronan snorted.
“Do ya know why we ca
ll ya me heart, Bev?” Rian whispered as he slowly lowered his lips to mine. He didn’t wait for me to answer. “Because that’s where ya reside with us, our mate. In our hearts. Ya own me heart now. It’s yours. Ya do. Not ya blood. The breathtaking man before me who I want to love and know everything about and be happy with forever now has me heart.”
“Okay,” I whispered, ready to swoon at such a romantic sentiment. He smiled and kissed me. I moaned as I threw my arms around his neck. His hands moved to my back as another set traced my hip bones and cupped my groin. It seemed Ronan had gotten the soap while we’d been talking and deemed that was where I needed to be cleaned first.
Fine. By. Me.
He washed me thoroughly as Rian took me to heaven with his soft lips, talented tongue, and burning passion. When Ronan started stroking my cock faster and faster I had to break the kiss to get air. I leaned back against Ronan, yowling loudly as my hips moved on their own.
“That be the sexiest sound I’ve ever heard a man make,” Rian purred in my ear. “I want cream from our kitty. Will ya deny ya mate, Bev?”
“Not if you say my full name in the sexy accent,” I answered with a spunk I didn’t know I had.
“What’s ya middle name, me heart?”
“Antonio,” I gasped as Rian moved his hand to my hole, using soap he got from Ronan, I guessed, and pushed a finger into me.
“Bevin Antonio Innocente, me heart, I ask as ya mate that ya paint me with ya cream,” Rian growled in my ear, his voice husky and deep. I cried out in pleasure as I came, listening to what my mate wanted. “Beautiful.”
“He be perfect, Rian,” Ronan whispered. “And he’s all ours.”
“Aye, that he be.” I heard the awe in their tones and I couldn’t believe it. They were in awe of having ended up with me as their mate. Now who wouldn’t smile about that?
Chapter 5
Rian
“Give me a second and I’ll take care of you both,” Bev panted as he sagged against Ronan. I shared a look at me twin and we smiled. What a kind, special mate we had. I turned him around so Ronan could get a chance to taste his sweet lips as I had.