by Sam Hall
“We’re not going anywhere,” I said, forcing the words out as tears threatened to choke me. In some ways I knew she was right, but hearing her say this, dressed in some kind of Pride and Prejudice number, surrounded by sentient wolves? It was all just a bit too much.
“Stay, don’t stay, I’m done with this,” she said. “This isn’t about you, Ash, you don’t get to be the white knight here, OK, and if you try, I’ll take you down.”
“What? What are you going to—?”
“I’m done talking. Keep out of my way, or else.”
She flounced off; something made much more effective by the elaborate gown. I had no idea a dress could make that much of a difference. I stood there, looking down at the contrast between the snow-white carpeting and my ratty Converse when Gabe said, “We need to talk.”
I was dragged inside our room and into the adjoining bathroom, though from what Natty was saying, it would make little difference. “So, when were you going to tell me?”
“Gabe, do we have to do this now?”
“Yeah, we do. My girlfriend lies to me about the inter-dimensional doorway in her shop and her trade in selling magical supplies to the galaxy and then I find out she thinks I’m some sort of curse?”
“You’re not a curse–”
“What the fuck, Ash? Is that why you changed your mind and fucked me that day? I was going to disappear into a cloud of purple prose when the clock struck . . . Fuck, you did think that! You were up waiting for me to disappear.”
“Fine, I did think that. You didn’t seem that interested and then all of a sudden, you were. What was I supposed to think? But I worked out pretty quickly I was wrong.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“How does one have that kind of conversation, Gabe? We had something good going and I didn’t want to jeopardise it with what would have to seem like crazy talk. I’m sorry, OK? I get I should have said something. I don’t usually hide things from people I’m close to, but seriously, there is no entry in the Miss Manners book for this kind of shit.”
“You think what we have is good?”
“You came through a trans-dimensional portal, no questions asked and threatened a furry crime lord for me. Of course, I think what we have is good.” He took a step towards me, some of the tension bleeding from his body, watching me, taking me in almost warily. “You seem like you’re a good boss, a good friend and. . . .”
“And?” he asked, taking a step towards me so that I could feel the heat of his body against mine, but not his skin, the proximity creating a weird buzzing feeling of need inside me. I’d been too tired, too overwhelmed and too bugged out about being in an alternate realm to think much about Gabe, but right now?
“And you fuck like the devil,” I said in a low hiss, watching his tongue flick out and sweep across his lips. “Sometimes it feels like you’re going to split me in two, but oh, my God, what a way to go.”
He was on me in the next moment, hands burying themselves into my hair, lips on mine, crushing me with his kiss, leaving me no choice but to hang on. I wrapped a leg around his hips, wanting him closer, harder against me. He grabbed my butt and jerked me up, forcing me to bring both legs up and lock them around his waist. I groaned as he pulled me hard against him, moving over to the wall to support my back and then grinding slowly and surely against me.
“Get it out,” I said in a hoarse whisper. “Fuck me.”
“If he’s the animal Natty says he is, he’ll smell me on you.”
“He won’t; his men might. There’s plenty of strong perfumes here; I can drown your scent out.”
“No, you can’t,” he growled. “It fucking kills me, seeing you flirt with that psychopathic cunt. You’re mine, Ash, curse or no.”
“Then show me,” I said, pulling back and smiling.
Jeans were hastily unbuckled and jerked down; I paused in my own disrobing to see that long brown body emerge. “You want this?” he said, giving his big dick a couple of tugs. All I could do was nod. He spun me around to face the mirror over the sink; my jeans pulled down my legs before I had a chance to do anything, a warm, wet prickling sensation settling between my legs in the next. “Oh, fuck . . .,” I whimpered as he licked and sucked at my clit. His hard suction was almost too much, pleasure and tension ratcheting up my spine, me fighting the urge to grind against his face and pull away because I just couldn’t handle it. “Not going to last,” he said between pants, spearing fingers inside me. I gasped as he forced me open. “Lying next to you at night, feeling your legs around me on the bike. I need this; I need to be in you.”
“Gonna need lube,” I said, feeling the steady build of something huge inside me. He pulled away, leaving me feeling horribly empty, then there was the strong scent of lavender and then uh! The head of his cock pushed inside me, a few short, stabbing pulses and then he surged forward.
“Fuck!” he sobbed, resting his head against my shoulder. He took a moment to collect himself and then his hand snaked down my front, fingers sliding either side of my clit. I was caught, on the end of his throbbing dick, shoving itself inside me over and over, the big head dragging over something that grew tighter and seemed to swell as he went and his fingers, plucking pleasure from my aching nub.
“Oh, God, Gabe . . .!” I gasped, pushing back, meeting him stroke for stroke. I widened my legs, him growling as he managed to go that bit deeper, his strokes growing faster and more erratic. “Gabe!” I hissed. Fuck, I was coming, wave after wave of glorious pleasure, spreading out from my cunt in waves, leaving my hips bucking spasmodically.
Once the pleasure had washed away, I wasn’t sure where we were at. I got dressed, looking into the mirror with the convoluted frame briefly, unable to meet my own eyes for long. Gabe seemed to be having the same problem. “You’d better have a wash,” he said as I began to pull on my jeans, “put on some clean clothes and wash or burn those. You must stink of me.”
“Right,” I said, knowing what he said was true, but finding it hard to turn the water on in the low-footed bath and empty the glass container of bath salts into it as my partner stood there, eyes fixed on the floor.
“Gabe, I’m–”
“Let’s focus on getting your sister out of here and going as soon as we can,” Gabe said. “I’ll leave you to it.”
28
I didn’t usually think of bathing as a lonely experience, yet here I was, in the bath, feeling like I didn’t have a friend in the world. I looked out the long window that showed a beautiful view of the golden afternoon, the vast gardens of the citadel visible even from where I lay in the lavender-scented water. I had no reason to feel uncomfortable. The water temperature was perfect, the feeling of being clean a relief after sleeping in hay last night, yet I could not seem to relax. I scrubbed at my arms, again, though there wasn’t a mark on my skin.
You know you’ve done the wrong thing, the voice in my head said. But Tess is in danger, I replied. I knew I wasn’t overreacting when one of the organised crime bosses of this world was spelling out what was going to happen to her while chomping down on the well-basted corpse of a distant relative. The prince was a danger. Tess was obsessed with the Beast when we were kids. The way she’d fallen head over heels for Merlin when he’d come . . . My fingers went limp, dropping the soap into the watery depths. I knew Tess had been crushing on Merlin, but love? Had she fallen in love with him, only for him to disappear back to wherever he was from? A rapid succession of memories of the shifting looks of anger and horror on her face from our last argument, the argument at the shop before she left, played in full Technicolour in my head. I couldn’t leave, no matter what she said, but I also had no idea how to help my sister, not without being exactly the kind of overly involved dickhead she accused me of.
Which somehow, once I’d gotten dressed, had Natty sniffing at my crotch.
“It’s faint,” he said, pulling away and standing up again. “The lavender works. Your lady garden mostly smells of well . . . flowers. I t
hink you’ll be fine; I can’t see why any of his men would need to get this close to you anyway. I’d strongly suggest sleeping separately though, and . . . avoiding mating until this whole thing is over.” I looked over at Gabe and his grimly blank stare and saw that was on the cards irrespective of the olfactory abilities of the furry officers here. The heart tattoo he’d gotten was still covered by a piece of white gauze that peeked out through the collar of his shirt and I sighed.
“So,” Natty said, “is that the way all hoo-man families interact?”
“Um . . .” I thought about our family, the argument at the shop the other night, Jerry Springer . . . “Yeah, pretty much.”
“Makes me glad Mum had us in litters of seven. Too many kids for her to care one way or the other what we did.”
“Yeah, well, there’s only two of us, and I do care,” I said, slumping down on the bed.
“How are we going to bloody get Tess out of here if she doesn’t want to go?” Flea asked.
“Watch, wait and be there if he tries anything.”
“You have brought your guards to dine, milady? Is that quite necessary?” The prince asked as we entered the grand dining room. The table seemed like it was a mile long, full of furry officers sitting, ready to eat. Gabe, Natty and Flea had accompanied me down the many glossy wood stairs in cleaner clothes, though still probably not meeting the dress code.
“You’ll forgive me, sire,” I said, “I am in another dimension where many of your subjects eat people just like me. One cannot be too careful at the dining table; I don’t want to be mistaken for the appetiser.”
“Very droll,” he said, forcing a smile. “I had you seated between my captain and his lieutenant, but I believe they will be happy to make room for you.” They weren’t. I got many a dark glare as the furries rearranged themselves at the table, some, no doubt, junior officers being sent to eat in the mess. “And Master Natty, you are not returning to your employer’s side?”
“I have engaged Natty as a guide and paid Gump handsomely for his time. He will remain with me until the end of his contract. I hope that is acceptable to you,” I said.
“What need have you of a guide, Lady McKinnon,” Tess asked, “if you spent your youth here with His Highness?” She bestowed a tight smile upon me.
“It has been some time since I was here and I was quite young. I fear my memory is quite weak,” I said, fixing an equally bitchy smile on my face.
“Well, we’ll do our best to remind you of the pleasures of the citadel during your stay, milady. Now, Lady Pendragon, try the sole. Cookie has been labouring over it all afternoon.”
I’d always loved costume dramas at home. Tess and I would sit on the bed, popcorn in hand and watch the genteel battles play out around the dining table with glee. Bit I soon found out it wasn’t as fun participating in it as I’d anticipated. For instance, there was a lot less thinly veiled insults, everyone was on their best behaviour in front of the girls who could potentially restore their prince to his former furry glory and Tess wasn’t speaking to me unless she had to. The prince noted this with a slightly raised eyebrow, but from his carnivore’s smile, I assumed he thought it was just a bit of feminine jousting for his attention. Gag.
“So, what did you have planned for tomorrow?” my sister asked as we lingered over the dessert course. God, they ate well in exile. Too much more of this and I was going to need new clothes.
“Ah well, milady, I have not had a chance to reconnect with the Lady McKinnon yet, so I was proposing an outing for just the two of us in the morning, though I will be at your disposal in the afternoon.” Tess’s eyes met mine across the dinner table, narrowing slightly. I wasn’t the only one to notice, the prince grinned as I looked right back, the scrape and clink of cutlery on ceramic falling away as we stared each other down.
“Of course, Your Highness,” she said, eyes dropping artfully to her plate, “it’s just you spoke so eloquently about the lake on your property, I’m afraid I was overcome with my longing to see it.”
“My dear,” he replied, taking her hand in his, “I will take you boating, we will have a late luncheon. It will be worth the wait, I promise.”
“That sounds delightful,” I said, cocking an eyebrow at Tess, “perhaps we should all go, make a day of it.” I turned to the prince, “Could your cook pack us something for a picnic, do you think?”
“Uh, yes. . . .”
I took the prince’s other hand in mine, his eyes widening as I did so. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the officers closest to us each reach for the dinner knives as one. “Neither of us wishes to miss a moment of your illustrious company, sire and I believe this is the best compromise, don’t you agree?”
“Yes, but. . . .”
“I, for one, want to see if you still cut the same figure punting as you did in your youth,” I said with a purr.
“Of course, he doesn’t,” Tess snapped. “He has quite a different body now. I can’t believe you would be so insensitive!”
“Fur, no fur. . . .” I let my eyes linger over the prince’s broad chest. “I’m intrigued about the difference.”
The prince swallowed and then said, “I will be honoured to take both of you out onto the lake. Tomorrow promises to be a most pleasant day.”
“I’m sorry,” Tess said, resting her hand on her chest, “I realise now I’ve horned into a reunion with two old friends most atrociously. Your original plan was a good one, sire, pushing two women around in the one boat will be a bore for you. I’ll await your visit in the afternoon.”
“No, no, Lady Pendragon,” I said. “You have more than one boat, sire?” The prince nodded, eyes flicking back and forth between Tess and I. “We will share you between the boats, so each gets an equal share. You can relax and my men can pilot the crafts.”
“Oh, well, that sounds like a fair compromise,” the prince replied.
“But. . . .” The prince went very still, then slowly met Tess’s gaze. Throughout the dining room, everyone went quiet. Tess struggled to hold his gaze, to mumble something apologetic, but the words died in her throat. No matter what his form was now, no matter the political situation, this was a man born to rule.
“We’ll meet in the dining room at nine for breakfast and then move onto the lake from there. Now, ladies, if you’ll excuse us, the port is about to be served.”
Duly dismissed we both pushed our chairs away from the table and filed out of the room, the guys in tow. As the massive, ornate, white and gold doors were closed behind us, I expected Tess to turn and say something, even if it was just to throw scorn at me for my shitty flirting. She thought about it; her eyes wide and her breath coming in long shuddering intakes.
“Tess,” Flea said, taking a step toward her, but she stepped back, turned on her heel and took off up the stairs.
“I shouldn’t have come,” Flea said when we returned to the room. “What kind of guy goes chasing after a one night stand?”
“I’m glad you did. She doesn’t know it right now, but she’s going to need all of us, really,” I said.
“We should get some sleep,” Gabe broke in, heading towards the adjoining door to the much smaller servant's bedroom. “We have a long day of punting ahead of us, whatever that is.”
29
Apparently, it was using a long pole to push a flat-bottomed boat around. “Perhaps I’ll go in your craft first, Lady McKinnon?” the prince said, watching my arse wobble as I struggled to get in. I’ll admit, boats and I were not friends and I could be clumsy at the best of times. “What are those fetching trousers you are wearing? I’ve never seen the like.”
“Skinny leg jeans,” I said, gritting my teeth then finally plopping down into the cushions arranged at one end of the boat, Natty struggling to stay standing as the boat rocked alarmingly.
“Your Highness, the lake is just as beautiful as you said,” Tess said, dressed in another satin monstrosity. She wrapped an arm around his. “Will you come in my boat and tell me all about the
sights?” The prince frowned, still yet to take his eyes off of my legs.
“I am happy to defer to Lady Pendragon,” I said. I swallowed down a lump of bile and said, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that.”
“Of course, milady,” he said, noticeably snapping out of his mood and back into a more congenial one. “I’ll take this big blond brute for our boat, if that’s all right with you, Lady McKinnon?”
“Of course,” I said, forcing my tone to remain airy, “though Flea is the more skilled of the two.”
“Flea it is then,” the prince said, steering Tess toward the other boat, while she shot me a dark look over her shoulder.
“So, what the hell does one do when punting?” I muttered as Gabe pushed the boat away from the lake edge.
“If I was you, I’d relax until the prince joins our boat,” Natty said, taking a seat.
I tried, really I did. There was a light breeze coming off the water that was deliciously cool in contrast to the bright sun beating down. It was a pretty place, a small perhaps man-made, or was that animal-made lake that was fringed by clusters of large pink lotus. The water was clear and blue and as I trailed my hand through it, I saw schools of small orange fish swim to the surface to nibble at my fingers. While I felt a bit of guilt watching Gabe labour, pushing us around, the shift and play of his well-muscled back was also quite a nice sight.
“What are those?” I asked Natty, pointing to the sky. Large black birds circled and wheeled in what looked like a warm up-draft.
“Harpies,” he said with a shudder. “Nasty bastard things.”
“You brought us some of their feathers when you first came to the shop.”