Sever the Crown: Vampire Reverse Harem Complete Series

by Mysti Parker

  Marlowe took my hand and cupped my cheek with his other hand, forcing me to look at him. “We have to go, Wren. The portal is still open, thanks to Angelo. But not for long. Leave the past in the past. It’s our future we must protect.”

  My fangs retracted as I focused on the warmth in his cinnamon eyes. The thinker. The voice of reason. He was right. Of course he was. But knowing how easily I could have killed Ravana—still could if I chased after her—felt like losing my mother all over again.

  Finally, I nodded, my heart heavy. “Okay.”

  Zac waited on the stairs, where he straightened his broken nose with one quick jerk from his hand. A deep groan followed.

  Instant guilt brought more tears to my eyes. My blood lust had gotten the better of me again. A broken nose was bad enough, but what if I’d done something irreversible? How would I live with myself after that?

  “I’m sorry,” I said, but he just motioned us to hurry up the stairs and avoided my gaze.

  I followed Marlowe, with Charles on my heels.

  The servant’s voice echoed up behind us. “God bless you!”

  We made it up to the top of the tower, where beyond an arrow drawn in the dirt, a machete blade hovered about five feet off the ground. Zac reached up and jiggled it. I watched in wonder as it seemed to rip the air like a sheet of paper. I could see the bedroom where we’d been not long ago, though it seemed very far away, like looking through the wrong end of a telescope.

  Charles bent down and interlaced his hands to form a step for me. “Ladies first.”

  Soon, we were all shooting back through the portal. We tumbled out onto the floor of the room where Angelo stood over us. His arms quaked and sweat poured from his forehead as he propped open the portal with his machete.

  “Is that all of you?” he asked, his voice strained.

  “Yes,” Marlowe said.

  “Good.” He yanked the machete from the portal, which sucked in on itself, temporarily turning the air around it into a whirlpool, before it closed with a loud snap.

  He flicked the machete down to the floor. Green flames flared up on it again.

  I scrambled to my feet. Ashe and the quadruplets were still trapped in the crystal ball thing. He swam up to the side, a look of immense relief on his face.

  Angelo motioned him back. “Now, to finish what we started.”

  “Will this work?” I asked, worried that it could backfire and destroy us all.

  “Doreen’s a powerful witch, but she’s got nothing on me.”

  Ashe floated back away from the glass.

  “Goddess, give me strength.” Angelo swung his machete around in a circle above his head and brought it down on the crystal ball.

  At first, it seemed to just bounce off it, but then a big crack formed, and little cracks webbed out from it. Then, it shattered. Ashe and the quadruplets tumbled out. What should have been glass shards turned to sparks that fizzled into nothing as soon as they hit the floor. The liquid they were in turned to purple smoke and drifted up to the ceiling, where it dissipated.

  Ashe, lying prone, looked dazed. The quadruplets gasped, their eyes popping open as they gulped in big breaths of air. I dropped to my knees beside Ashe and helped him sit up. We came together like the strongest of magnets and held each other tight.

  “Are you okay? Please tell me you’re okay,” I pleaded.

  “I am now,” he said and pulled back just long enough to kiss me like we hadn’t seen each other in years. It might as well have been decades, as far as I was concerned. I never wanted to let him out of my sight again.

  My tattoo pulsed steadily with three bright sections, perfectly in time with the relief flooding my veins. I squeezed Ashe even closer to me and kissed him desperately.

  “I hate to interrupt the reunion,” Zac said. “But we have to leave before the celestial’s crazy ex comes back.”

  “She’s close. I can feel it in my feathers. Speaking of, I’ll be waiting for my license.” He turned and left without another word.

  We scrambled to our feet and hurried to catch up with him.

  ****

  We finally made it back to the bunker, and I had no idea what day it was. Time had become almost irrelevant after I’d been tossed back a couple hundred years and regurgitated into the present.

  Ashe slept soundly in his bed. He had barely had the strength to get down there himself. After he got a much-needed fresh meal from Annie, I’d offered my bed for him, but he sweetly declined. He didn’t elaborate, but I sensed he needed time to decompress and wanted to give me and Marlowe some space.

  I sat beside Ashe for a long time, relishing every second he was back with me, before I leaned over and kissed his forehead.

  “I love you,” I whispered.

  He smiled a little in his sleep.

  “Come on,” Marlowe said, offering me his arm. “You need sleep too.”

  “And a shower.”

  “That too. Want me to join you?”

  “No, that’s okay. I need a little quiet time.”

  “Okay.” He escorted me to my room, kissed my cheek, and brushed his thumb over my lips. “Want me to come back in a little bit?”

  “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

  He left me there in my mother’s—my—big suite. As usual, I had to wash off the remnants of battle. One of these days, it would be nice to smell good for longer than five minutes. I showered, which did the job, but it wasn’t enough to ease my aching muscles. The wound from the stake to my shoulder had mostly healed but was still red and tender. I brushed my teeth but then just stood by the sink and stared at my reflection.

  Dark circles formed shadows beneath my eyes, making me look deader than I already was. My cheeks were sunken in, my ribs protruding. I’d never had much of an eating schedule, but I’d neglected regular meals even more than usual since all this had started.

  Someone knocked on the bathroom door. I wrapped a towel around myself and opened it.

  Marlowe stood there barefoot, wearing a clean white tank top and a pair of black athletic pants. His hair was still damp, and he held a pouch of blood. “Thought you could use this. I heated it up for you. Sorry it’s not fresh, but Ashe drank quite a bit from Annie, so she’ll have to build up her reserves.”

  “That’s fine.” I took it from him and drank deeply. It really hit the spot.

  “I drew you a bath while you were in the shower,” he said, pointing to the clawfoot tub in the bathing alcove.

  I smiled, trying to hide my confusion since I’d just taken a shower. “What did I do to deserve the royal treatment?”

  One corner of his lips tilted in an almost smile. “You’re the queen. Get used to it.”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it.”

  Marlowe offered me his arm and escorted me to the bathing alcove. I handed him my blood pouch, loosened the towel, and let it fall. He caught it and stared at my naked body as I stepped into the warm, sudsy water. My skin tingled, remembering how his felt against me.

  “This is nice.” The water felt soft and smelled awesome with the lavender bath salts.

  “Epsom salts are good for sore muscles.” He held my hand as I settled down in the water and rested my head on the tub’s edge.

  “Thank you.” My third mate always seemed to know what I needed before I did.

  He sat beside me on a stool and handed me my pouch of blood. I drained every last drop then gave him the empty pouch.

  “You really were hungry,” he said with a chuckle.

  “Very.” I took in his smell and admired his muscled arms. His tattoo pulsed in time with mine.

  Marlowe propped his elbows on his knees, observing me with a guarded look from behind his mask, almost as though he were seeing me with different eyes. Like he knew something I didn’t.

  “What is it?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I told you, no more secrets. My mother harbored too many of them to count, apparently. Like why was Ravana there the same time my
mother visited Scotland? It sounded like they traveled together. I thought she had gone there alone to gather her thoughts or whatever.”

  “I don’t know, but…” He looked away then scratched his cheek. “I saw her, Wren. With Albert.”

  Despite the warm water, I suddenly felt like I sat in a tub of ice. I’d been so close, yet I hadn’t even caught a glimpse of her. Or my father. All I’d seen was my father’s young whore and the woman who’d taken everything from me.

  Though I didn’t really want to hear what he’d seen, I had to know. “Okay, and?”

  He shifted his weight on the stool. “The boar story was mostly true, except the boar was a half vampire, half boar shifter who wanted to be her fifth mate. He sent phantoms to drain Bronwen’s energy, and then she happened upon Albert after the boar attacked him. She was just going to feast on him. She had no intention of making him her mate.”

  “What did you do?” I looked at my hands, making sure they were still solid. “I’m still here, so…”

  “I shot the boar before it could finish them both off. Then I suggested she should make Albert her mate…” His eyes widened as though the implications of that action had just hit him.

  I sat up in the tub. “You mean, I exist because you saved my father?”

  “I don’t know. I suppose so.”

  Settling back in the bath, I squeezed my eyes shut. “Do you know how fucked up that is? I mean, I’m here now because I got thrown back in time and you followed me. And my mother wasn’t exactly the angel Albert made her out to be. And my father was fucking teenage whores.”

  “Okay, I don’t know about the whores, but Wren, there’s something else. I may be mistaken, but I think your mom might have been pregnant then.”

  I cracked one eye open. “What? You’re not serious.”

  “I’m not an expert on pregnancy, but it sure looked like a baby bump under her dress.”

  My jaw dropped. “So does that mean I have an older sibling or what?”

  “I have no idea. I’ve never seen any evidence that you ever had a sibling.”

  Rubbing my temples, I let my hands fall with a splash into the water and then laughed. “So let me get this straight. You decided to intervene and kill a boar shifter vampire. I could have killed Ravana and ended this whole nightmare, but you held me back. Why?”

  He leaned back on his stool and frowned at the floor. “I don’t know.”

  “Bullshit. Why, Marlowe? Tell me.”

  He stood and paced away. “I was…” he said, barely above a whisper.

  “Speak up. Say it.”

  “I was afraid, okay?” He turned the masked side of his face to me, his cinnamon eyes tortured, pleading.

  “Of what?”

  “Of losing you.” He paced forward again and seemed to search the sudsy water for what he wanted to say next. “You’d be a different person. And we might have never crossed paths.”

  “So what? You wouldn’t have known me and couldn’t miss me.”

  “But I wouldn’t have you.” His gaze flitted to mine before he turned his back to pace away. “I’ve never felt this way about anyone before. I’d die for you.”

  “Stop. Stop right there.” I needed to process this and look at him as I did. Truly look at him to see his truth. I stood up from the bathwater as he slowly turned around to face me. I could feel his pain stabbing me with sharp pulses from the tattoo. “I want to see you. All of you.”

  He shook his head and took a step back, his expression guarded. “Wren…”

  “If you feel as strongly about me as you claim, then stop keeping part of yourself from me. I’m not some fragile thing that needs protecting.” He knew that. Maybe not at first, but now…I could see it in the way he looked at me. With wonder. With pride.

  His hands fisted tightly at his sides. “It’s hideous. I’m hideous.”

  I grabbed the towel and wrapped it around myself, then stepped out of the tub and walked right up to him. “We’re all hideous in one way or another.” Reaching up, I grasped the mask but waited there. “Do you trust me?”

  I searched his eyes until he finally gave a slight nod. Then I lifted the mask with one hand and the leather band that held it on his head with the other. I stepped back just far enough to see his face clearly. Like Albert, the skin looked like it had been melted, leaving behind a leathery, uneven surface, a stark contrast to the smooth, perfect features on the undamaged part of his face. When he closed his eyes, I noticed he had no eyebrow or lashes on that side. But what shocked me the most was that underneath all that damage, on his cheek were the round remnants of the cigarette burns his mother had tortured him with.

  I pressed my lips to those scars and kissed them gently. He jerked slightly, his eyes fluttering open. I tossed the mask aside and wrapped my arms around his neck.

  “No more masks,” I whispered.

  With a surrendering groan, he bent down, scooped me up, and caught my towel on fire. While I screeched in surprise as the flames charred the towel black, Marlowe set me on my feet and ripped the burning towel away. He then dropped it into the draining bathtub.

  “Are you all right?” Frustration tightened his features as he stalked back toward me.

  “Fine. Not a burn on me.” I wished I could help him control his fire power, but not the different kind of fire that burned in his warm cinnamon eyes as they roamed over my naked body. That kind certainly didn’t need controlling.

  “Good.” He carried me to the bed, tossed me onto the mattress, and stripped out of his clothes. I barely had time to spread my legs before he lowered himself to the bed and buried his dick deep inside me.

  “No more masks,” he said, looking me in the eyes as he drew back and thrust hard.

  I smiled and gripped his tight ass, urging him on. We never lost eye contact as he fucked me. That alone lit a fire inside my core, connected us on a deeper level that sex alone could never accomplish. Wave after wave of bliss rolled through my core, down my legs, and curled my toes. But I forced myself to keep my eyes open and took his face in my hands as he cried out, forcing him to look at me too. I felt his warm come flow into me as his tears ran down my thumbs and dripped onto my face.

  But then he smiled, and it was the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen, scars and all.

  I knew then that we had turned a corner, and nothing would come between us again. I had fallen completely, insatiably in love with Marlowe, and I now had no doubt that he felt the same. Where we’d be tomorrow, I didn’t know, but at least we’d be there together.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Marlowe

  Last night had been a night of firsts. First reveal of my face since I'd started to wear a mask years ago. First feelings of love for the fierce woman who rested next to me. First time I felt confident in her future role—and mine. I was meant to be on this path with her by my side, and me by hers. No question about it.

  Anticipation uncoiled from deep inside me, tinged with worry, but not doubt, about what lay ahead of us. I couldn't wait to share it with Wren, and together, set fire to Ravana's throne.

  "I was wrong about you, you know," I said against Wren's stomach while applying light kisses to the smooth skin around her navel. We lay in a tangle of limbs, every part of us touching, both of us drained from our night—and morning—of thorough exploration. She had scars, too, from countless battles, my fierce warrior queen.

  "Oh. I know." She laughed, her stomach tightening and bouncing my head like a trampoline as I kissed one of those scars and ran my tongue around it.

  I chuckled and massaged my thumbs a little higher into the sides of her breasts. "And it wasn’t just the tattoo urging me to bite all of your clothes off."

  "No?"

  "I could see your heart with Albert. With Charles and Ashe.” Despite not needing to, I breathed in, letting her strawberry smell engulf me. “With everyone you come in contact with. You said in the library when you first got here that you would rule with your heart, and I couldn't compreh
end what that meant, but it's important. More important than strength and political savvy, and I get that now."

  "Well, I can't remember my mom as queen, but I knew her. Or at least the good parts of her. That's where I'm taking my cue from. I'll probably make some of the same mistakes she did, but I can do it nevertheless." She stroked my hair behind my ears. "With you."

  "I'm not going anywhere,” I said and kissed her belly button. “Albert chose me to be your mate, and I want nothing more than to do just that."

  Her body seemed to loosen as if she’d been waiting to hear just that for some time. "Promise?"

  I met her gaze so she’d know I meant it. "Promise."

  She cupped my cheek, her yellow eyes burning with a warm fire I felt all the way in my soul. "Thank you for saving my parents’ lives, Albert's more than once and being there for him countless times. I don't know how I'll ever thank you for that." Her stomach growled below my ear, and her eyes widened in embarrassed shock. “Oh god. That didn’t just happen.”

  I laughed, kissing my way up her supple body to her lips. "You can thank me by coming to the kitchen with me."

  "Fair enough." She kissed me twice more, each one more loving than the last.

  I climbed off her, and we dressed, sneaking glances at each other while we did. I'd never felt so free or confident, especially with scars all over my body. They weren't invisible to her since she'd kissed every single one; she saw them for what they were and what they represented, and simply didn't care if they were there, even a little. She saw past them to me. The real me.

  Yet old habits died hard since I found myself reaching for my mask. Joining Wren meant joining her harem obviously, but would Ashe and Charles and her other mates only see a disfigured man at the future queen's side?

  My back prickled, and I sensed Wren watching behind me. I turned to her with the mask in my hands, the weight and feel of it as familiar as she was.

  She crossed toward me, wearing only her Florida Gators T-shirt and panties, her mouth curved in a gentle smile, and placed her hand over my heart. "As long as you share all of yourself with me, whatever you decide to share with the rest of the world is fine." Then she bounced up on her tiptoes, kissed me, and left me alone in her bedroom with my thoughts.