He held his breath as I undid his pants, freeing his straining, turgid cock, so hard it pointed almost straight at his belly button. My pulse raced, things low in my body growing tight and impossibly fevered at the sight of him.

  “Sometimes I still can’t believe all this is mine,” I tried to tease, my voice thick with need. I tugged his pants down over his hips as he lifted them and me off the bed. “You still good with possible baby making?”

  His eyes darkened even through the glow, masculine and possessive. “How could I not be good with the idea of you carrying my child? I can’t wait to see you waddling, my seed growing inside you.”

  The image should have been a turnoff, but my heart quickened at the thought. We had to make a baby for the sake of both our peoples, but for the first time I realized I wanted a baby for myself, for us, too.

  I licked my lips and knelt upright, spearing myself on his rock-hard cock in one smooth motion that left me breathless. “Tell me again how you want me.”

  Gray rocked his hips under me and sucked in a quick breath as our rhythm caught and magic sparked again. “I want you every hour of every…fucking day,” he panted, digging his fingers into my hips.

  I leaned forward, pressing my body to him so that every bit of my body was against his animal heat, the shifter magic inside me merging with the Fae so I began to glow on him, the heat between us growing until it felt like I slipped my skin and sank into him, our bodies becoming one.

  The pleasure grew until it was overwhelming, the glow of our bodies bright as the moon as he pulsed and throbbed inside me, his orgasm dragging me over the edge and into my own climax. His name tore from my throat in exquisite pain that only enhanced the pleasure and I sank further into him. Our heartbeats became one, our lungs inflating in one breath, our orgasms one endless wave of pure joy between us.

  As the pleasure slowly faded I came back to myself enough to look down into his face, heavy-lidded eyes closed, full lips parted as he took that first shaky breath that was his alone.

  “I can’t imagine how any man let you leave him after experiencing that even once,” he panted, his arms snaking around me to pin me against him before I could roll off.

  “Well it never happened with anyone else. I never accepted who I was enough to relax and let it happen. The addition of my new animal couldn’t have hurt, either.”

  “I felt her trying to escape. You know, if you ever want to…”

  “I’ll let you know when I’m comfortable enough to shift during sex, but I’m not there yet,” I laughed. It was a sore spot for us that I couldn’t, at least for me. Gray was, as always, more patient, reminding me when I got too self-conscious that every shifter had to get to know their animal before they could relax that much.

  “You’re thinking too hard.” His finger traced down the bridge of my nose, smoothing out the tiny frown wrinkles there. “Stop worrying about your animal. She knows what she’s doing, and you’ll be friends in time.”

  I sighed and slid to the side so his arm was still around me but only my leg was thrown over his bare, sweaty stomach. “I wasn’t worrying about that. I’m going to have to contact Tryst, Babe. I don’t want to talk to him, but I’ve got to know if he was just trying to ruin our party, or if he’s going to make an attempt for the Seelie throne.”

  “I know. Just get dressed first, yeah? I mean, I’ll stay naked…” he teased.

  “Maybe we both should, just to remind him that he’s not coming between us,” I offered. Gray looked at me in askance and I shrugged. “It would make things pretty clear if we called him right now, and just threw the blanket over our naughty bits.”

  “I’m pretty damned secure in my manhood, but I’m not reckless enough to even appear vulnerable in front of him…and he’s not really over losing your hand.”

  Tryst was nearly impossible to read, even for me, and we’d dated, albeit briefly. I’d met him at almost the same time Gray and I had stumbled over one another, both of us trying to solve the murder of the former pack alpha.

  They were nearly polar opposites, and each had drawn me to them for those differences. Where Grayson protected, Tryst trusted my choices. Where Gray pushed, Tryst charmed.

  Even their looks were at odds, with Gray’s dark hair, rugged features, and swarthy Grecian skin contrasting starkly to Tryst’s near perfect Fae paleness, silver-white hair, and icy blue eyes.

  But I loved them both in their own ways, and it had been more difficult to choose than I would ever admit to either of them. But as our power together had proven time and again, I’d made the right choice.

  “Fine, we’ll get dressed. I’d rather not subject myself to Tryst’s innuendo’s when we’re trying to get something resembling an honest answer from him.”

  The Fae cannot outright lie, but Tryst had perfected the art of misdirection, manipulating ever word until the truth was nearly unrecognizable. He had been a hero once, lauded by the Light Court, worshipped by humans, and feared by the Goblins and the Unseelie Fae of the Dark Court.

  But exile had changed him, and now the Dark Court was the only place I’d found in Fairy that would welcome him.

  I sat up and groaned. “Let’s get this over with.”

  In minutes, we were dressed, not for a royal interview like with my father, but as Tryst knew us, jeans and t-shirts were just fine for him. I pulled my lavender hair back in a tight ponytail, taming the sweaty flyaway tendrils at my temples as best I could, and opened a connection on the mirror, hoping his mood would allow him to answer promptly.

  Tinkling bells pierced the air, and the mirror stayed dark. “Fuck him and his bad manners anyway,” I grumbled, just as the inky surface lightened to gray smoke and cleared to reveal Tryst’s narrow, almost pretty, pale face.

  “Whose bad manners are we gossiping about, darling?” he sneered through the magical connection. “Surely you and that alpha aren’t on the outs again?”

  “We’re fine, Broker,” Gray growled, leaning closer to me.

  I sighed and shot him a look over my shoulder. “Knock it off, Gray. You know he’s just trying to yank your chain.” My attention turned back to the Dark Court monarch smirking back at me. “Behave yourself…My Lord.”

  “Oh, so you do remember my title?”

  “I remember who put you there, too, even if you don’t. And don’t think I haven’t come to regret giving you any measure of power. What were you thinking, sending messengers to my lands to threaten my father?” I halted before my rant got away from me and took a deep breath. “Why is it, that no matter what I do for you, it always comes down to threats and violence?”

  Tryst waved his hand and the mirror panned out, letting us view the entire room around him for the first time. He was nude, as far as I could see, and aside from a huntress who laid her head in his lap, I could see it all. More of the Unseelie females draped themselves over the bed behind him and both his hands were busy pleasuring a tentacled and taloned huntress on either side of him.

  “Thank the Goddess we got dressed or this call might have been awkward,” Gray scoffed.

  “Nice harem you’ve got there. Can we talk about the prophecy now?” I ignored Gray’s quip and stared into Tryst’s eyes, refusing to further acknowledge the spectacle he’d orchestrated for us…maybe.

  He kept the image zoomed out to allow us to take in the debauchery, like it was meant to distract, and I mentally checked the wards of the apartment, ensuring there wasn’t a sneak attack waiting to strike from behind.

  Just when I’d acclimated and desensitized from the writhing mass of sickly green skin, claws, and the occasional whipping tentacle, the huntress in his lap lifted her head with a grin of razor teeth and turned away from us, the motion of her head suggesting we should end the call before we witnessed a third orgasm for the evening.

  “I’m done with your games, Trystan, King of the Dark Court. You have no rank over mine, my father is the High King, and as such you still owe me the respect of my station.” My voice rang out with unintended power, and the huntress working his cock froze until he pushed her aside, grabbing a fur from the end of the bed. As he jerked it around himself, more of the females were rolled off the bed, leaving us no choice but to look away, or stare at their grotesque, naked bodies.

  To our credit, neither of us even blinked, though I would’ve given anything to know what my poor husband was thinking as his body cooled behind me, any remaining fervor of our lovemaking fleeing at the nightmarish sight.

  “You used to be fun, Morgan.” Tryst was pouting now, and I felt Gray’s silent call to his guards to be on alert. After all, he knew the Fae almost as well as I did, and Tryst’s manipulation had a pattern we’d both been forced to learn over the last couple of years.

  “You used to seem unpredictable, Tryst.” I squeezed Gray’s hand to let him know the wards were whole, and tried to calm the beast inside me, straining for release at her alpha’s call.

  Thankfully, he toned it down just enough that I could quell the urge to shift without (hopefully) catching Tryst’s attention.

  His jaw worked under that smooth, white skin, his cheeks pinking in irritation or embarrassment, it was hard to say. “Very well, what beyond my thanks for helping to fulfill prophecy, do you wish to hear from me?”

  “That you aren’t going to make an attempt on my father’s life, and that you will forbid your people from doing so as well. I want a blood oath that you will not in any way try to fulfill Geallta’s prophecy.”

  “Prophecies are funny things, Morgan, you know that. I can make all the oaths in all the kingdoms, and that which is prophesied will still come to pass.” He had a point, but all I wanted was the assurance he wasn’t going to try to help it. Tryst waved his hand at the room around him. “I mean, who would’ve thought that I’d be exiled for two hundred years, help the lost Fae princess come into her crown, and become the king of the Dark Court, all to make it possible for me to take down the high king?”

  “Not all prophecies see fruition, Tryst. I have always been a friend to you, why would you seek to bring war to us both?” My voice broke and I finally glanced away before he saw the tears in my eyes. I’m not a crier, I didn’t want him to see that his betrayal could still hurt me.

  There was silence, and I met his reflection again.

  “I have never wished you harm, Love. I never could. But, know this, pretty girl who calls me her friend and always chooses another over me…I am no longer one of your toys, nor am I your subject. The Dark Court will have freedom from the Light, whether by battle, or when one of my lovely nightmares bares me a child.”

  The mirror flashed brightly and fell black, a spider web crackling across the surface as the glass broke under the power I’d let slip and I lowered my shaking hand. “I think I broke it,” I laughed shakily and climbed into Gray’s lap turning my face into his neck to hide my tears. “I did this, Gray. I made him what he is.”

  “No, Sweetheart, you simply saw the best in him, the same as you do with everyone else. He made his own choices, now he must live with them, and so must we.”

  I sniffled and lifted my chin to look him in the eye. “I’m really glad we’re having so much sex. We can’t let him win the baby race.”

  He laughed aloud, rocking back with the force of unexpected humor. “Honey, I’ll assign you a harem of your own to ensure it.”

  “No harem, just you. You’re the alpha. No one else can give us the heir we need but you.”

  The brief flash of humor leaked out of his eyes and he wrapped his arms around me, holding me so tight I could hardly breathe. “I’m glad of it, even if it isn’t for the greater good, Morgan. I can’t imagine I’d survive if I ever had to let you go to another.”

  “And you never will.”

  “No, I never will.”

  We shut the world out as he slowly stripped me of my clothing, refusing to let me help with a single button or clasp. He made love to me just as slowly, desperately clinging to every second as though we were running out of time, driving me to the edge of sanity with each tantalizing stroke. We moved together until we glowed to shame the moon, and I fell into bliss, his name the only whisper on my lips.

  Five

  I slung my feet up onto the conference table next to Niall’s and winked at him, half a chocolate filled croissant held out to him, the other half hanging from my mouth.

  “Wamf shum?” I offered around the buttery, flaky pastry I held between my teeth. The scent of dark chocolate filled my nostrils and sent my salivary glands into overdrive.

  He snatched the offered goody and stuffed it in his mouth without a word and refolded his arms across his chest.

  “You’re welcome,” I snarked after swallowing the first delectable bite. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so famished. But as I’d apologized for stuffing my face at the buffet at the end of the conference room, my packmates had just laughed and told me to ‘get used to it’.

  Gray stood at the head of the long table, waiting for us all to settle in. He glared at Niall and I as we laughed and held up the show, and I sat up, pushing my knees under the table. Niall glowered back at him for a few seconds before finally dropping his legs to the floor with a bang.

  “I don’t know why we called this meeting. None of us are stupid enough to sign on to going to meet Tryst. We should bolster the defenses at the Light Palace instead.” Niall’s voice rang out as the last of the guard scurried to take seats at the table.

  Several of the guard murmured their assent to Niall’s charge and Gray’s face darkened as he and his best friend stared each other down.

  I’d asked for the conference room to be put to use for day to day discussions about the pack, but it occurred to me that if the two men couldn’t handle themselves in a civilized fashion, we might have to move the meeting down to the ring so they could fight far away from possible prying eyes.

  “I called this meeting, because I wanted input regarding the conversations I had last night with the Kings of Fairy.”

  Gray nodded. “You are all aware that Morgan must produce an heir, and we have been, uh, laboring to do so before Tryst does.” His face colored slightly, and I hid a smile behind my hand as a few guards chuckled and poked each other. “It’s less funny, now that we know Tryst is refusing to take a queen, and instead is bedding half the Dark Court,” he added, and the scattered laughter stopped instantly.

  “Wait, he’s bedding how many women at once?” Niall sat up abruptly.

  “I didn’t take a head count, but there were quite a few in the room when we called,” I drawled, shuddering at the memory of all those tentacles flicking over his naked body.

  “What happens if they get pregnant first?” Niall pushed. “What exactly happens if he produces an heir first?”

  I sighed as all eyes turned to me. “Well, traditionally, the court that is proven fertile is home to the High King of Arcadia, the royal who has the final say on all things Fairy.” I paused, hesitant to tell them more.

  “And?” The question came from Rachelle, who I shot a dirty look.

  “And the assassination attempts on the pregnant mother increase, so usually she’s practically a prisoner until the baby is born, and then until the babe is presented a court, so presentation and naming happen almost immediately, often while the mother is still finishing her labor.”

  “Morgan also told me that the expecting couple often preemptively attack the other court to destabilize them,” Gray added.

  “But I haven’t heard of this happening in centuries. The Light Court has held the throne of the High King for longer than written human history,” I reassured them. “My great grandfather and the Unseelie Blood King made a pact that the kings since have honored, when we all gave up power to avoid more war with the human factions.”

  “That’s when Tryst would do it. He must be given admission to the Light Court to renew the pact, right?” Niall growled his irritation. “We should have disappeared him years ago.”

  “Or we make a baby faster than he can.” Gray shook his head. “Few alphas have had to consider opening the bedroom to others of the pack, but if ever there was a time to do so, this is it.”

  “No way.” Niall was clearly in a mood as he argued with Gray. “I won’t be forced to bed anyone for the sake of your heir, and Morgan deserves better.”

  Rachelle chimed in with her agreement. “We’re better than that. We don’t have to play by archaic rules that make Morgan only as valuable as her uterus.”

  “Thanks, Rachelle.”

  She saluted me. “Now, if she wants to open the bedroom to other women…” She snickered as her girlfriend, Bonnie, punched her in the arm. “I’m kidding, this is all really serious and a little scary. I’ll shut my mouth.”

  “No, I think it would be good to lighten up a little. After all, we haven’t been attacked. Tryst wants something, maybe just to force us to contact him so he could see if I had a baby bump yet. With him, who knows?” I shrugged.

  “Neither Morgan nor I wish to start a harem among the pack, but if it comes to that, we will do whatever is necessary.”

  Niall and Rachelle shared a look across the table as Rachelle picked at the crumbs on her plate. “I think we continue as we are. Morgan’s always talking about the blessings of her goddess, and she’s the one with the tattoo from Gaia…”

  “And the birthing hips,” Niall added helpfully.

  “Shit.” Rachelle snorted. “Yeah, that too, you great idiot. But in any case, let’s trust that this goddess has a plan and it isn’t for you to get so close to uniting all the non-humans, just to get you killed before it happens.”

  “Yeah, if only a martyr wasn’t such a good way to force people to come together,” Niall finished, his voice quiet and humorless. “Just don’t go looking for trouble with the king of the Dark Court, Mo. I saw those things, and the wolves that were taken…”

  “Tryst wouldn’t do that, Niall. He’s unpredictable and manipulative, but he’s never been evil.” But my voice belied uncertainty we couldn’t afford. The most charming, beautiful Fae to ever be exiled from Fairy had gotten everything he wanted…in a twisted, dark way that underscored what he’d lost. To never be able to touch beauty again, what would that do to a creature of light?

 

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