ALICE
“Nix-”
“He’s up,” Nixon interrupted me, “but he’s on a warpath.”
“But is he-”
“Ours? Of course,” he sighed, “but he needs you, please tell me you got right to-”
“I’ll meet you downstairs when you’re done,” Rian pressed his lips to the sensitive spot behind my ear, dragging his thumb across my lips as he cradled my face in his hand, waiting for me to acknowledge him. My eyes darted to the door, wondering where and when Ian would reappear, “He won’t interrupt you,” Rian tapped his ear to tell me without having to verbalize it that Ian could still hear me no matter where I was.
“Why do you seem so relaxed about all of this?” I half demanded as Rian left.
ALICE The warmth of the wind was mixing with the breeze coming off of the water when Ian’s scent hit me. It begged me to run off of the cliff that the house sat on and Amara wanted to test him and see if he would jump after us, or if he would let us get away. “Baby girl,” his voice was like a direct line to the feeling of pure bliss, but bliss was dangerous. It masked every other feeling, every other worry. “I’ll be more cautious,” I remained laying down in the grass, closing my eyes so that I wouldn’t have to chance getting lost again, “you shouldn't have to give up moments with him because of me." “You don’t want me.” His words were more like a desperate question. The tone in his voice seemed broken compared to its norm
ALICE “Lucius tricked her,” Ian’s voice sounded strained, “into thinking he was in love with her, that by providing us with the rings, that he could live a normal life with her, protect her always… but pretending to love someone when he ached for his mate he’d never see again removed any part of his humanity that he had left. He destroyed her village, drinking every last person dry, and left her to answer to her coven… who ultimately decided to hang her and disown her bloodline.” I tried to remain impassive, but every part of me wanted to get the praise I deserved for ridding the world of that true fucking monster. “A few decades later, Jasper did find his mate but it wasn’t what he was expecting. She was close to death when he found her, her vehicle had rolled over in a ditch. She had two children who didn’t surv
LINDEN “The invisible triggers are all set?” I asked Madeline. “Unless they have a witch of their own to detect and disable it, yes.” “They don’t,” Nixon reiterated, “if they did, they would have used them to get in here in the first place.” My fingers gripped the back of the chair in front of me, the crack in the wood only mirroring the deep fault that ran through me. I let them in. We weren’t prepared enough, we were cocky the first time, and now Marcy- “Hey,” Terran placed his on my arm and when I opened my eyes he only shook his head from side to side. He didn’t have to say any more than he alread
LINDEN I smoothed out my suit and the outline of the ring in my pocket passed under my hand, "Without the Lord’s, the Vamps won't be so bold and the Wolves can help maintain the balance again so no more Fae are being taken." "That's going to be a problem," Nixon shook his head and looked wearily in Declan’s direction, "Alice…" he trailed off but Alice never agreed with the plan to take out the Vamp’s and now she would have to in order to prevent the Fae from escalating. "Alice will have to get on-" 'Her mate…' Nixon interrupted me with a link. 'I haven't forgotten,' my brows pinched together as I looked at him, drawing the attention of Terran and Declan, 'but if he wants what's best for her, her mate will get over h
LINDEN The first time I laid eyes on Marcy, she was gathering supplies from a small shop in Eclipse, one that Alice dragged me to in order to gather things for Madeline, and the moment I saw her I just knew that those lips were going to be my undoing. I couldn’t control the way Ace caged her in or the way my hand cupped her face and tipped her blue eyes up to meet mine, but she was always meant for me. She didn’t hesitate, she didn’t question anything, she ran her fingers through my hair and brought her face closer to me, whispering ‘mine’ before she took my lips for hers. We’ve been inseparable since then. This has been the first time we’ve been apart this long since that moment, and it was starting to slowly make me go mad with anger. The sound of her heart beating and the way her sweet, herbal scent fille
ALICE Ian's fingers laced through mine as we fell onto the grass, his lips taking their time getting to know mine as the heat in my body started to rise. I needed his skin against mine. I had to have it. And when the cooling planes of his smooth abs touched mine, I moaned so loudly that I didn't even recognize the sound as something I was capable of. I was still only in Rian’s shirt, the smokey notes of it making a chill run through me in anticipation of his warmth, but Ian’s hardened length was grinding into me through his clothing from where he covered my body with his, and the slow rhythm of it was pushing me towards a distracting release. His hand
ALICE “Never, baby girl,” Sebastian gently nipped at my neck, “we always knew you were coming. The oracle told me I would have two mates, one that would take care of me,” he smiled against my shoulder, “and one that would challenge me… guess which one you are.” I fake laughed before he continued, “There’s all kind of pillows, fabrics,-” “Why?” How could they anticipate I would want this? Why was my wolf bordering on the edge of insanity over pillows? Why? “Sex, can be just sex,” he turned me back around to face all of the pillows, “but when you want to mate, when your body is entering the optimal timeframe for creating little mini dragons,” his hand splayed over my stomach, “you’ll want to nest. Rian said there's no telling what things or types of fabrics you’ll choo
ALICE “How long do I have to fatten up?” I jokingly said but earned a disapproving look from Rian as he set more food still in front of me. We’d lazed around most of the morning, taking turns getting cleaned up before we had to take another food break. “Is there a goal weight I’m not aware of? Is it a-” Rian’s phone buzzing had me pausing. It had become almost normal for Marcy to call Sebastian in such a short span of time, but when Nixon's voice came through all the playfulness I felt fell away. "Where's Alice?" "She's paying attention." "Marcy isn't doing so great, I don't know what's wrong with her, but she's pale even for a Vamp." "How often is she feedi
ALICE **6 months later** Sebastian held me from behind, sitting up on the bed with his hands carefully tucked under mine, holding Tiernan up to feed as I slept against his chest. It always woke me, but it was adorable that he tried to let me sleep through the feedings. His lips lazily grazed my shoulder and neck, sensing I was awake, as Rian’s stronger scent announced his arrival with the sweet notes of fruit. 'Always scanning my thoughts for movements,' I teased, and when I opened one eye slightly to look at him, he was standing there with a smug smile on his face, not caring in the least. I looked down at our little greedy bundle of love and with each look, somehow the pain of the longest pregnancy in life subsided.
NIXON **6 months later** Rest in peace, Ian. You had a nice life. A fine life. One you clearly don't value too much when you're trying to argue with the woman carrying your offspring and my mate. A strong shiver crept up my spine at the thought. Nope. Even I'm not that crazy. "She does what she wants," Bridget announced, the rose notes in her scent rising as if to remind you that in her beauty is also thorns. My mate was correct, even in her oddly robotic
NIXON Alice's hand was tucked into mine, her other arm reaching across her body as she pressed into my side and lazily stroked my arm. This was the conversation I'd been waiting for since my parents left. Linden was standing on my other side, his arm pressed up against me as he showed his version of support. He wasn't as outwardly affectionate as Alice, and while he hardly initiated contact, he also wouldn't stop me if I reached for his hand right now. Their mates had given us this moment alone, Mountain and Ian were learning to give Alice some space the more they were here, but they never went far, always hovering in the background like she'd disappear if they took their eyes off of her. Well, she might. But it was drawi
LINDEN I still can’t believe the giant monster curled up casually outside of the house. Alice has been home for over two weeks, which was also so unheard of that I was beginning to wonder if I was dreaming. The blue scales on his body rippled as his lungs expanded, the horns coming back from his face shaking a bit as he seemingly got comfy and pups crawled all over him. They were sliding down his tail, where Sebastian and Nixon were on watch in case they needed to flash to catch anyone who fell off. Patient, yes his beast was that. Careful, cautious, really any kind of safe, he was not. ‘I don’t think I ever want to leave,’ Alice leant her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my hand around her as we watched them and she ate some… kale? She’s always eat
ALICE Rian's knot was nestled into me, the feeling of just how much it stretched me out being accentuated by the way my body was stretched up, slightly tugging at my entrance. My hands were tied together with a soft silky type of fabric that looped through a ring on the ceiling as Sebastian circled around me. He flashed to deliver little nips of his fangs all over my body, while Rian laid back and watched us like we were his entertainment. Sebastian loved knot time almost as much as I did... this was his time to take my submission that he craved freely. Rian let me play with Sebastian alongside him once, and oh was his perfect ass red, but I preferred handing the control over to them. He continued to edge me until I was a vibrating mess, begging him to let me find my
LINDEN Later that day, after a well-deserved nap, I came back out to check on Nixon but found Alice’s mates sitting in front of his fire with her. She was sitting backwards on Rian’s lap as he sat cross-legged on the ground and sideways to the fire. Her cheek was resting on his shoulder and her face pointed in the direction of the fire, although it didn't surprise me that she would be keeping an eye on Nixon. What did surprise me was when I rounded her and her eyes were closed. Was little volcano finally sleeping? She hardly ever slept when Nixon rebirthed, only admitting defeat after several days if his episodes lasted long enough. Al was always afraid that she would miss something, that he would wake without her and she wanted us to be the first thing he saw when he did.
LINDEN Terran confirmed his support of the two coupling and offered to help build Nixon a nest, but it had to be me and Alice, no one else ever has, or ever should, although we did allow him to construct a platform the nest would go on top of for us to be able to carry it easier. Once Ayana was let go, she left with Cato and Terran to solidify the truce with the other Fae bloodline holder, Baylin. Alice's mates were getting increasingly handsy, but her attention was solely on Nixon. She always had the natural ability to manage people without them feeling managed, Goddess knows she's managed us our whole lives, and she knew what her mates needed in order for her attention to be elsewhere soon. As I started to collect the bigger logs Alice began weaving some smaller bra
ALICE My chest began to heave up and down as I stared at Sebastian, the pain of him leaving me in the middle of the night flooding back to me. “Why didn’t you come back to get us so that we could have done this together? You let me think you left me? That you’d betray me?” Sebastian’s eyebrows scrunched together, his jaw flexing with tension, “I had to get us close enough with minimal risk, I was working on a way to get you here alone-” “Nixon is dead,” I interrupted him, cocking my head as I took a step towards him, “Terran could have died… Linden could have died… again!”
ALICE Jasper looked to Sebastian behind me, but his cruel red hues narrowed like he didn’t find what they were looking for. His anger turned to surprise and a slow ember type of light started to shine through his veins, turning the skin above, and then around them, to ash as he fell to his knees. My blood, and anywhere it touched, was burning him alive. The few screams of agony that he let out were like ecstasy wrapped in more ecstasy, drawing the attention of the very bloodied and probably broken prince’s. Linden’s eyes started to bulge not because of what was happening with Jasper, but because of the water that was filling his lungs. Panic filled me as my body tried to leap into action but Sebastian’s hold hadn’t let go of me yet and his voice boomed out