Page 14

Chapter

Fourteen

I awoke on the couch, the trio sleeping nearby, and hurried down to the command center to read more about demons.

There was no information that helped with the draw I felt or the incident last night.

Honestly, I knew the incident yesterday had nothing to do with the demons or the necklace though.

I tried to remove the necklace, but when I reached to unclasp it, my fingers shook so hard I couldn’t even grasp it, and I ultimately couldn’t force myself to do it.

“I figured I would find you here,” Trey said as he walked down the stairs and sat at the table next to me. He wore a pair of black sweatpants and a matching black t-shirt and his normally perfectly styled hair was messy.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, “about last night. I …”

“You don’t need to apologize. We knew she was an awful person before we knew about what she’d done to Estelle or her picking on you. It solidified the assumptions we already had about her, though.”

“With this darkness … I don’t think I’m suited to be a prince’s mate,” I whispered.

He scooted his chair closer to mine, kissed my cheek, and said, “Darlin’, you are perfectly suited to be a prince’s or a king’s mate. You stand up for the weak, for those who can’t stand up for themselves. That’s precisely what the clans need.”

“Can we schedule another date?” I asked softly. “I feel like I messed up your plans significantly.”

“I would love to schedule another date,” he said with a smile and brushed some hair that had fallen into my face behind my ear.

“Lily?” Mason called as he ran down the stairs. He exhaled and sagged against the wall of the stairway. “You are here, phew.”

“Did you think I ran away?” I asked.

He shrugged. “The thought had crossed my mind.”

“Today’s hunting day, remember?” I said with a smile.

He returned my smile, but it quickly disappeared when Kayden said, “And our date.”

Right! The concert!

“I’ll pick you up at six, okay?” Kayden said.

“Okay,” I agreed. Changing the subject, I said, “I had an idea in my dreams. What if we use a phone, on a live videocall, attach it to a rope, and slide it through the portal? Then, if it gets destroyed, hopefully, we’ll get a little video first. And maybe, if we’re lucky, there won’t be bull-men and we can pull the phone back having learned a bit more about their side of the portal.”

“I like it,” Trey said with a nod.

“Sounds good to me,” Mason agreed.

“Only if she’s not the one to put the item through,” Kayden said and folded his arms across his chest.

“I’m hurt and annoyed by that statement,” I admitted aloud.

“We can buy a burner phone while Mas and Lily are hunting,” Trey said to Kayden. “And figure out a rope system that will work.”

“I think we should ensure she’s not nearby at all,” Kayden said.

“Why did you walk towards the portal?” Mason asked.

“I felt it was safe to approach,” I said, since that was true and didn’t reveal more than that to them.

“You felt a portal to the demon world was safe to approach?” Kayden asked and ran a hand down his face. “You’re going to be the death of me. I just know it.”

I flinched, feeling like he had physically slapped me. “Mason, let’s go. Seems I’ve overstayed my welcome.” Turning to Trey, I smiled, and said, “I had a wonderful time on our date. I’ll be in touch to schedule our second date.”

Trey stood, grabbed my waist, and pulled me against him, kissing me deeply. His tongue stroked mine and I put my arms around his neck as I returned the kiss. Pulling back, panting, he said, “Don’t put our date off for too long, okay?”

Finding it difficult to speak, I nodded, and quickly went up the stairs, unless I gave into the temptation to find out what they would do if I instigated something with all three present at the same time.

The idea had me wet all over again, but I ignored the desire, grabbed my bag from the couch, and climbed into Mason’s car so he could drive me home.

We drove in silence, once again, but it was nice not to answer questions or feel the need to apologize again.

I lucked out with no one downstairs, so I tossed my bag inside the door, shut it, and ran towards Mason who was halfway down the road towards the area of the forest we preferred to hunt in.

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded and waved. “Lead the way, eagle eyes.”

He glared at me, spun around, and said, “Ravens have great eyesight, too.”

Laughing silently, I clasped my hands behind my back and skipped beside him. “So, have you done anymore reconnaissance missions?” Kieran was a hawk shifter and he had often been used for spying, but when he settled down with Sheila, he had started training Mason to be his replacement. Ravens were even more common than hawks, so it made him even better as a spy since people would pay no mind to a raven flying around.

“I’ve done a few,” he said as he continued to lead the way deep into the forest that we owned. With so many predators in one area, the prey tended to stay farther away, so we had to head pretty deep into the forest to hunt.

“Any fun ones?” I asked.

“Most recon missions are boring,” he admitted. “Listening to people discussing secrets then reporting that back to one of the kings. They don’t let me fight them or try to capture them, so it’s not much fun.”

Of course, Mason would hate a mission where he didn’t get to punch someone.

He paused next to a tree with narrowed eyes.

I froze, assuming he could see an animal we could hunt.

Glancing over his shoulder at me, he asked, “Did you have sex with Trey last night?”

My eyes widened at the sudden question, but I answered immediately, “No.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

We resumed walking and I noticed the muscles in his back had relaxed a bit. Clearly, he’d been concerned I had slept with Trey. But why? Because he wanted to be first, or was it something else?

He stopped again and immediately shifted.

I shifted as well, assuming he’d seen something for us to hunt. My assumption was right when I saw a large jackrabbit walk into my view. It was the perfect size to allow me to eat, satiate my hunting desire, but finish digesting it before the evening and my date with Kayden. Normally, if I had no plans, I would eat something like a boar or a deer, but I rarely had time without plans.

Flattening myself as much as possible, I slithered closer until I was within striking distance, then struck. The jackrabbit squealed and tried to run away, but my jaw was firmly locked around the back of its neck and I encircled its body with one of my coils, wrapping tighter and tighter until it couldn’t move.

Once it was dead, I released it and moved back to let Mason eat first. As a constrictor, I would swallow the jackrabbit whole, so I needed to give him time to eat before that.

Once he had his fill, he made an odd honk sound, then flew up into a tree nearby.

Beginning the slow and tedious process of swallowing the rabbit, I let my mind drift into peaceful oblivion, focused on the sole task at hand.

Once swallowed, I closed my eyes and lay still to digest it, knowing Mason would keep me safe.

Occasionally, I heard him fly from his post to attack something, to eat more, but since he didn’t make any noises to alert me, I continued to nap.

After finally digesting enough to shift, I stood and dusted myself off. “Thank you, for coming with me.”

He flew over my head in a circle and croaked, “Good hunt.”

Sometimes it was eerie how he could speak in an almost human voice like that. It had nothing to do with him being a shifter and was one hundred percent him being a raven. They could mimic sounds really well.

“Yes, it was a good hunt. Now, I need to head back to the house to shower and change.”

Flying overhead, he followed me to the house. Once at the house, he shifted and walked inside.

“Uh, what are you doing?” I asked, following him inside and up the stairs.

Once again, no one was home. What were they all working on away from home? Sure, they had several businesses, but they mostly ran themselves. It must not have been urgent or they would have told me. Right? Or were they keeping me out of it since I had asked for a hiatus between college ending and me taking my place as princess?

“I need a shower, too. So, let’s kill two birds with one stone,” he answered and stripped his shirt off with one swift pull.

Why did that shirt removal make me horny? It was smooth, but still …

“You want to shower with me?” I asked.

He looked over his shoulder at me. “That was the plan.” Without waiting for my response, he opened my bedroom door, tossed his shirt on my bed, removed his sweatpants, tossed them on the bed, and headed to the bathroom.

I stared at his naked, muscular ass as he walked away, mesmerized. He had one of the nicest asses I had seen on a man. I wanted to take a bite out of it.

After locking my bedroom door, I stripped out of my dress and undergarments, and followed him, deciding it was now or never to do the things I had always wanted to do. Plus, wouldn’t this help me figure out if they were the ones meant to be my mates? Wasn’t this part of courting?

The shower was running and steam was already rising up towards the ceiling as I entered.

Freezing at the door to the shower, I stared at his frosted outline. What if he didn’t like me? What if he found fault with the parts of my body that I already found faults with?

Mentally cussing at myself and the ridiculousness of those thoughts, I opened the shower door and stepped inside.

My eyes immediately dropped to his delicious ass now covered in water and there for grabbing.

“My eyes are up here,” he said, surprising me out of my thoughts so much I jumped.

When I raised my eyes, I found him smiling one of his rare, true smiles. “Can you blame me? You’ve got an amazing ass.”

His smile widened and he stepped to the side so I could get under the water. “Thank you for the compliment.” His eyes slowly roved down my body and back up to my face. “You are perfection personified.”

Stepping into the warm water, I put my hands on his chest and asked, “Why did you ask if I slept with Trey? Aren’t you all a packaged deal?”

“In a sense,” he said, “but I had hoped that I might be your first.”

“Is this a pissing contest between you three?” I asked with a scowl and stepped back.

He shook his head. “No, nothing like that. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“Are you worried I care about them more than you?”

Turning his head away, he nodded.

Sliding my hand along his cheek farthest from me, I pulled him back to face me. “Mason, you are not less than Trey or Kayden. I have never, ever thought of you as less than them. I swear it on my mother.”

His eyes widened at my sincerity.

My eyes dropped to his collarbone where he had a tattoo that wrapped from his collarbone around his chest and down to his stomach. The tattoo was of a suspiciously familiar snake. “Is … Is that me?”

He glanced down at his chest and nodded.

My fingers traced the snake and he shuddered beneath my touch. “You got me tattooed on you?”

“Over my heart, where you will always be,” he said with a nod.

“What if … what if I choose a different mate?” I asked, not daring to look up at him.

“It doesn’t change that you will always be the one who has my heart and soul.”

Sucking in a shuddering breath, I looked up at him. “I don’t know if I can live up to or be what you would want or need me to be. I’m always trying to fit in a role that I don’t think I’m fit to be in. I shouldn’t be a princess with this darkness, this desire for blood and destruction that’s getting stronger as I get older. Should I even have mates, let alone strong alphas like you when you should be furthering our species with another strong hybrid or someone from one of the other clans?”

His brows furrowed. “You are more than your title. You are one of the most amazing women I have ever encountered. I have traveled all over this world, met many women, and you are by far the only one who has ever captured my attention.”

“That’s only because you knew me growing up. Because you were basically groomed to want to have me as a mate.”

This negative talk wasn’t something I normally allowed or accepted within myself. Why was it happening more and more often?

Mason gripped me by my neck, tilted my head up, and glared down into my eyes. “You are the greatest woman in existence. It’s absolutely ridiculous of me to even breathe the same air as you, let alone be able to view your perfect naked body or touch it. Even though you won’t be queen, you are a queen. You always have been in my eyes. I would follow you to the ends of the universe so long as it meant spending more time in your presence.”

“I—”

He pressed his lips to mine, his arm wrapped around my lower back, and he pushed me back against the wall of the shower. His erection pulsed between us and I wanted him in me more than I wanted anything ever.

“Please,” I begged him. “I want you, Mason. Please.”

“This had not been my plan,” he said as he kissed his way down my throat and between my breasts. “I’d wanted to fool around, but not?—”

“Mason, I don’t care what your plan was,” I snapped and reached down between us to grip his erection.

He moaned and thrust into my hand. His hand slid down until he slipped two fingers inside of me, feeling how wet I was. Removing his fingers, he grabbed my hips, lifted me up, and impaled me on his cock, thrusting into me as he pushed me against the wall of the shower.

“Yes!” I screamed, put my arms around his neck, and rode him as he thrust into me.

He licked and sucked at my neck, moving down to suck my nipple into his mouth.

I gasped and arched back, giving him easier access and enjoying the way it felt.

His tongue lapped at my nipple as I rode him and came, screaming his name.

He found his relief soon after, grunting and biting gently into my shoulder, but thankfully not enough to mark me … yet.

“What did you mean about feeling a pull to me?” I asked as he washed me with a soapy loofa. Mason had insisted on washing me to erase his scent, not because he was embarrassed or didn’t want others to know, but because he thought it might upset Kayden, who was supposed to pick me up in less than two hours.

“You know how it feels to be around Leona and Jolie, that addictive joy? It’s sort of like that, but there’s also a literal pull, like you’re a magnet and we’re metal drawn to you. I could close my eyes and as you moved around a room, I would know exactly where you are.”

“How long have you felt that?” I asked, my throat feeling tighter.

He continued washing me gently, so careful and tender, so unlike Mason was in everyday life, especially with others. He had always been kind to me, more so than with others, but this was another level than what I’d experienced. “I’ve felt this way since we were teenagers I believe, but it could have started before that.”

I needed to talk to Great Aunt Leona. I needed to find out if there was a way to stop this from happening. Even if that meant they were no longer interested in me.