Chapter 15 Maverick
Maverick
How could I have been so careless with my precious mate?
It was a bear’s duty to take care of his mate. Because of our heightened sense of smell, we always knew when our mate was ovulating. A female’s scent changed around this time, becoming much sweeter. It acted as a siren call, urging us to breed and make cubs.
No wonder I’d been positively feral around her for the last day. It had taken all my willpower not to snarl at the other idiots every time they touched her. Hell, I’d nearly disemboweled the fae earlier when I caught him looking at Raven for longer than I liked.
I slumped in my chair, horrified by my carelessness.
I’d not registered the change in my mate’s scent, most likely because the other assholes’ scents were all over her, and I had failed to notice she was ovulating.
By the time my brain caught up with my dick, it was too late.
We’d all fucked our witch at her most fertile time.
She could be pregnant.
Of course, cubs weren’t always the outcome. Not all females conceived immediately; bear fertility had declined in recent years, as it had with other species. But Raven was young, healthy, and unless she’d taken a contraceptive potion, there was a risk she was with child.
People in slinky gowns danced in formations while my mates and I sat at a table on a raised dais. All around us, magic lights shimmered and opalescent gems embedded in the stone walls sparkled.
We had dressed far more conservatively than the mer folk.
Rasmus had used his magic to provide suitable attire, which ranged from pants and shirts for us males to a slinky dress for Raven.
She looked beautiful, as always, and her cheeks were still flushed pink from the orgasms we’d gifted her before the party.
A band played while scantily clad servers wearing nothing more than a few strategically placed seashells carried trays of fish hors d’oeuvres and goblets of potent liquor.
The mer queen had not yet appeared, but one of her two consorts, an older male called Krillian, had introduced himself a short time ago.
He and the fae had apparently met before and were soon engaged in a conversation that excluded the rest of us. Not that I cared. It gave me time to get my head together.
Rasmus emerged from a throng of colorful mer females wearing shell gowns in bright colors, carrying a tray of fruity drinks. He’d bulked up considerably since we’d found him half-dead in a cave, and like all vampires, there was something strangely alluring about him that drew the eye.
Thank fuck he’d glamored himself, or we’d have a massive problem.
As it was, even with a repelling element added to the fae glamor, he still attracted a lot of attention. As did the incubus. Several of the mermaids nearby cast lingering looks at the asshole, which he thankfully ignored.
“No booze, pet.” The incubus hadn’t stopped grinning since I told him about our mate’s potential pregnancy. “Alcohol is bad for pregnant females. I read a pregnancy book while you were having an existential crisis by the buffet table.”
Irritation flared, and I growled. “You only found out two hours ago, so how on earth could you get hold of a book in that time?”
Fire sparked from my little mate’s fingertips, which she quickly smothered under her thighs.
She’d gone from shock to denial and had now reached the furiously upset stage, after which I hoped she would accept her role as the mother of my cubs. I wasn’t willing to entertain the idea of a baby incubus, and as far as I knew, natural-born vampires were even rarer than bear cubs.
“There’s Wi-Fi down here, so I downloaded a book from Magizon, the site that sells everything from cut-price sleep potions to duct tape.”
He shoved his phone at Raven. She screwed up her nose as she read whatever was on the screen.
“Oh my goddess, it says I might give birth to three or more cubs!”
“Most bears only have one cub,” I reassured her. “Besides, our baby could be a witch.”
“Or an incubus,” the stupid incubus crowed, sounding way too happy about it.
“My mother was a wolf shifter, but Dad’s genes were stronger.
” He turned to me with great glee and said, “It says in my book that shifter genes are inferior, so my DNA will obliterate yours. Don’t worry, pet.
You won’t be birthing any furry creatures with claws and sharp teeth. ”
Raven paled. “Oh my stars…what if the baby chews its way out? Or…” She gulped as she slanted a panicked look at Rasmus. “What if it drains all my blood in utero?”
I was going to kill the fucking incubus.
Rasmus pulled our mate onto his lap and nuzzled her neck, causing several mermaids to grumble in displeasure. Then a group of preening mermen strutted past, flexing their muscles, and the females lost interest in the vampire.
“Don’t worry, my queen. Your mates will take care of you.”
“But I’m still a student!” Raven hissed. “I’ll be kicked out of school and end up like the poor humans in a show I watched called Sixteen and Pregnant. Goddess save me, I don’t want to end up living in a trailer park in Buttfuck, Alabama!”
Zane’s eyebrows shot up. “Ooh, is there really a human town called Buttfuck? I feel like I ought to visit.” He grabbed his phone and stabbed the screen. “There. I’ve added it to my list of dream destinations, along with Cumming, Georgia, and Intercourse, Pennsylvania.”
“Not helping!” I must have seriously pissed off the fates in a previous life to have ended up with such an annoying harem-mate.
The incubus shrugged at Raven’s meltdown.
“School is overrated. Besides, I graduate this year, assuming Monty doesn’t kick me out first, so I can be a stay-at-home daddy.
I can’t wait to teach my kid how to behead, flay, and exsanguinate demons.
Anyway, enough of my child-rearing plans.
Let’s dance, my lovely baby mama.” He pulled my little mate to her feet, and before I could protest that she needed to rest, given we planned to search for the merman later, they vanished into the throng of dancers.
“On a scale of one to ten, how upset do you think Raven would be if we left the incubus behind when we jump back into the fae portal?” I asked the vampire.
He snorted in amusement. “There are worse consorts to have in a harem.”
“Oh?” Surely not.
“Yes. Two centuries ago, my cousin Vladimir shared his mate with a dragon shifter. The male burned down their house every other week. It proved most disconcerting.”
I was about to agree that, yes, a dragon shifter mate sounded like a royal pain in the ass, but the kitsune blinked into view beneath our table. He chittered at me just as the enormous double doors at the entrance to the banquet hall swung open and the music abruptly ceased.
“All hail Her Royal Highness, Queen Laryssa, the Esteemed and Most Beautiful Mer Queen.” Krillian, the queen’s consort, jumped to his feet and shot across the room to greet his mate as Farris strolled back to our table and took a seat.
“And now the fun begins,” the fae fucker declared ominously. “I hope you’re ready for the queen. She can be difficult.”
“You’d better make sure my mate leaves this place in one piece,” I warned him under my breath. “Anything happens to her and you’re dead.”
“Don’t worry, I can handle the queen. You concentrate on figuring out where the witch’s mate is being held, and I’ll deal with Laryssa.” From the way he smirked, I had a sneaking suspicion the rumors about the queen’s sexual appetite were true.
It had long been whispered that the mer queen invited others into her harem on an ad-hoc basis, and that her soul-bonded mates were agreeable to this.
Not that I cared. If Farris wanted to take one for the team to help our mission, then fine. All I cared about was rescuing our mate’s mate and getting the fuck out of here. We had less than two days to get back to Starfall before the headmaster locked the wards and fired me for insubordination.
Raven would likely receive nothing but a written warning, but if Montgomery fired me and I had to leave campus, I couldn’t protect my mate. And there was no way I trusted the incubus to keep her safe on school property.
“And the sea witch? Will you deal with her too?”
Farris shook his head and pulled a face. “The bargains I struck with your mate didn’t include the sea witch. Would you like to renegotiate?”
My fingernails lengthened into lethal claws as a tall woman dripping with jewels strode toward us. Waves of ice-blond hair cascaded down her back, and the sheer silver gown she wore left very little to the imagination.
Her beauty alone would have made her stand out in a room full of magicals, but from the way every merman and mermaid in the banquet hall lowered their heads in deference, this was the infamous mer queen.