Chapter 16
Liam said his sleuthing with Caelena was a bust. She even went as far as to take Liam past Ilia’s office in search of a more “private” area for the two of them, but when Liam walked by, he realized the space was unusually bare.
No filing cabinets, no drawers, nothing.
Just a plain desk. When Audrey asked if Ilia and Sergei had found them, Liam looked confused and shook his head.
Which made us all wonder, why did the Siren King leave in the middle of Bandthral when the halfling he hates and a human he tried to kidnap waltzed right through his front doors?
Audrey made a snarky comment asking if Liam at least got lucky while off with Caelena, and Liam adamantly promised that no bodily fluids were exchanged between them.
I ended up announcing that my period was starting and I was going to bed, during their bickering about it.
I popped a gummy and crashed. The next day was Monday, so I went to work and acted like I didn’t just spend the previous day in a secret magical realm and focused on getting through the shift without bleeding through my pants.
When I got home, though, I slammed the front door behind me and slouched against it as I felt another cramp sharpen its attack. I breathed through it, used to period cramps while also cursing them.
“How dare I not get pregnant this month?” I groaned into our condo.
“So,” Audrey’s voice made me open my eyes as she slowly approached me. “I know you’re in a lot of pain.”
“Spot on.” I nodded. I stood tall and glanced at the mug in her hands. “Is that for me?”
“Only if you want. This tea isn’t from here, it’s from Hyvenmere—Enharra, specifically.” I reached forward and held the warm mug as she continued, “I started taking it a year or so ago for my own cramps. It’s pretty strong, but safe for humans.”
I grinned. “Taste?”
“Delicious.” Audrey smiled. I started taking large gulps, ignoring the slight burn from the hot beverage.
“Damn.” Audrey giggled, before she reached for the keys in the bowl we kept by the door.
“I know you’re probably going to lock yourself in your room the rest of the night, but another halfling just became mated to a fae in Enharra, and Liam and Ada asked me to join them in celebrating the new bond.
” I grunted my confirmation that I would not be doing that with her, “But you definitely shouldn’t operate any heavy machinery or go anywhere alone. I’ll lock the door behind me.”
I sighed. “Like cinnamon sugar,” I murmured with a lick of my lips.
“But you’re right. I’ll be in my room for the foreseeable future.
I hope you have fun not telling Liam how badly you want him and pretending that your feelings for each other are entirely platonic.
” Audrey rolled her eyes and pinched my side before exiting the apartment.
Some indeterminate amount of time after drinking the Hyvenmerian tea, I was lying in my bed. Nothing but my salt lamp on my nightstand illuminated the space. A heating pad rested on my stomach, but I didn’t need it anymore.
Because I was tripping fucking balls.
Whatever Audrey gave me, I wanted more of it immediately. It didn’t have any side effects that usually came when I took a hallucinogen. No dizziness, no nausea, no anxiety. I felt light. Airy. Safe. Warm. A little giggly.
This tea was the fucking best. I kept forgetting that I was even on my period right now.
Usually, I’d be sound asleep at this point in the night after taking two gummies.
I guess I could still fall asleep, but I was so focused on how good I was feeling that I didn’t want to.
Time was crazy, as it usually was when I was high.
What I thought was thirty minutes was only two.
What I thought was ten seconds was ten minutes.
Wild.
I giggled to myself when I saw the time on the clock. An hour later than when I usually fell asleep. Would I even regret staying up, staring at my ceiling in the morning? Or would the afterglow of this stuff linger too long for me to care?
Something creaked near my door.
I glanced over there, ignoring all the sparkles and rainbows that danced in the peripheries of my vision to do so. The texture swirling on my ceiling was a little distracting, but I had been staring at it long enough, I supposed. I was curious what was happening to my bedroom door.
There was someone outside of it. Which couldn’t happen, unless it was Audrey, but I doubted that she’d be back so soon. There probably wasn’t anyone behind it. Just another hallucination.
“Come in!” I sang to my door. I curled up on my side, tucking the blankets around me more as I stared at the shadowed figure standing in the partial opening.
“How can I help you?” I blinked several times because the pictures I had on the wall near the door were starting to move, too.
They were waving and smiling at me, but I ignored them.
I wanted to focus on this hallucination more.
The door started to open wider, slowly.
It was opening so slowly. I almost got bored; I found myself staring at my moving picture frames before I realized it finally opened enough for a leg to step through.
“God, you’re taking forever,” I groaned, rolling my eyes. Whoa, bad idea. I reached up and covered my hands over my eyes, willing all the colorful shapes and designs to stay still long enough for me to be able to focus.
I could hear someone stepping on the carpet in my bedroom. The sound of the bedroom door closing behind them. Breathing.
This was crazy.
I parted my fingers and stared at the black linen pants of a man. Why did I know that waist belonged to a man? No idea. Wait, no. That was a slight bulge. Was this man freeballing? Regardless, I knew it was a man.
I dragged my eyes up, up, up, because this hallucination was tall. What surprised me, though, was who my big fat brain conjured up.
“This is unexpected,” I murmured behind my hands.
Gold eyes and chiseled facial features, a clenched jaw, and dark red hair greeted me.
Half of his hair was pulled back, away from his face.
Just like at Bandthral. His linen pants were tied low at the waist, and his dark grey shirt had a deep V in the neckline, showing off the defined pecs I admired.
Nice.
Drustan stood in my bedroom, his thick arms crossed over his chest. A muscle popped in his jaw as he let me stare my fill.
“…Why you?” I wondered. I still thought about Drew often. He had texted me this morning, trying to nail down plans for our next date.
“…Were you expecting someone else?” Drustan asked, a deep pinch formed in his brow.
His fists balled tighter under his arms, emphasizing his biceps under his long sleeves.
I grinned up at him, because fucking hell, I loved Drustan’s voice.
My memory did an excellent job recreating his soothing timbre.
I steepled my fingertips together, still lying under the blanket on my side, my grin in place, “What brings you here today, good sir?” Drustan frowned, narrowing his eyes at me. His nostrils flared once, and he dragged his eyes over my lump of a body under the covers.
“You’re bleeding,” he muttered, unfolding his arms and reaching for the blanket. Before I could react, he pulled the covers back and reached for me.
“Wow, getting right to it, huh?” I snickered as his warm fingers prodded my body, turning me over this way and that. By the time he flopped me onto my back again, confusion marred his features.
“Ah, I forgot you’re on your cycle,” he said, sitting on the edge of my bed. One of his long legs tucked up against me, and his knee hit my hip.
“I forgot you’re on your cycle,” I repeated in the deepest voice I could make before snorting to myself. I reached for his knee, wrapping my hand around the ball of it.
God, he was just huge. He was huge when I saw him in person; he felt huge, but seeing how little my hand was on his leg was mystifying. I swore I could feel him. I squeezed my fingers around his kneecap before I glanced up at him again.
He looked at me with so much confusion; I ended up barking a laugh at his expression.
“Is this the part where we do it?” I’ve had wet dreams as an adult before, but I hardly ever remember them. I had a feeling I would remember this one, though.
Drustan’s lips opened and closed as he stared at me. He shook his head once before replying.
“Do it?”
“Bone.” I tucked my lips together, but he still stared at me, wanting me to elaborate. I frowned at him then. I didn’t like that my hallucination wasn’t playing along. This was my fantasy, dammit. He needed to be obsessed with me, or I needed to conjure up something else horny.
I squeezed my eyes closed and tried to picture Drew instead. It didn’t work. I was too aware of my Drustan hallucination sitting next to me.
I grumbled, sitting up and getting to my knees next to him, “Do you want me or not?”
The pinch between his brows smoothed at my words. His pale pink lips parted at my question, and his golden gaze dragged over my body. That’s more like it.
“Do you want me?” he asked. He was staring at my stomach while licking his lips.
I glanced down, forgetting what I was wearing.
I wore a silk spaghetti strap tank top, but I was a tall woman, so it exposed an inch or two of skin between that and the hem of my silk pajama shorts.
I glanced up at him with a bite on my bottom lip, gently dragging my index finger across my exposed waist.
“I want you very badly,” I admitted. Drustan was mouthwatering. I could admit it to myself in my stoned state of mind. Something about his height and muscle and voice and piercing gold eyes and dark red hair just did it for me.
Warmth was already pooling in my lower belly at the thought of him touching me. Something flickered across Drustan’s expression before he leaned toward me. His hand wrapped around my hip, and right when he started pulling me closer, he stopped.