Chapter 17 Kai
Kai
Ice crystals melted on my skin as I walked upstairs. Nothing stirred in the inn. From what I had gleaned from listening to the others, there were very few guests staying tonight, as winter solstice was when most people went home to their families.
Not me. My mother and her mates had gone on vacation, as they always did this time of year.
I sometimes wondered why she didn’t just abdicate and walk away from her throne. She seemed to care little these days about the onerous responsibilities that came from being a queen. Yes, it was largely a ceremonial role, but she still had a job to do.
Then I remembered that if my mother, the queen, stepped down, I’d have to take her place, and neither of us believed I was ready for that mantle.
I padded down the hall toward the bedroom I shared with the mage.
He’d not said much to me other than to ask which bed I wanted.
Mostly, he stared at his phone. The damn thing had pinged a million times since we arrived at this godforsaken town.
From the way his lips pursed each time, like he’d swallowed a lemon, I figured it was his father.
When I passed the room the witch, the bear, and the incubus were staying in, I heard a moan. So faint it could have been the wind outside. Only it wasn’t the wind.
My body stiffened.
Another soft moan echoed through the door. I tried to move forward, but my feet remained rooted to the carpet.
The bear shifter must be pleasuring his mate, as any good mate would.
Perhaps the incubus had joined him. Or was watching.
There’d been dark shadows beneath his eyes when we first arrived, so I knew he’d need to top up his magic somehow.
And since he’d barely left the witch’s side when we went out for food, that hadn’t happened.
I pressed my forehead against the wooden door. Despite the cold, sweat beaded on my brow as waves of lust rolled over me. I wanted her so badly. Badly enough to burst into that room, rip her away from the bear, and take what the goddess had gifted me.
Only if I did what my body wanted, we’d be mated for life.
That couldn’t happen. My mother would never tolerate her son mating a female from a different species. She expected me to mate a mermaid, sire the next generation of merbabies, and then ascend the throne.
Raven could never be my queen. She lacked gills and could not survive underwater. Hell, she couldn’t even swim!
Her sweet perfume hit me in the balls. The scent of her arousal triggered my mating frenzy, and my cock throbbed in my pants, threatening to shred the thin fabric as my body readied itself for her.
I clutched the door frame, not caring that my nails shredded the wood, scoring deep marks in the paintwork. Blood and pheromones pumped through my veins. Heat rose from my skin. Steam and musk, my special scent, designed to send my soulmate wild with lust, filled the air.
My sanity clung to a knife-edge as my body grew bigger, harder, and thicker.
Oh goddess, forgive me for what I am about to do…
“You okay?”
A heavy hand fell on my bulging shoulder, and I leaped into the air like I’d been electrocuted.
The mage looked at me with a mixture of concern and sympathy. Could he smell her arousal too? Probably not. Mages and witches weren’t blessed with enhanced olfactory senses like shifters and aquatic species.
“I’m fine,” I gritted out, while my nails remained attached to the door frame. The mage nodded in understanding.
“Maverick’s credit card will take a hit.” He looked at the shredded wood and smirked. “Oh well.”
Fuck. He was right. I closed my eyes and forced myself to step back.
The witch was off-limits, no matter how much my primitive self wanted her.
As soon as the danger passed, I’d jump into the river and swim home.
Some time spent underwater would restore my shredded equilibrium.
And if that didn’t work, I’d track down the old sea witch and see if she knew of a way to get rid of the bond I didn’t want.
Alaric patted my shoulder. “I brought a bottle of elderwine. Want some?”
The witch’s room had gone silent. Our conversation must have disturbed them. At least the bear hadn’t come charging out to see why I’d camped outside his door. I felt grateful to be spared that embarrassment, at least.
“Yeah.” The mage strode off down the corridor, his hands tucked in his pockets. I had the feeling he was putting on a show for my sake, and beneath the calm exterior, fires raged.
I tore myself away from the ruined door and adjusted my pants. My cock hadn’t softened one bit, but the light was dim, and unless the mage checked me out, he wouldn’t notice.
He disappeared around the corner, and I padded after him. By the time I reached our bedroom door, my head had cleared and the mating frenzy was over. I exhaled and took the glass of elkwine he offered.
“Thanks.”
He nodded and went into the adjoining bathroom, closing the door behind him. The shower turned on a few moments later.
Dawn was only a few hours away, but there was still time to catch some sleep. Tomorrow would be a long-ass day, and the thought of being stuck in a moving vehicle for hours with no access to water made my skin itch, but I’d survive.
By my estimation, it would take us at least two days to reach the island where Raven wanted to go. Once there, we’d have to travel on foot. There was a small settlement by the harbor, but no roads into the mountains.
I still wasn’t sure why we were risking our lives visiting such an inhospitable place. The entire area was prone to seismic events, although nothing had happened in the last thirty years.
The bear shifter had revealed nothing to me about the purpose of this trip, but I’d heard the witch mention a vampire. I assumed they were all dead, but if she believed otherwise, then one must have survived the virus.
I sank down on my bed and pulled the cover over me, intending to sleep, but something heavy landed on my feet. When I sat upright, I spotted the witch’s familiar with a sparkling gem in his mouth.
He threw me an innocent look and hopped off the bed. The mage walked out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“Why’s the kitsune here?” he asked, his brow pinched in confusion.
“No idea.”
“Ugh. The others must have thrown him out so they could have some privacy.” He scowled. “It’s not sleeping on my bed,” he muttered as he dropped his towel and grabbed a pair of shorts from the floor. I averted my gaze while he got dressed.
The kitsune chuffed and jumped onto his bed, shaking himself vigorously. A cloud of gray fur filled the air, and the mage almost choked. We watched as the obnoxious creature padded in a circle before settling down on the mage’s pillow.
I choked back a laugh, but the mage growled. He raised his hands to cast at the kitsune.
“Don’t zap the kitsune. You might hurt him!” I warned. “The witch could die if you kill her familiar.”
“For fuck’s sake.” Alaric lowered his hand and cursed under his breath while the pile of fluff bared his teeth.
I watched him spit out the gem and rest his nose on his paws.
Alaric spotted the gem and frowned. “Why does it have what looks like a firestone?”
“Firestone?”
“Yeah. It’s an extremely rare stone found only in volcanoes.
Very few mages have firestones because of how dangerous it is to mine them.
Back in the day, they used trolls to do the hard work, but so many died in eruptions, the practice was eventually outlawed.
Fuck knows where that stone came from. The only mage around here who might have one is Eli McKenzie, and he keeps his valuables locked in a vault beneath his house. ”
I pursed my lips at the thought of trolls dying for the sake of a few stupid gems. Fucking mages. If the kitsune had somehow stolen it from a mage, he had my support.
Alaric caught my expression and his gaze softened. “Yeah, I know. It sucks. Your friend is a troll, right?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
He reached out to pick up the gem but the kitsune snapped at him, making it clear the stone was off-limits.
“Fine! Keep your stupid gem!” Alaric grumbled. “I’ll let your witch deal with you in the morning!”
He sat down at the bottom of the bed with a disgruntled scowl. “Looks like I get the sofa then. Fucking witch’s familiar.”
“Do you think you’ll end up with a familiar?” I asked curiously. I wasn’t sure if his father had one. If he did, he kept it hidden.
“Maybe. Who knows?” The mage grabbed a blanket from the bed where the kitsune had made himself comfortable and stomped over to the sofa. It was barely four feet long, so the mage was in for a very uncomfortable few hours. I sighed.
“You can have my bed if you like. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor.”
“Why would you give up a comfortable bed for the floor?” He looked at me in bemusement. The kitsune watched us but didn’t move.
I shrugged. “The beds at the school are not much better than the floor, and at home, I sleep on a rock. So I don’t mind.”
“But my bed at school is…” His voice trailed off as what I said sank in. As a mage, the son of the Mage Council leader, the school had assigned him a luxurious apartment, while I, considered less than in the eyes of the mages, had received very different treatment.
“Yeah.” I pulled the blanket from my bed and a pillow. “Take the bed. The floor is fine. We better get some sleep before the bear comes knocking on the door.”
The mage opened his mouth to argue, but I dropped to the floor in front of the cold fireplace and curled on my side, facing away from him.
I hadn’t lied. Sleeping on a hard surface was no challenge for me.
I didn’t mind my bed at school. It was more the stink I hated, but there wasn’t much I could do about that.
We’d tried cleaning the room, but it hadn’t helped. Shifter pee contained pheromones for scent marking, which meant the smell lingered.
At least the floor in this room was clean.
I closed my eyes as the mage huffed and then crawled into the empty bed. He switched the lamp off, and a few minutes later, the kitsune started snoring.
The mage cursed some more. I heard him pick up the bottle of elderwine, probably hoping if he drank enough, he’d pass out.
Outside, the wind picked up. By the morning, there would be snowdrifts everywhere. I pretended I was under the ocean, floating on the currents. It took a while, but eventually I fell asleep with an image in my head of my witch swimming alongside me, giggling as she begged me to chase her.