CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Omaera
I didn’t speak to Drak for the remainder of our time in Hell. In fact, I actively avoided him. Which, now that I knew the secret he was keeping from me, probably caused him a great deal of pain. But I could only have so much compassion for such a colossal idiot.
He experienced The Mate’s Ache because we hadn’t mated yet.
How could he keep me in the dark about something like that?
And more importantly, why did he keep me in the dark?
Like a stubborn buffoon, he thought it would be a better idea to suffer in silence rather than keep me in the loop. Even if I wasn’t ready to mate-bond, I would have been a bit more conscientious about my distance from him, since the further apart we were, the greater the pain he felt. I learned it all when I opened the door of secrets in his mind. I discovered that because I was mate-bonded with Maxar and Zandren, the Mate’s Ache for Drak was more severe. He also experienced debilitating pain whenever I had sex with Maxar or Zandren.
Was that why he was sick the other night? Was his ache even worse when I had sex with both the mage and bear at the same time?
I huffed a laugh as I packed up the little belongings I had in preparation for our departure to the portal .
Served the stupid vampire right.
Even though I knew the secret now, I still had a hell of a lot of questions for the dumbass. However, I was currently giving him the silent treatment. So those questions would have to wait.
“Ready to go, baby girl?” Maxar asked, poking his head into the bedroom door where I stood wrapped up in just a towel, stuffing things into my backpack.
I nodded and flashed him a smile. “Yep. Just wanted one last glorious sulfur-scented shower.”
He smirked at my sarcasm and stepped into the room, resting his hands on my hips. “You still pissed about what you found out in the vampire’s brain?”
Of course, I told Zandren and Maxar what I uncovered. Neither of them were overly surprised though. Zandren just growled and said, “Typical vampire.”
While Maxar rolled his eyes, shook his head, and scoffed. “Serves the fucker right, I say.”
“Yes, I’m still pissed,” I said with a huff. “He’s been lying to me. And not only that, I’ve been inadvertently causing him pain.”
“No,” he shook his head, his eyes soft and warm, like liquid pools of gold I wanted to dive headfirst into, “he caused himself pain with his stubbornness. Do not blame yourself. This is all on him. He wanted to be the big, brave vampire. Show us all that he’s the strongest species, or some stupid shit like that. When in truth, he just proved he’s the dumbest. Because no way in hell would I keep a secret like that from you.”
I gave my mage a look. “You kept a secret from me. The fact that you couldn’t be touched by another woman until we mated. Otherwise, it caused you pain.”
He was barely sheepish. “Yeah, but that’s different. The odds of me needing to be touched by another woman were incredibly slim. And not particularly relevant to our mate-bonding, or our proximity. If you being in a different room made me double over in agony, you can bet your sweet, edible ass that I’d be handcuffing our wrists together until you fell in love with me and we mate-bonded.”
His words, as crude as they were, made me weak in the knees and unable to keep myself from smiling .
Seeing that he succeeded in pulling me from my crappy mood, Maxar grinned, then bobbed his brows salaciously. “Speaking of edible assholes … do we have time?”
That made me toss my head back with a laugh. “I think we need to get moving, unfortunately.”
He pouted dramatically. “First thing when we get back to Earth though, okay?” He tugged me closer so I could feel his erection against my thigh. “I’m going through withdrawals, baby. Need my fix.”
It was impossible not to smile or get turned on by his dirty talk. The man was an expert. “I promise we’ll carve out some time when we get back to Earth. Maybe not immediately, but soon.”
Maxar’s shoulders slumped, and he pouted again, which took him from sexy, to sexy and adorable. I pushed up onto my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “You’ll just have to do with sticking your tongue in my mouth for now. A quick make-out session. Okay? To tide you over.”
His growl caught me off guard as he gripped me by the back of my neck and aggressively yanked me forward, crushing his mouth to mine. I melted into him, my pussy dripping down my inner thigh in seconds as he wedged his tongue into my mouth and swept it around, giving me a preview for what he planned to do elsewhere later.
A throat clearing behind us had me pausing and pressing my hands against Maxar’s chest. My mage didn’t give a shit, even though I knew he heard whoever was behind us. He wasn’t going to stop making out for anybody.
Chuckling, I pushed a little harder on his chest as our guest cleared their throat more forcefully. “Maxar,” I said with a laugh, “let me go.”
“Never,” he crooned, moving his mouth to my jaw and neck as I pivoted to see who was behind us.
It was Drak.
“Uh … Kenvin and Shoy would like you to meet them in the training room,” the vampire said, his shoulders back and straight, and his gaze pinned on mine.
All I did was nod in acknowledgment. Then he spun around on his heel like an army cadet and left .
With another growl, Maxar scooped me up around my waist and had me on the bed on my back. I laughed and swatted at his chest. “We need to get going.”
He was already peeling away my towel. “Just a little taste … please? I’m dying here.” Sinking to his knees on the floor, he shouldered my legs apart.
“We need to get going …” But there was little conviction in my words. I meant it … but also, I loved what he did with his tongue and where he put it.
My legs flopped open and, as promised, Maxar went in for just a taste, sweeping his tongue from my clit and all the way to my asshole, which he then treated to a thorough, brain-short-circuiting tongue swirl. I was shuddering on the bed when he sprang back up, offering me his hand. “I’m a man of my word. Just a taste for now.”
I stood back up, dazed and aroused.
His harsh slap to my naked butt woke me up again. “Come on, baby girl. Get a move on. What’s keeping you?” His jovial laugh as I tried to swat at him only turned me on more. Then he was skipping out the door, my sexy psychotic mage.
I finished packing, got dressed, and set my backpack down in the courtyard before I made my way to the training room. Zandren, Maxar, Drak, Shoy, and Kenvin were already all there. A wide array of weapons were laid out on a red velour blanket on the floor. They were all on their knees. So I figured I was probably supposed to be on my knees as well.
“Omaera Playfair, Queen of the Realm,” Kenvin said, all serious, “it has been an honor and a privilege to be your instructor.” His pale-blue eyes softened, and the hint of a smile played at his mouth. “Your father would be proud.”
Ah, shit.
My throat grew tight, and those infernal tears stung the backs of my eyes.
He glanced down at the blanket of weapons. Some were pretty straight forward: throwing stars, daggers, blades, swords, a machete even. But others were as foreign to me as the demon language, though I could tell if wielded correctly, would pack one heck of a wallop.
Kenvin picked up one of the weird looking weapons and held it in his palm by the wooden handle. “This is a lullabei . ”
“A lullaby?” I asked, dumbfounded.
His smile was once again small. “A lu-la-bay ,” he enunciated it better. “Spelled L-U-L-L-A-B-E-I . ”
“But it puts people to sleep forever though, right?” Maxar asked with a big cheesy smile.
Kenvin didn’t seem amused by my mage’s joke.
“It’s demon for ‘instant death.’”
“So I was right!” Maxar piped up, even more pleased with himself.
Kenvin growled. “Perhaps.” He exhaled loudly, clearly reaching his saturation point with my mage. “This was passed down to me from my father, and from his father. His father served in the court of your great, great grandfather, Sorten Byrche. King Sorten gave my grandfather this—among many other things, such as land and riches—as a thank you gift for helping him win one of the many wars between the species of the Realm.” His lips pressed into a thin line and sadness filled his gaze. “I have no children of my own. No mate anymore. And while I haven’t known you very long, Omaera Playfair, if I did have a daughter, I hope she would have been as determined and kind as you.” He held out the lullabei. “I’m passing it down to … someone I care about.”
As hard as I tried, I couldn’t keep the tears from breaking the dam. With a sob stuck at the back of my throat, I reached out and took the small mechanism from him. It didn’t look like much. It was metal with a small wooden handle and a thin cylinder on one end of the handle with a bolt or something in the middle of the cylinder.
I swallowed. “Th-thank you. I … I don’t know what to say.”
“How about, ‘How does this thing work?’” Maxar said.
Kenvin glared at him. “I was getting to that.”
I handed the weapon back to Kenvin and from where he was, kneeling on the ground, he pivoted to face the white dummy torso next to the far wall. We used it for target practice, mostly.
With a seemingly flimsy flick of his wrist, the weapon zipped through the air, and as it flew, the cylinder part opened up to reveal six sharp, glinting blades that whirred around like a ceiling fan. It made contact with the dummy’s neck, then embedded into the wall behind it with a dull thunk . A moment later, the dummy’s head fell to the floor.
My eyes were close to popping out of their sockets.
“Cool!” Maxar said. “Can I have one? I want one. Where can we get those?”
Like a parent with one remaining frayed nerve, Kenvin exhaled. “They are no longer forged. They are illegal.”
Oh .
“However, given the circumstances and who you are, I figured having one in your pocket wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.” He stood up and gracefully walked over to the wall, pulled out the lullabei, closed it up, and handed it to me. He brought my fingers over the weapon where it rested in my right palm. “I trust you will not use this unless absolutely necessary. Unless it is a matter of your life or theirs.”
I nodded, accepting the massive responsibility possessing a weapon like this came with “What are all the other goodies?” Maxar asked. “Do we get to keep them all? It’s like Christmas for sadists.”
“Would you shut up?” Kenvin snapped.
Maxar sat back on his heels, surprised by the demon’s outburst. “Relax, old man. I’m just asking.”
Pocketing the lullabei, I rested my hand on Maxar’s thigh. “Just cool it, Sparky. Okay? Maybe see how long you can go without talking, hmm?”
Maxar dropped down to his butt, crossed his legs, and plunked his chin on his bunched fists like a scolded toddler.
Smiling at my sexy psycho, I turned my attention back to Kenvin. “Thank you, Kenvin. This means a lot.”
“It means a lot that you are willing to fight for the Realm, a realm that may not necessarily accept you easily. But Lerris would be …”
“An absolute disaster,” Shoy finished.
Kenvin nodded. “An absolute disaster.”
We went through the rest of the unfamiliar weapons. Then we gathered them all up in the velour blanket and stuffed them into my backpack. I kept the lullabei in my pocket though. Just in case we needed it for our trek to the portal .
Kenvin and Shoy packed our backpacks full of food, and Shoy made sure to stuff a few jars of Vip’s skivern syrup and blankberry tea leaves into the bag for me too.
“Skivern slime is in that jar there,” Shoy said, making sure I knew the difference between the slime jar and the syrup jars.
“I’ll be careful not to mix them up,” I said, thanking him.
My heart lodged itself in my throat, and it was a heavy heart at that, when Shoy and Kenvin walked us to the edge of town. We drew a few curious glances from early risers, but not too many. And once Kenvin shot a glare the way of the lookie-loo, they were quick to avert their gaze away from us. It wasn’t even sunrise yet, so it was a good time to venture through town. We needed to make it to the other side of the mountains, that way we had all day to search for the portal. The last thing we wanted was to get stuck back out in the desert come night fall. If I never saw a bisibra again, it would be too soon.
“Well, this is where we leave you,” Shoy said as we stopped at the mouth of the passageway through the mountain.
My bottom lip trembled as I looked up into the friendly demon’s brown eyes. They were watery and sadness filled his gaze. Then I lunged at him, wrapping my arms around his thick neck. “Thank you so much for everything, Shoy. I will never forget you, or Vip. Never ever.”
He squeezed me tight. “It’s been an honor to serve you, Your Majesty. And we will continue to speak your praises until all of Hell knows how wonderful of a queen you are.”
I hugged him even tighter, tears welling up in my eyes. “You give a big hug to Vip for me. Okay?”
“I will.”
We broke our embrace, and the big lug turned away, wiping his eyes and clearing his throat. I turned to Kenvin, but he shook his head, keeping his eyes on the ground. “None of that, none of that,” he said.
But I wasn’t having any of it. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him just as tightly as I did Shoy. “You said I was the daughter you never had. And I didn’t have a dad. So … I’m just going to assume this is ho w fathers and daughters hug and say goodbye. Get used to it, you old goat.” He started to relax a little and his hands came up to wrap around me. A small tremble coursed through him, then he tightened his grip on me. “I’ll never forget you. Thank you for your help. For taking us in, and for having my back.”
We held on for a little longer, then eventually, emotions got the better of the old demon and he cleared his throat and released me, mimicking Shoy and turning away so I didn’t have to see his face. He sniffed and wiped at his eyes, then coughed and stepped away again.
I smiled up at Shoy, who had now composed himself, then turned to my mates behind me. “I guess that’s that, hmm?”
Kenvin, with a blotchy face and red-rimmed eyes, faced us. “I’ve taught you everything I can. Just practice, go with your gut, and embrace the magic. The rest will follow.”
“Embrace the magic,” I repeated, nodding.
He and Shoy joined in with my nod. “Embrace the magic,” he said again.
“See you when we see you, I guess,” I said with a shrug, not sure what else to say to two men I barely knew, but owed so much to. They also felt a lot like family. And I was certainly lacking in the family department.
With their hands in their pockets and hope in their eyes, they watched us turn around and head toward the mouth of the passageway. My mates sandwiched me between them in our queue, but when I glanced over my shoulder before we took the first corner, Shoy and Kenvin were still there, behind Zandren. I offered them each one more wave, then followed Drak around the corner.
We were finally going home.