27. Bromance and pixie weed
Anxo
N evaeh and I started sleeping in the same bed the night after her panic attack, and ever since, I haven’t started a single day without spoiling her rotten with my love.
So, color me surprise when I wake up this morning without her morning kisses, especially when it takes me about half an hour to get my sleeping beauty up and about every day.
Waking up with her sweet scent wrapped around me is a treat in itself, but when she stirs in her sleep and I get to be the first one to witness that lazy smile spread on her lips, it makes my entire day.
Walking to the kitchen, I hear Nevaeh’s laugh and all my blood rushes south. If I was having a hard time hiding my raging boner before, there’s no way I can hide it now.
This why I need to have my fill of my mate every morning. I’m like a teenager salivating over his first girlfriend these days.
Stopping at the threshold, I’m struck with the gorgeous view of my sweetheart leaning against the counter. She looks drop-dead gorgeous in that small, flowy dress. My fingers twitch impatiently, wanting a reason to run over her curves and imprint my existence on her hips.
Ever since Nevaeh started wearing these mouthwatering dresses inside the castle, it’s been a bittersweet experience. As much as I love to feast on her curves and daydream about her creamy thighs hovering over my head, there are only so many blue balls and cold showers a man can take.
Fates have mercy on me .
Before my other head starts making decisions for me, I get rid of that image in my head. Image of my mate in our room, no clothes between us, under me —
Without my permission, my legs take me to her. Losing control over my desire, I bend down to kiss her neck and relish in the way her heart skips.
Ignoring the girls teasing and cooing over us, I drag Nevaeh’s sweet ass out of the kitchen. Finding a secluded area, I sit down on a chair with my legs spread wide so Nevaeh can sit on my lap, her shoulder pressed against my chest.
The teasing smirk on her lips widen, feeling my hard-on under her ass and I damn near spank that perfect ass for teasing me.
Biting her bottom lip, Nevaeh playfully shuffles on my lap like I can’t see how much she enjoys the effect her presence has on me. I have to grip her hips to still her when the little minx starts grinding over my bulge before I drop my restraints and take her right here.
My free hand slips under her dress to caress the soft skin of her thighs, and that does nothing to erase the image of them around my waist. Around my neck. Covered in red marks I made with my lips.
Looking into her not-so-innocent doe eyes, I need to calm down before my balls explode.
Holding the back of her neck, I bring those sweet lips to mine. “You are irresistible.”
“I believe you because I'm sitting on the evidence.” Sweetheart giggles and it's my favorite sound in the world.
“I don’t want to go to work today. Maybe we can stay in our room.” I kiss her nose. “In our bed.” Her bare shoulder. “Or in the shower.” I kiss the slender slope of her neck until she's humming in pleasure.
“But it's spa day.”
“I can give you a massage. A thorough one.” Kissing her neck, I use my grip on her hips to pull her directly over my bulge so she can feel me where she needs me the most. “I can help loosen you up. Make you shiver.”
Her head falls back on my shoulder, and she loses herself in our movements. I take full advantage of her daze to mark every inch of her skin I can reach with my lips.
“ Or I could keep my promise with the girls and make it up to you tonight.”
I can’t help but whine and nuzzle her neck, taking in her sweet scent to control myself. “But that’s so far away.”
“What if I tell you Grace is taking me to get my birth control mark today and I was hoping we could have a little sexy time tonight?”
I groan painfully and bite her neck, which makes her shriek and then giggle—my favorite sound in the world.
“You’re killing me, sweetheart.”
I'm glad Grace thought of birth control.
While I would love nothing more to fast forward our relationship to a place where I can be closer to Nevaeh in every way possible, I don’t want that at the expense of my mate’s well-being.
Adding another kid to the equation is not the right move for our little family. For one, August deserves our undivided attention for at least a couple more years. And two, Nevaeh and I are in no place to handle the amount of responsibility and stress that comes with a newborn.
Hazel interrupts us to my immense displeasure. “Shoo away, Conquer. I can see you’re trying to ruin our day.”
“I’m doing no such thing.”
“Liar!” All three women call me out in sync.
Tickling my mate for not taking my side, I don’t stop until she is breathless and laughing so hard it fills every crack in my heart. I don’t think I’ll ever find the right words to tell her how much I love her .
Getting up from the chair after kissing her one more time, I turn to leave, but the sight of her smiling like a fool makes me turn around and stand behind her chair.
Ten more minutes won’t hurt .
There was a time I would've smacked myself for even thinking about not going to work, but all my work ethic has vanished since my mate came along.
Now, I find reasons to spend my days with her.
“Will you look at this lovesick fool? Go away, Anxo. You have to work for both of us today.” Hazel reminds me of the pile of paperwork waiting for me.
Wrapping my hand around Nevaeh’s throat, I tilt her head back. “I’ll be back soon. Do you need me to bring anything for you, baby?” I give her a soft peck.
“Nope. Just be back soon, please.” When she pouts ever so adorably, I can’t resist the urge to kiss it away until she blushes and smiles again.
My beautiful sweetheart.
“Don’t make me throw up my breakfast.” Hazel throws a chip at me, and that's my ultimate signal to get lost before she throws something sharper.
Groaning, I leave for my office when all I want is a day to myself and with my sweetheart. Preferably in our bed.
I bitch and moan about the amount of work I have to do for half an hour sitting in my office before I actually start working. I miss having Grace and Hazel work alongside me. At least they made sure I didn’t purposely choke myself on paperwork.
It's a good thing my parents left again for another vacation. They came by a week ago, and the whole time, I was constantly worried about dragging Nevaeh off of their mangled corpses after she finally killed them.
I’ve noticed their presence sparks something darker in Nevaeh and she hovers over me like she’s waiting for them to strike.
I learned quickly how protective my mate can be of the people she loves, but she has no reason to stress about my parents. They haven’t looked in my direction for years, much less planned out how to hurt me.
Because I have the worst luck possible, my peace lasts about an hour before my office door bangs against the wall. Seiji, aka my childhood headache, leisurely walks in followed by his muscleman Harvey.
“There’s a reason you have your own office.”
“He does, too.” Harvey points to Seiji.
“He’s the leech of my life. I hoped at least you would let me work in peace.”
“But I love your company, brother.”
I scoff, “More like the advice that keeps Grace from figuring out you’re an idiot.”
“ Hey! ” Harvey protests. “She already knows I’m an idiot. Your advice just helps me show it less often.” Mumbling to himself, he folds his arms over his chest, and I see why Hazel enjoys teasing him so much.
The guy is packed with muscles like my son is loaded with sugar.
“I’m here to announce a guy’s day out. We’ve been training our asses off for weeks. At the very least, we’ve earned a break. And if the girls can have a day to themselves, I want one too.” Seiji drops in the seat next to Harvey.
“Let me guess, they refused to let you come along.”
Harvey covers his snicker with a cough when Seiji glares at him.
Obviously , they grumble when I list the number of things I have on my agenda today. When Seiji starts ruffling through my office, I give in before he messes with my filing system.
“All right, what’s the plan?”
Harvey bends over my desk to shut my file while his partner in crime works on closing my office before dragging me out the door in a blink.
“Party in my backyard!” Oh boy .
Seiji tells me we're eating at his favorite diner before we go to the cliffside behind the Famine castle. That place is off-limits to the rest of the world, unlike other waterfalls in the kingdom. Seiji doesn’t allow anyone near his sanctuary.
I’m surprised to see a celebration already taking place when we reach the diner for lunch. I don’t argue when Seiji proposes we join the festivities.
Class five of adorable little earth fairies completed their plantation class with remarkable success; hence, the diner is filled with fairies ranging from age eight to ten, including the owner’s little girl.
Needless to say, we pig out on the food like it’s our last meal, celebrating our future food providers.
Thanks to the preceding leaders allowing other supernatural species to live in the kingdom, we haven’t had to look elsewhere for food because of the earth fairies, construction is handled beautifully by the centaurs, and banks are in the care of leprechauns. Not to forget the delicious dessert treats curtsy of elves.
When the idea was initially proposed, unsurprisingly, my father opposed saying we were mudding our bloodlines by inviting other creatures. He detests the idea of our inter-species mating. Thankfully, Seiji’s dad has continued to be the loudest voice in the room when it comes to equality among species.
After we stuff ourselves to the brim, Seiji warns me to buckle up for an adventure. His adventures are fun no doubt, but they always come with a sprinkle of risk.
Thankfully, Seiji doesn’t suggest we dive down with the car like last time. For the longest time, Grace was worried Seiji was suicidal before we eventually concluded he was just a reckless knucklehead.
Exiting the car, Seiji retrieves an enormous picnic basket from his trunk and dumps it on a blanket near the edge. So, he wants an innocent picnic by the Cliffside. That’s completely safe. Nothing to panic about, Anxo.
Opening the basket, he reveals dozens of snacks, ranging from sugary to spicy, like we didn’t just eat two days’ worth of food an hour ago.
Fishing out a packet from the basket, Seiji hollers, “Special leaf!”
Narrowing my eyes on the fool, I ask him if he paid the full price this time. The last time he took this stuff from Pixies he failed to mention he didn’t have what they wanted in return.
Let’s just say I had to fix his mess before the pixies decided to build tiny bombs in their backyards and rained them over the Tetrad kingdom.
Ignoring the food before I throw up, I accept the puff pass. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the chance to escape the stress of our reality, so I’m glad for this break.
“You know cannibalism can solve both the hunger and overpopulation problem among humans.”
“Oh wow. You would make a fantastic Famine on doomsday.”
If Harvey is agreeing with Seiji, that means these fools are high . Looking at my friends on the verge of incoherence, I realize the amount of trust I have in them to sit on the edge of a cliff and not jump.
The three of us smoke and banter about Fates knows what until Seiji stands up on trembling legs and starts undressing.
“Dude! Not a bathroom. What are you doing?” I cover both mine and Harvey’s eyes when he strips his pants, leaving him in just his boxers.
I think I jinxed myself.
“We’re diving!” He whoops, throwing his clothes in my face before running back to create a little distance for his run-up. The world spins dangerously when I stand to stop him.
“You’ll die, you fool! And if you die, who will feed us?” I try to reason with a half-naked, crazed Seiji.
“Really, Anxo? That’s all I’m worth to you? My finger-licking recipes?”
“No, that’s just the surface reason, man. You’re my best friend and—”
“Anxo. My brother. I love you, but I’m jumping.” He grips my shoulders, attempting to shake me, but we’re both too stoned to use our muscles in the way we want.
Who expected pixies to come up with something this strong? Not me .
“Me too!” I hear another voice and turn to find Harvey almost naked like the other high peabrain. Oh , my eyes !
Am I the only one with working brain cells?
I quickly let go of Seiji and run towards Harvey— who is seconds away from jumping and barely catch him before he can.
I’m way too high to be babysitting these morons.
“Anxo, it’s okay to be afraid. We all have our fears.” Seiji comes up to hug me from behind and pats my head, telling me ‘It’s okay to be a scared little puppy’.
Maybe I should let him jump .
“I’m not scared, you airhead. If I die, Nevaeh will kill me. I promised her I wouldn’t let you rope me into something life-threatening—which in hindsight, would have helped if I remembered it twenty minutes ago.” I drone on, slowly dragging them away from the cliff.
My sweetheart.
The thought of Nevaeh spreads through me like wildfire and it won’t settle until I feel her soothing touch. The brown-eyed beauty has me wrapped around her pinky. Nevaeh is why I’m living instead of going through the motions of life.
The love of my life.
My sweetheart, the rarest of sites, the most mesmerizing view. She’s like a comet that comes around once in a lifetime, and I’ll be damned if I don’t sit back and watch her shine.
“What I’m hearing is you’re pussy whipped, and I’ll take your throne when you die.” Seiji stumbles around.
“What throne?”
I never agreed to that right?
“Harvey, tell him we need to jump, and it’s fun. Anxo, stop being a grandpa!” Seiji whines, leaning his head on Harvey’s shoulder and whispering about how strong his muscles are.
What’s going on again?
“Sorry buddy, I think Dad is right. Grace would be upset if I got hurt.” Harvey supports me.
Finally, someone with a working brain !
“Whipped bitches. Announce your defeat, King Anxo!” Seiji cries, picking a soda can from the ground and pretending it’s a sword. “Attack!”
I’m suddenly attacked with breadsticks and soda bottles that I barely dodge. I do my best not to get hit, but it's not easy when the ground keeps moving.
Harvey, on the other hand, can’t stop laughing and rolling in the dirt.
After an hour of running around and eating the rest of the snacks, we leave the cliff and make our way back to the Horsemen castle. I make sure we are completely sober and presentable before showing our faces inside.
I can’t wait to end this day, and every day after this beside my mate.