Chapter 22 #4
“This way my Red greets her mates. Cix should go fight Krampus more often.” Her death glare made him grin.
“Don’t even think about it!” she hissed at him.
He just scooped her up with his good arm and silenced her protests.
Feeling like a weird lookie-loo, I made my way back to Kehl.
Cy and Elm fidgeted in the spot Kehl had just been, sitting side by side as Dorothy looked over Elm and Lukar looked over Cy. Kehl stood watch, his thick arms folded over his chest.
Walking up to Kehl, I wrapped my arms around him and leaned into him.
“Today was one of the worst and best days of my life,” I admitted.
“I believe that,” Dorothy mumbled under her breath.
Thinking about things, I muttered aloud, “Sunny and Forest could take over my old place until they figure out what they want to do.”
“Cy and Elm comes home,” Kehl rumbled out in answer for me. Smiling up at Kehl, I gave his middle a squeeze, careful of the poultice and dress on his side.
Cy and Elm rumbled happily at Kehl’s announcement.
“Birchy can stay with us,” Sunny announced.
Birch huffed, affronted. “Birch not baby. Why Birch have to stay Mama, Da?” the supersized Lepyr hybrid grumbled.
Forest’s eyebrows shot up and he rumbled at his youngest triplet in Lo denaii, “Want watch Elm and Cy with their Pru?”
Birch made a grossed out face. “Birchy go with mama,” he mimicked his mother in a comically high falsetto.
“I do not sound like that,” Sunny cackled out.
“Mama sound ‘xactly like that,” Cy chimed in with a shit eating grin.
Elm quietly bobbed his head in a nod along with his sibling.
“Oh… you are gonna have your hands full with this bunch,” Dorothy tittered.
“I’m counting on it,” I gamely told her.
“Brave words.” Dorothy laughed.
“Amen!” Sunny called out.
Dorothy glanced up then, staring after Sunny for the longest moment before blurting, “Sunshine?”
Sunny popped up from the spot she was propped up next to the cart. “Doro?”
“Whut-oh,” one of Dorothy’s mates grumbled.
“OH MY GOD!” Dorothy stood up and dumped the cloth and salve in her hands to rush over to Sunny. Sunny met her halfway so they met and bear hugged in the middle. “I haven’t seen you in- in years! When you took off for Earth with Auf!”
Sunny grinned when they pulled back. “He goes by Forest now.”
“My goodness, and these are your children. You had children!” Dorothy looked beside herself.
“And I’m older than you now by quite a bit but we won’t talk about that,” Sunny joked with a wink.
“Does Berkr know you’re here?” Dorothy’s eyes were so wide they nearly bugged.
“I’m not worried about prickle puss right now. Hopefully he’s grown up and moved on.” Sunny rolled her eyes so hard it looked like it hurt.
“Berkr has Candy now,” Lukar rumbled out from his spot beside Elm and Cy as he finished up and stood.
“Candy?” Sunny blinked at that.
“Dace,” I gently corrected. “She doesn’t like being called Candy or any variation of it.”
“Sweet, angel of a thing, come through the portal, hunted us down and brought us back for her best friend, our Pru… that Dace?” Sunny fretted.
“That Dadze,” Dorothy’s healer mate confirmed.
“Oh my.” Sunny shook her head. Her face puckered and she frowned worriedly. “Well, that just won’t do at all. Ol’ sour pants and Miss Dace will never do.”
Dorothy gave her a look. “It might have worked for me. That does not make you a matchmaker, Sunshine.”
“Pshaw.” Sunny waved her off. “You just watch me. I’ll have her happily mated off and popping out babies with a male that’s sweet on her before prickle pants can blink.”
I was not about to hop into that hot mess. You could not pay me. Looking from Cy to Elm, to Kehl, I smiled. “Let’s go home.”
The walk home was quiet, uneventful. Considering everything that’s happened in such a short period of time, the silence was comfortable, calming.
Khel opened the door to our hut and stood back to allow Elm and Cy a moment to poke around.
“What that smell?” Elm rumbled out.
“What’s it smell like?” I asked.
“Peppered mint,” Cy answered for him.
“That would be Kehl,” I said easily.
Cy turned to eye Kehl where he stood at the door. “What part Kehl smell like that?”
“Do you really want me to answer that?” My lips twitched as my eyebrows shot up questioningly.
Kehl rumbled out something at them in their native tongue that had Cy and Elm making the same funny face. I had to assume that word meant baby batter or a similar equivalent.
Cy sniffed a moment longer before dropping the stink face and rumbling, “Smell nice. Better than other smells. Cy no care.”
Elm shook his head at his brother but quit making the face too.
Kehl stood in the doorway, having the time of his life.
Kehl never had siblings he was allowed to know. He was just happy to be a part of the chaos and thoroughly enjoying himself.
Stepping into our hut, he told me he wished to grab more wood, then looked to Cy. “Come help?”
Cy shrugged and nodded. Walking over to me, he gave me a kiss and followed Kehl out.
That left me and the big guy all alone.
Elm waited a second for the door to close and then he was practically rushing me. “My Pru,” he rumble-purred.
“Do you have a bunny form, too?” I asked as the thought occurred to me, this close up to those fat, curling horns Cy and Elm and even Birch were sporting.
“This Elm bunny form,” he rumbled out quietly.
“My parents were keeping us apart,” I blurted.
Elm’s head dipped in a sharp nod. “No want be ‘way my Pru. Elm have no choice.”
“I’m sorry. I thought- I thought a lot of things, actually,” I muttered.
“Elm always want my Pru,” he rumbled out softly.
Digging in my hoodie, I pulled out the Polaroid of our fake wedding day and held it out to him.
Elm smiled as he stared at it. “Pru always Elm mate,” he rumbled out, completely serious. Kissing me hard, he set me on my feet and lifted the sleeve of the red and black flannel he was wearing, showing me a faint scar beneath the hair on his arm.
“I bit you,” I blurted. I’d forgotten all about it.
Elm smiled and nodded, looking pleased as hell.
“And you bit me too!” Flopping to my butt, I worked on my boot. Shoving off my sock, exposing my pale foot, I lifted my leg, angling my calf to show the faint scar there. “You were in a fight with Cy and I ended up tangled up in it. You bit down on me, so I bit down on you.”
Elm joined me on the floor, picking up my boot to turn it in his hands. “Elm always love Pru. Always.”
“You bit me on purpose,” I guessed when he wouldn’t meet my gaze.
“Elm always know, Pru Elm mate.” Finally lifting his head, shining green eyes blazed into mine. “Elm always Pru’s.”
Leaning forward, I bussed my nose with his. “This is the part where you kiss me, Cassanova,” I whispered.
Elm grinned at the silly little tease. “What if Elm not want to?” he taunted, and then it was just like the old days, like we were shoved back in time to our comfortable comradery.
Shrugging, I sat back and held my hand out for him. “I’m sure I can find someone else willing to-”
Elm leapt at me with a growl. Tossing my boot over his shoulder, he dropped down over me, caging me in. “Elm be careful,” he garbled out, his voice gone guttural.
Grabbing at the side of his flannel, jerking myself towards him, I nipped at his chin. “Maybe I like it a little rough.”
Elm sealed his lips over mine, crushing me to him, with a growl.
It was just me and Elm in that moment and nothing else mattered.
Tugging at Elm’s flannel shirt, I growled when I couldn’t blindly undo the buttons. Elm shot up and just yanked his shirt down the middle, sexy lumberjack style. His impatience both turned me on and had me chuckling.
Tearing his band shirt off over his head, he tossed it off behind him and got to work on my clothes next.
“Don’t rip them, I’m limited here!” I cautioned him.
Elm decided it was probably best to step aside and allow me to take care of removing my own clothes.
The second my shirt was sailing through the air, Elm gave up on any kind of sense of patience and dove for my breast. His mouth closed around my nipple and he growled around the hardened bud.
A sharp cry left me and I buried my fingers in his thick hair, desperate to keep him there.
“Mine,” he growled out around a mouthful of breast.
“We have to hurry. It doesn’t take that long to gather firewood and stove chips.” I’d barely gotten the words out and Elm was tearing his mouth away from my breast. Hands shaking, he attempted to work the ties of my pants but couldn’t quite master the feat.
Gently moving his hands aside, I loosened the tie and let my pants fall.
No panties, the approving growl Elm let out said.
Before Elm could do what I assumed he wanted to do— bury his face in my pussy— I dropped down and reached for the snap of his jeans.
Elm tore them open, his cock springing free, thick and long and already weeping from the tip.
Taking me into his arms, Elm growled approvingly when I wrapped my legs around him and lifted up to get the head of that monster right where I wanted it most.
“Right up against the wall, hard and fast,” I cried out as I slowly began to lower myself down on his already pulsing length.
Elm’s movements were jerky as he made his way over to the wall, groaning and growling his pleasure.
A trail of the evidence of his desire for me followed us in our wake.
“You okay?” I started to ask as we made it to a wall, the closest one to us, and Elm pulled out a little bit to groaningly press back home.
He was thick and jerking hard. It felt so good as he pressed deep with a growl, to pull out a little and then slam back home.
“Harder,” I cried out, then growled happily when he did just that.