Chapter 55
Raven
The shrill cacophony of my alarm interrupted a very pleasant dream involving me and my incubus. I cursed loudly when I reached out to kill the awful shrieking and ended up knocking my phone off the nightstand.
Technology and I would never be friends. So far, the only benefit of owning a phone was that it had a camera. Photography was my new hobby, and I enjoyed snapping photos of my candle experiments and posting them on Magigram.
There were a bunch of notifications on the lock screen when I reached for my phone. Lots of comments about sexy candles, and I had a feeling Zane had been lurking on my feed again.
“I love your candles, pet,” he laughed in my head. “And I especially like the one you modeled on my dick.”
“I didn’t model it on your dick! It just looks a bit phallic!”
“More than a bit.”
Alaric’s snicker told me he was listening.
“Goddess grant me some fucking privacy in my own head,” I muttered for the ten millionth time before kicking the covers off and heading into the bathroom.
Zane blinked into view the moment I stepped under the hot spray. I turned my back on him, but he didn’t take offense.
“Happy birthday, pet,” he said as he pulled me into his arms.
“Wait…what?” I scrunched my nose in confusion.
“It’s your special day, pet. Adam told us. Have you forgotten?”
Had I forgotten? Why yes, I had. In my defense, life had been rather chaotic lately. What with kidnappings, mass killings, resurrections, and all the rest of the craziness, it was a miracle I remembered my own freaking name half the time.
“Not sure you can blame external events for your poor cognitive function,” Kenji helpfully pointed out. “Even the pig has a higher IQ. And given it’s currently eating a stick, I don’t hold out much hope for you.”
“It’s not my fault I’ve been distracted.”
Zane chuckled. “Then let me distract you some more, pet.”
The dream I’d been having before my alarm so rudely interrupted still hovered in my mind, and I whimpered when Zane dropped to his knees and buried his tongue in my sex.
My nipples tingled as the water got hotter. Soon steam filled the bathroom, along with my moans. It wasn’t until a cold draft swept in that I realized my vampire mate had arrived.
Rasmus licked his lips before shedding his clothes at warp speed and sliding under the spray.
“Oh my goddess, I’ll be late for my swimming lesson,” I gasped, not wanting to disappoint my merman. We’d graduated from me drowning daily to me swimming a few strokes before drowning. Yeah. It was not going well. No wonder the mer queen had disowned me as a daughter-in-law.
“Kai won’t mind,” Zane assured me. “I told him you were coming soon.” From the emphasis on the word coming, he wasn’t talking about me walking to the pool.
Rasmus nibbled my neck while caressing my breasts, scraping his sharp nails against my nipples. Between the two of them, it wasn’t long before my legs refused to hold me upright.
Zane teased me to the point of no return, using his tongue to explore every inch of my aching pussy. Each time he felt me quivering and clenching around his fingers, he backed off. Honestly, it was infuriating.
I screamed in frustration, almost on the verge of tears. If this was his idea of a birthday gift, it sucked.
But he just laughed before resuming his torture session.
“Patience, mea amica,” Rasmus whispered before lifting me up, my back against his chest. The thick length of him throbbed as he slid between my ass cheeks, and for a hot moment, I wondered if we were about to try something I’d thought about a lot lately.
“Not yet, my darling,” Rasmus said, having read my thoughts. “But soon.”
“Very soon,” Zane confirmed, giving me one last delicious lick. “I’m looking forward to you being the sweet filling in a vampy-incubus sandwich.” My two mates exchanged smirks, but before I could ask when this event might happen, Zane notched his cock at my entrance and slid inside.
He didn’t seem to mind that Rasmus was within touching distance. Zane gripped my thighs and powered into me while Rasmus sank his fangs into the throbbing vein in my neck.
The pleasure feedback loop between the three of us exploded. I came in a white-hot burst of ecstasy, shattering as Zane growled and pulsed inside me. My vampire groaned in delight as he pulled away, and from the pulsing sensation between my butt cheeks, he’d found his own release.
Thank the goddess the water still ran hot because I sure as shit needed a shower now.
Maverick rushed over when I stumbled into the kitchen on shaky legs, my hair dripping down my back.
“Happy birthday, little mate.” I caught the glare he threw at Zane and Rasmus when he released me, and I guessed he’d sent one or both of them to fetch me for breakfast.
A veritable feast awaited me on the kitchen table. Freshly baked muffins, crispy bacon, pancakes, sliced fruit, and a mug of coffee topped with cream and chocolate sprinkles.
I swooned.
“Wow, that’s some spread!”
Kenji popped into view and swiped a rasher of bacon, ignoring my bear’s unhappy growl.
“The bear’s my favorite,” Kenji told me, chewing his stolen bacon while Fig snuffled around under the table. I swear Fig had doubled in size over the last week. He was now too big to carry around like a cute little accessory. Perhaps he really was a wild hog.
“He’s only your favorite because he cooks,” I pointed out, taking a seat at the table as Maverick filled a plate for me. I’d long since given up trying to be self-sufficient around my bear—he got seriously disgruntled if I didn’t let him treat me like a pampered princess.
“That and he dislikes the pig as much as me.”
I nearly choked on a bite of pancake. “Kenji says you hate Fig! Is that true?”
Maverick glared at Kenji before smiling at me. “Of course not. Pigs are best kept outside, but if you love the creature, then I love him too.”
We all ignored Zane’s snort of amusement.
Kenji huffed. “I’ve changed my mind. The bear’s gone down in my estimation.”
The front door opened, and my merman and storm mage walked in, Kai’s long hair still damp from the pool. He smiled when he saw my guilty expression.
“It’s okay. I knew you were, um, busy.” The lilac blush coloring his cheeks told me he’d sensed exactly what I’d been doing less than thirty minutes ago.
“Happy birthday, Raven,” Alaric said, placing a small, gift-wrapped box on the table. Kai blushed harder and added a second gift, this one in a cute woven bag.
Not to be outdone, my other mates placed their own gifts there too.
“Wow…” I scrambled for something appropriate to say. Adam had never made much of a fuss about my birthday. I never knew why, exactly, but Willow had once told me it was because my mom died around my birthday, so after that, it was a difficult time for him.
Willow had always baked me a cake, at least when I was younger.
Despite her betrayal, I still missed her. But I refused to let sad memories spoil my day.
“You guys shouldn’t have.” Tears filled my eyes, and I hastily brushed them away. I felt truly blessed to have such perfect mates.
“Of course we should have,” Maverick said with a soft smile, lifting me from my chair and placing me on his knee as he sat down on the bench. “Now open your gifts.”
I began with Zane’s, as I knew he lacked the patience of my other mates.
“Wow,” I said again, while thinking I must invest in a thesaurus. “Um, what do I do with these, exactly?” His box contained two small knives, the handles encrusted with gems. They were lovely, but I wasn’t entirely sure why I needed any pretty knives.
“You kill things with them!” Zane grinned. “I’ll teach you how to throw them later. We can build some targets in the yard outside.”
“Thank you. They’re lovely.” Kenji scoffed loudly in my head but pretended to groom his fur when Zane threw him a venomous look.
Kai brightened when I opened his gift bag to discover a pretty necklace with pearls and pink shells threaded onto a delicate gold chain.
“I made it myself,” he whispered when I pulled him close for a kiss.
“Thank you. I love it!”
Rasmus had gifted me a pair of ruby earrings to match my necklace, which I now displayed proudly for the world to see. “I’m going to need a bodyguard to protect me while wearing these,” I joked.
“If anyone dares steal my mate’s jewelry, they’ll regret it,” he growled. “It’s imbued with protective magic.” Kenji’s eyes brightened, probably relishing the challenge of thieving spell-protected jewelry.
“As if I would steal my witch’s valuables,” Kenji grumbled when he spotted my glare.
“And yet you steal my food daily.”
Maverick squeezed me as I unwrapped his gift. “I thought it would be useful,” he said, sounding all bashful when I sighed with delight at the first edition encyclopedia of rare herbs, written by a famous earth witch called Fenella Thistledown.
“Oh my goddess, where did you find a copy? I’ve been after this for years!”
“I reached out to a witch friend who trades in rare books.”
“Thank you. I love it.” I planted a kiss on his lips while trying not to cry.
Alaric shuffled on the spot. His was the last gift on the table.
“It’s only a small gift. I didn’t know it was your birthday until last night.” He raked his fingers through his hair and pulled a face. “Sorry it’s not anything amazing.”
I tore the ribbon and paper from the box and opened it. Inside, on a bed of tissue, sat a small glass bottle. When I lifted it, the bottle crackled and flashed.
I gasped in surprise.
“Is it lightning?” He nodded.
“Like I said, it’s nothing really. I’d have bought you something more expensive, but I have no money right now.”
The Supernatural Council had frozen Tiberius’s financial assets while the MIB investigated exactly what the old bastard had been up to, and more importantly, who else had been involved in his dastardly schemes.
“Sucks to be poor, eh?” Zane grinned at Alaric, but for once Alaric ignored him.
“I don’t need an expensive gift from you, Alaric. This is perfect.” And it was. I had no clue how he’d filled a potion bottle with lightning, but I loved it.
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, his cheeks pink, before brushing his lips over mine.
A rogue tear slid down my cheek, and I quickly wiped it away before Maverick had a meltdown.
“This is the best birthday ever.”
But before I could stand and collect my books for my first class, a fiery portal opened in the corner of the room, sending Fig running for his life in a panic.
My father stepped through the portal, impeccably dressed in a designer suit, his hair perfectly styled and his shoes shiny. Like always.
“Happy birthing day, my darling daughter,” he announced with a smug-as-fuck smile. “I have a special gift for you.”
“A gift?” The box in my father’s arms jolted alarmingly as smoke rose from the many holes poked in the lid. I wasn’t sure I wanted this gift. It seemed rather dangerous.
“Kill me now,” Kenji groaned as Dad placed the box on the floor and a baby hellhound leaped out with a ferocious roar.
My favorite witch strolled in carrying a pink gift bag. She took one look at the hellhound and screamed so loudly my eardrums burst.
“I can’t believe your hot demon daddy gave you a baby hellhound,” Glynda whispered as we took our seats in Professor Oakman’s class.
The creepy mage remained at Starfall, sadly. From what Maverick had told me, the MIB still didn’t have enough evidence to arrest the old bastard.
Burying my revenge fantasies where Oakman turned into a pile of goo, I pulled out my notebook and then turned to Glynda.
“You think my dad’s hot?” I wasn’t sure how to react to the revelation that my bestie thought my dad was hot. I mean, he was good-looking, sure, but hot? Eww.
“Yeah. He’s got that whole bad-boy thing nailed.”
“Can we not talk about my father in such base terms?”
Glynda chuckled. “Don’t worry. He’s not my type.”
“And what is your type, exactly? Fae?” I teased, remembering she followed a ton of fae social media accounts.
“Definitely not fae,” she snapped. “I hate fae. The pointy ears and shiny hair do absolutely nothing for me.” Hmm.
Her reaction seemed a bit OTT, but okay?
I mean, I understood. Farris was a great example of why fae were widely considered assholes in our world, but before I could tell Glynda this, Oakman appeared through a door at the back of the classroom.
“Welcome, everyone,” he beamed, his beady eyes lingering on me for way longer than was comfortable. And I wasn’t the only one who noticed.
Goddess save me, did I have something in my hair?
I’d washed it after the shower, um, business with Rasmus and Zane, but perhaps I’d missed a bit of…yuck. Grim.
Kenji blinked into sight and sat on my desk, vibrating with excitement, although I wasn’t sure why as this lesson was about as unexciting as watching troll weed grow.
I’d already read the textbook and learned everything I wanted to know about creeping paralysis spells and their practical applications.
Oakman eyed my familiar and licked his lips. Angelika, his cat familiar, looked up and hissed when she saw Kenji, but for once my kitsune ignored her. Thank the goddess for small mercies.
“Shit’s about to go down,” Kenji said in my head. The three Ks popped up next to Kenji, and several shifters jumped out of their seats in surprise. I guessed nobody knew my familiar had found his family in Tiberius’s torture labs.
“Why, Miss Blackstone!” Oakman clapped his hands together with glee. “How exciting for us all to see more rare kitsunes!”
The Ks bared their teeth in a show of disgust just as the classroom door flew open and a team of armed dudes in MIB tactical vests swarmed in.
“Professor Albertus Horatio Oakman, you are under arrest for crimes against a protected species.”
Everyone gasped in shock. Me included.
Oakman raised his hands to cast a defensive spell, but he was too slow. The MIB guys cuffed him, ignoring his howls of innocence.
“Save it for the trial, professor,” the team leader sneered, rolling his eyes. Kenji waited until the exact moment the MIB dragged Oakman past my desk before pissing all over him.
Honestly, it was disgusting, and I would never usually condone such feral behavior, but Oakman deserved it.
And from the way the three Ks hopped up and down, barking excitedly, they thought so too.