Chapter 56
Oryx
Her excitement bubbled over as she sat perched on my shoulders, fingers wrapped around my horns. When her thumbs traced circles at their base, heat surged through me, and I struggled to maintain my composure beneath her innocent touch.
It was the only way we kept Vesper restrained without making her feel… confined as we waited for her mother to awaken.
Under the high moon's glow, Sylvaine and Thackery journeyed to the portal and returned with the casket they had unearthed from the woodland's edge. Vesper begged to accompany them back to the Earth Realm, but we refused her—the risk was too great.
The journey through the portal wasn’t safe, even for seasoned fae with magik like Thackery and Sylvaine, but necessity drove them forward. The triad's reunion depended on it, despite the unknown dangers lurking beyond the portal.
Thackery and Sylvaine returned with their magik reserves brimming, their combined power sufficient to extract Alicia’s casket from its earthen prison and guide it through the night air back to the estate.
We couldn't bear to let Vesper near the portal. Our bond was too new, too raw, and the beasts that live beneath my skin paced restlessly at the mere thought of her wandering beyond my reach.
The casket glided through the estate gates, suspended by an unseen force. Torch-bearing attendants flanked the procession, their flames casting long shadows across the grounds. Sylvaine and Thackery walked behind it, fingers intertwined.
Beneath my hands, Vesper's legs trembled with barely contained excitement as we trailed the procession to the lab.
Inside, Veylor stood beside the examination table he'd readied—one space for the casket, another draped with linens where we would soon prepare Alicia’s body for the reanimation ritual.
Vesper squirmed atop my shoulders, and my hands traveled up to steady her thighs. I gripped them firmly, the tips of my claws dimpling her soft skin through the fabric. "If you cannot remain still, pet," I warned in a low voice, "you won’t watch her awakening."
Vesper groaned when the casket was sat down with a gentle thud.
“I can’t help it!” Her thumbs grazed over my horns again.
“I just can’t believe this is happening.
She’s here, she’s not dead. I can see her again!
” She beamed at both of her fathers, who stared up at her with complete and utter devotion.
They both held out their hands to her, and she grasped each of them.
Vesper's joy at reuniting with Thackery didn't last long before she insisted we return to the estate to reanimate her mother. Though she showered both her fathers with affection—hugs and kisses on their cheeks that made my jaw clench—I ensured those tender moments were brief.
My possessive nature wouldn't allow for more.
Her fathers or not, those displays of tenderness belong to Veylor and I alone. For now, at least.
A rumble rose from deep in my chest when they clasped her hands, and they retreated at the sound.
Vesper's heel thumped against my sternum—a warning I chose to ignore.
Fathers or not, their years of absence had forfeited their right to her affection.
Be it their own fault or not. My gaze tracked their movements, making it clear: they could admire her from a distance until I decided otherwise.
They have many, many years to speak with her. Especially when time didn’t matter.
Besides, Sylvaine and Thackery deserved this time with Alicia. Their separation had stretched across a realm and decades. They had lifetimes of memories to build.
Thackery stepped forward and eased the casket lid aside.
As it slid open, earth and fragments scattered across the floor.
Threads of silver-white magik weaved around the wooden frame, creating a protective barrier that prevented soil from spilling onto Vesper's mother.
Atop my shoulders, Vesper's fingers clenched around my horns once more, her grip tightening with anticipation.
I groaned as my cock hardened in my trousers.
“Easy,” Veylor whispered up to Vesper, his hand sliding up her calf that laid on my chest. “You are making your monster uncomfortable.”
Vesper let go and laid her hand on the top of my hair. “Sorry, I’m so excited, I can’t contain it. I have so much to say. To all of them. I just.” She squealed.
My tail wrapped around Veylor, pulling him close, and Veylor grabbed Vesper’s leg tighter. “It will be alright, and they can stay as long as they want. Anything to make you happy.”
Vesper bit her lip and stared down at the both of us. “I’m so lucky to have you both. Even if I was kinda bitchy in the beginning.”
Veylor chuckles. “I was too, remember?”
I adjusted myself, moving my cock slightly to the right. “I liked it when she was bitchy.”
Vesper laughed, a laugh that I felt deep within my soul. Veylor even smiled.
The casket lid crashed to the floor as tendrils of white mist rose from within, cradling Alicia’s body.
Her brown hair rose as if underwater; her garments rippled around her suspended form.
Time seemed to hold its breath as the mist carried her weightlessly, frozen in time to the padded bed waiting beside the laboratory table.
Vesper was quiet, her heart still.
“Just as the day I put her to sleep,” Thackery said as he approached the table. We all followed and Vesper held her breath.
“Breathe darling,” Veylor said as his hand rubbed up her leg. “If you faint, you will miss your mother waking.”
Vesper's breath caught as she gazed down at her mother. The garments adorning Alicia's body shimmered with an otherworldly quality—fabrics that belong to this realm and not on Earth. Thackery must have dressed her in clothing from their first arrival on Earth.
“You know,” Vesper began, “I never thought about it, but mom never did age like everyone else.”
Thackery chuckled. “She didn’t. She put silver highlights in her hair as the years went by. You hardly noticed, children have their own problems.”
Vesper blushed. “I should have…”
Thackery's fingers closed around hers, warm and reassured.
"None of that matters now," he said, his voice gentle.
"You both carried burdens I couldn't share while I was searching for the portal.
But look—" his eyes softened as they fell on Alicia's still form, "—we're all here now, and once we wake her, we have remedies that will heal what ailed her in the human realm. "
Vesper’s legs tightened around my head.
Fuck, I’m hard.
Sylvaine, all the while, was staring at Alicia with longing. His fingers ran through her slightly streaked silver hair and a smile quirked at his lips. “Do you think she is angry with me?”
Thackery's hand found Sylvain's shoulder, squeezing gently.
"Look how easily we reconciled. She won't harbor any resentment—we never did.
Those were lies you told yourself." His eyes softened, glancing toward Alicia's still form.
"Let's bring her back to us. Then perhaps you'll finally have your chance at fatherhood.
She always wanted to give you that gift. "
Sylvaine blushed and shook his head. “She wouldn’t want that so soon.”
Thackery chuckled and rounded the bed. “Alicia talked about it often. How she longed to see you again and give you a child. Prepare yourself.”
Sylvaine rubbed his chest, his eyes watered.
Vesper grabbed my horns and shook them. “Wake her up already, man!”
Thackery chuckled as tendrils of white mist emerged from his fingertips, encircling Alicia's still form.
The ethereal wisps danced across her face before slipping between her parted lips and into her nostrils.
Her chest expanded with a sudden, sharp intake of breath, the first sign of life returning to her dormant body.
Vesper bent forward over my horns, her breath catching as we watched. Alicia’s corset dress—once dulled by time—now blazed with white, orange, and brown hues as the ancient dust scattered from its fabric.
After a moment of the wind and snowflakes fading away, Alicia gasped, and her eyes opened. Her fingers twitched, and her head moved back and forth. “Thackery?” Her voice croaked, and Thackery was at her side with a glass of water that was on the nearby table.
Thackery helped her up and Vesper once again held her breath.
“Breathe, Vesper,” Veylor warned.
Alicia's head snapped toward Veylor's voice, her gaze landing on both of us. Her eyes widened at the sight, and Vesper trembled against me, no longer able to contain her excitement.
“Mom!”
Alicia let go of the glass, it was caught by Sylvaine. His touch startled Alicia, and she glanced toward him.
“Oh my god. We’re back? Vesper?” She looked back to Vesper, tears welled up into her eyes. “You’re here too?”
Sylvaine grabbed Alicia from the coffin, holding her close. Thackery came to Alicia’s side and stroked the side of her arm. “Hello sleeping beauty.”
Vesper wiggled in my grasp until I pulled her off my shoulders and held her in my arms, both women now surrounded by their males.
“Mom!” Vesper cried again, reaching for her.
I growled when the other triad came closer.
Veylor sighed. “You must let them at least hug. They are her family.”
I groaned. “Don’t care. She’s mine, I mean ours.”
Veylor shook his head. “Oryx, they aren’t going to take her away.”
With a low growl of surrender, I carried Vesper forward until mother and daughter collided in an embrace so fierce it seemed to mend years of separation in seconds.
My heart was overflowing with love that all came from Vesper for her mother.
I sifted through Veylor's memories, hunting for any glimpse of my own mother, but found only emptiness where that bond should have been. My skull tilted as I watched Vesper and Alicia’s embrace, their connection as foreign to me.
“You didn’t like your parents,” Veylor said. “You were raised by numerous nannies. I’m surprised you turned out to be the most loving male fae I have ever encountered.”
I turned my skull to him. “Then I am glad I don’t remember.”
Vesper pulled away from her mother and sniffed. “Mom, I want you to meet my mates. This is Veylor and this is Oryx.”
I tensed, expecting her mother to recoil from my skull-face or question what manner of creature had claimed her daughter, but instead she reached forward with gentle hands and cupped both Veylor's cheek and my jawbone with equal tenderness.
Alicia’s lips curved into a tender smile, the corners of her eyes crinkling with warmth that had been absent during her long sleep.
Her voice, still slightly raspy from disuse, carried a maternal gentleness as she looked between Veylor and me.
"In the human realm, when people marry into a family, they often call their spouse's parents 'mom' or 'dad.
' It's a tradition I've always found rather beautiful.
" She reached out, her slender fingers brushing against my skeletal jaw with surprising tenderness.
"Would you both be comfortable calling me that? "
I perked my ears up, unable to speak. She wants me to call her mom?
Veylor smiled. “Oryx and I would be delighted to continue such a tradition.”
Warmth spread in my eye sockets.
Vesper gasped. “Oh my god, mom, you made him cry!”
I jerked my head away and shook. “I cannot cry; I don’t have tear ducts.” I swiped at my face, but there was liquid leaking down my face. “I am crying. Why?” I rubbed the liquid between my fingers.
Sylvaine's fingers threaded through Alicia’'s hair as he pressed his lips against the crown of her head.
"The bond works in mysterious ways," he murmured against her silver-streaked locks.
"Just as Thackery's fur took on my autumn hues when he shifts, you might have gained some of Vesper's emotional nature.
Who knows what other gifts may reveal themselves in time. "
Vesper wrapped her arms around my neck. “Now Veylor and I don’t have to just feel your emotions, we can see them. Crying of happiness, sadness…”
“Or pleasure,” Veylor smirked.
Vesper's cheeks flamed crimson as she shot Veylor a mortified look. "Can we not discuss our bedroom activities while my mother is literally right there?" she hissed through clenched teeth.
Alicia laughed, and turned her body to the men who stared down at her with such love.
Vesper smiled. “I think we should give them some alone time. What do you guys think?”
We retreated from the room, our footsteps soundless against the floor.
The three of them remained locked in their embrace, oblivious to our departure.
Thackery and Sylvaine had already been assigned to a wing of the house of their own—plenty of privacy for their reunion with Alicia.
Vesper's grip tightened around both my arm and Veylor’s as we walked away, her knowing smile tinged with the bittersweet understanding that her mother would be otherwise occupied for quite some time.
That was no matter because we planned to keep our pet entertained for that time as well.