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The next few days were strange. Things started to go back to normal—as much as they could. We got contractors in to fix the downstairs area where the fae and their mages had destroyed much of the bookstore in their attack. My gryphon side didn't like having strangers in my territory, especially not now, with things feeling tenuous and strained, but it was worth it to have the place put back together. They fixed all the structural damage, but we opted to do cleanup ourselves.
I think it gave us all something to focus on.
Oisin drifted by me as I sorted books into bins—keep or toss depending on how damaged they were. The fae glanced at me and gave me a soft smile in greeting, then continued on. He was "tasting the wards," I had been informed. He said his magic was still far too weak to do anything like reset the wards that protected this place. But I think he was wanting to test his power, stretch his magic a little and see what was left.
I left him to it. Fuck if I knew anything about magic, and he assured me he wouldn't blow himself up. He might have some memory loss, but he had been around at least five hundred years longer than me. I had to trust he was an adult...at least in this.
I watched the fae out of the corner of my eye. He was dressed to perfection in his usual way, skinny jeans, a perfectly pressed shirt and a silk vest embroidered with gold flowers. He even had on his red wingtips. The ridiculous shoes were my favorite, not that I'd ever tell him that. I loved when Oisin expressed his beautiful, vibrant self as loudly as possible.
Hisashi and Kai came in through the front door and it was comforting to hear the little jingle of the new bells we'd hung just today. Gods, I was fucking nesting. What was with me and this warm, homey vibe?
The snow had partially melted the day before under an unseasonable heatwave, then today all the slush froze and more snow started falling, in typical Michigan style. Kai almost fell on her ass coming in the door, but Hisashi caught her and they both clung to the door frame for dear life. The kraken pinched Hisashi's ass when he turned to pick up the bag of salt he'd dropped and Hisashi jerked, almost falling on his face on the icy stoop.
Shaking my head at their antics, I turned to find Oisin standing right beside me. I started and let out a yelp. "Fuck. I still need to get you that collar and bell. Don't sneak up on me!"
The fae smirked and the expression made my heart flutter. That was the smirk that had landed me in bed with the degenerate the first time. And nearly every time since.
"Are all gryphons so jumpy?" he asked calmly.
I huffed. "Are all fae so fucking sneaky?"
His smirk faded. "Yes."
Gods damn it. I hadn't meant to make him think of his stupid-ass clan.
Kai came to my rescue, with that krakens-don't-give-a-fuck attitude that either made me want to kiss her or kill her, depending on the day. "Gesa! Tell your fox to get his cocks back inside before he breaks one off. I haven't even had the chance to play with them yet."
The fox in question was skating around the sidewalk, scattering salt so people might actually be able to make it to the door without busting their asses. He came back inside, his high cheekbones stained red against his albino-white skin. "Gods. Do you want my social security number? So you can shout that to the neighbors too, Kai?"
She just ginned. I knew she was never going to let it go. Not until she got to see the magnificence of Hisashi's diphallia herself.
"Kai," I said calmly, "you're an asshole."
Her grin widened as she hung up her coat and oozed toward me and Oisin, all undulating curves and wickedness. Shit. Here came trouble.
She stopped in front of me and leaned in, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling me down for a kiss. Then she turned to Oisin. "Gesa and the fox are no fun," she said, throwing an arm around the fae's shoulders and stage whispering in his ear. "Not like you, my lovely little fae. Spill it. What's the fox hiding? Gesa said cocks. Plural."
Oisin arched his perfect red brows at me. "I have no idea what she's talking about."
I rubbed a hand over my face. Hisashi wiped his boots on the rug and stomped by, still blushing. But probably also more than a little hurt that Oisin didn't remember our little threesome. Foursome? Did the fox count as one person, or two in that situation?
I cleared my throat, realizing I had gone off on a mental tangent while Oisin and Kai stared at me. "Oh, for fuck's sake," I muttered. "Oisin, you're gonna be so pissed you forgot."
The fae frowned, then tugged on the bottom of his vest and straightened to his full, diminutive, height. The haughty mask appeared and I mentally cursed. Gods, Gesa, just keep kicking him while he's down.
"I remember new things every day," he informed me, perfect nose in the air. "Maybe I've only forgotten what's not worth recalling."
I pinched the bridge of my nose. I wanted Oisin back. But fuck he was an asshole. "That...I didn't mean...oh screw it. You know what? Fine. If you say so."
I shoved past him. "Thanks a lot Kai."
She chuckled and pulled Oisin into a crushing hug, nearly suffocating him with her overflowing cleavage. "Oh, lighten up," she said as the fae remained rigid in her grasp. "We can always make new memories. Want to make one right now?"
Oisin didn't seem to know what to do with his hands. Finally, he heaved a sigh and slumped, letting Kai smother him. "Maybe another time," he muttered.
She tilted his head back with a finger under his chin and kissed the tip of his nose. "We had fun together," she informed him. "We absolutely devastated the gryphon."
He smiled a little at that, tossing a glance my way. "Did we?"
I rolled my eyes and turned my back on the morons. Devastated. Ha. Hardly. Okay, maybe a little. Gods my pride was amazing.
I left the two degenerates behind talking about wards and fire damage and whether either of them had ever fucked me on the long wooden counter out front, and made my way up the spiral staircase to the apartment.
Con was at the local college, where he worked part time as an adjunct professor teaching mythological studies and other classes about dusty old books and legends. I found Hisashi in his bedroom. He was setting up his meditation area and I watched him as he moved about.
Our fox was young. Only twenty—or, maybe twenty-one now? I'd lost track of time when everything went to shit.
When Hisashi first came to us, I had resisted. He'd been caught between scary powerful adult and awkward teenager. As I watched him now, I realized he had changed. I could feel his power, his aura more obvious than it ever had been, but he didn't stoop under it. He seemed...more confident, his broad shoulders more able to carry the burdens that kept being tossed his way. And he had an innate way of being whatever was needed at the time.
Given the shit sandwich our lives had become recently, that was a good skill to have.
But I still worried about him. He might be more mature, but he was still our youngest. And sometimes I wondered if he didn't carry the heaviest burden. I knocked on the open door and strolled in. "You okay?" I asked as I sat on the edge of his bed. Everyone in the pride had their own room, but Hisashi used his more than the others.
He set down the candle he'd been holding and raised a white brow at me. Gods he was beautiful, the perfect combination of lean, masculine hotness and ethereal, otherworldly pretty. He pushed a hand through his white hair, pushing the longer strands over to one side so the blue tattoo on the shaved side of his head was visible. The marking was a ward of some sort, I was sure. It pulsed with a shimmer of magic as I watched.
"Fine," he said softly. "Why?"
I heaved a sigh and flopped back to lie down on his bed. "Because Oisin doesn't remember you have two cocks."
He snorted. "At least that's not the only thing he remembers about me."
I snickered. "Yeah, that would suck." I ran a hand through my hair and stared at the high ceiling. Oisin had done a beautiful job renovating this place before he moved us all in like the master schemer he was. "He told me he held onto the love. He said it was the one thing his fucking father couldn’t take from him." I turned my head to watch Hisashi pace closer. His blue eyes were sorrowful. "He said he loves us all, Hisashi. He even asked for you, the first time he woke up."
I waved a hand in the air. "All the other stuff doesn't matter. If he remembers the emotions, remembers how much we mean to each other, then we'll be okay. Even if he doesn't remember why we're together."
I didn't realize I was crying until Hisashi leaned over me and swiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. He slid his hand down to cup my jaw as he pressed his lips to mine, soft and tender.
I let out a little half-sob and wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him down to me so hard he lost his balance and fell on me, making us both grunt as the breath whooshed out of us. I laughed, even as I felt more tears leaking out of my damned eyes. Hisashi kissed them away and the cool, misty touch of his magic against my skin made me shiver.
He gave me a serious look. "You remember how many cocks I have, don't you?"
I laughed harder at that, letting out all the pent-up emotion from the last few days. "I don't know...nine?"
He snorted and bent his head to nuzzle at my neck, right where he'd bitten me the last time we fucked. Before we went to get our fae back. I let out a groan when he licked the spot, following up with a few sharp nips along my shoulder and neck before he got to my ear. "Sadly, no," he whispered. "But I've got one for each hand."
I rolled my eyes. "Lame."
He chuckled against my skin and ran his hands up my sides, skimming along my waist and pushing up my shirt, his big, warm hands a flaring contrast to his magic. "I know, so lame. Make me feel better?"
I nearly purred when his hands reached my tits, cupping and kneading, pausing to tease the nipples. I arched my back and shoved, reversing our positions so I sat astride him. "If I have to," I teased, trying to sound bored while he rolled his hips under me so I could feel his massive bulge.
We made quick work of clothes. Then I slipped back and got a grip on him, working a big cock in each hand. I wanted to ride him, but...Gods. "Uh," I said intelligently. "You said I could...um with one?"
He gave me a very vulpine smile, all sharp teeth and mischief. "What was that, gryphon? I'm not sure I understand what you mean?"
I glared at him. Fucker knew exactly what I meant.
"How," I said slowly through clenched teeth, "do I ride one cock at a time."
He grinned. "Condoms are in the drawer there, babe."
I growled. Not what I meant. But I obligingly suited him up, taking time to stroke him long and hard. Then I looked at him again, arching a brow. "That last time was fun and all, but I really need to work up to this whole two cocks thing," I said with a growl still in my voice. If he didn't get on with the fucking, I was going to lose my shit.
He relented and grabbed a cock. "Hop on."
When I eyed him skeptically, he rolled his eyes. "They're dicks, babe, not eggshells. That one will get a little squished, but the friction feels good."
I sighed. Why did everything in my life have to be so fucking weird?
Sliding forward, I took one of his glorious cocks slow and deep. The other one was trapped between us, and it slid over my folds in a way that was both weird and wonderful all at once. I leaned forward and kissed him, and despite all our teasing his touch was tender and loving. He ran his hands over my body in a worshipful move and I sighed against him, leaning into the roll of his hips. Normally, I didn't do sweet. But we both needed this. Needed comfort.
What we needed was a small, snarky redhead in the middle of all of this. But what can you do?
We were slow and gentle, but I could feel it building to something more between us. I leaned forward and bit Hisashi on the juncture of neck and shoulder, hard. Canid thing.
He surged up and flipped us over, pulling out and slowly easing back in, this time with both his dicks. I moaned and dragged my nails down his back, urging him on even though it was just this side of too much. When he was fully seated, he took a minute to just breathe, dropping feather-light kisses along my neck. "Okay?" he whispered.
I nodded. "So okay."
He moved slowly, but it didn't take much to make me orgasm, stuffed overfull of fox and my own damned emotions. He fucked me through it, holding himself back, and I dropped my head, utterly spent.
Gods he was so perfect.
Shoving him off, I hauled him to the edge of the bed and dropped to my knees on the soft rug. Hisashi was stretched out before me like some sort of pagan offering. I grinned as I took in every inch of lean, muscular white skin. Then I stripped off the condoms and went to work sucking two cocks.
It was quite the...handful. Ha.
Hisashi watched me, his head on one folded arm, blue eyes rimmed in silver. "Gods," he gasped as I twisted one wrist while deep throating on the other side.
I growled my approval as he lost his calm and tangled his hands in my hair.
It wasn't long until we were both wrung out and satiated, lying tangled together on Hisashi's seldom-used bed.
"You were going to meditate," I reminded him.
He laughed and dragged a hand up and down my back where I lay tucked against his side. "This is a much better way to clear the mind."
I grinned. "Any time you need to work on that, fox...."
I think I drifted to sleep for a while, lulled by the warm strokes of Hisashi's hand on my side and hip. Clearly he wasn't sleeping though, because his deep voice brought me out of my stupor.
"I'm scared," he whispered.
I ran my hand up from his flat stomach to his chest, brushing across his light smattering of soft white hair. "Of what?"
He ran a hand through my hair, teasing out the tangles in the blond mess. "My powers are getting stronger," he said softly. "I feel it. It got a lot worse during the...rescue. But it hasn't stopped now that we're home. The energy inside, all around me, it just keeps growing. It feels like it will swallow me up. Or like...maybe one day I'll just explode. Like Cardoc."
I reached up and cupped his jaw, tilting his head so he had to look at me. "What can I do?"
He covered my hand with his own, then drew it up, so my fingers rested on the ward on the side of his head. "Do you know what this is?"
I traced the outline with a finger, feeling the power in it pulsing against my touch. "A ward?"
He nodded, trapping my fingers again and resting our clasped hands on his chest, over his heart. "It is. For protection. But, it's more than that. It's kanji. Japanese characters that represent my clan name. It's a brand. Lets everyone know who I belong to."
I growled. He didn't belong to anyone. And if he did, it was me, damn it.
"I had it altered," he said, squeezing my hand in acknowledgment of my anger. "When I ran away. I scraped together enough cash—in ways I am not proud of—to hire a mage in a seedy shop to alter the kanji. I added my name to it." He gave me a wry smile. "So, it essentially says I belong to myself. I thought I was making a big statement, you know? That they didn't own me anymore."
"Fuck Hisashi," I breathed. "You were a ballsy fifteen-year-old."
He grinned. "I was. I had to be if I wanted my life to be my own." His grin faded and he let out a sigh. "But...now I don’t know if I did the right thing."
I glared up at him. "What?"
He shook his head at me, still clasping my hand to his heart. "I lost control of my magic, back there in the fae lands. I almost unleashed that hell—all those hungry ghosts—on you and the pride. Then I jerked you all into the otherworld and got you trapped. I almost killed us all. Twice."
"Oisin didn't even want me involved," he continued. "I know he was trying to protect me, has been for a while now." He gave me a look that said I wasn't as good at keeping secrets as I thought I was. "The only thing keeping me together before all of that was Oisin and his magic. Now he doesn't even remember that. Or why he would care enough to do it again, even if he could. Which he can't, because he's weakened and my magic's only getting stronger."
I squeezed his fingers so tight he grimaced. "Listen, fox," I warned. "You are not going anywhere, you hear me?" I knew what he was saying. He needed to bind himself to a shrine so he would be more stable. But that meant letting his clan use him like a fucking battery. And it meant tying him down to one spot for the rest of his nearly immortal life.
I had a sudden, clear memory of Oisin telling me not to send Hisashi back to his family. There had to be another way.
"You belong here with us," I told him, my voice all growly. "We'll figure it out."
He sighed. "But how?"
I closed my eyes. I could not believe I was about to say this. "White. He offered to give me Halstad's mage contract if we did a job for him."
I opened my eyes to find Hisashi staring down at me with the weirdest look on his face. It was like...half horror, half resignation.
"Halstad could help you, couldn't he? With his wacko mage magic?"
The fox pressed his lips together. "Maybe. For a while. If I don't keep getting fucking stronger all the time and...outstrip his abilities."
I nodded. "So. White's job. Can't be that bad, right? More supernatural creature tracking? Maybe someone jerry-rigged something at his casino."
Hisashi looked down his long nose at me. "Are we really going to not talk about you and—"
I cut him off. "No."
He laughed. "Gods, you are so...Gesa."
His eyes flicked toward the ceiling, then darted back down, and he froze. I turned my head, following his gaze to the door, which of course we hadn't pushed all the way closed. We also weren't covered up. And Hisashi's double poles were flopped out on his thigh on full display.
Oisin stood there, one hand lifted as if he was about to knock. He dropped his hand. "Ah." He looked flustered for all of a second before the cold, flat mask dropped over his elvish features. "So that's what all the fuss was about?" He lifted one slender shoulder in a shrug, as if to say he was unimpressed.
I blinked, then sat up, hiding Hisashi from that damned cold gaze. "Oisin? What's up? Did you come to join?"
My humor fell flat as the fae refused to take the bait. "I came to find you, so I could tell you there's a demon here to see you."
"Motherfucker," I hissed.
That got me one raised eyebrow. "He says he has work for you. For us. I assume he means with clothes on."
I stood and scooped up my clothes while Hisashi pulled on his pants. I wasn't sure if Oisin was making a joke or asking me an honest to Gods question. Did he forget White wasn't one of us? I shuddered at the thought.
"The demon isn't part of the pride," Hisashi said as he pulled on a t-shirt.
Oisin stared at him for a long time. I wasn't sure what the fuck was going through his stupid fae head, but he looked even more distant. "I gathered."
The fox let out a long-suffering sigh. I agreed with him wholeheartedly. And, on top of that, I had to deal with Derek fucking White.
But it saved me from Hisashi's questions about a certain annoying-ass mage. Small miracles.