Chapter Five

Will couldn’t quite believe he was doing this. His daughter had actually talked him into pursuing Damien. He shouldn’t have been surprised, really, about her matchmaking. Queens were very instrumental in the various pairings within the hive. It was usually older ones eyeing who would do well with whom. Adolescent queens, not so much. But Annika was an anomaly in many ways. Her observations about his attraction to Damien were predictable, given how rapidly she was taking on her mantle of power. He just couldn’t shake the weird feeling that his daughter was in any way involved in his sex life.

Jesus, she practically ordered me to go get laid.

It was his own fault. What had he been thinking, bringing the problem to her anyway? Abject fear for the boy had been the driving force. And while he didn’t think seducing him would help with that at all, it might be useful in making sure Damien welcomed Will’s protection while he did his infiltration. No way was Will going to allow anyone else to be the boy’s guardian angel during the whole thing. Damien would probably be more receptive to his lover keeping tabs on him that someone else.

Or, this could all be a rationalization for acting on the desire to fuck Damien that had been plaguing him since he’d moved to Boston.

It’s wasn’t very late, barely eleven. Annika was tucked under the covers of her canopy bed with the furball by her side, as she herself had described. She was absolutely angelic in her sleep, with her pale blonde hair fanned out on her pink silk pillow and her white eyelet coverlet pulled up to her chin, with only the lacy collar of her nightgown showing. Her beauty took his breath away, and he loved her with an intensity that, as he’d said, almost hurt.

He hated the fact that Luuk had had so little time with her—that his enhanced life could be struck down by a human ailment that Will’s blood was supposed to have immunized him from. He should have been here to see their daughter grow into a woman, to become the Queen. He missed the man so much, his bed cold and empty, no matter where he lay his head. Sometimes he still reached for his lover in the middle of the night, only to come up with a fistful of bedding. More than the sex, it was the intimacy he truly missed. Perhaps he could find a measure of that with Damien.

He found the boy in the kitchen—not the family one but the big commercial area that served the club. He was alone, which was a relief. Will was out of practice asking a man for company and didn’t want an audience. God, what if he turns me down? That would suck, especially given the hours he’d spent working himself into a lather over the asking part. But there was no need to get ahead of himself. There was a mutual attraction, so it was likely Damien would welcome the advance. Will didn’t need anyone else to point that out to him.

The club music was piped into the kitchen. The Doors’ Break on Through was playing. Damien was cleaning up and moving to the beat. It was such a delightful surprise that Will stood and watched. The boy had moves, as good as the go-go boys for sure. His slender hips, draped in the white chef’s jacket, were swinging back and forth as he moved around the kitchen. The synthetic keyboard chords echoed throughout the space, and Damien added little steps back and forth in time to the rhythm. God, he’s adorable. And Will had loved the sixties, especially living in Amsterdam. Those had been the happiest, most carefree days of his life.

He’d met Luuk back then and had fallen instantly in love.

Except Luuk was dead, and Annika was right about his not wanting Will to stay alone forever. He’d have felt the same if the situation had been reversed. In fact, they had discussed it, knowing that Will might have to leave at any time to join Alex in a fight. Will had made Luuk promise to find some else, to continue to live his life. And that had been before Annika’s unexpected birth. He knew that being with Damien wasn’t any kind of betrayal. It was still hard to make his feet move.

He did it, though, approaching the unaware boy as the song reached its crescendo. Damien executed a whirl at the last note and ended up facing Will. He came to an abrupt stop and stood wide-eyed, staring at him.

Then he grinned sheepishly. “I didn’t realize anyone was here.”

Will tried for a casual smile back. “I didn’t want to interrupt you. You were obviously enjoying yourself.”

Damien shrugged. “Well, you know, I love the classics—The Doors, Jimmy, Janis, Cream, Guess Who. I can’t stand still when they’re playing. Tonight’s retro night, so… I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of heavy metal and grunge, the alternative rock stuff. It’s all good. But, man, give me that synth keyboard and I’m in heaven.” The boy stopped and shook his head. “I’m babbling because you’re being here with me alone is freaking me out.”

Alarmed at the statement, Will took a step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t intend to bother you.”

Damien rolled his eyes. “No, dude, it’s because I want you to be here so much. I, like, fantasize about your being with me just like this—no one around, the two of us staring into each other’s eyes. Then you come up to me and wham, I’m in your arms and you’re kissing the shit out of me.” Damien stopped and barked out a laugh. “And now I’m freaking you out because you’re here for like a sandwich or something.”

Will didn’t let the conversation go any further. He did exactly what Damien had said, went to him and took him in his arms. He wasn’t gentle because he didn’t think Damien wanted that. Instead, he locked him into a bear-hug and attacked the boy’s lips. It was full-on tongue down the throat time. There was no way he had the patience to finesse it. He’d generally known that the human had a pierced tongue, but it still surprised him to find it massaging the tip of his own, the steel ball providing a unique stimulation. He liked it, though, and kept coming back to it, tickling it and enjoying the sensation.

Damien hesitated only a second before responding in kind, with his arms wrapped tightly around Will’s torso and his leg entwined with one of Will’s. The position allowed Damien to rise up to align his shorter body with Will’s taller one better, grinding their hips together. Their hard cocks pressed and rubbed, even with their clothing still on. Fucking hell. Will thought he would come from that little contact alone.

He had to slow things down before he did, before he bent Damien over one of Emil’s prepping stations and fucked him right there. God, it was a tempting thought, but there were any number of people who could walk in and Will had to show some common sense. It was hard, though. After so many years of celibacy, his sex drive was like a bursting dam. There was little to hold it back.

Breaking the kiss, he huffed, “We have to find a private place.”

“Storeroom,” Damien panted out.

Before Will could respond to that suggestion, Damien was already taking the lead, uncoupling them in order to grab Will’s hand. He tugged him across the kitchen and into one of the rooms where Emil stored his dry supplies. Damien opened the door then kicked it shut again. They were plunged into darkness, which was rather arousing, actually. Then there was little time to ponder that before Damien was in his arms again.

This kiss was no less intense than the last one, except now Damien was working Will’s T-shirt, shoving it up to expose his chest. Damien found Will’s nipples and made him moan as the human rubbed and plucked at them. Will wanted to do the same, but settled for working his hands under the chef’s jacket in order to slide them past the waist of Damien’s jeans. They were loose enough that he could reach the boy’s perfect high, tight ass. He cupped it and used it to press him even closer.

“Hm-m,” Damien moaned. He broke the kiss and whispered, “Fuck me. Right here against the door. I want your dick inside me. Now!”

Will latched onto Damien’s lip and tugged before saying, “The condom’s in my front pocket.” Humans needed such things to feel safe, even though there was nothing Will could transmit to him. The club had plenty on hand and he’d grabbed a few on his way to the kitchen, along with a small tube of lubricant.

He’d barely said the words before Damien had pushed him away and was undoing his jeans, lowering the zipper and freeing his hard dick. At the same time, Will was pulling out a condom and the lube, covering and slicking himself. It was fast, efficient and being done in the kind of dark that humans couldn’t see in.

Then Damien was back to kissing him before saying, “You’re ready for take-off, Captain. Just don’t trip on your partially lowered pants,” he added with a chuckle.

Will almost said something about Alex being the captain before mentally kicking himself. This beautiful, sexy boy was offering his ass on a platter. Well, against the door, but the point was, all Will had to do was point and pierce. Because yes, Damien had turned and put himself in the perfect position, jutting his ass out in invitation. His naked ass, because in the last half-second, he’d dropped his own jeans. The paleness of his flesh was visible to Will’s alien eyes. And by taking the boy from behind, Will’s natural inclination to sink his fangs into the jugular was somewhat hampered.

What the fuck am I doing thinking? Analyzing? He slipped one finger down the crease of Damien’s ass to locate and press against his hole. With a groan, Damien pushed back to take the finger in more deeply. The puckered ring was soft and pliable. The tight channel was also loose and welcoming.

“What are you waiting for?” Damien demanded. “I’m not into the whole BDSM thing. I don’t like being tortured.”

Will smiled at the admonition right before he sunk himself balls-deep into Damien’s beckoning hole.

Oh God. It was amazing. To experience that tight heat clasping his cock made him light-headed from the pure pleasure. He stayed right where he was for a few seconds to simply revel in the complete rightness of it all. Then Damien whined and clamped his hole like a vise in obvious demand. It got Will moving, because it wasn’t all about what made him happy. He treated the human to a few hard, long thrusts and had intended to keep those up, but he came. Like an uncontrolled explosion, he filled Damien’s ass with pent-up cum. Well, filled the condom, really, except Will liked to picture it otherwise.

He did it once, twice, always thrusting, and was on his third orgasm when Damien jerked and cried out. Will had enough sense left to bury himself completely before reaching around to clasp Damien’s dick and milk it through the boy’s climax.

They stood there, panting and shuddering with the aftershocks. Will allowed himself to lower his head to place his mouth along the side of Damien’s neck. He kissed, even though he wanted to bite. He soothed his necessary disappointment by sucking the skin with his lips, knowing he’d leave a mark, just not the one he would prefer.

Damien spoke. “I knew it would be great. I’ve wanted you from the moment I first saw you.” He paused. “I hope that doesn’t freak you out.”

Will licked his way up the side of Damien’s neck and around the shell of his ear. He would have loved to nip at the lobe, but the boy’s small gages were in the way. “Not in the least. Will it, as you say, freak you out, if I ask you to come to my room and spend the night with me?”

Damien chuckled. “Hell no. Fulfill all of my fantasies, why don’t you? Except, um, Annika?”

“Sleeps soundly through the night. She won’t come out of her room until morning. Not even her dog rouses her before then. And,” he added in order for his daughter to not became an issue, “our walls are very thick. She won’t hear us, so long as you don’t do any screaming.”

“Ha! That part might be hard. You’re amazing. You do know that?” Will didn’t know how to respond to that assertion. “I mean, do you ever get soft? It felt as if you came a few times and it still feels like I’ve got a club up my ass.”

“Am I hurting you?” Alarmed, Will tried to pull out. Damien made that hard by following and slamming back into his chest. Will had to hug the boy from behind to keep him steady.

“Hell no! Dude, you’re like a sex god. I can’t get enough of you. Maybe we should stay here for the night.”

Will chuckled and gently decoupled them, despite Damien’s mew of disappointment. “I think we’ve probably already violated some number of sanitation codes for kitchens. Let’s go where we’ll be more comfortable and have better privacy. I find,” he confessed with only a little embarrassment, “that I crave you again, too.”

“Then, what are we waiting for?”

 

* * * *

 

Will woke from his dreamless sleep to the feeling of silky wet warmth sliding up the length of his cock. He smiled before opening his eyes, knowing whose mouth was tending to him in such a delightful way. Having stumbled into Will’s room, they’d fucked again, more slowly and face-to-face, which Will had appreciated. They’d collapsed and fallen asleep with Will’s dick still embedded in Damien’s ass. At some point, Will had roused sufficiently to disengage and toss the condom into the wastebasket by his bedside. Thank God, he had it there because he lacked the strength to get up and go to the bathroom.

He’d felt satiated and amazingly content.

Except now the fog was lifting from his brain and his body was waking up oh, so delightfully. The touch on his cock was lazy, a slow arousal, although Will’s dick didn’t do slow. It was already hard as steel, ready for more play. God, it had been so long since he’d enjoyed another man’s touch—except he wasn’t going to go there. Luuk wouldn’t have wanted to be an uninvited guest while Will entertained Damien.

He slid his hand to where he expected to find his lover’s head and touched the strands of slightly stiff hair. Damien gelled it into a funky array that also showcased the blue streaks. He didn’t understand the humans’ universal desire to change their appearance. Will wondered if he could convince him to leave it natural. It was baby fine, and he bet it would be soft to the touch. The ink on his skin and the piercings were another story. They were not easily changed, and he would never ask it of the boy anyway. He got the fact that they were an expression of Damien’s rejection of the life that he’d been kicked out of. It was his way of telling the world that he existed and he was proud of himself.

Will’s eyes popped open when Damien took the head of his cock into his mouth. The sight of the boy blowing him was erotic enough to make him come right then and there. He held it back with effort. He wanted to make it last.

Damn, but the boy knew his way around a dick, that was for certain. And oh holy fuck, talk about body modification. The tongue piercing served a very useful purpose, the metal ball teasing Will’s cock in a most unusual way, an indescribable boost to the already-intense sensations of being licked and laved, sucked and nibbled. He arched as the pleasure threatened to peak. Not wanting to come alone, he used the strands wound around his fingers to gently tugged Damien off his cock and up his body.

When they came face-to-face, Will captured those lips, tasting his own cum. He rolled them over, grabbing both their cocks in a single grip. As he kissed Damien deeply, fucking his mouth with his tongue, he jerked the hard shafts as one. The pre-cum leaking from both of them eased the way, although, for his own part, Will was willing to scourge the skin off his dick to achieve another mind-blowing orgasm with the human. He wanted to make it good for Damien, and when the boy erupted into Will’s hand, crying down his throat and thrashing beneath him, he figured he’d succeeded.

As they both panted their way back to normal breathing, Will amused himself once more by playing with Damien’s hair. The human’s heartbeat was still fast, and it was nice to listen to, even though he couldn’t do more than that. Nothing was likely to end their night together faster and more horribly than for him to show his true nature. He’d forgotten how hard that was, to hide himself, to act like any human man getting laid—no blood, only freakishly amazing orgasms, not that there was anything wrong with that. Quite the contrary… Will hadn’t felt this happy since losing Luuk. It was only that Damien’s scent was driving him wild, and he was desperate for a taste of him. His blood would be sweet, Will knew for a certainty.

But there was no point in torturing himself with thoughts of what he couldn’t have. So he focused on what was right in front of him—the warmth of Damien’s body, the smoothness of his skin, the way his fingers skittered lightly over Will’s abdomen, teasing his dick indirectly into another erection.

“Are these stretch marks?” Damien asked in a voice thick from being well-fucked. He tilted his head to look at Will. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make you self-conscious. They’re sexy as hell.” He grinned.

Caught by surprise at the question, Will hesitated, choosing to focus on that last bit. “Sexy? Seriously?”

Damien’s grin widened. “Yup. Everything about you is.” So saying, he dropped his head against Will’s torso and licked a trail up one of those stretch marks. “Did you used to be overweight?”

Oh, thank God. That was the perfect cover. “Um, yeah, I was,” he admitted. “It was a long time ago, when I was a kid.” He inwardly cringed at how awkward his response sounded to his own ears.

Damien rubbed his cheek against Will’s stomach before resting it there. “I get it. I was a chubby kid myself. When I hit puberty, that all went magically away somehow. Of course, other problems replaced it, like how I really had the hots for the captain of the baseball team. I was crap at hiding that too, so you know that I got beat up a lot.”

The image his casual words created inside Will’s head made him furious. “Little shits. Say the word and I’ll track them down and show them how much it hurts to be picked on.”

Damien chuckled, his warm breath tickling Will’s stomach. “You’d have to put my entire family on that list, too.”

Hearing that enraged him. He slammed his lids shut so Damien couldn’t see his pupils turning red. Holding back a howl was like choking on rising bile. “They hurt you?” he bit out, dreading hearing the answer, yet wanting to give his new lover an outlet for his grief.

Damien blew out a long breath. “My daddy was quick with his belt. Every time I came home bloodied by the other boys, he made sure my backside matched. ‘You bring this on yourself, boy. I need to get that devil out of you.’ I sometimes wonder if old dad was a pedophile or something. He seemed to really enjoy pulling down my pants.”

Will mauled his sheet with one hand in order to keep from digging his fingers into Damien, as his anger against the boy’s family increased. “And with all that, they also kicked you out of your home, didn’t they?” He knew something of the tale, and it was the same with most of the boys who worked with Alex, including the ones who were now members of the family.

“Yeah, well, I got pretty secure in my sexuality. No one was going to convince me I was sinful or sick.”

“You are far from being either.” Without thinking, Will flipped them both so that now Damien lay on his back and Will covered him. Using his inhuman speed, he covered his dick, as well. He wouldn’t allow his actions to ever frighten this boy. Thankfully, Damien didn’t seem to notice anything except how his body was being claimed, because Will slid his cock inside Damien’s welcoming heat with one powerful thrust. He forced his anger to give way to passion, knowing his darkening pupils would look more violet. He wanted to be able to look his lover in the eye.

Damien’s eyes went wide and his mouth opened in an O, before morphing into a smile. “I do love the way your dick fills me.”

Will rolled his hips once. “No one is ever going to hurt you again. I won’t let them.” The vehemence in his voice surprised him, as did the almost sacred vow he was making. Strike the ‘almost’. One night, just a few hours really, and he was feeling fiercely protective and territorial.

Damien chuckled warmly. “I’m not that vulnerable little boy anymore. I learned to bulk up with muscle instead of fat and I only had to fight back a few times to get my message across. That was true for my father as much as with the boys at school. They were all cowards in the end. They only cared about my being gay if they were sure to be able to beat their homophobia into me.”

Damien squeezed his hole, making Will groan. “I like how you make me feel kind of delicate,” he added, running his hand up Will’s biceps. “So much raw power. I’ve never been with a man as big as you.”

Will returned the compliment. “I like how I don’t have to be careful with you. I’m not afraid I’ll crush you.” As much of a distraction as being inside Damien was, Will still had enough brain cells left to devote to his concerns. “I don’t want you to go to this camp,” he confessed, “especially after hearing what you’ve already endured. A place like that could really do damage, send you back to those awful days.”

Damien cupped Will’s cheek. “It’s sweet that you’re worried, but I know what I’m doing. There is no way these people can touch any part of me. I’m going to let their bullshit roll off me. It’s the guys who are there because they think it’s going to help that I worry about. That kind of thing, as you say, can do horrible harm. Anything I can do to shut it down is worth the risk.”

Then there was no more talking for a while, as Will plowed Damien with long, slow thrusts. He wanted to draw out the pleasure. Things had been too fast and furious so far. This time needed to last. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he vowed in a voice thick with passion and something more that he wasn’t ready to consider closely yet.

“I believe you. It’s one of the reasons why I’m willing to do this. Yes, I’d do damn near anything for Emil, but I trust you, Will. I know you, more than you know—more than maybe I should. It’s how I feel, regardless.” Damien’s eyes narrowed to slits and his grin turned sly. “Now, shut up and drill me into the mattress, dude.”

Will was happy to comply.

 

* * * *

 

“You’ve come to the right decision. This is a safe place and we can help you.” The guy doing Damien’s intake was short and skinny, with red hair and freckles sprinkling his nose. He was cute, in a nerdy kind of way, and oh so earnest, so desperately wanting to keep Damien from bolting, so that Hades Hill, as he thought of it, could save him, body and soul.

“I’m Elliott, by the way, and I’d like to be your friend if you’ll allow me.”

Earnest Elliot. That nickname wrote itself. Damien tried for an expression somewhere between apprehensive and hopeful. “I’d like that. I want to change my life. The other guys I know are leading me down a bad path—clubs, sex, drinking, drugs.”

That last part was a lie, at least it had been ever since Damien had been taken under Emil’s wing. He’d done no more molly or anything other than the occasional pot brownie. But people like this guy thought that gay always meant being dominated by other vices, so he might as well lay it on thick.

“We can help you with all that. You only need to show me your ID. The Commonwealth is on the wrong side of this and doesn’t allow us to help underaged boys.”

“Hey, no problem. I’m twenty-one, actually.” He took out his license and handed it over.

Earnest Elliot smiled. “That’s great. You’re making a very mature choice.”

“Thanks.”

Then there was paperwork he had to fill out. He sat on an ass-numbing visitor chair—the camp already trying to make him hate that part of himself—and dutifully filled in the necessary blanks. It was too bad for the clever bastard who’d bought the furniture that Damien’s posterior sweetly ached from the total reaming Will had given him. The hard plastic merely served to press all the right spots, proving that there was a whole lot of ignorance as well as self-loathing going into this shitty place.

And how had his time with Will happened? After so many days spent in unrequited lust, somehow Damien’s fantasies had come true without any warning. All. Night. Long. He wondered what Earnest Elliot would think if Damien ‘confessed’ what he’d been up to merely hours before. Maybe that would make him even more convincing, like an alcoholic hitting rock bottom before seeking help. Of course, his inner twelve-year-old snickered at the word ‘bottom’.

“Here you go. Is there a tuition or anything? Because I don’t have a lot of money.” He tried to make himself look pitiful. He knew the answer anyway and was only trying to act like someone who was unfamiliar with the whole thing.

“There’s no cost. Good people—God-fearing ones—have been very generous and will fully fund your therapy.”

“Oh, that’s good.” He sighed with relief. “I think I heard that a member of congress or something runs this place? He must be very generous, too.”

“Congressman Warren,” Earnest Elliott confirmed with a nod. “He and his wife are wonderful. They’ve devoted their lives to helping people like you get back with God and find your true path in life. And he wants to spread his efforts to the entire country in so many diverse ways. He’s running for President.”

“Really?” he said, wide-eyed, because Earnest Elliot seemed to be looking for some kind of response. “That’s impressive. I guess I should register to vote so I can help him get into office.”

The boy nodded. “That would be best. Now, I have to ask for your mobile phone. There can be no contact with outside influences that can interfere with your getting better.”

“Um, okay,” he said, reaching into his back pocket. He’d known about this already and had a new mobile to sacrifice, while his own was carefully hidden inside the lining of his bag. “It will be weird being without it.”

Elliott gave him a wise look, even as he took the thing and put it into a drawer. “When you’ve recovered from your disease, you’ll find that most of what you have on your phone is pure poison, and you’ll be ready to get rid of it. I also have to check your bag. We also don’t allow certain other things here. We do it with everyone, so don’t take offense. Then I’ll show you around. It’s nearly time for supper. We can dine in the hall with everyone else, and I’ll take you to your room afterward.”

“Swell, thanks.” He’d known about the search, or rather Will and the others had suspected as much. There was nothing to find. But he was impatient throughout it anyway. He wanted to look around. He wanted to help Will, despite the limitations the man and the rest of his family had put on this little adventure.

‘I won’t come to see you tonight,’ Will had told him, a walk-back of their earlier assurances. ‘Val has a lot of experience in security and he figures you’ll need at least twenty-four hours to know how they handle things. You might be locked into your room—or you might have a roommate. We don’t want you taking any risks by sneaking out, unless you’re sure you can do it without detection. That doesn’t mean I won’t be out there, because I will be. Text me if you need me to get in there and get you out. I’ll be by your side in a heartbeat, and if they get to your phone, just scream. I won’t be any farther away than your cry for help. I promise.’

Damien had stared into those very worried violet eyes and had reassured his lover that he would be very careful. That he believed him, totally, even though he knew the guy wasn’t Superman or anything. He would have said anything to ease Will’s worries. While he couldn’t be sure, he believed that the night they’d shared together had meant something to the man as much as it had to him. Being bold in the kitchen when he’d been embarrassingly caught shimmying around had paid off. He’d seen something in Will’s expression that had shaken off his inexplicable shyness, no more timid glancing and longing hopes of being seduced. He’d taken as much as given, and the experience had been unlike any other.

God, he didn’t think he could stand it if Will brushed him off as a convenient diversion. But he was getting ahead of himself. There was no reason to believe that, especially after Will had let him stay the night, only gently showing him the door right before Annika woke for the day. Damien would have insisted upon that, anyway. And during the final meeting with the other family members and Logan that morning, while they’d discussed what they hoped Damien would accomplish here, Will hadn’t been aloof. He’d kissed Damien, briefly, yet very publicly before the meeting had started and he’d sat him right by his side. That wasn’t the behavior of someone ashamed or indifferent about what they’d shared. It gave him hope.

And although he’d promised not to take chances, he was determined to learn everything he could, because it was important to Will. That made it important to him.

 

* * * *

 

Mackie curled his feet under his butt and beckoned to Annika. “Come here and let me braid your hair.”

They were well into a Frozen loop and he knew the girl loved having her hair done in similar styles to the characters. She might be the Queen but, first and foremost, Annika was the girliest girl Mackie had ever met. He’d asked Val if that was the norm on their planet and his husband had said no, that their species didn’t have such rigid gender norms when it came to things like hairstyles and clothing. Annika seemed to have adopted a hyper-femininity that might be some weird byproduct of her hybrid nature. Whatever the reason, Annika was all about the frills and the pretties, and turning her beautiful blonde locks into various braids was fun. She liked the look and he enjoyed the process. It had become their thing to do, particularly when watching TV.

That didn’t change, either, with the surly Merlin curled in the far corner of the couch. With Damien gone, there was no risk of the hybrid letting the family secret out by saying or doing anything weird. He spent most of his time in his suite with his beleaguered father while Lucien and Harry valiantly trying to undue all the damage living with Dracul had caused to the kid’s world view. Mackie found him intolerable, and that was saying something coming from a former brat. Merlin pushed his every button, getting on Mackie’s last fucking nerve.

Except any time Annika was around… She kept him not merely in line, but she also caused him to change his demeanor in meaningful ways—like now. There was no way the kid liked this movie, and yet when Annika asked him to join them, he’d complied without protest. Mackie had figured he would endlessly snark about the plot and the songs. He’d been wrong. Merlin sat quietly, watching, saying nothing and—bigger surprise—petting Babette. The dog didn’t seem to mind him in the least.

Without taking her eyes off the screen, Annika maneuvered into the space in front of him, giving him access to her hair. Mackie considered what his next move would be for a few seconds before he started gathering up the strands and weaving them. It was soothing work and his stomach seemed to be accepting his meal of plain mashed potatoes. He’d found an eating rhythm not unlike plaiting hair. If he fed from Val then topped it off with bland food, his stomach would keep it down.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Val approach. He was dressed for going out—not to the club, not in a suit, but in leathers. “Where are you going?” Mackie asked his husband.

Val paused by the side of the couch, a look on his face that almost appeared angry. For a brief moment, Mackie thought he wouldn’t answer him. Then, “Out. I have some errands to run.”

God, that’s practically a non-answer. “Will you be gone long?”

Val shrugged. “Don’t wait up for me, if that’s what you mean. Call if you need feeding—and don’t overdo it.” He nodded at Annika, although she was paying no attention, before continuing on his way.

Mackie felt a rush of sudden tears. His husband might as well have said, ‘none of your fucking business’ for all the information he was giving these days. Despite being completely attentive to Mackie’s needs, he was also distant, cold almost. He’s shutting me out.

“He is afraid,” Annika said while still watching the movie, “about you and the son you carry.”

“Is it a boy for sure?” he couldn’t help asking, his worries about Val temporarily replaced by parental curiosity.

Annika nodded. “A drone, yes. Not another queen.”

He felt relief at that news. He didn’t want the responsibility of raising a girl hybrid, nor did he question whether Annika knew what she was talking about. She seemed to see the world with more clarity than a mere human or even her male relatives could perceive. Her effectively supernatural abilities were both unsettling and comforting. It meant that she probably had insight into Val’s feelings that even Mackie, as his husband, couldn’t determine.

“I don’t know how to ease his fears,” he admitted. “I try not to be too much of a burden, but my body isn’t cooperating.”

“It is not your duty to help him. You are the one carrying his seed. He must cater to you.”

“He does. I mean, he feeds me regularly and that helps a lot. I just don’t want him to worry about me. That’s all.”

“Maybe he’s going to see his piece on the side,” Merlin popped into the conversation, with a remark that instantly infuriated Mackie.

Before Mackie could response, Annika placed a delicate hand on his arm. “Merlin, that is not only inaccurate, but it is also mean speculation. Apologize.”

Merlin grimaced, shot Mackie a frown then said, “Sorry. I was being bitchy.”

“You certainly were,” Mackie ground out.

“Mr. Valeriu will find his own way,” Annika continued, taking his attention away from the brat. “Once it is clear that you and the babe are doing well, he will worry less. That was how it was with Papa.”

“At some point, Will stopped being concerned about your other father’s pregnancy, you mean?”

There was a slight hesitation before she said, “Yes, eventually.”

“When you were safely out, I bet.”

Another hesitation. “No, before that.”

Mackie finished the braiding and sat still, as a thought occurred to him. “Say, how exactly were you delivered? I know Harry has to cut my baby out of me. No birth canal and all that. But, Harry wasn’t there when you were born or he would have said something to Alex. So, who helped out your fathers?”

This time, Annika was silent for so long that he thought maybe she wasn’t going to answer, had gone back to focusing on the movie. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “I think perhaps they did it all on their own.”

“Will has medical training?”

“Maybe…or Papa did.” She flashed him a smile over her shoulder. “Shall I go and get a mirror so I can see what you’ve done?”

“Sure.” Reaching for the remote, he paused the movie. It didn’t matter how many times she saw it, she never wanted to miss anything.

He relaxed against the pillow behind him as he waited and couldn’t shake the feeling that neither Val nor Annika were being entirely truthful with him.