Night Fae by Meg Xuemei X.

Chapter 22

 

 

 

 

 

The Summer King’s kiss pumped sunshine, heat, and raw need into my bloodstream. I opened my mouth to him, and he thrust his tongue through my parted lips, sweeping over my hard palate to declare his dominance.

I almost forgot how demanding Baron was. He hadn’t changed a bit! But since he made my blood heat for him, I didn’t complain, for now. I only wanted more of him, all of him.

His sunlight magic carried strong healing power as it coursed into me. The mating flame leapt, licking between my thighs.

I moaned at his scorching touch. I’d let him have his way with me. I’d let him do anything to me. Yet an ounce of good sense reminded me to take care of safety first, even as the mating fever coursed in my veins.

Silently, I commanded my hellhound to scout the perimeter and to warn us if any hostile force headed in our direction.

Joy dashed away without any complaint. He liked Baron.

“Baron, I need you,” I whimpered against his lips. I didn’t want to wait for long. I wanted him to fuck me now. Mating heat consumed me, and I no longer wanted to hold back, not after what I’d gone through. Not after I feared that I might never see my mates again.

Just as my lips parted from his momentarily so I could tell him my needs and take air into my lungs, my surroundings came flooding back to me.

Richie stared daggers at my mates, his jealousy white-hot, but I hoped that he wouldn’t be foolish enough to make a move against them. He also reeked of fear—humans could sense the predators roaming among them in the Fae kings’ presence.

Megan and Jill stared at us openly, the strange, nearly obsessive look on their faces making it obvious that they wanted to replace me and be the ones standing in front of my mates. It wasn’t their fault. In the Wild Hunt, neither Baron nor Rydstrom had glamoured themselves. I was impressed that the girls hadn’t jumped on them yet.

“It’s time, Evie,” Baron said. “It’s time for me to claim you.”

My blood raced, and my face burned feverishly.

“That’s fine, but—” I gasped as the Summer King started transforming.

A phantom lion overlapped with his Fae form, about to rise and pounce. Baron blinked, fighting the shift, his eyes turning to molten gold with a crimson ring around his pupils.

“Baron?” I called in alarm.

“Bloodlust,” he groaned. “It’s coming now.”

Rydstrom stepped forward, ready to tear Baron away from me and pound him if the Summer King so much as looked at me wrong.

“I want to claim you more than anything, Ileana Evie,” Baron said. “But I might hurt you in the process. I thought we still had time, but we don’t.” He gave Rydstrom a baleful look, as if it were entirely Rydstrom’s fault.

The Night King looked unsympathetic.

“Run, love,” Baron said, his face twisting with agony as he fought the ancient force compelling him to hunt me.

Yet I wasn’t afraid of him.

“Where can I run from you?” I asked softly. “I tried to run in the beginning, only to end up running into you. I’m done with running. You’ll take me. You’ll claim me. And I expect you to do that nicely, since I trust you never to hurt your own mate.”

Baron chuckled even as he was fighting the dark force, the red rings receding from his eyes. 

“My demanding little minx,” he said, ready to dip his head and kiss me again. But then he suddenly lashed out, his powerful hand grabbing my throat and lifting me into the air. He stared at his hand as if not believing that it belonged to him.

The crimson rings encircled his amber eyes again, and the Summer King stared at me with pure bloodlust. I gazed back at him.

“You need to put me down, Baron,” I said. “I am Ileana, your mate. You won’t hurt me, but you’ll mate with me nicely, as I said a moment ago.”

His other hand pounded his head, as if he was trying to banish the evil urge inside. He snarled viciously, pain etching his gorgeous face. Then Rydstrom also bent over, his wings arching behind him and trembling.

“Ryds?” I croaked. Though Baron had grabbed my throat, he’d left room for my vocal cords to work.

“Fuck off!” Baron shouted. “I’ll not kill my own mate!”

Rydstrom swore profusely and shouted threats at an unseen enemy while he struggled to stand straight. “Fight it, Baron! Or I’ll make the decision for you!”

Overwhelming compulsion had seized them both. I could feel the wild magic filling their veins through our bond. The Wild Hunt was turning them into its vessel, using them to hunt me down. The call to hunt flooded their every cell—Baron more so than Rydstrom.

My mates were turning into the ultimate huntsmen. They wouldn’t stop until I was dead, until their hands were soaked in my blood.

Yet I was also stubborn, intent on beating the force and winning back my mates at all costs. I knew wherever I ran, I could never outrun them. And when the game ended and they realized that they’d murdered their own mate, it would utterly unmake them.

“Baron…honey.” I struggled to get the words out. “I’m yours…your mate Ileana Evie.”

He blinked at my endearment. His lips curled up in satisfaction, ready to break into a cocky smile, but then they pulled back into a half-snarl. Pain rippled across his face as he wrestled with the unbearable force that tried to control him, his bones making cracking sounds at the effort. The Summer King appeared to lose the battle. He snarled furiously, his face becoming beastly, his lion staring out with a savage look. For a second, I wondered if the Fae or the lion would be more protective of his mate.

“Let her go, asshole,” Richie shouted. Suddenly, he was there, aiming his rifle at Baron’s back.

“No! Richie. Don’t shoot!” I called in alarm, my voice rasping, since the Summer King’s hand still gripped my throat. I wasn’t happy about having my feet dangling in the air for a full minute. I thought about ramming my fist into my arrogant mate’s face and thus putting him in his place, but he wasn’t exactly himself at the moment. Struggling would only thrill the predator inside him and draw it to the surface. “Don’t provoke him. I’ll be fine.”

Baron lunged backward in a flash and dragged me with him, his hand shooting out and tearing the rifle from Richie’s hand before my ex-boyfriend could utter a sound. Richie stumbled back and nearly fell on his ass.

Baron pressed the barrel against his thigh and broke it in two, displaying his Fae strength.

Megan and Jill’s eyes went wide with admiration at his prowess. Enthralled by the Fae kings, they hadn’t thought of coming to my rescue. I wasn’t impressed by Baron’s manhandling of me, especially since my throat was starting to feel raw in his vise-like grip.

“Don’t hurt my sister, Baron!” Nox shouted, ready to ram into Baron, but I waved him back in warning. The last thing I wanted was for my team and my brother to draw any attention to themselves.

Initially, I’d decided not to provoke Baron, but now I changed my mind as my patience thinned to a breaking point.

Enough was enough.

I raised my knee and rammed it into the Summer King’s crotch. I was done putting up with him, despite him not being himself right now.

He grimaced and groaned, his free hand cupping his groin. The first day I’d met him in the front yard of my Spanish-style house in Pasadena, I’d also kneed him in the nuts. This seemed to be a recurring scene.

Baron let go of my neck, then he darted a look at the hand that had gripped me, then at my throat. I bet he saw bruises on my skin. A look of horror and self-loathing passed across his face. The pain I’d inflicted on him seemed to reach his mind and reduce his bloodlust.

“Did I do that to you, Evie?” He stared at his hand as if it offended him so much he wanted to cut it off. “I would never—”

“You did, asshole! You bruised my mate!” Rydstrom roared. He’d also shaken off the compulsion. He swung his arm and drove a punch into Baron’s jaw. I winced at the bone-cracking sound. “Let me just kill you and be done with you!”

“No one is killing anyone except our enemies,” I said as I stepped between the kings before they launched into a battle. I’d seen how it ended when they fought, and I had no desire to see another calamity, especially when my brother and my team were around.

I just needed to get through to them and hold them to me before the call of the hunt overwhelmed them again. It appeared that Rydstrom had the upper hand when fighting the bloodlust, as he hadn’t laid a hand on me.

So, I needed to formally and quickly form the mating bond with Baron, too, by fucking him. Turning the Summer King’s guilt into unbridled lust was my immediate plan. His guilt wouldn’t achieve anything anyway.

My mates could smell my arousal, and when the mating call sang in my blood, I let it radiate out. I pulled my hair loose and shook it free, letting the wind take my scent to my mates. It hit them just as I’d wanted and expected.

The Fae kings sniffed like large cats and inhaled deeply, as if my scent was catnip to them, even on the battlefield. Their eyes brightened—the Summer King beamed golden sunshine and the Night King spilled midnight starlight.

My heart stuttered, my breathing hitched, and liquid flame licked my tender flesh as I watched deep, white-hot desire seize my mates, obliterating their bloodlust.

I grinned. I wasn’t too bad at this art of seduction after all.

Rydstrom snarled, “Mine.”

“My mate!” Baron roared.

They were both unhinged and overly possessive, which was fine with me under the circumstances.

“When I come in you, mate, you’ll scream my name,” Baron declared.

Well, that was going a bit too far.

“You don’t just say it out loud like that, Baron,” I hissed, my face burning. “We have an audience. There are children present.”

Well, my brother was underage.

“I’m not ashamed of claiming my mate,” Baron insisted as he pulled me into his arms, lifting me. I wrapped my legs around his waist despite our argument. “I’ll claim you over and over, as is my right—”

What a barbarian!

Just then, Richie scurried toward me, lust dominating his eyes.

Shit. I’d totally forgotten about him as I focused on luring my mates to counter their bloodlust. My Fae pheromones were too much for an immortal, let alone a mortal male.

Rydstrom grabbed Richie’s throat before he could venture further, and Richie struggled and gagged in the iron grip of the Night King.

“This human male desires our mate,” Rydstrom growled. “I’ll wring his head off.”

I’d seen how the Night King could tear his opponent’s head off their neck with his bare hands.

“Ryds, don’t!” I shouted. “Please don’t!”

“Tear his head off!” Baron disagreed. “No one touches our mate.”

Fear clouded Richie’s eyes like gray fog. The dude really hadn’t had a good time ever since he’d decided to come to California to hook up with me.

“Ryds, let him go!” I said, ready to roll off Baron, but he wouldn’t let me go. “He’s a member of my team, and I promised to protect them all.”

I was careful not to mention that Richie was my ex-boyfriend from college. It wouldn’t do any good to complicate the situation. Baron, the least logical of my mates, might just kill Richie with one strike.

“Unless you’re so determined to make your mate break her promise,” I shouted in a hurry. “In that case, you can look forward to sleeping alone for the next few years. That’s how long my anger will last. It isn’t that boy’s fault that he came at me. I was trying to seduce you, and he got caught in the crossfire since my scent proved to be too much for him.”

“You seduced us well, little mate,” Baron said approvingly. “You’re a natural.”

I waved a hand, my face flaming. “That’s not the point!”

“Rydstrom,” Baron said with a smile. “Let the human go.”

“Watch your tone, Baron,” Rydstrom hissed. “You often forget your place.”

I wanted to rub my temples at my mates’ constant bickering with each other.

“They’re so romantic,” Jill said dreamily, not caring that Richie had almost got himself killed by the Fae.

“I so dig alpha males.” Megan licked her lips with a besotted smile.

I’d have to help them detoxify from the Fae’s presence. But when I glanced at my mates, I was also smitten all over again—my pulse spiked, my blood raced, and my face flushed.

I believed that my mates were worth all the trouble until I saw Rydstrom fling Richie into the cave as if he weighed nothing. I didn’t think Richie would appreciate being tossed like a doll, but there was nothing he could do. I shook my head at the Night King’s bad behavior, but at least Richie was still alive.

Maybe I shouldn’t ask too much after all they’d been through?

“My mate’s human team,” Rydstrom called menacingly. “You’ll all stay in the cave for the time being unless I announce otherwise. Don’t come out, no matter what you hear or see, or you’ll suffer grave consequences.”

All Fae were good at threats.

Megan and Jill gazed up at him like idiots, drinking in his deep, rich voice.

“Get on with it now!” Rydstrom grumbled. “We have no time to waste.”

The group rushed into the cave as my kings prepared for the mating ritual in the clearing.

Heat gathered in my belly before swirling down, liquid flame licking my pussy in a slow-burning act of torture.