Oak, Sophie - Beast [A Faery Story 2] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) (26 page)

“Well, I thank you for that,” Meg replied. “We need all the friends we can get. I can’t tell you how much it terrifies me. We don’t have an army, Dante.”

Oh, but they would. If rumors were correct, they would have an army of peasants waiting for their return to Tir na nÓg. Peasants could be dangerous. Dante couldn’t help but think of his plane’s own history. “We just need to find Torin’s weaknesses. We need to get on that plane.”

“He has it guarded,” Meg said with a helpless shake of her head.

“We’ll find a way.” His mind was filled with possibilities.

Meg patted his leg. “I don’t want to think about this now. It’s coming for me soon enough. Tell me about Kaja. You two seem to be getting along.”

“Yes, she’s a lovely girl.” Dante’s chest felt too tight for another reason now. Kaja was different than he’d believed her to be. She was so much deeper, smarter, more complex than he’d thought. He’d thought he could make a deal with her, but he didn’t have anything Kaja wanted. She didn’t even really understand the concept of money. What did he have to offer her except money and an impressive cock?

And yet she wants you. She wants something deep inside you, something money and fame and privilege can’t touch
.

“When I make love to Kaja, I can feel her,” Dante said quietly. It wasn’t something he had expected. No one had warned him in sex ed class about some mystical connection that would form when he made love to his consort.

“Well, I would hope so, Dante,” Meg said.

He didn’t want to exchange sarcastic remarks with her. “I mean I can feel her. Sometimes it’s flashes of her history, like a movie in my head, except that I am her and I feel what she felt. I know what it was like to be Kaja, and it sucked before, but she’s still here and still trying. I don’t know if I would still be trying.”

Meg’s face was bunched in concern. “I didn’t think that happened between vampires and consorts. I thought that was something that only happened between bondmates and psychic Fae.”

Bondmates tended to boost the powers of psychic Fae, and in Meg’s case, she actually bridged her husbands’ shared soul so they each had access to the other half. “I don’t know why, I just know it’s happening and it’s gotten harder to shut it down. Every time I feed, it gets harder and harder to put a wall between us.”

Meg studied him for a moment. “Kaja is from a different plane. Maybe her bonding powers are different from others. Maybe that’s why it’s different. Why would you try to shut it down?”

He didn’t even like to admit that to himself. “I didn’t marry Kaja because I wanted to. My father forced me to. I had to get married, or he was going to kick me out of the business.”

“Well, I suppose lots of marriages started off as marriages of convenience. So you explained all this to Kaja?”

Not exactly. “I told her that we would be married for a while and then she could have her freedom back.”

There it was. He could say the words, but there was something inside him that knew he wasn’t going to let her go. He was really only fighting himself now.

Meg pulled her hand back, and he could see her withdraw. “Well, that’s disappointing. I thought there wasn’t a whole lot of divorce outside the Earth plane.”

“I wasn’t planning on divorcing her. I was just planning on going my own way and letting Kaja go hers.”

Meg’s head shook slightly, but Dante could feel her derision. “After you fucked her and fed from her. And does Kaja understand this?”

Dante thought about Kaja’s eyes. When he made love to her they were lit with desire and life. But then he would catch her when she thought no one was looking, and there was resignation there, as though she knew it wouldn’t work out. “Yes, she understands far too well.”

“So, you’re going to use her.”

Yes, that had been the plan. “I don’t know anymore.”

“Really?” Meg looked at him again, her right brow rising in a little question.

“Yeah. I don’t know what I’m doing, but I know I feel more for Kaja than I’ve ever felt for anyone in my life. I don’t know if it’s going to last.” He didn’t even know if he wanted it to. Kaja seemed to be all he could think about. She was rapidly becoming an obsession. Even now, he could see her lying in the grass, her pearly skin in sharp contrast to the green around her, the twin holes in her neck on full display. When he got her back to his home, he would have to give her some of his own blood. It would heal the marks, but damn, he liked looking at them. It was barbaric. It was fucking hot.

“Uh, Dante, you having a little trouble there?” Meg asked, her eyes on his mouth.

Fuck
. His fangs were out again. This was why he didn’t want it to last. He couldn’t walk around the rest of his life with a hard-on and full fangs—and this weird, soft place in his heart that clenched every time he looked at her or thought about all she’d been through.

She was so strong. “She deserves more than me.”

Meg shook her head, her hand back on his knee. “No. She deserves you, but she deserves the best you. Don’t you see, Dante? This is what happens. I’ve been where you are. I fell in love, and it changed me for the better. It forced me to grow up. It made me a better person. This is wonderful, Dante.”

It didn’t feel wonderful. It felt terrifying. He should have found another way. He should have paid some fallen royal to marry him. She would have been reasonable. He wouldn’t have been desperate for some royal’s blood and body. He wouldn’t have formed this weird connection to some sad-sack royal. It would have been a neat exchange of money for a convenient, no-emotions-involved marriage. Dante wouldn’t feel all twisted inside.

“I don’t know how wonderful it’s going to be. I’m worried that she won’t fit in.” It had been the chief thing to recommend her in the beginning. He had wanted to find a consort who would send his father running for the lawyers, but now he couldn’t stand the idea that his father wouldn’t like her.

“I think you’ll be surprised,” Meg said. “I think Kaja is very smart and adaptable. And, if you’re worried about your family accepting her, I wouldn’t. She’s different, but there’s a sweetness to Kaja that I think your family is going to find irresistible.”

The idea played around in his brain. What if it could work? The thought of loving Kaja terrified him, but the idea of not having her around caused his heart to knot. He was a mess. He wanted her. He just needed to accept it.

He couldn’t help the little smile that had his lips curling up. Meg was right. Kaja was sweet, and she tried so hard. Perhaps it would make up for her lack of proper manners. It could work.

His mother would view Kaja as a challenge, a sweet baby bird to take under her wing. Susan had always appreciated the odd creatures of the planes. Despite her ridiculous adherence to parliamentary procedure in the boardroom, his sister was actually quite open-minded.

But the rest of society would be hard on her. The press would freak when they found out Kaja spent time on four legs.

How was he going to protect her?

“Don’t worry,” Meg said. “It really will work out. And it will work out for me and Beck and Ci, too. I just have to have faith.”

Dante hoped faith was all he needed.

* * * *

Kaja came awake slowly, brushing away the small bug that seemed to be intent on biting her. Her nose tickled. She wriggled it, trying to hold on to sleep. She was warm and happy. With Dante wrapped around her body, she’d slept better than she had her whole life. Her dreams had been sweet. She did not wish to leave them.

But the small buzzing creature was insistent, and it seemed to Kaja that it had brought some friends.

Kaja opened her eyes and focused on the small thing that had landed on her nose.

Bright blue wings fluttered, and Kaja was shocked to find it had a face. Her first instinct was to eat the little thing. It wouldn’t be much of a meal, but it might be tasty. And then she remembered Dante’s words. She could not eat things that talked back.

“Hello,” she said, hoping the little bug wouldn’t talk back.

Its tiny hands flew up, and Kaja would have sworn that the thing looked grateful. Its mouth opened and a rush of beeps and light, tinkling words rushed from its mouth.

No meal for Kaja.

She forced herself to sit up. The little creature took flight briefly before landing on Kaja’s knee. The winged insect once again began speaking.

“Slowly, little one,” Kaja said, remembering what Dante had told her about the magic.

The insect shook its head, words spewing from her mouth, but Kaja was beginning to catch pieces of them now. “Save…family…bad fae…eat.”

Kaja looked around. She was alone, but Dante’s shirt was folded beside her on the ground they had slept on. Kaja breathed deeply. She could smell Dante and Meg. She opened her senses. They weren’t far away, and they seemed to be speaking quietly.

“Please to help. My babies. The pixies will be grateful always.”

Kaja couldn’t turn that down. She nodded at the blue creature, the pixie. “Where are your babies?”

The pixie took off, her wings flapping faster than Kaja’s eyes could track. She darted away from the camp. Kaja thought about finding her Dante, but then she would lose the pixie and the pixie babies could be eaten. She raced to follow the flying pixie as she moved through the forest. In and out of trees and bushes, the pixie darted. Kaja leapt and feinted around a bramble brush. She could feel her feet being cut, but she feared the pixie would not allow her to help if Kaja showed her the wolf.

Then she stopped. There it was. It was soft at first. If she hadn’t been listening for it, Kaja would have thought that it was just the play of the wind on the trees. A little mewling cry, so soft. Kaja moved forward, keeping her steps light. She didn’t even think about the fact that she was naked. Clothes were something she’d just been introduced to, and Dante seemed to shed his often enough.

The little pixie landed on her shoulder. “There. There.”

Kaja carefully pushed back a branch and took in the sight in front of her. Strange green men stood around a big, black cooking pot. The water was beginning to boil. There were two men, both with squat bodies covered in corded muscle. Very little hair covered their heads. What they had was black and wiry, and these men did not smell at all good, though they stood downwind. What she could smell was very awful.

One stood by the fire. “Almost ready now.”

The second grinned, showing sharp teeth. “Yes, I can tell that it is. These pretties will make an excellent soup. Sorry we didn’t catch the mum. She was a nice, fat one.”

Kaja felt a tiny foot stamp on her shoulder. Apparently fat was not a good thing to be. For a wolf, it was nice. It tended to mean a wolf could survive the harsh winters, but the pixie seemed to take offense.

“All right, then,” the First said. “We’ve waited longer than we promised. It ain’t our fault they aren’t out here. If those buggers have a lick of sense, they found another plane to hide on.”

Kaja wasn’t sure which bugs the being was talking about, but she felt a need to save these. The little mother was very upset, and no wonder. Kaja could see the small pixies with their gossamer wings being held in the cage. Her babies. The mother couldn’t allow her babies to be turned into some form of food.

Kaja turned her head carefully. She put her finger to her mouth to let the little pixie know she shouldn’t shout out.

In a blink, Kaja changed, her world moving from two-legged to four. The pixie landed on her snout, looking seriously into Kaja’s eyes. If the pixie was frightened of Kaja’s wolf, she didn’t show it.

“Please.” The pixie repeated her refrain.

Kaja nodded, and the pixie took off, her wings flapping.