I now notice the small cabin that's situated at the bottom of the mountain. When they reach the door, Ronak knocks. Well, he more like punches the poor door, making an audible splintering noise as the wood slightly buckles.
When the guys look over at him, he just shrugs. "Whoops."
Evert rolls his eyes. "Rein the strength power in, yeah?"
Before he can answer, the door flies open and there stands two fae to greet us.
I blink at the sight. "They're…they're stuck together at their butts. They're butt-stuck. At the butt cheeks. They're naked. Penises. I can see their penises. They're identical." For some reason, I feel like this all needs to be said.
I'm having a hard time looking away with them just hanging out in the open like this. "I just…do you think they both poop and pee at the same time? Or does one of them take over for that? What about sex? Or sitting? What happens when one of them wants to sit and the other doesn't?"
Yeah, I know. I'm rambling again.
"Genfins," they both say at the same time. It's weird. "We are Plik-and Plak. Come in. We've been expecting you." Their gazes fall to Okot. "We did not expect you."
Okot just stares at them all bull-man-y until they shrug and let him go inside, too.
"Umm, should I be concerned that these are the faes that hold my physical fate in their hands?" I ask no one.
I'm practically inside Ronak as he walks indoors, because the fae penises are looking at me. When in doubt, just stick with the guy with the strength power to protect you from rogue penises. I should put that on a t-shirt.
This book took me waaaaaayy too fucking long to read. But, that's not a reflection on the story. It's good. It's funny. There's smexy times. There's some twists and turns and new developments. So basically, it contains everything I want in a book like this. It's been a minute since I've read book 1 also, but I picked right back up with the storyline, no problem. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes in the next book, because this one leaves off on a serious cliffhanger. I'd like to say more, but in all honesty I'm too tired and too full to bother. (My family had our thanksgiving dinner today, and I'm still full and miserable damn near six hours later.) So, just enjoy some of my favorite scenes…if I ever get around to adding them…
He also has a golden ring pierced through his septum. "Gods, that had to have hurt," I say, pointing to his nose piercing. "Did it hurt? Never mind, you don't even have to answer that. I would cry if I got a piercing like that. This one time, I was watching this tattoo parlor all day, because I kind of have a thing for guys with tattoos, so it was like, the perfect place to watch, you know?"
He doesn't say he knows, so I just shrug and keep going. "Well, anyway, then this girl got her nipples pierced. Her nipples! And if that wasn't bad enough, then she got a piercing down there," I say in a mock-whisper as I point to my crotch. "I didn't even know they did that at the time. Now that's gotta be worse than the nose, don't you think?"
He still doesn't answer me, so I soldier on. "She didn't cry, but I'm pretty sure she was high on something. She kept giggling and talking about boiled eggs. That can't be normal. But if I ever get a piercing, I'll just be sure to get hooked up with some drugs first. Did you take drugs when you got pierced? Wait…what kind of drugs do fae have? I bet fae drugs are awesome."
I look up at him expectantly, but I can see from his expression that I've rendered him speechless.
When I finally drag my eyes away from his nose piercing, I notice that his face is rather handsome, and that he has a circle of red around his irises that matches his hair. I also notice that those eyes are locked onto my chest.
I look down and notice that my gaping nightdress with the rip in the back has slid down at some point, and the top half of my boobs are out for display. I quickly pull up my shirt, but his eyes just flick to the red wings behind me instead.
Crap. I really should think before opening the door to strangers.
"I'm hoping the princess sent you?" I ask. When he nods, I breathe out a sigh of relief. "Good. Come in, then."
I turn so that he can pass by me. The second he takes a step inside my room and gets closer to me, he freezes. His entire bulky body tenses, and he snaps his head in my direction.
Without preamble, he brings his nose to the crook of my neck and sniffs me.
Yeah. Sniffs.
I freeze in place at the hot air of his breath that travels down my skin.
"Umm, what's happening right now?"
As covertly as I can, I bring my nose to my armpit and take a whiff, just in case. Hmm, I'm not picking up anything stinky. After another sniff from him, he pulls back with great reluctance and I notice that the red circles around his irises are much larger and they're sort of…pulsing.
Your eyes are doing some weird shit. Are you, like, losing it? Are you gonna have a psychotic episode? Do I smell bad to you? Because seriously, I bathed. Stop making this weird."
His nostrils flare and he closes his eyes as he breathes in again. When he opens them and looks at me, the red in his eyes seems to have calmed down. In a super low, gravelly voice he says, "You do not smell bad. Your smell is…" he trails off, unable to find the right words. "You are my mate."
My eyebrows shoot up, and I open my mouth in surprise, but before I can say anything, his hand has snaked around the back of my neck, and he's crashing his lips against mine.
Whoa.
~
They might have had their physical wounds healed, some haircuts, and a bath, but the weariness of the culling competition is still there. The guys kick off their boots and start undressing.
"Oh. Right. I guess I should turn around…?"
I keep watching. Because, yeah. I've been totally imagining them naked since I first saw them. Invisibility has its perks. I perch my voyeur ass on one of the beds and watch the show.
Evert is the first to lose his formal jacket and then his shirt. His pale skin is even paler in the moonlight coming through the window, but he has sculpted abs and pecs, as well as a small happy trail of black hair that leads to the promised land.
I totally want to go to the promised land.
Leaning up, I wait for him to lose his pants. To my great disappointment, he doesn't. "Tease."
Sylred and Ronak have their shirts off, too. Sylred is leaner, while Ronak is all sculpted granite and bulging muscles. If I had saliva, it'd be dripping down my chin.
"My, my, my. Post-banishment looks good on you."
Much to my disappointment, they don't take off their pants, either. I only pout a little.
"Enjoy the peep show, Scratch?"
I jump. "What? No. Totally wasn't watching you guys strip or anything," I say in a rush, forgetting that they can't actually see or hear me. Evert chuckles like he knows he caught me, anyway. "You're such a jerk face."
"I keep forgetting she's hanging around," Ronak mumbles before flopping onto one of the beds.
"Me too. Unless…maybe she didn't follow us," Sylred says.
Evert snorts. "Course she followed us. Didn't you, Scratch?"
Well, since he asked.
"Fuck! Stop doing that! It was rhetorical. I know you're fucking here," he says,scowling down at his erection.
Sylred and I chuckle. I'm pretty sure Ronak's lip twitches, too.
Evert and Sylred settle onto the other two beds, and soon, their breathing evens out nice and slow. I lie down in the bed next to Evert. If I position myself just so,the outline of my ghostly body almost looks like we're touching. He shifts in his sleep, flinging an arm over where my waist is.
I close my eyes, just imagining how it would feel to be held by him like this. Then I remember when Okot did.
I lay next to Evert the rest of the night, pretending I can feel, and pretending Evert can feel me, too. What? I'm freaking lonely. Also bored. I miss sleeping. Watching people sleep isn't nearly as entertaining as that Edward vampire dude made it out to be.
~
"She won't want me." He says it so quietly that I almost don't hear him.
"Maybe you should ask her," Sylred suggests.
I don't even hesitate. I perch myself on his lap-which is hard to do without sinking right through, but I manage because I'm awesome-and I blow a huge burst of Lust into his face. His whole body clenches.
Evert and Sylred start laughing. "It's funny when she's not doing it to me," Evert says.
"Hilarious," Ronak says dryly, while simultaneously covering his crotch with his hands.
"So. We're doing this?"
"My animal needs to decide," Ronak replies.
Evert waves him off. "Yeah, yeah. I'm not worried about that. Are we doing this or what?"
Ronak shifts in his seat and looks between them. Then he nods. He freaking nods! "Okay."
Evert smirks. "Okay."
They both look at Sylred. "Okay," he mimics.
The guys just decided to take me as a mate by okay-ing. I'm okay with it.
My head swims with emotion and I feel like my whole body is about to burst. These damn genfins are choosing me. Thank the gods. And it's about damn time.
If I really had to go through with helping them find a mate, I probably would've shanked someone with a Love Arrow. I'm gonna be a way better mate, anyway.
Evert leans his head back on the carriage wall and closes his eyes. "You hear that, Scratch? We're keeping you. I knew these assholes would agree. It was just a matter of time."
Sylred and Ronak have settled back as if they're going to go to sleep, too.
I scowl at them. "You can't just drop a bomb like that and then go to sleep. You don't get to just okay yourselves into my super awesome cupid covey." I mean, they can, but that's beside the point.
~
"I don't know. Let me practice." I blow out a breath and scrunch my eyes closed, concentrating. I whisper under my breath. "I'm invisible, I'm invisible, I'm invisible…"
Peeling open one eye, I look at the genfins. They stare back at my still-solid body. "Dammit."
"You thought you could just repeat, 'I'm invisible' and that would work?" Evert asks with a grin on his face.
"It's called speaking something into reality, Evert," I snap.
"Mmmhmm. And how's that normally work out for you?"
"Well, this was my first time trying it, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna work."
He barely holds in his laughter. "Then by all means," he waves his hand out. "Please continue."
I scrunch my eyes closed again and visualize myself popping back into the Veil. "I'm like the wind. I'm Invisible!"
When I check my body again, I'm still solid. "Gods dammit!"
"Should we order you some more food? See if we can induce you into invisibility with some more hiccups?" Evert teases.
"Ha ha," I say dryly.
"I think we've determined what you're doing is not going to work," Evert drawls.
I puff out a frustrated breath. "Well I don't know how to do it," I snap. "Why don't you try turning invisible and see how easy it is?"
With his shit-eating grin still in place, he does a terrible impression of my voice as he calls out, "I'm invisible like the wind!"
I glare at him. "I don't sound like that."
He lifts a shoulder. "I think it was a good impersonation."
"Do that again and I'll be impersonating kicking my foot into your ass."
He just laughs. I need to work on my threats.
Ronak flicks his gaze to Evert and then suddenly comes forward. He takes hold of my arms and forces me to look at him. He blocks out everyone else, probably so I don't throat-punch Evert.
"Focus, little demon," he says quietly.
"I am," I retort.
Surprisingly, he doesn't call me out for acting like a five-year-old. "Close your eyes," he says soothingly. "Good. Now picture your body slowly fading," he says, his tone steady and soft. "First you feel it in your feet, as they start to go. Then it spreads up your legs, your stomach, your chest, your shoulders."
His voice calms me completely and pulls me into an almost trance-like state. "Your head is last, and now everything is light and insubstantial. Your whole body is invisible. Your body knows exactly how to fade into the Veil. Trust it."
I feel weightless. For a moment, I'm positive it worked, but before I can open my eyes to confirm, I hear Ronak curse under his breath. I barely hear him whisper Evert's name, and then…
Lightning-quick, someone snatches me from behind and yells, "BOO!"
"Ah!" I jump about three feet in the air from Evert scaring the absolute crap out of me. I also think I peed a little? But when I land…I don't land.
I whirl around to see a cocky looking Evert. He's looking at the spot I disappeared from. "Well that worked." Ronak scratches the back of his head. "I guess she has to be startled into it."
"You assholes!"
I blow Lust into both of their stupid faces and enjoy the matching growls that follow. It's half-lust crazed and half-irritated.
"We helped you," Ronak feels the need to point out.
"Come on, let's go now before she sneezes herself back into visibility." Sylred says cheerfully, opening the door.
"Sneezing doesn't happen in the Veil, thank you very much."
~
"I'm malfunctioning," I grumble, looking down at my feet and kicking the grass.
Sylred lifts my chin with his finger. "Hey. It's okay."
"I'm sprouting black like an emo teenager and leaking Lust out of my mouth. It's definitely not okay. I'm broken."
His brown eyes soften and he rubs my jaw lightly. "You're not broken. Just changing. We'll figure it out. But none of these things are causing any real harm."
I guess that's true. No harm except freaking me out and giving Evert unintentional hard-ons.
I raise my arms. "Who's gonna carry me now?"
Evert shakes his head. "Nope. I'm tapping out. If you hit me with another wave of that shit, it'll be an embarrassing walk back into town."
My lips twitch with a smile, which I know was his intention. He always knows just how to lighten the mood.
Ronak lifts me up and swings me over his back like I'm light as a black feather. I wrap my legs around his waist, but his body is so broad that I have a hard time getting a good grip without my hips pinching in protest.
"You're too big," I grumble.
I can feel his chuckle against my chest. "You'll appreciate that later."
"You guys are so dirty."
"This coming from the girl who propositioned us almost as soon as she met us."
I shrug. "I was excited to have a real vagina," I deadpan.
Ronak nearly trips.
I win.