Grogoch [Bedtime Stories 2] (6 page)

be intimate with. Thanks. Makes me feel so special.”
“What are you talking about?” he shouted and I heard him racing
after me. I flipped him the bird and kept walking. Finbar caught up to
me and grabbed me around the waist. I popped out of his hold and
about thirty feet away in the direction I had been heading. “And why do
you look different to me?”
That question made me freeze my steps. I turned to him slowly,
studying his face and mind before I gasped. “You see me.” “Of course I see you. Why are you being like this today?” he
whispered, tears filling his eyes. “Is this because I said I love you? I’m
sorry, okay? I won’t say it again. Just don’t go, Cuidi.”
“You really see me.” I fell to my knees in shock, so confused as to
what was going on my head was spinning. I think Finbar realized
something was wrong because he raced over to me and knelt in front
of me.
“Don’t leave me. I’m sorry I got jealous. It’s just I thought I started
to mean so much more to you than the others and I woke and you
were gone and it hurt and—”
“I wasn’t with anyone else,” I said firmly, interrupting his ramble.
Finbar snapped his mouth shut and looked at me with such hope that I
realized maybe I misunderstood what was going on here. “I went to talk
to Margaret because I was confused about how you could love me after three days. She said to go about my normal day. I didn’t get why until I saw Barry and he thought we were going to have sex and I
couldn’t get hard.”
“Y–You could–couldn’t get an erection?” I shook my head. Finbar
gave me a feral smile and shoved his hand down the front of my pants.
Instantly I got hard the moment he started fondling me. “You’re getting
one now.”
“Only for you it seems,” I moaned as my head fell back on my
shoulders. “I came home to tell you that I love you only to find I’ve been
replaced with a fucking dog.”
“Replaced? No one could ever replace you, my love.” He lowered
me to the ground and ripped my clothes off of me. “I wanted the dog
for companionship because I thought you were going back to the way
things were and leaving me. I thought I wasn’t pleasing you and you
left. Having a dog is better than being completely alone again.” “Not leaving,” I moaned as he fingered my hole. “Belong to you
now. You see me.”
“I’ve always seen how wonderful you are.”

to stop him for a moment. “What you see today is my true form. It means you truly love me and want me just as I am. No one else can see me exactly unless they don’t care how I look.”

“So what happens now?” he asked quietly, unsure of what that meant.
Hell if I knew either.

“Stop, just stop, please,” I whispered when he resumed his touching and kissing of my body. When I hadn’t answered him, Finbar had taken it as a sign to continue. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t think when he did that, and I couldn’t enjoy it with this much on my mind. The moment he pulled away I rolled to my knees and quickly got re-dressed before sitting down and pulling my knees to my chest.

I was so lost inside myself that I didn’t even register Finbar’s words I heard in the background. I knew he was near me, but it was like my heart and mind shut down all at once. It was the very large dog tongue slobbering my face that snapped me out of it.

“First I’m handling the dog because I can’t seem to focus on anything else,” I practically growled as I got to my feet. I stared at Finbar and explained to him what having a cir sith would entail. He nodded slowly, digesting it all. Wow, I’d even missed that he’d put back on his clothes too. What was wrong with me?

“Really? Pixie dust poop?”
“Why does everyone always fixate on that part?” I asked incredulously. Some fairies had wings of pixie dust that shed like when people comb their hair and have some left in the brush. But that was more logical? Okay then.
“It just sounds like something you’d make up to throw someone for a loop,” he answered with that lopsided grin I adored so much. “I understand everything you said and still want to keep him.”
“Technically he has to have a fairy as a master,” I whispered, staring down at my feet. This is where things got complicated again.
“Well then it’s a good thing I’m in love with a fairy.” I felt more than saw him step closer to me. Then I heard him swallow loudly. “I can keep him here with me while you go make your deals when you need to. Is he a good guard dog? Would that make things easier for you if you know I was protected?”
“I don’t want to leave you ever again,” I admitted so quietly that I wasn’t sure if he could even hear me. “I love you too, Finbar.”
“Then why are you so sad? Why did you sit there staring out across the land as if in a shocked trance only the loss of a loved one could cause?”
I thought about that for a moment, glancing between the man I loved and the cute dog who was starting to grow on me. He was well behaved for a cir sith pup, I had to give him that. Instead of answering right away, I took his hand and led him over to the stream, sitting right where we first met.
“I don’t think I’m able to articulate what I’m feeling,” I explained as I stared out at the water. “And there’s so much swirling in me all at once that I feel overloaded. I’ve never been good at opening up to people. I get close to them and it always ends badly.”
“As in you’re immortal and they’re not,” he said gently, reaching for my hand but still giving me space. “Then how about just facts for now? Would we have to go through that?”
“No,” I answered quickly. I didn’t want him thinking that I would go on after him. “Every fairy has something a little tragic about them. It’s nature’s way of offsetting the disruption of the normal balance for the power we have. For me, it’s the way I look and that most people can’t see the real me. I’m neither human nor beast though a little of both.”
“That’s never mattered to me.”

up on that part.
“And in those three days I’ve showed you more of myself than I
ever have anyone in my life,” Finbar defended. “I’ve become closer to
you than I ever thought possible. I know you, Cuidi. I see past the
façade and brave face you put on for the rest of the world.” “What do you mean?”
“You don’t just want attention and compliments from people. You’ve

“But I won’t be like this anymore if we take that next step and commit to each other,” I whispered as I glanced at him to see his reaction.

He swallowed nervously but nodded. “What will you become?” “I don’t know.” It was the truth. I’d heard legends that love made a grogoch be able to walk in the human world and become a true part of it. What that meant though I had no idea. “I’ve never met a grogoch that had mated.”
“What does mating entail?”
“I become yours forever and I’d give up my immortality. You’d gain a longer lifespan, probably several hundred years, but when it was time, we’d die together and our combined souls would go together to what comes next.”
“So you don’t want to give up your immortality for someone you’ve only known a few days. I can understand that.” That didn’t mean I couldn’t hear the hurt in his tone.
“No, it’s not that,” I explained as I scooted closer. “I would give that up for you in a heartbeat, Finbar. I would still have my powers, but I would go through a transformation and that’s scary. How do I know in a month you wouldn’t tire of me and then I’d be a broken fairy. If we mate then we’re no longer two separate people but one joined soul. Breaking that apart would kill something inside of me.”
“You’re scared you wouldn’t be enough for me?” he asked incredulously. I nodded sadly. “Oh, Cuidi. I would do anything for you. I

you, then so be it.”
“You’d be okay with us not mating right away?” Now it was my turn
to be shocked.
“Sure.” He shrugged as he wrapped his arm around me. “People
can wait years to get married. It’s understandable to want more time.” I leaned into his large, firm body as I sighed in relief. “What else is
bothering you?”
“What if I’m not able to only be with one man? I’ve spent thousands
of years going from person to person. Maybe I’m not capable of
committing myself?”
“I can understand your concern after living that way for so long,” he
hedged slowly. “But I don’t believe you couldn’t only be with one man.
Have you wanted to be with others while with me?”
“No, not at all.”
“Then I think you have your answer. Three days or three years, if
you needed someone else to complete you then you would have
thought about seeing someone else while with me.” I wasn’t sure about
the theory but part of me wanted to believe it when Finbar so obviously
did. “Besides, I think there is another way around that.”
“Like what?” I glanced up at him, curious as to where he was going
with this.
“I woke up hard and horny because I had a dream that we were at
the castle with all the guards like the stories you told me. I don’t want
you sneaking off to go make deals and have sex with others but I like
the idea of joining in and bringing others into our bed. Once in a while.
I’m not saying always but there’s no reason we can’t take a trip here
and there to the castle.”
“You’d be willing to do that for me?” I asked in awe.
“I think it would be for me too,” he admitted, his cheeks heating up.
“The idea of taking you while someone is inside of me is thrilling. Or
taking you while you suck someone else off. It doesn’t matter as long
as I’m part of the equation.”
It took me a few moments to let that sink in, alleviating some of my
worries. “What if I get restless and can’t stay in one place all the time?
I’m used to traveling the countryside constantly.”
“Then I’ll come with you on your travels to make deals. We’ll keep
this place as our home but you could make deals with other farms in the area to take care of ours while we’re gone in return for helping
them.”
“That’s really smart,” I agreed, feeling as if some of the knots in my
stomach were loosening. “Can I have the afternoon to think about all
of this?” I felt him go tense and started rambling. “I do have farms and
people waiting for me but I won’t have sex with anyone. It doesn’t seem
I even can now that I realized I’m in love with you. I just need time to
mull this over when you’re not around to melt my insides.” “That’s fair to ask and I don’t want to stand in the way of others
getting help from you,” he said quietly after a moment. “Can I keep the
dog?”
“You need to think long and hard about wanting him,” I hedged, not
wanting to sound harsh. “Once he finds a master that agrees to keep
him, it’s forever, Finbar. We can’t send him away or find someone else

“If would make you happy, yes.” He gave me a bright smile that made the situation seem just a little less scary. Finbar was a good man with a big heart. I simply needed time and to give him time to understand the severity and consequences of what he wanted.

We got to our feet and I walked over to the dog and didn’t even have to kneel down to almost see eye to eye with him. He was a smart one because I think he understood it was serious time because he plopped down on his butt. And while his tail was still wagging happily, he seemed focused.

“Today is a trial run. I’ve not given my word that we’re going to keep you, okay?” He obviously didn’t answer me or nod but when his tongue dropped out of his mouth, I took it as he got me. “You protect Finbar and stay out of trouble and we’ll talk about giving you a place to live with us.” That got an excited bark. “He’s the boss while I’m gone and if you hurt him or screw up his work I’ll zap you when I get back.”

I swear the dog understood me because his face fell. I’d heard of cir siths linking with their masters so they were only dumb with everyone else. But I hadn’t agreed to be his master yet. Maybe it was like falling in love where there really wasn’t much of a choice on who someone clicked with?

“Promise you’ll come back?” Finbar asked me shyly after I was done with the dog.
“I’ll be back for dinner and to fall asleep in your arms, my love,” I swore as I pulled his head down for a heated kiss. I was the one having issues. Finbar shouldn’t doubt himself or be upset because I had thousands of years of bullshit to wade through.
I popped over to old man Wayland’s farm. He was an ornery bastard who actually liked me. Most told stories about his attitude and rudeness, but the man had never been anything but kind and pleasant to me.
And no, I didn’t have sex with the old guy… I had it with his son normally, Wayland Jr. I waved to them, walking over to the barn as I glanced around. They definitely needed some help. I didn’t think Wayland Jr. could handle this much land.
“Are you here for our normal deal?” he asked shyly as he stared down at his hands. Wayland was a good guy, but he wasn’t even close to seeing what I really looked like. He always pictured I was the gal at the next farm over he was deeply in love with.
“No, I want to make a new deal actually,” I answered as I gave a nod to the elder Wayland. “I was hoping we could do a trade of straight services. I’m not sure what wares you normally sell but I need to exclude sex from my deals from here on out.”
“Why?” the elder Wayland asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile. I had been intimate with him decades ago when he was a young man so I had a feeling he knew the answer.
“I’ve fallen in love,” I admitted with a blush. “I’ve promised to be faithful and change my ways for a while before deciding if I can commit to him.”
“Good for you, Cuidi,” he congratulated as he slapped me on the back hard enough I almost went tumbling to the ground. For an old guy he still had a lot of strength to him. “My son is a master crafter. Come look at his workshop and I’m sure there’s something you can find.”
“Good deal,” I agreed readily. I followed them, Wayland Jr. shyly ducking his head at the praise.
I gasped as I stepped into the small workroom. Wayland Jr. was very talented to say the least! I walked around, running my hands over the finely crafted furniture.
“How did I never know you could do this?” I asked in awe, focused on a beautiful kitchen table and chair set. “I want this but a month of help from me is not worth its value. What else are you in need of? I can trade with others in the area to make up the difference.”
Now I was excited. I saw a whole new way to help people. I could set up trading deals and help people meet others who could use their wares.
“We need hay badly,” Wayland Sr. hedged as he glanced at his son. “And shoes for the horses.”
“I have someone who does that.” I smiled brightly at both of them. “What else?”
We agreed upon a month of crop help and enough hay for that month, shoes for the horses, and Wayland Jr. would let me have the table and chairs. He would even deliver them right away.
Maybe changing how I’d lived all these years wasn’t going to be as hard as I had thought? It gave me hope that I could lead a happy, normal life with Finbar.