Three Parts Fey (3 page)

“Then, I had
better make this count.” He pressed his lips to her wrist and
worked his way down her forearm.

When he slid
his teeth into her, she bit back a moan. Her blood leaped, and he
sucked lightly at her, drinking as she slid her thighs together
with the restlessness of a cricket.

One would think
she had had enough, but the prickly pain and the slow throbbing
suction of his mouth were really working for her. It served her
right for being only partially human.

The moment he
finished, she was left hot and bothered.

After he made
sure her wound was closed, he shifted under her and lifted her,
draping her on him, face up with her groin inches from his
mouth.

She was worried
about slipping away, but he held her tight as his lips closed
around her clit before he lapped at her. Wet heat resumed, and she
was panting as another release crept up on her. She groaned and
shuddered as her body jerked in Argyle’s grasp.

When he pulled
his mouth away from her, he moved her until she was curled against
him, her head next to his.

“I still love
the taste of you.”

Benny sighed.
“I am glad. You are going to be with me for a very long time.”

“I certainly
hope so.”

She sighed and
relaxed with him until the moment Tremble and Smith came back in,
demanding to try out the hot tub.

A day of
nothing was a lot of activity.

Getting the tattoo had
the same feeling as touching a chunk of dry ice. It was so cold
that it burned.

Benny’s ribs
throbbed from the point where she had gotten her tattoo, and she
held Tremble’s hand as he got his.

Argyle had
gotten his without any visible reaction, Andrew had passed out, and
Benny had gritted her teeth with her demon eyes flaring into life
as she kept her breathing even.

The artist,
Sokor Tomlin, was a gargoyle who had an appreciation of skin that
was evident with every stroke of his needle. Minerva had only given
him their first names, but he had gotten suspicious as they
approached the Ganger property.

When he was
introduced to Benny, his eyes went wide, but he kept himself
professional, arranging his tools and inks on the kitchen table
while Benny arranged a chair to get her at the right angle for the
application.

Sokor finished
the final details on Tremble’s ribs, and he finally asked, “So,
Minerva said you were a bonded group?”

Minerva stood
nearby with a stressed look on her face that faded when Benny made
eye contact.

“Yes, we are.
Minny, did you get the inks set?”

Minerva nodded
and fished out another vial. “Yes, the inks are primed. This is the
activator.”

Sokor leaned
back, and Tremble exhaled while the new design was wiped and
cleaned. “What activator?”

Benny released
her hand from Tremble’s grip, and she collected all of the gloves
and gauze, putting them in a copper bowl that she set on a trivet.
With a few muttered words, she washed the blood off with cool
fire.

Sokor nodded
and collected his tools. “Minerva, I will be in the foyer.”

Minerva nodded.
“I will be with you in a moment. All right, you four, line up.”

Minerva
arranged them in a wide circle; each of them had the liquid on
their fingers that were over the mark on the next member of their
group. “All right. Go ahead and put the activator on.”

Benny closed
her eyes at the moment of impact on her ribs and with the fingers
of her right hand she touched Argyle’s mark. Their group dropped to
their knees as power ran through their hands and connected the
circle. It wasn’t fire, it wasn’t pain, but it was a bonding that
went deeper than the blood she had used the previous week. Their
power bound and blended.

When it was
over, Minerva was gone, as was Sokor. Benny knew that something was
up in her friend’s life, but right now, she was too exhausted to
force her to answer questions she obviously didn’t want to
answer.

Benny pulled
her fingers away from Argyle’s ribs and flexed her hands. “Is
everyone all right?”

Tremble glanced
at her with a tired smile, paused and leaned forward. “Your eyes
changed.”

“What?” She
looked at him in confusion. “Am I demoning out?”

“No. Fey. Your
eyes are definitely fey.”

Benny looked
over at the live herbs on the kitchen counter. They were growing
and sprouting wildly. She sucked in a deep breath and closed her
eyes, willing their normal colour back into place.

She opened one
eye and looked at all three of the men staring at her.
“Better?”

Smith nodded.
“Nice and normal. What happened?”

Benny rubbed
her ribs where the small icon was now sealed into her skin. “All
the power zipping around in here sifted through me, and the last
energy to touch me was Tremble’s.”

Tremble smiled
weakly. “And you have fey blood, so the eye shift was in there the
whole time.”

“Probably,
though my relatives tend to end up on the gold and green end of the
spectrum and it is usually nearly human.” She trailed her fingers
over the tattoo again. Her sports bra left her midriff exposed, but
she couldn’t stop touching it.

She looked at
Argyle and blinked. “It’s gone.”

He shook his
head and put his fingers over it. “It is still there. I can feel
it.”

Everyone got to
their feet and started checking. While they could feel their
tattoos, they could not see them.

Andrew scowled.
“Why did we get the markings?”

Tremble smiled.
“A friend of Benny’s said that we would need them, and I am pretty
sure that we will.”

Argyle tilted
his head. “What friend?”

Benny blinked
and started walking toward the door to the deck. “My godmother. We
had a conversation during my song.”

That sentence
got her two curious men following her and one who already knew what
she was going to say.

Smith wanted to
know the mechanics how she had spoken to someone while singing.

She sat in a
chair on the deck and watched the rising moon. “Once upon a time, a
little girl was born and her name was Benny. Now, Benny had issues
and her mother knew she would need help one day, so she cast about
for the best possible godmother for little Benny, and she came
across something that scared her.”

The guys
gathered around and listened to the story.

“With spells
and summoning, not to mention begging, Benny’s mother managed to
get the godmother to agree.”

She flattened
her hands on the table. “Now, this godmother was gracious and
generous with her gifts. But she was fearsome and no one was
comfortable around her, for who really invites death to a baby
shower?”

“She did.”

The vampire was
the only one who was completely at ease with the situation. Tremble
looked nervous and Andrew looked queasy.

“So, Argyle,
why are you so relaxed with this?”

He grinned. “We
live with death. It is something that is at our side day in and day
out. Death is nothing to fear, only respect.”

Tremble
shrugged. “I already knew, but it is still enough to shake me a
little. Elves have very little exposure with death.”

Andrew
shuddered. “Shifters have a close association with death. We don’t
really like it.”

Benny chuckled.
“I take the vampire method of thinking. It is all around us so
accept and embrace it. It will not take us before our time.”

Silence wrapped
around them, and she ran her fingers over her tattoo once again.
With it hidden under her skin, she was free to soak it as long as
she wanted. “Well, as much as I love this silence, I am going to
test out the hot tub.”

Benny got to
her feet and wandered over to the wide pool of gently churning
water. She peeled off her jeans and wrestled out of her sports bra.
Her panties were flicked off and set aside.

With a relaxed
groan, she slid into the hot tub and settled onto one of the formed
seats. It felt wonderful just to let the water suspend her for a
minute. She didn’t have any mermaid in her, but she still loved the
water.

Bodies entered
the water with her, and everyone leaned back for a nice, long
soak.

Heavy sighs and
low groans filled the air as they all settled. It was a nice family
moment.

It was a nice
family moment right up until Harcourt and Lenora wandered onto the
deck and pulled chairs up so they could sit near the quartet.

Benny waved at
her parents. “Hello, Mom. Hello, Dad.”

Her father was
looking more human by the day. He smiled and said, “Good evening,
Benny. Thank you for helping with the party last night.”

“It was
fun.”

Lenora sighed.
“What he is getting at is that we are the ones who now want to plan
a party. Namely, your wedding.”

Benny wanted to
sink below the bubbling surface, but she had nowhere to go. “Nice
timing.”

Lenora grinned.
“Jessamine tipped us off that you were all in one place and trapped
by good manners.”

Tremble cleared
his throat. “When would you like the event to take place?”

Andrew nodded.
“How many folk from our prides or clans can we invite?”

“Well, our side
of the family tends to run around three hundred or so, so one
hundred from each of you should be a suitable number?” Lenora
materialized a notebook and started to make out details.

The men looked
at each other and then turned accusing eyes to Benny.

“I can’t rein
her in. I am her daughter, not her jockey.”

Her dad pitched
in. “She is also an only daughter. She will have the best we can
give her, and that is quite considerable.”

Andrew asked,
“What kind of a timeline are we looking at?”

“Well, it has
to be during a full moon, protective spells have to be laid in and
invitations need to be issued with all of your full names and ranks
mentioned. We could wait for the blue moon, but who really wants
to?”

Lenora slid the
paperwork toward Andrew. “Damp or not, I need everything. And then,
the rest of you.” She flicked her fingers around the tub.

Tremble gave
her a salute and Argyle inclined his head.

Benny smiled at
her mother. “Can you fill mine in?”

“Of course,
baby.”

She beamed at
her partners, as they all had to fill out the paperwork with their
names on it.

“Thanks,
Mom.”

The guys turned
one by one and filled out their details.

When the
paperwork was filled out, Lenora took it back and smiled. “Let me
know if there is anyone in particular you wish to invite. I will
offer each of your leaders ninety spaces that must include all
relatives willing to travel. Nobility and anyone else comes
second.”

The guys all
nodded.

Benny quirked
her lips. “So, when do you think?”

“One month from
Wednesday. We can get it all done.”

Benny cleared
her throat. “You will be on your own for most of it. I start work
as an Agent of the XIA tomorrow night.”

Her father
looked worried, but he always did when he thought about her being
in any dangerous situation. He didn’t stop her from doing what she
needed to, but he didn’t encourage her to take unnecessary chances.
Only the absolutely most necessary ones.

Lenora sighed.
“Well, I will simply keep the meetings with the seamstress and
tailors to the appropriate hours. Argyle, how are you doing with
sunset?”

He shrugged. “I
am even waking up early afternoons now.”

She laughed and
nodded. “Good. I can get the formal wear preferred by your court
and work from there.”

Andrew cleared
his throat. “My pride simply engages with human formal wear.”

“We can do
better than that.”

He nodded.
“Excellent.”

Tremble piped
up. “I included my king’s court and my top ten guest choices.” He
smiled.

Benny muttered,
“Kiss ass.”

He grinned.
“Maybe later.”

Lenora
chuckled. “Benny, you have to pick the flowers and the dress.”

Benny nodded.
“Right. Moon silk and blue irises with pink roses.”

Lenora grinned.
“Good choices. I will get the family to volunteer your dowry.”

The men looked
at each other, and Andrew scowled. “I don’t understand.”

Tremble
smirked. “Old tradition of families paying for the upkeep of the
woman across her lifespan. The longer the lifespan, the greater the
dowry.”

Argyle grinned.
“Vampires used to pay the dowry in human servants. I am not
advocating it, but the idea was to keep strain off the mate and the
local economy, not to mention the population.”

Andrew snorted.
“The lioness bring the territory and the alpha protects it. There
is no other exchange of properties.”

Harcourt
smiled. “We do things a little differently. There has been a
financial calculation of every habit and projected interest that
Benny could develop in the next few decades. Being a mage is an
expensive proposition, and Benny is one of the best.”

Benny was
suddenly the focus of three pairs of eyes. “What? Do you think
exotic plants and geological samples are the kind of thing to be
given for birthdays? It takes quite a bit of time and money to gain
a useful collection. For now, I have depended on my mother’s
collection as well as Minerva’s, but I will have to work on my
own.”

Lenora smiled.
“The house started her lab off with the basics, but for anything
more exotic, Benny will need to buy or trade for the objects she
needs.”

Harcourt
chuckled. “Hence the dowry.”

Benny shrugged.
“You knew that this wasn’t going to be easy when we first bonded,
guys. I am about to become a very expensive lady.”

Tremble smiled.
“I would never have guessed that a ride-along would have turned
into a life sentence.”