“Are you dumb? And no, that’s not a rhetoricalquestion.”
“We’re a thousand leagues under the ocean, so why would there be bear cubs down here? Especially murdering vampire bear cubs! This isn’t some low-budget human horror movie, Kenji!”
“Goddess save me…when a daddy bear does bad things to a mommy witch while the witch is ovulating, and a vampire and an incubus join in, well, you get the picture.”He huffed in my head.“Guess what: you just became the poster witch for poor decisions. Congrats.”
“OH MY GODDESS, I’M PREGNANT?!”
15
Maverick
How could I have been so careless with my precious mate?
It was a bear’s duty to take care of his mate. Because of our heightened sense of smell, we always knew when our mate was ovulating. A female’s scent changed around this time, becoming much sweeter. It acted as a siren call, urging us to breed and make cubs.
No wonder I’d been positively feral around her for the last day. It had taken all my willpower not to snarl at the other idiots every time they touched her. Hell, I’d nearly disemboweled the fae earlier when I caught him looking at Raven for longer than I liked.
I slumped in my chair, horrified by my carelessness.
I’d not registered the change in my mate’s scent, most likely because the other assholes’ scents were all over her, and I had failed to notice she was ovulating.
By the time my brain caught up with my dick, it was too late.
We’d all fucked our witch at her most fertile time.
She could be pregnant.
Of course, cubs weren’t always the outcome. Not all females conceived immediately; bear fertility had declined in recent years, as it had with other species. But Raven was young, healthy, and unless she’d taken a contraceptive potion, there was a risk she was with child.
People in slinky gowns danced in formations while my mates and I sat at a table on a raised dais. All around us, magic lights shimmered and opalescent gems embedded in the stone walls sparkled.
We had dressed far more conservatively than the mer folk. Rasmus had used his magic to provide suitable attire, which ranged from pants and shirts for us males to a slinky dress for Raven. She looked beautiful, as always, and her cheeks were still flushed pink from the orgasms we’d gifted her before the party.
A band played while scantily clad servers wearing nothing more than a few strategically placed seashells carried trays of fish hors d’oeuvres and goblets of potent liquor.
The mer queen had not yet appeared, but one of her two consorts, an older male called Krillian, had introduced himself a short time ago.
He and the fae had apparently met before and were soon engaged in a conversation that excluded the rest of us. Not that I cared. It gave me time to get my head together.
Rasmus emerged from a throng of colorful mer females wearing shell gowns in bright colors, carrying a tray of fruity drinks. He’d bulked up considerably since we’d found him half-dead in a cave, and like all vampires, there was something strangely alluring about him that drew the eye.
Thank fuck he’d glamored himself, or we’d have a massive problem.
As it was, even with a repelling element added to the fae glamor, he still attracted a lot of attention. As did the incubus. Several of the mermaids nearby cast lingering looks at the asshole, which he thankfully ignored.
“No booze, pet.” The incubus hadn’t stopped grinning since I told him about our mate’s potential pregnancy. “Alcohol is bad for pregnant females. I read a pregnancy book while you were having an existential crisis by the buffet table.”
Irritation flared, and I growled. “You only found out two hours ago, so how on earth could you get hold of a book in that time?”
Fire sparked from my little mate’s fingertips, which she quickly smothered under her thighs.
She’d gone from shock to denial and had now reached the furiously upset stage, after which I hoped she would accept her role as the mother of my cubs. I wasn’t willing to entertain the idea of a baby incubus, and as far as I knew, natural-born vampires were even rarer than bear cubs.
“There’s Wi-Fi down here, so I downloaded a book from Magizon, the site that sells everything from cut-price sleep potions to duct tape.”
He shoved his phone at Raven. She screwed up her nose as she read whatever was on the screen.
“Oh my goddess, it says I might give birth to three or more cubs!”
