“Most bears only have one cub,” I reassured her. “Besides, our baby could be a witch.”
“Or an incubus,” the stupid incubus crowed, sounding way too happy about it. “My mother was a wolf shifter, but Dad’s genes were stronger.” He turned to me with great glee and said, “It says in my book that shifter genes are inferior, so my DNA will obliterate yours. Don’t worry, pet. You won’t be birthing any furry creatures with claws and sharp teeth.”
Raven paled. “Oh my stars…what if the baby chews its way out? Or…” She gulped as she slanted a panicked look at Rasmus. “What if it drains all my blood in utero?”
I was going to kill the fucking incubus.
Rasmus pulled our mate onto his lap and nuzzled her neck, causing several mermaids to grumble in displeasure. Then a group of preening mermen strutted past, flexing their muscles, and the females lost interest in the vampire.
“Don’t worry, my queen. Your mates will take care of you.”
“But I’m still a student!” Raven hissed. “I’ll be kicked out of school and end up like the poor humans in a show I watched called Sixteen and Pregnant. Goddess save me, I don’t want to end up living in a trailer park in Buttfuck, Alabama!”
Zane’s eyebrows shot up. “Ooh, is there really a human town called Buttfuck? I feel like I ought to visit.” He grabbed his phone and stabbed the screen. “There. I’ve added it to my list of dream destinations, along with Cumming, Georgia, and Intercourse, Pennsylvania.”
“Not helping!” I must have seriously pissed off the fates in a previous life to have ended up with such an annoying harem-mate.
The incubus shrugged at Raven’s meltdown. “School is overrated. Besides, I graduate this year, assuming Monty doesn’t kick me out first, so I can be a stay-at-home daddy. I can’t wait to teach my kid how to behead, flay, and exsanguinate demons. Anyway, enough of my child-rearing plans. Let’s dance, my lovely baby mama.” He pulled my little mate to her feet, and before I could protest that she needed to rest, given we planned to search for the merman later, they vanished into the throng of dancers.
“On a scale of one to ten, how upset do you think Raven would be if we left the incubus behind when we jump back into the fae portal?” I asked the vampire.
He snorted in amusement. “There are worse consorts to have in a harem.”
“Oh?”Surely not.
“Yes. Two centuries ago, my cousin Vladimir shared his mate with a dragon shifter. The male burned down their house every other week. It proved most disconcerting.”
I was about to agree that, yes, a dragon shifter mate sounded like a royal pain in the ass, but the kitsune blinked into view beneath our table. He chittered at me just as the enormous double doors at the entrance to the banquet hall swung open and the music abruptly ceased.
“All hail Her Royal Highness, Queen Laryssa, the Esteemed and Most Beautiful Mer Queen.” Krillian, the queen’s consort, jumped to his feet and shot across the room to greet his mate as Farris strolled back to our table and took a seat.
“And now the fun begins,” the fae fucker declared ominously. “I hope you’re ready for the queen. She can bedifficult.”
“You’d better make sure my mate leaves this place in one piece,” I warned him under my breath. “Anything happens to her and you’re dead.”
“Don’t worry, I can handle the queen. You concentrate on figuring out where the witch’s mate is being held, and I’ll deal with Laryssa.” From the way he smirked, I had a sneaking suspicion the rumors about the queen’s sexual appetite were true.
It had long been whispered that the mer queen invited others into her harem on an ad-hoc basis, and that her soul-bonded mates were agreeable to this.
Not that I cared. If Farris wanted to take one for the team to help our mission, then fine. All I cared about was rescuing our mate’s mate and getting the fuck out of here. We had less than two days to get back to Starfall before the headmaster locked the wards and fired me for insubordination.
Raven would likely receive nothing but a written warning, but if Montgomery fired me and I had to leave campus, I couldn’t protect my mate. And there was no way I trusted the incubus to keep her safe on school property.
“And the sea witch? Will you deal with her too?”
Farris shook his head and pulled a face. “The bargains I struck with your mate didn’t include the sea witch. Would you like to renegotiate?”
My fingernails lengthened into lethal claws as a tall woman dripping with jewels strode toward us. Waves of ice-blond hair cascaded down her back, and the sheer silver gown she wore left very little to the imagination.
Her beauty alone would have made her stand out in a room full of magicals, but from the way every merman and mermaid in the banquet hall lowered their heads in deference, this was the infamous mer queen.
16
Alaric
The bear shifter’s cabin emerged from the gloom. No smoke rose from the chimney, and the snow on the stoop had piled up.Where were they?
I hated that the witch’s absence bothered me, but ever since I’d sloped off after Raven’s guardian raised hell about her vampire mate, I’d regretted not sticking around. But instead of acting like a mature adult, I returned to my apartment and drowned my sorrows in liquor.
