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“No... Did you always have a tattoo on your shoulder?” Cam asked carefully, drawing a finger over her shoulder blade.
“I don’t have a tattoo. I’m scared of needles.” It was so bad that she almost fainted when she saw one of her brothers getting tattooed once.
“Well, you certainly have one now,” Cam muttered, still touching her skin.
“No, I don’t.”
“You do - look in the mirror.”
She sighed and walked over to the full-length mirror next to the closet. She gasped. There was indeed a tattoo on her shoulder. It was a brown colour, not much darker than her skin; a circle that turned into a spiral. It reminded her of a Celtic symbol. But what the heck was it doing on her skin? She definitely hadn’t been to a tattoo parlour recently. All she had done...
“Jared! What did you do?” She turned and prowled towards him, not caring that she was naked. He held up his hands in mock defence.
“Nothing. I swear, nobody I’ve ever slept with woke up with a tattoo the morning after. It’s not what incubi do.”
“But it’s there!” She was becoming slightly hysteric now. Not because it was an ugly mark - not at all, it was actually really pretty - but because she didn’t have a choice about it. If they ended up in bed again, would she get another one? She shuddered at the thought. She’d be covered in ink soon.
“Calm down. Let’s just forget about it for now and get ready for the feast?” Cam was trying to be the voice of reason as always. She wanted to snap at him, but he was right. This was something to worry about later.
“Let’s try this thing on,” she muttered and held the dress in front of her, trying to find the best way to get it onto her body without ripping anything. This was definitely a no-bra and no-panties kind of dress.
“What do you think?” she asked when she finally had it on.
Silence. Then Cam cleared his throat. “It looks good.”
“Seriously? That’s all you have to say? I guess I better put on my normal clothes after all.”
“Don’t!” Flint immediately said, even going as far as putting himself between her and her jeans. “I want to be able to look at you all evening like this. You’re exquisite.”
“But surely I look naked?” she asked, looking down at herself, her barely covered belly, her definitely not covered legs.
Jared chuckled and stepped forward, cupping her face and pulling her towards him. “Yes, you do. But that’s what we like about it.” He kissed her gently; very different from his claiming kisses earlier that day. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into the kiss, her body fitting his perfectly.
A knock at the door made her growl. “I don’t want to go,” she moaned, “there are so many better things we could do.”
“We are the Wardens. We have responsibilities,” Cam said, suddenly serious. “But I promise you, I’m going to personally take this dress off you tonight.”
She sighed. “Let’s do this.”
They followed a young blue man through the underwater city. Macey couldn’t stop looking up at the glass ceilings, watching in awe as a pod of porpoises swam past. They didn’t have those in the loch she’d grown up in
. She was tempted to shift into her kelpie form and go for a swim with them. But there was that pesky feast to endure.
She’d always hated official celebrations. Her father did a lot of those each year, and as the only girl in the family, she had to sit on his side, separated from her brothers on his other. All the other kelpies her age were sitting far away from her, and it was as boring as kelp. So yeah, she wasn’t looking forward to yet another feast.
The blue man opened two large, shell-encrusted doors and Macey couldn’t help but stare. There were hundreds of na fir ghorma sitting at long rows of tables. She never thought there were that many of them. They were mostly males, but she could spot a few women in between. Most of them were wearing even less than she was.
It felt like hundreds of eyes bored into her and the others as they entered the room. Probably because that’s exactly what was happening. She supposed that in their position she’d have been just as curious, especially if she believed what they were saying about them being the Wardens. Macey still had her doubts, but while they were being treated well, she wasn’t going to voice them aloud. Plus, it meant that she got to share a room with all three of the very sexy men who seemed to have claimed her as their own. They’d soon find that she was the one doing the claiming.
They walked between two of the long tables, being led towards the high table at which there were several empty seats. For them she assumed. Yet another perk of being a Warden, maybe? She just hoped that they didn’t try to make her eat fish. Other meat on land was bad enough, but fish was just wrong. She’d have to persuade the guys not to eat it in her presence at some point too, just looking at it on a plate made her feel a pang of sadness. But here wasn’t the place. She couldn’t risk upsetting her hosts. While she’d be fine if they just kicked them out of the dome, she didn’t know about the others. Cam and Jared might be okay too, but Flint would certainly struggle, and she wasn’t ready for that flame to be doused. At least, not until she’d had a chance to experience it, and after that, she’d probably want to keep it lit all the more.
This is your seat. The blue man gestured towards the seat that she knew was for the guest of honour, and she opened her mouth to protest before one of the men put a steadying hand on her lower back. From the temperature of his skin, her betting was on it being Cam, but she didn’t turn around to be sure.
“Thank you,” she acknowledged, taking her seat as gracefully as she could while wearing such a short dress. She scowled. What was it with their outfits? They were so impractical. What if there was a chill? Or she spilt dinner on herself? At least red wine wouldn’t stain it. Or it would, but that’d only cover up the parts of her that were on display.
Flint took the seat to her right, while the throne to her left appeared to contain an older looking na fir ghorma whose hair was even more unruly than the others she’d encountered so far. Thankfully, he also seemed to be wearing more clothing, and his private parts were thankfully left to her imagination. Which reminded her...
She looked at her men, having been too conscious about what she herself was wearing to actually look at them. Unsurprisingly, they too were more covered, though the shirts they’d been given were as sheer as her dress was. Now that she could get on board with.
