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“Not now,” he said. “But we need to be prepared. Sky is right, they’re not going to stop. Now that they’ve got her scent, they’ll keep coming. A convenient excuse to come after us the way they’ve always wanted to, just like you said.”
It didn’t feel right. “Something’s off.”
“I agree,” he said. We all knew that tone. Silver had an inkling about something, but he wasn’t ready to share. “We know who they were?”
“Yeah.” Wraith nodded. “Got all the IDs off the bodies.”
Silver went to the bar next to the kitchen and poured himself a drink. Thank fuck he created that too. “Delta, dig into them. Find out if they were paid, and how much.”
“You got it.”
Slowly, I stroked a hand through Skyla’s hair. “What are you looking for, Pres?”
“I’ll let you know when I find it.”
I smothered my own laugh so I didn’t wake our mate. “Fine.”
“Now that club business is finished,” he said. “Skyla.”
Wraith poured his own drink. “What about her?”
“She’s fighting her fae,” Silver said. “Doesn’t understand the dynamic. And it’s not her fault. She’s never had a reason to know, and we’ve been too out of our minds to teach her. She won’t be able to triggerathanasíaeven if she wants to. Not until she melds with her fae. And until she does, it’s going to tear her apart.”
We all had our kinks, which Skyla now knew. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know all of us were excited to explore with her. What Silver meant was the true fae dynamic. Our deepest instincts that both melded and clashed with hers.
Skyla was a fighter. She might not consider herself one, but she’d survived in a world that was determined to kill her, all while hiding her abilities, and somehow remaining sweet and kind. I loved the spark in her, and I knew the others did. But those were human things.
The fae were a mixture of shadows and magic in a vaguely human form. Over the centuries, we’d developed two sets of instincts in order to thrive. Our fae selves didn’t operate by the rules of the world we lived in. They followed the old laws. The basest urges in our existence. And those instincts? Needed our mate’s submission.
We would protect her from harm. Kill anything that touched her. Love her. Cherish her. But those same instincts made us predators to her prey. They expected her to follow and obey with ruthless detachment. It wasn’t that simple, and we all knew it, which was why our little mate was struggling, on top of trying to grapple with an entire side of herself she’d been too terrified to access.
She was strong and independent. She cared about everyone and her friends. So going from a life where she controlled everything and could do as she liked to one where she was surrounded on all sides was jarring.
Add to that her own rising instincts to yield to us, even when she didn’t always want to? I empathized.
“When she wakes,” I said. “We’ll explain.”
“And discipline,” Wraith said.
My cock hardened at the words. It was necessary for everyone. Us, and her. Once she left her humanity behind—something we wanted as soon as possible—she would understand. Until then? We needed to make sure she got it.
And the thing was, once we slipped into those roles, everything would be easier. We didn’t want to stifle Skyla. We loved who she was. Everything from her graceful dancing to her sassy, bratty self. We wanted her to thrive in our care and love.
It was hard to believe it had only been a couple of days, when it felt like forever.
“And discipline,” I murmured into the silence.
Like she knew we were talking about her, Skyla shifted against my body. I stroked my hand down her spine, savoring the softness of her skin.
It was new, and nothing worth having was without pain and growth. It would take time.
Thank fuck we were at the beginning of forever.
“PRES.” A distant voice called.
All five of us stiffened, and Silver was on his feet at the window. His shoulders were rigid.
“Delta, stay with Skyla.”
