Remington (Queen's Birds of Prey 5)

Remi got out of the van, and they were left alone. “She does that, and no one will ever be able to put us in a garden, Rose. We’ll never see the rapture of our kind. Does she know that? That isn’t fair. I’m going to have to talk to my brother about this. I will not allow this to happen to us. We deserve so much more than being shunned from all that we are.”

Rose laughed. It was funny, really, to think that Juniper thought they deserved more than they were getting. The fact that they were being killed quickly was a blessing, she thought. After what they’d done? Well, she was hopeful it really would be quick. Rose was glad it would soon be over.

As they were hustled from the van, Rose noticed there was a line of people on either side of the road where they were headed. She knew the jail here was underground, so any creature there would not be able to see the sun. Also, there would be no warmth. The niceties that Juniper thought they deserved were gone.

Stones were thrown at them from the very people she had at one time ruled. There were blows to her head, breaking open her skin, so she bled a great deal. Juniper screamed at them to stop, to pay them the respect they deserved. All she wanted to do now was get this over with. To have her life ended now instead of later.

She had no change of heart, she supposed. Losing her son had taken a great deal from her. Rose said nothing as she was put into a cell. Sitting on the only piece of furniture in the room, a large carved stone that resembled a chair, she let her tears fall. Remi was right. She had fucked up.

~*~

They’d been playing around all day, and all Remi wanted to do was find them a nice dark place—or lighted up, she didn’t care, so long as she could have Harlin take her hard and fast. She didn’t need romance right now. Her body was primed, ready to take him, and everything kept getting in the way. Today she was going to jump him even if she had to take him to the highest mountain top.

He came around the corner of the table and grabbed her hand.

“Where are we going?” He turned so quickly that she stumbled against him. “Christ, Harlin, you’re as hard as stone. I do hope you’re finding a place for you to fuck me.”

“You’re such a romantic.” He jerked her body to his, kissing her savagely. She nearly had him naked before she realized they were on the very mountain top she’d been thinking about. “Havi

ng a little extra magic helps in situations like this.”

The burn in her body was tearing her apart. Harlin’s hands were everywhere, yet they didn’t seem to be anywhere for very long. As soon as he took her nipple into his mouth and suckled hard, Remi came hard enough to make the birds fly away. He dropped before her and took her pussy into his mouth before she could protest.

Remi had never enjoyed oral sex before. It was sort of anticlimactic. But whatever Harlin was doing to her body right now, she thought for sure he was going to kill her. Every time his tongue stroked a part of her, she came. When his fingers joined his tongue, she could no more stand up than she could have begged him to stop. The cool grass beneath her back was heavenly compared to the hard bark of the tree she’d been standing against.

“I’m sorry. I need you.” She begged Harlin to hurry. “Christ, I’m so close to coming right now that even when I enter you, it’s going to be too much.”

He didn’t enter her. No, that would have been too slow for the two of them. He slammed forward into her body so fully that Remi fainted from the connection they formed. When she looked up at him when she woke, his body hard and wet with sweat, she watched his wings spread out behind him, his face turn to his other self, and she knew she was with the one and true Harlin of the fae.

“Come inside of me, Harlin. Please. I need to feel you fill me.” He grunted something in fae. She might well have understood it if he’d not come in that moment. “More. I need all of you.”

She got what she wanted. All of him. As his cock filled her body with his juices, she felt their magic intertwine into something powerful. The climaxes took her, over and over, with such ferocity that she forgot to breathe. Her mind blanked out to the point where she couldn’t remember her own name.

The climax that was building, despite her coming nearly a dozen or so times, was making her dizzy with the hunger her body was creating. When Harlin wrapped them both into his wings, wrapping around the two of them in a cocoon-like way, she cried out once more, screaming out his name in every language she knew until she simply blacked out.

When she woke up, they were still wrapped together. Touching her finger to his wing made him giggle. As he released her from the warmth, she realized that at some point, they had made it back to the room she’d been using since she’d come to the castle.

“I think we need a home. And soon.” She nodded at him as his wings curled around him again. “You’re going to have a child. I should have said something sooner, but when you didn’t object, I couldn’t have stopped myself had I wanted to.”

“I remember you telling me that. But I was too…I was just too everything to remember the words.” He asked her if she minded. “No.”

Her body began to feel weak all of a sudden. She could hear Harlin talking to her, but she couldn’t seem to form any words. Her mind was buzzing, and her heart started to beat too fast. As soon as the pain took her breath away, she screamed and screamed as blood flowed from not just her ears but her nose as well.

~*~

Harlin held her in his arms while Basil looked her over. He kept clicking his tongue at his teeth but not saying much of anything that was helpful to him. He’d cleaned up the blood before the king had arrived, but now all he wanted to do was toss the man out of the room and beg Remi for forgiveness. Pulling her tighter into his arms, he noticed the small pair of wings that were forming at her back.

“What’s happening to her? She was fine until after we made love. Even then, she seemed to be all right.” Basil sat down, and when the others, the birds and their mates, joined them, he knew something terrible had happened, and he’d done something irreversible to his mate. Mercy asked him how he wanted this. “Straight up. Until it gets to be too much, then shut the fuck up. What’s wrong with her?”

“Remi is no longer a bird. She can shift into one, but she’s not a bird any longer. She’s all fae.” That didn’t seem to be too bad. But then he didn’t have any idea what she’d think about not being one of the birds. Basil continued. “She’s also carrying a child. Of that, I’m sure you’re aware.”

“Yes. But I don’t understand what happened to change her into a fae, nor why she won’t wake up.” Mercy answered that. “So she’s evolving? Why? I mean, I don’t know anything much about what she was before. Do you think she’ll be all right with being a fae with me?”

“I’d say it’s a little too fucking late for that, don’t you think?” He growled at Mercy when she spoke to him. “You asked. But in answer to your stupid question, I don’t think she’ll mind at all. So long as you’re with her.”

“I think this has a great deal to do with what I spoke to you about earlier. You taking over for me. The magic needed to be assured you’d have fae children, and it made sure she would have full-blooded fae children.” Harlin asked Basil what that had to do with it. “The rules. There are always rules. But the rules state that a man or woman that will be ruling the fae must be a full-blooded fae. The female must be able to have fae children to take over the realm at some point, and the male must be fae to implant them into his queen. I do believe the decision for you to take over for me has been decided by the magic. I don’t think anyone would be any more perfect than the two of you if you want the truth.” Basil laughed.

“This is not fucking funny. What do you think she’s going to do to you when she wakes up and finds out she’s no longer her bird but fae? I’m not going to be able to protect you from her. And right now, I’m not sure I would. Why the hell didn’t someone tell me this?” Basil told him it was in the handbook. “You mean the book that was given to me when I was about five? The one that is older than I am? Christ man, do you have any idea how long ago that was? How the hell was I supposed to remember all that stuff?”