Cry Werewolf (Godhunter Book 20) Read online

  “I'm relieved to hear you say so,” I offered. “As far as I'm concerned, what happened between you and the Tuatha is your business. Though I will not take kindly to any harm coming to Cernunnos.”

  “Cernunnos is safe,” Elatha chuckled. “We have no ill will for the Horned God.”

  “Good,” I said. “Then as long as you leave the Earth and her residents alone, I will have no ill will for you.”

  “Then let us drink to a new friendship,” Elatha raised his glass to me. “I look forward to getting to know you better, Godhunter, and I hope you'll be open enough to get to know me in return.”

  “To friendship,” I clicked his glass, because I knew better than to reject the offer of friendship from any god, much less a king of them.

  But apprehension filled my gut as I drank, and saw the expression on Elatha's face. It was shrewd. He looked at me like I was a horse he was thinking of purchasing. I wouldn't have been surprised to find him checking out my teeth. I had begun to like the Celtic god, but that look was making me question my instincts. Elatha, and all his happy, little Formorians, would have to be watched carefully in the future.

  And what better way to watch him, than under the mask of friendship? If only I didn't have the feeling that I would be watched in return.

  Chapter Eleven

  When we got back from Tara, after feasting and finally signing a truce agreement, it was late. We all headed to bed. The last week had been exhausting both physically and mentally. It was time for some rest. Re went home, promising to come back the next day for our date. I kissed him goodbye sleepily, and went to curl up in my bed. I don't even know who joined me, beyond Kirill, whom I whispered to, just before I passed out.

  “I'm going to jump over to Faerie in the morning,” I said to him.

  I used to take off without telling anyone, if I happened to find a moment alone, like when I woke up before everyone else. I figured there was no point in waking my men just to tell them I'd be back in like two seconds. With my Ring of Remembrance, a faerie artifact left to me by my fey father, I could travel between the realms by going back to the time I'd last left them. I know it sounds confusing. So let me quickly explain.

  The ring was made for faeries to return to their past, and relive moments that they may have forgotten. This is very helpful to the immortal fey. For me, with my inter-realm travels, we'd discovered that I could simply return to the last time I'd left a certain realm, and I could freely live out a span of time which was technically in my past because I hadn't created a past in that realm. Things had become really confusing lately, when the question was brought up on what would happen to me if the other me (the one simultaneously living in another realm) died. For instance, if I had gone back in time to Faerie and somehow died (we fey may be immortal, but that doesn't mean we can't be killed), what would happen to the me who was currently living out my life in the God Realm? Would I simply vanish?

  It was a scary enough concept that I had briefly considered stopping the use of my ring for travel. But I was a mother now, and if I did that, my children would miss out on time with me. And more importantly, I would miss out on time with them. Precious baby time. I couldn't do that. Children grew too fast, especially magical children, and I didn't want to miss a moment of it. So I was taking the risk of the ring.

  However, due to these concerns, I'd taken to warning my men of my departure. Just in case I didn't make it back. I didn't want everyone waking up and panicking, not knowing where to look for me, or thinking someone had abducted me (again- eye roll). So I let Kirill know, and then I went to sleep.

  When I woke, everyone was still abed, so I was glad I'd had the foresight to warn Kirill that I'd be hopping over to Faerie. Hopefully nothing would happen, and I would return before he woke. But there had been issues which had delayed me before, other reasons, besides death, that I might not return right away. So generally, this new practice was a good one. I should have been doing it all along.

  I sighed as I got dressed, putting on the last faerie dress I'd worn to journey to the God Realm. Even though it was silk, it had some considerable heft to it. Fey silk is a little different than human silk. I think it has something to do with the silk worms. Or it could just be magic. Whatever the case, the dress was heavy, and flowed like water around me, in a vibrant purple spray of skirts. The sleeves were slim, and only went down to my elbows. I'd taken to wearing shorter sleeves a little after I'd had the twins. It was hard enough keeping my fey gowns pretty without having trailing sleeves getting in the way of baby goo (my word for the assortment of foul things which drip, leak, and pour out of babies). Parenting was not for the faint of heart.

  I slid my feet into some violet leather, ankle boots, and wrapped a velvet belt around my waist. I brushed out my waist-length hair, and bound back the dark strands with a gold clasp. The new stripe of starlight I'd acquired when I fixed my star, swung forward, glittering gaily. I sighed and tucked it behind my ear. On top of it being a huge distraction (a bright, sparkling white streak in my ebony hair), it also seemed to have a mind of its own, and was constantly breaking free of any restriction I tried to place upon it. These days even my hair was trying to annoy me.

  When I was finally ready, I asked my ring to take me over to the Faerie Realm. Specifically, the minute after I'd left it last. As usual, Arach was waiting for me in our bedroom... on our bed He smiled when he saw me, his eyes dropping to my belly and then widening. For him, I'd been gone a matter of moments, but in actuality, I'd been away for a week. It was the most I could handle without my boys.

  “Your belly has grown,” Arach narrowed his citrine dragon eyes on me. “How long were you away?”

  “Just a week,” I assured him. “It's going to be a fast pregnancy, similar to the last one. I saw a doctor and she confirmed it.”

  Dexter, my pet nurial, whom I'd cared for since he was a baby, sat up in his miniature version of my metal bed, and then jumped to his feet... all six of them. He came loping over to me while Arach frowned. It was Winter in Faerie, and Dexter had already done his seasonal shift into the steam version of himself. Several faeries, as well as fey creatures, shifted during Winter, now that seasons had returned to Faerie. When it had first started to happen, it was a huge shock, and was especially hard on the creatures of Faerie, who had no previous knowledge of the way things used to be before the realm had been closed off, and Faerie had slid into a sort of stasis.

  It didn't happen to all faeries or creatures, just a select few, and no one knew why. But those affected would shift into colder versions of themselves until Spring thawed them out. Water fey changed into ice, that sort of thing. Dexter was one of the creatures who shifted, changing from a fire nurial into a steam nurial. His usual ebony fur changed into a glossy white, and his normally fiery eyes went husky-blue. His first shift had come upon him when he was a baby, and his mother, who didn't shift, had abandoned him in fear. That's when I'd found him.

  Dex huffed steam up at me, yet another feature of his altered form, as I flopped his silky, pointed ears playfully over the curling horns beneath them. I gave the thick ruff around his neck a good scratching, and he began to purr, closing his icy blue eyes in delight.

  “It's good to see you too, Dex,” I kissed his lean, fox-like face before going over to say hello to Blossom, a sentient flower I'd taken from Alfheim.

  I kissed her bright, yellow petals as gently as I'd kissed Dexter, and she swayed happily in her massive pot, set near the bedroom's window. Blossom was inside for Winter. Usually, she spent her days out in the pixie village behind the castle, but both the pixies and Blossom had to be moved indoors during the cold months. The pixies were in their usual winter homes; a collection of miniature buildings built over and under an assortment of heavy tables, all placed within one of our numerous guest rooms. Blossom, though, would stay in her pot. Not that she was restricted. The pot came up to mid-chest on me, an elegant form which tapered in a little at the top. It gave her plenty of room to stretch out h
er roots, and enough height to be able to see everything around her. Plus, she could unearth herself and take a walkabout on my shoulder if she really got stir-crazy.

  Our window, just like every other one in the castle, was boarded up with heavy shutters for Winter. So Blossom couldn't see the amazing view we had of Faerie, but at least we were all warm. The castle was heated by the continuous flow of magma which ran beneath it, but there was still a fire lit in our fireplace. Normally, the fire's heat would have dissipated up the inverted cone of our ceiling, but a false ceiling had been put up, blocking the hollow core of the mountain spire. I missed the glow of candles which sat in ledges all the way up that conical tube, but the heat was worth the trade off. We were fire fey, and could generate our own warmth if needed, but that took energy, and why worry about it when more practical means could take care of the cold? Work smarter not harder, and all that motivational burol crap. A burol is a sort of like a deer- oh never mind, it was just some faerie humor. Anyway, a round, wooden, drop ceiling was now in place above our heads.

  “Did you say 'doctor'?” Arach sat up on the massive mattress of our metal, four-poster bed. “As in a human physician?”

  He was naked, as he often was when waiting for me, nothing but a sable blanket covering his dragon-sidhe bits. When he sat up, it fell aside, giving me an enticing glimpse of some dark red curls. Arach was a true redhead, and I mean a fey redhead, so his hair was closer to blood than barbecue sauce. Well that got me hungry. And the horrible thing was, I wasn't sure if it was the mention of blood or barbecue.

  “Uh, not a human doctor,” I explained. “The Greek Goddess, Hygieia. She has a clinic in the God Realm. It was really nice actually. I got an ultrasound and everything.”

  “A what?” he got out of bed, giving me the full Arach experience; muscled chest, corded arms, sculpted abs leading down to a sexy V at his hips, and solid thighs. His skin was pale, but it managed to look healthy on him, more like stone than milk. His fierce features, made even more so by those startling eyes and the crimson scales at his temples, drew downward in an angry expression. “How can sound help a baby? It's impossible. I don't care how ultra it is.”

  “It's a machine that can take a picture of the baby,” I eased forward and gave him a hug. “Now put your clothes on, dragon. I'm not up for all that yet,” I waved a hand towards his Arach awesomeness while I backed away. “It's been a rough four days.”

  “Explain,” Arach followed me, completely disregarding my clothing request.

  So I did. I told him about the doctor's visit, the heat, the rare possibility that I might conceive when I was already pregnant. His eyes had slowly widened, and then his mouth spread into a smile.

  “Oh hell no,” I instantly knew what part of that had appealed to him. “Nope. Hygieia said it's highly unlikely for me to get pregnant while carrying Lesya.”

  “It was extremely unlikely for you to turn a single baby into two,” he smirked.

  “I didn't do that,” I grimaced, “Rian took the magic meant to kill me and split himself to protect us.”

  “Again... impossible, but yet they live,” Arach started pulling me towards the bed, and I started having flashbacks of when we were trying to conceive. He had been insatiable.

  “What part about the four days of non-stop sex did you not catch?” I pushed him away. “Give me the day at least. We can have sex tonight.”

  “A Thaisce,” Arach pouted, and damn if it didn't look good on him. “Your other husbands got four days of you, and I must wait till evening comes before I may?”

  “That's nasty,” I pointed at him. “I was about to sympathize with you until you made the coming comment,” I stopped and made a face. “Dear gods, those are some words I'd never thought to utter.”

  “At least give me a-”

  “Don't you dare,” I pointed a finger at him.

  “What?” he blinked innocently at me. “I was going to say 'massage'. At least give me a massage.”

  “Right,” I rolled my eyes and headed out of the room. “Like you need a massage. I'm the one who needs a massage.”

  “A massage on my-”

  “Arach!” I snapped as I turned around, so I could glare at him.

  “Alright, A Thaisce,” he chuckled, and went to get dressed. “But you know how uncomfortable it can get for a man in my condition.”

  “The condition of having a pissed off wife?” I smirked. “Because yes, that can get very uncomfortable.”

  I couldn't help myself, I looked. There. It did seem like it would be uncomfortable to stuff all of that into some tight breeches. And oh, it also looked good. His scales had spread down the sides of his face, then down his belly, to outline his solid stomach, and lead my eyes ever back to that sleek appendage. I started to weaken, then mentally shook myself. I would not be manipulated by my lusty, lizard husband. I turned and stomped out of the room, heading next door, to the nursery.

  I needed a reminder of what he wanted to accomplish with all that lust. Plus, I really wanted to see my babies.

  I heard Arach groan in disappointment before he followed me. Dexter was already trotting along beside me, and he cast a look back at Arach, as if he couldn't understand the Dragon King's unhappiness. I was there, and that was all Dex needed to be happy. Bless his little nurial heart. If only all men were so simple to please.

  Granuaile, one of our nannies, was in the nursery, watching over the royal twins. Rian was asleep, making his little, growly, baby dragon sounds, but Brevyn was moving about the room, standing on his bouncy, baby toes as his chubby, little fingers clutched at the furniture for assistance. He turned his blue eyes, so like Ull's, in my direction, and they lit up with happiness.

  “Mama!” Brevyn shouted, let go of the crib leg, threw up his hands in excitement, and fell back onto his fat bottom. Completely undeterred, he began crawling towards me.

  I stared at him in open-mouthed shock. He had been babbling away in indecipherable words for awhile now, but this was the first time he'd said something clear, something real. And it was for me. Mama. My heart melted with that single word. I dropped to my knees and held my arms out to my son. I'm sure that any mother will tell you that hearing your child say “Mama” for the first time is a jarring, but triumphant experience. It's indisputable proof that he understands exactly who you are to him.

  Arach sighed dramatically, “What happened to 'Daddy'?”

  “Come to Mama,” I grabbed Brevyn's reaching hands, and helped him stand, so he could take some stumbling steps towards me. I hugged him when he got close enough, ignoring his father completely. This moment was mine.

  “Oh, what a joyous occasion!” Granuaile proclaimed. “I'm honored to have been here to hear Prince Brevyn's first word.”

  Then she saw the scales outlining Arach's neck, and swallowed hard. Scales like that meant one of two things with a dragon; either they were super angry or super horny. Neither of those options would appeal to Granuaile.

  “I'll just leave you to enjoy your family moment,” she made a hasty retreat.

  “Thank you,” Arach nodded to her, but I remained focused on Brevyn.

  His hair was already beginning to darken, that platinum blonde giving way to honey-streaked wheat. But those eyes were the same; a deep blue, clear as the Pacific. All Ull. It was hard to differentiate Ull from Brevyn now, and to do so would probably be unfair anyway. Ull's soul was in Brevyn. They were the same, and yet, this child was so much more than Ull. He even had a piece of my fey mother inside him now.

  Brevyn had recently become like me, a triple-souled being. He was god, human, and fey. I hadn't wanted this life for him. It would be difficult. But now that it was done, I was strangely happy to have this in common with him. We would be able to understand each other like no one else could. I suppose we all need someone to truly relate to.

  “Mama,” Brevyn said again, as if he knew what an important moment this was for us.

  “Yes, that's right,” I kissed his forehead. “I'm your m
ama.”

  “Now say 'daddy',” Arach leaned in and kissed Brevyn. “I'm Daddy.”

  Brevyn frowned and considered Arach, then said, “Mama.”

  “No,” Arach huffed and sat on the floor beside me, “This is Mama,” he pointed to me. “I am Daddy,” he pointed to himself. “Or if you'd like to be especially formal, you may call me, 'Father'.”

  “Arach,” I rolled my eyes.

  “Air,” Brevyn said.

  We both looked back to the baby.

  “No, no, no,” Arach chided. “Daddy. Daaaa-deee.”

  “Airrrr-rock,” Brevyn pronounced slowly.

  I burst into laughter.

  “Well, he is definitely your son,” Arach rolled his eyes.

  “Mama,” Brevyn laid his head on my chest to confirm it.

  “Son,” I wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight.

  “Daddy!” Rian screamed as he woke abruptly, in his diamond, bowl-shaped cradle. “Daddy!”

  Rian was a little more advanced than Brevyn, simply because he had been born half dragon-sidhe. Technically Brevyn was now dragon-sidhe too, my mother's essence made him so, but it didn't seem to be enough to help Brevyn catch up to his brother on a physical level.

  “At least my heir knows me,” Arach huffed and got to his feet. “Son!” he proclaimed loudly as he picked up Rian.

  “Daddy,” Rian smacked his baby hands onto Arach's chest like it was a drum, and stared up at his father with vibrant, green, dragon eyes.

  Little emerald scales were sprinkled at Rian's temples, emphasizing his eyes further. But he didn't have the dragon-sidhe fierceness in his features yet. Rian's face still possessed that adorable, baby chubbiness. Arach kissed the thick, red hair on Rian's head, nearly an identical shade to his own.