“We can hear you,” Jenna yelled. “And if you like your privacy, I suggest you pop yourselves clean and in clothing before popping out here. Ps. I did have the decency to bring breakfast and coffee. Pss. You are welcome.”
“Can we eat her?” Atika asked.
“I taste awful and my mates would kill you. Like kill you and never will you rise again, dead,” Jenna vowed.
“Come on. Let’s face the two out there who shouldn’t be here and then we can do whatever we please. Preferably without interruptions from you know who,” she snarled loud enough the chandelier above them shook.
“Well, that’s just rude.” Jenna made a loud harumph noise then went quiet.
“Jenna, shut the hell up. I’m putting up a silencing wall now. We’ll be out in a little bit.” Lula huffed, but not before they heard Jenna yell out for them not to be doing anymore fucky fucky. Ugg, she really needed to set boundaries with her family.
“Can they not hear us?” Abyle pushed up onto his elbow, staring down at her.
She smiled at him, amazed to find him even sexier this morning than she had last night. “Nope, I’ve sealed us off from them. But no, we can’t do what I see in your eyes.” She laughed, trying to wiggle out from between them.
“It’s our honeymoon, Lula Love. Surely, it’s a prerequisite that we start each day buried inside you. Don’t you agree, Atika?” Abyle grabbed her ankle, pulling her flat onto the bed between them.
“Most definitely, brother. Besides, they should’ve known better than to come here first thing in the morning.” Atika leaned over her, taking one of her nipples into his mouth.
A moan escaped her. As she was beginning to agree with them, the door rattled. A door she was sure she’d sealed off with her magic. Shoot, damn Fey Queen and her superpowers. “As much as I want to do that, if we start, we’ll be interrupted, and then we’ll be on edge even more. Let’s go out there and listen to whatever they have to say, and then we can get back to the three of us and our wants.”
Atika released her breast with a pop and a groan. “Gah, why does she make sense?”
“Because she’s our mate. Come on, do your magic cleanse, so it’s quick.” Abyle rolled from the bed, reaching back for her.
She eyed his nakedness, staring at his hard-on with longing.
“You keep looking at me like that and I’ll be back on that bed and in you, and I won’t give a fuck about the others out there.”
His amber eyes glowed like the bear he was.
“Ack, I swear you both are too sexy for my dragon’s good sense.” She held her arm out, waiting for him to pull her up. Warmth infused her as he gripped her palm within his.
By the time she used her magic to dress them all, cleansing them as if they’d showered in the way of humans, she was sure her mother was fit to be tied in the other room. However, when she opened the door, the scene that greeted her was totally different than what she’d envisioned.
“What the heck is going on?” Lula whispered, reaching for her mates.
Belle stood with her back to them, her posture stiff as she stared out the floor-to-ceiling window. It was one thing for her mother to be angry, but the scent rolling off her wasn’t anger, or disappointment, both things Lula had expected. No, it was fear. The acrid scent Lula hadn’t expected.
Jenna waved toward the large table. “Would you three like some coffee and donuts?”
Abyle shook his head, as did Atika, neither male letting her go.
“Mother?” The one word had Belle turning to face her.
“Your father is aware of your existence, Lula.”
She felt as though the floor had been demolished beneath her feet. Had her mates not held her onto her, Lula was sure she’d have fallen into a heap. “What does that mean?”
Belle’s unblinking stare met hers. “It means he will be hunting for you and me. You, he will want to take back to his people with hope you will make a proper match, and maybe produce a dragon heir that isn’t...damaged. Me, he will more than likely want vengeance for keeping his child from him, and his royal family.” She turned back toward the window.
“But he told you to get rid of me. How can you know he’s aware of me, Jenna? Besides, he said he didn’t want you to have me,” Lula protested.
“Although your memories don’t show you his approach, I was able to witness it. Through your conscience, it allowed me to be there for long seconds after you left.” Jenna lifted her shoulders in a negligent shrug as if what she did was no big deal, when in fact, it was life-altering.
Her mother’s head dropped. “Your father would’ve sensed you easily if you were that close to him. He may not have wanted you back then, but I didn’t listen, I loved you from the very moment I knew you were within me. By me continuing with my pregnancy, I had an heir to two thrones, which I denied them. I didn’t believe either would’ve recognized you as anything other than the same as what they did me. However, from what Jenna heard, that doesn’t appear to be the case. I...I could be tried and killed for what I did. It’s one of the reasons why I never returned to the Mist and why I insisted you stay away. I was selfish. Because of me, your heritage was taken from you, and now that you’ve found your mates, all three of your lives are at stake.”
“What do you mean our lives are at stake?” Abyle growled.
“Lula’s father will kill the two of you if you stand in his way, when he tries to take Lula home with him. If Lula doesn’t agree to go with him, he’ll kill her as well. It’s the dragon way,” Jenna said, her voice cracking on the last words.
“Fuck that and fuck him. I am not his daughter. He was a sperm donor. If he truly cared for me, he wouldn’t have told my mother to get rid of me. Mama, look at me.” When her mother continued to stare at the floor, she let go of Abyle and Atika, crossing the short distance to Belle. “We will fight him. He might be some royal fucking dick dragon, but you and I are fierce dragon bitches. Besides, we have friends in low places.”
Jenna’s laugh had them all assessing her. “We really do have friends in low places, Belle. Lots of friends if it came to it. You were alone when you fled that fucking bastardass realm you called home. This time, you have family and friends who will have your back.”
Belle brushed at tears streaming down her cheeks, gems hitting the floor. “I love all of you for saying you’d stand up for me, but I can’t ask that of you. If you go up against a hoard of dragons, you’ll be decimated.”
Jenna snorted. “Belle, what do you think I am, a novice? I’ve battled many things, big and small, and lived to tell the tale. Besides, I have two Wolpire mates and my own hoard of beings who will be there. This time we will set the place and time, not be ambushed. Listen to me,” she snapped.
Lula had seen Jenna be many things, but this one was a little scary. She’d always thought she and her mother were the ones protecting the small Fey. “Mother, listen to her. I’m not going anywhere with him.” She wasn’t going to call the bastard her father. Belle had been mother and father.
“There’s something you all should know about us as well. We’re not just bear shifters, we’re—”