"I won't be coy and say that what you're offering isn't tempting. I just, I've never been near a situation like this." She ran her hands over her scalp as if she could push her reticence away. "Men don't even acknowledge me back home, and now you're all looking at me like you want to eat me up."
"We do," Leb chuckled, "in the most fun way."
She blushed even more, and I could slay every man in her human world for making her feel unwanted but treasured that we could show her how carnal and voluptuous she was. I couldn't imagine how strong and sensual she'd be once she fell in love.
I already had.
Nuss cleared his throat, breaking in when I thought we'd have to drag him kicking and begging. "Princess, we are all yours to do with as you like. We made a pact long ago to join forces to be at your side upon your return. Bonding with us will only make you stronger and more powerful, but know this, choice is entirely yours. You say when, you say how, you say where, you get to decide what our roles are in your life and your bed."
Fuck. That's why he was the captain, and we were jackasses. Of course she was the one in charge, but I'd stupidly assumed she knew that and had tried to push her into something she didn't even understand. Zucker and Leb came along for the ride because we all simply wanted to be close to her, pleasure her.
She swallowed and gave the tiniest of nods, mostly to herself. "Okay. I just need... urgh. Dammit. I want to say I need a minute, that we should slow down, but that is my entire lived experience from before and I'm trying to be in this here and now. It's incredibly hard for me to believe that you all want to be with me out of anything besides obligation."
There it was. This was why she was my perfect match. I'd feared she wouldn't want to be with me except out of duty. I didn't like that and neither did she. "Princess, we each have made promises to our people, and indeed the realm that we would find you, return you to your proper home, and help you defeat the Mouse Queen to restore peace to the Winter Realm."
"Yes," she waved her fingers showing that she already understood that. "I get it. You have to serve me or whatever."
"Not whatever. I've been trained, conditioned, and prepared my entire life to be your consort. I love this land and the flora and fauna in it. We all do. But what none of the other guards know," I held my arms out pointing to Zucker, Leb, and Nuss, "is that I was worried about how I would feel about you once we met."
"You never told me that."Zucker tipped his head and frowned at me.
"I know, because I didn't want anyone to know that as much as I wanted to do my duty, I wanted more than simply be a consort, someone who fucks the princess to seal the bond. That was never going to be enough for me. I hid my true desire from you all, because I also wanted a love bond too." The words burned coming out of my mouth.
Zucker grabbed my shoulder, and I couldn't breathe at the hurt look on his face. "You know how I feel about you, Tau."
"Oh no," Clara's hands went up over her mouth. "Am I in the way of you two being together? If you've already found love with each other, I don't want to come between you."
I took Zucker's hand from my shoulder and squeezed it tight. We knew exactly what we were to one another. If there was no war, no Mouse Queen to defeat, and no stolen princess to bring us all together, I would have been content to spend my days adventuring with him and my nights wrapped in each other's bodies.
I loved him, deeply. But we both knew there was something more for us.
Having ClaraMarie join us would only strengthen the bond he and I already had.
I led him the two steps to Clara. "No, sweet flower, the thing is that's exactly where I want you to be. We do have deep feelings for each other, but without you between us, there's something missing. You. Being with you, falling in love with you will only make our feelings for each other stronger. That's the bond I want with you."
He wrapped his arm around Clara and grabbed my other hand, hugging her between us. "Tau is better with saying what he feels, and I'm better at showing it."
Zucker let go of my hands and grabbed me behind the head and kissed me with as much ferocity as the first time we'd been together. Need and heat burst through me, and I let it course through the tenuous connection I had with Clara. Her breathing ratcheted up and her magic along with it. Her magic danced just as the surface.
He broke the kiss far before I was ready, and looked into Clara's eyes, lust glazing his own. "Did you feel that, Princess? Do you understand how I feel about Tau?"
"Yes," she whispered wide-eyed and confused.
"Good, then feel this too." Zucker grabbed her the exact same way he'd done to me and crushed his mouth to hers. His tongue pushed past her lips and withdrew. He thrust in and out of her mouth, teasing her with the way he wanted to take her cunt with his cock.
He tore his mouth from hers just as abruptly as if punishing us both with his lesson. "Did you understand that?"
Clara's stared up at Zucker from beneath hooded eyes and her mouth hung open as if she'd forgotten how to use it for anything but kissing. She bobbed her chin up and down, but before she could vocalize her answer, Leb wrapped his arms around all three of us and picked us up with his brute strength. "I'll take that as a yes. And what they just said and made you feel, that's from me too, tenfold."
He spun us as a group and walked into the room. "Come on, Captain. We've got a love bond, and a night of pleasure ahead of us."
What is Love?
ClaraMarie
Who was I to say what love felt like? Maybe this was it. It wasn't like I've ever been in love before, and I'd certainly never felt these kinds of strange tingles and zips of energy rushing through my body in this way. What a time to have absolutely no experience with either sex or magic.
Leb carried me and the two Fae Princes into the most beautiful, rustic room I'd ever seen. The walls and furniture were, of course, made from the same deep brown, fragrant material as all the buildings, but the walls were decorated in swirls of white, with hundreds of tiny pastel jewels dotting the decorative lines. In the center was a huge bed covered in gorgeous fluffy furs and pillows galore.
