From The Deeps (Seven Wardens Book 1) Read online

  “Yes. No. I don’t know,” she whispered. “I need more, please.”

  “Spread your legs,” he commanded and joined her on the large bed. She did as he asked and was rewarded with a finger entering her from behind. She hoped this was just the vanguard, a promise of more to come.

  And she was right. A second later, his finger was replaced by something a lot larger as he entered her in one long, hard push.

  She gripped the bed sheets tightly as he began to fuck her fast and rough. There was no holding back now. Her moans grew louder and his heavy breathing joined their song.

  When she came, he did it as well, uniting them in a rush of pleasure that took them far away from the glass-domed chamber they were in.

  10

  “What did you do to her?” Flint asked, amusement filling his tone. He wasn’t mad then. Or at least as far as Macey’s sleep-addled brain could tell. Oh. She’d fallen asleep; apparently, good sex did that to her. No, not good sex. Great sex. With an incubus. Did that mean he owned her soul now? She’d admit to having no clue how incubi worked. Though the other question was whether she cared if he did. Worryingly, she didn’t seem to mind the idea of losing her soul to him. Or the others. She pushed the hazy thought away. She’d deal with it when she was properly awake.

  “Took her to heaven.”

  “Seems unlikely. You’re the son of a demon,” Cam pointed out, and even in her sleepy frame of mind, she wanted to laugh.

  “That’s just how good I am.” Macey could hear the smirk in his voice, but couldn’t really dispute his words.

  “No such thing as heaven,” she murmured, and Jared chuckled, sounding closer than he had before.

  “Is there not, little one?” Heat flooded through her as she remembered the last time he’d called her that. But she wouldn’t let that distract her. At least, not too much.

  “No,” she said, blinking a few times and finally opening her eyes fully. Jared was sitting near her on the bed, a caring look on his face which was quickly replaced with a wicked smile.

  “Then I don’t know how to describe being inside you.”

  She swallowed almost audibly, aware of Flint and Cam’s eyes on her, as well as her current state of nakedness. She glanced at them, noting the hunger in their eyes instantly. A thrill shot through her. If they were okay with knowing Jared had already had her, and willing to do the same, then she was going to be a very happy kelpie.

  “What time is it?” she asked, despite that not being the real question she wanted to ask. That question would end with them on the bed too. Or she hoped it would.

  “Not time for that,” Flint said firmly. “It’s almost time to go to the feast.”

  Macey groaned. How had she forgotten about that? Oh yes. A well-endowed incubus doing things to her body that she hadn’t imagined possible. Anyone would forget about a stupid feast then.

  “Do we have to?” she whined.

  “Yes,” Cam replied. “And they’ve sent you something to wear.” He sounded both amused and uneasy.

  He handed her a small fabric bundle and she sat up to take a closer look. It seemed too small to be clothes. Maybe a t-shirt, or a small skirt. But then with a shudder, she remembered the blue girl from earlier and how she hadn’t worn a lot of clothes. Except that for her, it wasn’t as obvious with her colourful skin and scales. But Macey was very pale and didn’t like being exposed in front of a group of creepy blue men.

  With a sigh, she unwrapped the bundle and held up the tiny dress inside. ‘Dress’ was an overstatement. Think dishcloth around the bum with a strap to kind of cover her boobs. And even the sparse fabric that was there didn’t hide anything. It was sheer. Who the waves came up with this monstrosity? She could just as well go there naked.

  “I told them you wouldn’t like it,” Cam said, visibly uncomfortable. Macey wasn’t going to shoot the messenger. No, she was going to shoot the designer.

  “I’m not going to wear this,” she stated and the three guys groaned. “I’m going in my normal clothes, and if they don’t like it, to hell with them.”

  Jared grinned. “You said there is no hell.”

  “Right now, there is,” she grumbled. “It’s the only place this dress can have come from.”

  “It’s not that bad,” Cam tried to appease her. “Maybe put in on, just for us?”

  She sighed, but then remembered she wasn’t wearing anything right now. This dress would actually be an improvement.

  Trying to wiggle her hips seductively (maybe there was still a chance to spend the evening in bed rather than at the feast) she climbed out of the bed, ignoring the hungry glances the guys tried to hide.

  “What’s that on your shoulder?” Flint suddenly asked, destroying the effect she had hoped for.

  “What?” She craned her head, trying to see what he and the others were looking at. “I can’t see it? Are you messing with me?”

  “No... Did you always have a tattoo on your shoulder?” Cam asked carefully, drawing a finger over her shoulder blade.

  “I don’t have a tattoo. I’m scared of needles.” It was so bad that she almost fainted when she saw one of her brothers getting tattooed once.

  “Well, you certainly have one now,” Cam muttered, still touching her skin.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “You do - look in the mirror.”

  She sighed and walked over to the full-length mirror next to the closet. She gasped. There was indeed a tattoo on her shoulder. It was a brown colour, not much darker than her skin; a circle that turned into a spiral. It reminded her of a Celtic symbol. But what the heck was it doing on her skin? She definitely hadn’t been to a tattoo parlour recently. All she had done...

  “Jared! What did you do?” She turned and prowled towards him, not caring that she was naked. He held up his hands in mock defence.

  “Nothing. I swear, nobody I’ve ever slept with woke up with a tattoo the morning after. It’s not what incubi do.”

  “But it’s there!” She was becoming slightly hysteric now. Not because it was an ugly mark - not at all, it was actually really pretty - but because she didn’t have a choice about it. If they ended up in bed again, would she get another one? She shuddered at the thought. She’d be covered in ink soon.

  “Calm down. Let’s just forget about it for now and get ready for the feast?” Cam was trying to be the voice of reason as always. She wanted to snap at him, but he was right. This was something to worry about later.

  “Let’s try this thing on,” she muttered and held the dress in front of her, trying to find the best way to get it onto her body without ripping anything. This was definitely a no-bra and no-panties kind of dress.

  “What do you think?” she asked when she finally had it on.

  Silence. Then Cam cleared his throat. “It looks good.”

  “Seriously? That’s all you have to say? I guess I better put on my normal clothes after all.”

  “Don’t!” Flint immediately said, even going as far as putting himself between her and her jeans. “I want to be able to look at you all evening like this. You’re exquisite.”

  “But surely I look naked?” she asked, looking down at herself, her barely covered belly, her definitely not covered legs.

  Jared chuckled and stepped forward, cupping her face and pulling her towards him. “Yes, you do. But that’s what we like about it.” He kissed her gently; very different from his claiming kisses earlier that day. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned into the kiss, her body fitting his perfectly.

  A knock at the door made her growl. “I don’t want to go,” she moaned, “there are so many better things we could do.”

  “We are the Wardens. We have responsibilities,” Cam said, suddenly serious. “But I promise you, I’m going to personally take this dress off you tonight.”

  She sighed. “Let’s do this.”

  They followed a young blue man through the underwater city. Macey couldn’t stop looking up at the glass ceilings, watching in a
we as a pod of porpoises swam past. They didn’t have those in the loch she’d grown up in. She was tempted to shift into her kelpie form and go for a swim with them. But there was that pesky feast to endure.

  She’d always hated official celebrations. Her father did a lot of those each year, and as the only girl in the family, she had to sit on his side, separated from her brothers on his other. All the other kelpies her age were sitting far away from her, and it was as boring as kelp. So yeah, she wasn’t looking forward to yet another feast.

  The blue man opened two large, shell-encrusted doors and Macey couldn’t help but stare. There were hundreds of na fir ghorma sitting at long rows of tables. She never thought there were that many of them. They were mostly males, but she could spot a few women in between. Most of them were wearing even less than she was.

  It felt like hundreds of eyes bored into her and the others as they entered the room. Probably because that’s exactly what was happening. She supposed that in their position she’d have been just as curious, especially if she believed what they were saying about them being the Wardens. Macey still had her doubts, but while they were being treated well, she wasn’t going to voice them aloud. Plus, it meant that she got to share a room with all three of the very sexy men who seemed to have claimed her as their own. They’d soon find that she was the one doing the claiming.

  They walked between two of the long tables, being led towards the high table at which there were several empty seats. For them she assumed. Yet another perk of being a Warden, maybe? She just hoped that they didn’t try to make her eat fish. Other meat on land was bad enough, but fish was just wrong. She’d have to persuade the guys not to eat it in her presence at some point too, just looking at it on a plate made her feel a pang of sadness. But here wasn’t the place. She couldn’t risk upsetting her hosts. While she’d be fine if they just kicked them out of the dome, she didn’t know about the others. Cam and Jared might be okay too, but Flint would certainly struggle, and she wasn’t ready for that flame to be doused. At least, not until she’d had a chance to experience it, and after that, she’d probably want to keep it lit all the more.

  This is your seat. The blue man gestured towards the seat that she knew was for the guest of honour, and she opened her mouth to protest before one of the men put a steadying hand on her lower back. From the temperature of his skin, her betting was on it being Cam, but she didn’t turn around to be sure.

  “Thank you,” she acknowledged, taking her seat as gracefully as she could while wearing such a short dress. She scowled. What was it with their outfits? They were so impractical. What if there was a chill? Or she spilt dinner on herself? At least red wine wouldn’t stain it. Or it would, but that’d only cover up the parts of her that were on display.

  Flint took the seat to her right, while the throne to her left appeared to contain an older looking na fir ghorma whose hair was even more unruly than the others she’d encountered so far. Thankfully, he also seemed to be wearing more clothing, and his private parts were thankfully left to her imagination. Which reminded her...

  She looked at her men, having been too conscious about what she herself was wearing to actually look at them. Unsurprisingly, they too were more covered, though the shirts they’d been given were as sheer as her dress was. Now that she could get on board with.

  Greetings, Wardens. The man on Macey’s left said. She wasn’t sure how she knew that it was him speaking, but it was something almost instinctual that let her know.

  “And to yourself, your Majesty,” she replied sweetly, glad now that her father had enjoyed trotting her out to engage with the visiting dignitaries. It had given her a whole host of potential conversation topics as well as the ability to feign interest in anyone and anything. Though she was genuinely intrigued by who the na fir ghorma were exactly, and what they wanted.

  My son says that you were travelling on the Staran.

  “Yes,” she replied, glancing quickly at Cam who was sat several places down. Hopefully, he’d come and rescue her from a conversation about something she was clueless on.

  How?

  Well, that wasn’t what she’d expected. Then again, when she’d left the house the other day she hadn’t exactly expected to be kidnapped for a reason that even escaped her kidnappers, or end up at the bottom of the sea with a bunch of blue humanoid fish people claiming to be kelpies. She snorted before catching herself. Here wasn’t the place to be having uncharitable thoughts about her hosts. If they could speak into her mind, then what if they could read it too. She pushed the thought aside. There was no way that she could entertain that, otherwise they’d know what she’d been thinking about Cam and Flint doing to her later. Though maybe Flint and Cam themselves knowing wouldn’t be a bad thing. Maybe they’d whisk her off from here and play out the fantasy in her head instantly.

  “Cam?” she asked, not as quietly as she’d intended. But at least it got his attention. He made his way over and placed his hands on her shoulders, giving her a strength she didn’t know she needed.

  “Yes, Macey?” he returned softly.

  “His Majesty is asking me about the Staran.” She hoped that Cam would be able to answer more. And that the King, if that’s who he truly was, would ask the questions directly to him.

  “How may I help?”

  How do you travel the Staran?

  “It’s something myself and my companion have always been able to do,” Cam said, gesturing to Flint as he did so. “We discovered it quite by accident I’m afraid.”

  That shouldn’t be possible.

  “I believe you’re correct, and yet here we are.” She felt rather than saw him shrug, and lifted one of her hands to place it gently on his, offering him the support that he may or may not need, but that she was there to give regardless.

  Only our people can.

  Was it her, or did the King sound slightly disbelieving? Like he didn’t think they were telling the truth.

  “I find that unlikely, your majesty. There are too many races in the world for you to be the only ones who can travel the Staran, even if you didn’t have proof that’s not the case standing right in front of you. I can assure you that myself and Flint are perfectly capable of travelling through them, and bringing other people with us if we so choose. That’s how Jared and Macey got here, in case you’re wondering.” Cam didn’t sound happy at all, and Macey longed to do more to back him up, but didn’t know how without making matters worse. After all, she knew even less than the King did about the Staran.

  The King’s eyes were even more bulging now and his big mouth was opening and closing rapidly. He was not impressed, not at all.

  The Staran were made for us.

  That peaked her interest. “Who made it for you?”

  The Sìth. We made a bargain with them and in return we got the Staran. We are a people of the sea, yet we need to travel to other places occasionally, faster than we could swim. It’s our lifeline, and now it’s malfunctioning. Are you sure this is not your fault?

  The accusation was clear to see in his face. Macey was glad it wasn’t directed at her - but at the same time, she was angry at her mens’ behalf.

  “How long ago did they build it for you?” she asked, having a slight suspicion. If what she’d heard about the Sìth was correct, this might be a slight disaster. They were the Scottish fae, kin to the Sidhe in Ireland. And mostly, they were trouble.

  Seventy years ago when my grandfather struck the deal with them.

  Cam sighed, having come to the same conclusion as Macey.

  “I’ve been travelling the Staran for centuries. They didn’t build them for you. All they did was give you access to it. You’ve been tricked, your Majesty.”

  The King rose to his feet, roaring his displeasure. For a species not using their mouths to talk, he certainly had a very loud voice. Their vocal chords seemed to be intact.

  Cam squeezed Macey’s hand reassuringly and she frowned. Did he think she was scared of the merman? She’d met a l
ot of scarier creatures, that was for sure. One of them being her Aunt Nessie.

  The thing with scary people is that once she got to know them, she could see behind the façade. Most of them were more scared of themselves than scared of her. All they do is project their own fear to the outside world.

  Father, calm yourself. You’re scaring our guests.

  Muahwa, the crown prince, put a hand on his father’s shoulder and gently made him sit down again. The silence that had fallen quickly became a buzzing noise again as people resumed their conversations and feasting.

  That reminded Macey that she hadn’t even started to eat. With all that Staran conversation, she hadn’t even noticed how one of the servants had put a covered plate in front of her. Well, not a real plate. It was a massive, white scallop containing... algae soup? Perhaps? It was hard to tell from the green slime staring back at her. It looked very alive. And disgusting.

  There were several ways of preparing algae, and this was not one of them. She took her fork and aimlessly stirred the green mass. It squelched.

  This feast was going to be one big disappointment.

  Are your rooms to your liking? Muahwa asked, having taken a seat on his father’s side.

  Macey blushed at the thought of what she’d done there not long ago, but court etiquette had schooled her not to show embarrassment. Instead, she nodded curtly.

  “Thank you very much for your hospitality. I’m assuming we’ll talk about the reason why we’re here after the feast?”

  Yes, we will. Do you not like our sea snail algae mousse?

  Her stomach did a flip. Now she was glad she hadn’t touched the food yet. Sea snail! What barbarians!

  She cleared her throat. “I’m a vegetarian.”

  That was as good an excuse as any.

  What is that?

  Okay, maybe not such a good excuse.

  It was strange how both kelpies and na fir ghorma both lived underwater, but had such different lifestyles. Maybe living in a loch surrounded by human civilisation had made her more aware of the outside world than these people stuck on the bottom of the ocean.