“Right, but you're not human anymore—you're fae. And fae despise clothing that isn't intentionally decorative or provocative. And especially if it hinders whatever activity you folks are up to—which, let's not kid ourselves—usually involves sex.”
“You think you can just say the word sex and I'll fall at your feet in acquiescence or adoration?” I asked as I stood there and blatantly watched him undress, his silver hair catching the beams of moonlight. It shimmered like the stars in the velvet sky above our heads and made my throat feel tight. He really was a beautiful man, Raphael LeRoux. “I bet that happens a lot, doesn't it?”
“Maybe,” he said as he kicked off his motorcycle boots and then slowly opened the button on his leather pants, dragging the zipper down with agonizing intensity. “But that's not what I expect from you. No, I like a little sass in my women.”
“Your women?” I asked with a scoffing laugh.
“I said what I meant,” he continued, pushing his pants down his hips and revealing the full, erect length of his cock. “Now, are you truly going swimming in that getup? Or do you want to get naked? It could take a while to find Papa Cocodril and if the full moon goes down, you'll have to wait a whole other month to find him.”
“You're acting like your dick isn't hard and leaking pre-cum,” I challenged, tearing my white top over my head and revealing my breasts. Rafe's eyes dropped to them immediately and his breath hitched. He glanced away for a moment and cursed under his breath in a strange language I didn't quite recognize.
“I'm not acting like anything. What does it matter if my cock is hard? Your nipples look like rocks and I can smell your arousal from here.”
“What can I say?” I replied coolly, pretending like the idea of him smelling me wasn't at all weird … or sexy. “My Lords’ kisses make me wet.”
I kicked off my own boots and then reached for the button on my pants, just as slowly and teasingly as Rafe had. He watched my every movement, his red eyes gleaming, his tongue flicking across his lower lip.
“Your women,” I said with another snort. “Please. Do you think to make me one of those?”
“You're missing a Lord of Summer,” he told me, like he full-on expected to get the job, and I laughed.
“Only a fae can hold that position,” I told him, “someone born of Faerie. Even if distant in blood, a relative who lived on the other side of the Veil is an unbeatable requirement.”
“I am part fae,” he told me, and I raised both brows as he crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at me, his dick pointing straight at my face. It was just asking to be grabbed in a tight fist. “But once upon a time, I had the Swamp Witch make me an unshakable glamour. Not even you could see through it. It's permanent, can never be shed. But my faerie blood is still in there somewhere.”
“A permanent glamour?” I echoed, searching the Veil Keeper's memories. Mmm. It was a hell of a lot easier to make a strong, beautiful glamour that stayed than one that could be removed at will. But the price was high. Whatever Rafe had paid to the Swamp Witch would've been costly, dangerous, and probably required a serious amount of bloodshed. “Why would you want to hide that side of yourself?” I continued, detecting nothing but truth in any of his words. It seemed that the more someone was truthful to me, the less my powers sung inside, as if it didn't need to alert me until … they weren't.
Then it was like white-hot needles ripping through my soul.
Fortunately, Raphael LeRoux wasn't stupid enough to try to lie to me.
“I couldn't become alpha if I were part fae. Purebloods only. You're the only person that knows my secret now except for Amelie.”
“Is she your mate?” I asked and Rafe grinned with bright white teeth.
“Hardly. We've never even fucked. She's more like … a sister. Why? Are you jealous?”
I shoved my pants down my hips, purposely turned away from Rafe, and then bent over to take them off, knowing that I was flashing the perfect plump shape of my cunt in his direction. Take that, asshole, I thought as I stepped out of them and stood up, flicking my dark hair over my shoulder at the same moment I opened my wings.
They spread wide through the silver moonlight, catching the shimmering beams and radiating with their own inner glow.
Rafe's jaw was clenched so tight, I expected to hear the cracking of teeth.
“Not jealous,” I said as I turned back around, letting the rest of my glamour go. My skin shimmered a pale blue-white color, like I was lit from within, and I knew my eyes could catch and hold the attention of any man—even an alpha. “I just wanted to know if I should set Amelie up with one of the men in The Wild Hunt. Fae make excellent lovers, you know.”
“Yeah, fucking and killing, the two things your people excel at.”
I ignored him—and the my woman comment—as I made my way over to the edge of the water, tilting my head back to take a deep breath of the night air. I hadn't practiced flying yet as my back and shoulder muscles weren't strong enough to hold me, but even if I could have, I wouldn't do it now.
The bayou was too messy, too twisted and tangled to fly through. I'd have to soar above it and even then, I might miss Papa Cocodril
I had to swim.
And Rafe … he'd shift and run beside me.
“Be careful out there,” he growled, his hot breath fanning against my right ear. I hadn't even felt him move, he was that quick. “I'll be watching you from the shadows, but you never know what we might run into.”
He lifted a hand up and hovered it over my arm, moving around me and shifting at the same time, his body melting into a wolf the size of a fucking pony.
His bloodred eyes blinked at me from his moonlight silver wolf form, and I couldn't help myself. My hand reached out and slipped through the fur of his neck, feeling the silken warmth of his pelt against my skin.
A noise rumbled from his throat that sounded almost like a purr, then he was gone, dashing into the cypress in a blur of silver.
My wings stretched and fluttered once more, and I sighed at the glorious feeling of the night air against the sensitive tissue. They weren't practical for swimming though—I’d just wanted to tease the alpha—so I retracted them into my back before diving headfirst into the inky bayou waters.
The Sage had said I would find Papa Cocodril at the apex of the bayou which the guys had explained was a very literal place here on pack land. Apparently, once upon a time, he had lived out here in a small shack, surrounded by nature. He'd run afoul of the Swamp Witch though, and she'd cursed him into gator form until he apologized for whatever indiscretion had triggered such punishment.
He sounded like a stubborn old bastard, because he was still here in gator form, many, many years later.
The apex of the bayou was anywhere along the stretch of water that I swam, and I let my magic guide me. Inside, I could feel all the bright lights of my Wild Hunt, with my three Lords shining the brightest. Past them, I could sense all fae creatures, as I was their Goddess. Their souls were tied to me as sure as the water was wet.