SEX WITH CLAIRE was my favorite activity. But there was something innately beautiful about holding her afterward and watching her sleep in this fully gratified state.
I could feel through the bonds that Exos and Titus shared my opinion. Even Vox and Sol were content, though they were elsewhere at the moment, preparing a surprise for our Claire.
Our little half human adored the holidays, and we wanted to make this year extra special for her. We had an ulterior motive, one we all hoped she would enjoy and accept.
A child.
It’d been a conversation whispered about between the mate-circle, but not fully explored. And we wanted to start the preparations for it now.
Which requires our little queen to be in a favorable mood.
Hence the fuck fest Titus, Exos, and I had just provided.
I met my brother’s sapphire gaze over her shoulder, his expression knowing. Titus was lost between her legs, his head using her thigh as a pillow. But when I looked down, his dark green irises sparked with embers and excitement.
We had a proposal to make.
One we hoped our mate would accept.
Tomorrow, I thought. Tomorrow, we’ll tell her what we have in mind.
And then the trials could begin...
PUMPKINS.
My mates carved pumpkins!
I stared at the display in awe, surprised that Sol had allowed Vox to desecrate one of Earth’s creations in such a manner. The one and only time I’d mentioned Halloween festivities to him, he’d gone into shock before engaging in a rant about humans having no respect for the earth and its finer qualities.
“First, you cut down trees and decorate their corpses in gaudy strands and ornaments for Winter Festivus, or Christmas—whatever the hell it’s called. And now you’re telling me they gut pumpkins and take a knife to the sacred shell? Why in the five sources would anyone do such a thing?”
And that had effectively ended our discussion on Halloween traditions.
But he stood before me now, holding a big orange jack-o’-lantern.
Vox was beside him with a different sort of creation. His carving resembled a bell shape, making me wonder if he’d confused the Christmas ornaments with Halloween traditions. However, I smiled like a loon anyway.
“They’re perfect,” I said, delighted by the festive decorations. I wanted something that would bring all the fae realms together today, and this would surely do it. Because we all shared one thing in common—the Human Realm. So why not borrow from some of their fun traditions to set the tone for agreement?
“We have more to show you,” Vox murmured, his voice holding a husky note that always made me weak in the knees.
My Air Fae just had a way with sound, something I swore he used the winds around us to highlight. He’d grown even more powerful over the years, his ties to me and the source highlighting his former royal connection and strengthening his bonds to our shared ele
ment.
Even now, I could see the power swirling through his long, dark strands. He wasn’t wearing his trademark warrior tail today but instead allowing his hair to brush his strong shoulders.
“Yeah.” Sol cleared his throat. “We, uh, decorated your office, too.”
My eyebrows lifted. “You did?”
They both nodded.
“Want to see?” Vox asked.
“Do we have time?” We were supposed to be heading to the neutral zone in the Human Realm to meet the other fae for the annual Interrealm Fae Council meeting—something that had just been established over the last few years.
Ridiculous, yes.
But some childhood experiences never died.
“Okay, close your eyes,” Vox said as he led me to the door of my office. “No peeking.”
“I don’t peek,” I replied.
“Sure, you don’t,” Sol drawled, his low timbre a caress to my senses. He came up behind me—his large, muscular body the biggest of all my mates—and grabbed my hips. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that time with the blindfold.”