Missing the Night Read online

  Orvis smiled. “When do you pick Stovos up at the airport?”

  “I collect his luggage in twenty minutes.” Reese smiled. “Did you miss him?”

  She sighed. “I was crawling around the bed in my sleep looking for him. That passport can’t come soon enough.”

  “Well, enjoy your first faere.” He smiled and closed the door, driving off.

  Nessa linked arms with her, and they walked to the entryway. There was a troll with a clipboard, and he looked at them with a polite leer. “Ladies, are you on the list?”

  Nessa grinned. “Nessa Twilight, daughter of Cian, wife of Hector and Tynan.”

  The troll stood straight. “Yes, ma’am. Who is your friend?”

  Orvis winced. “Atolica Orvis, harpy and fiancée of Stovos Twilight.”

  He looked at her and stared before he burst out laughing. “A harpy? Here? Yeah, right.”

  Nessa said, “Check your little list.”

  He looked down and said, “Not on the... oh. There you are. Fiancée of the king of the dark court. Please, accept my apologies; you don’t look like a harpy.”

  Nessa grinned. “Just wait.”

  They passed through the gate and checked their cloaks. Nessa’s outfit was a symphony of blue and red with a black undertone that matched her hair. She looked delicate and vulnerable—a true lady in distress, which meant that they were into some kinky roleplay for the evening.

  “Orvis, holy shit.” Nessa stared.

  Orvis released her wings through the gap in the back of the outfit, and she groaned in relief. “Oh, that feels better. Do you mind if I take a lap and see where the guys are?”

  “I would rather that you stayed with me. We are drawing a little bit of attention, and I don’t want to snack on anyone.”

  Orvis linked arms with her, and they walked through the party. There were plenty of different species there, but all of them stared at Orvis and her companion.

  Orvis’s phone went off, and she pulled it out to see that she had just been notified that the boss’s plane had landed. She smiled, and she knew it was a silly smile. She slid the phone back into its case.

  “Stovos is coming?” Nessa smiled.

  “He is. His plane just landed.”

  “Aw, miss. If you are waiting for someone, I can be your someone.” A drunk light elf staggered toward her.

  It wasn’t until he lunged for her that she jumped back and then kicked him in the midsection. “I don’t want you.”

  He let out an “Oof” and landed on his butt.

  She muttered to Nessa. “Being next to me might not be a great idea right now.”

  Nessa nodded. “I am going to get the guys.”

  Orvis didn’t know the customs of all the species she was surrounded by, but she knew a giant when she saw it. The man was seven and a half feet tall and thudding toward her. She flapped her wings and shot upward to the stunned shock of the men below her.

  She saw Nessa on the way, swooped down, and snagged her, carrying her to the arena that had been set up. Hector and Tynan were easy to spot, and she whistled sharply as she flew toward them, dropping Nessa into their arms. She took up a safe spot on the upper level of the arena against a flagpole, and when she looked up, she snorted at the flag. The design was embossed on everything at the manor. It was the flag of the dark court.

  Hector looked up at her, where she was perched on the upper railing. He pointed upward, and she saw the two gargoyles that were leering at her.

  “Oh, so a little soft thing that can fly. That is new. Isn’t it?”

  She shifted her wings to razors and prepared to move. When they came down, she fell off the back of the arena and began a low-level flight through the crowd. She was ten feet above the crowd, but the gargoyles couldn’t maintain the height. They were too heavy.

  Orvis did a lap of the faere, and then, she flew back toward the arena, and Tynan held his arm up. She swooped up to him, went up, dropped her wings, and landed on the ground, moving behind him.

  The gargoyles walked toward them. “Give us our playmate or meet us in the arena.”

  Tynan grinned. “The arena it is then.”

  Once over her initial shock, Orvis asked, “Wait, am I allowed to hit them?”

  Tynan nodded. “Full contact in the arena.”

  “Great. I will do it myself. Sorry. I am just suffering a bit of culture shock.” She reached into her small pouch and brought out her staff. She activated her wings again and nodded. “Come on. I do better when I know the rules.”

  Tynan came up, and he whispered instructions to her. She nodded and walked up to the organizer. “I have a grievance with the gargoyles.”

  There was a clearing of throats, and the giant and elf were standing there. Orvis nodded. “And those two. They have disrespected my link to my fiancé and my clear rejection of their interest.”

  “You wish to take them on together?” The organizer raised his brows.

  “It would be the most expeditious. I don’t have all day. This is my first faere.”

  “And you want to start it like this?” He laughed.

  “They started it. I just want to finish this and get it out of the way.”

  “I will act as her second.” The familiar voice made her turn with a grin.

  “Hey, Boss. Nice flight?” She looked over the leather that melded in with his skin. “Nice outfit. It really highlights the important stuff.”

  He grinned and grabbed her, lifting her to kiss him. They had been apart for sixty-three hours, and she had felt every second. He held her hips to his and obviously felt the same. She inhaled and broke the kiss. “Nope. I want to fight now.”

  His eyes were blind with lust, and she flicked him between the eyebrows with her fingers. He blinked and came back to himself. He asked her calmly. “Yes?”

  “I would like to fight. You need to put me down.”

  He grinned. “You take the fliers. I will take the other two.”

  “Fine, but if they are still up when I finish with the gargoyles, I am going to drop them.”

  He kissed her sweetly. “Understood.”

  They turned to the organizer, who stared at him. “Your Majesty, this is your...”

  “Fiancée. Yes.” He kept his arm easily under her steel wings. “I had hoped to be here to introduce her to the faerie community at large, but I was delayed. It is disappointing to arrive to her being hunted, but now that she knows about the combat challenge, she might begin enjoying herself.”

  The organizer nodded. “Right. Honour challenge has been issued. All combatants to the arena floor.”

  The men who had eagerly accepted her challenge walked or flew to their doom.

  Inside the arena, the honour challenge was read out, and when the gong sounded, she extended her staff and took to the skies after the fleeing gargoyles. She fouled the first one’s wings with her staff, then dealt him a sharp blow to the back of the head. The other one was faster, but since he was confined to the arena until the challenge was over, he dove. She watched his trajectory, moved to meet it, and folded her wings in, dropping faster than he was. She struck him between the shoulder blades with her sandalled foot. She let her weight drive him into the sand of the arena, and she stepped off him daintily before walking back to where Stovos was standing with his fist clenched. The groaning bodies on the ground indicated his restraint.

  She sighed. “Left nothing for me? Greedy.”

  She dismissed her wings, and he caught her against him. “Did I mention I am glad to be home?”

  She chuckled. “A little. It was body language, but I figured it out.”

  The organizer was a little stunned, but he said, “Does anyone else have a grievance against Atolica Orvis?”

  The ranks of observers and fighters were silent.

  “The honour challenge of Atolica Orvis is closed. She is untouchable for the remainder of the faere.”

  She shrank the staff and
put it back in her tiny purse.

  The boss looked down at the small pouch. “What else do you have in there?”

  “Your soul. Don’t worry, I polish it regularly.” She smiled.

  They left the arena floor, and Nessa gave her a high five. “I want to be just like you when I grow up.”

  Tynan blinked and said, “Orvis, how old are you anyway?”

  “Twenty-eight.”

  Hector and Tynan were shocked, but Stovos just smiled with quirked lips.

  Hector looked at his father. “You knew?”

  “Of course, I did. I hired her and used her personnel file as bedtime reading. Do excuse us; I have to properly greet my fiancée after our separation.”

  Orvis laughed as he stepped with her into the shadows.

  * * * *

  Nessa blinked. “Geez, I thought we were gropey and horny. They make me feel old by comparison. Was he like that with your mom, Hector?”

  “Definitely not. With my mother, he was gentle and sweet but very caring. With Orvis, he is letting out all the impulses that he has been sitting on for centuries, and it appears that she can take it.” Hector’s eyes were delighted.

  Tynan blinked. “Why are you so happy about it?”

  Hector mimicked Nessa’s words. “I want to be just like him when I grow up. His concern over the outside world is dwindling by the moment, and he is willing to embrace that it looks like a later-life crisis in humans. Orvis seems content to go along with it, and I honestly think she doesn’t care either.”

  He wrapped an arm around Nessa’s waist and kissed her deeply before doing the same to Tynan.

  Nessa giggled and wrapped her arms around her mates. “I think there is a certain amount of not caring that we have to engage in. Humans will have certain attitudes toward our union, and I think that developing a perception spell will help things along unless you are willing to share a body like Kelnen. I would share a body, but it would get weird... wouldn’t it?”

  Tynan smiled. “I am willing to share myself with you completely.”

  Hector looked at her. “Being inside your mind would be fascinating.”

  Tynan grinned and gripped her hips. “And how would you feel to be thrusting into either of us?”

  Nessa shivered. “So this is a thing?”

  Hector nodded with a grin. “It’s a thing.”

  She thought about being on the receiving end and imagined what being on the driving end was like. “Good. I am a huge fan of equality.”

  They said in unison, “We know.”

  * * * *

  They were wrapped in shadows, but he pinned her to the wall and grunted as he drove into her. The top of her dress had mysteriously slid down, and he used his tongue on her breasts as he held her with one hand, holding her thigh and the other pinning her hands to the rough wood behind her.

  She grunted with him, and when release roared through her, she opened her mouth, and he captured her voice.

  He shouted against her lips and held his hips to her while his cock pulse inside her. When their kiss began again with soft, warm tongues and gentle teasing, he leaned back. “I really missed you.”

  “How can sixty-three hours feel like an eternity?”

  He smiled. “At my age, eternity is easier. Where is your passport?”

  “It’s in the mail, and I am tracking it. I should have it by Thursday at the latest.”

  He nodded, “Excellent. Then, you can clear my schedule, and we can plan two months away, travelling.”

  “Sure. I get to plan. Do you at least have destinations and contacts?”

  “I will do that portion of it. There are several clans, guilds, and communities that find the thought of a harpy fascinating. None of them have winged women.”

  “Oh. You are taking me around as a freak. Fun.” She smiled. “What are the odds of private time while we travel? I want to defile a few buildings while we are out there.”

  “Why do you refer to it as defiling?”

  She giggled. “You have no idea how much cum is dripping onto your boots, do you? If it wasn’t for mage fire, we would have left DNA in every place we have been in.”

  “I must thank Tynan for that spell.” He smiled.

  She felt herself flutter around him, and he groaned.

  She looked down at him and said, “Are you waiting for me to ask to get down?”

  He grinned. “Yes.”

  “Well, this is my first faere, and I am spending it in the shadows with you, so I am fine.”

  “You fight dirty.” He withdrew from her, slowly lowered her to the ground, and helped her right her dress. “I will have to send my compliments to Cale.”

  “You can tell him yourself. His quad is going to be here tonight.” She smiled. “I can take a circuit around the area and see if I can spot them.”

  “No, I would like you at my side. You have exhausted my old bones.”

  “Yeah, your bone was fine and ready for a second or was it a third round?”

  He smiled, and mage fire tidied them up before he tucked himself back into the leather trousers.

  “I do love you in black leather.”

  “I love you wrapped like a bondage-related present.” He offered her his arm as he let the shadows fall away. She looked and saw the gouges her nails had made in the wall, and she chuckled.

  “What is it, dearest?”

  “I was just remembering all the times I have clawed you, and you didn’t say a word.”

  They walked past kiosks and food stalls. “Ah, I have thick skin, and I rather enjoy the threat of danger that your nails provide.”

  “Huh. Learn something new every day. So, the days you take me face down?”

  “You have come very close to getting through.”

  She laughed. “You should have said something. I would have been more delicate with you.”

  He smiled. “Don’t you dare.”

  They laughed and noticed that they were getting a lot of astonished looks from folk of the faerie realms and some that were involved with them. “Why are they staring? I know it isn’t just me.”

  “I have not smiled much in the past. It is a recent event.”

  He had always had a twinkle in his eyes around her, so she asked, “How recent?”

  “Five years, six months, two weeks, and three days.” He kissed her hand. “Do you want the hours?”

  “No. I am good. It seems that the Twilight men have patience.”

  “It is one of our annoying traits, but if Hector hadn’t waited for Nessa, you wouldn’t be here, so I owe my son and my daughter-in-law.”

  “What about Tynan?”

  “He is in my will for the mage fire alone.” He slid a hand into the back of her dress.

  They watched a belly dance demonstration with a snake, and he whispered, “I don’t suppose you can dance like that.”

  She shook her head and sighed. “I am afraid not.”

  He looked resigned.

  “I don’t have a snake or a belt covered with beads or coins.”

  His eyes gleamed. “If that is all that is stopping you, it can be remedied.”

  To her amusement, there was a kiosk nearby with veils and belts. She got some items in black and silver.

  Stovos began a query of, “Can we go home yet?” every half hour.

  After dinner with Sallen’s quad and having Cale’s design skills admired by his wife, Orvis looked at Stovos. “I thought you had patience.”

  “That was before you promised me a treat.” He prodded at the bag she had.

  Cale had an amazed grin on his face. “I have never seen you like this, Stovos. Pardon, Your Majesty.”

  Sallen smiled. “What do you call him, Orvis?”

  “Boss. The first day we met, he told me to address him as Mr. Twilight, so I said, yes, Boss, and it stuck. He answers to it, so I only change it formally when I have to.”

  Acker chuckled. “And you wai
ted five years to make your move? That is patience.”

  Boss pulled her onto his lap and wrapped an arm around her hips. “I have been getting more aggressive as I aged, and I was afraid she was a weak little mage who couldn’t enjoy what I had to offer. Then, as I was checking up on Nessa and her friends before the wedding, I saw this lovely silvery creature with an enormous rack, and I had to investigate. She opened her eyes—”

  “After he started moving my robe around to check out my boobs.”

  He chuckled. “And when I saw the irritated expression and golden-brown eyes, I saw the features that I have been longing to touch for so long, we moved elsewhere for a discussion.”

  Sallen laughed. “So that is what you are calling it. Orvis, did he let you go?”

  “Yeah.”

  “After she was persuaded to agree to one last kiss that convinced her to consider me.”

  Orvis groaned. “Don’t you dare.”

  Thomas smiled. “Was the kiss that convincing?”

  Sallen sighed, “Did it curl your toes?”

  Acker and Cale were already laughing.

  “Her toes were pressed to my shoulders, and yes, they did curl.”

  Sallen’s mouth opened and closed with a snap before she laughed.

  Orvis muttered, “It took forever to get back to sleep.”

  “And the next day, I abducted her from the wedding once her part of the organizing was done. It was in bad taste. The triad was still on the dance floor.”

  Orvis sighed. “And he hasn’t let me get away yet.” His arms tightened around her. She grinned. “I am playing the long game.”

  Cale smiled. “How long?”

  “Four hundred years or so, and I should have a decent plan. Then, I will just need the chance to enact it.”

  She felt his lips next to her ear. “I will be ready.”

  She smiled. “I am counting on it. So, Sallen, when you are ready to have kids, what do you want to have?”

  Sallen laughed. “Babies, but I don’t want to choose who goes first or leave anyone out.”

  “Talk to Nessa. That sort of logistics is her speciality. Oh, and Thomas, how packed is your schedule for the next two years?”

  Sallen smiled. “I already have. Everything is arranged.”