Steal the Sun (28 page)

Dev arched an eyebrow, his voice lazy and uncaring. “The trouble with the Unseelie sent two of them home. I will miss them terribly, of course. They were unique and a pleasure to fuck.”

“I’m sure they were,” I said under my breath, not wanting him to know how it hurt me to think of him with anyone else.

“You look like you’ve been hunting. Did you have an interesting evening, lover?” Dev’s voice held a hard edge.

I noticed the large bed dominating the room. The bed was fit for way more than two, and there were armoires and a dresser. I crossed to the bedroom portion of the room. “It was trying. How about you?”

He sighed. “Oh, the usual. We called the undead to us and my wife lied to my face and ran off into the night, placing our unborn child in the gravest of dangers. All in all, just another day as the husband of Zoey Donovan Quinn.”

So he was going to play the martyr. I would rather he just yelled at me. “I was convinced I was helping you. I didn’t just run off for fun.”

“Deception is always a helpful way to manage a marriage.” He shook his head and crossed his arms over his naked torso. “You’re never going to settle down, are you? You’re never going to be a proper wife and mother. My brother told me. I should have listened.”

“Yes, you married me for my skills as a housewife,” I said bitterly, feeling those damn tears bubbling up again. “I tricked you, Dev. You can’t blame yourself. I presented myself as perfect-wife material.” I stood up and looked down at him, completely ignoring the women who huddled together, their perfect faces turning between me and their priest like they were watching an emotional tennis match. “I have never lied to you. I told you the first night we met what I did for a living and then proceeded to nearly burn your club down when a job went bad. If that wasn’t a hint that I was trouble then I don’t know how I should have let you know. I’ve never hidden who I am or what I wanted, but I have to wonder if you’ve given me the same courtesy.”

His eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”

I shook my head. “It means that if you wanted a proper wife, you should have found someone else. It wasn’t fair for you to marry me and then try to change everything I am.”

I expected him to yell, to scream, to say some truly awful things. It was the way he fought. Instead he turned and snapped his fingers.

“I need help with my bath.” He commanded the women and they obliged him by entering the tub, not bothering to take off their shifts. “Perhaps you are right, Zoey,” he said in an imminently logical voice as he let the women begin to soap his body. “We are from two completely different worlds. It was a mistake. I am trying to change you and you have already changed me into something different. If we separate, we can go our own ways and be the people we were meant to be.”

“How have I changed you?” I asked curiously because I wasn’t afraid of this conversation anymore. He told me all I needed to know with one glance at his body. My incredibly horny, always ready to go at it husband, had eight soft female hands on his body and he wasn’t sporting even the hint of an erection. I didn’t know what he was looking for from me, but I intended to find out and give it to him. He needed me and I wasn’t going to let his stubbornness tear us up. If he wouldn’t listen to reason from Daniel, then I would have to appeal to his other instincts.

He gestured around him as though the answer was evident. “I am used to the attention of many women, Zoey. It has been difficult to remain monogamous.”

I couldn’t help the small smile. “Yes, I can see it’s been boring for you.”

I pulled my tank top off and let it fall. He couldn’t possibly know about my earlier conversation with Herne. I had been reminded that the reason Bris had accepted him was his willingness to remain faithful to his wife. I kicked off my sneakers and unbuckled the sheaths on my thighs, placing the knives on a table by the bed.

“I am used to variety, wife,” Dev said and I noticed he had not once looked at the lithe bodies around him. His gaze was steady on me as I undressed. “I allowed you Daniel but I am held to monogamy, though my nature runs against it.”

I shimmied out of my bra. Why he was lying to me I had no idea, but it didn’t matter. I could win this war and I wouldn’t have to fight. I let my underwear drop to the ground and walked to the spring. Tossing aside the band that held my hair in its ponytail, I let it flow down my shoulders. I knelt down and cupped my hands. Filling them with warm water, I showered my breasts.

He frowned my way. “Do you have to do that here?”

“I’ve been in a bloody fight too, Dev. I hope you don’t mind.” I looked down and now my non-monogamy loving husband was sporting an enormous erection. One of the priestesses tried to run her hand down his chest, and Dev seemed startled at the action. He moved away before remembering the game he was playing.

“I mind, Zoey,” he said, his attention focused solely on me. “I mind that you could have killed our child.”

“And I mind that my child might lose his father. I won’t let you go without a fight. I won’t raise my child that way. If you want someone who will hide in a closet for nine months, then you should start knocking up some of these women.”

He looked at me and practically snarled. “If I was doing my duty, I would impregnate them all.”

“I thought you tried that once.” I lobbed that grenade back his way because he was seriously pissing me off. “It must not have worked out since I don’t see a passel of tiny Devs running around.”

His eyes heated and I knew I’d made a mistake. He wanted to fight. He was practically begging for it. A long slow smile crossed his face, but it held no humor. “You know what they say, lover. If at first you don’t succeed…Besides, now I have Bris and I assure you, if I wish to fill them up, I can do it.”

It was time to tone down the rhetoric. I wasn’t about to engage him. The thought of him doing that could make me crazy, and that was exactly what he wanted. He didn’t mean a word of it. It was time to say things we did mean, and it looked like I got to go first this time. I walked into the water and straight up to him. “I love you, Dev. You recognized that I needed Daniel and I’ll always be grateful for that. If you need these women to make you feel complete then I’ll still love you.”

He gripped my arms, hauling me to his chest, warm water surrounding me. “Are you offering to be one of many, my wife?”

“Declan thinks I make a better mistress than wife anyway,” I said quietly, letting my insecurity show. There was no place for posturing here. “If being a proper and traditional priest is what’s best for you, then we can make it happen. I don’t fit in here. Doesn’t a mistress get her own place somewhere where she won’t insult polite society? I’m not a good wife, Dev. You should have talked to Daniel before you made that mistake.” I let my hands trace his chest. I loved his chest. I loved being pressed against it and feeling the strong beat of his heart. I couldn’t imagine a world without him.

“Fight me.” He shook me slightly, and I knew he was close to breaking.

I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I would much rather make love to you.”

“Damn you,” he cursed me. He looked at the women around him. “You are no longer needed. I meant what I said earlier. I expect you to take other lovers. I’ll no longer be available. I have one goddess, no matter how much I want to strangle her from time to time.”

As the confused women got back out of the spring, Dev pulled at my hair, forcing me to look up at him. “Declan is a fucking idiot, wife, and the next time I see him I’m going to punch him in the face.”

My nipples immediately sprang to attention, my body softening. “I thought you were mad at me.”

“I am.” His hands slid down my sides to rest on my hips. He brought our bodies together, and I felt the long line of his erection pressed against me. “I’m so angry with you I can barely see. Do you understand what you did?”

Couldn’t we just get on to the makeup sex? “I did what I thought was best, Dev. I did what I needed to do to save you.”

“With no thought to what I need, which is to keep you safe.”

That was an easy thing to reply to. “No, I was selfish because I don’t want to live in a world without you in it and I’ll fight with everything I am to keep you here with me and Daniel. I’m scared out of my mind. I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

His eyes grew heavy. “You don’t play fair, Zoey. I want to argue and scream and rage and all I can think about is getting inside you. Know this, my wife. I love you. I don’t want a mistress and I don’t want a proper wife. I want you. Even when you’re a raging bitch, I still want you.” He covered my mouth with his and his tongue demanded entrance. I softened under him and let him plunder. He cupped my ass and pulled me against him, grinding his erection against my pelvis. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to leave you.”

Now I let the tears flow because we’d come to the heart of the matter. Dev always struggled with his real fears. He’d grown up in this court where any fear would be seen as a weakness, so his default state was to posture and fight. He had to realize he was safe with me. I let my hands find his face and looked deeply into those emerald eyes. “I can’t let you go.”

I didn’t care what the
bean si
said. He wasn’t going to die.

“I need you,” he groaned against my skin. “I need you and I need Daniel. I should never have brought us here.”

“I asked you to bring us here, Dev,” Daniel said. He’d been sitting out in the hallway just waiting for a chance to come in. It probably killed him to have to wait. Patience wasn’t Danny’s strong suit. He stood at the edge of the pool, staring down at us.

Dev pulled me close as he looked up at the man he considered his partner. “If you’re worried I blame you for the mess we find ourselves in, I assure you I don’t.”

Daniel’s face turned grave. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. I’ve been blaming myself for hours. I’m the reason we’re here. I need the ties to Faery if I’m going to take over the Council.”

“And I need you to stop blaming yourself. We’re a team. You didn’t order me. I came up with this plan.” Dev lifted me up and suddenly I was sitting on the edge of the tub, my legs dangling in the water. The marble was strangely warm against my naked skin. “I don’t want to think about this anymore tonight. Besides, I’ve decided I know what will kill me. It took me a while, but I figured out where the real danger lies.”

Daniel’s whole body tightened as though preparing to act against whatever threat Dev pointed out. “What is it, Dev?”

“Our wife is going to give me a heart attack,” Dev said with a wry smile.

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Asshole. This is serious.”

Dev arranged my legs, completely invested in his task. He pulled me this way and that until he was satisfied. His finishing touch was to pull my hair forward so it just touched the tops of my breasts.

“Stay that way,” he demanded, taking a step back and admiring his work. I was completely spread and open to his gaze. It wasn’t terribly uncomfortable, and I got the feeling I was in for a couple of hours of Dev’s demands. I’d put him through hell and he would want some payback, which usually meant sexual servitude.

Sometimes I misbehaved just to get him in this mood. I wasn’t about to fight him because I got the feeling we could all stand to blow off some steam.

Dev continued staring at me while talking to Danny. “I’m serious, Daniel. I’ll expire one of these days because Zoey will finally have pushed my poor heart to its brink.” He glanced up at Daniel. “Are you going to stand there or are you planning on helping me torture our wayward wife?”

Danny was out of his clothes in record time. “I wasn’t able to get my torture on this morning, so I’m up for it. Literally,” he said, unselfconsciously pointing out his glorious erection.

Dev looked slightly horrified as he caught a glimpse of our vampire. “You’re covered in gore and bits of dead people.”

“Well, he…” I started.

“Hush, woman.” Dev immediately shut me down. “How can I objectify you if you keep talking?”

Danny’s hands were on his hips as he frowned down at Dev. “I’m sorry I’m offensive. I killed like a thousand zombies. It’s not exactly the neatest of professions. I didn’t stop to take a shower.”

“Get in here and clean up. Stand in the stream side though so it can take the filth away,” Dev told him, handing him a jar of something I was sure would smell good.

Daniel stepped into the water, careful to move to the part where the stream ran the swiftest. I sighed as he started to spread the soap across his chest and down his six-pack. He looked at Dev, obviously more amused than irritated. “You’re the bossiest person I’ve ever slept with.”

“Well, that’s not saying much, Daniel.” Dev turned slightly, and I didn’t miss the way he took in Daniel. “Everyone you have ever shared a bed with is currently in this room. Perhaps I’m normal. You won’t ever know.”

Dev went back to staring at his favorite piece of female anatomy as Daniel sank into the water to wash the soap from his hair.

He surfaced, slicking his hair back with big hands that I was pretty sure would be roaming all over my body soon. “Are you the one who got her to wax?”

“Yes,” Dev acknowledged. “I like to be able to see my sweet little pussy when I fuck it.”

“I begged her to shave and she kept putting it off,” Daniel complained.

Dev shook his head. “That’s because you were asking, Daniel. Zoey prefers to be told what to do when it comes to sex.”

“Hey,” I started because I didn’t like the way that sounded. Even though it was probably true. Mostly true. Mostly always.

“Shhh,” Dev shot back and he walked up to me. I was seated above him, putting him in the perfect position to play with me. He stepped between my legs, letting his mouth linger over my pussy, his breath a warm temptation. “For the next several hours, you will speak only when spoken to. And I think I would like to be referred to as sir.” He dropped a far too light for my liking kiss on my clitoris. “How about you, Daniel?”

Daniel sent me a heated look. “I think that sounds like an excellent idea. I’ve had a shitty night. I think some submission from our wife might help turn it around. I do have a couple of questions for her, though.”