Their Mating Illusion [Paranormal Protection Unit 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (16 page)

“Had I known that he would have done that, I would have warned you as well,” she whispered. “Because this really and truly sucks. No one should die the way that he did, no one,” she murmured. “And a sister should never see her brother die as he did. No, we were nowhere near close at all, but that’s besides the point. No one should pass like that.”

“Agreed,” Talon said and sighed. He was a Dragon. He knew just what fire did to the human body and how damaging it really could be. “You saved the Council. All the members are extremely grateful and will likely be calling to pass their own thanks along in their own way. Kat did ask that you two pop by her place when you have a moment. She has a place for you two to stay if you wanted to stick around for the night. But mainly I think she just needs to be here and gush and likely sob and so forth.”

“He was so surprised that the Ear of Truth was there,” Maya whispered. “He had tried to lie and by doing so that sealed his fate more than anything else he could have done. He was seriously, seriously crazy for lying at all.” She sighed. “I’m totally fine with going to visit The Fae Queen and her bond-mates if you are?” she asked Quincy.

Shrugging, he smiled. “Kat’s all right, Trey’s a little off his rocker, but the bears are good eggs as long as they don’t get into a pissing match with one another. Then it just goes downhill.” He chuckled as he stood up. “Tell the other Council peeps that they can keep their thanks. I mostly did it to save my bond-mate.”
I’d do anything for her, absolutely anything.

And I would do anything for you as well, Q. Absolutely anything at all,
Maya told him in her mind as well. “All right then, we will go and we will meet with the Fae Queen. Hopefully I will start to feel more together soon.” She still felt out of sorts, like she was missing something, and that bothered her, a lot. Maya didn’t typically “miss” anything.

Grinning at her, Quincy stood and pulled her in close to him. “Anything else, Bulldog, or can we bolt for awhile?” he asked.

“Just one thing.” He turned his computer screen around. “It keeps yelling at me and I don’t know why.”

Staring at the pop-up warnings, Quincy broke out in a sweat. “By the Gods, what the hell did you do!” He let Maya go and moved in closer, shooing Talon off. “Jesus H. Talon, you practically fried the bloody things. What the hell did you do!”

“I honestly have no clue. I was working on my reports, something popped up, and I ignored it. Something else popped up a minute later and, completely through no fault of my own, I may have clicked on it,” he said, glowering right back when Quincy shot him a lethal look. “It was in my way and I was already clicking. Those fucking things are supposed to stay in their little corner and I stay in mine. They should not be invading my work space, damn it.”

“You shouldn’t be getting fucking pop-ups anyway,” Quincy muttered, sitting down to run a diagnostic and see what the fuck was going on. “What have you been doing on this thing, Bulldog, and don’t lie. I will find out.”

“I was doing some mapping searches for a few upcoming missions, as I always do,” Talon growled at him.

“This is not from map searches,” Quincy grumbled and then started talking to himself as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Tipping his head, Talon walked out into the hall and waited for Maya to join him. Easing the door shut a little, he kept an eye on Quincy, who looked fit to be tied. “How are you really doing?” he asked softly. He knew she was still shaken, had to be, given the look in her eyes every now and again when she thought no one was looking.

“I’m…” She took a breath. “No, my brother and I never, ever really were close at all. He hated me and that was fine, because after I figured out what he did to our father, I hated him, but no one should ever die like that,” she admitted. “He brought it on himself. I know that, but it was tough to be there. I also hate, really and truly hate, that Q had to toss up that shield. He feels so very guilty but shouldn’t because it’s not his fault.”

“No, it’s not his fault. He saved a lot of lives,” Talon commented softly as he watched her. “But you shouldn’t feel guilty, either, Maya. You helped save those same lives by giving him that warning,” he pointed out. “Michael was blood, your blood, so being upset, angry, and sad are all more than acceptable feelings, little one. Just don’t let it poison what you and Q have together.” He smiled at her and tipped his head at the language coming from his office. Chuckling, he leaned in. “He should get what I did fixed in a few more minutes, but you may want to wait out here. He’s got a nasty vocabulary when electronics don’t play by his rules.”

Maya frowned. “You ensured that you and I would have some alone time while Q was busy trying to fix some of his babies, didn’t you?” She smiled and shook her head. “You are a dangerous man, Talon, not just because of your size and the fact that you are a Dragon, but because you can scheme and connive better than any being that I’ve ever met before. Get people to do what you want them to do without them realizing that you are driving the train, so to speak.”

“Moi? Connive?” he looked hurt for all of two seconds. “Never,” Talon grinned. “Doesn’t take much to upset his perfect little balance, really. But it worked and I got to talk to you for a moment. That’s all that matters,” he said softly.

“I put a patch on it for the moment,” Quincy said as he came out and then stopped. Narrowing his eyes, he growled. “You are a pain in my ass,” he muttered, taking Maya’s hand. “Next time just ask to talk to her in private instead of giving me more ulcers, damn it.”

Maya laughed. “See, I told you that it wouldn’t take him too long until he was able to figure this out,” she told him with a smile. “Trust me, my Quincy is a very, very bright man and he’s absolutely right. Next time just ask me, Talon, please? I really and truly don’t mind talking to you, so if you want to talk to me, then you need to talk to me.”

“Yeah, but it’s so much easier talking to you without big ears over here trying to eavesdrop.” Talon grinned at them both. “And if he’s working out a crisis he really doesn’t pay much attention to anything else. Besides, it’s fun to make him jump through hoops now and again.”

That had Maya laughing and she nodded. “He does tend to get very, very focused when he’s working on his electronic babies, huh?” she teased with a smile. “Imagine how he will be if and when we ever have babies. Do you think that he will be just as obsessive about any babies that we have?”

“Likely even worse than any of the changers,” Talon said and laughed at Quincy’s look. “It’s true, Q. You are rather possessive and protective of your computers and all that goes into them. I can actually see you with a baby of your own. I somehow doubt most of us will ever get to meet them before their thirtieth birthday.”

Maya laughed and shook her head. “Well I will make sure that you at least get to meet our babies before that time. I want any children that we might be blessed with able to know each and every single one of the men in the Teams and such. I really adore most of them,” she told him honestly. “So Quincy will just have to get over it,” she teased.

“Quincy will not have to get over nothing,” Quincy muttered, pulling her close to him and squeezing her tight. “Maya will just have to see things my way and accept it,”

“And on that note.” Talon grinned. “Get out of here. Q, I sent you a bunch of stuff you can check out from home, so go and start working on those Team nieces and nephews.”

Maya smiled up at Quincy and nodded. “I really, really love that idea. I adore the idea of practicing for those babies,” she admitted without hesitation. “Come on, Q, let’s you and I go home. Open a slipstream for us to slide through?”

Grunting, he shot Talon a nasty look and opened up the slipstream. Stepping through with her, he let them out into their foyer. Looking to her, he lifted a brow. “So you going to tell me what that rat wanted to talk to you about without me listening in?”

“Just telling me that I shouldn’t feel guilty about Michael and what he did as well,” she told him honestly. “And I know that I shouldn’t but I still can’t help but feel crappy about it all. I know that it’s really and truly karmic justice served but I can’t help but to feel like crap about it.”

Tipping his head, he tugged her along to the living room and sat, pulling her down onto his knee. “Why are you feeling so upset, love?” he asked quietly. Stroking her back lightly, he watched her and waited for her to tell him.

“Because you had to do what you did,” she admitted. “Because I couldn’t and didn’t speak up to try to stop him but instead allowed things to play out as they had and in return he died a horrible, horrible death.”

“One neither of us expected, love,” he said quietly. “I did what I had to do to protect you, Maya. The others in the Council Room just got lucky because I was feeling generous. He died how he did because of what he had planned. He was lying, scamming, and got caught red-handed, love. He would have been punished one way or another and he just sealed his fate by attacking the Council.”

“This is very true.” Maya knew the truth for what it was. “I love you, Q. Thank you for being mine, for loving me no matter what, and for understanding that I need you in my life, sweetheart. Thank you for keeping me, even when I seemed to be more trouble than I was worth.”

“You are not any trouble, darling,” he told her honestly. Pulling her in closer to him, he adjusted her so she was nice and close. Brushing a kiss to her lips, he smiled. “You are absolutely perfect, my darling. I am truly the blessed one. I have the most amazing and greatest mate ever.”

“I’m glad that you think so, darling, because this is the best thing, you are the best thing that has ever, ever happened to me. I love you, Quincy, and together you and I are going to make changes in the Magic world.” Well, he would. She would simply stand at his side and be there for him should he need her.

“You will, too, darling,” he said quietly with a smile. “I need someone there to smack me when I’m getting all off my rocker with power.” Hopefully that day never came, but if it did he knew she’d beat him silly until he saw reason. His little mate would keep him toeing the line properly.

“Don’t you worry, love, I will keep you right and properly grounded in the today world. I will ensure that you always know that I will be right here to ensure that you don’t do anything whacky or crazy.” Maya loved him too much to let him do anything that might give him any type of trouble or anything like that.

“I know you will, darling,” he whispered softly. Hugging her in tight, he kissed her gently. “I love you Maya,” he murmured with a smile. “Never change, darling. You are perfect and amazing as you are. But if you feel the need to become even more perfect and amazing, go for it. Nothing else though.”

Maya snorted in laughter. “Yeah, I never see that happening but should I decide to try for saintly, darling, I will let you know,” she told him with a wink. “Love you, babe. I really do.” Giving him another squeeze and wink, she then asked, “All right, so we are home. Now what do we do?”

“First we eat and then we go and get naked.” He smiled slowly. “And really, it’s dealers choice on which comes first. Naked then food, food then naked, makes no never mind to me.” Shrugging out of his jacket, he hung it up. “But first for me, I need to go put everything away in the vault.” Yeah, he was all badass Royal magic guy now but he still felt better armed to the teeth.

“You put your things away, darling, and while you are doing that I’m going to get myself naked, and before you come out I suggest that you get naked as well, darling. I need you, you need me, and we both need food so it only makes sense to get naked now.”

Pasting on a shocked look, he blinked at her in faux horror. “Nekkid, around the food?” He gasped and chuckled. “I will ensure I’m stripped down for full inspection, darling,” he promised. Well, except his dog tags. Those he would likely leave on. She did seem to like using them to yank him around.

“Good,” she said with a grin. “I need you, darling, naked. I happen to really, really love it when we are both naked together,” she assured him happily. “Oh, leave your dog tags on though, please. I love, love, love to be able to tug those.”

“Trust me, darling, I know.” He grinned and headed for his office with a chuckle. Like a ring through a bull’s nose, she used them to steer him about and he willingly went. Yup, when they said a bond-mate had you by the nuts, they weren’t kidding, and he’d have it no other way.

“Just as you love to grab my hair and tug me exactly where you want and need me,” she told him happily.

Not very polite of him obviously and quite frankly, he hadn’t realized he did that! “Really?” he asked her curiously. “I’m sorry, love. I haven’t hurt you, have I?” he asked, worried. He was pretty sure that she’d tell him right off if he had but…
damn it!
He was doubting himself with her again. Why couldn’t he just get past that?

“Oh god no, you didn’t hurt me!” she assured him. “Honey, do you know how much I love it? I totally get so very excited when you do that. I swear it makes me come harder and harder each and every single time.” Which was the Gods’ honest truth. When he tugged and pulled at her hair, it was like he was stroking and pulling at her nipples or clit. She came each and every single time.

“You would tell me if I hurt you, right?” he asked her softly. He wasn’t a changer so he didn’t have that naturally inherent boosted strength. But as a Warlock he could draw magically and have more strength than even changers. He could hurt her really badly without even realizing it.

“If you hurt me I would tell you. No questions, no hesitations. I would always tell you, darling, if you hurt me,” she assured him. “Just as I would hope that you would tell me if I were to hurt you, too, right? I’m not a weakling and the fact that I can pull magic as well”—she shrugged and looked at him—“I need you to be sure to tell me if I hurt you.”

“You would definitely hear me squawking like a wounded beastie if you hurt me,” he said with a grin. “Trust me. I’m a complete wuss when it comes to pain. Last time I stubbed my toe, I had to have crutches for almost a month because the agony was so great. Always throbbing and aching and if you looked at it, it hurt even more. It was horrendous.” That he’d “stubbed” it when Aiden dropped the weights on his toe was beside the point. It had hurt!