The Pixie Prince (8 page)

Max smacked her naked bottom with the flat of his palm then stroked her buttocks as he nuzzled her neck. “I know you vampires are immortal up to a point, but the fae are different. We can choose to let go of our immortal lives and move to the next realm. My father decided to go to the Afterworld a month ago, about a week before I met you.”

Bliss pulled back, her eyes narrowed as she gazed at him suspiciously. “He decided to die? Isn’t that rather weird? Who just up and decides to kick the bucket?”

Max sighed and rolled his eyes a little. “My dad has a melodramatic streak. But that’s not what’s important. What’s important is the Faeworld legend about the Pixie Prince.”

“You’re a legend?” Bliss blinked at him in mock awe. “This I gotta hear.”

This time Max pinched her buttock and she squirmed against him, her naked breasts pushing into the wall of his chest. Max liked how it felt so he pinched her again before continuing his story. “When the Pixie Prince inherits, if he is not mated, he soon will be. The legend came about because something happens when the Prince inherits. His entire body chemistry changes. Suddenly, everything is bigger, brighter, louder. He becomes more sensitive to everything as his powerbase triples. Along with those heightened senses comes a growing need to find his mate. Basically, he just gets hornier and hornier until he can’t take it anymore.”

Bliss gasped at Max’s words, and this time it wasn’t playacting. Her eyes met his worriedly. “How does this legend affect us, Max?” she asked cautiously.

He made a face. “It doesn’t really. First, let me explain the sensitivity thing, then I’ll get into the legend.” She nodded and he drew a deep breath. “In the Faeworld, I didn’t notice the sensitivity. As soon as I returned to the Darkworld, I did. I had to put on sunglasses. I couldn’t sleep in my bed. Stuff like that. I was bruised from head to foot from the mattress I’d been sleeping on for a year.”

“Like the Princess and the Pea,” she said with a nod.

He chuckled. “Very like that. Supposedly, it’s a royalty thing just like the fairytale. I just think it’s part and parcel of this whole sensitivity issue. After all, I’m a pixie, not a fucking fairy.” He snorted in disgust. “Anyway, my royal ass couldn’t handle the old mattress so I had to find a new one. But there was also another reason I needed a new mattress.”

Max got up from the bed, and he felt her gaze stroke over his body with frank appreciation. “When my father died, the moment I set foot in the Faeworld, I felt hornier than usual which was just the legend in action. The whole getting hornier as each week went by wasn’t too bad, because here in the Darkworld, I barely noticed the urges. They were much stronger behind the Veil of the Jewel Box,” he explained. “However, something went along with the inheritance that I hadn’t thought of.”

“What was that?” Bliss asked sitting up.

Max’s eyes gleamed as he took in her gorgeous nakedness. Then he turned his back on her. “This.” With a flash of golden light, huge golden gossamer wings spouted from Max’s back.

Bliss gasped, her eyes growing wide with wonder. The wings fluttered and shimmered in the candlelight. “My goddess! It’s like they’re alive!”

Max turned around, his expression annoyed. “They are. They’re part of my body now. And they fucking annoy the hell out of me. I have to keep them hidden. I mean, c’mon! Who wants an underwear model with huge ass golden wings?”

Bliss chuckled. “I think they’re kinda sexy. Can we have sex while they’re out?”

“No!” Max exclaimed, horrified. “You don’t know what they do when they’re out!”

“Oh, Max,” she smiled up at him soothingly. “How bad can they be?”

He frowned at her. “Bad. If they’re out, the more aroused I get, the more they glow.”

“Glow?” Bliss looked at him with a confused frown.

With a sigh, Max demonstrated the wings. He leaned over and kissed her. As soon as his lips touched hers, the wings began to glow, filling the room with a bright golden light. He pulled away. “See what I mean? And in the Faeworld, they were more annoying because the hornier I got, the more they glowed. Alexa teased me unmercifully about the ‘big golden wings’ of the legend.”

“It’s not that bad, Max.” Bliss gestured toward the glowing wings. “If you don’t like them just put them away.”

Instantly, the wings disappeared and Max returned to the bed, taking her in his arms. “Yeah, well, that’s the other issue with sleeping. You can’t see them, but I can feel them there, folded on my back, so the mattress has to be extra, extra soft.”

“It all makes perfect sense now,” Bliss said. “Although I have to see the bruise thing for myself. The Prince and the Pea is just too amusing.”

“It hurts,” he whined. “There’s nothing funny about it.”

“Okay, okay. Is that all you had to tell me?” she asked.

“No, but I don’t feel like getting into Alexa and your brother tonight. Alexa is perfectly fine with us, anyway. It’s your brother who doesn’t want you mated,” Max grumbled.

“He never said a word, Max,” Bliss protested.

Max eyed her with a stubborn expression. “Still, he doesn’t like me, and he doesn’t like the situation. I don’t know why everyone thinks he and Alexa are alike. They are not alike at all. She still wants to live. Your brother wants to die. He’s just too chicken shit to actually kill himself.”

Bliss gasped in shock at his words. However, when Max stared at her, his eyes daring her to refute his words, she backed down. He didn’t like being pushy with her, but neither of them could deny the truth. Olivier did want to die, and the whole world knew it. She let out a long disappointed sigh. “I wish Marty had figured out how to make his matchmaking work,” she pouted.

“What matchmaking?”

Max’s eyes held hers as he waited for her to tell him what she meant. After a moment, she explained. “Marty and I thought maybe Alexa and Olivier belonged together because of what happened to them. Marty wanted to arrange for them to bump into each other to see if sparks flew.”

Max gave her a disgusted look. “Oh, I’m sure sparks would fly, but not the good kind. Alexa thinks your brother is the biggest dumbass on the planet.”

Bliss bit her lip. “I was afraid of that. And she’s right, sort of. It’s just that he’s my younger brother, and I’d like to see him get back to being the person he used to be instead of this shell who looks like my brother and talks like a dead man.”

Wrapping his arms around her, Max hugged her tightly. “There’s nothing we can do about it, Bliss. It’s his choice, his life.”

“You’re right,” she agreed, snuggling into his chest. “Now, it’s our bonding night. Can we stop talking about fairytales, legends, and other people?”

“I’ll get the cuffs. You wait right here,” Max teased.

Bliss laughed and kissed him. Max felt his love for her welling inside him.

I love you, Bliss. You make me feel whole.

I love you too, Max. I’m so happy you’re my bloodmate.

So… wanna bite me again?
He wiggled his brows at her suggestively.

Maybe later. Right now, I have plans for the handcuffs
. She stroked her hands down his abdomen, tracing the ridges with her fingertips.

Really? Now, this I gotta see!

Max laughed out loud and took her mouth in a fierce kiss as her fingers closed around his cock. After that, the only sounds in the room were the sounds of them making love to each other…and the clink of the handcuffs.

Chapter Nine

At Carpe Noctem, Marty sat at the bar nursing a drink, a faraway light in his emerald eyes. His distant expression made it seem as if he was tuned in to something others couldn’t see. A smug smile played about his lips as he realized that he had accomplished his mission with Max and Bliss.

Since he’d taken on the matchmaking job, he’d found a lot of satisfaction in his work. His grandmother had warned him that he would. Still, it was unusual for a man to take on the job of fairy godmother…well, godfather in his case. The women in his family had done the job for eons, but now no one was left but Marty.

Being a fairy on a mission in the Darkworld could be difficult, as he’d discovered with the first few couples he’d tried to match. Max and Bliss had been easy, as he’d known they would be. Their problems had never been insurmountable because both of them had willing natures. Both of them had been accepting of the fact that they were mates. The couples who couldn’t accept the truth were the ones who gave Marty sleepless nights.

His eyes blinked sharply back into focus, staring down the bar at a dark-haired man who seemed intent on drinking himself into oblivion. He’d been resistant to Marty’s brand of magic for years. And truthfully, Marty had never been sure until recently that he had the right mate for Olivier. Now that he did, things had become even more complicated.

Marty sighed and finished his gin and tonic. Max and Bliss had been fun. Olivier and Alexa would rip his heart out. He could already feel it. He was headed into some serious trouble with those two, and pulling off their happily ever after would be a lot harder than anything he’d tackled thus far. There was so much darkness to overcome… even for a fairy godfather.

Epilogue

The next morning

“Holy hell!” Max exclaimed as he got out of bed. “Every bone in my body hurts. Why the fuck didn’t the mattress work?”

He got up and went into the bathroom to look at his body in the mirror. “Damn it! I’m all bruised. No amount of makeup is gonna cover that,” he complained. “I’m gonna call and get my money back. Fucking mattress is a fake.”

Bliss rose from the bed and peered into the bathroom, her eyes roaming over Max’s hard body. She winced at the sight of his hips and buttocks, which were ridded with black-and-blue bruises. “Ooh. Those look painful, Max,” she said apologetically.

Max’s eyes shifted to meet hers. She looked really regretful. Too regretful.

“They’re sore,” he told her. “Like any bruise would be. You wouldn’t happen to know why my new mattress didn’t work, would you? I mean, this is the same company you bought yours from, and your mattress works just fine.”

Two pink spots of color stained Bliss’ cheeks, and Max’s suspicions grew. “Is there something you need to tell me?” he asked.

She turned and walked back into the bedroom, lifting up the edge of the mattress. There on the box spring was a lima bean. She picked it up and held it out to Max. He looked at the small, green bean on his palm.

“Why did you put a lima bean under the mattress?” he asked softly.

She sighed. “I guess I just wanted to make sure that I’d gotten my Prince after all,” she joked, with a rueful smile.

Max looked at the lima bean. Then he looked at the mattress. A glance back toward the bathroom showed his bruised ass reflected in the mirror. Finally, his eyes turned toward his bonded mate. She looked really sorry.

With a laugh, he tossed the bean onto the bedside table and took her in his arms, lifting her off the ground so he could kiss her senseless. When their lips finally parted long minutes later, Bliss was breathless.

“Next time you want to make sure of my royalty, can you use a smaller pea?” Max quipped, and bent his head to kiss her again.

The End

Author Bio

Lex Valentine is the pseudonym of a cemetery IT geek who was born on Halloween. Even though she’s been writing ever since she could hold a pencil, she never imagined she’d get published. A few years ago, she got caught up writing a paranormal serial story with several other writers. Fans of the story told her she needed to submit her work to publishers. Stealing her pen name from her most popular character, Lex set out to get published in late 2008. Her first contract came the day before her birthday.

Lex loves loud music, in particular the band, Motley Crue, and bassist Nikki Sixx. Born and raised in Salinas, California, Lex moved to Southern California in 1993. She lives in Orange County with her 80’s metal-loving daughter and her long-haired, tattooed, guitar-playing SO.