Chapter One
“Oh, I don't think so, Tom,” Evina, the Bear Ladrin woman hired to look after the children of Fress, growled as she grabbed little Tom's tunic and hauled him back to the dining table reserved for the rescued children.
Evina set the boy on a bench and pointed at his plate. She didn't say anything more. She didn't have to. The mama bear in her communicated without words, and the kids—all of them, not just Tommy—heard her loud and clear, their child instincts sensing exactly how much they could get away with. With Evina, that would be nothing. At the end of the table, Reginald, one of the two fathers I'd freed from corruption, chuckled as he dealt with his daughter Prue. Breakfast was always the hardest. The kids wanted to be off, playing in the garden or roaming the woods. Food wasn't important in light of adventure. They preferred to grab a piece of fruit and eat as they ran.
But Evina wouldn't have any of that. She maintained that breakfast was the most important meal of the day, one that must include protein, and she'd be damned if every single one of her charges didn't clean their plates. There would be no playing at the table and no eating on the run. That was bad for the digestion. It was also bad for the backside of any child who disobeyed her command.
I chuckled along with Reginald, but not because of Evina. Well, not because of the way she handled the children so expertly. No, it was the adults in the room who interested me. I was having fun watching the straight Wraith Lords drool over her. It wasn't often that a beautiful woman came to stay at the citadel. All right, that was unfair. There were some lovely Creen women on staff, but most of the other races of Varr didn't sexually mix with the Creen. Not because they were thought poorly of. It was simply their small statures. Creen were, at most, three feet tall. And Wraith Lords were generally twice that height and four or even five times the weight of your average Creen. A Wraith Lord and a Creen having sex was a dangerous prospect. For the Creen. Not to mention, they were off-limits as citadel staff.
Which made Evina off limits too.
But she was so much harder for the straight Wraith Lords to resist. I could practically see their minds churning, trying to find a way to honorably approach the lovely Evina. A workaround for the unspoken rule that you don't fuck the people working for you. Even General Rontor was affected by her presence, and he had been the one to hire her.
I shook my head as the General stopped to bid Evina a good morning, then walked away, casting backward glances.
“I've never been so happy to be gay,” Keltyr said as he joined in my amusement. “Those poor straights.”
“And bisexuals,” Nex snarled, his stare locked on the Bear Ladrin's ass. “Don't forget about us. We're having a hard time too. Literally. Why the fuck did Rontor hire such a beauty? He's straight, for fuck's sake. It's as if he likes having blue balls.”
“Maybe they're secret lovers,” I mused, my stare going back to the General, whose stare was going back to Evina.
All the men at our table looked at me in horror.
“What?” I scowled at them. “Rontor is very attractive.”
“And all about the war,” Xae said. “The war and rules. He would never hire a woman he was fucking.”
I shrugged. “Then maybe he hired her because she was the best person for the job. That sounds like him. He wouldn't let someone's appearance sway him either way.”
“She sure is pretty,” Nex whispered, his stare sliding up to Evina's face and staying there. “Lovely. A fucking goddess. And a Bear Ladrin at that. She's probably feisty in bed. I love feisty.”
“Holy shit.” I grinned as I looked over at Nex. “Look at you. You're smitten. I've never seen you smitten. It's adorable.”
Nex instantly straightened and scowled at me. “Am not. It's just been a while since I've seen such a beautiful woman. But I'm not interested in a relationship, especially not with a woman who is all about the kids.” He shivered in horror. “Nope, not for me.”
“Uh-huh.” I snorted. “I thought most straight men wanted children? It's instinctual and all that.”
“I'm not straight. I'm bi.”
“Sure, all right. You're also not the guy to commit to anyone. So whether she does or doesn't want kids shouldn't bother you.”
Nex grunted and shifted his stare back to Evina. Against a backdrop of the stone wall, hung with weapons and tapestries of war, she looked delicate even with her lush figure. The harshness set her femininity to shining. And if I saw that, it was probably ten times as powerful for Nex.
“She is pretty. I'll give her that,” Kel said. “But I don't know how you can stick your dick into all that squishy stuff.” He shuddered. “Ew. And the jiggly boobies. Not just the boobies.Allthe jiggly bits. Too much jiggle. I prefer the jiggling restricted to plump buttocks.” He shook his head and echoed Nex's words, “Nope, not for me.”
“Thank you for that disgusting imagery.” Rath frowned into his coffee cup.
“Why do you find plump buttocks disgusting?” Kel gave Rath a wry look.
“That wasn't the disgusting part and you know it.” Rath lifted his grimace to Kel. “We all know why we don't find women sexually attractive. We don't need you to point it out.”
“I didn't think that was gross, just honest,” I said. “I mean, he could have used the M word instead of squishy. Squishy is just cute.”
“Don't you dare,” Xae growled.
“What M word?” Nex asked.
“No!” Xae, Rath, Kel, and even Finn shouted as I opened my mouth to reply.
