“Did she say…?” Billy couldn’t bring himself to ask it.
“That you were naked, drenched in alpha sperm and wearing a cock-cage? Yes. Yes she did. Why, was that supposed to be a secret?”
Billy buried his face in his hands, his mortification only growing when they came away crusty with dried sperm.
What was wrong with him?
“So you figured out how to make your machine work? Is that what I’m understanding?” Tulip sat down on his desk andpeered down at his designs for the machine like she had a clue what to do with them.
And like that Billy forgot all about his mortification. “I did!” he said, happy and excited. “Every time I’ve redesigned the machine I’ve designed it to use castle magic, but it needs to use wild magic! Nick showed me how to make it work.”
“Huh,” Tulip said, a thoughtful look on her face. “So he isn’ttotallyuseless. That’s good to know. But how are we supposed to operate a machine powered by wild magic? None of us can work with that?”
Oh,” Billy shrugged. “Nick would have to start it. But that’s fine, isn’t it? Once it’s turned on, it should run without intervention.”
Billy didn’t think that would be a problem. Nick could always claim that operating a toy-making machine wasn’t part of his job, but Billy seriously doubted that he would be that petty. Nick would be only too happy to help.
“Good for you. So when will it be ready?” Tulip asked. She jumped off the desk and walked around Billy’s chair, looking at the broken machine standing against the wall.
“If I work really hard, I think I’ll have it done by Christmas. We won’t be able to make any toys with it for this year, but wouldn’t it be cool if I got it working before then?”
“Very cool,” Tulip agreed. She smiled at him, genuinely happy on his behalf, and Billy counted himself lucky to have such a good friend.
“Well, I’ll leave you to it,” she said, leaning against the desk. “I’ll tell everyone not to worry about you. They’ll understand when I tell them you had a breakthrough.”
“Thanks,” Billy said, remembering to be mortified again. Heneeded to shower and put on some clothes, but the thought of wasting so much time was abhorrent to him.
“Bye then,” Tulip said, heading off. “Don’t forget to eat and sleep!”
“I won’t,” Billy said, but Tulip had already left the room.
Tucking the blanket around his waist, using a loose corner to surreptitiously wipe his face clean, Billy got back to work.
It was going to be a busy week.
Nick watched Billy work, standing off to the side of the room as the slight elf assembled his machine one piece at the time. Nick had no idea how all the gears and pieces of metal were supposed to fit together, but Billy didn’t hesitate as he welded and bolted his huge machine together.
It had been five days since Billy started work, and in all that time Nick had barely gotten a dozen words out of him. The elf worked long into the night—falling asleep on the floor next to his machine—eating only when Nick, Tulip or Pat brought him food and forced him to eat.
Nick had never seen anything like it. Billy was still wearing the cock-cage Nick had locked on him while he had him trapped in the stocks, and from the smell of him he hadn’t showered either.
Nick couldn’t deny that he liked the way Billy reeked of him, warning every alpha who came within a mile radius that he was taken, but he also wasn’t going to go anywhere near the elf until he showered and cleaned the grease and sweat off his body.
“What are you doing here?”
Nick looked up from his musings to find Billy staring at him. The elf looked bewildered, like he was trying to figure out how Nick had gotten there, and Nick grinned.
“I’m just watching you,” he said. “I’ve been practicing with the reindeer all day, and I needed a break. They’re vicious bullies the lot of them.”
Billy grinned. “I’m so glad you’re here!” he said, and Nick felt his heart swell. “I need you to turn on the machine. I think it’s ready!”
Nick snorted and shook his head. For a second there he’d thought that Billy had shifted his focus away from his machine, but he should have known better.
“Really? Should we warn the rest of the castle in case it goes boom again?” Nick stepped forward and examined the machine. There were still bits and pieces of gears and wheel lying about, but now that he paid attention he could see that the machine was in fact finished.
“Do we have to?” Billy whined, clearly eager to get going. Nick gave him a look.
“Yes. Go tell Pat that you’re going to test the machine, and give everyone an hour to prepare.”
