Chapter 21: Tub Time

Fifteen minutes later as we lay soaking in the biggest tub I’d ever seen I told her, “I can’t believe we’re in a magical nookie hut.”

She splashed me with water. “That’s not the purpose of the Suite.”

“Oh really? Sure seems like the whole point of this place is to get us to screw our brains out. Did it or did it not strip you naked while you slept?”

“Sex is only part of it.” She cocked her head at me. “What did your parents tell you finding your Other would be like?”

“My Other?”

“That’s what the Fae call it, your Other, as in other self. The one being selected by the divinities that will fully love, understand, and accept you. What do Shifters call it?”

“Ah.” I felt my cheeks burning. “Mates.”

“As in soul mate?”

“No, as in mating. The mate bond is strong, and mates are designed to be the perfect match biologically speaking for each other.” I rubbed a sore place behind my right ear. “Not quite as romantic as the Fae, but Shifters are all a bit baser.”

She shifted her position, bringing her breasts to the surface of the water. I reached out to touch them and she moved into my hands.

“What did they tell you about how you would know them?” Her eyes closed in pleasure as I massaged her breasts.

“Not a lot. My parents aren’t very active in the Shifter community. They prefer humans.”

“Most foxes do,” she murmured.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my hands stilling. She twitched her breasts against my hands and I resumed caressing them.

“Foxes are always very attractive, and humans are very susceptible to their charms. Other Shifters, not as much, since foxes have developed a reputation over the centuries for being less than upstanding.”

I pinched her nipples in response, making her gasp.

“Again,” she begged, her eyes alight with desire.

I shook my finger at her. “Naughty.”

“Please don’t stop.”

“Apologize for maligning my kind.”

Ellery moved to her knees which lifted her breasts out of the water and began to play with them herself.

“Foxes are sexy, charming, cunning and agile. These skills have enabled them to outwit humans and supernaturals alike. It has also led them to become scouts, spies, lawyers, and occasionally thieves. Be careful with foxes until you determine where their loyalties lie.”

She shot me a smug smile that turned to surprise when I grabbed her and pulled her into my lap. I turned her onto her back so she could feel my erection pressing into her.

“Faeries,” I said as I pinched her nipples, “are beautiful, powerful, and dangerous. To try and win the favor of the Fae is to risk utter ruin if you fail. Success, however, can bring immense blessings. Proceed with caution as their very natures are unpredictable.”

I released her and said, “I’ve read that book too.”

She placed her hands over her breasts and smiled. “You didn’t answer my question. They had to have told you something.”

I shrugged. “All my dad said was that I’d feel drawn to my mate in a way I couldn’t explain, and that if I had to wonder if she was the one then she wasn’t.”

When she didn’t reply I continued. “It didn’t occur to me that it could be you. For one thing, I was expecting my mate to be another fox Shifter, or a human. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be mate bonded to a Fae. For another, I could explain why I was drawn to you.

“Why I am drawn to you. Hell, do you have any idea how many people in that school are panting after you?” She raised an eyebrow at me and I remembered who I was talking to. “Right, empath, of course you do. Is it sixty percent of the student body and a third of the faculty and staff?”

Ellery started to laugh. “Not that many of the faculty and staff.”

My mouth fell open. “I was only joking about that.” A wave of possessiveness began to build inside of me and I reached for her. “Which ones?” I growled as I coaxed her thighs apart. She raised herself to meet me but shook her head at my words.

“I won’t tell you. It doesn’t matter. I’m yours alone, Alexander.”

I growled again and used both hands to pull her against me in my lap. “Damn right you’re mine. Give me what’s mine, Ellery.”

This directive earned me a kiss to the lips and her slender fingers around my cock. She grazed my lower lip with her teeth as she guided me into her.

“You’re mine,” I growled.

“Yes.” She began to move against me and behind all of that pleasure another emotion was building up inside me. Something ugly and base; urging me to bite her, to mark her so that the world would know who she belonged to.

My breathing changed and Ellery stopped moving. “Don’t you dare,” she admonished me.

“What?” I asked, trying my best to focus on what she was saying and fight off the way my mind was ordering me to bite her. “Don’t what?”

“Alexander, don’t.” Ellery tried to climb off of me but I held her hard and fast in place and began to sniff her neck.

“You’re mine” I heard myself mutter in a tone of voice I’d never used before. “Mine, Ellery Sinclair.” Ellery struggled to get free of my grasp, but the water and tub made it impossible for her to gain purchase anywhere.

“Don’t, Alexander, please!” Her voice broke and with it went the red haze that had taken control of me.

“Oh my gods! Ellery, baby, I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?” I let her go and she scrambled backwards off of me. The room spun. “I think I’m going to puke,” I said, gasping for air.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. You didn’t mark me. What happened to you?”

“I don’t know. It was like I was there one second and then the next there was something else controlling me. I can’t believe I almost bit you.” I dunked my head under the water and when I came back up she had moved beside me again.

“Shift if it happens again, Alexander. Marking someone without their consent is considered assault.”

I rubbed the back of my head and stared at her. “Why would I want to bite you that way?”

“It’s called marking. Shifters do it with their teeth, Fae and almost all of the beings in the fae realms use their hands. It’s the last step of the courtship period. It seals the bond between the couple, and slows the aging process down, especially with the Fae. If you had marked me today I would look like this for the rest of my life.”

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“It would be in about twenty years or so. Besides, there is something else that happens when a Fae is marked. It’s what makes us.” She paused. “It’s what makes us fertile, and as you said before, we’re not ready to be parents.”

“Wait a minute….it makes you fertile?” I asked; stunned.

“For the females, yes. We could have unprotected sex with the entirety of the US Armed Forces and not get pregnant if we haven’t been marked. Female Fae mark their Other so that only he may impregnate them. Once we’re marked, you’ll probably be able to look at me and impregnate me.”

“So if I don’t mark you when we leave here I’ll still be able to enjoy you without using protection?”

“Yes.”

A massive grin spread over my face. “I am the luckiest person in the whole galaxy,” I almost yelled, splashing water everywhere in my excitement.

Ellery broke up into laughter and then climbed out of the tub. “I don’t know about you, but I am starving.”

I was dimly aware that the tub had started draining away, but all I could do was gaze at her in admiration as she dried herself off. “You’re so beautiful, Ellery. I’m not going to be able to eat with you naked.” Two bathrobes appeared on hooks behind her. She laughed again as she pulled one on.

“Come on, Foxy, I know you’re hungry for more than just me.” She sauntered out of the bathroom and I growled before climbing out of the tub myself.