ELORA

by Beanie Harper

Quin looked at Lucifer and pointed over his shoulder. “I made pasta.” Lucifer glanced at me. “I already ate.” Everyone gave Lucifer a pointed look, and I swear I saw the tiniest hint of a smirk on his lips as he started walking over to me. “You’re dead wrong for that,” Sebastian mumbled as he and Ramsey chuckled.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” I pouted. The clans probably thought I was a lazy bump on the log. Lucifer shrugged as a slight grin appeared on his lips. “You look pretty when you sleep.”

“Do me a favor?” “Okay?” The question was clear in my tone. “Stand up,” he instructed. I stood in front of him. He shifted from left to right, eyeing my dress for a second. “Uh-huh, now touch your toes,” he added. “Theo–” Lucifer interjected. Theo waved him off. “It’s a science experiment, fuck off.”

“No. I love it. It’s a great dress. Please change.” I widened my eyes. “Why?” As fun as it would be to make Theo jealous, there was no way he would think other vampires would look at me in a dress. It was just a dress, after all. “Are you pulling the gross ‘no other man can look at my woman in a dress–grr’ card?” I mimicked a masculine tone. With a laugh, he shook his head. “I don’t care about other men staring at you. I can fight.” Confidence was laced in his tone as he continued. “However, you’ve definitely caught my attention, Princess, and you are very distracting.”

Theo was standing next to a man who, despite his colossal frame and tallness, looked absolutely terrified. His shoulders were slouched, and his body was shifted away from Theo, his eyes completely void yet filled with fear. On the other hand, Theo seemed smug and kept looking at the man. Weird...

nodded, letting everything sink in. Jason was a werewolf... an alpha, to be exact. That meant leader, which didn’t surprise me. He’d always been a social butterfly, no matter how much of a himbo he was.

“Look at me, Love,” Eugene gave her a comforting gaze. She watched Eugene, and I saw some nervousness fade as he made her feel less overwhelmed. He’s still a bitch, though. Why didn’t I think of that? Lucky bastard.

“Can we fuck her now?” Quin asked through the mind-link. “Wait until she cums. Let Theo go first before he busts his pants over there,” Eugene joked.

“Get her off the counter,” Duke said through the mind-link. I quickly glanced over my shoulder at him, curious as to why he would request that. Fuck him, he can stare at my white ass.

“Are you okay with this, Baby?” He asked. She nodded. “Uh-huh,” she looked back at me. “Her exact thoughts were, ‘Use me like a teeter-totter.’ Just thought I’d share,” Lucifer said, and I almost laughed. She thinks that, yet all she said was ‘uh-huh.’

Dane glared at me. “You had one job! Not only did you let them hear her for way too long, you had the balls to brag!” He smacked me upside the head. I deserved that, too. I put my hands up in Surrender. “What did you expect? I’m Theo. Come out here and do it yourself next time,” I shot back.

I pressed my lips together, looking at Felix and Lucifer. “Want to slap me too?” I offered. “I’m kind of starting to like it,” I winked, hoping to discourage any further head trauma.

“No. I would have invited them in to watch,” he mumbled. Well fuck. I chuckled. “And they have the audacity to bitch at me for saying she sounds hot?”

I pushed my eyebrows together in concern. Okay...? Uh oh, he was losing it. I gave him a sheepish smile. “And I like pink and cream,” I slowly nodded, trying to be empathetic. He chuckled. “For my bracelet, Elora,” he gave me a pointed look. “Oh, right,” I let out a huff of air. Thank goodness, I was getting worried about him for a second. I crossed my arms across my tummy. “You know, you can’t blame me for thinking you lost your marbles for a second. You’re rambling about who knows what. Not to mention you’re thousands of years old; you’re probably due for a mental breakdown,” I said quickly. Eugene and Lucifer gave each other another look before they laughed.

She took shaky breaths, her arms tightly wrapping around my neck. “I told them you’d come,” she whispered. “We’ll always come for you,” Quin said softly, pulling her away from me and into his arms. Theo snorted a laugh and shot him a glare. Not the time...

“Hear me out,” Theo started, following me down the hall to my room. “You could go to this high school thing with kids you don’t even like or,” he grabbed my hand, spinning me around to face him. He pulled his t-shirt off in record time, revealing his drool-worthy abs. “You could stay home, and we could get freaky,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

I did wish Theo would stop calling it the kink-link, though.

“Elora, you were there for me when I didn’t have anyone else. You’re my best friend, and I’ll always come to save your clueless ass–” “Hey!” I laughed. “I’m not clueless.” “Are you kidding me? There’s not a single thought in that airhead of yours,” he jabbed, and we both laughed.

“I’ve lived thousands of lives, but the only one that was ever worth living is the one with you in it, Elora. Let’s have our own happily ever after.”

“Let’s break the stigma of a wife in the kitchen cooking, shall we? I’d look good in an apron that says ‘husband,’ don’t you think, Doll?”

“Baby, all I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy. Finding you all those years ago wasn’t a coincidence; it was fate.”

“I’d like to submit my resume for the position of husband number one,” he said, making me giggle. “I’ll always make you laugh, give you at least an orgasm a day–”

“So when it’s your day of the week to wear my ring, you’ll see how big it is and remember who has the biggest dick,”

“I’m so proud of the woman you’ve become. You’re the love of my life and the only person I want ruling at my side. You love so deeply and fiercely that I fear I’ll never be able to match your intensity. If you’d allow me, it would be my greatest life adventure to be your husband,” he kissed my hand. “Be my queen?”

Theo smirked at Lucifer. “And you really only have to pick out six rings because Lucifer already has a ring.” Confused, I looked at Lucifer, who seemed to be trying not to smile. He had rings that he wore casually, but the sighs everyone let out as Theo spoke hinted at something else. As realization dawned on me, I covered my mouth with my hands so a giggle wouldn’t escape. I loved Lucifer’s ring, especially how it felt when I was the one wearing it.

“Tell me she didn’t take out Felix,” Theo entered the room, falling into a fit of laughter as his eyes landed on Felix. “No fucking way,” he nudged Felix’s dead body with his shoe. “Princess, you fucked up,” he said, grabbing a Sharpie marker from his back pocket. I

“You look so beautiful today; please don’t kill me,”

One time Theo and I were making out because I was on my period. After half an hour of his tongue in my mouth and gentle grinding, I came. How easily it happened was embarrassing, but Theo was obnoxiously proud of himself. To this day, he bragged about it.

Theo thought it was more funny than anything and wouldn’t stop bragging to everyone that I slipped up when he was eating me out. He was very proud to be in the Daddy Squad, as he called it.

“Elora,” Quin whispered. His quiet voice and the running faucet would make it hard for the others to hear him. “I remember what it’s like to dream now. I dreamt of you.”

“Who ruined the twenty-four-hour rule?” He asked. Lucifer came down the stairs, clad in sweatpants and a dark hoodie–as usual. “I didn’t know that you were serious,” he admitted lowly, taking a bottle from Seb.

Dimitri raised his bottle. “To the bachelorette party, which is much more fun than the bachelors,” he smirked at my guys. I playfully rolled my eyes as they chuckled before everyone took the equivalent of a shot from their bottles. Grimacing, I got the alcohol shivers as I swallowed. Everyone else seemed unbothered by the foul taste, but they’d been drinking for like a million years. “My God, we really are her bachelorettes,” Ramsey realized, taking another drink. “And here I thought you asked us to watch over her for the night because of your term,” he joked.

“Theo likes to be on the bottom, doesn’t he?” I couldn’t help but laugh. None of my guys preferred being on the bottom. Maybe Dane was a power bottom, but I was never the one in control. I didn’t want to be. “Drink!” I said through a laugh.

Theo put his fist over his mouth, covering his excited grin. That didn’t stop his joyous laughter as he looked up at the sky as if thanking someone in the heavens.

Eugene straightened, composing himself as his eyes welled with tears that he wouldn’t let fall. Awe, Eugene… as he should.

Lucifer stood with his hands folded behind him, with a rare, full smile that mad...

Quin and Dane gave each other a nudge, making me giggle. Quin eyed my dress, looking impressed by the fine details. Dane licked his lips quickly before smiling...

Felix looked proud. There was no other way to describe the handsome smile he wore. His arms were folded in front of him, looking...

Duke… my sweet Duke was wiping a single tear off his cheek. It was a happy tear, of course. It seemed as if his whole life had let up to this mo...

Theo stepped forward a bit. “With… Elora Carmine,” he corrected with a smile. “We are marrying her, not each other.” He glanced at the crowd, who chuckled with him. “Just clarifying,” he joked.

“Do you, Eugene, take Elora as your lawfully wedded wife?” “I do.” “And do you, Elora, take Eugene as your lawf–you know what, this may take some time to get through,” he held his hands up and looked back at my guys. “Eugene, Duke, Quin, Theodore, Dane, Lucifer, and Felix. Do you take Elora as your lawfully wedded wife and Queen?”

The boyish smile on Theo’s lips made me giggle. He laughed before he grabbed my waist and dipped me down. “I have the hottest wife,” he smirked before he plunged his tongue into my mouth in a jokingly passionate kiss.

“I don’t stand in corners that often, do I?” Lucifer asked, tilting his head at it. “You’re a professional lurker,” I teased. In the painting, I had him standing in the background, leaning handsomely in a corner, like he would in real life.

“The books are all out of order, there’s absolutely no organization whatsoever, and it’s impossible to sort through them all to fix it,” I said in a duh tone. I’d thought about this for years. Dane tilted his head to the side. “It took us ten years.” Slowly but surely, I understood. “Wha–” I widened my eyes, placing my hands over my mouth. Realization dawned upon me, and goosebumps covered my entire body. “You… you organized the books?” I looked between them all in awe.

I couldn’t believe it… they spent ten years organizing… for me. I knew that none of them cared about the order of the books in here or organization in the slightest. They truly did it just for me. I had no idea that anything in this room had even changed.

“If you hate it, it was Quin’s idea,” Theo rushed out. My eyes rounded as I stared at him in bewilderment. “Hate it?” My voice cracked. “I love it.” Theo grinned. “In that case, it was my idea,” he joked. Quin’s

Dane wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace. “We’d do anything for you, Elora.” He kissed my forehead. “No amount of time or effort will ever matter,” he promised. Eugene joined, wrapping his arm around my waist, and kissed my hair. “There’s nothing we wouldn’t do to make you happy, Love.” “No lengths we wouldn’t go to to protect you,” Quin added. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to hear your cute little laugh,” Theo beamed. “Even if the world looks at me like an obnoxious fool. I’ll be your jester for the rest of our lives.” “You’ll never be alone… even if it is the devil in your head,” Lucifer smirked. “You are our Queen,” Felix continued. “My life,” Duke finished.