Bonds of Cupidity (Heart Hassle, #2)

by Raven Kennedy

By the time I come back into my body, I’m curled against his chest, and his hands are wrapped around me, careful to not hurt any of my injuries. His fingers are lazily rubbing my back, but it’s the sound coming from his chest that makes me shiver. I can feel the sound he’s emitting all the way into my bones. I pop my eyes open in surprise. “Are you…purring?”

“Oh my gods, you are! You’re totally purring! That’s adorable.” He pushes the back of my head down so that I’m forced to rest against his chest again. “It’s not adorable.” I trace my fingers over his collarbone. “It kinda is.” “No, it’s not. A genfin purr is badass. We only do it for our mate.” “Adorable,” I giggle.

Okot comes over to me. “Here, my beloved,” he says, handing me something wrapped in cloth. I put it in my lap and start to unwrap the cloth coiled around it to find out what this mystery item is. When I uncover it, all I can do is stare. And stare. And stare some more.

When I blink and it’s still there, I look up at him. “Ummm. It’s a hand. A severed hand. There’s still blood on it. And the bone is poking out. The cuticles look terrible,” I ramble. “You gave me a severed hand… Why?” He points at it proudly. “The guard named Gammon. He struck you with that hand. Now that hand is yours.” Realization settles in, and I gasp. “Aww, you cut off his hand for me?” I croon. He grins. “I did, my beloved. No one is allowed to hurt you.”

I jump up, forgetting the severed hand was still in my lap. We watch as it rolls across the floor. Huh. That went farther than I thought it would. I throw my arms around Okot’s neck. “Thank you!” I kiss him square on the mouth. Okot doesn’t even hesitate before cradling my neck in his massive hand and deepening the kiss. “What the fuck?” I hear Evert mutter. “That’s how you react when he cuts off some guy’s hand and brings it to you like it’s a fuckin...

Evert shakes his head and walks away, but I’m pretty sure I hear the words “crazy fucking cupid” as he leaves. “He’s obviously never had someone sever a hand for...

“We’re a covey,” Evert corrects, not bothering to hide the fact that he was eavesdropping as he walks back in with some more firewood to throw on the flames. “A covey,” Okot agrees. “You are ours, and we are yours. You don’t have to be shy in your affections of us.” I look up beneath my lashes at them. “Really?” Okot nods. “Really.” “You better not hold back, Scratch,” Evert scolds me. “The five of us are a covey now. You hear me? There’s no room for being shy. We’re way past that.

Besides, aren’t you the one who blatantly admitted to wanting sex the very first day we met?” I shrug, unconcerned. “It was my first day with a real body. You’d have done the same. I want lots of orgasms.” He laughs, showcasing both dimples. “Fucking demanding little thing, aren’t you?”

“Emelle’s Covey. Covey Lust-and-Love. Cupid Covey. Covey Cupid,” I ramble off. “Hmm. I’ll work on our team name.” Evert shrugs. “Don’t care what the fuck you call us as long as you remember that in the end, I won first place. I was the one that got to be your first kiss that you always fucking talked about back on the banishment island. And now I got your first orgasm. So fucking there.”

Instead of getting jealous, Okot just brushes my hair to the side and leans in. “He may have stolen your first kiss and earned first place for it back on the banishment island, but once we confirm our mate match, I will be the first one to be inside of you. That is one title I am looking forward to earning.”

Food and sleep. Two of my favorite things.

Evert is leaning back against the wall, sitting across from where I’m perched on the floor as I enjoy the last of my meal. “You keep eating and drinking that fast, and you’re going to make yourself sick.” He looks around at my plethora of empty plates on the floor and sees gluttony. I see success.

It’s so sudden that it startles me, and just as my first ever hiccup erupts from my mouth, I pop into the Veil. I stare in shock at the four guys who are gaping open-mouthed at the space I was just visible in. After a moment of silent shock, Sylred says, “Did she just…” “Hiccup herself invisible? Yep.” Evert says as he picks up one of my plates and starts helping himself to my leftovers.

“You ass(hiccup)hole. Stop (hiccup) eating (hiccup) my food.” Oh my gods. I already had to deal with an itch that lasted over half a century. If I have to deal with hiccups for even a whole day, I will literally go on a cupid tangent.

“Emelle?” Ronak says. “Try to pop yourself back in.” I scoff. “Oh, yeah, I’ll just (hiccup) snap my fingers and (hiccup) pop myself right back into the physical (hiccup) realm like it’s no big (hiccup) freaking deal!” I pretend to snap my fingers for added drama. I blink when my fingers don’t go through themselves. “Oh.”

I look over my body, but my eye catches on my wing. “What the hell?” I yelp. On the edge of my right wing, growing right between all my red feathers, is a single black feather. Evert reaches forward to touch it. “Huh. That’s weird.”

“Her eyes,” Sylred says suddenly. “Look at her eyes.” “What’s wrong with my eyes?” I ask shrilly. They all lean in for a closer look. “They’re not blue anymore.” “What? What color are they?” I ask, poking at my eye as if that’s going to help answer the question. “They’re sort of…all the colors?” I blanch. “What do you mean all the freaking colors, Sylred?”

Sylred clears his throat. “Speaking of mates…” “We should return to our home island and begin the mating ceremony,” Ronak inserts. I sigh in fake boredom. “Hmm, I don’t know…I’m gonna need a little wooing.” Three sets of eyes blink at me. “Wooing? What the fuck is wooing?” “You know, romance. Love. Flirting. Nice stuff,” I emphasize. “Oh, here the fuck we go,” Evert mumbles. He points at Okot. “You. This is your fault. Stop being so gentlemanly. You’re making us look bad.”

At first, I think this will offend Okot, but then I feel his rumbling chuckle against my arm. “All I heard was that I’m not in trouble,” he says with a smug shrug.

“That’s right. And we need to confirm our bond.” The red rings around his black eyes flare to life, pulsing in color and size. “You…are ready to confirm our bo...

Ronak takes pity on me and cuts me off. “Emelle. Stop. Breathe.” I take in a huge inhale. My rambling really has repercussions sometimes. Like lack of oxygen.

My wide eyes focus on Ronak for further command. Guy should be in charge of an army or something. I totally get the alpha vibe from him. He has that title on lockdown. I look him up and down, envisioning him in uniform. Hell yeah. Guy should totally be in charge of an army. I’d let him shout orders at me all day long. And all night long, too.

“And can you stop calling me Not-First? That stupid first kiss competition has been over for a long time.” “No, I can’t. It’s a pet name.

“We’ll go make arrangements for our departure tomorrow,” Ronak says. In a move that totally shocks me, he steps up to me and grips my chin with his fingers. The sudden contact makes heat flare inside of me. “See you soon,” he says, his voice low and growly and filled with hunger. Whoa, Nelly. He went from being unreadable to being a wide-open bodice-ripper book in the middle of a steamy scene.

Before I can even attempt to form a response, he steps away and walks out of the room. Good gods, Ronak has been totally holding out on me. Figures. It’s always the assholes.

“I had my hands on you and in you first. Just remember that, Scratch,” he says in a low, sexy murmur. I gulp and find that breathing just got really difficult. “I might share you, but you’re still mine. You knew that the moment you landed on my island.”

I look over at Okot with my heart in my throat. First he gave me the stars, and now he’s giving me an island of flowers.

“This is perfect.” “No, I told you. You are perfect, my beloved.” He brings his thick arms around me, and I swear, I’ve never felt safer. He pushes my hair over my shoulder and fits his face against my neck as he breathes me in. “You smell sweeter than all the flowers in the realm.”

Then he’s bared before me as much as I am to him. I stare up at him, blinking at the sight burned into my retinas. And suddenly, my body comes to a screeching, squealing halt as my eyes lock onto the python between his legs. My vagina closes the curtains and pretends not to be at home. “Umm… No. That’s not gonna work,” I say, shaking my head while my thighs automatically close. “That’s your dick?” I ask, as if I need to make sure first. I shake my head at myself. “I mean, I know it’s your dick. I can see that it’s attached to you, but…” But nope. So much nope.

With a frown, Okot looks down between his legs and then back at me. I know that I just ruined all of his carefully created romance, and I feel bad about that, but… He looks confused, the poor guy. “Have you not seen one before?” he asks me.

He looks like he’s at a loss. When he scratches the back of his neck, I realize that I’m also making him self-conscious. I quickly leap to my feet and grab hold of his biceps. “Sorry. I’m screwing this up. I know, I’m an idiot. It’s just, I knew you’d be big, because duh, you turn into a freaking gigantic bull, but you’re not just big. You’re, like, too big. Way too big for me. And I’m not just saying that to make you feel better.

“How did you even…you know what? Never mind. You clearly are a terrible judge of pain if you managed to get both your nose and your penis pierced. And someone without a proper pain gauge probably shouldn’t be spearing into my feminine hollows.” No longer self-conscious, Okot smiles at me like he thinks I’m hilarious. I frown. “This is not a joke, Okot. This is a code-vagina red alert.”

Okot brings his hands to my cheeks, forcing my gaze to unglue from the eighth wonder of the world between his legs. The thing is staring at me, its metal piercings winking coyly.

His touch grazes up to my bare arms, my chest, my belly, my collarbone, and then his fingers knead through my scalp, and…yep, I’ve melted. My nervousness is forgotten. Playing with my hair must be my reset button.

Gods, that was…more than I ever imagined. I want to do this forever. I want to sign up for a sex rotation so that I can maximize the number of orgasms I can get every week. My cupid covey was an awesome idea. Having my own personal harem is super efficient.

“You marked me.” I blink up at him in confusion, watching the spot that he covers with my palm. When I lift my hand from his skin, my eyes widen. Right at the crook of his neck—my favorite place to sniff him—is my cupid marking. The exact cupid number that’s marked on the inside of my right arm, right below my wrist, now marks his skin. “ML” in silvery white Roman numerals raised up like a brand.

“It was a long five years of self-loathing. Evert barely spoke to me. Sylred was always stuck in the middle when we blew up at each other. Our once strong covey was broken. And then a little red-winged demon landed on our island.” I smile against his chest. “You shot me with an arrow.” I hear his own smile crack through. “Always with the arrow.” “It’s important to correctly depict history.” “I’m still not convinced you’re not a demon.”

“You were like this wild wind that threatened to toss me on my ass. I didn’t know what your angle was. I was so hardened by that point I couldn’t even see you.” I swallow the thick lump in my throat. “And now?” “And now I see that you’re not Delsheen, and I’m not the same genfin I was,” he admits. “I don’t have to keep proving myself or my covey. It took a crazy-ass demon to make me see that.”

“I’m still an asshole, but I’m yours if you’ll have me. And if you won’t, then…I’ll leave my covey in your capable hands.”

“I know I joke around a lot, but I want you to know that I am completely serious when it comes to how I feel about you all,” I tell him. “When I came to this realm for the first time, you were the first fae I saw. And when I saw you…I don’t know, it was like I was drawn to you or something. Like it was always going to be you I saw first. I just knew that you would protect me. That if I could just get to you somehow, it would be okay,” I tell him. Then I smile mischievously. “Then you shot me with an arrow and turned out to be a total asshole. So I guess I was wrong on that front.”

“Ronak. Come back out,” Sylred says firmly. “Wait,” Evert says. “Look.” Suddenly, I feel something wrapping around me. I don’t dare move, even as it slithers around my waist and pulls me toward him. I look down. His tail. It’s his tail. The tail he wouldn’t let Delsheen even touch. He pulls me forward again, and once I’m flush against his chest, he starts to purr. If he weren’t holding me up, I’d collapse in relief.

“Psh. Please. I don’t scare easy. Besides, your animal totally digs me.” “He wrapped his tail around you like a boa constrictor,” Evert points out. “He definitely digs you.”

“Really? What did he do to Delsheen?” Ronak frowns as if remembering. “Barely let her hold onto the end. He never initiated touch before.” I practically preen. Evert groans. “Don’t tell her all that. She’s all smug and shit now.” Sylred ignores him. “Emelle, do you want to try to get some sleep?” I shake my head. “Are you kidding? I can’t sleep now. Ronak’s alpha animal just totally boa-constrictored me.” Evert makes a face. “Don’t ever say that again.”

“This is Duru, Princess Soora’s handmaiden. She kept me hidden in the palace,” I explain. “We’re besties.” Duru rolls her eyes. “We are not.” “Eh. We are, though.”

“Why don’t you try turning invisible and see how easy it is?” With his shit-eating grin still in place, he does a terrible impression of my voice as he calls out, “I’m invisible like the wind!” I glare at him. “I don’t sound like that.” He lifts a shoulder. “I think it was a good impersonation.”

Ronak flicks his gaze to Evert and then suddenly comes forward. He takes hold of my arms and forces me to look at him. He blocks out everyone else, probably so I don’t throat punch Evert. “Focus, little demon,” he says quietly.

“Oh,” I say casually, scratching at my arm. “So we’re just gonna walk? For a few hours? All the way through the forest to the capital? That’s…yeah, that sounds fine,” I say unconvincingly. “Walking is like, refreshing and stuff, right? People swear by it. Not me, but, you know…people. I’m sure walking for hours is gonna be great. My feet aren’t even gonna get sore. Nope. Definitely not. I’ll probably take up walking as a fun hobby after this.” The guys exchange a look. “Are you done?” Evert asks. “Yeah.” He turns and kneels down in front of me so that his back is facing me. “Hop on.”

I sigh contentedly. “You just get me.” “I just don’t want to hear you complaining about it all morning.” “I don’t complain…” I retort. “That much.” “Sure you don’t, Scratch. You done with that itch, yet?” I frown down at my hand that’s still scratching the non-existent itch on my arm. It just does it on its own now. Call it self-preservation.

“If you keep eating ridiculous amounts of food the way you’ve been and letting Evert carry you around like this, you’re going to grow bigger than your lamassu before you know it,” Ronak says behind us. “I feel like it’s worth it, though.”

Ronak snorts. “You know I’ll be training you again as soon as we get settled, right?” I groan against Evert’s back. “Nooooo.” “Yep,” he counters jovially, as if my dread for exercising amuses him. “If you’re going to insist on being an ‘awesome super spy,’ as you put it, then you have to do things like…walk. My training will ensure you can take care of yourself.” “You’re just using that as an excuse because you like torturing me. Also so I don’t get fat.” I feel him swat me on the ass. “Enjoy your break, little demon.” “Ugh. You’re mean.”