What Did You Do? (Infatuated Fae, #2)

by Jeneane O'Riley

She belonged to me. I wanted to kill him for putting the goddess—my goddess—in the man’s mind. She was fucking mine. She didn’t belong in anyone else’s head but mine. Stars knew she had taken up every empty space of it in her absence. She was all I could think about.

If I couldn’t get a handle on myself, all of Unseelie would soon be dead, and I would have a throne but no one to rule. Even that—a thought that would have normally shaken my soul—didn’t matter anymore. If she and I were the only two left in all the realms, I wouldn’t care. I would rule her. I would worship her. I would punish her. My chest vibrated with a growl, thinking of that worm calling Callie—or whatever my pet’s real name was—a traitor. I pulled his lower jaw off with an easy tug and threw it into the misty forest. A bit of tension ebbed as the sharp tang of black blood teased my nose.

Amongst the delicate white-gold vines that held the ashes, a tiny oval citrine sparkled on a small hinge, and when you unlocked the hinge, it revealed an inscription that had been etched unto the vial: FEUHN—KAI—GREEYTH Eli told me it was an old fae language and that it meant “eternal love and friendship.”

“Oh, the cat’s out of the bag now that you’re back from Unseelie,” she chuckled. “No one would have believed you were human and returned alive as it was.” Tell her I just needed to be inside of you in one way or another, pet. A scream ripped free from my throat as I fell over the small love seat, tipping it and myself to the ground.

“Because you don’t want to ruin our friendship?” I asked, rolling my eyes. My hands tightened around his hard biceps when he attempted to move away from me. “No! I won’t let you push me away and leave me so you can forget about me again. You’ll have plenty of time to hate me later, and eons of immortality to forget me.” “That’s not true, and you know it.” “Then why, Prince Aurelius? Why won’t you be with me tonight?” I snapped. He stilled, and sorrow crossed his features for a moment before it was replaced with something I didn’t recognize on his face. Anger? “Because I know you like no one else in this world will ever know you. Because I know you grieve him. As much as you will deny it, I saw you two together. You were falling in love with him and had to take his life.”

The Unseelie prince braced his body over mine, grabbing my face roughly in one hand, my lips puckering out above my teeth. This close, I could practically see the collagen fibers in his iris, causing the ice-blue streaks of color as they looked straight through me. Like the rope of a noose pulling tight and strong, our connection was unwavering. Even if it was unwanted, we were coal to the other’s flame. “For forever you are mine. I alone own you. Do you understand that yet?”

I wasn’t generally a passive sort of woman, as he had figured out by now. No man or fae would ever own me. But it was a dream, and an unbelievably good one at that, so I wasn’t going to ruin it. “A good pet should always listen to their owner’s commands, don’t you think?” he questioned softly as he hooked his thumbs into the sides of my sleep shorts and underwear and slid them slowly down and off my legs.

Without warning, my throat choked, something tightening around it with heavy pressure. I gasped for air while I tried to sit up, but I couldn’t rise. “Did I tell you to move yet, love?” Mendax said nonchalantly from where he stood. I clawed and ripped at the force strangling me until I saw the smoke coiled around my throat like a fucking python trailing back to Mendax’s large hand.

“Be a good girl and listen to your owner, pet, or I won’t let go next time. I do owe you for stabbing me, after all.” My hand had already moved to rub me.

“Touch yourself while I watch you. Back and forth,” he commanded in a deep, sultry tone. “Good, now slower.” My toes curled as I listened for more requests. “Fuck, Caly. I would die for you all over again if it meant I got to watch you in this moment,” he groaned breathily as his hand moved to his hardness. A moan escaped my mouth as I watched his eyes drag over me—harsh eyes filled with such intense affection and desire.

The smoke around my neck tightened the tiniest amount, reminding me of his orders to wait for his word. With the hand not controlling the smoke, Mendax undid his belt buckle with a small jingle and pulled out his rigid cock, fisting it roughly. “How badly do you need me to move between your legs and slide my cock inside of you, love? A little?” he rasped as he stroked his cock up and down, staring at me like a hungry lion. Oh. My. Suns. “A lot. Fuck, please, Mendax,” I panted, biting my lip hard in order to move myself away from the orgasm that was so close, a draft in the castle might send me over the edge. He gripped himself so tightly, it looked painful as he slid his fist up and down wildly. “You shouldn’t have left me then, Calypso. Maybe then I could be a bit more gentle. I wouldn’t have spent so many hours thinking about all the things I would do to you once I found you. How much I’d make you hurt. How hard I would fuck you.”

The Unseelie prince was at the side of the bed near my head in an instant. He grabbed my throat with his right hand, continuing to fist his cock with the other right next to my shoulder. “Men—” “You want to come? Then admit it: say it out loud, and I’ll let you come, my pretty little hellhound. Admit you are in love with me,” he whispered slowly, emotion turning his voice gritty. “I love you,” I said without hesitation. It was a dream, and no one could hurt me for admitting it. No one could weaponize it or tear me apart for owning such an absurd declaration. “Then come for me now, my love,” he whispered with a smile, straightening to his full height to watch me. He fisted himself faster now, his hand still tight around my throat. “Now,” he said squeezing my throat firmly. I lost it. The tingles and tension built and built and built until there was nothing left for it to do but explode from within my body. I shuddered as my body clenched, no longer in my control. Mendax tightened his hand around my throat. I couldn’t breathe at all. It was terrifying, but I continued to move my fingers in circles on my sensitive clit, knowing he would let go. He didn’t. My wild eyes shot to him in blind panic. My mind became fuzzy, and my vision had started to speckle. Instinctively, I lifted my arm up to turn and slam my elbow down on his arm, but my orgasm burst forth like a gift from the heavens, and I came again. I came harder than I’d ever come in my whole goddamned life. Just as it eb...

I felt his stubbled cheek brush against my face before his deep voice softly rumbled into my ear. “Do you know what happens to pets that run away from home, Calypso?” His hand around my neck pressed me harder against the wall. “They get punished.”

His hand released my neck to skate down my clavicle. “You’re—you’re dead,” I forced out breathily, trying to jump-start my brain into action. Something was happening in my chest with his closeness and the realization that he wasn’t gone forever. “Only on the inside,” he whispered across my skin, hovering his lips just above where my neck and shoulder met.

I heard nothing from inside the fae’s room. Aurelius confused me. Caly seemed to actually like him, even be close with him. For that alone, he would suffer severely.

It felt like he was looking straight into me. I had no fucking clue what I was anymore. How could he? “And what exactly am I?” I bit out. His hands dropped from my wrists to cup my face, the tip of his nose brushing mine. “You are an alluring rose with secret thorns. A droplet of rain fighting to quench and to drown,” he said, looking deranged and enthralled all at the same time. “You are my only care in life.”

“I am nothing more than a soul without residence since you left me, and I refuse to bear a life without you. Should I die, let it be by your hand, so that your touch is what I remember when I haunt every single dwelling you inhabit. Soon enough, you will meet with me again in Tartarus.” His voice softened while his eyes steeled. “Go on, Calypso, make your life better and finish me off. For good this time.” His right dimple popped. “It makes no difference to me if I’m dead or alive when I chase you.” I moved the curve of my blade to the side of his neck defiantly. He didn’t think I could do it. I pushed it into his flesh, feeling the blade break through. Unrelenting calm came from his eyes. He was serious. Mendax loved me. I could have cut his throat right then.

“I will not be gentle, so do not expect it,” he stated, hovering just above my mouth.

“This cunt is dripping wet, Caly. Am I supposed to believe you don’t need me after feeling this? You’re a liar.” He said it with cocky grin as he pressed two fingers inside of me and dragged the other hand down my outer thigh, leaving scratches in his wake. “My filthy, fucking liar.” I could see in his wild eyes that he was struggling to control himself.

He was malevolent and intimidating as he stared down at me—a predator who’s just overpowered his prey. “Grip the throne, and don’t let go,” he rumbled. I reached behind my head and clutched on to each side of the queen’s throne as commanded. He could have asked me to juggle, and I would have found a way.

“Keep taking me, Caly. I want to watch your face when you feel me inside of you, filling up every part of this lying cunt with cum. Then I want to watch it drip from this decadent pussy. Come for me, my goddess. Come on my cock,” his gravelly voice pleaded.

My chest tightened remembering the day Eli had shown up to surprise me, and instead found my trainer taking certain liberties with me. I barely remembered, I had become so good at flipping a switch and going numb. Sometimes I think it might have been the best training I received from him; other times, I wondered if I had ever turned the switch back on.

“I would harness that tongue of yours,”

“Her reciprocation of my love is unneeded. I would never require her to hold the same attachments as myself because it is an impossible feat. I am possessed with a cruel and bloody love that collapses and suffocates, squeezes and rips until scars and bruises are the only traces left. She is the noose that hangs me, the rope that strangles and chokes at my soul, and no one—not her or anyone—could ever be left as breathless as I am.”

I was a little frightened of him like this. He was coming undone, and he wasn’t just anyone. He was a Smoke Slayer with the ability to slither inside of your mind. At his core, he was a predator, and he always would be. When you are at the top of the food chain, everyone else is prey. The question was simply when he would get tired of playing with you, not if—never if. I didn’t know if he was about to fuck me or kill me, and at this point, one might cause the other. Regardless, I wasn’t going to go down easily—for either of them. What fun was that? I reeled back and punched him in the back as hard as I could. “If you’re thinking about fighting me, don’t. I am not Aurelius. I will hurt you, and I will like it. Be a good girl, and later I’ll give you a knife to stab me with. You know how much that turns me on, hellhound,” his husky voice rumbled.

The next moment I blinked, and my thighs were wrapped around Mendax’s waist, my back pressed against the hall wall. The Unseelie prince shackled just below my jaw with his large hand. He was fast. “What happened is you infected my soul and placed yourself in an exceedingly dangerous position. The sole person I would ignite the entire world for is tied to the one person I would give an entire world to burn.”

Horror washed over me when I saw the Seelie guards again. Every one of them paused to watch the dark prince pin me against the wall. They would think we were working together to betray Seelie. “Get off of me. Is this all payback for what happened in Unseelie? Well, congratulations, you have just ruined everything. All that I’ve worked for is ruined because of you. They’ll kill me before I can get even get to him. You have no idea what you’ve just cost me!” I screamed, pushing my throat against this hand as hard as I could. His face showed no hint of remorse as the creases of his eyes wrinkled slightly. “Pet, if you think I’ve ruined your life, you don’t give me enough credit. Things are just getting started.” Mendax tightened his grip around my throat, squeezing out air as he leaned down to brush my ear with his mouth. “And I promise you, there is no other threat to your life. I will be the only one that kills you.” My eyes ping-ponged between his face and the guards to my left. “What’s the matter? Afraid they’ll see me do this? You belong to me now. You are my possession.” He moved the tips of his fingers over my mandible and angled it toward him. The hand not on my jaw squeezed my ass. My eyes darted to the guards. There was no getting out of this alive. Mendax squeezed my face as his mouth hovered barely an inch from mine. His hand trembled slightly, and I got the feeling it was because he was trying not to snap my neck. He pressed his mouth to mine in a devouring kiss,...

“You won’t need those,” he stated, casually moving to hand me the purple drink and return to pour himself another. “You will, however, need this,” he said with a sinister smile. “You should find a new drinking buddy. I’m not interested. All hell is breaking loose out there,” I bit out, angrily pointing to the hallway. “You’ve got it all wrong, pet. Hell is in here, where the devil is.” He winked. “Last chance to drink your mead,” his gravelly voice purred as he walked past me. In my brief encounter with the libation, faerie mead had been wild. In my brief encounter with the libation, faerie mead had made me do some wild things—including dry humping my best friend. Pounding and mumbles caught my ears. The Seelie guards must have been getting closer to breaking through the barrier. It would only be minutes before they entered and I was killed, taking Eli with me. It had all been for nothing. My nails clicked against the glass before I tipped back the pretty liquid, draining the glass. I would need it. I turned to Mendax. He had positioned himself on a small leather love seat with legs spread wide and an arm draped casually over the back like he owned the castle and everything in it.

I moved past the umbra of darkness to kneel beside Eli, giving Walter’s thigh a gentle squeeze. The shifter had become something different to me over the past few weeks. It felt like he was the only one who heard me sometimes. Foolishly and for reasons I couldn’t explain, I had let Walter inside my solitary box of demons. I had shared everything with him. He was the only person I’d ever told my plan. I cried on his chest the whole night. Snuggling with him in his wolf form had been one of the most enjoyable and comforting things I’d ever done.

“What do you not understand, Calypso? I will lie, cheat, steal, and kill just to be close enough so I can taste the spent breath from your lungs. You are my only soul. Without you, I am merely a hollow cavity of flesh, a ghoul that will haunt and track your every step and gambit. Whether you accept it or not, you and I belong together. No two creatures were ever made more perfectly for one another,” he whispered against my lips while his hands held my face tightly.

I froze when the husky voice rolled over me. “So you’re a good person and you end up with someone like Eli? Is that right? The hero?” he questioned. Reclining on the sofa again, his muscular legs parted, his arm stretched along the back. “I—” “Well, good girl, come get on your knees. Your good guy is about to watch the bad guy slide his cock down your throat.” He swiped his thumb across his full lower lip with a devilish smirk. Blood from his lip smeared across his shadowed face. “Every man in this room knows you want it. Don’t waste time pretending otherwise.” My eyes rounded in shock. “Fuck⁠—” “Do it now, or I’ll kill Aurelius,” he cut me off. Everything in the room stilled until my thundering heart was the only thing I could hear. Mendax meant every word, and all of us could feel it. Eli shifted slightly in the corner of my eye when I slowly stepped between Mendax’s legs. A quick glance at Walter and Eli caused my cheeks to redden when my knees landed on the cold marble. Heat washed over me as I touched the warm closure of Mendax’s belt. Walter turned his head away. My eyes snapped to Eli’s. His handsome face was full of intensity and frustration. The chivalrous gaze almost concealed the lust in his eyes when they took in my nearly naked body kneeling before Mendax. Walter looked back when I fumbled with the leather belt before pulling it all the way off. Folding it, I moved to tuck it under the sofa. Later, I would use it to choke Mendax for what he was⁠— “Give me the ...

Mendax turned to me. “My queen, touch yourself while we watch. Our attention is fully yours.” Completely naked, save for the ashes of Adrianna that hung from my neck, I stood fully on display in front of the three handsome fae. With confidence, I sat down in front of the large wing-backed chair, feeling the soft fabric brush my back. The pounding rhythm of the guards’ efforts and the heavy breathing of the men poured into my ears in a sensual song. Even the small tink of my necklace shifting around on its chain lent its own erotic harmony. It felt so good to sway my hips to the song, slowly rolling my body like one long wave while my fingertips inched down the front and sides of my breast and stomach. I watched all of their darkening eyes while my hands caressed over my stomach once more, this time dipping down between my legs. Every place their eyes touched, my body felt it like a pair of hands gliding over my skin. Mendax leaned back farther onto the couch, letting out a low hum of approval while he freed himself from his undone pants, grabbing his cock roughly, his eyes boring into my skin. “Isn’t my queen fucking beautiful, Aurelius? Walter?” said the Unseelie prince hoarsely. “She is the only thing of value for any of us now, do you understand? To you, she is everything, and you will stop at nothing to keep her out of harm’s way.” “Of course, but—” Eli spat. “Come on, pet, don’t be shy now. Spread your legs and let us look at the sacred cunt we all worship,” Mendax cu...

“I’ll eagerly die loving you, Calypso,” he said, grasping my hip and pulling me forward so the base of his cock pressed against me. My eyes rolled to the back of my head, as it felt like a thousand sparklers had ignited inside me. A moan escaped my throat and I rocked forward, the tip of his velvety skin cresting his pants to tease my wetness. “I—gods, I am in love with you, Mendax,” I panted, completely lost to the ecstasy. He swore while grasping both my hips, lifting me just enough to free his hard cock. “Yes!” I cried out in pain and pleasure, feeling a thousand tingles enrapture my body when he pushed inside of me. Lost in the feeling of him sliding deeper into me, I hadn’t realized I was still squeezing the glass until red blood dripped down my wrist and Mendax’s chest, where the sharp edge had sliced into my hand. “I will return for you,” he whispered. “From the deepest corner of Tartarus, I would return for you.” I continued to ride him, experiencing the euphoria of fully letting myself go. “I won’t be able to go with you then either,” I muttered with a smile. “You will,” he grunted, closing his eyes as his head fell back against the sofa. “Oh god, Mendax.” A symphony erupted in the room. Everything twinkled and faded around me as the strongest orgasm of my life rippled over me like an atomic bomb. “That’s it, beautiful.” He quickened his pace. “Remind them who you belong to.” His hands tightened on my hips, holding them against him, moaning as he came inside me. I...

“Your head should be so full of planning and calculating, you don’t have space in there for emotions.” Commander Von’s shrill voice crawled through my head. I would do anything to never see that fae ever again. I had been ten when he arrived in the human realm to begin my training. I was also ten the first time he broke my nose and fed me the fae we had killed for dinner.

His body jerked before it went flat, literally dying from an abundance of pain his brain couldn’t override. I pulled the dragon’s claw free before I drove it back down into the top of his skull. Over and over again, I did this until a hand pressed lightly to my back and I turned, claw at the ready. Eli and Walter leaped back, eyes wide. “You—you good?” Eli asked nervously. “Mendax is rolling over in his grave with a stiff dick somewhere right now,” Walter said, looking much more relaxed with the scene before him than Eli.

“You don’t have to hold on to the evil side of you any longer,” he whispered. He leaned down to lightly brush his lips across mine. My own lips pushed into his, tasting his sunshine before I pulled away, caught off guard by the tenderness I felt in the kiss. I pushed back into him before he could move. It felt like the whole world—and all of my pain—blurred into the background. “I want to marry you, Eli,” I whispered. “As soon as we get into the castle, I want to make it official.” I loved him, and our lives were literally tied together already, but mostly I wanted to do this because it was the only way I could ever see my sister again. He smiled so hard, even the creases of his eyes made new smiles when he leaned in closer. “You have a heart of gold, Wife.” He pressed a kiss to my lips, then my forehead. “Once we are married, all of this darkness will be gone from inside of you. I will do anything to make you happy,” he said as he pressed his mouth to mine in a sweet kiss. “Married or not, my darkness and I will still come inside her,” added a deep, gravelly voice I would recognize anywhere. Malum Mendax.

I couldn’t think enough to form words. There in front of me stood the man of my dreams and nightmares. How many times could one person play dead? Perhaps he should have been given the nickname of pet.

Mendax watched me with interest. “Yes, and it is the same for the Unseelie royals,” he replied. “They are automatically granted admission to Tartarus, no matter how good they have been.” He stared straight through me while everyone else just watched. “Adversely, they work as the other realm’s punishment or peace, depending on what would be most torturous or joyful to that particular fae,” said Eli. “So, you went to hell and came back,” I mumbled, unable to peel my eyes from him. “I’ve told you from the beginning, there was nothing that would stop me from returning to you,” Mendax answered.

“She’s right. Who will I fight if the two of you don’t return?” Mendax said before slapping Walter on the back and slapping Eli’s cheek lightly. Eli straightened and moved toward Mendax until Walter stepped in the middle.

Thinking he was gone forever had allowed me to see how strongly I felt for him. How much I wanted him. I had shown him glimpses of my darkest parts, and he had begged for more. I knew he could handle me. Passion and danger filled every moment we were together, and I loved it. I craved the chaos. But there was another side of me too, and that side needed the tenderness that I found in Eli. The parts of me that wanted Eli weren’t just crazed with lust or anger-fueled hate. Those parts still laughed and smiled. They felt cared for and loved. They felt good. My untrusting mind began to spin. It didn’t really matter, I reminded myself. What I wanted didn’t matter. I needed to get my heart and continue on.

At first, the heart did nothing. It pushed against my skin, making horrible squelching sounds, and I began to worry I had miscalculated, that possibly it had been twenty years and not nineteen and eight months…but then it all happened. My chest burned like a fire was erupting when the smallest crack appeared in my skin, no bigger than a quarter. The heart in my hands moved to the opening and slid in, looking like a deflated balloon, until it was completely inside my chest. The fissure sealed up with a pop, and I felt my chest fill as I gulped for breath. It was finished. I had done it. “How do you feel? Are you okay?” questioned Eli as both he and Saracen gawked. “Do you need anything?” Walter asked. “Show us a trick, pet,” Mendax said from behind.

The tension between all of us was explosive. Aurelius had just watched the love of his life snap his mother’s neck while he restrained her. I had just watched his mother kill Walter. It was the same as him doing it as far as I was concerned. My patience was running thin. I didn’t like the way he looked at her. But even worse, I didn’t like the way my pet looked at him. Especially now. I thought the goddess was devious and enrapturing before, but now? Now I was infatuated beyond anything the realms have ever seen. How was it possible to be so completely bewitched by a human? I called her pet, but it was I who followed behind at her heels. I was the one with the leash tied to her short, immortal life.

Mendax took up the space behind me, placing his hands on my hips just before his firm chest pressed against my back. Eli glared at Mendax, then stepped in closer at my front, blocking me in. “You need to take this damn armor so we can go somewhere and figure out how to break your bond.” “How to sever your tie,” Mendax enunciated as he pressed more of his muscled body against my back. “Well, then you need your armor too, since if you die, I die,” I said, moving from Mendax toward Eli. “What am I supposed to do, wear them both?” I scoffed. They were being ridiculous. “You know their armor is weak and flimsy, just like their men,” Mendax purred at my ear. “Take mine. It’s always hard for you.” Eli rolled his eyes but decided to use this to his advantage. “No matter what happens, I will be here for you. Anything you need from me.” Eli leaned against me, his thighs pressing against mine. “I will protect you, armored or not.” Every nerve in my body was overwhelmed with the sensation of both fae sandwiching my body between theirs. The smell of smoke and fresh citrus lingered as Eli’s hand brushed over my hair. At the same moment, Mendax moved his free hand up and over the side of my neck, leaning down to whisper in my ear. “Go on, Cal. Take it.” His deep voice poured through my brain like hot soup. “Do it for me.” Eli’s thumb grazed my bottom lip. “Let me know that you still love me.” My body shivered and thrummed, filled with a new energy. A body now covered in black and gold ar...

“No,” Eli sighed. “It looks like we are going on a scavenger hunt to the Lake of Sheridon before we face the Fates…and your father,” Eli stated. “My father…” “Has summoned us to face our judgment before the Fates,” Mendax said. “What—what will happen then?” I asked, doom souring my stomach. “They will choose which one of us will die,” Eli responded as he looked to Mendax. “And sever the bond.” “Break the tie,” Mendax growled back at Eli with a look that told me we’d be lucky to even make it to the Fates without him killing Eli. “Surely there’s another way,” I said with a laugh. They both turned to me, deadly serious. “Fae law isn’t like laws of the human realm. It is written in magic. It is unbreakable and unbendable. There is no getting out of this. By the end of this, either Aurelius or I will be dead,” Mendax said seriously.