Fairyville (Fairyville #1)(58)
Author: Emma Holly

It was this that finally made him pull away from Bryan.

He turned to her, his head swimming slightly from the lengthy kiss. She was sitting cross-legged on the mattress, watching them quietly.

"Zoe," he said, his hand sliding up her arm.

She shook her head as if her name had been a question. Wondering if she felt left out, he squeezed her shoulder.

"No," she said. "I don’t want you to kiss me now. That’s how tonight should end. Watching you two was… really special."

Despite her apparent calm, her voice choked up on the final words.

"Zoe." He swept his thumb over her clavicle.

She covered his hand with a shaky laugh. "I’m sorry. I’m not upset, not the way you think. I… just love the way you look at him. I love the way you look at each other. I thought it would hurt if I ever saw that, but it doesn’t."

Alex sat up, needing to hold her no matter what she said. "Something hurts, or you wouldn’t be fighting tears."

Her forehead rolled against his chest. "Watching you and Bryan made me realize something I wasn’t ready to face."

"I haven’t stopped loving you, Zoe. I never will."

She pulled back to smile softly. "And I’ll never stop loving you, but we’re not in love with each other anymore. I think we turned the last page in that chapter back at the falls."

Was she saying she thought he was in love with Bryan? Alex didn’t know how to parse feelings the way she did. He opened his mouth but could think of nothing appropriate to let out.

"Watching you made me ache," she said, lightly touching her breastbone. "But not with jealousy. There’s someone I want to open my heart to the way you and Bryan have. It’s stupid, I guess. I feel safe with him, even though I know I’m not." She shook her head at herself. "I’m actually glad I’m in love with him. I’m just pretty sure he doesn’t feel the same way."

Zoe might not have been jealous, but Alex was small enough to experience a bite of anger when she spoke of loving someone else. "It’s that bastard Magnus, isn’t it?"

Her smile tugged ruefully higher on one side. " ‘Fraid so."

"How can he not feel the same?" Bryan blurted out. "You’re really great."

Zoe laughed at that and wiped the corners of her eyes. "Thank you, but Magnus has a lot of women to choose from, and a lot of secrets—neither of which he wants to give up for me."

"Secrets," Alex said, his brain eager to sharpen on a problem it could actually do something about. "If it’s secrets you need to uncover, you went to bed with the right two men."

Magnus’s eyes blinked open and immediately stung with sweat. His skin throbbed all over, as if every inch of his body were about to spasm in cl**ax. He shoved his hand under the towel to make it happen, then realized his energy was already blazing like a sun. If he worked himself to release, he’d as good as turn on a search light for his mother’s minions to follow. No way could they miss the galaxy-sized flare of ecstasy he’d sent up.

He forced his trembling hand away from his erection and sat up, wincing as his balls shifted position.

He hadn’t planned on being reminded what a fairy orgy was like, nor would he have guessed two humans could jog his memory. The strength of the urge surprised him, but part of him wanted to drive to that hotel and take them all himself, just let loose of everything but being satisfied. He’d been careful for so long, concerned about sparing Zoe’s feelings. But if tonight were any indication, she might like that side of his nature.

Magnus thrust his hands into his hair and groaned. If anyone had told him he could want Zoe more, he would have sworn it was impossible. He’d never get her out of his system now, never stop wanting to explore every twist and turn of her fantasies. She was his match in so many ways. Even the thrill she found in pleasing another he understood. The thought that they could never truly be together nearly drove him mad.

Zoe was enough to be an orgy all by herself.

And then a smile broke across his face, as unstoppable as sunrise.

She was in love with him. Magnus hated that Alex was going to poke into his secrets, though chances were his safeguards would hold against the changeling’s untrained powers. What mattered was that Zoe was in love with him. His grin stretched wide enough to bare his molars. Regardless of how he’d disappointed her, she wanted to open her heart to him.

The Will-Be shimmered on the edge of vision like a heat mirage. Magnus hadn’t called it consciously. It was simply drawn to his joy and eager to deliver some unmet desire. Even as he wondered what freak of fortune might unfold, a loud crash from his yard brought him to his feet. Not with fear, though. Nothing bad could happen if Zoe loved him, especially if she loved him better than her old boyfriend.

Indulging in a chuckle that was purely male, he went outside to see what had transpired.

He found a pizza delivery car smashed into his scrubby yard’s one large rock. The dazed but unharmed young driver was scratching his head over the wreck.

"Dude," he said on seeing Magnus, not seeming to register that his clothing consisted of a towel. "I don’t even know how I did that. My radio is, like, totally crushed."

"You can use my phone," Magnus offered. "Call your boss and a tow truck."

"That’d be good," said the teenager, still sounding spaced. He looked at Magnus. "I don’t suppose you’re hungry, ‘cuz I’m, like, never gonna make these deliveries now. No charge, of course."

Magnus let out a startled laugh. Clearly, this was the Will-Be’s idea of making up for his missed pizza night at Zoe’s.

"As a matter of fact, pizza is my favorite midnight snack." He smiled at the boy, knowing he probably deserved some recompense for being yanked into this. "Why don’t you come inside, and I’ll tell you a few of my secrets for getting anything you want while working half as hard."

"Cool," said the boy. "Just, you know, put on some pants."

Magnus swallowed the last bite of pizza-with-everything and slid the other two pies the delivery boy had given him into his fridge. He’d enjoyed playing magical mentor to the laid-back lad, who probably didn’t suspect half the value of what he’d been told. His stomach full, his cheer restored, Magnus felt more himself than he had in days. He even had pizza for breakfast to look forward to. With that prospect before him, any problem seemed solvable.

Hadn’t he learned that nothing was impossible to a man who believed? Magnus didn’t have to know how he’d be with Zoe, he simply had to know he would. With that assurance trembling to be born inside him, all was right with his world.