For the Love of Cupidity Read online

  When I come again, the orgasm is intense, spreading through me from head to toe until I become jelly in his arms. He pushes his hips up hard, buries his face against my neck, and finds his own release with the sexiest damn groan in the world.

  Totally spent, I flop my head and arms onto the counter, but my belly is seriously heavy hanging down like this, so I grudgingly go upright again with Okot’s help. When my legs shake a bit, Okot laughs and kisses me sweetly on the lips. Keeping a firm hold on my arms, he uses a towel to clean us both off, and then he lowers a dress over me and starts doing up the ties.

  “You’re so sweet to me,” I tell him, my eyes still shining with that post-orgasmic bliss.

  “You are my beloved,” he says, like that explains everything.

  And maybe it does.

  Chapter 3

  When we finally make our way out of the bathroom, dawning sunlight kisses the sky, basking our den in a lavender glow.

  Sitting at the table, Okot serves me up my breakfast, which I inhale in about two point seven minutes.

  I’m wiping my lips on a cloth napkin when the rest of my family comes barreling in from outside.

  “Mommy! I flew! I flew!”

  She races up to me, hopping up and down on her bare feet excitedly.

  I beam, watching as her curls bounce with her movement, her cheeks flushed with excitement and the kiss of cool air outside.

  “Already?” I ask, impressed. “That was fast.”

  She runs over to Okot next, who’s at the stove, cooking everyone else a “normal” breakfast, as they call it. I really don’t know why they refuse to eat the limes and garlic toast. It’s delicious.

  “Daddy! Did you hear? I flew!”

  Okot sets the utensil down and lifts her up. “I did hear. I am very proud of you,” he says, his voice filled with pride.

  I swear, every time I see my mates with our daughter, my ovaries start to throb. When we first had Amorette, I was worried that there would be jealousy, but that hasn’t been the case at all. It was never even an issue of exactly which genfin is her biological father, and Okot doesn’t see her as any less his just because she has a genfin tail. In their eyes, they’re all her daddies, and they work together as a perfect unit. Of course, she’s had them wrapped around her little red tail since birth.

  She climbs up Okot’s arms to his shoulders. “Yep! I did this!” she says, spreading out her arms and red wings. “Daddy Ro frew me in the air, and I fly-falled. Daddy Ev catched me.”

  I shoot a look at Sylred, and he scratches the back of his neck sheepishly. “They were being careful.”

  “Then, Daddy Ev let me climb on the roof and jump off!”

  None of my genfins will look me in the eye after that one.

  “Is that so?” I ask dryly. I’m not even surprised, to be honest.

  “Let’s eat before you get the genfins into any more trouble,” Okot tells her, his eyes sparkling with amusement.

  Amorette climbs down, and Okot starts loading everyone up with pancakes, which I politely decline. Pancakes for breakfast? Gross.

  I get up to pee again, and when I toddle back, I notice my cupid boss mark start glowing.

  “Again?” Sylred says, tilting his head at my arm when I return.

  “Yeah…”

  My mates all shoot me looks that I promptly pretend to be oblivious of.

  “You said you’d take time off,” Sylred reminds me.

  “I know, but I can’t just leave them hanging.”

  Guilt claws at me. Now that I know more about my cupid boss powers, I know that my mark starts glowing whenever there’s an issue in Cupidville.

  The only problem? I can’t actually go to Cupidville. Firstly, because I’m pregnant, and we don’t know how that will affect the baby. Secondly, we can’t have Ronak turning feral and not being able to snap out of his animal-state.

  I’ve been working remotely when an issue crops up. Usually, that’s okay, because I can call Sev here and delegate to him. But the mark has been glowing more incessantly lately, and Sev isn’t the most reliable or the most driven. He gets distracted by his dick a lot. Honestly, we’re probably two of the worst cupids in existence. And we’re in charge. It’s been a long three years.

  “Why don’t you take care of whatever it is that they need this time, and then tell them you’re on a break until the baby comes,” Sylred suggests.

  “Yes, my beloved. We want you relaxed,” Okot adds.

  “I’m totally relaxed,” I insist as I bite my nails.

  “You barely sleep more than two hours at a time,” Ronak rumbles, looking displeased.

  “That’s just because I have to get up to pee.”

  “You keep a pile of heart-shaped cupid paperwork shoved in the pantry, and you sneak in there to work when you think we aren’t looking,” Sylred says.

  “Umm…I’m just getting snacks?”

  They roll their eyes.

  “You’re scratching. A lot. Which you always do when you’re stressed,” Evert says, looking pointedly at my hand that’s…yep, it’s scratching my old itch. Dammit.

  I throw my hands up in frustration. “I can’t help it! I’m the boss. I have to, like, do stuff.”

  “How about asking Lex to help?” Sylred suggests.

  My stomach plummets at the thought of Lex, and I immediately start to shake my head. “She’s not my assistant anymore, you know that.”

  “Yeah, but you haven’t accepted another assistant, either. Besides, I’m sure she could help,” Sylred tells me gently.

  I sip on some spiced buttermilk that Okot made for me, watching as the five of them devour a huge stack of pancakes.

  “I know,” I say, looking down at my mug and picking at grains in the wooden table. “I just…I know it hurts her to come here. She tries to put on a good front, but I can tell. Plus, I can feel it. Her heartbreak. It makes me feel so bad, because it was my f—”

  “Don’t say it was your fault. The Horned Hook’s death was not your fault,” Evert glares at me. “The prince attacked, and Belren chose to take the hit.”

  It most decidedly was my fault, but this is an argument I’ll never win. We’ve had it for years.

  I sigh. “I don’t want to make her keep reliving it.”

  Ronak leans back, placing his arm over the back of my chair and toys with the ends of my pink hair. “It’s been three years,” he points out.

  “Yeah, and she’s still not okay,” I remind him. “She changed after Belren took the blast that would’ve hit her. I thought things would get better with time, but now I’m thinking that she’ll never be the same.”

  Amorette’s eyes bounce between us from her wooden highchair. “Whatcha talkin’ about?” she asks around a mouthful of food.

  “Don’t talk and chew,” Sylred reprimands, directing her attention away from our conversation by launching into the importance of keeping her wings clean.

  Ronak’s attention moves back to me. “Then maybe she doesn’t need time. Maybe she needs something else to keep her mind off it.”

  I shake my head. “Not yet. I’ll let her be for a while longer.”

  “Well, you’ve got to do something, because you’re working too much. That mark is gonna keep glowing at all hours of the day and night unless you get a better handle on things,” Evert says.

  Damn meddling mates. I’d argue more…if they weren’t right.

  Not that I’ll tell them that.

  Chapter 4

  Just thinking of all the crap I’ll probably be bombarded with is enough to make me want to crawl back into bed. I also don’t want to tell the cupids that I need a break, but the pointed looks from my mates lets me know that they aren’t going to let me put this off.

  “Fine, I’ll tell them I can work this one last time, but then I’m gonna take a week off after the baby is born.”

  “Twelve weeks,” Evert counters.

  “Are you insane? I can’t take twelve weeks off. I’m the freaking boss!” />
  “Ten,” Ronak says.

  “Three,” I retaliate.

  “Nine,” Sylred offers.

  These guys are freaking relentless. “Four. I’ll do a whole month. That’s a lot,” I say, trying to convince them.

  The guys all exchange a look, and then Okot leans forward and picks up my hand. The gesture is sweet and makes me relax a bit from being ganged-up on. He strokes the pad of his finger over my palm, softening me immediately. “Take eight weeks, my beloved.”

  I smile dreamily at him. “Okay.”

  My genfins blink in surprise, but Okot just smiles and leans back, looking proud.

  “What the fuck? Why did you agree to him so fast?” Evert demands.

  “Daddy said a bad word again!” Amorette giggles.

  “Because. She was taken care of by him this morning,” Sylred says pointedly.

  Sex code talk in front of a toddler has become a necessity.

  Evert rolls his eyes. “Well, then we should’ve let the fucking lamassu open up the debate. She would’ve folded at twelve weeks right off the bat.”

  “I would not have,” I argue. I probably would have.

  Evert gives me a look. “You always cave to whoever…took care of you, last.”

  I shrug. Okay, fine. He’s not wrong.

  “Well, eight weeks. That’s the deal,” I say, taking another sip of buttermilk. Sniffing it slightly, I reach for the salt and pepper and dump some in. Swishing it around, I take another drink and sigh in contentment. Much better.

  When my cupid boss mark starts glowing more brightly, my mates gives me sharp looks.

  “Fine! I’ll call Sev and tell him.”

  “Ooh! Can I play with Sev? He talks funny,” Amorette says excitedly.

  “Absolutely not,” Evert says, standing and plucking her from her seat.

  Her bottom lip pokes out. “Why not?”

  “Because he’s a fucking terrible influence.”

  Yeah, the irony is not lost on me.

  “Daddy said a bad word again!”

  “Sorry!” Evert barks, warding off all of our exasperated looks as he ducks out of the kitchen with a sticky Amorette in tow.

  “Take care of it, little demon. Today,” Ronak says in his bossy tone, which he softens by using his draped arm to pull me close and land a kiss to the top of my head.

  Then he stands and follows Evert out, while Sylred starts clearing the table. I get up to help him, but he shakes his head. “No. Sit.”

  “I can help,” I insist. “I’m pregnant, not an invalid.”

  “The last time you started helping with the dishes, you started dry heaving,” he points out.

  “Yeah, well…as long as there aren’t any gross food particles stuck to any of plates, I can totally do the dishes.”

  He cocks a blonde brow, the corner of his lip tilting up. “I’m pretty sure our dirty food plates are going to have food on them.”

  “Fine. Then I’ll wipe the table,” I say, moving to grab the rag.

  But the moment I pick it up, Okot reaches out and grips it. I don’t want to let it go, though, so we have a weird, super mellow tug-of-war contest before he gently peels my latched-on fingers from the rag and takes it from me.

  “When you wiped the table down two days ago, you started crying,” he gently reminds me.

  I huff out an annoyed breath. “That’s because I found a moisture ring stained into the wood! It was upsetting!”

  “Wasn’t it just—”

  I cut him off. “Yes, it just ended up being syrup. But still. It could have been a moisture ring.”

  Now both of them are trying not to laugh at me.

  “Fine. I’ll just go sweep.”

  They exchange a look. I can see it in their faces. They want to argue again, but they’re the nice ones, so they just shuffle awkwardly on their feet and make things weird.

  I clench my teeth. “What?”

  “It’s just…well, umm…” A red blush creeps over Sylred’s cheeks as he trails off.

  “Just say it! Why can’t I freaking sweep?”

  Ronak comes walking in, heading for his mug that he’d left behind. “Because your belly is so big that the broom handle runs into it, and you can’t see your feet, so you end up missing what little dirt you do manage to get.”

  He walks back out before I can reply. I feel a kick, like the baby is agreeing with him. Not cool.

  “Yeah? Well…” Not having even a semblance of a comeback, I trail off, and the front door shuts behind a chuckling Ronak. “Asshole alpha,” I grumble.

  I eye Sylred and Okot, who have suddenly become very busy with cleaning. So busy, in fact, that they’re avoiding my looks.

  Cowards.

  “Fine. I guess I’ll just go into the front room and do cupid stuff,” I say, nearly pouting.

  Sylred turns and nods with a relieved look on his face. “Good. It’s better to get it all taken care of before the baby comes. Which should be any day now, judging by your, umm, size…”

  He blinks, a horrified look coming over his face as he realizes what he just said.

  “What’s wrong with my size?”

  “Nothing,” he says quickly. Too freaking quickly.

  “Are you saying I’m fat?”

  Sylred makes a choking sound like he’s suffocating on his own stupid words and hurriedly shakes his head. “No, no, no. That’s not what I’m saying. I wouldn’t say that.”

  My eyes narrow on him. “You wouldn’t say that? So then, it’s true, but you just wouldn’t say it, because you’re too nice? Is that it? Is that what you’re saying?”

  His brown eyes widen. “I, umm, you…ahhh…what?”

  “My beloved.”

  Okot’s voice cuts through the super hormonal haze of anger, and I realize that my hands are smoking. Anger always sets off my wonky demon powers. Go figure. As soon as my gaze flicks to the lamassu, Sylred slinks away, practically running towards the sink.

  Okot moves in front of me and touches my belly. “Take a deep breath, my beloved.”

  I do, and the hellish smoke dissipates.

  “Now listen,” he says, grasping my neck. “You are beautiful. You are round with our child, looking like a goddess. We do not think you are fat, because you aren’t, and even if you were, you would still be beautiful to us. Understand?”

  I slowly nod, the last of the irrational anger expelling out of me as he trails his thumb over my bottom lip. He just gave me two orgasms not even an hour ago, so I sort of just melt at everything he says and does.

  “Good,” he says, placing a kiss on my forehead. “Now, go take care of your cupid work, and let them know about taking time off. When you are finished, I will rub your feet.”

  I find myself turning around and walking out of the kitchen before he even finishes his sentence. I can’t resist a good foot rub.

  Chapter 5

  When I’m settled on the cushioned couch, I take a deep breath and rub at the cupid boss mark before calling Sev’s name.

  He appears in a cloud of pink, and I open my mouth to say hello, only to stop short.

  “Hey—Why are you naked? Again?” I ask as I slap a hand over my eyes.

  “Fooking right, are you mad in it? Always the worst shite timing, boss.”

  “Mates!”

  My yell brings all four of my mates inside, and then there’s a lot of cursing.

  “What the fuck? Why is your dick pointing at my mate?” Evert growls.

  “She fooking called me right in the middle of me pokin’ the fud, get it? I weren’t finished!” Sev defends, his hands clasped over his junk.

  I hear a sigh. “Syl, go get the cupid some damn pants,” Ronak orders.

  Only when Sylred returns, and I hear Sev pulling on clothes, do I remove the hand from in front of my eyes.

  I try to cross my arms in front of me, but my belly is really sticking out, so I end up just pushing my enormous boobs together.

  Evert, of course, latches onto the view a
nd doesn’t look away, even after I drop my arms. He’s been very appreciative of my extra-large boobs that I’ve gained during pregnancy and never misses an opportunity to ogle them.

  When he finally raises his blue eyes to meet mine, I shoot him a flirtatious wink. His gaze instantly goes hungry, and he coughs out some wayward Lust while fixing the front of his pants.

  When he sees me shift on the couch and press my legs together, he smirks, making a dimple pop out on his cheek behind the black scruff on his jaw.

  If I could get off this couch without help, I’d totally jump him right now.

  “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’ll be forced to take you back to our bedroom,” he growls.

  I reach out my hands. “Sounds great. Someone help me up.”

  Sylred laughs. “No. You called Sev so you could do whatever Cupidville needs, remember? You can have sex after.”

  “Don’t be a right fooking radge. If she wants to fook, I’ll be happy to wait and watch,” he says with a wink.

  Ronak and Evert both growl.

  “Too far,” I mumble to Sev.

  “Where’s Amorette?” I ask, looking at my mates. “So help me, Ronak, if you left her on the roof…”

  “Relax, she’s with the gardener. She’s helping him prune.”

  “You mean she’s digging up all of our flowers.”

  “Probably.”

  “Alright,” I clap. “Everyone who isn’t a cupid go do…whatever it is you were doing, while I talk to Sev.”

  My mates leave, but not before Evert comes up to me, letting his tail trail across my thighs. “I’ll be in as soon as he leaves, Scratch,” he says with a hungry promise.

  My heart flutters in my chest and I nod, thinking about all of the hot, naughty sex things we can do. Then he walks out, leaving me in a puddle of need, and Sev arches a brow at the serious lust waves I’m giving off right now.

  “Good fooking grief, boss. Get a handle on it, yeah? You’re making my tadger stiff again.”

  I wrinkle my nose. “Don’t talk about your stiffies.”