The Demon Queen's Duty

[Madison]

I was in my bathroom, working on applying my makeup. It had been about a month since I’d joined the Vasili’s household and he’d finally gotten me a meeting with the doctor who killed my mother. We were seeing him in an hour and I was pretty excited.

The time with the Vasili had been emotionally trying. I missed my friends and my boyfriend so much. My harem and the succubae in the Vasili’s harem helped… well… except Poppy. She tolerated me, but we still weren’t friendly.

As I worked on my eyeshadow, two arms wrapped around me. The familiar feeling of Bryant kissing my neck softly made me giggle. I leaned into him and breathed in the scent of my love, Ford.

I relaxed and closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see Bryant’s baby blue eyes and dark blonde hair when smelling Ford’s scent. I wanted to feel the thick arms of my boyfriend, not the much smaller ones of one of the most annoying wolves I knew. But, it was what it was.

When I first got my harem, I requested either loyalty to me or an oath to my goddess proclaiming their loyalty to Ford, the Ulric. Bryant was a little shit and refused loyalty to me. Bethany, who goes by Annie, preferred vowing loyalty to her king rather than an unknown demon queen. I bound them to Ford and his wolf, Conric.

It created the ability for them to contact him and for him to enter their bodies. We found the maximum amount of time was two hours. After that, he was pulled back to his body and unable to contact them for a whole day.

If I’d known, I would’ve asked Will to be bound to Ford. Since he was Ford’s cousin, they had a lot of similarities. That could’ve caused some confusion, though. I don’t know that I would’ve been able to resist Ford’s advances if he were in Will’s body.

 “How’re you doin’, baby? He treatin’ you good today?” He murmured into my ear.

I smiled. “Of course he is, honey. Today, he’s taking me to a camp to meet the doctor who killed my mom. I’m going to kill the guy while I’m there. It’ll feel so good to finish my revenge. Then, lunch with Dennis.”

“Happy birthday, baby.” He rocked me.

“Did you remember or did Serena remind you?” I giggled, turning in his arms and wrapping mine around his waist.

Bryant was so short compared to Ford. Or maybe my mind was tricking me. Everyone was tall to me, but I remembered Ford being massive. When I was being held like this, with my eyes closed, smelling Ford’s scent, I would remind myself of what he looked like.

He was over six and a half feet tall with thick, strongman style muscles. His hair was a glossy black, his nose aristocratic, his lips soft, full, and as delicious as every inch of him. Ford’s hands were huge and slightly rough in just the right way. His fingers were thick and long. Goddess, I missed that man.

Ford was my chosen mate. The Ulric, king of the werewolves for this state and all the states that touched it. He could only stay here though; the borders were closed. No supernaturals in or out. Like me, he had to hope his people were safe outside the state.

Bryant rested his chin on top of my head. At 5’2”, I was the shortest member of the household. Bryant was about 5’11”, making him one of the shortest males. Rafe was the shortest male at 5’8”. He and I would often complain about being the shortest people in the house. It was how we bonded. That and our mutual attraction to Landry.

“A little of both. I got you a present.” Ford purred

“And how will you give it to me?” I asked.

“The clearin’, this afternoon.”

“Ford, you can’t come out here. It’s dangerous, my love.” I reprimanded him.

“It’ll be there. I won’t. Don’t worry, baby.” He kissed my forehead. “I gotta go. We’re hittin’ a place with some information on the next camp we’re raidin’. Love you, my sexy little baby.”

“I love you, too, my delicious man.” I sighed and released Bryant, stepping away before he was back in control of his body.

I opened my eyes and returned to putting my makeup on and brushing out my dark auburn hair. Bryant nodded to me in the mirror, and retreated into the bedroom. I heard him apologize to Winston and Will. They’d been talking with him when Ford had taken over. It was something everyone was getting used to.

At least once a day, Ford was taking over Bryant or Annie to give me hugs and kisses, reminding me that he loved me and was waiting for me. It was his reaction to finding out about the agreement I’d made with Anders. If the Vasili was going to try and take me, then Ford planned to make sure I remembered what I had waiting at home. Like I could ever forget.

Once this was all over, I was going to mark Ford as my own. I didn’t mind losing the chance to have demon babies. My worries about my male mate were long gone. If I found him later, I’d apologize, but never regret letting him go. I could go find my female mate and mark her, too. I looked forward to the day I was finally out of this house.

Everything had run a little smoother and been more relaxed after my agreement with Anders. There was no pressure to pretend and he was a lot less aggressive. It didn’t matter in the long run. My heart belonged to Ford and there was nothing Anders could do about it.

I finished getting ready and exited the bathroom. Celia and Garrett were in the armchair cuddling close. It made me smile.

The recovery of my harem had been amazing to watch. Celia had gone from frail and sickly to vibrant and gorgeous in a matter of weeks. The wolves and Winston had all filled out. I’d forgotten how thick male bears could get. He almost tripled in size in just a few weeks. I was thrilled at the changes.

All of the cats were often hanging out together. They had their own little club with Landry, where they sat around making fun of everything. She was an honorary cat and, I suspected, a little in love with Rafe.

My entire harem would work out with me in the mornings. We got up early every day for sparring, running, and some other exercises for muscle building. In the evenings they would train together while I was working with Poppy to get Anders’ educated and trained.

His tailwork was improving. There was a workshop on the property where we practiced. It was a rule among my people that only full blooded demons were permitted to witness training. There was another type of training for mixed demons. I hated it, but I was supposed to be teaching him in the traditional fashion

It turned out, Poppy was extremely skilled at fighting in her natural form. It was almost like fighting with Indie again. Anders seemed to enjoy demonstrations and asked the other girls to join in training.

Gail declined, but Trista would join us every other day. I quietly trained with Landry in the woods most evenings, when I was done with Anders. I wasn’t going to allow her to be untrained because of a stupid ancient rule. It was in my power as queen to change the rules I didn’t like, and I didn’t like this one.

We would all take turns giving Anders history and cultural lessons. He learned to like a lot of traditional foods among our people and learned some maneuvers which were often used to heighten the flavors of the energy he was taking in. The more he learned, the more relaxed he got. It made the house a lot more comfortable for everyone.

Drayce finally started trusting me and would often talk to me about different things like his past, his interests, his relationship with Anders, and what he really wanted in life. Drayce and Anders decided to keep their relationship from their father. I agreed it would be for the best if he was as much of an asshole as he seemed.

With a warm smile, I looked around the bedroom at my harem. My friends. They’d all been working diligently to gather information and it was helping greatly with the efforts of the Helvegr. We’d made so much progress, freeing everyone seemed like a very real possibility. Then we could all find a home to settle in and have happy lives far from the tortures, fear, and hate we had to deal with over the last few years.

 But first, I was going to finish what I started four years ago when I began hunting the people who killed my mother. I was going to finally have the peace of mind that comes with knowing every one of those bastards was dead. My smile turned dark as I headed to my closet, preparing to claim the life of my next victim. 

Dr. Caleb Nettleston.