A/N: Somewhat not suitable for work. (NSFW). Also see author's note at the end of the chapter.

2933 words

Posted 6-17-22

"I think that's the nicest and sweetest thing that I have ever heard. Not just to me, but heard anywhere. I don't think a romantic comedy could have aired a better moment than this. And saying that. Well I'd say you were about to get very lucky." If I weren't a combination of happy, hungry, and horny I would have probably cried at the sentiment. And obviously since I just ate so I know it's not food I'm hungry for. I dive for him and press my lips against his. I figured he wouldn't be the one to initiate the kiss after all.

After he moans, I know the kiss has become so much more. I know I am also feeding off of his growing lust as well, perhaps even instilling some more lust within him. I back off on my magic, pulling in his lust like the drain underneath a water faucet that is turned on the bare minimum to produce only a small stream of his essence. After I am sure my Succubus magic is in check I focus on the magic of his luscious lips and how they feel pressed against my own. My toes curl, and I deepen the kiss by licking my way into his mouth. This prompts him to remove the remaining space between us and press his body fully against mine. I'm so overheated at this point, and I have to take a break and pull away simply because we do both have to be able to breathe. I set back in my original spot once more and stare into his gorgeous blue eyes while both of our shoulders shake as we gasp to get some, much needed, oxygen in our lungs. He is looking straight at me but he doesn't appear to be focusing on me right now.

"Get lucky? I didn't say it to–" He pauses, and I can tell he is searching for the words to say.

"I...I'm sorry." Does he not want me? Was I getting carried away? Was this all too much too soon? I cast my eyes downward to the bedspread as guilt and self doubt begin to overwhelm me. "Obviously, I got carried away. I guess a side effect of not kissing anyone for the past few days, and my period being over, made me horny."

"No, no. Haven, you misunderstand me. I do want you." He sits up on his knees, and my eyes trail to his lap. Yeah, he is most definitely aroused. In fact, I'm pretty damn sure due to the size of the tent pitching in his track pants that he is more well endowed than the few others that I have seen before. If we had been laying down beside each other instead of seated on the edge of the bed I would have felt his growing erection stirring against my stomach as we kissed. I look back up at his face and grin sheepishly as heat rushes to my cheeks, because obviously I got caught checking out his package. "I guess I am going to have to show you."

Before I can ask, 'show me what?' He starts pulling his pants down, and I find myself licking my lips in anticipation. The sight of the shapely defined V of his adonis belt has my core clenching in needy response. Then he slides his hand into his boxers and pulls out his cock. It's definitely large like I expected it to be, both in girth and length, but that is obviously not what he was showing me. Up and down on the outside of his penis are more diamond shaped scales. "They're beautiful." I found myself saying. I mean they are kind of weird too, but I find myself intrigued more than weirded out.

Then he grabs my hand and has me touch them. "This is what I was wanting you to see." He groans as my fingers make contact with his skin. The texture of each scale is both soft and, while the edges aren't sharp, they definitely have a defined, edged surface against his velvet skin. "I was hoping it wouldn't scare you. I've had some of my former lovers say that it reminded them of piercings they had experienced when they sought out a sexual partner Earthside."

"Oh, so..."

"They add extra stimulation during sex." He offers helpfully. It's rather endearing to see, despite his age, a slight blush stain his tawny cheeks.

I've never thought about a lover having their penis pierced before. I have thought about men having them in general and cringed in immediate sympathy at the thought of the pain, but this is definitely not something I expected to come across myself. I take a deep breath before I express my thoughts. "Hm. So, I'm definitely not mad at the idea. However–"

"However, you have only had one lover before, and you aren't sure that after the long five year stint you want to have sex with me first." Taehyung tucks himself away, and I'm a little sad at being deprived of the sight. He chuckles and presses a sweet peck to my lips. "No worries, Haven, I'm not offended. I kind of expected it to be honest."

"I promise I am excited about the prospect, and I can't wait until we do have our moment together." I smile up at him brilliantly.

"So, before we ate lunch you were saying you wanted to tell me something." He reminds me.

I mentally shake my head to pull my thoughts away from the horny side and do my best to refocus. "Oh, uh, so... I think I am ready to go back out there and see them. I think I've gotten over everything that was bothering me, and I think I was able to sort out why I was so upset and honestly heartbroken about it all." Then I smile up at him. "Honestly, I think you helped a little bit with that."

He smiles warmly at me. "Then let's take our dirty dishes from lunch down together."

"Um. Okay." I'd like to say that I didn't drag my heels on my way to my bedroom door. The door that led me to my other mates, and alternately led me to having to pull up my big girl panties and admit that I was wrong for reacting the way I did.

"We're coming out. If you aren't in the living room you might want to make your way there now." I heard Taehyung's voice in my head, which meant I most definitely had taken down the mental wall I constructed around my thoughts. Perhaps being able to hear their thoughts might help me more easily navigate this hard as hell conversation that we all are about to have.

Tae led the way and held my hand as we walked out the door. I welcomed the warmth of his hand in mine. I would probably be clinging onto it like a security blanket during this whole conversation. So, I'm glad he was the one to initiate the action.

As I walked through the door I saw that Seokjin, Yoongi, Jimin, and Jungkook were all standing there. "Um, where are Hoseok and Namjoon at?"

"Hoseok is–" Seokjin started to respond, but was interrupted by the door opening.

"Hoseok is right here, Buttercup." He smirked at me in response.

"Buttercup?" I arch an eyebrow up at him. He was calling me Pet not that long ago, so why did the endearment change?

"I'd like to explain it to you later if you don't mind." Hoseok responded in my mind. I knew he must have projected it to me alone since no one else responded to it. I nodded to him in response.

"So, um. Give me a moment, and please don't interrupt me. I'd like to try to get this all out at once." I wait for them all to nod their heads before taking a breath to help encourage me to say what I need to say. "I'm sorry for overreacting, and secluding myself for almost a week. I understand now that while I could blame PMS for part of it, that wasn't the core of the issue.

"When you seemed to react so hesitantly the moment after I unveiled my unique irises to you all my gut reaction was to think that you were judging me by my parentage." I honestly originally thought they responded rather coldly, but I wasn't about to say that since that could have been a fabrication of my hormones in play. "Something I obviously can't control. That's what I was reacting to, but that's not why it bothered me so much. I think it bothered me because I thought you had all deemed in that miniscule moment that whether I was your fated mate or not no longer mattered." I take a deep breath and mentally ask them to not react yet, to wait until I get this all out.

"It felt like I was the enemy. I was the face of the people that tortured you physically and emotionally in your years before you all decided to become demons. It wasn't right to think that, but I had a hard time working that out on my own because I didn't have anyone as a sounding board to hear me out." I pause to look over at Taehyung. "I could have probably talked it out with Tae, but it didn't feel right to do that. Also, I was so hurt and heartbroken that I didn't want to hear your names mentioned or anything." I cringe after I say that.

I clear my throat. "I've never been in an adult relationship before. Now, I have to juggle seven of them at the same time. I'm probably going to make other mistakes along the way." I frown again. "I hope despite that I can still have each of you by my side so I can learn from those mistakes the proper way."

Jimin steps forward. "I don't want to speak for everyone, but trust me when I say that I know how miserable and heartbroken everyone has been ever since you locked yourself up in your room. No, sorry, ever since you got angry at our collective lack of a proper reaction. I also know that we are all currently shocked by the fact that you felt like you had to apologize." He reaches out to me, and when he grasps my hand in his I peer directly into his cornflower blue eyes. "We are the ones who are sorry. We never meant to make you feel like that. It was just a lot to take at once."

He pauses for a second, and I think that he is going to let someone else speak. Instead though he clears his throat and continues on, "I'd like to have a private moment for you to learn more about our people. I want to tell you all about the Spring Court, and everyone I know of in the true royal line. Of course that might have changed since we were last in Mesmere.

"I'd also like to teach you the Fae abilities you might hold. The Spring Fae are quite skilled with Flora and healing spells. Since, you are technically a true heir to the throne I'd imagine you might just be gifted in both." He stressed the word technically to prove he understood that I didn't want anything to do with the throne.

It might have been something I said in my instantaneous anger, but I still meant it. After all there is no way in Hell they would accept a potential Queen who was also a Succubus. I internally snort at my own unintentional phrasing.

Seokjin stepped forward next. "Oh Sweetheart, I was so worried." He pulled me into his arms, and although I stumbled slightly I still willingly welcomed the embrace. "You weren't eating at all those first few days."

I laugh at his earnestness about my appetite. I pull away to look up into his teal eyes. "I had some snacks I tucked away. I also drank water from the tap in the bathroom. It might have not been healthy, but trust me I made sure not to starve myself or get dehydrated."

Yoongi stepped forward, so I pulled myself out of Seokjin's arms to focus on him. "My alter wouldn't let me transform while you were in your room."

"What?!?!" Apparently, I'm not the only one who didn't know this because the others all turned to look at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion written on their faces.

"Oh, so that's why you didn't do the thing you normally do." Jimin says as if he understands why he didn't transform now.

It's probably the most inarticulate thing that any of them have ever said before, which has me retorting out loud. "Well, that was about as clear as mud."

Everyone chuckles in response. I have to admit. It's nice to hear that again. "If Yoongi ever shifts into his alter, goes outside, and finds a place to sit it means he is thinking heavily about something that's bothering him." Jimin explains his reaction.

Yoongi shutters his eyes slightly closed in a glare that has no real heat within it. "I could have told her that myself."

Jimin just shrugs in response.

Jungkook steps forward next. "Um, until today I stayed transformed as my rabbit alter. It was really selfish, but I was hoping that maybe if you opened your door just wide enough and spied me as my alter that you would invite me in."

I don't admit that the idea of cuddling with him as a bunny while I was all doom and gloom was actually quite tempting. Jimin must catch onto my emotions though, because he offers a wink to tell me that he won't share that particular piece of information.

I turn to Seokjin. "Um, how did you feed the bottomless pit over here while he was a rabbit?"

Jungkook muttered under his breath. "Hmph. Bottomless pit."

We all ignore that, and Seokjin replies. "Well, he didn't exactly have the teeth to eat meat. So I bought him a bowl and would constantly put salad in it."

"You bought him a pet bowl?!?! This I have to see." Tae releases my hand and Seokjin takes it so he can escort me over to where he sat the bowl. The bowl in question is purple, like Jungkook's eyes, and there is also another purple bowl filled with water that autofills from a small jug that is tipped upside down above it beside it.

I go back to the living room area so Hoseok can speak next. "Everyone else said so many good things I am not quite sure what's left. I guess I can kill two birds with one stone and tell you where I was and why. Namjoon has kind of been torturing himself with work, and also blaming himself or everything that happened with you. He wanted to head to Archeron to talk to Ariadne, Hephaestus' wife, because he is sick of waiting to talk to him. He figured that she might have an easier way to get a hold of him, like maybe a communication stone or something. I went in his place because he isn't the most hospitable person when he is in such a mood. Also, I was planning on going to Sheol anyway to see if I could maybe get some info for Isirieth. I thought maybe she could help me find out who your sibling was."

Taehyung pushes forward. "Okay, so what did you learn?"

Hoseok launches into what all happened, and we are all astonished by the fact that Hephaestus may or may not be missing. When he essentially brings up that he found out nothing because Isirieth isn't there it has me wondering something. "Would it be a bad idea to seek out Aphrodite? She might be able to not only tell us what happened after the meeting, but she could probably also help us figure out which member of her Legion has it out for me." For a brief moment I worry my head is going to explode. I just asked if we should seek out the former Greek Goddess of love, and I somehow managed to remain blasé about the whole thing.

Jimin chuckles softly, but the others are all still stewing over my suggestion.

Hoseoks finally replies with a democratic response. "I think that's a plan that we should probably wait to bring up with Namjoon."

"Wait. Speaking of Namjoon. Where is he?" I had asked them before, but I got too caught up in what I wanted to say and sort of forgot.

They all look at each other before Hoseok volunteers information again. "You remember how I told you about the sins that plague each of us?"

"Sure. I still haven't worked out who's plagued by what sin, but go on." I'm tempted to glance at each of them now and dare them to tell me, but I refrain so I can listen again.

"I said that Namjoon isn't hospitable to be around when he is blaming himself. That's because his sin is Wrath. He was having trouble fighting it with how he has been feeling, so he left in hopes that he can try to take care of it." He further explains.

"Um, okay. Take care of it, how exactly?" Something tells me I am not going to like his answer to that question.

A/N: So, I hate to do this, but I am going to have to take another 2 week break. I didn't get anything accomplished I wanted regarding my messy notetaking skills.

I've been really stressed and depressed, and overwhelmed by a lot of ideas running around in my noggin, not to mention more medical stuff going on.

I'm slewing together ideas of how to make money, because while we aren't hurting financially we are struggling a bit. Obviously my plan is to do it through writing in the long run, but I do have other things in the works as well since it is taking longer than I hoped for Alluvion's Water Lily to come together.

I plan on opening multiple shops on Ko-fi (think Patreon and etsy had a baby only all the funds go to me and there is no upkeep on the shop.) But I think I should open up multiple IG accounts too. I have 731 followers, but either people don't see the conversation announcements or they ignore them.

I do have one Ko-fi account already linked on my profile page, but I want that one to be dedicated to my writing alone. I also am probably going to make one to sell wattpad covers/book covers. One I want to make is to sell Kpop type of crafts. (First plan is to try to make jewelry based off of Hobi's jewelry from Ego.)

I'm also going to be opening a redbubble shop at some point in the future. I just am trying to get my Photoshop up and running properly first. (I just got a vastly newer version than the one I was using. Just need Styles, Brushes, Patterns, Shapes, etc.)