Of Blood and Bone

Chapter Four - A Beautiful Future

I had been at the castle for close to a year now. About half of the women I had been kidnapped with were still employed while the other half had been used for Alcina's wine and to feed her daughters. I scolded myself. Alcina's daughters had accepted me as their mother's mate when I had stuck around for almost six months, and they acknowledged how happy their other was when I was around.

"It's disgusting how she gushes on and on about you when you're not around."

Cassandra had mentioned one of the times that the girls and I were cuddling in the library.

"Oh, shut up, Cass. I think it's romantic that Mother has found her One True and is in love!"

Bela had told her in response. The girls had wanted to argue then amongst themselves and I was content to listen to them until they began to get physically violent with each other. Since two of the girls were laying across me, it was easy enough for them to elbow me in the stomach. I gasped and before I could stop it, I was emptying the contents of my stomach onto the floor, barely missing Daniela. All three girls stopped fighting and immediately began to crowd me, voicing their concerns over each other. I chuckled and began to stand up, much to their concern.

"Come, darlings. I need to brush my teeth, the maids need to be advised about this, and we could all use a nap."

I lead the way back to my bedroom with three pouting girls. I rarely used my bedroom, but Alcina insisted I have a room just in case I needed space. Nowadays, I really only used it when the girls and I had our cuddle puddle naps. The girls would typically sneak in to sleep with me if Alcina got up because they loved the warmth. Any time they could, they would snuggle up to me for warmth. Sometimes it interfered with the time I spent cuddled against Alcina, and I would spend as long as she wanted, coddling my Alpha and preening her feathers.

I jolted awake at the soft knocking on the door, not realizing where I was for a moment. The knock came again, and I sighed, knowing our nap was over. I cleared my throat and squirmed out from under the blankets and the girls, opening the door just as the maid was about to knock on the door again. I shivered at the temperature difference, missing my warm bed. The maid dropped her hand and bent in half to bow at me.

"Apologies, miss, but the Lady has requested an early dinner with you and the mistresses."

I nodded, dismissing the maid and went about waking the girls. Daniela groaned, but got up slowly, Cassandra growled, and Bela groaned, burrowing into the bedding. I chuckled at the three of them, almost never tiring of their antics.

"Okay, okay, drama queens. But I'm not explain to Alcina why our daughters are in my bed and she's not."

I joked with them as I went into the bathroom. I laughed at the two bodies landing on the floor and by the time I finished in the bathroom and went back to the room, the girls were all three ready to go to dinner. I placed my hand on each girls' cheek affectionately as I passed them. Daniela tried to pretend that the affection didn't please her, Cassandra scowled, and Bela nuzzled into my hand. When we made it to the huge dining room, Alcina was already sitting at the head of the table waiting on us. The girls moved to sit in their chairs on the opposite side of the table while I moved to where I would sit at Alcina's right side. As I pulled my chair out, a large hand wrapped around my waist and then there was a warm breath ghosting across my neck and shoulders. Alcina wrapped her left hand around my belly and gave me a few nibbled kisses across my neck.

"Mm, I've missed your company, draga mea."

I began purring in response to her affection, while our daughters had mixed reactions. Daniela acted indifferent, Cassandra gagged, and Bela was making "aww" noises. Alcina's fingers tightened on me as her nose pressed against my neck. She took a deep breath and growled on the exhale.