The Bastard Queen (Viciously Yours #2)

~Cillian’s P.O.V.~

A sharp wind cut over my exposed skin as I stepped into the clearing with the familiar cabin sitting at its center. Boots crunching over the snow, I raised a hand in greeting to the neon green sweater clad male. Propping the axe up against his shoulder, black brows pulled together slightly in what was no doubt confusion while he awkwardly raised a hand back. I hadn’t been planning on coming to the human realm but when I heard it was my troops’ turn for some rest, I just found myself here. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. I’d been feeling a sense of urgency to put a name on what I felt for Macha.

With me busy hunting down what was left of Mab’s soldiers and her getting familiar with her Queenly duties plus the time she was unconscious, we haven’t seen each other all week. It also didn’t help that our temporary connection had ended in the middle of the war so we couldn’t speak mentally. All of that together made me want to be able to see her for the first time in a week with some kind of declaration. She’d been able to express her feelings to me by calling me her sanity. The least I could do to make sure she knew I’d been thinking about her was to come back and express myself. Which was the real reason I was here, to talk to the one person that I thought could help me.

“Hey. Cillian, right? Macha told me a bit about you.”

Gripping his extended hand, I gave it a firm shake, “Probably all bad things, I’m guessing.”

“She was colorful in her description.” He chuckled, releasing my hand. “I’m Ryan, Kaiya’s mate.”

“Nice to officially meet you. I know the last time...I don’t come off the friendliest.”

He waved me off with a snort, “Don’t worry about it, neither does my mate. What can I do for you? Is Macha alright? Do you need Kai for something? She’s out on patrol but I can link her partner if you need her.”

“Macha’s fine. I’m here to talk to you, actually.”

“Me?” He blinked in surprise. “Uh, sure. What about?”

I rolled my shoulders a bit before stating, “Feelings.”

“I’m sorry, did you say...Feelings?”

“Feelings.”

Ryan rubbed a hand over his mouth to stifle his grin, “This wouldn’t be about a certain blue haired female, would it?”

“Otherwise known as a beautiful pain in my ass, yeah.” I replied.

Laughing, he slammed the axe into the stump, “Yes! I knew it! I knew you two would get together! I saw the chemistry between you guys the first time I saw you. Oh, I have to tell Kai. She thought I was crazy for shipping you two together! Ha! My poor Buttercup. She’s still so clueless about these things. I’ve been trying to-”

I cleared my throat to cut him off because something told me he could go on for days.

“Right, Right. Feelings. How can I help?”

“I can’t identify them.”

Brown eyes with a quarter of bright red scanned over me, “Shouldn’t you be able to read people? Isn’t that part of your job as a...a warrior? Soldier? Supernatural Bounty Hunter? Hit Man? Assassin? I’m sorry, I have no idea what you do.”

“I’m the Commander of Macha’s armies and King of the Realm.”

“King of the Realm? Like the whole realm? Realm as in the world realm?” He blurted out. “You’re a King?”

I tilted my head, didn’t Macha tell them all this? “Yes. We seized Mab’s Kingdom and then Macha killed her. With Macha being a Divine it’s only right that-”

“What’s a Divine?”

“They are our Gods. Macha’s father is one so that makes her-”

“A Goddess?” The male practically shrieked. “I had a living breathing Goddess in my pack house? Oh my Moon. My mate’s friends with a Goddess and the worst part is she probably won’t care!” He blanched suddenly, “She sat on the pack couch. We had a Goddess sit on the pack couch that I’m seventy percent sure at least one she-wolf has given birth on. I’m going to faint.”

Taking a step forward with a small chuckle, I grabbed onto his elbow and helped him sit heavily on the stump, “She prefers to be called a God, not Goddess. And Macha most likely didn’t know she was a God when she sat on your couch, if that helps.”

“That does- that does help.” Ryan stuttered out, taking a deep breath. “Now, where were we before I almost had a heart attack?”

“I can’t identify my own emotions.”

“Which I’m guessing is a problem if…”

Moving off a little to the side, I sat on the edge of the porch, “If she already told me how she was feeling and I still haven’t. We’ve also been apart since we won the war and I want to reassure her.”

The wolf-shifter gave a whistle, “You think she’s having doubts about your feelings?”

“It’s Macha so I have no idea, but I want to tell her.”

“Ohhhhh.” He nodded like he completely understood. “You’re having doubts that if she doesn’t know, she’ll start having doubts. Makes perfect sense.”

“No. I know how I feel about her. I just want her to know how I feel about her because she deserves to know.” I denied.

Ryan snorted, “Dude. You’ve got it bad.”

“I have a feeling you were much worse than me.”

“Oh Moon, I was so much worse.” He cackled. “I nearly maimed every ready-to-mate male in the pack!”

I cracked a smile, “I think it’s something in the supernatural blood. ”

Ryan laughed harder, “Moon, that’s horrible. If we were human…”

“In the words of Macha, we’d be gigantic gaping assholes.”

“Don’t-don’t tell me she called you that?” He wheezed out between laughter which turned into silent guffaws at my amused nod.

When he settled down, I nudged the conversation back on track, “So, do you think you can help? I know, we don’t know each other but you’re my only option.”

“Please, our mates are friends. That makes us friends too annnnd holy shit! You guys are our first couple friends! How exciting! I can’t wait to-And I’m off track again. How about you tell me about these feelings you can’t identify?”

Shifting the weight of the axes between my shoulders, I cleared my throat, “Well...uh, she feels like…” Fuck this was harder than I thought it’d be. “Like warmth and security, I guess. Whenever I’m with her, I feel free to be myself which isn’t always easy for me. I don’t understand what that means but I know I can’t live without that insane, warmongering, female.”

“Cillian-”

On a roll, I moved back a little to sit firmly on the porch edge, “I don’t know. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, you know? It’s something pure and secure that makes me feel...content? Like I can forget all my worries for the moment and just...be. That probably doesn’t make any sense but everything about us being together, it’s just right.”

Ryan grinned, “Dude, I don’t-”

“I know, it doesn’t make sense! How am I supposed to tell her all that?”

“-think you have to anymore.”

Looking at him in confusion, I jumped in surprise when someone wrapped around me from behind. Acting on instinct, I gripped the arm sliding around my neck and arched my back to flip them up and over my head. A laughing mass of royal blue, brown, and silver tumbled across the snow, making Ryan pull his feet out of the way and me to slide my axe back in its sheath. Macha tumbled one last time, feet over head, before landing on her stomach.

Placing her hand underneath her chin, she kicked her feet in the air and batted her lashes, “Lilly! You do care about me!”

“How did you find me?” I asked, in disbelief.

Blue eyes rolled, “I took a nap and ended up with Malachy. So while he,” Pausing, she flipped onto her back to scream up at the sky, “TALKED MY DIVINES DAMNED EAR OFF,” Finished, she rolled back over to her original position, “about how I could’ve died with my stunt, I looked for you.”

“Who is she yelling at and who’s Malachy?” Ryan whispered loudly, the red in his eyes growing.

“Her dead father, who lives in the stars.” I muttered back before, turning my attention to Macha. “So, you heard what I said?”

“I did.” She purred, eyes flashing. “And we’d already be fucking if I wasn’t convinced Ryan wouldn’t implode. Unless…” Blue eyes swung to the wolf-shifter, “Are you a watcher, Ryan? Would you like to watch us?”

The poor guy blushed bright red before stuttering, “N-no, I-I’m not a- Not to say your ugly-it’s just-I’m not- I don’t-”

“Be nice, Cell Bait.” I chastised her, putting Ryan out of his misery as the guy released a large sigh of relief.

Macha pouted, still laying in the snow, “But, Lilly. He’s a blusher, it would be a crime not to see him blush.”

I shook my head and fought the smile that wanted to spread over my face, “Is everything you do for your own amusement?”

“I mean….yes. What else are these people for if not to amuse me?”

“Wow.” Ryan blinked, his voice filled with mirth. “You really are a God, aren’t you?”

She preened, raising her chin, “I do radiate otherworldliness, don’t I?”

A motion coming from behind Macha had me standing only to sit back down at the raspy voice that called out from the trees, “Your back. Why?”

Macha laughed, rolling onto her back before propping herself up on her hands to look in the voice’s direction, “One would think we weren’t friends.”

“We are. You claimed to be best friends multiple times and Ryan has assured me we are.” The woman replied, coming out from between the tree’s.

Wearing a practical outfit of boots, brown cargo pants and a dark green wife beater, Bright red eyes looked us over as she made her way to Ryan. The males eyes noticeably lit up while the blush faded from his cheeks and he gave his mate a wide smile. Kaiya stopped beside him and leaned into his hold as he wrapped an arm around her.

“We’re besties and to answer your question, I’m here cause he’s here.” Macha replied, standing up and skipping over to drop into my lap.

Grunting, I wrapped my arms around her waist and twisted her until her swords were out of my face. Macha’s elbow slammed back into my gut at the noise I made and I laughed at her flash of sharpened teeth. Leaning in, I whispered against the shell of her ear, “Your threats don’t work on me anymore, Cell Bait.”

She grinned with sharp teeth, “Who said it was a threat? Which reminds me...” I got a face full of blue hair as she turned to the others. “Kai! I ripped someone’s throat out last week!”

Macha’s declaration got three answers simultaneously.

“Chewy, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Does your kind even do that?”

Laughing, she reached back and patted the side of my face placatingly as she replied to Kaiya, “Sooo chewy. Not bad but not great.”

The she-wolf shrugged, “It’s not for everyone.”

“Uh, again. Do Fae even do that?” Ryan asked.

I maneuvered my head around Macha to answer him, “No. At least, not the sane ones.”

The male’s unique eye’s shot between us, “Riiiiight.”

Standing up, Macha grabbed my arm and yanked me up beside her, “It was lovely visiting you both, Babes. Kaiya, I’ll be back soon. I have someone I want you to meet, he’s our new best friend!”

“Another one? How many does one usually have?” Kaiya asked, sounding utterly confused.

Although Ryan was confused by another part of Macha’s sentence, “I’m sorry, did you say...he?”

“Say goodbye to our friends, Lilly.” Macha urged, giving them her back to wrap her arms around my waist.

I nodded at the couple, “Bye. Thanks for the help, Ryan.”

“No problem, man.”

The ground dropped out from underneath my boots seconds before a blue haze took over everything in my vision. Blinking to settle my sense of motion at the incredible speed at which we moved. Macha’s arms tightened around my waist to lay her head against my chest, a sweet gesture that startled me a little.

Raising my own arms, I hugged her back tightly as the world whizzed by around us, “What’s this for?”

“I just missed you.” She murmured. “It was strange not having you in my head nagging me about how I haven’t slept in four days.”

My grin faded into a scowl, “You haven’t what? Macha, what the fuc-”

“Shhhhhhhh,” Pulling back, she pressed a finger to my lips, “We’re not talking about me. We’re talking about you and how you finally told me your feelings!”

I jerked my head back at her near squeal with narrowed eyes, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“You know what.” I snapped at her false doe eyed look of confusion.

Blue hair bounced as she shook her head, “No, I don’t.”

“Macha...I warning you.”

She bounced on her toes with a grin too quick for me to jerk back from and pinched my cheek, “You’re just so cute! I also think you’re the only person that feels safe and secure around me.”

“I didn’t say safe and secure.” I grumbled, prying her hand off my face.

She barked a laugh, “You a hundred percent did.”

I sighed and slammed a kiss to her forehead, “Your very annoying sometimes, too carefree, enjoy doing insane moves in battle that hardly make sense, have a friendship with a certifiable Banshee that scares me-”

“But….”

“But,” I relented, looking down into glowing royal blue eyes. “I’d burn the realm to ashes in your name if you asked.”

She grinned brightly, eyes warm with emotion, “We really were meant to be because you’re the only thing that’d stop me from burning everything to the ground in a fit of rage.”

“...Should I be concerned that that made sense to me?” I asked, my brows coming together. But when she gave me that grin again, I almost jerked out of her arms, “No.”

“What?” She laughed. “When did you get so suspicious?”

“The moment I started to understand you better. You pinch my cheek again, you’re getting punished.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Your Majesty.”

I rolled my eyes, I should have known better than to make it sound like a challenge to her mind. Spending the rest of our long lives together was going to be equal parts vexing and intriguing but I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t enjoy it. Son of a- I dropped my arm and gave a hard slap to her leather clad ass that caused her to drop her hold on my cheek

Macha’s nails dug into my back, “The collar?”

My eyelids hooded at the mention, “Is that really a question?”

Her cackling laughter echoed around us as she traveled us home and I blame the fact that I got hard at the sound completely on her.

——

Might be my favorite chapter, seeing all my babies in together. Lol, this chapter gave me all the fuzzies.

One more chapter to go😭

Smooches, Verbage 💋