Grogoch [Bedtime Stories 2] Read online

  Barry’s eyes went wide before he burst out laughing so hard that he grabbed his side and had to bend over. Right. Of course it was funny when someone hadn’t heard of them before and annoyance entered my definition… But they really did shit pixie dust. They were also twice the size of most normal dogs and dumb as a box of rocks. They craved nothing more than a master to tell them what to do and like all fairies, loved attention.

  Cir sith also liked to start a lot of trouble to attract an owner. It took me several times of saying this all to Barry before he finally calmed down.

  “Why have I never heard of them before?” he asked me when he had himself composed again.

  “Because the last one to come into this area was right before your grandfather was born,” I answered with a shrug. “They’re rare and take a master for life. So either this one’s master died or he’s a pup which makes it that much worse. I have to go handle this.”

  “Well, go talk to your man at least so he doesn’t worry about you,” Barry suggested gently. I nodded. He was right. I gave him a quick hug and popped back to Finbar’s.

  And ended up finding the cir sith as well.

  “You’re up,” I said lamely when both man and animal turned to look at me.

  “Yes,” he replied shortly as he scratched the massive dog’s ears. Imagine a four-foot-tall Labrador and that’s basically what a cir sith looks like. “Did you have a nice time doing whatever you snuck out on me to do?” He muttered the next part under his breath but I still heard him. “Or whom?”

  “Can we talk about this after I kick the fairy dog out of my area?” I asked, miffed he was being so judgmental. I never said I would change my ways for him, especially after three fucking days.

  “Why are you kicking him out?” Finbar asked as he stepped in front of the dog. “I told him he could stay here.”

  “What?” I gasped as I stared at him with wide eyes.

  “I’m keeping him,” Finbar answered, a little less sure of himself now. “I could use the companionship.”

  “I see.” Wow. I was being replaced with a dog. “I wasn’t even gone half the morning and this is what happens.” My chest hurt and it made me angry that Finbar could hurt me so I lashed out. “Well don’t come crying to me when you have random stuff growing all over the place because the damn thing shits pixie dust!” I spun on my heel when the tears formed so he couldn’t see them.

  “When will you be back?” Finbar asked sadly and so quietly I barely heard him. “I missed you.”

  “Yeah, you missed me so much you already found another

  companion. You replaced me with one who can’t speak and you won’t

  be intimate with. Thanks. Makes me feel so special.”

  “What are you talking about?” he shouted and I heard him racing

  after me. I flipped him the bird and kept walking. Finbar caught up to

  me and grabbed me around the waist. I popped out of his hold and

  about thirty feet away in the direction I had been heading. “And why do

  you look different to me?”

  That question made me freeze my steps. I turned to him slowly,

  studying his face and mind before I gasped. “You see me.” “Of course I see you. Why are you being like this today?” he

  whispered, tears filling his eyes. “Is this because I said I love you? I’m

  sorry, okay? I won’t say it again. Just don’t go, Cuidi.”

  “You really see me.” I fell to my knees in shock, so confused as to

  what was going on my head was spinning. I think Finbar realized

  something was wrong because he raced over to me and knelt in front

  of me.

  “Don’t leave me. I’m sorry I got jealous. It’s just I thought I started

  to mean so much more to you than the others and I woke and you

  were gone and it hurt and—”

  “I wasn’t with anyone else,” I said firmly, interrupting his ramble.

  Finbar snapped his mouth shut and looked at me with such hope that I

  realized maybe I misunderstood what was going on here. “I went to talk

  to Margaret because I was confused about how you could love me after three days. She said to go about my normal day. I didn’t get why until I saw Barry and he thought we were going to have sex and I

  couldn’t get hard.”

  “Y–You could–couldn’t get an erection?” I shook my head. Finbar

  gave me a feral smile and shoved his hand down the front of my pants.

  Instantly I got hard the moment he started fondling me. “You’re getting

  one now.”

  “Only for you it seems,” I moaned as my head fell back on my

  shoulders. “I came home to tell you that I love you only to find I’ve been

  replaced with a fucking dog.”

  “Replaced? No one could ever replace you, my love.” He lowered

  me to the ground and ripped my clothes off of me. “I wanted the dog

  for companionship because I thought you were going back to the way

  things were and leaving me. I thought I wasn’t pleasing you and you

  left. Having a dog is better than being completely alone again.” “Not leaving,” I moaned as he fingered my hole. “Belong to you

  now. You see me.”

  “I’ve always seen how wonderful you are.”

  “No, Finbar, youseeme,” I explained, holding my hand on his wrist

  to stop him for a moment. “What you see today is my true form. It means you truly love me and want me just as I am. No one else can see me exactly unless they don’t care how I look.”

  “So what happens now?” he asked quietly, unsure of what that meant.

  Hell if I knew either.

  Chapter 7

  “Stop, just stop, please,” I whispered when he resumed his touching and kissing of my body. When I hadn’t answered him, Finbar had taken it as a sign to continue. I just couldn’t. I couldn’t think when he did that, and I couldn’t enjoy it with this much on my mind. The moment he pulled away I rolled to my knees and quickly got re-dressed before sitting down and pulling my knees to my chest.

  I was so lost inside myself that I didn’t even register Finbar’s words I heard in the background. I knew he was near me, but it was like my heart and mind shut down all at once. It was the very large dog tongue slobbering my face that snapped me out of it.

  “First I’m handling the dog because I can’t seem to focus on anything else,” I practically growled as I got to my feet. I stared at Finbar and explained to him what having a cir sith would entail. He nodded slowly, digesting it all. Wow, I’d even missed that he’d put back on his clothes too. What was wrong with me?

  “Really? Pixie dust poop?”

  “Why does everyone always fixate on that part?” I asked incredulously. Some fairies had wings of pixie dust that shed like when people comb their hair and have some left in the brush. But that was more logical? Okay then.

  “It just sounds like something you’d make up to throw someone for a loop,” he answered with that lopsided grin I adored so much. “I understand everything you said and still want to keep him.”

  “Technically he has to have a fairy as a master,” I whispered, staring down at my feet. This is where things got complicated again.

  “Well then it’s a good thing I’m in love with a fairy.” I felt more than saw him step closer to me. Then I heard him swallow loudly. “I can keep him here with me while you go make your deals when you need to. Is he a good guard dog? Would that make things easier for you if you know I was protected?”

  “I don’t want to leave you ever again,” I admitted so quietly that I wasn’t sure if he could even hear me. “I love you too, Finbar.”

  “Then why are you so sad? Why did you sit there staring out across the land as if in a shocked trance only the loss of a loved one could cause?”

  I thought about that for a moment, glancing between
the man I loved and the cute dog who was starting to grow on me. He was well behaved for a cir sith pup, I had to give him that. Instead of answering right away, I took his hand and led him over to the stream, sitting right where we first met.

  “I don’t think I’m able to articulate what I’m feeling,” I explained as I stared out at the water. “And there’s so much swirling in me all at once that I feel overloaded. I’ve never been good at opening up to people. I get close to them and it always ends badly.”

  “As in you’re immortal and they’re not,” he said gently, reaching for my hand but still giving me space. “Then how about just facts for now? Would we have to go through that?”

  “No,” I answered quickly. I didn’t want him thinking that I would go on after him. “Every fairy has something a little tragic about them. It’s nature’s way of offsetting the disruption of the normal balance for the power we have. For me, it’s the way I look and that most people can’t see the real me. I’m neither human nor beast though a little of both.”

  “That’s never mattered to me.”

  “But you’ve known me a wholethreedays,” I replied firmly, still hung

  up on that part.

  “And in those three days I’ve showed you more of myself than I

  ever have anyone in my life,” Finbar defended. “I’ve become closer to

  you than I ever thought possible. I know you, Cuidi. I see past the

  façade and brave face you put on for the rest of the world.” “What do you mean?”

  “You don’t just want attention and compliments from people. You’ve

  been looking your whole life to get them from therightperson who

  could love you completely. I adore everything about you, down to your tail.” “But I won’t be like this anymore if we take that next step and commit to each other,” I whispered as I glanced at him to see his reaction.

  He swallowed nervously but nodded. “What will you become?” “I don’t know.” It was the truth. I’d heard legends that love made a grogoch be able to walk in the human world and become a true part of it. What that meant though I had no idea. “I’ve never met a grogoch that had mated.”

  “What does mating entail?”

  “I become yours forever and I’d give up my immortality. You’d gain a longer lifespan, probably several hundred years, but when it was time, we’d die together and our combined souls would go together to what comes next.”

  “So you don’t want to give up your immortality for someone you’ve only known a few days. I can understand that.” That didn’t mean I couldn’t hear the hurt in his tone.

  “No, it’s not that,” I explained as I scooted closer. “I would give that up for you in a heartbeat, Finbar. I would still have my powers, but I would go through a transformation and that’s scary. How do I know in a month you wouldn’t tire of me and then I’d be a broken fairy. If we mate then we’re no longer two separate people but one joined soul. Breaking that apart would kill something inside of me.”

  “You’re scared you wouldn’t be enough for me?” he asked incredulously. I nodded sadly. “Oh, Cuidi. I would do anything for you. I

  don’t wantanyonebut you and if it takes years for me to prove that to

  you, then so be it.”

  “You’d be okay with us not mating right away?” Now it was my turn

  to be shocked.

  “Sure.” He shrugged as he wrapped his arm around me. “People

  can wait years to get married. It’s understandable to want more time.” I leaned into his large, firm body as I sighed in relief. “What else is

  bothering you?”

  “What if I’m not able to only be with one man? I’ve spent thousands

  of years going from person to person. Maybe I’m not capable of

  committing myself?”

  “I can understand your concern after living that way for so long,” he

  hedged slowly. “But I don’t believe you couldn’t only be with one man.

  Have you wanted to be with others while with me?”

  “No, not at all.”

  “Then I think you have your answer. Three days or three years, if

  you needed someone else to complete you then you would have

  thought about seeing someone else while with me.” I wasn’t sure about

  the theory but part of me wanted to believe it when Finbar so obviously

  did. “Besides, I think there is another way around that.”

  “Like what?” I glanced up at him, curious as to where he was going

  with this.

  “I woke up hard and horny because I had a dream that we were at

  the castle with all the guards like the stories you told me. I don’t want

  you sneaking off to go make deals and have sex with others but I like

  the idea of joining in and bringing others into our bed. Once in a while.

  I’m not saying always but there’s no reason we can’t take a trip here

  and there to the castle.”

  “You’d be willing to do that for me?” I asked in awe.

  “I think it would be for me too,” he admitted, his cheeks heating up.

  “The idea of taking you while someone is inside of me is thrilling. Or

  taking you while you suck someone else off. It doesn’t matter as long

  as I’m part of the equation.”

  It took me a few moments to let that sink in, alleviating some of my

  worries. “What if I get restless and can’t stay in one place all the time?

  I’m used to traveling the countryside constantly.”

  “Then I’ll come with you on your travels to make deals. We’ll keep

  this place as our home but you could make deals with other farms in the area to take care of ours while we’re gone in return for helping

  them.”

  “That’s really smart,” I agreed, feeling as if some of the knots in my

  stomach were loosening. “Can I have the afternoon to think about all

  of this?” I felt him go tense and started rambling. “I do have farms and

  people waiting for me but I won’t have sex with anyone. It doesn’t seem

  I even can now that I realized I’m in love with you. I just need time to

  mull this over when you’re not around to melt my insides.” “That’s fair to ask and I don’t want to stand in the way of others

  getting help from you,” he said quietly after a moment. “Can I keep the

  dog?”

  “You need to think long and hard about wanting him,” I hedged, not

  wanting to sound harsh. “Once he finds a master that agrees to keep

  him, it’s forever, Finbar. We can’t send him away or find someone else

  for him if we say we’ll keep him.”Kind of like mating me, I added

  silently. “And technically he’d be yours so I’d be signingyouup to take care

  of him for the rest of your life.” He waited until I nodded in agreement. “You’d be willing to do that for me?” “If would make you happy, yes.” He gave me a bright smile that made the situation seem just a little less scary. Finbar was a good man with a big heart. I simply needed time and to give him time to understand the severity and consequences of what he wanted.

  We got to our feet and I walked over to the dog and didn’t even have to kneel down to almost see eye to eye with him. He was a smart one because I think he understood it was serious time because he plopped down on his butt. And while his tail was still wagging happily, he seemed focused.

  “Today is a trial run. I’ve not given my word that we’re going to keep you, okay?” He obviously didn’t answer me or nod but when his tongue dropped out of his mouth, I took it as he got me. “You protect Finbar and stay out of trouble and we’ll talk about giving you a place to live with us.” That got an excited bark. “He’s the boss while I’m gone and if you hurt him or screw up his work I’ll zap you when I get back.
”

  I swear the dog understood me because his face fell. I’d heard of cir siths linking with their masters so they were only dumb with everyone else. But I hadn’t agreed to be his master yet. Maybe it was like falling in love where there really wasn’t much of a choice on who someone clicked with?

  “Promise you’ll come back?” Finbar asked me shyly after I was done with the dog.

  “I’ll be back for dinner and to fall asleep in your arms, my love,” I swore as I pulled his head down for a heated kiss. I was the one having issues. Finbar shouldn’t doubt himself or be upset because I had thousands of years of bullshit to wade through.

  I popped over to old man Wayland’s farm. He was an ornery bastard who actually liked me. Most told stories about his attitude and rudeness, but the man had never been anything but kind and pleasant to me.

  And no, I didn’t have sex with the old guy… I had it with his son normally, Wayland Jr. I waved to them, walking over to the barn as I glanced around. They definitely needed some help. I didn’t think Wayland Jr. could handle this much land.

  “Are you here for our normal deal?” he asked shyly as he stared down at his hands. Wayland was a good guy, but he wasn’t even close to seeing what I really looked like. He always pictured I was the gal at the next farm over he was deeply in love with.

  “No, I want to make a new deal actually,” I answered as I gave a nod to the elder Wayland. “I was hoping we could do a trade of straight services. I’m not sure what wares you normally sell but I need to exclude sex from my deals from here on out.”

  “Why?” the elder Wayland asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile. I had been intimate with him decades ago when he was a young man so I had a feeling he knew the answer.

  “I’ve fallen in love,” I admitted with a blush. “I’ve promised to be faithful and change my ways for a while before deciding if I can commit to him.”

  “Good for you, Cuidi,” he congratulated as he slapped me on the back hard enough I almost went tumbling to the ground. For an old guy he still had a lot of strength to him. “My son is a master crafter. Come look at his workshop and I’m sure there’s something you can find.”