Faerell Series Bonus Scene

Dru & Preston ~ A Faerell Series Bonus Scene

Written by TJ Bell

Haven’t read the series yet? Start here: https://tamilund.com/faerell-series/

*~*~*~

“Stop.”

“No.”

“Whatever happened to consent?” Dru asked, not doing a very good job of sounding offended.

“What does consent have to do with watching out for you?” Preston asked, his casual tone coming across far more realistic than it really was.

“Is that what you call it?” she scoffed. “You’re trying to protect me. Me.” She stabbed her thumb at her chest.

In all honesty, she had a right to sound so disbelieving.

“And it all started when I made a tiny miscalculation and got injured at that lab over in the human world.”

“You were stabbed with some kind of serum that made you incapable of shifting,” Preston snapped, getting riled up all over again. Those memories…he still had nightmares, all these months later. Of seeing her trying to shift and unable to do so. Of the way those men—shifters and humans alike—had ganged up on her, hitting and kicking her until she fell to her knees.

It had taken him far too long to disentangle himself from the ones he’d been battling so he could get to her, fight off the barrage, and drag her away, back to the veil, to the safety of their own world.

“Stop thinking about it,” she advised, because of course she knew exactly where his mind had gone.

He shook his head. “Without the ability to shift, there was no way even you could best seven armed men.”

She sniffed. “Most people would have been taken down by five.”

“Most people would have been taken down by one, Dru.”

Instead of taking it as a compliment, she rolled her eyes. “All you’re doing is making my case.”

“It’s okay to not be invincible, you know.”

She arched a single brow.

They were walking side by side, heading toward the beach at the base of the cliff upon which the queen’s castle sat. Nissa, one of the resident healers, and Edon, a wolf they had inherited from Tikanni, had invited them to some sort of mating ceremony.

Preston didn’t know what to expect; mating ceremonies were not a tradition in this world. But they were in Tikanni, and while the wolves they’d rescued were integrating into Faerell’s society and customs, there were some things they insisted on maintaining from their home world.

He could understand. He would not want to let go of his own customs either.

Dru, he knew, felt the same. After spending forty years in the human world, with no contact here in Faerell, she’d longed to come home to where the customs all made sense.

She had deliberately seduced their queen’s human husband, had ensured the queen found them in a compromised position, in an attempt to convince Mikail that they ought to come home.

She had not expected Mikail to fall in love with their queen in the process. Preston had snorted at that confession. From everything he’d learned about their time in the human world, Mikail had been in love with their queen long before that moment.

Dru was not good at recognizing love.

It was long past time he helped her understand the concept.

The path they were on gradually shifted from dirt to sand, and then they rounded a curve and the lake came into view, the surface sparkling like gems in the midmorning sunshine.

There was a slight breeze, just enough to keep them from getting too hot while they stood on the beach in a half-circle, facing the water, Edon and Nissa holding hands in the middle and staring lovingly into one another’s eyes.

Edon wore a loose-fitted, bright blue shirt and pale breeches. His shaggy hair caught the wind and stood on end for a moment. His feet were bare, his toes curled into the granules. He’d told Preston at Watcher practice recently that he intended to ask Nissa to move from her cottage in the woods to one closer to the water.

Preston was sure she’d accept his request.

Nissa wore a gauzy contraption, the material, ten different hues of blue that complimented Edon’s shirt, draped down to her calves. Her feet were also bare, and there were flowers in her hair.

“What is she wearing?” he whispered to Dru as they stepped closer to the group that had gathered around the couple.

The queen and Mikail were here, as were Rollo and Tessa; Celeste and Tate, who cradled Celeste’s infant child in his arms; Pippa and Conan; and Nissa’s son, Devon, and his date, a wolf he had been spending a great deal of time with recently. Mailah, a wolf from Edon’s home world, was also present, a sappy smile on her face, her hands clutching a sprig of flowers as she watched the happy couple.

“A dress,” Dru replied. “They are very common in the human world. Apparently in Tikanni as well.” She canted her head. “What do you think? Would I look good in a dress?”

Preston studied the outfit while Nissa and Edon murmured vows, declaring their undying love for one another. Edon swiped a tear from his cheek, and Nissa’s lips trembled.

He supposed the dress was pretty enough. His mind—as it had far too frequently of late—immediately conjured an image of him and Dru, slipping away into the forest, of him pressing her back against a tree, of their lips melding, his hands…

It would certainly be easy access if she were wearing a dress.

“Am I to take your silence as a no?” Dru asked.

Preston blinked rapidly and cleared his throat. “N-no, not at all.”

He cast his gaze away from her inquiring look. “What are you thinking?” she demanded.

“Nothing appropriate.”

He chanced a glimpse at her face. There went that eyebrow lift again.

“My curiosity is piqued,” she murmured.

The ceremony was apparently over, as the crowd cheered while Nissa and Edon threw their arms around one another and kissed. Devon motioned at someone who had been discreetly hovering near the tree line. The wolf, who worked at the tavern, hurried forward, carrying a tray filled with wooden cups and a carafe of wine.

Drinks were poured and speeches commenced. Some were funny, many were sappy. Rollo challenged Edon to a dual, which earned him a smack on the chest from his mate.

The queen declared that Edon had officially stepped into the role of Watcher as well as head of council.

The wolf from the tavern appeared again, this time with a tray laden with food; cheeses and bread, fruit, and small chunks of seasoned meat still warm from the fire.

Nissa and Edon, hands clasped, wandered to the water’s edge, wading until they were ankle deep, their bodies angled toward each other. Preston imagined they were having that “let’s live in a cottage on the lake” conversation.

Edon abruptly lifted her into his arms and twirled in a circle, splashing water everywhere while Nissa laughed.

The conversation had gone well, just as Preston had predicted.

Someone touched his arm. He glanced over at Dru, who nodded toward the trees. He followed her, passing his cup off to the wolf who was apparently their server for this event.

They traipsed far enough into the forest that they could only just hear their friends, chattering and laughing, and the waves, crashing against the beach.

Abruptly, Dru stopped and faced him. “What were you thinking?”

He laughed. He’d almost forgotten about their unfinished conversation regarding whether Dru would look good in a dress.

Interesting that she hadn’t.

“What inappropriate thoughts are you having?” she demanded, crossing her arms.

He cocked his eyebrows in an undoubtedly poor imitation of her. “You want to know about my inappropriate thoughts?”

She rolled her eyes.

“What if I told you they were about you?”

They’d never discussed what happened between them the night after Mikail asked them both to train as Watchers. For sixty-seven rotations around the sun, they’d danced around the subject, tried to pretend the spark between them didn’t exist.

It was his fault. He could admit that now. And yes, he should have admitted it long, long ago.

But Dru left, had gone to the human world with Mikail, to protect the previous queen’s infant daughter. He’d not spoken to her in forty years.

He spent most of those years avoiding any sort of interpersonal relationship. It had been easy, in all honesty. With Mikail gone, he’d stepped into the role of Lead Watcher, and their previous queen had been far more reclusive and high maintenance than their current queen.

Eventually, he’d grown so lonely that when Sonara boldly strode up to him and asked him to have a drink at the tavern with her, he’d accepted before even thinking about the fact that the last time he’d had a drink with a woman at the tavern, he’d ended up in bed with the woman of his dreams.

That didn’t even take into consideration the fact that Sonara was a faery and he was a wolf and they were not supposed to have interpersonal relationships. Not back then. The previous queen had forbidden it.

But Sonara did not agree with the queen’s rules, and Preston had been charmed by her wit and intelligence. He cared for her, and it was admittedly nice to have sex regularly, but it had also been easy to hide their relationship. Because it hadn’t been all-consuming. Not like it had been with Dru that single night so many years ago.

When Sonara died, he’d been devastated. But time had scabbed over the wound, and with Drucilla back in Faerell, he’d been forced to admit that while he had cared deeply for Sonara, she was not the love of his life. His partner. His mate.

“Preston.” Dru’s voice pulled him out of his musings. She was nervous. It was not a look he had ever seen on her face before.

She cleared her throat. “Sonara’s death was my fault.”

The announcement was a jolt to his system. “How so?” he asked carefully.

Dru flapped her hand. “I took her back to the kingdom. Away from the safety of their magically hidden village. I put her in danger.”

“You did not slash her throat, Dru. That was some other wolf who had fallen under Zadkiel’s spell.”

“That’s my point,” she snapped. “If I hadn’t taken her away from the village, that never would have happened. You’d still be together. The two of you.”

He considered her words. Were they true? He wasn’t so sure. This thing simmering between him and Dru, it had never fully gone away, even when she had been in a whole different world for forty years. Would he have stayed with Sonara despite his feelings for Dru?

He would never have to answer that question.

“Have you been carrying around this guilt for all these months?” he asked.

She scowled.

Unable to keep his hands off her for a second longer, he clasped the back of her neck, gently squeezing. “Dru, if Sonara wanted to go to that speech and you had denied her, she would have gone on her own anyway. She wasn’t very good at obeying her queen’s decrees. I think the fact that she took up with me proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

Dru rubbed the side of her nose. “She told me you said I was the best Watcher in Faerell.”

He shrugged. “We both know it’s true. Well, besides Mikail, of course.”

Dru shook her head. “No, it isn’t.”

“Do you not recall that morning, the first time we practiced with Mikail? You bested me again and again.”

And again.

She shook her head again. “We were equally matched until you allowed yourself to get caught up in here.” She tapped his temple.

He caught her hand, pulled it down and pressed it against his chest, over his heart. “I should have said this a long time ago. Hell, I should never have acted the way I did. Dru, I’m sorry for how I conducted myself that morning. I’m sorry I let my ego get in the way of…”

“Of?” She arched that single brow.

He slid his arm around her waist, hauled her close, until her breasts pillowed against his torso. “Us.”

She didn’t pull away but neither did she wrap her arms around him. “Us?”

He nodded. “We’ve lost so much time. I don’t want to lose anymore. I want to be your mate, Drucilla.”

She stared up at him with wide, unblinking eyes for so long that he began to fear she did not feel the same.

He’d spent a great deal of time trying to convince himself that Dru would have acted the same, regardless of who she took home that night.

But he could not see her giving herself over to a single other person the way she had to him. She had trusted him so completely, she’d let down all of her shields, had allowed him in.

He did not believe she’d ever done that with another person before.

“Tell me about these inappropriate thoughts,” she finally said.

He had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “I could show you instead.” He frowned. “Well, not quite, since you aren’t wearing a dress.”

She arched her brow.

“When you asked me if I thought you’d look good in a dress, I imagined pressing you up against a tree and taking you here in the forest, and how—”

She leaped into his arms. Luckily, he was used to her impulsiveness and caught her, cupping her ass while she wrapped her legs around his waist. “Let’s practice,” she suggested huskily. “And then I’ll call on Nissa and see about procuring one of those dresses, and we can do it again.”

He kissed her. He meant for it to be a peck, but she curled her arms around his neck and held him there so she could plunder his mouth.

Everything fell away except the two of them. The people on the beach no longer existed. The village, the castle, the wolves of Tikanni and the Faerell wolves and faeries. No one else mattered.

Only Dru.

He carried her to the most sturdy-looking tree in the vicinity and disentangled her legs from around his person. “We need these pants off for this to work properly,” he said, tugging at the laces at her waist.

She snagged his laces and pulled them loose before shoving his pants partway down his thighs. His erection sprung free with as much enthusiasm as someone who had been caged for far too long.

Sixty years too long.

Awkwardly, because now his pants were a hindrance, he lowered himself to his knees, pulling Dru’s pants down her legs, tossing her boots and her pants to the side before draping her leg over his shoulder.

“Ready?” he asked, smoothing his hand up her inner thigh.

“Yes.” The word was breathy, with a tinge of desperation.

Just the way he liked her.

He buried his face between her thighs, swiping his tongue along her slit. The noises she made were more muted than he recalled. Glancing up, he saw that she had shoved a fist against her mouth, probably to keep from being loud enough to draw the attention of their friends gathered not very far away on the beach.

He grinned and returned to work, thrusting and licking and nipping, stroking and biting until her thighs quivered and her inner muscles clenched around his fingers.

While continuing to pleasure her with his fingers, he stood and then abruptly pulled them out, grasped her legs, and lifted her off her feet. With the next heartbeat, he pressed against her, pushing into her. Filling her.

Filling his heart.

She gasped and wiggled, and he thrust, again and again. “Yes. There. Again. Again. Oh, fates. Yes, yes, yes!” she babbled, until they were both mindless, until they soared over the edge of ecstasy together.

And he knew, without a shadow of doubt, that it would be like this for now and forever.

With Dru.

“It’s about time.”

Preston tensed, his flaccid dick sliding out of Dru while her feet dropped to the ground. Glancing over his shoulder, he caught his queen’s eye.

She grinned. And waved.

He dropped his head to Dru’s shoulder and groaned.

“Does this mean you’ll be less grumpy now, Dru?” the queen asked.

“Probably,” she responded, entirely conversationally. “Now will you stop staring at his ass?”

“You’re staring at Preston’s ass?” Mikail practically snarled.

A quick glance behind him told Preston that Mikail had stepped up behind the queen, an incredulous look on his face.

“Hey, where are—ho, Tessa, come here, you’ve got to see this.”

That was Rollo. Preston closed his eyes. Dru snickered. At least she was finding amusement in this situation.

“What is—oh.” That was Tessa, no doubt standing next to Rollo, staring at Preston’s bare ass. He really ought to pull his pants up, but he was apparently frozen with mortification. And he also didn’t want to expose Dru, who was tucked in front of him, also without her pants.

Rustling branches, crunching leaves underfoot—more and more people were wandering over. Why hadn’t they done this while the vows were being said? Everyone had been entirely caught up in the moment. No one would have realized they’d slipped away.

Eventually, someone shoved Dru’s pants at them. Preston glanced over at Nissa, who was trying very hard not to laugh. “I’ll try to round them up and get them to head back to the beach while you two get dressed.”

Edon must have also been near, because he bellowed out, “Party is supposed to be on the beach, people. Let’s go. This way, move it, move it.”

Chatter and laughter trailed them as the group retreated, and Preston shook off his embarrassment enough to finally step away from Dru so she could pull her pants on.

“I’m not sure we will ever be able to show our faces again,” he muttered.

Dru laughed. “Are you embarrassed to be with me, Preston?”

“Hell no,” he said immediately.

“Good. Then let’s go back to the beach. I want a drink. And don’t worry. I’ll give them my signature glare, and they’ll all be afraid to tease us after that.”

He barked out a laugh and curled his arms around her back, drawing her close for another kiss. “I love you, Dru. I have loved you for so very long. I’m so glad I can freely express it now.”

She patted his cheek. “I love you, too.” She extracted herself from his arms. He furrowed his brow.

“I was serious about that drink. And the glare.”

He twined his fingers with hers and followed her back to the beach.

And he knew, without question, that his life would never be dull.

Which was perfectly fine with him.

THE END

Thank you for reading this series, for hanging out in Faerell (and the human world and Tikanni) with me. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing these books.

While this series has concluded, I’ve written plenty of other books for your reading pleasure. If the wolf shifters were your favorite aspect, how do you feel about bears? Try my Bears in Love duet: https://tamilund.com/bears-in-love/

If the faeries are the reason you stuck around, I have another fae series for you! This one takes place in 1895 and is referred to as “gaslamp fantasy.” Trust me, you’ll love it: https://tamilund.com/faeries-on-the-isle-gaslamp-series/

And if you are looking for something totally different, well, I have mermaids and demigods and monsters and vampires… and that’s just the start. Which, by the way, you should do, right here: https://tamilund.com/tj-bell-spicy-supernatural-romance/

Cheers!

TJ Bell