Her Grey Men

The Vale

Jenny

Brian needed me to go with him to meet with his siblings and let them know that he would be formally turning down the crown. This was unexpected for all of us, and especially for them as they didn’t have the privilege of speaking with the dragon king. I didn’t understand it, but my husband was at peace in a way. He was always very easy going, but now he was more calm, accepting. Like he had been accepting this for a long time. I know that he never wanted to become king of the fairies, but he was duty bound, and it brought him some anxiety to do the right thing. 

I knew that right now he just needed me there for him. We waited with Dave in our office while Brian made the phone call to be taken into the vale. I have never been there, and I was nervous to be going to the Fae kingdom. How would they receive a wolf as their king’s mate and wife. 

Brain shot me a look hearing my fears rolling through my head. “My father was a dragon, you really think they would have a problem with a wolf?” 

Dave rubbed circles on my back while adding. “If the gods think that you can handle two mates, what makes you think that you aren’t worthy of a king?” 

I smiled feeling the adoration and support of both of my mates pouring through our bond. “Thanks guys.” I hugged each of them in turn. “So how do we get there?” 

“I guess they are sending a car. It’s not far from here, we should be arriving by the morning.” Brian explained.

I was confused. “Wait so it’s not like some magic portal thingy like the mages do?” 

Brian laughed before answering. “Come on babe, just because we are supernatural, doesn’t mean that everything needs magic to work.”

I could feel my face heat up, embarrassed that I would assume that we would be teleported to the vale. “Well, um, shut up.” I grumbled as Dave joined Brian in the entertainment that my foolishness caused. After they regained their composure I asked. “So when is our driver going to be here? And why can’t we take one of our vehicles?”

“They should be here at noon, and tradition mostly.” my husband shrugged.

So I sat and waited, with nothing much else to do since Dave had already taken over all the alpha duties. It’s nice knowing that the pack is going to be well taken care of while I’m gone. I admit I’m a little bit of a control freak at times, and a real workaholic. Dave looked up feeling that self analysis and smiled. “Nothing wrong with that. You left pretty big shoes to fill, I’m just happy that you are still here to help me.” My new mate stood and wrapped me in a tight hug. I inhaled his scent and let him calm my nerves. “I’ll miss you while you’re gone. Make sure you take care of my brother-husband, he’s going to need you.”

I laughed deeply letting tears of mirth spring to my eyes. “You two are impossible with that schtick! I know you started it to get under my skin, but why continue it?”

Dave shrugged, releasing me and looking at Brian. “I dunno, it kinda feels right. I think I would like the guy even if you weren’t my mate.”  Hearing him say that made me feel good. It made me more sure of my decision to take on two mates.

I rose on my toes to reach his lips, kissing him softly. “I’m glad, thank you for that.” I could feel Brian closer behind me. He stepped forward pulling Dave and me into a close group hug. I felt like I was wrapped in love and protection. This was my home. “When we get back let’s get married.” I surprised both of them and myself with my proposal. I don’t know, I guess that I wanted to make sure that any future children would have both of their names, I had a feeling that it would be sooner rather than later that we would have to face the situation. 

Dave smiled brightly at me, and even Brian had spark in his eyes. “Really?” he softly asked.

I nodded. “We haven’t exactly been careful and if I turn up pregnant it could be either one of your’s at this point. I want our babies to have their parent’s names.” I admitted. 

Dave looked shocked, maybe he hadn’t considered the repercussions of our activities. Brian saved him from having to comment just yet. “You know Agate isn’t my father’s name, nor is it my mother’s. The Fae create their own clan name once they have done something noteworthy. Until we do that we have an elemental name, Agate is a gemstone.” 

The hair on the back of my neck rose remembering one line that scrolled across that cursed computer screen. I whispered “Moss grows in the stone…”

My men stepped back following exactly what I was recalling. “I’ll give Maggie a call while you are gone. That light show her and Mike put on might have been from a line itself.” Dave stated somberly. He brought up a valid point, I didn’t even think about that.

We didn’t know where to go from here and quietly sat in silence until Brian’s and my escort arrived to take us to the Vale. as the black SUV rolled up to the pack house I grabbed my overnight bag and followed my husband down to our sweeping driveway. “I’m getting tired of all these trips away from home to unknown locations.” I muttered.

Brian grabbed my hand and said “This should be the last one babe. Then we can get back to spit roasting you.” I felt my face heat up at his lewd words thinking back on what my guys did to me last night. I love getting rough during s*x, and they fullfilled my every dirty fantasy together.

“Umm, okay.” I heard a chuckle at the back of my mind from Dave as I’m sure the imagery was bombarding him. It was getting harder to control my thoughts around my guys. I was both glad and annoyed. They would know exactly how I felt without having uncomfortable discussions about feelings or crap like that, but I would never be able to give them a surprise. 

We sat in the back of the SUV driven by a gorgeous Fairy woman when Brian spoke directly to her. “Hey um Selene.” 

“Yes sir?” she asked with surprise in her voice. I guess after her self introduction she figured that she would be ignored after her task.

“You need to be our driver when we come back.” Brian instructed. This confused me. Why would he need this woman to be our driver?

Jealousy colored my question. “Why her?”

Brian caressed my hand and looked at Selene in the mirror. “Your mate is in our pack.” My jaw and her’s dropped.

“I don’t understand sir! How do you know that?” She finally squeaked out. 

“For the moment I’m the king, and I can see the threads of the mate bonds.” my husband smirked then relaxed further into his seat letting his head rest against the back. 

While Brian made it clear that he was going to nap for the rest of the ride I played on my phone. I’m addicted to these stupid color sorting games. Dave thinks that it’s because I'm a control freak and I need an outlet for that, I think it’s because it’s easy and mindless. As I swiped and clicked the little virtual stacks of blocks I started to feel queasy, so put my phone down for a bit thinking that maybe I was just having a bit of motion sickness from the screen and the ride. I never got car sick before, but now I’m having a hard time holding back the waves of nausea.

“Please pull over!” I began to panic as my mouth watered and I could feel my throat tighten with the rising bile. Selene was great and without question quickly pulled over to the shoulder of the road. As soon as I heard the drive train click into park I flung the door open and rushed to the bushes and emptied my breakfast into the greenery. I was loud and messy and disgusted with myself. 

Brian rubbed my back and handed me a wet cloth to wipe my face. I felt shaky and weak from the exertion. “Sit, and wash out your mouth.” He instructed and had me leaning against a tree to let me pull myself together after handing me a bottle of water. “You okay?”

I nodded. “Just a little car sick. Probably shouldn’t have been on my phone.”

“You sure that’s what it was?” He asked with raised eyebrows. 

I shook my head, not really catching what he was getting at. “What else would it be? I got car sick.”

My husband just laughed at me. “Okay, we’ll call it that for now, but you and I both know that you don’t get car sick.” He pulled me to my feet and quickly got me settled back into my seat. “I know you probably don’t have any stops scheduled but let’s get some crackers for my love so we don’t have any more unscheduled stops.” 

Our driver nodded. “Yes sir.” 

After about thirty more minutes of diving Selene found a tuckstop that was well maintained and fairly secure with several patrons heading in or out of the doors. Brian ran in to get me a sprite and a snack to calm my stomach that hadn’t stopped rolling even after putting away my phone. I sipped at my water while waiting in my seat while Selene made a phone call to let the vale know that we would be delayed. 

Even as I was beginning to feel better now that I wasn’t moving I could feel my stomach clench again. “This is going to be a long ride.” I know that it couldn’t be food poisoning, wolves don’t suffer from that. We could eat everything raw if we wanted to. I had to put speculation out of my head as I ran to the nearest trash can and dry heaved until my stomach spasms stopped. 

“Ma’am? Are you going to be okay?” I heard the sweet Fairy ask. She placed her hand between my shoulder blades and gently rubbed back and forth. “I can take you back if we need to, we really only need your husband to attend.”

I shook my head. “No he wants me there, I’ll be okay.” I grabbed some paper towels from the dispenser next to the window cleaner and dabbed at my mouth desperately hoping that my stomach would subside.

“When are you due?” She quietly asked.

“What?”

The fairy sighed. “You’re pregnant. Did you not know?”

I shook my head. “No I’m not and how would you know?” I was peeved, somewhat angry even.  

The driver guided me back to the SUV and slid into the seat next to me placing her hand on my abdomen. “I’m a fairy, our women know about these kinds of things, just as much as your husband can see the mate bonds, I can see new life growing.” 

I guess it was her turn to surprise me. “What? How?” 

The woman laughed at me. “I’m sure you know how these things happen. I wasn’t positive until I touched you though.” 

I began to tremble, and from more than just the physical toll that emptying my stomach took on me. “Do you know what it’s going to be?” I whispered

“Hmm, I think girls.” She hummed with eyes closed.

“A girl? Wait, no I meant wolf or dragon.” I clarified. 

She looked at me quizzically. “They are wolves, why do you think dragon? Your husband is a pure fairy.” She dropped her hand. I could see anger in her features assuming that I would cheat. 

“Brian is half dragon, our son is a dragon. Wait, you said both.” My heart began to pound in panic. I know multiples are common with wolves, but not in my family. I could feel Dave and Brian both reaching into my mind trying to sooth me not really knowing why I was freaking out. 

The door opened and my husband’s face was in front of me as my vision narrowed. “What happened? Is she okay?” with his voice in my ears I fainted. 

…

When I woke up I was in a very comfortable bed that was surrounded by twisting and winding vines. I inhaled deeply letting the soft scent of wild flowers fill my lungs. I looked around for Brian or even Selene. I don’t know why I would expect her, she was just supposed to be our driver, but she was familiar and I wanted that at the moment. “Hello?” I called out as I crawled out of the cloud that looked like a bed. I looked around enjoying the room. Two of the walls were solid glass allowing natural light to dominate, the other walls were solid stone like it was carved into the side of a mountain or something. And there were plants absolutely everywhere. Vines coming in through the windows, in pots and planters. Flowers and shrubs absolutely dominated the room. As soon as my bare feet touched the floor I realized that I was probably in a greenhouse or something, because my toes dug into soft grass carpeting dark rich soil. This room was breathtaking.

I heard a door open and I quickly turned to see who was coming in. that was a bad idea, I was dizzy as hell, and stumbled. But a familiar scent and tingles let me know that I was okay. “Easy baby, you just woke up.” Brian softly said, bringing me to a small cafe like table next to the giant windows. 

“I take it we made it to the vale?” I asked.

“It was closer than the pack house. I called Dave and let him know.” Brian told me. 

I frowned. “Let him know what exactly?” 

Brian sighed and slid a plate of sliced fresh and dried fruit towards me with a stack of saltine crackers. “I know you would have preferred to be the one to let him know that he’s going to be a daddy, but he was freaking out when he felt you through the link.”

I absently crunched into a slice of dried banana. “You know they are his?” I was unsure. I didn’t know how to feel about this. I was delighted when I found out about Sammy and couldn’t wait to tell Brian, but this was wholly new and uncharted for me. I had two baby daddies and I was afraid that one would be jealous. 

My husband nodded, smiling with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. “Yeah they are definitely his, but that doesn’t mean I’m not going to spoil the s**t out of them. If they are your babies, then they are mine too.”

I let out a breath that I didn’t realize that I was holding. “I should call him.” The link was still there, but faint. I could feel Dave’s worry, but not his thoughts. 

“Yeah you should, but eat first. When I go to my meeting I’m going to have Selene come in and accompany you. Feel free to explore. Everyone knows the situation, and won’t bother you.” He stood up and kissed the top of my head before moving to the ornately carved door.

“I thought Selene was just our driver?” I asked more than stated.

Again his gorgeous smile spread across his lips. “Yeah, she was supposed to be, but now she has a mate that is part of our pack so she will be part of our family too.”

I nodded smiling to myself. “Makes sense.” 

I continued to nibble at my snack while Brian left for his meeting. After a few moments our driver walked into the room and sat across from me at the tiny table. I smiled and said “Hey.”

“Hey yourself, you worried your husband pretty bad.” She smirked. I think I’m going to like this woman. 

“Not like I could help it.” I said, returning the smirk.

She laughed, and it sounded like bells. I wondered if all Fae laughter sounded like that. When brian laughs it sounds like deep resonating bells like in a clock tower or something. After she composed herself for a bit she asked me. “So tell me about my new ‘pack’ that I will be joining.”

I finished my bite of pear and smiled thinking of my huge family. “Well we seem to be pretty special. Mates haven’t been bonding in the last twenty years or so, and now it seems that every wolf in my pack is finding theirs since…” I trailed off not sure if I wanted to reveal my second mate just yet.

Selene jumped to my thought though and pointed at my still flat tummy. “Till baby daddy showed up?” 

I flushed and nodded confirming. “Yeah, we didn’t know what to do about that, but once almost everyone else was bonded we gave into the bond. Brian sort of pushed me toward accepting it more. If he wasn’t encouraging him I might have rejected David.” I admitted. 

“Why didn’t you anyway?” 

“Well there was a risk that if I rejected Dave, that it would cause me to sever the bond with Brian too. Brian said he would rather deal with me having a second mate than being without me.” i explained.

Selene just nodded thoughtfully. “Okay so now the pack is getting mates, but how is everything else there? What kind of businesses do you guys run? Who is the Alpha and Luna? I assume they are nice since they don’t have a problem with a throuple in the pack.”

I laughed realizing now that Brian had been down playing me and his role in the pack for the last six years or so. “Well I like to think that I’m nice. Until Dave showed up I was the Alpha, but we just handed that over to him, now I’m the Luna.” 

Selene paled. “I, I, didn’t know! I guess our king found a queen while he was searching for his mate.” 

“Not exactly, I’m more like a mayor. I’m just important in my little pack, but we’ve met the wolf queen.” I elaborated.

The fairy calmed a bit, and continued to ask general questions about her new pack since we didn’t know who her mate was quite yet. Once I finished my fruit I called Dave and explained that I was okay and we should be home after Brian was done with his family visit. Once I hung up Selene offered to walk me around the gardens of the vale. As I continued explaining the pack and our home life I was enchanted by the beauty of this hidden kingdom. 

I realized that my room was indeed carved into a granite mountain, the castle for lack of a better description was gorgeous and looked like it came right out of a european fairytale. I chuckled to myself realizing where that word came from. The castle had five towers rising from the granite mound with spiraling walkways and walls wrapping around the rock face. At the bottom where my room was located it was crystalline glass and greenhouses full of foliage. The land was expansive with gardens and paths that wound in and out of the surrounding forests. The whole place made me feel small and out of place.  

“How have I never seen this place before? I know I’ve driven through this part of the country before.” I finally asked the fairy.

“Oh because it’s not actually in your country. It’s sort of everywhere all at once. It’s kind of hard to explain because I really don’t understand how it works fully myself. But basically it’s kind of like a film that overlaps the regular world, but it’s not like a second dimension, it’s still part of earth, but another layer.” I don’t think I could follow her explanation. So I just nodded accepting her answer. 

Once the sun began to dip behind the mountain we headed back to the castle. I was brought into a grand dining room decorated with more plants, but also crystals that illuminated the whole area. It was truly magical. They seemed to float and dance across the walls and ceiling, but that might have been an illusion of the light fading and glowing in the delicate stones. I reached my hand to touch one on the wall closest to me and felt a surge of energy and an arc of electricity leapt to my fingertips eager to greet me. It was painless, but weirdly filled with emotion. I felt joy as the current danced over my fingertips and back to the crystal. 

I realized after the feeling subsided that the whole room was staring at me with uncomfortable expressions on their faces. I meekly said “Sorry, I should have asked.”

Quickly Brian joined Selene and myself. “No that’s not what they are looking at.” I was pulled into his arms as he continued. “The crystals are filled with memories of our people, only the Fae can commune with them.” 

I shook my head, not getting what he was saying. “But I’m a shifter.”

A tall man with magenta eyes cleared his throat and stepped forward. “I think tomorrow your queen needs to attend the next meeting.”

“I already told you, Arcturus, that I’m not taking the throne. I can’t once my dragon wakes.” Brian’s voice was rough and strained, like he was on the edge of exploding. I rubbed my hand across his chest to calm him. 

“We will see.” he cryptically said before turning and walking to the other end of the room to sit at the head of the long table. Brian guided me to a pair of empty seats and made me fill my plate from the spread laid out on the table before me. I wanted meat, but I noticed an absence of that here in the vale, so settled for beans and what I assume is cheese, with lots of vegetables.

Conversation was pleasant around us, but Brian and I kept ours between us through the mate bond and link. We finished our meal without anything else upsetting the tenuous calm and atmosphere. After our plates were taken Brian quietly pulled me to my feet and we slipped back to the room that I woke up in. 

“Okay what’s going on, I know you didn’t want to talk about it over dinner, but I think I have a right to know what to expect in this meeting that I need to be in tomorrow.” I demanded after sinking into the bed.

Brian rubbed his face. “I don’t even know where to start, but I have a feeling that this has something to do with what the old dragon said in our living room.” 

“Remind me.”

“You know how he said that we, all three of us were chosen?” his mouth was still covered as he peered over his fingertips.

“Yeah, what does that mean?” I'm beginning to hate the gods at this point. My life should be in my control, not some overpowered toddler created from stardust and the essence of the birth of the universe.

“I think I know who your god is now.” he sighed, dropping his hands to his sides.

“Okay, enlighten me.” he wasn’t making his point fast enough and I have no patience now. 

He dropped onto the bed next to me pulling me into his chest. I wanted to bristle and be mad right now, but it never failed that his touch and our bond would soothe me. “I don’t know why, maybe because you are my mate, but I think that your god is the mother of all fairies.” 

My mouth went dry, and I suddenly felt cold. “Um, okay, so what does that mean for me and you?”

“I will be king of the vale no matter what, whether my dragon wakes or not.” He said so softly that only a wolf would be able to catch it. 

I swallowed hard not liking the idea. I hated admitting to myself, but when the emperor said that Brian would become a full dragon and lose his chance of becoming king I was relieved. It seems that no matter what my quiet little life would end in uproar.