The Magical Forest (Box Set) Read online

  He rolled them to their sides. “Are you all right, Dalla?”

  She gave him a big grin over her shoulder. Gualin’s heart almost stopped. She was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen. It wasn’t customary for a faery to hold a mate beyond the traditional year, but he might have to see what could be done about that.

  “Definitely.” She rubbed his nose with her own and nuzzled his face tenderly.

  “Will you consent to being my mate for the remainder of the year?”

  “Like I have a choice. No fox will come near me with your scent etched into my pussy and ass.” She didn’t sound upset.

  “This is true. I marked you as mine for a year, but I confess it might not be the last time I do so.”

  “Somehow, I have a feeling you intended to do that all along.” She didn’t look upset either.

  “Perhaps. I’m a faery prince, and used to getting what I want.”

  “You mean you’re a man, spoiled in every way, and take what you want no matter what.”

  “Pretty much, yes.”

  Her laughter was musical, and her eyes danced happily. “Typical. You’ll find life with a Snow Fox isn’t so easy. I’m demanding.”

  “As in…?” Gualin kissed the end of her nose.

  “As in, I demand you to fuck me again like you just did.”

  He chuckled. “I think I can manage that. Are you going to bite me again?”

  “I will if you make me wait again.”

  He didn’t.

  But she still did.

  Tygers’ Lilly

  Marteeka Karland

  Lilly is a Flower Faery in the Magical Forest. Her job is to coax the flowers and other fauna out of their winter sleep and into full spring bloom. She’s made it her life’s work to see healthier and more beautiful plants every year and nothing or no one will distract her. No matter how sexy. Or yummy. Oh, my!

  Darren and Jayden Tyger are weretiger twins and have made it their personal mission to capture the heart of the hard working, single-minded Flower Faery. The Tyger twins know the secret, one Lilly has overlooked. Because as powerful as she is, as much good as she’s done for the Magical Forest, she’s missed the most important element to her power.

  Two feisty weretigers are about to show the Flower Faery that true and abiding love is the greatest magic of all.

  Chapter One

  The brilliant morning sun shone delicately through the blanket of new spring foliage in the Magical Forest. Lilly yawned and stretched as one ray of light caressed her naked body. Her spongy moss bed was like a jealous lover, trying to find reasons for her to stay rather than have her flee to the arms of another.

  Standing, she fluffed her teal and purple wings, preening as if she were really going to meet her lover. Instead, she jumped off the ground and fluttered slowly through the trees, leaving a faint trail of sparkling purple faery dust. There was a hot spring she loved to visit in the cool of the morning. If she hurried, she might have it all to herself before other forest creatures demanded she share.

  Flying around the pool a couple of times, Lilly muttered a spell of seclusion. She just wanted to spend an hour or so in peace before beginning her work with the spring foliage. It was her job to see they were awakened from their winter long sleep. If the delicate vegetation weren’t nudged gently, they would wake up cross and not bloom to their fullest. The results wouldn’t be disastrous or anything, but she really didn’t want to live with moody trees and flowers all summer. It was hard work, but she loved every second of it.

  Finally alighting next to the steaming pool, she dipped her toes into the water to test it. She winced. It was a tad warm this morning, but it would still feel good. Without any other hesitations, she stepped into the shallow end and worked her way deeper and deeper until she was waist deep. Warmth seeped into her and her muscles relaxed from the previous day’s work.

  She sat on a natural ledge within the pool and rested her arms on the edge, out of the water. Lilly couldn’t keep back the groan. She hadn’t realized how stiff she was. Her muscles ached, and the hot water made them sting as they relaxed.

  “What’s a nice faery like you doing in a place like this?”

  Lilly squealed and jumped. Her wings quivered with surprise, then anxiety. The husky, masculine voice belonged to one of the Tyger twins. Jayden. The only weretiger twins to have been born in the Magical Forest in ten generations. They were also a royal pain in her ass. They tormented her, teased her, and made her life miserable whenever they could. It had gotten so bad that she’d holed herself up all winter, not daring to go outside for fear of running into them. With spring here, she didn’t really have much choice, but they usually left her alone during the Waking.

  Where one twin was, the other wasn’t far behind. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the pool from his brother was Darren. Both as naked as she was. Both model specimens of the male body. They were large and muscled, all those hunky veins lurking below the skin…

  And they were stalking her. Hunting for prey.

  “Boys, I’m a little busy at the moment.” Lilly tried to recover, shrug their presence off, but her wings still shook slightly. It was like shivering. She couldn’t control it. She rose slightly, acutely aware of her nakedness, to get her wings out of the water. Maybe if she pretended they didn’t affect her they’d go away. “I don’t have time to dally with the likes of you today.”

  “Not today, maybe.” Darren’s deep voice, sounding much like a purr, washed over her and set her wings to trembling again. “But the day will have an end.”

  “I won’t have time for you tonight either,” she snapped. “And how the hell did you get past my seclusion spells?” This was a horrible way to start out the day. The whole reason she rose early and took so much time preparing herself before waking the flowers was to wash away negative energy. These two, in only a few moments, had put her on edge and made her anxious beyond belief. This was going to be a disaster. She’d have cranky flowers all frigging summer.

  Both men chuckled quietly. Jayden replied, “Suffice it to say we have friends in high places. I suppose when we get together is ultimately up to you.” Jayden stepped into the pool, and Lilly’s defenses slammed into high alert. He was getting ready to pounce. She just knew it. “But we’ve been instructed to --” He turned to his brother. “How did the king put it, Darren?”

  “Entice her into a sexual escapade the likes of which would make even the Fae folk blush.” They both turned to look at her, identical grins from ear to ear.

  Lilly could not believe her ears. This was the worst possible timing. What was the king thinking? She’d explained time and again she needed to be left alone from March until May, and every year, he’d done as she requested. Why, now, had he decided she needed to be sexed up? And did it have to be right now? She ground her teeth.

  “This isn’t a good time.” She shook her head, the ends of her hair slinging fine droplets where it had gotten damp. “Come see me after the Spring Wake Up and we might have some fun.” Likely as not, they’d forget all about it by then. Cats, even the big kind, were notoriously flighty.

  “Sorry, my lovely.” Darren sighed dramatically, as though it pained him to have to say it. “But orders are orders.”

  Jayden moved gracefully through the water, only his head above the surface, the ends of his long, lustrous black hair trailing behind him. Neither man looked the least bit sorry. “It is not our place to question the king. Faeries have a way with the forest. If the king says you need some passion, then far be it from me to question him. Besides, this is something we’re really looking forward to.”

  Jayden pounced from the water, followed closely by Darren from land. Jayden dove beneath the surface and was between her legs before she realized exactly where he was headed. Darren held her to the edge of the pool and, lying on his stomach, latched onto one of her breasts with his mouth. Lilly was assaulted with pleasure. She needed to break free before they took her sanity, but it felt so damned g
ood!

  Underwater, Jayden lashed her pussy with his tongue. The combination of heat from the water and Jayden’s mouth pulling and nipping at her clit was maddening. Darren’s mouth on her nipples was just as stimulating. He alternated from one to the other, never giving her time to resist or protest.

  It took only a few seconds for her to reach a swift climax. Without thinking, she clamped her legs around Jayden’s head, keeping him close, riding out the unexpected orgasm with nothing but instinct.

  When the waves decreased, Jayden lunged above the water, gasping for air. “You -- could -- have helped -- a little -- Darren,” he gasped.

  “Oh, my God, Jayden. I’m so sorry!” Lilly was horrified. He could have drowned while she was getting off at his expense.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Darren pulled her from the water, making sure she was steady on her feet before extending his brother a hand. “He’s fine.” Darren grinned at his brother. “Bet you wished you’d never head-slapped me, huh?” Jayden got to his feet, took a couple of breaths, then smacked the back of his brother’s head again.

  “Shut up.”

  “Dammit, Jayden.”

  “Anyway --” Jayden turned to Lilly, as if she hadn’t just accidentally tried to drown him, “-- I think we were discussing when and where? We need to get this mating underway.” She hadn’t missed Darren’s subtle move to her other side. They had her surrounded.

  “You don’t have to make it sound like such a hardship.” Lilly rolled her eyes at his lopsided grin. “If the king still feels the same way when summer gets here, we’ll see what we can work out. Until then, I really need to focus all my energy on the task at hand.” She fluttered her wings again, shaking the rest of the water out of their delicate folds. It looked like she might need to make a quick getaway, and if her wings were wet she didn’t have much of a chance of that. As it was, she was going to have a hard time pulling herself together. Particularly her heart.

  “Definitely not a hardship,” Jayden purred. “In fact, I’ve been looking forward to this for a very long time.”

  That caught her off guard. Going from flower to flower made for a messy business. She almost always got covered in pollen, and faery dust constantly clung to her wings no matter how often she bathed. Most folk in the Magical Forest considered it a messy business indeed and were only too happy to keep clear until at least midsummer. “Then, why didn’t you come see me during the winter?”

  Darren laid a hand on her shoulder. Lilly couldn’t help but admire the deliciously large cock dangling between his legs. Her mouth watered just thinking about dropping to her knees, taking it between her lips and getting him ready so she could fuck him senseless.

  “Because we were forbidden to.” Darren looked at her, down at his semi-erect cock and back, then winked at her. Had Lilly’s skin not been the color of rich, dark soil, the entire forest would have seen the scarlet glow. He’d caught her ogling his privates! How embarrassing!

  Jayden cleared his throat. “Everyone was, actually.”

  That got her attention. “Really? Why?” As a rule, most creatures in the Magical Forest were very sensual, very sexual creatures. The only time Lilly ever abandoned her sexual nature was during the Spring Waking. She didn’t usually go looking for a man or woman to share pleasures with, but she rarely turned down an opportunity if it presented itself. Now that they mentioned it, she realized she hadn’t had sex since before the summer. And it was spring.

  Oh man. This was bad. This was way bad.

  “Because you’re a great Flower Faery, Lilly, but you’re a little too focused on your job.” Jayden looked as serious as a weretiger in search of a playmate could look. “Life isn’t all work. You need to be happy in something other than your job. You needed to not gorge yourself on sex through the winter and fast through the spring and half the summer. It’s not healthy. By keeping everyone away, the king hoped to force you out, but it didn’t.”

  “Therefore, it has been decreed --” Darren caressed her cheek and Lilly shivered again, “-- that you need a mate. Not just a romp in the hay, but someone who cares about nothing so much as your happiness and loves you to distraction.”

  This was getting weird.

  “So, why are you two here? You don’t love me. All you’ve ever done is torment me to tears.”

  Darren chuckled. “Yes, I suppose we have.”

  “I repeat --” Lilly crossed her arms, annoyed now, “-- why are you here?”

  “I’ve already told you.” Darren gave her a wicked grin and tugged at her hair. “We’ve been selected --”

  “Well, ‘selected’ isn’t exactly the best word.” Jayden chuckled.

  Lilly was at once mortified. In all the years of this Faery King’s reign, she’d never known him to force forest creatures to marry. It was painfully -- and embarrassingly -- obviously to her they were being forced into something they didn’t want.

  “Perhaps not, but did it really matter?” Darren looked at his brother and raised an eyebrow.

  “Are you kidding? I doubt we could call this off if our lives depended on it.” Jayden laughed and tugged at her hair again, but Lilly couldn’t take any more. The Faery King knew how much she wanted Jayden and Darren. But why in the world had he decided she should marry them? Especially since they didn’t feel the same way.

  With a screech that sounded to her suspiciously like a sob, Lilly lunged into the air and flew as fast as her still-damp wings would carry her into the forest. A fine shower of faery dust fluttered down around the two men as she shrank to her faery size. She only hoped it shrunk their privates as well as her body. Nothing could possibly make this better, but maybe she could lose herself among the evergreen fauna and finish the Waking when the Tyger brothers lost interest in a couple of hours.

  When she landed, she ran her fingers through her hair in agitation, only to find several knots at the back of her head. Why did they always tie her hair in knots? Did they not know how long it took get them out?

  And why did men always have to ruin even the brightest of sunny days?

  Chapter Two

  Darren instinctively covered his manhood. When a faery was in a highly emotional state, her dust was exceedingly unpredictable.

  “There she goes.” Leave it to Jayden to make simple matters difficult. “Nice going, there, dufus. Way to win her over.” Darren wanted to pull his hair out. This had definitely not gone the way he’d thought it would.

  “I didn’t hear you doing any better.” Jayden chuckled. “Just calm down. Everything will work out. Eventually.”

  Darren wished he could feel as calm and unconcerned as Jayden looked and sounded. Nothing seemed to faze his younger twin. The man didn’t seem to care about anything.

  “At least I didn’t make her fly off to go sulk in the bushes. So we go look for her. Isn’t that what all females want? Their males chasing after them?” It had seemed so easy to Darren when the king had told them to seek her out. Their skills with women were legendary in the Magical Forest. Winning the heart of one Flower Faery, especially one so very near to their hearts, should be fairly simple. That should have been his first clue to the enormity of the task. Women were many things, but simple wasn’t one of them.

  “Some, I suppose. Not Lilly, though. We’re going to have to woo her. Show her how special she is.” Jayden was exasperating at times, but Darren had learned to trust his instincts. If Jayden said she had to be approached differently than other women they’d dallied with, Darren would definitely listen. This was too important to screw up.

  “What’s our next move, then?” He was anxious to get on with this. Darren had wanted Lilly for his mate since the first time he’d laid eyes on her. He’d lost track of how many years ago that had been. All he knew was, when he was around her, he couldn’t seem to form two coherent sentences. He’d rehearsed what he’d planned on saying to her all the way to the pool. It hadn’t gone exactly like he’d planned, but at least he hadn’t come across as a total dimwit. />
  “Let her go for now. We’ll try again later. Give her time to think about it. I’m sure we’re the last people she expected to have as prospective mates.”

  As usual, Jayden hit the mark pretty solidly. He was good with people. Good at reading people. Thank the Mother for that because where Lilly was concerned, Darren had no idea what she expected of them. One thing was for sure, had the king not given them specific orders to take Lilly as their mate, there was no way he’d be in this position. He’d continue to admire her from afar and content himself with tying her hair in knots when she was asleep.

  “Well, at least we didn’t get faery dust all over us this time. It took me two days to get it out of my hair last time.”

  Jayden grinned. “But it was worth it. Do you remember the look on her face?”

  “How could I possibly forget?” Darren smiled at the memory. “She was in the middle of a screaming orgasm. We’d never have gotten caught if you hadn’t sneezed, you know.”

  “Sure. But what fun would that have been?” He continued to smile, the memory obviously as strong in his mind as it was in Darren’s. It had definitely been a memorable sight. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I hate getting wet.”

  * * *

  Lilly sneezed. Sneezed! And at the most inappropriate time, too. Faery dust scattered everywhere and Lilly sprang suddenly back to her normal size. Flower Faeries did not sneeze around flowers!

  Her sudden growth while so near the top inner part of the tree combined with her sneeze caused a shower of fragrant crabapple blossoms to rain down around her. She’d been working for three days to coax the delicate, fragrant blooms out from the Winter Sleep. Now, one branch near the trunk was almost completely devoid of blossoms and she didn’t get a second chance.