Dream Five, Chapter Twenty-Four

(Anything in asterisks is meant to be italicized.)

We were watching *M*A*S*H* again a few days later and I was tucked into his side under his massive arm, his hand resting on my stomach again, when I sighed.

*Something on your mind, Rainbow Girl?*

It doesn't matter how many times or how often he calls me that. It will always undo me. We both thought it was amusing that people sometimes referred to me as Barrons's Rainbow Girl.

*I never want to leave this room. Come to think of it, I didn't want to leave last time, either.*

*You'd get bored.*

*Of having endless sex with you? Not a chance, bud.*

*Then who says we have to leave this time?*

I looked up at him and saw that he meant it. He'd stay down here with me for forever, only emerging when absolutely necessary, if that's truly what I wanted.

It was what I wanted, but Kat says Dani and I have responsibility dysmorphia; we think the world is our responsibility just because we're more powerful than most. The Nine didn't have that problem because they had accepted it wasn't their responsibility a long time ago, if they'd even had that problem at all. The world wasn't my problem.

But the Fae were. I was their queen. It didn't matter that I hadn't wanted the position. It was mine now and I was going to do my best to be good at it. As I looked at him, I realized that he wouldn't stop me from passing on the True Magic to someone just so I could stay right here with him for forever if I so desired.

"I wouldn't," he echoed.

*You wouldn't be afraid I'd no longer be me for doing that?*

"You wouldn't be running from your responsibilities if you did," he told me as he shifted so he could get a better angle to see me. "Nor would you be hiding from something that you needed to face. And because I know you'd eventually be itching for a fight, or at least to drive the Viper."

*There is that*, I agreed. "Speaking of running..."

He looked at me silently, waiting for me to continue.

I placed my hand on top of the one he had on my stomach. It was so small in comparison, I couldn't even imagine how small this baby's hand was going to look as it tried to wrap its tiny little fist around his finger.

"Someday, once this baby is born, we're going to need to take a second honeymoon."

*Back here?*

"I expect all of my birthdays and our anniversaries to be spent here," I told him with a smirk. He laughed and shook his head when I told him I wanted to spend his birthdays here, too, if I could talk him into it.

"I can't wait to see how you try to do that," he told me with a smirk.

"Actually, I was thinking more of exploring," I said with a small smile.

*And what does any of that have to do with running?*

"Because I want to explore the land surrounding the White Mansion and run with your beast," I said, arching my neck so I could keep it tucked into his shoulder as I looked up at him. "If I wasn't pregnant, I'd have wanted to spend our honeymoon both here and there. A few days of wonderful, endless sex with you," his heavily lidded eyes raked lustily down what he could see of me that wasn't covered by a crimson silk sheet and I knew I was going to have my world rocked again soon, "and a few days of exploring with you in the skin you're most comfortable in. But not near any cliffs. Like, ever. For eternity."

His eyes dripped mockery and amusement and the corners of his mouth turned upwards but there were crimson sparks swirling and I knew he was specifically remembering the first time we were on a cliff together. The first time I'd killed him. It hadn't been the last.

"I've seen you die four times, Jericho, and half of them were on a cliff. I don't care that you'll always come back, I hate seeing you die. I find it very disturbing and upsetting so I'm forever avoiding being on cliffs with you. Just don't kill everything that comes near me this time, okay? I imagine some of the smaller animals were cute and cuddly and harmless."

A rumble of laughter emanated from his chest and then he was kissing me, hot and hungry like he'd never get enough.

*I never will*, he sent. *Never enough of you.*

*Good*, I told him with a smirk as I kissed him and ran the back of my left hand over his cheek so he felt the massive diamond brush against his skin, *because you're stuck with me now.* Then he was on top of me, grabbing my hands and pulling them up above my head. I felt fur against my skin and heard the tell-tale click of the handcuffs and I threw back my head as I laughed lustily because I knew I was in for a wild ride. We'd made frequent use of them the first time we'd come here.

Barrons moved down my body until my legs wrapped around his head. I wanted to run my hands through his thick hair and pull him closer but all I could do was tighten my legs and raise myself up to meet his tongue. He teased at first, bringing me closer and closer to the edge without letting me go over it. Then his obsidian eyes met mine. His hands reached up and twisted and pulled on my nipples because he knew how sensitive they'd been lately as I felt a fang graze my clit and I exploded in a roar, the pain only increasing the pleasure as it coursed through me.

I was still on my way back down when I locked eyes with him again and fired along our connection, *Fuck me, Jericho Barrons. What are you waiting for?*

"That," he growled with a wolffish grin.

When I first left this room after I finally surfaced from being *Pri-ya*, I emerged with a physique I had never even imagined having before: sleekly muscled. Over two months of constant sex with this man and I walked away having never been physically stronger (except for whenever I ate Unseelie). The doctor had told me I needed to maintain what muscles I had to make giving birth easier. No workout high compared to this.

Barrons kept me in the handcuffs for a while. He'd tease me and then he'd fuck me before going back to teasing, not letting me fully release no matter how many times I told him to fuck me, with or without his name thrown in among others. It was a while before I caught on that this was how he'd compensate for me not being able to go as long as I used to before needing a break. He'd get me all worked up in a frenzy before going to town on me.

My pillow had been tossed aside. Onto the floor, actually. He had me on my knees, holding onto the headboard. Then I felt his hands pulling me back towards him, pushing his pillow that smelled of spices like him under my head. My arms stretched until I couldn't pull back any farther. That's when he turned my head to the side and pushed it down onto the pillow while pulling my rump higher up into the air so I wasn't laying on my stomach. This wasn't the first time we'd ever done this, but he sometimes pulled my arms behind me and pinned them to my back while we were on the floor or had a mound of pillows beneath me.

I shuddered as I felt his hands slide up my calves and shivered as he trailed his fingers across the skin of the back of my thighs. When I tried to lift my head, he immediately—and somewhat gently—pushed it back down. Glaring up at him, I fired along our connection while he remained poised at my entrance as I wiggled and squirmed to try and get him inside me, shouting, *FUCKING FUCK ME ALREADY, BARRONS.*

It usually hurt a little whenever he shouted along our connection because there was basically someone else in my head who was yelling (been there before, it's not fun), but he just laughed, his white teeth flashing in his dark face.

Then he was slowly sliding his entire magnificent length in me. I tried to push back but he held me in place. It was excruciating. He sometimes likes to just be hard inside me, but he had never teased me this much beforehand. I was moaning and squirming as I tried to get him to do what I wanted him to do, but he just laughed again.

Then his mouth was by my ear and he said, "You really want to be alone out there in the wilderness with my beast?"

*Gawd, yeeeeessss*, I told him, not trusting myself to speak without whimpering. My hands and wrists were struggling against the handcuffs, trying to break them so I could take what I wanted. I imagined pushing him back and mounting him in whatever way I could because I needed him to fuck me so badly it was unbearable.

He throatily laughed without a trace of humor and I once again heard the voice of the beast as I felt a fang brush against my ear. "Then you'd better bring your monster."

He pulled out and I nearly sobbed from the sudden emptiness. I really did sob when he suddenly began thrusting in me and I roared and screamed and cried and laughed and writhed and squirmed as I pushed back against him with all my might as I erupted—sounding and looking, I'm sure, totally unhinged and deranged. A savage grin spread across my face and I laughed wildly as I heard the man and the beast roaring behind me when I felt him release inside me, sending me over the edge once more.

They say the baby can hear you and you should talk to it or put headphones on your stomach and play Mozart to increase their intelligence. The only music our baby had really heard was the sound of us roaring, especially this week.

Most moms would be afraid of how that roaring is affecting its mind as it's forming. Most moms aren't married to a nine-foot-tall horned beast; the king of the entire motherflipping jungle.

My hope was that it meant my baby wouldn't fear its father, but see how magnificent he is. It would see him. My hope was that the sound of roaring meant it wouldn't fear monsters. The children of beasts and monsters should never fear such things.

Despite the pregnancy, we'd still been having a lot of sex. Possibly more so than usual. I'd talked to the doctor and had confessed that we had a lot of sex and wanted to know if it could hurt the baby. She had said as long as we were careful it should be okay, but warned us that it might not be wise as we got closer and closer to my due date because sex could trigger labor. I think we were trying to have as much as we could now before that time came. Neither of us had mentioned it, but I'm pretty sure we both knew it might be a while after I had the baby before I had sex with him again.

Barrons held me up until I could stop convulsing so I didn't fall onto our unborn child. Once I had, he carefully laid me on my side before retrieving the keys to the handcuffs and unlocking me, my arms falling down onto and above my head because I couldn't find the strength to move them.

Then he was behind me in the bed as I was still coming down. He lifted my head and moved the pillow so we could both use it. His hand brushed against my unbelievably sensitive nipple as he wrapped his arms around me, sending a jolt throughout my body. I began pushing back against him, eager to have him in me again.

He growled lustily in my ear as he pushed himself into me. He's always hard. It's fantastic. The arm that was wrapped underneath me pushed my sensitive breasts flat to my chest as he held me against him and thrusted into me, his hand squeezing and kneading and pinching and pulling one.

His other hand found its way to my throat. He just held it without squeezing, but the thought that he could so easily squeeze and I'd pass out (if he didn't temporarily kill me until my body had quickly repaired itself) was thrilling. Not even when he came inside me did his fingers tighten once. His self-control astounds and fascinates me. I think his hand around my throat and the thrill I got from it showed how much I trust him. Even though he could so easily snap my neck, I trusted him not to lose himself and do it.

Then he lowered my arms and tucked them against me because he knew I didn't have the strength to move them myself. I inhaled sharply at the movement because my shoulder joints had grown sore. He rubbed and massaged them until I relaxed. His arms wrapped carefully and gently around me, his hand gently rubbing and massaging the breast he had so roughly been playing with.

My head was on the edge of the pillow, my eyes still glazed over as I slowly rode down. At first his head was behind me and I could feel his face in my hair as he inhaled the scent we make when we fuck. Then I felt him move and his head rested on mine, cheek to cheek. I finally found enough strength to rest my hands on his arm and sigh contentedly as he held me safe and secure in his embrace.

My heart was so full it was fit to burst as a weak smile spread my lips. I was back in this room where I'd spent some of the happiest and simplest days of my life in bed with this man. There had been a purity in this room during that time and there was again. The hand that he wasn't using to massage my chest moved down to my stomach and began to slowly move across it, gently and lightly rubbing back and forth.

My soulmate was here holding me, and after all the pain and horror I'd experienced and gone through that started a couple months before meeting him, I knew he'd do whatever it took to make sure there was still joy in my life and moments like these. His touch was so gentle and loving and I felt so cherished and honored to be his. I was so ripped-down-raw in love with him and knew I always would be.

He showed me his love in so many ways that it sometimes made it hard for me to feel like I could ever measure up to him in returning his affection. But as his hand moved over the surface of my skin, I knew I was showing him I loved him in a way neither of us ever thought possible: I was having Jericho Barrons's baby.

When my mind was finally capable of forming words again, I sent along our connection, *Do the wards you placed block out sound?*

*No.*

My throat was still raw from all the roaring and screaming I had done so best I could do then was talk to him along our connection, but I managed a chuckle. *If someone lives nearby, I would imagine they think a monster lives here.*

*They'd be right*, he pointed out. Then added, *My little monster.*

*If Dani were here, they'd have left a note at the post office and had her investigate. They probably have left her a note at this point.*

*Then it's a good thing she's a Hunter and currently away.*

I chuckled again and was about to respond when we both froze, not because we heard something, but because we felt something. His hand moved slowly back to where it had just been on my stomach as my hand flew down to land next to it. Neither of us moved until we felt it again. I turned my head to look at him as he propped himself up behind me.

"Did you just feel—" I said hoarsely.

"Yes," he said as he inclined his head once. His dark gaze was alive with excitement.

When we felt the baby kick once more, I quietly said, "Wow, there's really something living inside me." Then I frowned and said, "Again. You know, there were a few months before I was born where it was just me. Then the Book downloaded itself into me. Then I had both the True Magic and the Book inside me for like a minute. Then it was just the True Magic. Now it's the True Magic and a baby. Someday, I would really like it to just be me again. See what that feels like." His eyes shimmered with amusement as he leaned down and kissed me.

"Get some sleep," he instructed as he settled back down behind me. "You're due back in Faery tomorrow." He pulled me closer and held me tighter. *It won't fear us, Mac. It'll know that your monster, two Hunters, a Hel-Cat, a bloody fucking superhero—who wields the Sword of Light, a Null and the Queen of the Fae wielding the Spear of Destiny, the Unseelie King riding atop bloody fucking K'Vruck, and our beasts will destroy anything that should have the balls to try to threaten it.*

I gave his arm a squeeze. Someday soon, we were going to have to discuss some...difficult things. But not yet. Not tonight. Not here. This place was sacred. I wanted to ensure it would remain that way because some things are sacred until you stop treating them as such.

"Think when we get back from Faery tomorrow, we could stay here for another week?" I asked sleepily.

"Sure," he whispered in my ear before the hand on my stomach was suddenly wrapped around mine. I just barely heard his reply before I drifted off.