Her males, p.1
Her Males, page 1
part #2 of The Female Series
Her Males
INVI WRIGHT
Copyright © 2023 Invi Wright
All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 9781234567890
ISBN-10: 1477123456
Cover design by: Art Painter
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018675309
Printed in the United States of America
COMPLETED WORKS
by Invi Wright
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STANDALONE
The Professor
Aine
THE FEMALE SERIES
The Female
Her Males
Their War
Chev’s Mate
Rock’s Bully
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Jack Lewis Landsmen
Lone Hornbech Bünger
Dakota Lane
Kimberly Belbot
Contents
Copyright
COMPLETED WORKS
THANK YOU
1
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4
5
6
7
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9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
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33
BOOKS IN THIS SERIES
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1
_____
CHARLOTTE
I’M IN WAY over my head.
Aziel pushes his dark hair out of his face before grabbing his drink and leaning back in his chair. It’s clearly been a few days since he last shaved, and I eye the stubble along his jaw with a frown.
What’s he been doing since he parted ways with Gray?
Aziel’s black eyes meet mine as he brings the glass to his lips, and I look away as he begins to drink. He never returned home after his fight with Gray, and his absence has not made my heart grow fonder.
Gray sits on my right, and I watch a thin bead of water trail down his neck from where his hair still drips. He’d just gotten out of the shower when Aziel called, and the curly black strands are yet to completely dry. They drip into the collar of his navy-blue shirt before disappearing underneath the fabric, but he hardly seems to notice as he rolls his sleeves up his muscular forearms and glances at Silas.
The Fate is on my left, his thigh pressing against mine, and he’s the only one of the three who looks entirely composed. He always does, though, and I swallow past the lump in my throat as his black eyes meet mine. It takes everything on me not to look at the full lips that were on me just yesterday.
Silas shoots me a sly smile, and I mindlessly fiddle with the hem of my shirt before pushing my messy brown hair over my shoulder and turning away.
I tap my foot against the ground and look around the stuffy boardroom we’re currently sitting in, my anxiety making me fidgety. I’m not used to leaving the house, and I didn’t have any time to mentally prepare for this last-minute meeting.
It’s probably not accidental that Aziel waited until the last minute to inform us about it.
Aziel was radio silent for almost twenty-four hours after Gray returned and told us Aziel was going to Envy to speak to Levia, and he didn’t reach out until late in the night to tell Gray and Silas to meet him in Envy within the hour.
He didn’t say anything about bringing me, but I’m glad Gray woke me up and let me come along.
I want to be included in this.
Gray drops a hand to my thigh, his touch comforting. He must smell my unease, and I bring my hand to his and squeeze around his fingers as I sneak a glance at Levia.
He’s already watching me, and I don’t like the look of his cocky smirk as he mindlessly flips through the pages of the female report. It’s thinner than the one I found in Gray’s office, and I assume Aziel removed anything too incriminating.
Levia shoots me a sickly-sweet smile as he drops his elbows to the table and rests his chin in his hand. His black eyes narrow just slightly as he looks between Gray and me. This is the first time Gray’s ever shown me public affection, and I’m sure Levia’s heard rumors about our relationship.
Aziel clears his throat.
“Well?” he asks.
Levia continues to stare at me. I’m not sure what I imagined the King of Envy would look like, but this isn’t it. He’s got the typical black hair and black eyes all the demons seem to share, but Levia is thin and borderline gangly, whereas most of the others I’ve met have been full of muscle.
He also has this air of awkwardness to him that’s impossible not to notice.
I fight the urge to look to Silas for direction. Our close contact felt awkward at first, considering we still haven’t addressed what happened between us, but now I’m grateful.
“Look away from Charlie.” Aziel’s voice is full of poorly restrained tension. “My female is of no interest to you.”
That finally catches Levia’s attention, and my shoulders relax as he finally looks away.
“Your female?” he asks, chuckling slightly. “There’s no need to continue that lie in here. I have no interest in outing Gray’s relationship to Asmod.”
His words are met with silence, and the unbearable tension in the room grows.
“Besides, I know you intend to bond with my niece,” he continues. “Shay’s quite excited.”
I grind my teeth as Aziel gives a noncommittal hum and takes another sip of his drink.
“We’ve long since been allies, Levia, and we’d like your help in taking over the Seekers’ facilities and enforcing new regulations across all the realms,” Aziel says.
Levia raises a brow and flicks through the pages of the report. He’s hardly looked at it, let alone read any detail, and I struggle to understand where his air of nonchalance is coming from. Why go through the effort of setting up this meeting if he’s so uninterested?
“Do I look like a fool, Aziel? Do you think my people don’t visit your kingdom and come back with stories of your regulations? The ones that have been in effect for the past forty years.” Levia spits the word “regulations” like it’s burned him. “If you come out with this report, I give it days before word spreads and there’s the threat of war against your kingdom. The ogres are looking for any excuse to take you out.”
Levia turns to me and leans in. “They hate the Wraths. Always have, always will.”
My pulse races as I give a jerky nod. I have a feeling he’s only speaking to me to make Aziel mad.
“That’s why we’ve come to you,” Aziel argues. “You’re close with Mammon, and with both the Envy and Greed kingdoms backing us, there isn’t a risk of war. Nobody would willingly enter a fight against the three of us.”
Levia sucks on his teeth.
“My people have been suffering, Aziel, and this level of involvement will be draining. Many breeds will fight back when we try telling them how to behave. If my men each have a wife of their own and a young female on the way, I’m sure they’ll feel much more motivated to join your cause. My people need something tangible to fight for, not just an idea.”
Gray squeezes my thigh, and Silas places his hand on my other one. This is the first contact Silas and I have had since our encounter in the library, and I fight with everything I have not to react as his fingers dig into my flesh.
“Are you suggesting I give you my women?” Aziel asks.
He sounds pissed, and I fear he’s about to lose control as the glass in his hand shatters. Nobody reacts to it, and a shadow smoothly moves forward and begins cleaning up the mess.
“You have more than enough of them.”
Aziel waves away the shadow. “My women are not for sale.”
I’m relieved to hear that. Aziel may be one of the world’s biggest assholes, but at least he seems to care about his people.
Levia takes a moment to consider Aziel’s words, and I bounce my knee as I wait. This conversation isn’t going how I hoped. I’m not sure what I thought would happen, but it wasn’t Levia suggesting Aziel give away the Wrath women like they’re trading cards.
“Very well,” Levia concedes. “Give me a few years to get things moving in Envy. Once I see your information is true and we have an uptick in female births, I will help.”
Years? With so many already on the brink of extinction, we don’t have the luxury of time.
Aziel pinches the bridge of his nose, and I watch him with mild interest. He’s more composed than I thought he’d be.
Silas chimes in. “Let us discuss this privately and get back to you.”
There’s nothing to discuss. If Levia doesn’t want to help, we will keep searching until we find someone willing. Men have grown callous around the topic and treatment of females over the years, but I’m sure there are many leaders out there who care.
“Nothing is stopping me from creating a drug that simulates the oxytocin women need,” Levia threatens.
I stiffen.
That’s precisely why we’re here. We don’t need help spreading the information—we need help controlling how it’s handled. Anybody could, in theory, drug women with the needed oxytocin and rape them until they’re pregnant with a female. It’s what we’re trying to avoid, and my blood runs cold as Levia threatens to do exactly that.
“Why don’t you go ahead and give it a try?” Aziel’s threat is poorly veiled.
I take pleasure in how Levia’s throat bobs. He’s scared of Aziel, and I like seeing it. Demons are one of the strongest breeds, and Wraths are the deadliest among them.
“I want five years to begin the rehabilitation process within Envy,” Levia says.
Over my dead body.
Gray nudges my shoulder, capturing my attention, and gestures for me to stand. Silas removes his hand from my thigh as I do so, and he turns to say something to Levia as Gray teleports me back to the manor.
My body feels heavy and disorientated as the front sitting room materializes around us, and I squeeze Gray’s arms as I struggle to regain my footing. He holds my waist until I’m steady, and I glare at the floor as I try to collect my thoughts.
Gray’s patient, and he silently pulls up a chair for me to sit in.
I plop down with a huff before dropping my head into my hands. His feet inch forward before he crouches and peers up at me from between my fingers.
“We’ll work on a compromise,” he whispers, grabbing my hands and pulling them away from my face. “I promise.”
I refuse to meet his eye. Prior to being captured by the Seekers, I’d never been confronted with such intense emotions before. My life was nothing more than a series of monotonous days.
I woke up every morning knowing I would eat breakfast in the kitchen, help clean the house, read a book or stare at a wall until dinner, then go to bed. Occasionally, I’d hide in my hole, but even that became monotonous after a while.
Gray runs his hands up and down my thighs. He continues even when Silas and Aziel materialize in the room. Aziel stands in the corner, watching, while Silas crouches next to Gray. My eyes practically bulge out of my head when Silas leans forward and kisses my knee over the material of my jeans. I look at Gray, trying to read his reaction, but he barely has one.
“What’s going on between the three of you?” Aziel asks.
Silas stands and turns toward the Wrath.
“Charlie’s my female,” he says. That’s news to me. We’ve hardly spoken since he went down on me the other day, and our few interactions since then have been painfully formal.
Silas takes a step closer to Aziel.
“And where the fuck have you been?” he asks, gesturing around the room. “We’re supposed to be a unit, and pulling us into a meeting with Levia with no prep is a fucking ambush, Aziel.”
Aziel looks confused for about half a second before his hard gaze lands on Gray.
“I told Gray I was going to Envy.”
Gray stands and turns so quickly, I’m surprised he doesn’t give himself whiplash.
“You told me you were going to Envy, but you said nothing about not coming home afterward,” he hisses.
Aziel only shrugs.
“We don’t have years to wait,” I say, eager to discuss that part of the meeting.
None of my males pushed back on the prospect of waiting years, and to say I’m pissed would be an understatement.
“We have no intention of waiting five years, my love,” Gray comforts, his voice soft. He’s speaking to me like I’m a child, and I’m not a fan.
I stand, frustrated, before sitting back down. I don’t know how to handle this, and I’m overwhelmed.
“Let’s go upstairs and rest. It’s late,” Gray says, shooting Aziel another pointed glare. “We can discuss this tomorrow morning.”
I don’t want to push this conversation off any longer, but I do have to admit that it will likely go smoother when emotions aren’t so high. Especially on my end.
Despite my doubts, I let Gray take my hand and lead me upstairs.
2
_____
CHARLOTTE
MY BACK HURTS, and I twist side to side to try to crack my lower spine before crawling out of bed.
It’s early, but I’m eager to continue discussing last night’s meeting with Gray and Silas.
I’m still pissed by their lack of response when they found out what the issue with the female births is, but I’m willing to put that behind me. It seems like they’re genuinely trying to fix things, and I can’t be of any help if I’m avoiding them.
I grab a change of clothes from my closet before making my way into my bathroom.
A small part of me wants to peer into Gray’s bedroom to see if he’s already awake, but I avoid the temptation. I’m scared if he gets me alone, he’s going to bombard me with questions about Silas.
He gets an inch and takes a mile.
I do have to admit he’s been good about giving me space these past few days, though. I half-expected him to hammer me with questions about what happened between Silas and me the first chance he got, but he hasn’t pried. I’m grateful, and I have no idea how to tackle that situation.
I can’t believe I called Silas “my male,” and I’m still shocked that he reciprocated.
After all this time, I thoroughly convinced myself it wasn’t going to happen between us. Silas made it clear he had no interest in being in a relationship with me, and I’m struggling to understand what’s changed his mind.
Fuck, I mean, he’s never once treated me as anything other than a slightly annoying roommate. He even rejected me when I first tried to deepen things between us.
My mind continues to race as I step in the shower and wash yesterday’s grime off my body. It makes me feel significantly better, and by the time I finally make my way downstairs, I feel about half ready for this conversation.
I head into the dining room, expecting to see them eating breakfast, but the space is empty. Gray usually insists on everybody eating meals together, but I suppose there’s enough going on that he’s not pushing it.
“Gray?” I call out, making my way to his office.
Silas pops his head out of Aziel’s doorway and gestures for me to enter. My palms grow clammy, and I wipe them on my pants as I step inside Aziel’s office.
Aziel is sitting behind his desk, and I’m glad there’s a physical object between us as I make my way to the couch Gray’s currently occupying. He moves over so I have room to sit, and I lower myself onto the cushion before awkwardly clearing my throat.
The room looks the same as it always does, and I’m happy to note that Shay’s nowhere to be found. I haven’t seen her since before Gray and Aziel got into their fight, but I’m not going to complain.
She makes me uncomfortable.
Silas shuts the office door and sits in one of the chairs directly across from Aziel’s desk.
“We haven’t spoken about anything important,” Gray says.
I nod, happy to hear it.
Aziel is the first to speak. “We need Levia as an ally. Wraths are strong, but we don’t have the resources to support this ourselves. Most breeds tolerate the Seekers because they’re a neutral organization, but they won’t like having us on their land. I can guarantee the ogres and dragons will see this as an act of war.”
“The humans will probably fight back, too. They don’t like you,” I add.
Aziel shakes his head and grabs a pen off his desk. He fiddles with it while Gray turns to look me in the eye, and I can’t help but find myself annoyed by Aziel’s lack of interest in what I have to say.
“The humans will complain, but they don’t have the means to fight us,” Gray says. “There are only a few breeds that pose a threat. The other demon kingdoms are our biggest concern, hence why we want to get Levia on our side before going public. My dad is notoriously neutral, so he’s not a worry, but Mammon could be a problem. She’s the Queen of Greed, and she’s been looking for an excuse to wage war with Aziel for centuries. Having Levia on our side would mitigate that risk. She doesn’t have the means for a fight against both Wrath and Envy.
