Elemental Fae Holiday: A Why Choose Paranormal Romance (Elemental Fae Academy Book 4) Read online

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Elemental Fae Holiday

  Copyright © 2020 Lexi C. Foss & J.R. Thorn

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book may not be redistributed to others for commercial or noncommercial purposes.

  Editing by: Outthink Editing, LLC

  Proofreading by: Katie Schmahl

  Cover Design: Lori Grundy

  Published by: Ninja Newt Publishing

  Digital Edition

  ISBN: 978-1-950694-38-9

  CONTENTS

  About Elemental Fae Holiday

  Introduction

  Prologue: Cyrus

  1. Claire

  2. Cyrus

  3. Titus

  4. Claire

  5. Claire

  6. Exos

  7. Claire

  8. Titus

  9. Claire

  10. Cyrus

  11. Claire

  12. Claire

  13. Cyrus

  14. Claire

  15. Claire

  16. Vox

  17. Claire

  18. Titus

  19. Claire

  20. Sol

  21. Claire

  22. Exos

  23. Exos

  24. Cyrus

  25. Claire

  26. Exos

  27. Claire

  Epilogue: Cyrus

  A Note from J.R. Thorn

  Winter Fae Holiday

  Candela

  Elemental Fae Academy

  Midnight Fae Academy

  Fortune Fae Academy

  About Lexi C. Foss

  Also by Lexi C. Foss

  About J.R. Thorn

  Also by J.R. Thorn

  All I want for Christmas is to feel my legs.

  Because my mates broke me.

  After years of adoration and love—and lots of intimacy—my guys have a special holiday request.

  A little fae baby.

  Like a fool, I agree, but there’s no way I can choose who gets to be the father. So, my guys have come up with a solution. A series of trials will determine who’ll do the deed; namely, one in the bedroom that has me questioning if my lady parts are really up for this. Right now? Yeah, I can’t feel my legs.

  Except one look at my mates has me caving. The idea of them as dads melts me into a puddle of Claire-goo.

  Even if their timing can’t be worse. My dream of opening an Interrealm Fae Academy is just within reach. Then my pregnancy arrives with one hell of a twist.

  I’m going to have to count on my guys more than ever to get me through this mess.

  Wish my mates luck. They’re going to need it. Because a pregnant fae with control over all five elements is a challenge unlike any they’ve ever faced before.

  Something tells me this is going to be one unforgettable holiday.

  Authors’ Note: Elemental Fae Holiday is a standalone why-choose novel with a happily-ever-after ending. It features characters from the Elemental Fae Academy world but can be read without previous knowledge from the trilogy.

  To all the women who have gone through pregnancy, wished their husbands were more helpful, and fantasized about a team of supportive, sexy men. This book is for you.

  And to our husbands, for taking care of everything in our lives while we played with fae.

  Dear Reader,

  Elemental Fae Holiday is a standalone reverse-harem paranormal romance. It focuses on characters from the Elemental Fae Academy universe and includes a few cameos from Midnight Fae Academy and Fortune Fae Academy characters.

  While this story contains crossovers within the fae universe, it takes place in the future and doesn’t require knowledge of previous books. It also happens after the events in the other series; therefore, this isn’t concurrent with those timelines and instead takes place after the conclusion of those stories.

  This is a holiday-themed story with steamy scenes, emotional twists, and a little bit of fae politics sprinkled on top. There are also some MMF scenes with emphasis on the MM. Claire’s mate-circle has grown rather close over the years ;)

  Enjoy!

  Jen & Lexi

  SEX WITH CLAIRE was my favorite activity. But there was something innately beautiful about holding her afterward and watching her sleep in this fully gratified state.

  I could feel through the bonds that Exos and Titus shared my opinion. Even Vox and Sol were content, though they were elsewhere at the moment, preparing a surprise for our Claire.

  Our little half human adored the holidays, and we wanted to make this year extra special for her. We had an ulterior motive, one we all hoped she would enjoy and accept.

  A child.

  It’d been a conversation whispered about between the mate-circle, but not fully explored. And we wanted to start the preparations for it now.

  Which requires our little queen to be in a favorable mood.

  Hence the fuck fest Titus, Exos, and I had just provided.

  I met my brother’s sapphire gaze over her shoulder, his expression knowing. Titus was lost between her legs, his head using her thigh as a pillow. But when I looked down, his dark green irises sparked with embers and excitement.

  We had a proposal to make.

  One we hoped our mate would accept.

  Tomorrow, I thought. Tomorrow, we’ll tell her what we have in mind.

  And then the trials could begin...

  PUMPKINS.

  My mates carved pumpkins!

  I stared at the display in awe, surprised that Sol had allowed Vox to desecrate one of Earth’s creations in such a manner. The one and only time I’d mentioned Halloween festivities to him, he’d gone into shock before engaging in a rant about humans having no respect for the earth and its finer qualities.

  “First, you cut down trees and decorate their corpses in gaudy strands and ornaments for Winter Festivus, or Christmas—whatever the hell it’s called. And now you’re telling me they gut pumpkins and take a knife to the sacred shell? Why in the five sources would anyone do such a thing?”

  And that had effectively ended our discussion on Halloween traditions.

  But he stood before me now, holding a big orange jack-o’-lantern.

  Vox was beside him with a different sort of creation. His carving resembled a bell shape, making me wonder if he’d confused the Christmas ornaments with Halloween traditions. However, I smiled like a loon anyway.

  “They’re perfect,” I said, delighted by the festive decorations. I wanted something that would bring all the fae realms together today, and this would surely do it. Because we all shared one thing in common—the Human Realm. So why not borrow from some of their fun traditions to set the tone for agreement?

  “We have more to show you,” Vox murmured, his voice holding a husky note that always made me weak in the knees.

  My Air Fae just had a way with sound, something I swore he used the winds around us to highlight. He’d grown even more powerful over the years, his ties to me and the source highlighting his former royal connection and strengthening his bonds to our shared ele
ment.

  Even now, I could see the power swirling through his long, dark strands. He wasn’t wearing his trademark warrior tail today but instead allowing his hair to brush his strong shoulders.

  “Yeah.” Sol cleared his throat. “We, uh, decorated your office, too.”

  My eyebrows lifted. “You did?”

  They both nodded.

  “Want to see?” Vox asked.

  “Do we have time?” We were supposed to be heading to the neutral zone in the Human Realm to meet the other fae for the annual Interrealm Fae Council meeting—something that had just been established over the last few years.

  “We have two hours,” Vox replied. “Plenty of time.”

  “And it’ll be a good distraction,” Sol added, his earth gaze knowing.

  All my mates could feel the nerves rioting inside me, just as I could sense them all sending calming energy my way. But it wasn’t every day I had to deliver a proposal to all of fae kind.

  My mates’ idea of a distraction was very welcome, so I nodded. “I would like to see it. Just don’t let me be late.”

  Vox snorted, his silver-rimmed black eyes glimmering knowingly. He was never late, a fact he reminded me of with that look.

  “Okay, show me,” I said, my curiosity piqued.

  I’d started adding items to my office around each holiday about two years ago. Just subtle reminders of home. While I loved my fae and their festivities, I often felt nostalgic for the traditions of my past. I grew up with my human grandparents in Ohio, always celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a myriad of other holidays.

  Things weren’t the same here.

  That didn’t make them bad.

  Just… different.

  Sol and Vox set their pumpkins down on the stoop of our Elemental Fae Academy home, then escorted me into the heart of campus, where I kept my office.

  Several fae waved along the way, everyone cheerful and pleasant in the autumn weather—weather that also reminded me of home.

  Except the trees here didn’t change like they did in Ohio. Instead, they remained green, and it never really snowed on Academy grounds. The elements kept everything thriving, indulging in a very different circle of life from the Human Realm.

  A hint of nostalgia touched my chest, something that seemed to happen during this season every year. I’d learned to ignore it mostly, but I still dreamt of snowy trees, Christmas lights, and even Santa Claus.

  Ridiculous, yes.

  But some childhood experiences never died.

  “Okay, close your eyes,” Vox said as he led me to the door of my office. “No peeking.”

  “I don’t peek,” I replied.

  “Sure, you don’t,” Sol drawled, his low timbre a caress to my senses. He came up behind me—his large, muscular body the biggest of all my mates—and grabbed my hips. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that time with the blindfold.”

  “You didn’t ask if I could see through it,” I reminded him, my insides warming at the memory of Vox and Sol playing with sensory deprivation.

  My Earth Fae mate was the rock of our mate-circle, his dominance quiet and strong and oh-so Sol. While Vox was my philosophical, wise mate. He always thought everything through and often provided the voice of reason that I needed.

  “Excuses,” he grumbled against my ear, his earthy scent wrapping around me in a cloak of comfort. “You knew what we expected from you, little flower. And you cheated.”

  “I would hardly call it cheating. I would have known who was who regardless.” They’d wanted to play a sexual game that required me to guess who was inside me.

  Sol’s girth always gave him away, just like Vox’s long length.

  Heck, everything about them was unique. Even their tongues and the way they touched me. Sol always held back, afraid his much-stronger form would crush me, and Vox preferred sensual strokes and wind kisses.

  Which, of course, had my thighs clenching. Because now I wanted sex.

  And something told me that had been Sol’s intent as he aligned his chest to my back and wrapped his arms around my waist. “We’ll have to play again to find out,” he hummed against my ear.

  “But decorations first,” Vox insisted. “Now close your eyes, Claire.”

  A shiver traversed my spine at the demand in his tone, my insides heating all over again with the promise of what was to come.

  My mates liked to play.

  And I liked to play, too.

  I closed my eyes and relaxed into Sol’s hold. My pointy ears—something I still wasn’t fully used to—twitched as the door swept open. Then my nose picked up on the subtle hints of foliage.

  Sol had created something. My affinity for earth roared to life, trying to identify the foreign substance. It wasn’t Elemental Fae in origin, but foreign. Not human, either.

  My lips curled down as I tried to determine the roots. But then Sol urged me forward with his much-bigger body guiding mine from behind, pushing me into my office.

  Lights flickered beyond my closed eyelids, and the door whispered closed behind us.

  “Okay,” Vox said. “You can look now.”

  I squinted my eyes first, nervous, then immediately widened them at the sight of my fully transformed office.

  A tree stood rooted beside my desk, branches resembling vines along my ceiling and wrapping around the upper molding of my walls. Yellow, red, and orange leaves decorated the limbs, their vibrancy the embodiment of autumn colors. A breeze ran on a loop between them, spreading the fragrance of home throughout my office.

  “Oh, it’s beaut—”

  I jumped as a skeletal thing appeared in the corner, billowing in the wind in a ghostlike state.

  My eyes widened. “What the hell is that?”

  Vox and Sol followed my gaze, the former frowning and saying, “It’s supposed to be a skeleton. Like for Halloween. Exos created it using spirit magic. Did he do it wrong?”

  I blinked. “He used…?” I trailed off, because, yes, I could feel it now, the hint of his element weaving through the skeletal structure, commanding it to disappear and reappear at random.

  A Halloween trick.

  “Oh.” I grinned. “That’s clever.” I took in the tree again. “And this is amazing. What breed is it?” I pressed my palm to the bark, asking it to speak to me, but all it did was whisper Sol’s name.

  “I, uh, sort of made it up. You once told me about the leaf cycles from home, but ours don’t do that. So I created a tree with leaves naturally occurring in your autumn colors. It will always look like this. I guess we can call it an autumn oak?”

  “Autumn oak,” I repeated, my heart thudding in my chest. “Yes. Oh, Sol, thank you!”

  I spun around in his arms to kiss him, only to be caught off guard by the glowing pumpkin lanterns strung around my door. My eyes widened at the very real flames brightening the insides of the hollowed-out baby pumpkins. They were all strung together by strands of water swirling with spirit and air.

  “Wow,” I breathed, stunned by the gorgeous use of elements.

  “You like it?” Vox asked softly, his chest caressing my back as he sandwiched me between him and Sol.

  “It was Vox’s idea,” my earth mate said, a note of annoyance in his tone. “He made me create all those pumpkins just for Titus to gut them.”

  “And we’re making a pie from it all,” Vox added, his tone excited. “River gave us a recipe to try. I’ve already started the process back at home.”

  “Pumpkin pie.” I couldn’t hold back the excitement in my voice. “Are we… are we going to have Thanksgiving this year?” We’d never really celebrated it before.

  “We’re looking into it,” Sol replied, reaching up to twirl one of my blonde strands around his finger. “But we want to focus on Halloween first.”

  “Yes, definitely Halloween,” Vox murmured, his lips falling to my neck. “A very memorable Halloween.”

  My brow furrowed. “What do you mean? The fae don’t celebrate Halloween
.”

  “That doesn’t mean we can’t,” my air mate whispered against my ear before nibbling on the lobe. “Do you like your decorations, Claire?”

  “I love them.” I tried to face him, but his hands landed on my hips, forcing me to remain in place.

  Sol’s touch drifted from my hair to my cheek, his massive palm cupping my jaw with his trademark tenderness. “Did we get it all right, little flower?”

  The ghostly skeleton chose that moment to whisper through the room, disappearing into a wall. My cheeks began to burn from smiling so hard. “It’s all perfect,” I said, meaning it. “But I don’t understand why you did this.”

  “Can’t we do something nice for our mate?” Vox asked, his lips tracing the column of my neck.

  “You always do nice things for me,” I replied, leaning into Sol’s palm and elongating my throat a little more for Vox’s mouth.

  “Then this shouldn’t be a surprise,” Vox replied.

  “But it’s a lot more than we usually do.” Last year, I just had a pumpkin on my desk. Then I’d gone a little overboard on Christmas decorations shortly after because I’d needed a little human fix. I intended to do it all over again this year, and being surrounded by autumn remnants now only made me more excited to play with winter-themed ornaments and spice up our homes with holiday cheer.

  That was the upside to having multiple places to stay—it gave me that much more to decorate.

  “Maybe we want to make this year extra special.” Vox’s mouth returned to my ear. “Our mate-circle is turning five years old soon.”

  “Yes,” Sol agreed, his earthy gaze following the movement of his thumb as he drew a line across my bottom lip. “Consider this an anniversary gift of sorts.”

  “An early one,” Vox whispered, his tone eliciting a trail of goose bumps along my skin.

  I melted into them, their seductive touches lulling me into a sense of peace only my mates could inspire. They were doing this to put me at ease, to ensure I was entirely relaxed for the Interrealm Fae Council meeting.

  This was just one of the many reasons why I loved them.

  They always knew what I needed, their intuition tied to their abilities to read my thoughts and mine theirs. But I sensed they were hiding something from me now. Some sort of big surprise.