albino demon smiles at me. Promptly, I fling the door shut so hard that it slams, my heart jumping into my throat. How the fuck did he know where I live?
“Auntie Steph?”
I glance behind me at the small gasp I hear and see Harriet standing there, her headphones pulled down, her mouth hanging open as she gives me a quizzical look.
“Why did you slam the door in the unicorn man’s face?” she asks, her expression beyond appalled.
I’m so startled by her statement that I stand there in a daze and am therefore delayed in grabbing her as she zips by me and pulls the door open once more. Her usually somber expression brightens with a huge smile as she looks up at the male on the other side of the door.
“It is you! I just knew that unicorns are real,” she breathes as she clutches her notebook tightly to her chest.
I frown. There’s no way. I peer through the door and scramble back as a white unicorn with a pearly horn, cloven hooves, and a tail like a lion’s ducks through the door and sweeps into the room. He’s like something straight off the medieval unicorn tapestries in terms of his tail and hooves, but the rest of him is pure stallion.
“No fucking way,” I mumble to myself
Harriet picks up something from the floor just outside the door with a delighted little squeal. I don’t see what it is clearly, other than something wrapped in bright green plastic, because she ducks past me to rush after him. It’s all I can do to remember to shut the door before I follow him at a slower pace, my mind struggling to come to terms with what my eyes are seeing.
Mama, with Tonya close on her heels, chooses that moment to come from the kitchen, a frown on her face.
“What is all the fuss going on out here—oh my!” she says as she jerks to a stop, her eyes widening at our guest.
“Holy shit,” Tonya whispers in awe.
I silently agree with them and also think of a few more choice expletives for the situation, but my tongue doesn’t seem to be functioning at the moment. I can only shake my head.
There is a unicorn in my apartment.
Chapter 5
Eliph
This space is… small. Already, I can see that my impulsive action was ill planned. I have to keep my head level so my horn doesn’t inadvertently damage anything around me, but I fail to account for the size of my torso… or my tail, for that matter, which comes dangerously close to knocking a delicate figure from a shelf. I tuck it in close to my haunches. I don’t want to destroy my mate’s home, or accidentally harm any of the humans tucked in around me.
Calling forth what little magic is still accessible to me despite my unfulfilled mating, I reach for my fae form.
As usual, such magic comes with a price. It sears my insides, painfully rearranging muscle and tissue. When I was a juvenile, the pain used to knock me unconscious but, at my age, I am able not only to remain alert, but also remember to spin clothes around myself so that when the process is complete, I stand before them in a simple tunic and close-fitting trousers. My ahandral stares at me, her mouth parted in shock, so I’m uncertain as to her immediate feelings regarding my presence. Just being near her, however, sends a familiar warmth through me. It’s followed by the anticipated rush of possessive protectiveness that briefly steals my breath.
I knew that everything would change when I met my mate, but I am surprised anew at just how strongly my nascent bonds with her are affecting me emotionally. Nothing could prepare me for this, and yet I am eagerly embracing the experience with both hands. I can’t seem to get enough of her. Excitement bubbles within me, and I am eager to show her my grotto, to mate with her beneath the canopy of the forests or within the bower waiting for her in our hidden keep, and to eventually fill her with a son, when my ahandral is agreeable.
Eventually. We have plenty of time for such things. Unicorns breed slowly, and while some drop a foal soon after mating, others can wait many decades. I’m a patient male. I would be happy spending as much time as it takes alone with my female.
But I’m getting ahead of myself… First, the wooing.
“Good evening, Ahandral,” I greet her