A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing

While Astrid was still fiddling with the stone, Elora had already reached the bedroom and walked in.

Inside, Erik sat on the large bed with his arms around the waist of a half-excited, half-nervous Emma on his lap. She knew what was going to happen today, and she had prepared for it.

Meanwhile, Emily stood to the side and glared at Elora the moment she walked inside. Clearly, she wanted to talk about the sleeping arrangements. She naturally also knew what was going to happen between Erik and Emma, and she planned to make herself scarce as soon as she got an answer from Elora.

To Emily, even Erik's old room with the large werewolf-shaped hole in it was more enticing than watching her little sister lose her V-card. There was a limit to her protectiveness after all, and, no matter what else, she did have a modicum of trust in Erik's character by now.

It would be much more enticing if the entire room, bed included, hadn't gotten trashed, however. Which meant she needed a new bed from Elora.

Before anything else, however, Elora sent a message to Erik over their link, accompanied by a mischievous, mental grin. "Just so you know," she began, "I gave Astrid a sigil screen connected to this room."

Elora may have told Astrid that Erik didn't know she was giving that stone to her, but she didn't promise she would keep it from Erik afterward.

Elora loved being technically correct, the most annoying type of correct.

Regardless, even if she did believe this would speed things along, she didn't want to go behind Erik's back again. At least not so soon after the last time.

Erik cocked a mental eyebrow at Elora's declaration. "You did what?" he asked, uncertain how to feel about that.

"Oh don't look at me like that," Elora giggled back, "Either she looks at it or she doesn't, it's still her choice. It's not like we're about to do anything bad here. And who knows?" Elora finished with a suggestive tone and continued while wiggling her mental eyebrows, "Maybe it will pique her interest…"

While neither of them ever actually saw the other's mental expressions, it was more like a feeling they got. And it was a lot faster than actually making the expressions.

Erik mentally smirked at Elora, "You're a manipulative minx, you know that?"

Chuckling, Elora answered with a wink, "And yet you love me, what does that say about you?"

Sighing, Erik shook his head, "Alright, Alright. I'm glad you told me at least." Despite his somewhat hesitant words, his mind was already in pervert mode. 'She's right, though. This could become very interesting…' he thought to himself while chuckling lustfully.

"You do remember I can feel when you're thinking perverted things, right?" he suddenly heard Elora's cheeky voice in his head. Erik groaned a little, before answering, "Fine, fine. You did good, just like always."

Then he chuckled with equal parts lust and amusement, "Now go propose your deal to Emily. I wonder if she'll accept."

Unlike with the sigil stone for Astrid, her plans for Emily tonight she had actually discussed with Erik before.

Chuckling victoriously, Elora turned to Emily, who was staring holes through the crimson-haired beauty.

Despite the long conversation she had with Erik, it was mental, which meant no one else heard it, and it only took less than a second.

"So… you wanted a bed, right?" Elora asked Emily with a smirk.

"Yes… please…" Emily said through gritted teeth, deciding to remain civil for so long as Elora didn't give her a reason not to be.

"Alright~" Elora began, "Then how about we make a deal?" she proposed, with a grin that clearly indicated her nefarious intentions.

Seeing Elora's grin, Emily quickly lost her glare, and palmed her face instead, already on the verge of giving up on ever getting a bed of her own. "I know I'm not going to like this," she sighed, "But what deal?"

Looking like a spider who had just lured in the fly, Elora smiled wickedly. "Simple!" she began. "I have this little sigil that I would like to imprint on you. If you can endure its effects without making a sound for the entire night, I'll give you a bed of your own. And if you can't… Erik and I get to punish you again."

Elora chuckled before she continued, "Which, judging from our last session in that cabin, won't even be much of a punishment for you. So it's a win-win!"

Feeling annoyed at herself for her lower body heating up when she thought about that night in the cabin, Emily nevertheless gazed cautiously at Elora. "Exactly what is this sigil supposed to do?"

The wicked grin hadn't disappeared from Elora's face since this conversation began, "Now that would be telling, wouldn't it? But don't worry, it's not some kind of torture device. Obviously, Erik would never allow that, and even I have misgivings about it."

Emily frowned, as her face scrunched up in thought and conflicted emotions. Her choices were simple: Sleep in the same bed where Erik was about to do this and that to her little sister, sleep on the ground in Erik's trashed bedroom, forget about sleep altogether, or… accept Elora's deal.

Perhaps she could find herself a place to sleep in one of the other houses, but that didn't interest her much either. Who knew what the covenant would actually prevent those shapeshifters from doing to her, one of the humans they despise, if they found her alone?

She preferred not to take the chance, nor did she even think Erik would allow her to take the chance.

She sighed inwardly. 'Do I really have a choice? I know Elora wouldn't make this deal unless she was sure I would fail, but…' A confident grin appeared on her face, 'wouldn't it be so great if I could shove that confidence of hers right up her ass?'

In the end, despite suspecting it was a mistake, Emily nodded to Elora with a glare. "Fine. Do your worst."

Whether her acceptance came mostly from her distaste of the other options, or from the fact her lower bits twitched every time she thought about failing Elora's challenge and being punished again, was anyone's guess. Perhaps not even Emily knew.

She certainly wasn't going to spend any time thinking about it.

Grinning victoriously, Elora nodded, "Good! One other thing, however," she continued, "You have to remain in the room for this."

Emily's eyes widened. "You!" she shot a nervous look towards the embarrassed Emma and the grinning Erik, "I can't do that!"

Elora didn't lose her grin, however. "Don't worry, since I'm such a nice person, I'll create a sound-suppressing and vision-obscuring sigil! It'll be just like you aren't even in the room."

Emily grumbled and paced a few circles with a frown as various emotions and thoughts passed through her mind. She couldn't shake the feeling Elora's offer to create those sigils was another ploy. She certainly didn't believe it was just a nice gesture.

Eventually, she turned towards, Emma with a strange look. "Do you…" she began, a little nervously, "mind if I'm in the room?"

In the end, this was a very special night for Emma, and no matter what, Emily didn't want to ruin that by accepting Elora's strange deal.

Meanwhile, Emma was barely paying attention, as her entire mind was occupied with what would be the main event of the night. Hearing her sister's question, she nearly yelped and quickly sat straight. "Uh -uhm," she began, not actually sure what Emily asked her.

Luckily, Erik chuckled and quickly shot her a mental message with the gist of Emily and Elora's conversation.

Hearing Erik's explanation, Emma flushed red, or even redder than she already was, but then shook her head. "I— I don't mind, big Em."

A part of her wanted to speak up for her big sister, and just ask Elora to give her a bed, but another part, a slightly more disturbed part perhaps, liked this situation. She wanted Emily to fall just as hard as she had, and she knew that was Elora's ultimate goal in everything she asked Emily to do.

Hearing that, Emily sighed with resignation, before turning to Elora. "Fine. How do we do this?"