Page 58 of Dragon Rivals of New York

“There are old stories of dragon feuds that resulted in poisoned pools.” Adrianna’s voice shakes. “But the consequence is high. If you poison another horde’s pool, yours will become poisoned as well. Neither pool will be usable until the next Goddess Week.”

“That explains why they had so few guards here,” Midas says, joining us.

There are too many people around. I just want to be alone with my mates. I kiss Sora’s temple. Now that the silver is washed off, I’m feeling better, healing quickly. Jethro seems to be too. But it’ll take longer for Sora’s body to recover. Her face is scrunched in pain, her jaw tense. We need to get her home.

Jethro is still laying across my lap. He looks up at me with more presence of mind than he had before, eyes clear. He lifts a weak hand and cups Sora’s cheek. “We’ll figure this out.”

I say a silent prayer to the goddess that he’s right.

Unwilling to stop touching either of them, I ask Cyrus to give us a ride to my place, since it’s the closest. It’s nothing like the luxury Jethro lives in, but there’s a warm bed and a hot shower. And we can be there in three minutes.

“I’ll call in sick for you,” Finley tells Sora, and I’m glad someone is thinking of it, because Sora’s job didn’t even cross my mind. There’s no way I’ll be able to let her out of my sight today. Tomorrow, we can figure out what to do and how to solve this.

By the time we get to the brick apartment building that houses myself and many of my horde, Adrianna has doubled the guards. She’s clearly worried what other measures the Ruby Diamond Horde might take.

Sora winces and limps as I help her off Cyrus’s back. Thank the goddess for dragon healing, because Jethro is recovered enough to land on his feet and help me support our mate. The priest, who Adrianna found bound and tied at the temple, said if we’d been in the pool any longer than we were, things might have been very different.

There’s so much to be grateful for, but all I feel right now is tense. We hobble down a flight of stairs, then I open my apartment door and show them in. I’ve never been nervous about having someone in my space before, but my insides knot up as Sora and Jethro look around.

It’s an open studio. Industrial in style and practical in decor. Exposed pipes. Brick walls. Concrete floors covered with old rugs to keep in some of the warmth. My bed is unmade, but the space is tidy. I don’t like a lot of clutter lying around. There’s no table, just a kitchen island with two bar stools, a couch and a TV. But the space is big enough for a dragon to walk around comfortably.

“Cozy,” Jethro says.

“Jackass,” I reply.

“Hey.” He holds his palms up like he’s trying to calm a wild animal. “I didn’t say I don’t like it. In fact, I love the idea of getting cozy with you.”

Sora sighs. “Please don’t start fighting. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“No, lovely, we need to shower and rest. We can figure everything else out tomorrow.” Jethro points at the only door in the place. “That the bathroom?”

“Yeah.” I lead the way.

He’s right about what we should be doing now. We need to get clean and sleep off whatever poison remains in our systems. But my mind is spinning a mile a minute, and I know it’s going to be hard to relax. I can’t stop thinking about our situation. What if they’ve poisoned the gold pool too?

I turn on the shower and step back, waiting for it to warm up.

Jethro squeezes the back of my neck. “Midas and Adrianna will figure something out.”

I glare at him. “I can’t just rely on someone else solving this problem for us.”

“I thought we weren’t going to fight right now.” Sora leans against the counter to keep weight off her foot.

“We’re always going to fight, lovely.” Jethro kisses her temple. “It’s how we show love.”

“I don’t love you.” I take Sora’s hand and guide her into the steaming shower. The water feels amazing after the night we’ve had, but I only allow myself the luxury of quickly walking through the spray before letting Sora have it. Jethro joins us, lathering up his hands with soap. He passes me the bar, then kneels and picks up Sora’s injured foot. It’s not burned, or anything like that. It’s more like a rash. He sets her foot on his thigh and carefully cleans it while I rub a bar of soap over the rest of her body. She didn’t get more than one foot in the pool, but you can never be too careful.

“I can do this myself,” she whispers as I scrub her back.

“We know, but we want to.” I massage her shoulders, but she doesn’t relax.

“But… I feel bad. You both got more of the poison on you. I should be the one cleaning you.”

“There’s no should here, lovely.” Jethro drags his hands up her leg. “We’re dragons. We’re fine. Let us take care of you.” His fingers glide between her legs while mine move up her waist to her breasts. The weight feels perfect in my hands, filling them. My dick swells, but I will it down with deep breaths. This isn’t the time for that.

My mates were threatened twice in the past twelve hours. Sex isn’t what they need. But the more I think about what almost happened, what I almost lost, the more I want to be inside them. If we can’t find a way into the Gold Temple, if they’ve poisoned that one too, we could lose this.

My throat tightens. I sniff. Jethro’s eyes meet mine. He stands up, dragging his soapy hands up Sora’s body as he goes. With her between us, my hands go from her breasts to his chest, rubbing the suds over his pecs before moving to his shoulders. I pull him closer so he’s pressed right up against Sora.

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