Page 160 of Gemini Queen
I eye him through the billowing steam. This long hot soak has definitely relaxed me, but the sight of my fated mate’s bulging shoulders flexing under all that silky pale skin has me burning to sink my teeth into him.
Thoughtfully I run my tongue over those teeth. My incisors actually do feel sharper than usual, what with all those pheromones from being bitten (twice!) triggering every recessive shifter chromosome in my Gemini DNA. Maybe these canines of mine are even getting sharp enough to puncture skin.
Maybe.
And no one’s bitten Neo.
Yet.
“Chin up, love.” Ronin leans in to nuzzle my ear. “No one’s popped up to drag us all off in handcuffs. Even though the inspector from the Arcane Senate landed hours ago. Don’t think anyone’s going to miss Bjorn much—he was pretty much a loner, yeah?—and Master Zerxes even less. He terrorized his entire fucking cohort.”
Despite the steamy water that encases me, a ribbon of ice snakes down my spine and coils in my belly. I’m thinking it’ll definitely be a while before I get past what happened with Bjorn and Zerxes.
Just the thought of being dragged to the mainland for some sort of official investigation into their deaths makes my shoulders clench right back up again.
“Obviously what happened was self-defense.” I slip my feet out of Neo’s sinfully indulgent clutches, hunch forward on my little submerged shelf, and hug my knees. “They literally broke into the house and were trying to kidnap both of us, Ronin. But honestly speaking? I just killed a man with my fucking lightning. It’s all I can manage not to head for the hills.”
“Yeah, you’ve been on the run a bit too long.” Ronin’s fingers dig into my knotted shoulders to loosen me back up. “Don’t think you’ve got the first clue how far the witching world will go to protect our queen. Freshman or no, you own this Academy.”
If only.
I hug my knees tighter. “It sure doesn’t feel that way to me, Adam.”
Gently Neo retrieves my feet and resumes his seductive kneading. “Told you my dad has the family lawyers working it. Dad’s pretty motivated, considering I’m actually the one who swung that poker. It was pure self-defense, in both cases, like you said.”
Calmly my fated mate raises my foot to his luscious lips and engulfs my big toe in the warm suction of his mouth, which feels so heavenly my eyes drift shut. Still, I have to make a conscious effort to be patient and let this whole scenario play out. I have to trust Lucius and Vasili to placate the inspector and the Mercury hired guns to do their lawyering.
Yeah, that’s right. I’ve actually agreed to let the guys handle the aftermath of everything that went down last night.
But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.
A tendril of awareness coils tight around me and snaps my gaze toward the door. I’m hyper-aware of Vasili since he fucking bit me, and he’s coming down the hall right now at a pretty good clip. I sit up straight and would absolutely stand to face my fate, except Ronin’s still wrapped around me, and Neo’s still nibbling on my toes.
Vasili lets himself into thethermae, and I’m honestly impressed to see him. He’s dressed to the nines in a narrow pin-striped purple suit that he totally owns, and he’s wearing quite a bit less gaudy bling than usual, which for him passes as conservative. He looks like a rock star with a court date. Under his moussed-up silver layers, his sexy-pretty face is pensive until he sees the three of us lounging naked in the bath.
Then his smoky eyes turn predatory.
I retrieve my feet again from Neo and scramble up. “Where the hell’s Lucius?”
“Well, the Dean didn’t eat him and grind his bones like the witch in a fairy tale, if that’s what’s fretting you. Nor has he been clapped in irons and hauled off to jail.” Vasili undulates across the mosaic floor, hips swaying, loosening his violet tie with a languid tug. “Don’t even think of getting out, darlings. I’ll come to you.”
We all like the sound of that, even Neo, who’s pretending not to watch as the Goblin King deftly unbuttons his shirt to reveal the sleek chest and rippled abs I tongued every single inch of last night.
The golden dragon of my mating heat uncurls in my belly with a rumble of interest. I can almost feel steam puff from her nostrils when she noses me from the inside, like she wants to spread her wings and take flight.
“Don’t try to distract me,” I warn both of them, my dragon and Vasili. Because I can’t always be fucking. And I can already see I’m going to need to establish some boundaries, or Vasili will be running this whole harem. “I want Lucius and I want answers. Where is he? What did the inspector say?”
“No need to crack your bullwhip just yet.” The Goblin King’s heated gaze roams over me, standing there naked with water lapping my hips, while he slithers out of his shirt and jacket to reveal more of that sinuous ballet star’s body we’re all so hot for. “My, we’re terribly impatient today, aren’t we?”
“You haven’t seen me impatient, bad boy, so don’t fuck with me. And I’m entitled, because you’ve both been gone forhourswhile I…”
I lose my train of thought and my power of speech, because my snake of an alpha has just eased down his zipper to reveal a peek at the black lace lingerie stretched tight over the mouthwatering bulge of his cock.
“Whoa,” I whisper.
Over the bubble of water rising from the hot spring underneath us, Ronin gives a hard swallow.
Vasili shows a sliver of a smile. “See something that interests you, darlings?”
