Page 147 of Gemini Kings
And this was all starting off so well.
“Yeah, look, about those Tiberius guys,” I say hastily, before Vasili buries one of his hidden knives in Max’s eye or crushes Max’s bones with his telekinesis for impertinence. “Believe me, those assholes are going down hard. They don’t get a fucking pass for what they fucking did. But we gotta be smart about how we do it, and actually solve the problem instead of making it worse.”
“What precisely did you have in mind, darling?” Vasili works his supple fingers over my nipples in a way that’salmosttweaking Max too.
My dragon’s breathing hard and he’s flexing his hips, just a little, underneath us. Hereallywants Vasili to touch him. His need pulses laser-hot in our brand-new mating bond.
Which only makes me hotter down below myself.
I clear my throat and try to focus. “That whole Tiberius cohort are Aquarius courtiers, right? That means they do what Messalina tells them.”
Lucius unwinds his arm from around Ronin’s waist and sits up with a frown. He’s wearing hisDownton AbbeyPJs again, probably because he’s too modest to let his new student Max see him naked.
I’m starting to think my warlocks in general are all wearing too many clothes in this bed.
“Until last night, the Tiberius cohort left you largely alone, Zara,” Lucius points out, “except for the usual standard bullying. And they’ve always given Ronin—and certainly Vasili—a very cautious berth. Clearly, something has changed for them. Some new stimulus has surfaced. It’s even possible Maxim was their target.”
“Another reason for me to kill them,” Max grumbles. “Slowly.”
Lucius raises his hand in a plea for patience. “I’m simply saying I don’t believe we should be overly hasty in assigning the blame for this incident to Messalina, who’s always been quite cautious.”
“You think whoever sold that old rumor toThe Witching Inquisitorput out a hit on Max and maybe me?” My mind leaps back to Vegas. “You think maybe that’s what my dad was doing back at the Double Gem? Luring me in for the kill?”
Yeah, that actually computes. Because my dad’s wanted me six feet under for years.
And a casino boss like Mick Gemini’s always on the take.
“Truly, I can’t say for certain. There could be another player entirely that we’re overlooking. There’s so much we still don’t know.” Lucius sighs. “I’ll use the landline, if it’s working today, to check in with my sources on the mainland. My plea to all of you is to stay close to home this weekend, forego any bloodthirsty acts of vengeance until we can at least confirm the identity of your assailants—since I gather you were unable to make a definitive identification of the specific individuals involved from the air—and, for the love of God, study for your midterms.”
It totally goes against the grain for me to let it slide when someone tries to hurt my warlocks. But I know Lucius has a point. We do need to follow a rule-of-law type process.
Because if I don’t follow the laws of my own realm, how am I ever gonna persuade anyone else to do the same?
“Yeah, okay.” I let them all hitch up to my train of thought, including Max, so they all know where I’m coming from. “Lucius has the lead on tracking this shit down and getting us the intel we need to deal with the sitch. The rest of us gotta hit the books hard this weekend anyway.”
“I’ll make pancakes,” Neo says happily, tossing back the blankets so he can get out of bed. “We need brain food to study.”
Quick as a snakebite, Vasili uncoils from Max and me and plasters his sinuous body over my fated mate’s buff and nearly naked one.
Now he and Neo are nose to nose.
Neo sucks in his breath and freezes.
“Mmmmm, breakfast,” Vasili murmurs. “By all means,do, Mr. Mercury. I simply adore your… pancakes. I’ll take mine with cherries and sour cream.”
“Yeah, okay.” My sweet baby turns tomato-red at this up-close-and-personal with his suddenly flirty frenemy. “Um, same as you have every week then?”
“What can I say? I’mdesperatelyfond of cherries.” Vasili dips his head and grazes his dangerous mouth over the half-healed crescent of the mating bite I’ve left on Neo’s shoulder. “And the next time you’re looking for a mating bite, darling, for pity’s sake, don’t lie to me. Just tell me what you want.” His tongue drags across Neo’s bite and makes him shiver. “Am I being clear enough for you, First Boy?”
“Uh-huh.” My fated mate looks dazed, but his face is still flaming. “Um. I’ll just get up now? For the pancakes?”
Vasili poises his mouth over Neo’s, almost close enough to kiss.
Everyone in the whole bed pretty much stops breathing. Because these two haven’t done the horizontal tango yet, though they got pretty close the other night based on what Neo told me.
“Say please,” Vasili whispers. “For me.”
Neo sucks in a shaky breath. I can feel his heart pounding through our bond. When he breathes out, his mouth and my snake’s are close to brushing. “Please?”
