Page 32 of Gemini Kings
The dragon strains against his bonds until the cords stand out in his neck. He bares his teeth to push out the words in a tone like shredded silk dragged over gravel.
“When your heat rises and your body burns for what only I can give you, when you take wing in your first mating flight and I hunt you among the clouds and bury my dragon cock deep inside you until you scream with pleasure, when I lavish you with every treasure your dragon heart can possibly desire and allow these lesser mates of yours to breathe and share our bed to please you, when we restore glory to our failing race and fill the skies with our magnificent offspring…” His voice plunges to a raspy whisper that scrapes against my senses. “Then you will like me well enough, my Zara.”
Well,fuck. Admittedly, even I’m feeling frisky after that declaration. This dragon may be a prick, but damn if he isn’t a sexy one.
Fortunately, Zarareallydoesn’t seem to like him.
“Yeah, no, not doing that,” she snorts, completely unimpressed with him. “Like I said before, there isn’t a vacancy in my harem. And right now? It’s fucking freezing out here and we got a plane to catch. So it’s been funsies, but going now.” Unexpectedly, she pivots to face me. “Do your thing, Goblin King.”
By which the little queen means I’m allowed to choke him unconscious so we can finally be free of him.
A lick of malice lashes through me. I bare my pearly whites in a vicious grin.
But, as I’ve already observed, this flying iguana will shift in a flash if he feels threatened. Thus, with regret, I leave his precious airway unmolested.
Instead, I trot out a new trick I’ve been practicing on the sly. A tiny gesture with the index finger of my casting hand closes his carotid artery, just for a blink.
The dragon slumps senseless in my telekinetic grip. I’d like to drop him, but from deference to Zara’s tender sensibilities, I lower his unconscious frame gently (for me) to the asphalt. Still, she bends to check his pulse, which causes the hem of Ronin’s tunic to play peekaboo with the lush curves of her derrière.
When she twists around to shoot me an appreciative glance, she totally catches us both staring.
“Not bad, Goblin King.” Gently she smooths a swath of hair out of the dragon’s eyes, then tugs Ronin’s tunic over her ass with a knowing smirk. “Not bad at all. What exactly did you just do to him?”
“It’s like the Vulcan death grip without hands, darling.” I preen under her admiring gaze. “I trust you’re suitably impressed. Of course, that dragon will pop up any minute cursing my name and breathing fire and vowing some tedious but bloody vengeance, so I do advise we not linger.”
Right on cue, a cell phone buzzes in the desert night. It’s not mine, Zara’s hasn’t been working all night, and the dragon is still naked, so obviously it’s not his.
Ronin slides the phone from his pocket and checks his voicemail with a frown.
“Best get our arses back to the plane right smartly,” he says at last, tucking the thing away and addressing both of us, since Zara’s finally stopped fussing over that damn dragon and abandoned him on the asphalt to rejoin us, her proper mates. “Neo’s been ringing me up all night, and he’s definitely not feeling very charitable toward any of us just now. But that last message? That one was from Lucius.”
Despite my general badassery, my gut tightens with a feeling that’s uncomfortably akin to guilt. If pressed, I can’t deny feeling a bit of a qualm.
To tell the truth, this entire situation is rather… delicate.
I may be Lucius’ alpha since I persuaded/seduced/forced him to take my mating bite in a fit of uncontrollable lust for my wolf shifter headmaster that was suppressed and denied by both of us for far too long. But our relationship is considerably more complex than mere lust. In the privacy of our bed, Lucius Aries might beg for my cock and take it in all the ways like a champion. (I fucking adore that about him, and I positively dote on him when he does it.)
But in the cold light of day where I’m simultaneously a graduating senior and a probationary assistant professor at the Icarus Academy, Lucius is my teacher and my superior.
And judging by the tightness of Ronin’s face and that muscle ticking in his jaw, Lucius really isn’t very happy with any of us.
I lace my fingers through Ronin’s and lift his hand to my lips to kiss each of his knuckles one by one. Just as I’m Lucius’ alpha, Lucius is Ronin’s. (Yes, I know it’s all very complicated, but do try to keep up.)
This simply means it’s unsettling for Ronin when Lucius is angry.
“Shit,” Zara sighs, brows drawing together in a worried pucker. She wraps a comforting arm around Ronin’s waist and cuddles up against him. Lucius is also one of her alphas, of course, so she knows exactly how he’s feeling. “Lucius is pissed as fuck, isn’t he?”
“You don’t know the fucking half of it,” Ronin says grimly, tucking her up against his side for mutual comfort. “Yeah, he’s ticked at you, Zara, for risking your royal behind for a childish prank—his words, not mine—and he’s ticked at me for running off halfway round the world without telling him, especially when I’m about to go into this blooming heat.”
His gaze slices sideways to pin me. “But he’s particularly ticked at you, love. Says if you’re not standing on the carpet in his office in the crypt submitting your professorial arse for discipline within the next twelve hours, we needn’t bother coming back at all, because the Dean’s going to give your probationary hide the boot and expel all three of us for violating the fucking Academy Codex. And if for some reason the Dean doesn’t promptly initiate the process, Lucius will bloody well do it himself, because you’re faculty now and he counted on you to know better.”
That flutter in my tummy isn’t getting any better, especially since I haven’t quite swallowed the bitter aftertaste of that cocktail of family memories, spiked with rejection and rage.
“Oh, dear.” I make light of the affair, but I know I’m not fooling anyone, least of all myself. “Seems the poor thingisrather vexed. I suppose we’ll have to kiss off our front-row Cirque de Soleil tickets and penthouse suite at the Bellagio and have the pilot fuel up the plane, darlings.”
“Guess so,” Zara says with a sigh. “I really hope Lucius isn’t too pissed. I already know Neo’s upset. He takes this fated mate stuff so seriously, you know? I’ll definitely tell them both it was all my idea and I tried to go without you, so you were basically forced to come along to protect me. If they’re gonna be pissed at anyone, it might as well be with me.” She fiddles with the coin around her neck. “Anyway, we got what we came for.”
“Sweet revenge?” I purr.
