Page 8 of Virgo Queen
“Not surprised. Kinda toasty down here. In more ways than one, right?” Zara’s absolutely gorgeous, all soft curves and lush lips, like a punk rock version of Marilyn Monroe poured into electric blue latex, with lightning bolt earrings flashing platinum in her ears.
She’s gorgeousandshe’s famous.
But she’s never been snooty.
Now our future queen glances toward Draco and Jae with her teal brows lifted. Then, with a mischievous grin, she slips me a plastic cup filled with the fruity rum punch they’re serving at the bar.
“Here,” she says dryly. “You look like you need this way more than me.”
I don’t drink much, but the cup is beaded with moisture and deliciously cool in my sweaty palm, the contents chinking with big cubes of ice. So I take a grateful gulp. The tropical sweetness of pineapple and a tart hit of lime, edged with the bite of rum, slides down my dry throat in a cold slick that makes me hum with appreciation.
Right before I sputter and cough, like the lightweight I am.
Guess that drink’s more potent than it tastes.
“Whoa there, careful.” Zara kindly rescues my drink before I spill all over my borrowed dress, which I appreciate.
But she’s distracted herself.
Not by Draco and Jae… who are, for some unknown and deeply unsettling reason, still watching me… but by her own guys.
Our witching world queens are polyamorous.
So Zara’s been building her harem.
She’s only got two of her guys here tonight. One is Ronin—collectively known across this Academy as Sir One and Done (because he’d never go back for seconds) till Zara came along. Once those two met, his bisexual manwhore party days were over. He fell in love and joined her polycule within a matter of hours. Now he channels his legendary libido so he’s only with them.
Zara and her guys.
The five of them, they’re all exclusive.
The other guy in her entourage tonight is our brand-new resident dragon shifter—the Russian, Maxim Rasputin—who’s been causing so many problems for the Dean and who pretty much terrifies the whole school. Now it looks like Maxim might be joining Zara’s harem too. He’s lurking behind her looking sinister, with his long blond hair swept back from his cruel Slavic face, his flaming eyes and slitted pupils fixed on Zara with an unwavering focus that makes the guy look like an obsessed stalker or a serial killer.
Maxim has barely even looked at me all night (which I’m definitely not complaining about, because having Draco and Jae both weirdly fixated on me is more than enough to cope with).
But I notice Zara isn’t protesting that dragon’s possessive hand, planted solidly on her waist.
Now Ronin prowls up alongside, tucks a familiar hand into the dragon’s jeans pocket (right over Max’s tight dragon butt),then loops his other arm around Zara. Maxim firms up his grip on Zara and slides a sidelong look at Ronin that smolders with heat. Suddenly the air is acrid with the cindery brimstone mating scent of aroused dragon.
Wow.
That dragon’s only just enrolled. He snuck after Zara through the magical wards to get here. But, very clearly, if these three aren’t already together, they’re really close to hooking up.
“Enjoy your special night, Hufflepuff.” Ronin gives me another of his sexy grins, but it’s glaringly obvious I’m not the focus of his attention. “Mind if we take our queen off your hands for a bit then?”
“For your information, Ronin, I’m a Gryffindor. Don’t let the last name fool you.” Firmly I turn my gaze away from my former crush and give Zara a wistful smile. “Have fun, you two. Or, should I say, you three? Or five?” (Because she’s also here with the girls from her house—Dez and Racetrack, those two are already dancing—and I’m not sure who’s with who.)
I hesitate, because the air in here’s bristly with aggression and hostility and I feel like I should warn her. But Zara’s way more of a badass than I could ever hope to be. She can take care of herself. She probably doesn’t need my warning.
Still, I decide to warn her anyway.
“Just be careful tonight, okay?” I say softly. “I mean it. That Tiberius gang’s sharpening their knives.”
Maxim’s slitted pupils narrow and he growls in a way I find petrifying. He’s really scary in his dragon form, so I’m worried about setting him off.
But Zara only rolls her pretty eyes at his alpha dragon drama and hands me my drink.
“Thanks, Mal. Enjoy yourself tonight. We definitely plan to.” Zara wraps her arms around Ronin’s neck and the three of them ease onto the dance floor.
