Page 30 of Gemini Hunted
“Oh, shit,” I say softly, rising to my knees in concern. “Zephyr. God. You’re freezing.”
“It is no matter.” A little of the tension cracks as Zephyr pulls off his gauntlets, tosses them onto the chair, then twists his long swath of hair into a thick coil and squeezes.
A thin trickle of rainwater drips onto Neo’s dad’s carpet.
“Bloody hell, love. It matters.” Ronin’s dismay pings through our bond. He snatches the climate control console from the nightstand to dial back the A/C. Then he pushes against Lucius’ unyielding frame, but our wolf has him pinned. “Youneed a proper shower, Zeph, and a bowl of that goulash Lucius whipped up to set you to rights. Haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
“Xhevith took a goat while we were out.” Casually, Zephyr shakes the mass of wet green hair down his back and out of his way. “I ate.”
We all take a sec to process that disturbing factoid.
His dragon Xhevith, who isn’t a firedrake, devours his meat raw and bloody. Xhev’s rider, raised like an alley cat in a hardship sitch where food and fire were both scarce, generally prefers his meat cooked.
But that dragonrider isn’t what you’d call overly discerning.
Like I said before, he’s feral.
“Um…” I give a hard swallow. “Think we can do better than that, Your Radiance. You need an actual hot meal.”
Zephyr shrugs an irritable shoulder and looks indifferent at the concept.
But with him, it’s hard to tell.
He could be fucking starving, and he’d never let on.
It upsets me that he flew off—exposed to the brutal elements forhours—without a bowl of Lucius’ heartening and heavily spiced Hungarian stew warming his belly, for real. Just another sign that Zephyr still doesn’t feel enough at home in our harem to ask for what he needs.
My distress radiates through my mating bonds. Still crouched over Ronin like the predator he is, Lucius rumbles a thick growl and looks menacing.
Gently but firmly, Neo swings me off his lap, settles me safely on the bed with Lucius and Ronin, then trots into the master bath. It’s big enough to get lost in there, but my fated mate pops out a breath later, clutching a pile of thick towels I know he’s pulled right off the heating rack.
That’s what we all love about this guy.
He’s always willing—sometimestoowilling—to put his own needs on the back burner and place the rest of us first.
Neo hurries across the cabin, gives the silent V a stern look that warns him to behave, then drops a thick warm towel over Zephyr’s shoulders.
That’s finally the Unseelie’s cue to uncoil to his feet, slip out of the sheathed swords strapped across his back, and prop his deadly weapons against the wall. Now safely disarmed, Zephyr engulfs his dripping head in the warm towel and indulges in a vigorous scrubbing.
I dip a hand into the nightstand drawer, find the lube we stowed in there earlier when we unpacked, and drop the tube discreetly into Lucius’ hand. His wolf might not be thinking about lube right now, but Ronin’s gonna need it tonight to take that knot.
Then I scramble off the bed, naked except for my panties, and hurry across the cabin to see how Zephyr’s doing up close.
Neo is unzipping Zephyr’s dragonscale and wrestling the gear off the Dark Fae King’s knotted shoulders. Zephyr doesn’t wear anything underneath, he’s all sleek olive skin and the twisting flex of muscle, honed to a keen edge by the brute strength required for reining a three-ton dragon. While Neo peels the supple armor down the dragonrider’s torso, Zephyr dries off carelessly with the towel.
Up close, I can see the goosebumps stippling his skin.
“Shit, Zephyr.” I sigh and fold myself around his icy body from behind, wrapping my arms around his taut waist and snuggling my warm front against his cold back. “You shouldn’t have stayed out so long.”
“My bride.” Zephyr thaws enough to turn his head and nuzzle my ear with his rain-chilled lips, because he’s no taller than I am. “You supported me to win my crown. Now I intend to support you to win yours. Of that, you may be certain.”
“I am,” I assure him. “I believe you.”
Of course, we all know he can’t lie. Twist his words like pretzels, yeah. But outright lie? Nope. It’s an Unseelie thing.
Honesty.
He sighs into my ear. “Tell me. Did you succeed in your quest? Did you acquire the artifact?”
