Page 77 of Distinctly Daray
Keegan blew him a kiss, then ran after Phillip.
“Go away, Alaric,” Chander ordered.
Alaric grinned wildly. “Bite me, Chand.”
The Lich Sentinel turned on one booted heel and marched off.
“I get the feeling he means that literally,” Victor said.
“You sound like Bax. Leave my sex life out of this,” Chander replied.
Victor chuckled. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Now, read your book and eat your cookies.”
“I will, but first I want to watch two sexy Cinder Lords try to murder each other with daggers.”
“You have weird kinks, Victor, but I’m glad we’re family.”
“Being a Daray is everything to me,” Victor murmured as Chander opened his book and lost himself in words again.
With his own novel neglected, Victor smiled as Phillip dodged Keegan’s blades and offered words of praise if the fallen knight’s bright smile was anything to go by. The next best thing to being close to Phillip and Keegan himself was enjoying the way they interacted with one another.
It was one of the many perks of having a triple matebond.
Chapter 26
Phillip relaxed on the velvet sofa in the suite he shared with his mates. He was in a terrific mood. The television was on, and Phillip enjoyed Keegan’s husky laughter as a sitcom played. Keegan and Phillip had already changed out of their clothes into comfy pajamas sent over by Larissa with their uniforms. On Phillip’s dark pants, vibrantly colored dragons in a variety of poses were spread from hem to waistband, while Keegan’s bottoms displayed fun kittens.
As for the cat shifter who held Phillip’s heart, Victor was cleaning his face, applying moisturizer, and adding whatever else was in the plethora of little tubes and jars in their bathroom to his soft skin. Phillip absentmindedly caressed one of Keegan’s furred calves as he wondered how easily he could persuade the men he adored to try something new tonight.
Sucking and rubbing each other was enticing and never failed to disappoint, but Phillip desperately wanted to expand their horizons. He ached to fuck them in every sense of the word. But he wasn’t sure if they had the same desire. It was a conversation he’d put off for far too long. They weren’t the only words he’d kept hidden.
Phillip was determined to tell Keegan and Victor he loved them. And that his dragon wanted to sink his fangs into theirthroats to claim them completely as mates. Hopefully, Victor and Keegan were as enamored of him as he was of them. The fear of being rejected had kept him silent, and it was foolish. They were his closest friends and had shared the most intimate experiences together; he hated the secrets resting between them.
Phillip had to contend with the feelings he’d withheld, and being a sentinel, he had a unique disadvantage. Each sentinel kept the truth about their poisons confidential. That wasn’t entirely true. Alaric allowed each sentinel to make their own choices about whether to confide in their mates. The Arch Lich knew the black poison killed the undead and that the green didn’t mar the skin of sentinels, but he’d been told because he resurrected them. Without that knowledge, the spell would be inaccurate.
It was up to Phillip to decide if it was best to withhold the truth from Keegan and Victor. Phillip wasn’t sure yet how to proceed. But he thought it might help him better explain reactions like the one his dragon had on his first flight. The moment Keegan had risen to his feet, the dragon had lost his mind. It wasn’t that a fall would’ve killed Keegan. He couldn’t die that way. But he could die, though that would be news to Keegan. The major problem for Phillip’s dragon was that Keegan was a fallen knight. His resurrection spell demanded he run toward danger to save others.
That hadn’t bothered Phillip or his beast until Keegan had graduated from the Ascension Center. While Keegan was training, it was pointless to consider his race. As a recruit, Keegan was kept confined to a dorm, classrooms, and a gym. Things were different now. Keegan was a Cinder Lord, and like Phillip, he was expected to follow whatever order was issued by the Lich Sentinel and the Skeleton Seven—even if that meant he put himself in imminent peril.
How the hell could Phillip demand his superiors tell Keegan to hide when, as a fallen knight, he had been resurrected to protect and defend the Council? The sentinel side of Phillip understood how capable Keegan was and respected him for it. As for his dragon, the beast was scared shitless of anything happening to Keegan.
“Why are you getting so tense?” Keegan asked, pulling his gaze from the television to study Phillip’s face.
“What?”
“You were relaxed, and now I can feel your body stiffening. What’s worrying you?”
Phillip forced himself to take a deep, calming breath and focused on loosening his strained muscles. Since he couldn’t fool Keegan, he smiled and licked his bottom lip slowly to divert him. It worked instantly. Keegan’s eyes followed the motion of his tongue.
“Maybe I was getting worked up thinking about my plans for you and Victor tonight,” Phillip drawled.
The bathroom door opened, and Victor emerged in a lilac sleepshirt with tiny white hearts on it.
“Perfect timing, Sparkles,” Keegan called out. “Spicy was about to distract me from whatever was worrying him with dirty talk.”
Victor stopped moving toward them and crossed his arms. “While I’m always eager for your dirty talk, Spicy, why don’t you tell us what’s bothering you first?”
