Page 28 of Bartender Mate

“You know why.” He fluffed one of the pillows a little too roughly, tearing the corner and spilling the stuffing onto the wooden floorboards below. “Fuck, Q, can’t you be serious for one minute?” He threw the pillow off to the side and stalked out the door. “Everything has to be a joke to you. Even this. It’s all just fun and fucking games.”

“Don’t forget the fucking, mate,” I hollered after him, unable to hide the quiver in my voice, despite my attempt to keep up the banter. “That’s the best bit.” With a bang he was gone and my shoulders slumped in defeat. “He’s so angry. Even worse than usual.”

“He’s scared.” Asteroid put down the blanket he was pulling from its casing and came to me. His arms wrapped around my shoulders, until all I could smell was him. Him and Tess. Despite her absence, Tess’ scent seemed to get stronger by the second. Almost as though I could summon her with my heavy heart. “He doesn’t mean it, love,” my mate whispered in my ear. His claws scraped in gentle commiseration down the back of my neck, making me shiver. “You know how he is.”

“I’m sick of his bullshit, Ast. The way he keeps holding us at arm’s length.” I lifted my chin, asking for his lips, needing the reassurance of my steadfast mate. The male that held Radon and I together in the hardest times. “I want him to trust–deep in his own dark and twisted soul–that we aren’t going to disappear if he lets us all the way in.”

“He’s got a lifetime of hurt, my love.” Asteroid’s lips descended toward mine, but I growled and refused him access, ducking my head while I pouted. “We’re going to give him a pass because this time it’s not our job to hold a mirror up to our terrified mate. Tess has her eye on Radon. Something tells me she is the key to this puzzle fitting together just how we’ve always wanted.”

With a low growl for my continued disobedience, Asteroid swooped down quickly and bit on that pouting lip, drawing a needy groan from my lips. He released the bruised flesh with a satisfied rumble.

“It’s not up to Radon to trust, mate,” he continued. “That’s on us. We’re just gonna have to hold on until that starmap reveals itself.”

I scoffed but my mate didn’t give me any more time to stew. Slowly and purposefully, he devoured my mouth once more, tongue sweeping away my hurt and stealing my worries. At the same time, his dominance surged into the room, filling it with the thick musk of his desire and the promise of his beast.

My mate was the promise of protection incarnate and my dragon responded immediately.

I melted into him, my body going pliant as he pushed me across the room. His dexterous claws tugged the zip open and shoved the stiff material down my hips. Pulling from the kiss, I sighed as my cock was released. Throbbing and proud, it pressed into the muscled planes of my mate’s stomach, leaving behind a sticky trail in its wake.

“Youareimportant to him, mate. To both of us.” Asteroid hummed before he pulled the cut from off my shoulders and ripped down the seam of my shirt with a flash of his claws. I felt exposed, then, in the best fucking way as my mate’s eyes gleamed with hunger at the sight of my flesh. “Fuck.” He drew in a shuddering breath as if seeking control. “Every fucking time I promise I’ll commit the perfection of your curves to my memory and yet every fucking time I see you it’s as if for the first time. You’re beautiful, Quasar. Inside and out. You are our sunshine. Don’t ever forget that. In the deepest black of space, you bring the light.”

My knees hit the bed as I sat down with a bounce and carved a harried hand through my hair. “You’re wearing too many clothes, mate,” I growled, my beast rising up to the surface.

“Am I?” Asteroid taunted, his hands making a path down his own chest. “What are you going to do about it, sunshine?”

My mate’s hands rested on his hips, framing the bulge that pressed hard to the front of his jeans. I flicked my eyes up to his–blazing with love, need and admiration–and my beast took control. In a lightning move, I lunged forward and grabbed him through the rough material. Capturing his dick and attention, both in one breathless instant, I squeezed him into stillness.

Then, with a sultry smile, I blinked up at him. “What do you want me to do, mate?”

Not waiting on an answer, I began to stroke, loving the way my mate’s pupils blew wide at this rough treatment from his most submissive lover.

“Fuck.” His hand shot out to grab me by the back of the head, his fingers sinking deep into my hair. “On your knees, lover.” The look in his eyes was all fire, exactly how I wanted him. Hot and bothered and ready to pound me into submission. “You gonna give me what I want?”

A gasp behind Asteroid let me know that the delectable scent which had been haunting me all night long was now coming from our curious mate. Our ardor had summoned her.

Around his hip, I could just glimpse Tess standing in the doorway which led to the bar’s kitchen, a glass of water in her shaking hands.

With a wink, I pulled from my mate’s grip and turned to present my ass. I kept my eyes on Tess, though, as our mate ran his hands over my skin, teasing and enjoying the way I shuddered beneath his touch. His jeans hit the floor with a clank of his belt, and then he was pressed over me. His hot, wet cock slid between my ass cheeks, and still I kept my eyes on Tess, halfway turned so that his bulk didn’t block my line of sight.

I grabbed the lube in the pocket of my discarded pants and slathered my fingers and then Asteroid’s with it, so he could prepare his passage. By this point, our human mate’s eyes were wide with shock, her pupils were blown out in need, and her breathing sawed in and out of her chest. Like all the oxygen had been sucked from the room.

I fucking knew how she felt.

Feeling my desperation and Tess’ eager reaction–almost visceral now, like her lust was a warm pulse in our veins, urging us on–Asteroid worked his fingers into my ass, scissoring and coating the opening with brutal efficiency. I bucked and rocked into my lover’s movements, wanting far more relief than his digits could give me.

“Feels so good, Ast,” I moaned, licking my lips. “More, please? I want more.”

The musk coming from our newest mate thickened, and her eyes went a little hazy as Asteroid took my cock in his hand and stroked it while working that finger deeper inside me, stretching me and preparing me for the girth of his cock. Readying me for his knot.

Fuck, just the thought of his knot almost undid me. Thick and hard as it pulsed deep inside of me. I liked it best when Radon was with us. How he softened for us when we laid him all out like a feast. The way our dicks pressed together as our mouths dueled and danced while Asteroid fucked one of us. Or we fucked him. Didn’t matter.

As my mate scissored his fingers apart, not quite reaching the place I wanted him to hit most, Tess’s face went bright red. She moaned, deep in her throat, but pressed her lips tight shut together. A lame attempt to keep her reactions to herself.

Asteroid pretended like he didn’t hear her, but the hand which was stroking my cock squeezed so tight my balls jumped in eager preparation before he released that stranglehold, allowing me another shuddering breath.

The glass in Tess’ fingers was tipping dangerously low, now, ready to fall and shatter upon the ground. Like her resistance to the impossible draw of her fated mates.

I bit my lip to hide the smirk before it ruined our little stare down.

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