Page 100 of Cruel Tides

What?

Leander’s thumb swiped over Claira’s mouth, parting her lips. Although her blown pupils were evidence that she’d been enjoying this moment as much as I was, her hazy eyes slowly lifted to meet him.

His mouth tilted into a smirk. “You enjoyed that, didn’t you, beautiful?” The edge of his thumb rimmed her bottom lip.

“Time to move,” he said in a hard tone I knew was directed at me. My human dick throbbed, swollen and pulsing between Claira’s human legs. I was so close to something—both of us were. We just needed?—

Leander’s eyes, like shards of ice, finally cut to me. “Move,” he said again. It wasn’t a suggestion.

Claira was the first to find her voice. “W-what the heck, Lee?” she asked in a breathless pout that Leander answered with a deep, rumbling chuckle. With one quick movement, he effortlessly lifted her off of me and into his embrace.

“Dude!” I cried out, my throat straining with the urge to… I wasn’t even sure. Red crept into my vision as my pulse surged. My body was so tense I was trembling.

With a frustrated groan, I hopped off the couch, frantically grasping at my human dick, hoping to ease the uncomfortable ache. Even as I stood, Leander was already settling back down on the spot where I’d been, bringing Claira onto his lap like he was the only one of her mates that mattered.

The hostile glare Claira gave him as she freed herself from his grasp seemed to steady my heart. “Why are you so cruel?” she said, her frustration evident. After pulling away, she placed a hand on the middle of my chest. “First, you ask us to show you, and then you—you…”

Leander’s shoulders rolled with amusement as he sat back, making himself comfortable on the couch.

Claira seethed. “This is funny to you?”

“I was doing him a favor,” he said coolly, working his pants off and folding them into a halfway-neat square before setting them aside. “He needed to take a moment.”

With a look of disapproval, he motioned at my dick. “At the rate things were going, he was going to spend himself before you did.”

“I…” Heat flared over my face as my head dropped to regard my dick. There might have been some truth to that. The way Claira moved over me just felt so good. Too good, almost. But Leander was in no position to criticize. His dick was also standing thick and ready, its swollen tip red with the desire to feel its mate, just as mine was.

Now that he was naked, Leander made himself comfortable on the couch, his legs splaying wide again. “Come here,” he said, opening his arms in invitation.

This time, I knew the gesture was meant for Claira, not me.

She huffed like she might not follow, but I placed my hand over hers on my chest and squeezed. “It’s okay. He’s right,” I said, managing a small smile. “I want to make sure you have a good time before I have mine.”

Claira worried at her lip, her gaze shifting between Leander and me. Whether she wanted to admit it, it was obvious she wanted him, too. “You don’t mind? What Lee did was unnecessary.” Her eyes narrowed on Leander. “And pretty damn mean.”

“Honestly, I expect no less from him,” I said, ignoring his deep laughter in the background. “But I’m sure. I want all of us to enjoy this.”

Claira bit at her lip. “If you’re sure…” She moved back over to the couch, but with Leander’s dick in the way, she didn’t seem to know where to sit. “I’m not sure I forgive you,” she murmured down at him.

“I’ve been told I don’t have manners,” he answered smoothly. He took the lead by welcoming her right in the center of his lap, spinning her around so that her back was to his chest.

She looked up at me through fluttering eyelashes, as if she was trying to hide her guilt, as I stood there, not sure what to do with myself now.

Her spine straightened as Leander’s hands came around her sides, causing her to inhale sharply. “Relax,” he said, a simple command as he reclined her naked body back against his chest.

Brushing her long rope of hair aside, I watched her shiver as his breath beat down her neck, exactly where my mouth had just been. Her breasts were so beautiful, their tips erect and alluring. Some shameless part of me hoped he would tend to them next.

“You like feeling me underneath you, beautiful?”

Heavy-lidded eyes seemed to stare past me as she nodded. Her head fell back, resting on his shoulder.

“Spread your legs,” Leander urged, a deep, coaxing whisper.

Suddenly, everything became still. Even Claira’s breathing seemed to stop until Leander pressed a kiss to her shoulder. “Spread them, beautiful. You don’t want to show him how slick and open you are?”

Whoa.

I could tell the exact moment the slow spell of his words took hold of her. The eyes that stared into emptiness came back into focus on me.