She countered with rolling hips and a display of stretched, pale flesh. Teasing him with a glimpse of what he hated himself for wanting…
… and couldn’t possibly go without.
But he knew more about her kind than she knew about herself. And almost without meaning to, Sinadim’s hand slipped down. Taking himself in hand, he palmed the frantic pulse making his cock ache and stroked it from root to shining tip.
Using their one-way bond as the weapon it was.
Back arching, she moaned, and her pupils yawned wide as they might go. Leaving nothing but a tight ring of feral gold at their rim, she graced him with a lazy smirk and bade him follow with a jerk of her chin. The idle flick of one ear an invitation he obeyed without pause.
Careless. Drunk on arrogance and orgasms, Renegade licked the smirk that flicked across her lips and did not blink. From right to left, the tip of that pink tongue sent obscene images tumbling through Sinadim’s mind as he watched. Helpless. Cock lurching in her direction, he stumbled after the pair despite the angst.
Just a half-step behind.
Not quite lurking in Giaus’ shadow.
Too smart to take the lead.
Unable to turn away from the beguiling queen.
The giant ignored him. Utterly taken by so tiny a creature, Giaus cradled his female in arms meant for destruction and walked through the gathered males. Letting horror squelch between his toes, his tail flicked. A flag no other could raise.
Jealousy bubbled at the back of Sinadim’s throat.
Twitching muscles came alive, muscles that itched to work as a fog of pheromones and musk rose from heated skin. And just above the hemline of his tattered, ruined pants, Sinadim’s lower back lurched with the ghosts of everything that had been taken from him, as if to compete in a game he’d already lost.
Air vibrated through his sinuses, wind that whispered a haunting melody that grew louder the longer he stared after the renegade Omega. Their tiny, toothless Hathorian mate.
The death queen.
Sinadim’s throat trembled with a song he’d never thought to sing for any—let alone a mere harem slave who’d almost certainly murdered him with her cursed bite. It was the sound of embers crackling in a banked fire. Kindling burning up in a ravenous blaze of aching need.
His purr.
Born of envy and self-loathing, it was rebellion and unquenchable lust. A spiteful fire burning in the cauldron caged behind his ribs, for he was made to watch as Renegade pressed a kiss to the underside of Giaus’ jaw. A fallen prince made passive observer of dainty fingers tracing stubble and scars, ordered to follow when he’d been born to rule.
And there, just for a moment, something truly wicked flickered in the depths of eyes no longer blank and glossy.
Renegade turned her head in a sinuous curl of bare flesh and cruel intentions…
… and set her attention upon Giaus.
Lavishing adoration on her king, she passed Sinadim over with an ease that burned with more acid than a slap.
Sinadim jerked. Sweat blooming on his forehead with the shock of it. As if struck by an icy wash of painful neglect.
Mane flaring up around his shoulders, Sinadim ground his molars and choked on that rising bubble of kindness and temptation. He killed any whisper of a drugging purr as he stalked Giaus’ footsteps, tipped his chin back, and tasted the golden trail of slick shimmering on the breeze.
Seething.
Hurt.
Giaus glanced back and down, pinning Sinadim with a molten glare that promised gruesome punishment should he dare to insert himself between them. It was there in his posture, in the brief lurching twitch of his dense mane and the irate flick of his tail.
Claws curled into the heart of his palms, Sinadim took a concentrated breath. Forced himself to watch when the king ascended the natural hewn steps leading to the den. When he turned, stepped bodily into the uppermost pool of heated, swirling water, and sank into the hot spring that stank faintly of sulfur.
Renegade hissed as she was engulfed.
Purred when Giaus settled back and sluiced through the seeded walls of that tight sheath.
