He huffed out a laugh. “Damned straight we do. How about we warm up your bed for you, my queen? But I won’t let him have the hook until you join us.”
A needy groan escaped Daire’s throat, making us both grin. “Then I’ll definitely take my time.”
Ezra clamped his big hand on Daire’s nape. “Let’s go warm up our queen’s bed, warcat.”
I turned my attention back to Mehen. Lying against his chest, I traced the shiny emerald scales popping up out of his shoulders like precious jewels. Waiting for him to look back at me. His gaze followed the two Blood for a moment, then checked Rik’s location. My alpha stood against the wall adjoining the bedroom. Just watching as unobtrusively as possible.
More importantly, not joining us in the tub.
Which meant the dragon had me all to himself, as much as I could make it happen without asking Rik to leave entirely.
Mehen focused on my face, his eyes as guarded as Rik’s stoic, braced-for-anything posture. “What’s this?”
I doodled my index finger across his throat. “I believe this is what humans would call a bath.”
His upper lip curled in a grimace. “Just me?”
“Is that what you really wanted to ask me?”
His eyes flared wide before he could hide his reaction. My grumpy dragon thought he was so secretive and aloof. Even though his heart was wide open to me. He hesitated, his mighty beast sure there must be a hidden trap. Plumes of smoke flowed through his bond. Leviathan’s shadow wound through him. Twisting himself up into a knot. Trying to decide whether he should ask or not.
He didn’t want to appear weak. Even—especially—to me.
With a long sigh that sounded more like a hiss, some of the simmering tension eased in his body. “I don’t want to lose the bite you gave me.” His jaws flexed. “I ate plenty of queens in my prison. I don’t want…” His lips curled in a snarl. “It’d be a fucking waste to lose any piece of you in a refuse pile.”
“Let’s see if I can do something about that then. With your permission, of course.”
Scales rippled beneath his flesh but he nodded.
“I’ve never attempted to do something like this, so it might hurt,” I warned before I dipped my awareness into his body.
“Good. You know I’ll love it.”
He loved rough sex, whether giving or receiving. I normally didn’t enjoy hurting anyone but he’d love every moment, especially if it was me doing it to him. Closing my eyes, I allowed my mind to sink into him. Not just his bond but his physical body. Leviathan’s claws skittered against his spine. Sinuous dark ribbons of scales writhed in bliss at my touch. Leviathan bulged, though couldn’t escape the bounds of Mehen’s body. Not without my permission.
My first idea had been to cut a slit in his stomach and find a place to lodge the bite of my arm elsewhere in his body. Wrapped in my power, hopefully I could protect it inside him.Vore’s beast had a special stomach that would never dissolve that bite.
Could I make something like that in Leviathan?
I shifted my focus to the dragon. Even though the dragon was confined in the much smaller space of Mehen’s body, I could sense Leviathan’s anatomy. One stomach for eating. Another stomach-like pouch where chemicals mixed to create his fire. The second stomach didn’t attach to the rest of his digestive system. Only his esophagus to spew flames.
I fucking loved the idea of my flesh fueling his flames for eternity.
:Me too.:He pressed his mouth to my temple, trailing his lips down my cheek, nuzzling me.:My queen. My fire. One for all time.:
I shifted my focus to his stomach. A bit of skin and muscle floated in digestive juices. He’d already absorbed my blood, fueling up his magical systems like all my Blood. I imagined a thin sharp knife slicing his stomach open just enough for my will to reach inside and pull that bite of meat out. Then I used my power like a lick to seal his stomach shut once more.
A soft groan escaped his lips. His back arched a little, pushing up against me. An involuntary roll of desire. His breath came faster against my cheek and throat. His face hot against my skin.
I tightened a mental fist on the flesh, pressing it smaller. Squeezing. Wrapping it in magic to make it as small as possible. Compressing it with my blood. My love. My rage at the thought of anything ever hurting one of my Blood. Hurting him. Touching him. My dragon.Mine. Letting his possessiveness stab through me too.
The ball shimmered inside him like a captured red star, glowing with undying fury and love. Then I shoved it into his dragon’s chemical stomach.
His breathing caught on a guttural grunt. He arched harder,his arms and legs wrapping around me. Rolling me beneath him in the water like a crocodile taking his prey into a death roll. His jaws locked on my throat. Hard enough my blood filled his mouth. Scales poured up out of his skin, shimmering in an emerald wave.
I tightened my will on Leviathan, refusing to allow him fully out of Mehen’s body.:No.:
Every time the dragon sucked in great gusts of air to fuel his fire, he’d taste me. My blood. My flesh. He writhed inside Mehen, clawing him. Thrashing. Not to escape the cage of his body or to break my hold but simply lost in the throes of lust and bliss.
