Page 93 of Failed State

“Are you overheating, sweet pea?” I ask, trying not to sound as desperate to see her bare as I am. “I can help with that.”

Her eyelashes flutter as she arches her hips, grinding them instinctively into Rory’s face, and then she looks at me with an expression resplendent with pleasure. “Um, I… I… yes… yes. Hot.”

I grin happily, enjoying her intermittent speechlessness. Rubbing my hands together, I let the magic flow to my hands, and push it to the tank top covering her. It disappears in a blink and I say, “Abraca-naked, darlin’ girl.”

“Son of a bitch,” the vampire hisses as his crimson eyes rove over her tanned skin. “Where thefuckhave you been running aroundnaked, kitten?”

That earns him a lazy, knowing grin as her fingers dig into Thad’s legs and she whimpers. She must be getting close, and I’m honestly surprised she’s held out this long. Since I’m not worried about how she got an all-over tan, I slip a hand under the bear’s arm to cup her right breast gently. It fits in my palm perfectly, soft and sexy like I always imagined. My thumb brushes over the pierced nipple and she shudders hard, my name escaping her lips like a prayer.

A sharp smack breaks the silence and I blink as I realize the dragon used his tail to spank her other breast. “Answer him, little rebel. You promised.”

She’s still wriggling against all of us as she stammers, “They… ohhhhh… they… Rory,please.” Sydney pants again and I watch the redness spring up on her skin where the whipped tail caught her. “Tanning… bed…”

“No more. They’re unhealthy,” Sebastian rasps as his eyes stay focused on the flushed skin of her boob. “Only spray tans from now on. Understand?”

“Yessssss,” she hisses, and I realize she absolutelylovedthat tiny blow from Elias and has no idea how to handle that knowledge.

“Yes, what?” The vampire grabs her chin and forces her to look at him, his tongue sliding over his fangs as he waits for a response.

I chuckle at her confused look, soothing the anxiety roiling off of her by tugging on the piercing. It distracts her enough to make her relax again, and she bites her lip. “I think you forgot to tell her what you wanted, bloodsucker. She doesn’t know how to answer and she’s too lost in the moment to ask.”

Sebastian blinks, dumbfounded by his own omission, and before he gets his shit together, the dragon responds, “She will call us king when we mate.”

That’s his little kink, but it has a nice ring to it.

“I can live with that,” the vamp says as he looks down at our girl with an arched brow. “Yes, what, kitten?”

“Yes, my king,” she mumbles, just before another strangled sound escapes her lips. “Rory… what the.. helllllllll…”

“Does it feel good, sweet pea? Are you ready to fall apart yet?” I ask. My fingers pinch her hard nipple and I grin as Elias does the same with his apparently talented as fuck tail. “Because I gotta be honest… I can’t believe you’ve held out this long the first time.”

“Don’t be stupid…” Another rap on her left side with the tail gets her attention and she moans. “I mean… I have had… orgasms.”

“Serving a party of one, mmm? Had to be pretty inconvenient living in that hovel and getting time alone, Syd.” Thad dips his head to kiss her neck as he squirms against her back. The bearis having more trouble than the rest of us, but to be fair, he’s the youngest supe besides Sydney.

She doesn’t answer, but I can imagine her having to relieve her own tension sneakily in the shower and it immediately morphs into joining her there. “Damn, sweet pea. We’re definitely going to give the bathroom a try sometime. The vision of you naked and slippery is fuckin’ hot.”

Not that this is anything to shake your fist at.

“Bet it didn’t feel like this, did it?” Sebastian leans down, kissing her again before he lets her respond and Syd shakes her head vehemently. “Do you like Rory’s tongue in your pussy, kitten? Do you feel how much we all want you? Do you smell it?”

She swallows hard as she bobs her head, then keens low and I wonder what the mage did to draw that sound out. Her limbs are visibly trembling now, and I almost hold my breath as the vampire waits for her to respond verbally. “N-no. It was not… like this… Never like this.”

“Good girl,” he murmurs as he casts his gaze down to Rory’s blind head. “Answer the other questions, Sydney. Tell us what we want to hear.”

“I…” She sucks in a breath and I see her jaw grit as she does her best not to do what Iknowshe needs to. “I love it. I didn’t know I could feel…unnghhhh. You all smell delicious and I don’t understand it. It’s like I want todevouryou and I don’t even know what thatmeans.”

He blinks, stymied for a moment as his eyes cut to everyone but the mage for confirmation. We all heard it; it was impossible not to. But it doesn’t make sense—the likelihood of her being a dual hybrid is low, but the hunger speaks to something entirely unprecedented. I know what he wants to ask the dragon and me, but he’s not going to. Not when Sydney is accepting us as a team and in her bed—it will be too much for her to contemplate.

“Kitten, what do you mean ‘devour’?”

She shakes her head, gripping Rory hard as she writhes under his mouth. “I don’t knooooooow.Please, please…Sebastian. I need…”

Her throaty pleas knock him out of the trance her previous admission put him in, and the vampire grins fangily down at our girl. “That’s not how you ask, Sydney. If you want release, you ask for it, and you tell us what you want us to do. If you’re behaving, you will get it.”

My heart almost skips a beat when she lifts her head, looking at him with lust-filled eyes and pouty lips. “I want to come, my Kings. And I want you all to feel good, too.”

“Poseidon’s seaweed pubes,” Elias curses as his tail whips over her. “Your mouth is getting dirtier and I like it, little rebel.”

---