Page 159 of Gemini Queen
As I burst into the frigid courtyard, that mighty cry builds in my throat.
Outside, the bear has a writhing Lucius pinned on his back in the snow, growling, mauling, lunging for his throat. I thrust both arms skyward, fling back my head, and howl for the lightning.
A gale-force wind hammers into me. A jagged bolt of ultraviolet fire forks down from heaven and slams into the courtyard with an earth-shattering crash. The shock of impact knocks me off my feet and hurls me backward through the air.
The whole world turns white.
I slam ass-first into a snowbank with bone-rattling force. Stars explode across my vision and my ears start to ring.
Slowly, my vision clears. I claw up to sit in the cold wet snow, head spinning, eardrums screaming, the whole world blurry and far away. Ronin’s swaying in the shattered doorway, clinging to the lintel to stay on his feet, his face transfixed.
In the snow, the bear lies smoking, a charred and blackened hulk.
And my wolf—my beautiful wolf—is scrambling unsteadily to his feet. Bloodied and scraped and savaged.
But alive.
I did it. I saved Lucius. I summoned the lightning and I fucking controlled it.
I’m still too dazed to feel much of anything. I think maybe I might be going into shock, but there’s no time for that. Lucius’ wolf limps over to me and drags his hot wet tongue across my numb befuddled face. I grope with my shaking hands to stroke his thick soft ruff and look deep into his whiskey-colored eyes. Gently he laps at my tears, because it seems I am crying. Then he nudges me with his big muzzle and trots off, rising on his hind legs to slather Ronin’s face with affectionate kisses that nearly knock the guy over.
Suddenly, the wolf whines and darts into the house.
I struggle to my feet and weave after him as fast as I can with my ears still ringing and my balance hinky. Ronin tries to steady me, his mouth moving in words I can’t hear, but he’s still barely ambulatory himself.
I cling to his half-naked body for a sec, then pull him after me into the house.
In the great room, Vasili’s sprawled half over the Renaissance couch where I shoved him to get him clear of the bear. Lucius’ wolf is nosing him and licking his face in long eager swipes between jaw-splitting yawns that suggest the wolf too is headed straight for dreamland.
But the Goblin King is fast asleep.
On the great room floor, Zerxes is still breathing, slumped and swaying on his knees, ribbons of dark blood running down his chin and soaking the robe to his chest as he gropes feebly at the knife jutting from the back of his neck. His own knife lies abandoned at his feet.
A few small fires are burning in the carpet before the hearth. I shuffle unsteadily over to stomp them out with my soaked and freezing slippers. Through the ringing in my ears, I’m trying to decide whether to call 911 on the antiquated landline and wondering if anyone on this island will even pick up if I do, when my sweet baby Neo staggers down the stairs buck naked, grabs the fallen poker like a baseball bat, winds up like a star hitter on opening day, and slams the poker with brutal force into the side of Zerxes’ head.
Chapter Forty-Five
Zara
There’s definitely something to be said for living in a house that’s equipped with a renovated Roman bath. Sure, the electrical wiring in this joint is geriatric and the antique Edwardian-era furnace is gradually giving up the ghost.
But I swear this bath makes up for it.
Right now, I’m floating naked under the skylight in five feet of steaming green water, lit up from underneath because I’ve finally managed to get the power back up after all the pyrotechnics last night, in the big central pool that reeks of sulfur and minerals. Overhead, a brilliant sky peeks through piles of melting snow on the leaded glass roof. Sunlight mingles with the green aquatic glow down here in a shimmering haze of light. That light makes the faded frescoes of naked mermaids and sea monsters frolicking and foaming on the walls look like they’re floating.
According to my dive watch, it’s late afternoon. But there’s no class because it’s Saturday. The guys are supposed to have thethermaeall day today per the house schedule, but they’re more than willing to share with me, their queen.
They’re sweet like that.
In fact, a naked Neo has my feet trapped in his big hands right now to deliver a languid foot massage as he floats across the way. And the steady knead of his thumbs against my arches is making me moan.
A naked Ronin sprawls behind me with his legs spread to accommodate me between them, his pierced cock tucked against my back, his palms digging into the knotted muscles in my shoulders. Which is making me moan even louder.
Not that it’s a moaning contest or anything, but these two mates of mine are both really good at doing this.
I frown at the flashing digits on my dive watch. “Shouldn’t they be back by now? They went to see the Dean, like,hoursago.”
“The Dean likes to do things properly, babe.” Neo grins at me under a damp fringe of curls. “She’s probably doing the whole tea ceremony for them. Master Aries—uh, I mean Lucius—is trying to resign so he can officially join your harem. It’s a major event. She isn’t going to want to rush.”
