Page 100 of Gemini Hunted
“Hush.” That’s Lucius—the prof—and his chiding whisper sounds all embarrassed. “Mr. Labête and I are trying to listen for any pursuit.”
“You may be certain there is none behind us.” Cousin Z’s silver voice cascades down the stairs from behind. “If anyone dares to follow, Dracomir Guðmundur Mars and I will address the matter.”
Hardy-har.Address the matter.
I just bet they will.
Cousin Z’s never minded a little murder. I wasn’t even surprised when he capped my late unlamented brother—a real piece of work—and buried the dude’s head in Zara’s garden to help her roses grow.
And even though Zephyr just threatened Draco again by trotting out his full monicker, the Icelander’s grim chuckle in reply sounds psychotic.
Those two are a good choice for guard duty. I mean it. An axe-murder psycho and a feral Fae tyrant.
We all fall silent for a while. My webbed feet are clumsy in Babydoll’s borrowed combat boots, so I gotta take care groping down these stairs in the dark. If I miss a step and go down, imma take Zara and her skinny redheaded friend and all those guys in front down with me like dominoes.
Lucky if we don’t all break our necks.
But Zara’s warm little hand stays soft and trusting in mine, tugging me along after her like she and that dragon queen of hers are actually glad I’m here. My kraken slithers around in my skin and gives a happy rumble at the thought.
I rest my fingers over the double punctures on my neck. When I’m not all sexed up (which is rarely), no lie, that bite does ache. Might even be starting to seep a little.
Babydoll hisses in my ear, “Stop fussing with the bite,do, or you’ll make it worse. I’ll take care of you when we stop, shall I?”
His hot tongue flickers over the tip of my ear, there and gone in a blink. Hells’ bells. He might as well have shoved his pretty hand down my pants and squeezed my junk.
An audible groan slips outta me. “Don’t be a fucking tease. If you’re gonna jump my bones to break my fever, you better mean that shit.”
Zara glances over her shoulder, ponytail swinging pertly, her sweet face alive with mischief. “Youdohave options, youknow, Mordred. If the Goblin King isn’t playing nice, you can always ask Max or Lucius for a fuck.”
“Or you,” I say gruffly, speaking over the prof’s startled exclamation up front and Vasili’s huff of annoyance behind. “You’re an alpha too, baby queen. You and that cute teal dragon.”
A chirp of interest, like a bird sound, slips between her sweet lips. That’s her dragon sounding off, I bet, adding her two cents to the convo.
Zara’s glowing turquoise eyes slide over my naked chest and pause on the Horn in my messenger bag in a way that makes the ancient fertility relic hum with interest against my hip. Then her smoldering eyes drop to my crotch.
I swear to fuck, it’s all I can manage not to press her sweet hand to my dicks. All that holds me back (barely, in my current horndog state) is the knowledge that I’m a lot to handle down there when you ain’t prepared.
For real.
“Sweet Jesus. I’ll tend your bite, I promise,” she whispers, gaze roaming slowly back over my abs and pecs till she finds my face. “As soon as we stop for a breather. All the alphas in this polycule like to share. But no sexing me up like you are right now. Do we have a deal, Aquaman?”
A broad grin breaks over my face. “Shit, I ain’t sexing you up. That’s my natural rizz, not my hocus-pocus. You’re into me, baby queen. You’resointo me.”
Behind me, Babydoll voices kinda this snort of disdain. But the butterscotch scent of his Mogadon pheromones kicks up a notch. Succinct as shit, he says clearly, “Darling girl, we’ll work on him together. You lick and I’ll fuck. The last thing we need is this demon distracted by mating fever when we’re trying to break into the Vault and win the Challenge.”
“He’ssoaltruistic, our Goblin King.” Zara’s turquoise eyes dance with mischief as she glances between us. “Who knew?”
“Yeah, he hides it, like, really well.” From behind Babydoll, Neo gives a happy-sounding chuckle that’s almost a giggle. The kid’s enjoying their banter even when he’s not directly part of it.
Me? I’m grinning ear to ear like a kid at Christmas.
Feeling the energy dance between this baby queen and her court, these warlocks she’s all gonna crown and turn into kings, I get why they all orbit around the chick like planets around a sun.
I do, I get it.
Even grumpy Cousin Z in the rear whose suspicious frown drills into the back of my noggin.
They’re all freaks and misfits, each in their own way, they’re all different from the normals.
