Page 11 of Siren Sins
He rolled his eyes, pushing me aside at my pitiful attempts to retrieve the glass and yanked it from the top shelf. He handed it to me with a complimentary scowl. “Whatever, blondie.”
I frowned. I’d learned that I could, in fact, seduce him, but his threats were real. Flashes of slitted green in his eyes told me that if I pushed him much farther, he indeed would change into something that was likely terrifying. A dragon wasn’t just a beast, but a killer, and I wasn’t sure if our connection would hold when he shifted. My mother had dubbed the dragons the “Shanghai Killers.” Even if Derek had charged Jet with my protection, he’d probably given the dragon authority to subdue me should his free will be in danger. I didn’t want to test how much Derek really needed me for his plans to work. Perhaps all he needed was the Blood Stone, and I was just a convenience of someone who knew how to use it.
“If it’s so difficult to be around me, then why are you still here?” I waved to the elevator that was the only exit to my luxurious prison. “Can’t you scurry on down to the lobby and play with your friends?” I leaned over the bar and took a swig of my drink. “Or did daddy Derek say you weren’t allowed recess?”
He brushed past me, his hips grazing my backside for a fraction of a second, as he opened another cabinet and procured a new bottle of golden delight. “No,” he said, ignoring the zap of tension that our momentary contact had flung into the air. “Like I said, once you’re trusted, you’ll be allowed to do whatever you please. But for now, I will monitor you and let Derek know how you’re cooperating.”
I growled. “Seriously, I don’t get it. Why the hell would I cooperate with that douchebag of a king, hmm?”
He tensed as my rage scented the air again. His tattoos seemed to harden, soft lines forming that could have easily been scales across his arms. “I told you,” he warned, “you really need to turn that off.”
“Sorry,” I said honestly and coddled the drink before taking another sip. The warmth slipped down my throat and dulled the fresh surge of power from the Blood Stone. It had something to heal, something to focus on besides the powerful dragon in the room I wanted to bend to my will in inappropriate ways. “I can’t really control it. I’m sort of new to this Blood Stone stuff.”
He blinked at me with surprise and his tattoos inked to their normal shade. “But you’re the wielder of the Blood Stone. You’re immortal and powerful.”
I smirked. “I’m twenty-two, dude.”
He blinked again before taking a sip of his own glass. “Holy shit,” he said after a moment. “Well, that changes things.”
“How do you mean?”
He glanced at me, his eyes flaring with emotions I couldn’t understand. “My brother is the leader of the Chen Lung Dragons, and the alliance he made with the Incubus King is based on the wielder of the Blood Stone becoming his consort.” He ignored me as I snorted on my whiskey. “Unfortunately, we weren’t told that you were just a child. My brother is going to flip.”
Tattletale
Jet
“She’show old?” Jin shrieked in our native tongue that Sonya had adorably thought wasn’t a real language.
As leader of the Chen Lung Dragons, Jin had his fair share of wives and consorts, but he’d had his sights set on the wielder of the Blood Stone, one of the famed succubi lineages that promised ecstasy beyond a man’s wildest dreams. I also suspected he wanted what Derek had also craved: a child that would inherit the Blood Stone’s gifts. It was no secret that the Incubus King had a new daughter, one with irises rimmed in red and a power unlike anyone had ever seen.
I couldn’t fathom why the Incubus King would give up the wielder of the Blood Stone, but no matter his reasons, my brother had standards. My brother was over a thousand years old, and he didn’t take a consort a day younger than five-hundred. He took age very seriously, as most dragons would. A dragon’s power stemmed from their material wealth. The more gold they had procured during their lifetime, the stronger they would be. It impacted every area of our lives, even our ability to reproduce.
Succubi wouldn’t be held to this rule, their power coming directly from their lineage and the occasional artifact like the Blood Stone that could amplify their gifts. But I knew my brother. Jin curled his lip in disgust at the idea of taking Sonya as his consort. She was a child to him, and even if the rules didn’t apply to her, it certainly didn’t make her appealing—at least not to Jin.
She’d tried to use her magic on me, and even though I’d pushed it off as best I could, I could still feel its lingering tension wrap itself around my cock. I shifted, hoping my brother wouldn’t notice the curve at the front of my pants.
“We must call the deal off,” Jin snapped and, to my relief, turned to peer outside. His reflection in the two-story window glared with a fiery red, betraying his anger that I knew all too well. I was only a hundred and I’d been living in my brother’s shadow my entire life. When he was angry, I was the first to feel his wrath.
“We can’t,” I said gently. I didn’t approach my brother, but I knew that if we called off our deal now, the Incubus King would make sure that Shanghai would be the first to experience his new army, half of which was comprised of our own dragons. I didn’t want to test their loyalties when it came to a war at the end of time. “You know what’s coming, brother. We need to be on the right side of things.”
Jin snorted and a soft tendril of smoke filtered from his nostrils. He was dangerously close to losing control, and I didn’t have time for that. The leader of the Chen Lung Dragons did not morph inside headquarter walls.
I dared a step closer to my brother and rested a hand on his shoulder.
Jin relaxed, his gaze shifting into a simmering glower. “Do you propose we maintain our deal, but take nothing in return?” he asked. “Where’s our pride?”
“Of course not,” I said, releasing his shoulder as I gazed at the tower that nestled in the heart of the city like a dragon’s dream. The Incubus King was no fool. He’d had the entire tower cast in gold to attract the dragons of Shanghai. He kept his court happy, and lights flashed in hazy windows, assuring onlookers that any pleasure they could imagine would be met inside its golden walls.
The royal court of Shanghai had been a work in progress, and ever since Derek had stuck his finger into things, had gotten a whole lot wealthier. Now, our kind partied every day, losing our numbers to his plans without batting an eye anymore.
I frowned. “We’re in too deep,” I warned him. “We need Derek just as much as he needs us.” Derek and his wealth had become a part of our infrastructure. If that fell apart now, the dragons would be pit against one another, bringing about a vicious civil war unlike the supernatural community had seen in millennia.
That tower represented our enslavement to the Incubus King, and at its pinnacle, Sonya, the most desirable pleasure of all, rested as his prize. I shoved my fingers into my pocket, fondling the keycard to her room that no one else had in their possession. Derek had entrusted me with her safety, and me alone.
“I could take Sonya as my consort,” I offered, making sure to keep my voice flat lest I betray my interest in the idea. Something unlocked in me when I was around her, urging me to cement a bond that drew me to her with a craving I’d never had before. I cleared my throat, trying to think of the practical reasons I could have her as a consort. “She would still add to our family’s lineage, and you would be seen as generous to give your younger brother such a prize.”
Jin snorted as if the idea were ridiculous, filling me with rage. “While I appreciate that,brother, it would make me look like a fool.” His eyes slit into dangerous reptilian slices. “Your children would be more powerful than mine, and I couldn’t have that.” He sighed, folding his hands behind his back and resumed his calm posture. “No. I will have to think of the best way to handle this.” He glanced at me. “I’m curious. Do you wish to steal the throne, brother? Or has the creature bewitched you already.”
