Page 41 of Divine Fate (Cursed Legacies #4)

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BAELFIRE

What’s more embarrassing than turning into a stupid, mindless beast for six months and roasting countless people for no good fucking reason?

The fact that my family witnessed all of it.

Everett gave me the rundown on how my dragon spent the last six months. Eating, burning shit, sleeping in caves, burning shit, killing people and—big surprise, setting fire to more shit. I was out of hand. Feral. I must have driven my entire family up the wall, since they took it upon themselves to try and protect me from hunters and anyone else trying to exterminate the threat I became.

Having my curse broken is fantastic. It means I’m in perfect harmony with my inner dragon again, but a part of me still wants to wring his scaly neck for everything he did over the last six months.

I can already picture how my mom will look at me when they arrive. She’ll be happy to see me back in my own head, but there’s no fucking way my stalwart commander mother won’t also get overwhelmed by her shifter emotions and cry a bit. My dads or brothers might crack a joke about something to try to make me feel like things are back to normal, but with how bad I was for the last six months…

There’s not really a normal for me to go back to.

As relieved as I am that they’ve all been okay during the Upheaval, I can’t lie. I’m dreading seeing them again—especially because I’m not the same nice, happy Baelfire they’re used to.

I can be nice, sure. I can still be charming, if necessary.

But mostly, I’m over being a people person. Pretty sure none of my many “friends” from the good old days did anything but gawk at me with the rest of the world when I went feral and wound up in headlines all over the world. My family would never say it to me, but I did a number on our family name—and still, only they and my quintet members tried to help me when I was barely surviving in my own head.

So fuck being nice to everyone just for the sake of it. I’m much more interested in burning anyone who gets close to Maven without her permission.

I guess being trapped inside a monster for six fucking months changes a guy.

This morning is the war meeting Maven called for before the temple celebration shit tonight—but my family will get here before the meeting, which feels really fucking soon.

I’m pacing inside my old room in the quintet apartment when Maven knocks gently on the door, like she’s not sure if she’s allowed in. Which is fucking insane. It’s like she hasn’t fully realized that I’d gladly spend the rest of my life with her wrapped around me like a koala with absolutely no space between us ever again, if I could.

I pull her into the room, wrap her in my arms, and kiss her forehead. “Hey there, Mayflower. I like this,” I add, flicking her ponytail. “And I love this,” I add with a grin, squeezing her perfect ass.

“You mean all those times I’ve caught you staring at my ass like you wanted to take a bite out of it wasn’t because you were completely indifferent? I’m shocked.” She stands on her tiptoes to kiss my chin. Then she examines my eyes with a knowing look. “You’re nervous about seeing your family.”

“I’m just in my head about it. I know they still love me and shit, but…” I grimace. “I can only remember blips over the last six months, and in most of those memories, I was roasting people. Not a great look for the Decimus family.”

“They care more about you than the family image.”

I know that. Still…

“This is going to be rough,” I sigh, burying my nose in the side of her neck to inhale her scent. How it’s so fucking soothing and yet so arousing at once is beyond me.

But if I thought that was arousing, it’s nothing compared to the moment Maven tugs playfully on my leash.

Holy shit. Does she have any idea how hot that is? Is she trying to drive me insane?

When I pull away, the breath whooshes out of my lungs when I see the mischievous sparkle in her eyes.

Oh, fuck. She is absolutely aware of what she’s doing to me.

But when her fingers trace the edge of my collar and she fidgets with the latch, my heart sinks so fast I can barely keep up. I swallow hard and try to play it cool—which is not my strong suit. I’m pretty sure no shifter in the world can play things cool, let alone godsdamned dragon shifters. We’re too fucking hot-blooded and emotional.

“Did you just come in here to take this off of me?” I check, trying not to sound brutally disappointed.

“Yes,” she murmurs, trailing her fingers lightly down my bare chest before she smirks wickedly up at me. “But not until I’m done with you. You once offered to be my free use fuck toy. If that still stands?—”

“It does,” I blurt, heat crawling over my skin as my breathing picks up. “Always. Literally anytime. You can use me any way you want or just?—”

Maven pulls on my leash again, much rougher this time, so I’m forced to lean down to her eye level. My heart pounds painfully as the delicious rush of her taking charge sets in.

“You interrupted me,” she warns, still playful.

“Sorry,” I breathe, but I’m really not sorry because fuck , I love her pulling my leash.

“Show me how sorry. Get on your knees, pet.”

Pet.

Oh, hell fucking yes . I love it when she calls me that.

Obediently, I get to my knees, which puts me just barely below her eye level because I’m a big motherfucker and she’s the perfect size for me in every single way. I’m already getting hard in my shorts, but I don’t dare take them off without her permission. The tenting only gets worse when Maven reaches out to gently trace the mating mark she left on my neck months ago.

“I love that you marked me,” I whisper.

“I had to,” she murmurs, leaning to kiss just beside my mouth to drive me nuts. “Since I can’t have you collared like this all the time, I had to have a way of showing off that you’re mine.”

“All yours,” I agree, trying to kiss her, but she pulls away just enough to taunt me. “Doesn’t matter what I’m wearing or how you mark me—if anyone else touches me, they’re dead. Only my queen can touch me. My goddess. My mate. Fuck, please let me kiss you.”

That please is what she was waiting for, and I’m rewarded when her sweet, warm lips press against mine. The kiss quickly deepens until her tongue is trailing against mine. When I get greedy, trying to slip my tongue further into her mouth, she bites it. Not enough to really hurt, but enough to make me moan.

By the time we’re both panting, Maven pulls away to look me over like she’s deciding the best way to devour me. Whatever she wants, I’m all in. I’m so fucking excited that she’s taking control and teasing me with this dynamic that I’ll do anything she wants. If she tells me to get on my hands and knees while she sits on my back for hours, just pretending I’m her throne?—

I mean, it’s not as mouthwatering as her sitting on my face, but fuck me, I’ll do it.

“Lie on the bed,” she whispers.

I immediately obey as my heart crashes in my chest, my cock straining against my shorts as I try to calm my breathing. It’s no use, though. I’m way too fucking excited to calm anything down right now.

Good thing Maven likes how worked up I get, because she crawls onto the bed between my legs and smirks down at me, a delicious glimmer in her dark eyes. “Gods, look at you. My mate is so fucking sexy.”

That praise is already turning my brain to happy mush, but when she trails her hand teasingly over my erection, I whimper.

Fucking whimper .

I don’t think I’ve ever done that in bed, but I’m losing my mind here. I’m desperate for anything I can get from my mate. I’m dying to covet and obsess over her.

“I’d look even better naked,” I try.

“When I’m ready,” she muses, still looking me over.

She’s perfectly in control in a way that just makes me even more of a mess for her. Her hand finds the end of my leash again, and my heart jolts as I expect her to tug it, but she leaves it right where it is, like she was just making a note of where to find it for the next time she needs it.

Maven’s beautiful gaze finds mine again. “Three rules, this time. You don’t touch me—I touch you.”

Not touching her is always torture, but I nod.

“You don’t come until I say you can.”

That almost makes me whimper again, but I nod again as eager heat curls slowly along my spine.

“And the others might overhear when they get back from their supply run, so you can’t make a single sound. Got it?”

“Yes,” I whisper, swallowing hard as I decide to break the third rule already to get more of what I want. “Please touch me. Use me. Fuck, baby, I just need?—”

She jerks my leash hard to one side—enough that it almost chokes me for a second, and for that second, I swear my eyes almost roll back.

Note to self. Ask her to choke me more. I might be onto something.

“I know what you need,” Maven reminds me, letting up on my leash before she leans down to kiss my lower stomach. “Just hold still and stay quiet for me.”

Gods, I love this new game.

Her explorative kissing is just pleasant at first, but another jolt of heated arousal pulses straight to my rock-hard cock when Maven’s tongue drags along the ridges in my stomach. She keeps licking my abs and teasing, making her way lower and lower until finally my shorts are dragged off.

She hums at the sight of my straining, desperate cock. “So damn hard and ready for me. Already leaking, too. Good boy.”

Just like before, when those words sink in—fuck, they do something to me I can’t even put into words. My breathing turns ragged as my hips rocks of their own damn will. I’m falling apart and she’s barely even fucking touched me yet.

Please, I groan through the bond, just to her. I need you. Gods, please touch me.

“No using the bond,” she whispers. “That’s cheating.”

And then my gorgeous, devious, fucking cruel mate laps at the head of my cock like my precum is her favorite treat. The hoarse sound that escapes me would be embarrassing, if it wasn’t quickly followed by another and another as more of my inches sink into the hot, wet, fucking perfect suction of Maven’s mouth.

She’s struggling a little bit with my size, but that only drives me more insane. I grip the sheets on either side of me for dear life and try to keep my moans to a minimum. But when she gets most of me into her mouth and throat and swallows around my length, that mind-melting sensation makes me curse.

Maven immediately pulls off of my cock to arch a brow at me.

“Fuck. Sorry. Fuck, please don’t stop,” I beg, panting as my hips rock again.

“You agreed you wouldn’t be too loud,” she sighs, getting off the bed.

Alarm has me sitting up, panicked that she’s seriously about to walk out and leave me with a raging boner from hell. “Wait. No. I’m sorry, I’ll be better about?—”

The words die in my throat as I watch her slip out of her pants and then gently step out of a simple pair of black panties next. She moves with such speed that it takes my breath away when she shoves me back into a lying position on the bed.

Her gaze pure, dark, delicious desire. “Don’t be sorry. Just open your mouth for me.”

I open it without a second thought. Obeying her is satisfying as hell, so why would I resist?

When Maven gently stuffs her panties into my mouth, I get lightheaded immediately. They smell clean, barely worn—but there’s the barest scent of her on them, too. I can taste a hint of her fresh arousal perfuming my mouth now, and it makes me groan like a dying man.

I don’t know how she knew I would be so into this, but oh my gods.

So. Fucking. Hot.

When my moan is still too loud for this game we’re playing, Maven covers my panty-stuffed mouth with her hand and smirks down at me. “Shh. I’m still playing with my toy.”

Her sultry, teasing tone and all these soft little touches and the scent of her arousal is going to fucking kill me. As she lowers back down to suck my cock deeper and deeper into the hot, wet perfection of her mouth, I can barely think straight.

And holy shit , my mate gives one hell of a blowjob. Probably helps that she can read me like I’m a fucking book, and each time she can tell I’m getting closer to the edge, she pulls back and goes back to teasing me. For someone who hates being edged, she’s painfully good at edging.

Over and over, she drives me almost to the finish line until every inch of my skin is flushed with heat. I’m left panting and moaning, despite the third rule. The need to come is so fucking bad that I desperately work her panties out of my mouth and gasp, “Please. Fuck. Please, can I come?”

She pops off my cock to murmur, “Not yet.”

“Maven, plea ? — ”

She squeezes my balls and goes back to sucking me off again.

Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck ? —

Not making another sound is impossible, so I bite my fist, ignoring the taste of my blood.

I’ve never fought an orgasm this hard before, but I almost choke on the next wave of unbearable pleasure when she swallows around me again, massaging my cock in simultaneously the best and worst way possible. My balls ache, so full they hurt. I’m pretty damn sure I’m still leaking precum. Moisture trickles over my temples as I squeeze my eyes shut, so fucking desperate to be good for my mate.

She’s edging me until I fucking cry, and I still can’t stop begging for more. My mate hums around me, pleased with the mess she’s turned me into.

But oh my gods, that humming. It makes it all worse until I can barely manage to choke out, “Please. Please. Godsdamn it, fuck—please can I?—”

“Such a perfect, greedy mate. Come for me,” Maven whispers, stroking my cock hard as she gently squeezes my balls again.

I explode.

The release takes me so hard and fast that I shout in both agony and relief, pleasure searing me as I come like I’ve never orgasmed a day in my life. The entire time, Maven strokes me the way she knows I like, until I’m left mindless and panting, staring up at the ceiling as my head spins.

“Fuck. Just…holy fuck ,” I moan, words slurring.

Maven tugs lightly on my leash, just enough to get my attention as she adjusts, moving higher up on the bed. “Need another minute, or is it my turn?”

“Your turn,” I say immediately, my mouth already watering as I realize what she has in mind.

Soon, her thighs are on either side of my head as her pussy presses against my mouth. The scent of her arousal envelops me as I lap at her entrance. She’s so damn soaked—and I love the way she tastes, almost as much as I love my mate dominating me in bed.

When she tugs on my leash insistently this time, it’s positioned beneath my chin so she’s tipping my head back, forcing my mouth tighter against her pussy. I groan raggedly against her, adoring every second of this.

She makes a breathless, needy sound above me, sending another rush of arousal crashing through me. I lap and suck and nip, focusing on her clit when she starts to grind against my face.

“Baelfire,” she gasps, her thighs clenching around my head.

Fuck it. I can’t stand not touching her anymore. My hands immediately go to spread her thighs as wide as possible so she’ll put her full weight on me. I suck on her clit again, living for every one of Maven’s small sounds of pleasure as she builds toward her release.

She finally cries out, her pussy convulsing slightly, and I groan as more of her divine arousal drips for me to lap up.

“Tastes so good,” I moan against her. “My mate comes so fucking pretty. Godsdamn, hellion.”

My mate is right. I am greedy, and I’m still craving more when she tries to move off my face. Gripping her ass, I keep her there for another moment to finish my dessert while she swears and moans, fingers tangling in my hair.

Finally, she grips one of my wrists as a quiet plea to let her go. With a contented sigh, I do, and Maven adjusts to lay beside me on the bed.

As I slowly come down from the potent high, Maven leans into my neck and teasingly bites my old mating mark. She licks it gently, almost like a shifter might do to soothe their mate as her arm goes around me.

Fuck, I’m so in love with her.

But Maven’s touch isn’t just calming me down after all that intensity—it’s stronger than that. I don’t think she’s even aware, but she’s emanating peace. Contentment. She’s using her abilities to soothe me without even realizing it, and it’s heavenly.

“I love it when you bite me,” I murmur happily.

Maven pulls back to smile at me. I’m one thousand percent sure she has no idea her smiles sweep me off my feet every single time.

“I love teasing such a sexy mate.”

Sexy mate. I melt at the extra dose of praise, turning and pressing my face to her neck to deeply inhale her scent again. I’m so fucking addicted. Once all this fighting and shit is over, I can’t wait to hold her and love her for hours on end with no more interruptions.

As I’m still basking in the afterglow, Maven gently reaches up and unclasps the collar around my neck. It slips off easily for her to toss onto the nightstand.

I can’t help but sigh wistfully. “It’ll be nice having that off, but still…”

Maven laughs. “Come on, let’s get dressed. They’ll be here soon. I’ll get you a better collar later, for whenever it’s just us.”

It’s official. I’m the luckiest dragon in the entire fucking universe.

Thirty minutes later, I’m trying not to look nervous as my entire quintet waits in the western library for my family to walk in. And when the doors finally open, I’m not surprised that my mother is the first one to storm through them, scanning the room with her remaining eye like a woman on a mission until she spots me.

At once, she’s crashing into me with shifter speed, wrapping her arms around me, and?—

Gods, why was I dreading this?

I hug my mom back tightly, letting out a shuddering breath and praying my voice doesn’t crack as all kinds of emotions crash over me. “Hey, Mom.”

“Baelfire Finbar Decimus,” she sniffs, pulling back to glare at me. There’s no real heat to it. In fact, her eye is teared up. “How dare—you can’t just—Decimuses don’t?—”

It’s the first time in my life I’ve ever seen my strong, decisive, militant mother struggling so much with her own emotions. My lion shifter birth father, Oscar, is the next to blur to my side, wrapping both of us in his big hug, which cuts her off.

“Thank all six gods. We were so worried about you, son,” he breathes.

“Bael!” Declan calls with a giant grin as he strolls into the library. Cace is right behind him, along with several members of their quintets and the rest of my parents. I’m suddenly swarmed with nearly two dozen grinning, overly emotional Decimuses, all hugging me and welcoming me back.

Even Quinn is here, beaming as she runs up to hug my leg. She’s tiny for a seven-year-old, but her volume more than makes up for her height.

“Uncle Baelfire! You’re not a big meanie dragon setting Grandma’s house on fire anymore!”

I look at my mom. “Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to?—”

“Of course, you didn’t. The house is mostly fine and none of us would give two shits if it wasn’t, anyway. What’s important is that you’re still—” My mom cuts off with a sniff, trying and failing to compose herself. “You know that I just care about my baby. Even when he scares the hell out of me and makes me lose sleep for months and then doesn’t find a way to reach out and reassure me after his curse is broken and he’s finally back in his own head,” she adds pointedly.

She’s right. I should have thought about reassuring my family, but—damn, everything’s just been happening so fast. Besides, I can tell she’s not actually upset about it. My mom’s good at understanding circumstances.

“Sorry,” I say anyway, before adding, “For everything.”

Declan throws an arm around my shoulders. “Wasn’t your fault, little bro.”

My mother wipes her eye before clearing her throat, trying to compose herself. “Thank all six gods that you have such a strong quintet. I can’t even tell you how often Everett’s aid answered my prayers, or how many times Crypt took care of the hunters before we could get there in time.”

Crypt was looking out for me while I was feral? I didn’t know that. I glance over at my quintet standing nearby, where the incubus is listening to Quinn as she chatters happily at him.

You were checking in on me? I ask only Crypt through the bond.

No.

Kinda seems like you were.

He looks at me like I’m a giant wart. Don’t flatter yourself into thinking I was even capable of concern for your idiotic hide over the last six months. I was numb. Whenever I grew bored between targets, hunters were merely an entertainment for me to kill off.

It’s hard not to snort out loud. Uh-huh. Sure. So it had nothing to do with protecting my scaly ass.

Get over yourself, lizard.

“Maven,” my mom says, interrupting our telepathic exchange as she disengages from the Decimus family huddle and approaches my gorgeous mate.

My mom is ten times more observant and intuitive than I ever hope to be, so I’m not surprised when she doesn’t try to hug Maven. She must have picked up on how uncomfortable it made my mate the last time they met.

Still, I can tell my keeper is trying to hide her nervousness as the rest of my family’s attention moves from me to the demigoddess in the room. I really have no fucking idea how they’ll react to her half-divine status, but luckily the ice is broken when Cace gets an eyeful of Everett’s face for the first time.

“Holy shit, would you look at that!”

Quinn sees it, too, and gasps. “Oh, no! The old geezer man hurt his face.”

Silas coughs to try hiding his laughter.

Everett sighs as he speaks telepathically. I forgot that big mouths run in your family.

Crypt is the one who taught her that, I point out.

My mom shoots Cace and Quinn a look that shuts them up before she turns back to Everett, tapping the edge of her eyepatch. “Ignore them. I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again—battle scars are a privilege. They’re permanent trophies for proving ourselves and surviving shit we never thought we could survive.”

“Plus, it’s sexy,” Maven adds without missing a beat.

I grin. That’s my mate. I can’t tell if her playfulness makes me want to kiss her or bite her hard enough to leave another mark showing the entire world how much she’s mine.

Several of my family members burst into surprised laughter at her unabashed statement while Everett turns bright red. Quinn turns to ask one of Cace’s quintet members why a scar is sexy, which just makes more of them laugh. The nervous tension of how my family will handle Maven being a demigoddess is long gone. I breathe out in relief when I see my mother smiling at my mate with nothing short of pure pride and motherly affection.

“I didn’t say it wasn’t dope-looking,” Cace chuckles, turning back to Everett. “I was just surprised, since your family’s so big on image and since…well, you know. You’re a Frost.”

Everett glances at Maven, still red-faced as he speaks telepathically. Not for long.

That piques Crypt’s interest. Are we taking Maven’s last name?

I am. Get your own thing, Everett scowls.

Cace must think Everett is scowling at him, because he starts apologizing again and quickly makes it worse as he compares Everett’s scar to a scrape from silver he once got on his ass.

“Careful or Snowflake will freeze you and add you to his collection,” I warn Cace.

Declan slaps my shoulder good-naturedly as he lowers his voice. “Careful, or I’ll have to remind you that you should’ve taken a long, thorough shower. Some of us are shifters, Bael.”

Oh. Shit. He means he can scent what Maven and I were up to before this, and most likely so can my parents.

I’m pretty sure I’m blushing as hard as Everett now.