Page 27 of Dragon Rivals of New York (Dragons of New York #3)

Chapter 27

Kyro

I ’m a step behind Jethro and Sora. That’s all. One step. But it’s enough. Sora cries out in pain as her foot hits the pool. Her eyes roll back, and she falls just as Jethro stumbles. It all happens so fast. Our only saving grace is that we’re holding hands. With enough force to almost dislocate her shoulder, I yank Sora out of the pool. But she can’t keep hold of Jethro. He’s still falling and screaming in agony. The jackass is trying to die on me twice in one night!

I jump into the pool, grabbing him just before he goes all the way under and lugging him up. The pain is excruciating torture, and I have to hold my breath to keep from screaming. My claws drill into his flesh, heels digging into the step to pull back his momentum. He’s unconscious, and a heavy fucker. I heave and we both tumble out of the pool backwards, collapsing. “Don’t you fucking die! ”

Sora crawls to us. I grab her in one arm and clutch Jethro with the other. I don’t realize I’m sobbing until she’s wiping the tears from my cheeks.

“What the hell happened?” Someone yells.

My skin stings. Sora’s foot is bright red. Half of Jethro’s body is blistered from where it touched the silver pool.

“Water!” Adrianna yells. “Get them clean.”

Buckets of water are thrown over us, washing away the remnants of silver.

“Wake up, jackass!” I shake Jethro. If he doesn’t regain consciousness right this minute, I’ll kill him myself. The fucker can’t do this to me.

His eyes flutter open, and he gives me a weak smile. “You love me.”

I ignore his accusation. “I thought I told you to never fucking scare me like that again!”

“What was that?” Sora asks.

“Oh, baby.” I pull her into a kiss. “Are you alright?” I was so occupied with Jethro, I neglected my mate. Fuck!

“I’m fine.” She’s shaking, but her voice is strong.

“You’re not fine.” Finley says from behind us. “Look at your foot.”

“They poisoned the pool.” Adrianna has her hand over her mouth. I’ve never seen her look so pale.

“How?” Cyrus kneels beside his mate, pulling Finley into his arms. “The pools are sacred.”

“There are old stories of dragon feuds that resulted in poisoned pools.” Adrianna’s voice shakes. “But the consequence is high. If you poison another horde’s pool, yours will become poisoned as well. Neither pool will be usable until the next Goddess Week.”

“That explains why they had so few guards here,” Midas says, joining us.

There are too many people around. I just want to be alone with my mates. I kiss Sora’s temple. Now that the silver is washed off, I’m feeling better, healing quickly. Jethro seems to be too. But it’ll take longer for Sora’s body to recover. Her face is scrunched in pain, her jaw tense. We need to get her home.

Jethro is still laying across my lap. He looks up at me with more presence of mind than he had before, eyes clear. He lifts a weak hand and cups Sora’s cheek. “We’ll figure this out.”

I say a silent prayer to the goddess that he’s right .

Unwilling to stop touching either of them, I ask Cyrus to give us a ride to my place, since it’s the closest. It’s nothing like the luxury Jethro lives in, but there’s a warm bed and a hot shower. And we can be there in three minutes.

“I’ll call in sick for you,” Finley tells Sora, and I’m glad someone is thinking of it, because Sora’s job didn’t even cross my mind. There’s no way I’ll be able to let her out of my sight today. Tomorrow, we can figure out what to do and how to solve this.

By the time we get to the brick apartment building that houses myself and many of my horde, Adrianna has doubled the guards. She’s clearly worried what other measures the Ruby Diamond Horde might take.

Sora winces and limps as I help her off Cyrus’s back. Thank the goddess for dragon healing, because Jethro is recovered enough to land on his feet and help me support our mate. The priest, who Adrianna found bound and tied at the temple, said if we’d been in the pool any longer than we were, things might have been very different.

There’s so much to be grateful for, but all I feel right now is tense. We hobble down a flight of stairs, then I open my apartment door and show them in. I’ve never been nervous about having someone in my space before, but my insides knot up as Sora and Jethro look around .

It’s an open studio. Industrial in style and practical in decor. Exposed pipes. Brick walls. Concrete floors covered with old rugs to keep in some of the warmth. My bed is unmade, but the space is tidy. I don’t like a lot of clutter lying around. There’s no table, just a kitchen island with two bar stools, a couch and a TV. But the space is big enough for a dragon to walk around comfortably.

“Cozy,” Jethro says.

“Jackass,” I reply.

“Hey.” He holds his palms up like he’s trying to calm a wild animal. “I didn’t say I don’t like it. In fact, I love the idea of getting cozy with you.”

Sora sighs. “Please don’t start fighting. We need to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“No, lovely, we need to shower and rest. We can figure everything else out tomorrow.” Jethro points at the only door in the place. “That the bathroom?”

“Yeah.” I lead the way.

He’s right about what we should be doing now. We need to get clean and sleep off whatever poison remains in our systems. But my mind is spinning a mile a minute, and I know it’s going to be hard to relax. I can’t stop thinking about our situation. What if they’ve poisoned the gold pool too ?

I turn on the shower and step back, waiting for it to warm up.

Jethro squeezes the back of my neck. “Midas and Adrianna will figure something out.”

I glare at him. “I can’t just rely on someone else solving this problem for us.”

“I thought we weren’t going to fight right now.” Sora leans against the counter to keep weight off her foot.

“We’re always going to fight, lovely.” Jethro kisses her temple. “It’s how we show love.”

“I don’t love you.” I take Sora’s hand and guide her into the steaming shower. The water feels amazing after the night we’ve had, but I only allow myself the luxury of quickly walking through the spray before letting Sora have it. Jethro joins us, lathering up his hands with soap. He passes me the bar, then kneels and picks up Sora’s injured foot. It’s not burned, or anything like that. It’s more like a rash. He sets her foot on his thigh and carefully cleans it while I rub a bar of soap over the rest of her body. She didn’t get more than one foot in the pool, but you can never be too careful.

“I can do this myself,” she whispers as I scrub her back.

“We know, but we want to.” I massage her shoulders, but she doesn’t relax .

“But… I feel bad. You both got more of the poison on you. I should be the one cleaning you.”

“There’s no should here, lovely.” Jethro drags his hands up her leg. “We’re dragons. We’re fine. Let us take care of you.” His fingers glide between her legs while mine move up her waist to her breasts. The weight feels perfect in my hands, filling them. My dick swells, but I will it down with deep breaths. This isn’t the time for that.

My mates were threatened twice in the past twelve hours. Sex isn’t what they need. But the more I think about what almost happened, what I almost lost, the more I want to be inside them. If we can’t find a way into the Gold Temple, if they’ve poisoned that one too, we could lose this.

My throat tightens. I sniff. Jethro’s eyes meet mine. He stands up, dragging his soapy hands up Sora’s body as he goes. With her between us, my hands go from her breasts to his chest, rubbing the suds over his pecs before moving to his shoulders. I pull him closer so he’s pressed right up against Sora.

“I’m scared,” she whispers.

“Of what, lovely?”

“That the Ruby Diamond Horde will win, and I won’t be able to become a dragon. Th-that I’ll forget you.” Emotion chokes her voice. “But… I’m also scared it’ll work, and it’ll all be different than what I think, that you’ll be different once yo u know I’m yours and you’re not trying to win me over.”

“Oh, my sweet mate.” I turn her around to face me, then lift her chin. “We won’t ever stop trying to win you over.”

“But once we’re mated, it’s permanent. Finley said it—”

“Yes, it’s permanent, and it’ll be uncomfortable if we’re apart for long. But, Sora, I love you. Mating you won’t mean that I can suddenly treat you however I want, that I own you. You’re not a prize to win, then set on a shelf.”

“Oh, she is a prize.” Jethro sweeps her wet hair out of the way so he can kiss her shoulder. “She’s a prize that we’ll have to work at winning every day for the rest of our lives.” His gaze catches with mine. “So are you.”

There’s a tug in my chest and an ache low in my groin as Jethro drags his hand across Sora’s body and up my side.

“Do you believe us, lovely?” he asks, kissing her neck while he’s still touching me.

“I… I think I do. I’m trying to.”

Matching sighs of relief leave Jethro and me at the same time. I kiss Sora, the touch of our lips fragile like glass, sweet like spun sugar.

“I’m scared too,” I confess against her lips. I’ve always had a deep faith in the will of the goddess. Always trusted that things will work out. But now that I have everything I’ve ever wanted in my arms, all I can think about is losing her. Losing them. If the goddess took them from me…

I kiss my mate like it might be the last time, and she does the same, our lips communicating all the things I can’t find the words to share.

Grabbing her ass, I lift her off her feet, so her legs wrap around me. Jethro moves in, pressing against her back as she presses her front into me, water pouring over our bodies.

Jethro wraps a large hand around my cock and his, pressing them together just under Sora’s lifted core, dragging the tips over her entrance.

Skin slides over skin. Lips meet. Mine and Sora’s. Sora’s and Jethro’s. Jethro’s and mine.

Holding her between us with the weight of our pressed bodies, I reach for a jar of coconut oil I keep in the shower to use on my hair. I scoop out a bit, cover my hands, then drag them over the round globes of Sora’s ass.

“I like where this is going,” Jethro says.

My fingers skim her back entrance. She gasps and Jethro groans.

“Can we take you here, baby?” I push my thumb against her .

“I’ve never… isn’t it… I mean, what if…”

“Shh, relax, lovely.” Jethro rubs her clit. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but goddess above, I want my cock in your ass.”

“Um…” She bites her lower lip. “I guess, since we’re in the shower, maybe…”

To relax her, I kiss her neck. Jethro takes my cue and kisses the other side. As we kiss, and suck, and lick her wet skin, I slather Jethro’s cock in oil, rubbing our lengths together, slicking us up. He groans against Sora’s skin, and the sound pulses through my blood.

Cocks slick, I move to rubbing oil over his hand. The way he laces our fingers is erotic in a way I haven’t experienced before. Sensual and connecting. We catch eyes. I lean over Sora’s shoulder. We kiss.

With one finger each, we explore her tight back entrance together. She moans with each touch. When Jethro slips his thumb in up to the knuckle, she tenses, but quickly relaxes into the stretch.

“That’s it, baby.” Praising them both, my fingers dance over Jethro’s hand. “Suck his thumb into your hot ass, just like that.”

He works her over, stretching her, easing her into things, while I stroke her pussy with the tips of our cocks. She arches her back, pressing her sudsy breasts to my chest, throwing her head back on Jethro. They look so good together.

Feel damn good too.

I want to savor every moment of making love to them.

Taking Jethro’s hand, I place it on my cock and guide it to Sora’s dripping pussy. Then I take his shaft and line him up in the back. We hold gazes as we ease each other into our girl. Him guiding me. Me guiding him.

Holding Sora up between us isn’t a problem, but the agony of slowly easing into our mate with Jethro’s hand on my cock has my muscles shaking and weak. Fuck, I wish I could kiss them both at the same time.

Our girl hums in pleasure as we lower her down on both our cocks. When I bottom out, Jethro cups my balls. When he’s seated deep inside her, I do the same to him. We move perfectly in sync. And when we come, we come together. The three of us. Afterward, we stay there, in the shower, holding our girl, knowing this moment is important.

That wasn’t just sex. It wasn’t kinky or fast or desperate like the other times we’ve been together.

That was making love.