Page 2
CHAPTER 2
Once in the shower, we didn’t undress; there wasn’t time.
Victor had me in his arms, and there was nothing in my head but need.
It still didn’t seem possible that this brilliant, brave, and complicated man was all Zee’s and mine. Sometimes I wondered—and I knew Zee did too—whether Victor would realize a relationship with an incubus and a dragon wasn’t for him, and walk away. But now, as he scooped me close, soaked and trembling under the blast of warm water, those unfounded concerns poofed away like Zee’s wings.
If there had been any doubt we’d needed this, that also vanished under the scrape of Victor’s fangs against my neck, and the rough tug at my shirt that sent a few buttons pinging off.
He spun me to face the tiles, then pulled the whole shirt off in one swift yank, like a magician tugging a tablecloth out from under the wine glasses. He was a pro at this, even Zee would agree.
Victor aways knew what we both wanted and needed. There would be no deviating from his plan of attack, and no way out. Which was fine by me. I didn’t ever want to escape.
Now shirtless and drenched under the showerhead, I splayed my hands against the tiles as Victor’s scandalous mouth trailed kisses down my spine, and I tilted my head back, arching away but wanting more, caught between pleasure and need.
When he reached my pants, they were quickly tugged down and tossed away with the same whip-like efficiency. A short, sharp bite on my ass definitely jolted electric lust through my veins. Zee would have said I was glowing; he could see when I was primed. Victor couldn’t, but he knew in his own way. All I knew was that I ached from head to toe, to have either his teeth or his dick in me—preferably both.
“What do you want, Adam?”
“You,” I moaned. Words were hard—like the rest of me.
I saw him reach for the conditioner Toby had left, then relished the feel of his fingers kneading my ass. He’d been right when he said he wouldn’t be gentle, but I could handle him at his strictest. Zee was a challenge, physically, but Victor was a lot mentally. He could throw his will around, using his voice to direct it. On people, it turned them into mindless puppets, but on me... it made my thoughts strum and my dragon self sing.
I’d missed this. It really had been too long since we’d come together, and uh... come together.
His hands gripped my hips and jerked me back, bending me over. I braced against the cool tiles and glanced over my shoulder. Victor was soaked through, his hair plastered to his face and shoulders, his wet, semitransparent shirt clinging to him, and a wildness on his face that betrayed the same kind of unhinged madness as when he unleashed on his unsuspecting victims. But I was no victim.
“Keep your eyes on mine,” he ordered.
Mercy. His voice weakened my knees, its promise entering some visceral part of my mind and turning it over to desire, and only desire. I held his unblinking stare, watched his eyes churn their silver as he spread me wide and dipped his fingers inside, brushing over the part of me that had my dick desperate for touch, as though he knew my body better than I did. He reached down and wrapped his fingers around me, and the sounds I made were mostly dragon now. I really wasn’t going to last, not at the rate he was ramping me up.
He knew that too, and freeing me, he gripped my hips again, positioning us just so, as he’d say. Then he was filling me up, but not with his fingers this time. Seated deep, he stopped there. I waited for him to move... may even have moaned or growled for more.
“Look at me.”
I’d forgotten I was supposed to be watching his face.
I blinked, clearing water from my blurry vision, and found his burning gaze over my shoulder again. His fangs were out now, gleaming and deadly.
“How much do you want me—want this?” he asked.
Words? I had to form words and speak them in some kind of coherent order? I gulped and thought real hard. “Like...” A tremor got in the way, so I tried again. “You’re the fire in my veins,” I rasped. “I want to burn for you. Set me ablaze. Light me up. Do it.”
He snarled and thrust, rocking us both... thrust again, and again... and each time pleasure climbed, building higher, turning into a surging molten wave of flame. I couldn’t look at him now, had to bow my head. If I touched myself, I’d come, and I wasn’t ready, even though I really, really was. Power, raw and cool, slipped from my skin. Victor must have felt it too, because he swept an arm under my chest, scooped me upright, and with his dick buried in my ass, he sank his teeth into my neck. That same power that had been spiraling around my pleasure crested the surface, spilling out... undoing me. In the past, whenever our chain reaction of powers had been triggered, I’d lost consciousness. But not anymore. I gave it to him, all of it, whatever it was, whatever power we ignited between us whenever we were together.
Victor staggered, grunting.
The flow from the showerheads spluttered, the lights flickered.
He caught me, pressing us both against the tiles, and moaned into the bite as he came.
Yeah, okay, we’d really needed this. More than either of us had realized.
Sliding his teeth from my neck, he lapped at the bite, unleashing a little wave of shivers through me, and we stood for a while, panting, coming down off the high of being together.
“Are you well, my dear?”
I should have been asking him the same. Turning in his arms, I reached up and smacked a messy kiss on his lips. A kiss that turned even more ragged and wild when he devoured me back. We were both definitely well.
Zee’s chaotic knocks landed on the bathroom door. “Uhm, guys? As much as I’m secondhand getting off on your fuckfest, we’re kinda on the TV.”
I was tempted to ignore it. Whatever it was could wait. Victor and I were enjoying a moment.
“You know what?” Zee added. “Meh, never mind. It’s just boring pictures of Adam. Probably not important.”
Victor bumped his forehead to mine.
“Wait, actually—fuck—so we should probably not go out for a while,” Zee continued to narrate through the closed door. “ Wanted for murder... yaddah yaddah . Was Gideon Cain the real hero... blah blah . SOS Heroes or villains? Fuck, that one’s just rage bait.”
I closed my eyes. “Oh dear.”
“Stop the SOS Threesome,” he went on.
Victor sighed. “Alright, we are coming.”
“You already came, Daddy Spice. But best get your fine ass out here. Looks as though we’re about to go viral for all the wrong reasons.”
I turned the shower knobs, switching off the water, and took the fluffy gown that Victor held out. He stripped out of his wet clothes and wrapped a towel around his middle.
“One post on my socials will clear this right up,” Zee continued.
I yanked open the door to find Zee tapping at his phone and a huge picture of me on the massive TV on the living room wall. Victor zipped past, snatched Zee’s phone, and tossed it out the open sliding doors. It landed with a plop in the pool.
“Excuse moi?” Zee blinked at Victor, his hand still out as if cradling the missing phone.
“Did you learn nothing from the Oreo misadventure?” Victor snapped. “One misplaced word or image and our location is compromised.”
“Nuh-uh. You did not just toss my phone.” Waggling a finger, Zee frowned. “Stop distracting me with your washboard abs dappled by tiny droplets of water that make me wanna come over there, drop to my knees, and lick every one of ’em right off—am I saying this out loud?”
“Perhaps use your thinking voice?” Victor suggested. “The voice in your head, that you don’t have to share with everyone?”
“Ha, that’s where you’re wrong, Fancy Fangs. You assume I think before I speak.”
“Alas, of that personality flaw, we are all very aware.” Victor stopped in front of the TV and we took a moment to watch the report. We were being blamed for the murder of the chef at the Stephanie Hotel. But also, suspicions had fallen on the whereabouts of the well-known Razorsedge businessman, Sebastien, and whether the sorcerer Gideon Cain had actually been trying to stop Victor Reynard from using his company, Reynard Technologies, for nefarious purposes.
“This reporting is most unsettling, and rather damning.”
It did look bad. “And we’re not there to defend ourselves.”
“And oops , we can’t even call Leomaris to back us up, because thanks to Shirtless Daddy my phone is taking a fuckin’ swim.”
“Where’s your phone?” I asked Victor.
“The battery died days ago. I did not bring charging equipment, and the minivan is poorly equipped with such things. There’s no need to be concerned, though. We will find a public phone.”
Zee scoffed. “What are you, like nine hundred and ninety-nine years old? There are no public phones.”
“Okay, so let’s ask Toby if we can borrow his?” I suggested. “He said he’d be back later.”
“Assuming he has not turned on a TV or seen any headlines regarding the SOS Threesome .” Victor quoted that last part as the ticker slid across the bottom of the screen. “ Oh dear, indeed.”
Zee snorted. “Our villain name needs work. Terrible Trio? Horrible Hoteliers? Ugh. Nope.”
“If we can call Leomaris, I’m sure they’ll get this all straightened out, right?” I asked them both, and received two blank faces in return. “Right?”
“We have been on the run for over a week,” Victor said. “We left without warning and no explanation.”
“On vacation ,” Zee clarified, air-quoting.
“And it will not have escaped Agent Leomaris’s attention that the Heroes of the City are not in the city, or anywhere near it.” Victor began to pace, and the swish of the towel and sweep of his bare legs was admittedly distracting... “We are, in fact, on the other side of the country. Agent Leomaris is no fool. Our sudden absence will ring alarm bells.” He did look fine, all worked up, his muscles in motion... “Their reputation is also on the line. With us gone, into that information void steps Syros.” His wet hair dripped water down his fine back... “Who is also no fool. It is highly likely Leomaris has already spoken with Syros, and it is safe to assume your brother will use lies and manipulation to undermine our good standing with the SSD—Adam, are you listening?”
“What? Yes. No. Absolutely. Wait... I may have missed... some parts. What was all that again?”
Zee snickered, understanding the gutter my thoughts had dipped into. “He said we’re fucked.”
My heart began to sink. “Is it that bad?”
“Pfft, no. Agent Fae ain’t gonna believe some shady dragon claiming to be Adam’s brother,” Zee dismissed with a laugh... But the laugher trailed off.
“Adam himself spent many years disguised as a human. Dragons are—forgive me, my dear—manipulative by their nature.”
“It’s going to be alright,” I said firmly. “I’ll talk with Leomaris, straighten this out.”
“ Breaking news ,” the anchor on the TV said. “This just in. The vampire council has suspended Victor Reynard’s position after discovering some disturbing phone footage taken several months ago at the vampire queen’s royal estate.”
The screen then switched to grainy phone footage of someone who looked a lot like Victor holding someone else against a tree, their feet off the ground, clearly choking the life out of them.
“That could be anyone,” Zee snorted. “Snarly old vampires all look the same.”
A familiar voice from somewhere in the gloom said, “Hey, Fuck-Hard, get it done already, we got more suckers to slay.”
Zee blinked and nodded. “That could also be anyone with a beautiful, rich singing voice. Wow. I wish I had a voice like theirs. What a curse it must be for them, whoever they are, to go unrecognized in their vocal glory.”
“Believe me, demon, there is not a single soul on the planet who has ever called me Fuck-Hard, except you.”
Zee scratched at his smooth chin, trying to think up an excuse. “That is valid.”
“This was taken the night we decapitated the first vampire queen,” Victor said. “If any more footage is leaked, we will have more to worry about than a few bad news stories. The entire vampire race will assume we killed the queen.”
“Which we uhm... did,” I clarified. “We did that.”
“Uh, hello? It was a fuckin’ accident,” Zee added.
“I agree with Adam. We must borrow Toby’s phone as soon as possible and alert Agent Leomaris to everything that is happening.” Victor fixed his gaze on me. “Everything, Adam.”
“Alright. All of it. Okay.” It was time for the truth about our vacation to come out. “That’s assuming Toby is coming back.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Zee asked, then saw me glance at Victor. “Oh fuck, what’s with the face? Have I missed something?” He rolled his eyes. “Is Toby a fuckin’ axe murderer who collects body parts, or a shape-shifting ice queen with relationship issues, or some other fuckin’ murdery thing that’s gonna try an’ kill us?”
“Erm...” I shrugged. “Probably not. But also... maybe?”