Page 8 of Gemini Hunted (Dark Witch Academy #5)

Sudden comprehension zooms all my dark suspicions into knife-sharp focus. Of course, Vasili’s not surprised. He knew Mordred was near. He’s probably known all day. A moment ago, Vasili practically summoned the vile creature.

Zara’s assessing gaze flickers briefly to Vasili and narrows.

Judging by the indignation and outrage crackling through our bond, she’s drawing the same unpalatable conclusion as I.

Then her turquoise glare locks on the demon and her tone turns steely. “That’s far enough, Aquaman. You can kiss the ring—and my aerobicized ass—from over there.”

“Shit, I just got here, and already gettin’ hit on.” The demon’s clever purple eyes crease in an easy grin. Playful as an imp, his rumbly pitch feels intimate, like a lover’s hand wrapping around my cock.

God knows, I’ve never been one for his type.

Cocky. Swaggering. Flippant. Flirty.

But he’s a sex demon, and every tingling molecule of my body knows it. An inconvenient heat rushes to my groin and tightens my testicles until they tingle.

If the lore is to be believed, he’s the most powerful arcane creature on this yacht. All too clearly, that’s something the demon too knows.

Because he still hasn’t stopped coming.

“Yeah, no, that wasn’t a come-on,” Zara says curtly, sparkly toes tapping on the carpet in restless alert. The potent cream-and-roses scent of her own arousal—entirely involuntary, I realize—perfumes the air. “That’s far enough, Mordred. I mean it. Till you say what you’re doing here.”

She doesn’t bother asking how he arrived here. A kraken shifter can handle cyclone seas.

Although I do wonder powerfully who summoned him.

“Yeah, what she said.” Ash peels away from Neo and saunters toward the sofa, barefooted, stealthy, and moving with deceptive speed. His giant body quickly flanks the more compact demon.

Neo is more tentative, clean cut and earnest in his chinos and windbreaker, hanging back, always alert to Zara’s mood and taking his cues from her.

But Vasili loops a casual hand in Neo’s belt and tugs him close—simultaneously making our First Boy part of our group and pointedly claiming him in this sex demon’s seductive presence.

As for myself, I’ve managed to fend off my shift, choosing human speech over mindless violence. Now I place myself squarely between the demon and my mate. Still, my claws sprout from my fingers, and I know my eyes glow red.

The physical barrier of my placement finally halts the intruder’s advance.

“How’s it hangin’, wolf man,” the demon says easily.

His violet eyes slide over my rather unruly head of chestnut curls, windblown but twisted into a knot at my nape.

Then that insolent gaze wanders over my orderly frame, properly clad in the seersucker slacks and button-down shirt of my professorial attire.

Finally, his interested stare comes to rest on my groin.

I find this unsubtle attention… unsettling.

Particularly given the fact I’m still hard as tungsten.

I clear my throat and say gruffly, “I’m properly addressed at this Academy as Master Aries. You may do the same.”

“I may ,” Mordred drawls, with a playful wink. “You gonna bend me over your desk if I don’t? Or maybe you’ll bend for me instead, Teach. I’m real versatile that way, you feel me?”

Behind me, Zara utters a rude snort.

While I silently curse the discomfiting heat that’s rising in my face, I sense Ash’s watchful presence at Zara’s side and draw an obscure comfort from the Seelie Prince’s stalwart strength. He knows this demon better than any of us, except the absent Zephyr.

Looming behind our uninvited guest and observing closely while he pretends to ignore the entire exchange, Vasili rolls his scornful eyes and sips his martini.

“I’m rather less so, I’m afraid,” I say stiffly to the demon. “Less… versatile. This is a committed polycule, your infernal charms notwithstanding.”

“Yeah, Aquaman, that goes for all of us,” Zara says behind me, her tone hard with challenge. “So stop trying to sex the place up.”

The insolent creature greets these proclamations with another lazy grin that brings out his dimples.

This close to him, I’m suddenly distracted by the perfect double puncture of what appears to be a fresh mating bite, sunk into the smooth amber skin where his corded shoulder meets his neck.

My own mating bites are messy affairs, thanks to my wolf’s brutal bicuspids.

That bite I gave Ronin, savage with forbidden lust for my own student I’d suppressed far too long, nearly killed him.

But I’d recognize anywhere the delicate double puncture, administered with savage precision by needle-sharp teeth, adorning this demon’s brawny neck.

After all, that bite is identical to the mating scars I wear myself.

My uneasy observations end abruptly when the demon hoists a sleek pouch that looks like sealskin, which until now I’ve rather overlooked (given his overall effect) dangling from his fist.

Mordred’s sly stare swerves past me to find Zara.

Somehow, the powerful physical impact of his sex magic intensifies. Under my trousers, my knot swells to an aching bulge.

“Word on the street is you been lookin’ for this, baby queen, amiright?” he drawls, swinging the pouch. “Goddamn shark shifter bit a big hunk outta my ass, I just about lost a tentacle, but worth it. To bring you this beauty.”

Zara sucks in an audible breath and steps swiftly to my side. Her gorgeous Hollywood face is alight with anticipation, eyes glowing ultraviolet like the powerful witch she is.

Since claiming the Dark Fae crown when she mated Zephyr, Zara is now clairvoyant (another of her potent recessive genes switched on). Which is how we knew where to search for the artifact in the first place.

Clearly, she senses what’s in the pouch.

Even before the demon carelessly tugs open the drawstring, tilts the heavy gleaming crescent into his waiting palm, and lifts the object for our inspection with a cocky grin.

Neo blurts out a startled sound and cranes to peer around Mordred’s obstructive body, face flushed with excitement and eyes shining. “Oh my gosh. Is that…?”

His question trails off with a hopeful hitch. The sweet lad is afraid even to voice what we all scarcely dare to hope.

“Oh, good boy,” Vasili breathes on a slow hiss into the spellbound silence. “Good demon. I knew you’d make a decent ally if you tried.”

“Truth,” the demon says with a wink.

Together, my mates and I stare in shocked fascination at the Horn of Ceres.