Page 12 of Mantle (IMMORTAL FLAME #3)

~Vorzyr~

“Now, boy, you have become irrelevant. Nothing but a threat that needs disposing of. As of this moment, you are denied your birthright. You are no son of ours and certainly no heir. Malrik’s corruption of our bloodline ends here. With your fall.”

I blinked out of my thoughts.

Motherfucker.

“We need to talk about what happened. It’s time to share it with Ari and Nyx.”

I stilled on showering, hearing Kai’s booming, commanding voice even over the running water beating down on me.

That shit was the last thing I wanted to talk about, let alone discuss in a group format.

I peered through a gap in the shower curtain in one of the spare rooms.

Nyx had been showering in the ensuite of Ariana’s room, so I’d been directed down here by a very pleasant Lucian Black.

And there Kai was wearing his usual armor in the form of his black leather trench coat, his black button down and his dress pants.

Even though we were inside, he had the coat on.

He was tense being here in Ariana’s family home, tense about the Ketheron threat, and tense about what had happened to us in the Dracoryn Realm.

He caught my eye and I flashed him a wink and a salacious smirk. “As if you just barged on in here to talk about that. It could’ve waited. So, why don’t you slide off that coat, rip off your shirt, and lose the pants, then step into the shower with me like you obviously want to?”

“V,” he grumbled.

“Before you try to deny it, know that I just felt your pulse pick up merely at the suggestion of you getting all wet and naked with me under here.”

“You were picking up on agitation.”

“ Sexual agitation?”

He grunted. “You’re being unbelievably transparent with your determination to shift the subject matter.”

I jerked the shower curtain all the way back, startling him as it put my wet, naked body on full display.

Startling Kai Hunter and throwing him off-kilter was a thrill like no other.

And I wanted to push it further.

I wrapped my hand around my cock and stroked it slowly up and down, feeling it hardening intensely with my every stroke, and the undeniable interest sparking in his eyes.

I watched his throat work.

There it is, sorcerer. Give me all that heat and lust.

I groaned as pleasure shot through my cock at the thought of it, of him snapping and slamming me against the wall with his magic, then grinding his delicious cock against my ass.

I could also do with Nyx in here, taking my cock down his throat, reveling in me feeding him one hell of a mouthful.

Kai could hold our goddess under the shower water, spread her thighs wide and let the water tease the fuck out of her sweet cunt until she was moaning and shuddering and reaching for us, all needy and desperate to be consumed.

“Ah… fuck,” I grunted, my hand speeding up as those erotic images rolled over me.

But then I was jolting as a spark of magic hit my hand and ripped it from my cock.

I looked out to see Kai glaring at me, his rose-gold power live on one of his palms. “Enough.”

I stilled, our eyes locking, challenging one another.

And then I went to grasp my cock again.

“I swear to fuck…” Kai rumbled.

In the next second, I was out of the shower, storming to him and looming over him.

“Swear to fuck what? Huh?” I grasped the belt of his pants and used it for leverage as I ground my bare cock along his through them, his noticeably hard cock.

“What are you gonna do? And why would you do it when you’re clearly into this right here and now with me? ”

He grasped my biceps, and I felt a flare of heat—no, power— a second before he used his magic as might to spin us and slam me down over the counter beside the sink.

His hand came down over my throat, pinning my head and half my upper body to it as he leaned over me, his eyes boring into mine.

“ Why? Because you’re trying to use the primality of sex to drown out your pain.

To shove down what needs to be addressed, what you need to process from a personal and emotional standpoint, and what needs to be addressed also from a tactical and strategic standpoint given the waves we made against your parents. ”

“I have to,” I rasped.

“What?”

“I have to… drown it out.”

He loosened his grip, but still kept a firm hold, not trusting it. “Why? You’re capable of dealing with this. We can all help you. Not to mention, Nyx has some deep experience of being disowned by his parents so he can guide you better than anyone.”

“We’re at war. I can’t see to this in the midst of that. To deal with it… I have to unravel first. And I can’t allow that. Ariana needs me, you all need me, we all need each other.”

“V—”

I wrenched his hand off me and knocked him back with a burst of dragon strength. “No!” I thundered. “No!”

I braced myself for the expected retaliation, watching his magic still there on his palm and flickering away.

But then he sighed and snuffed it out, dropping his hand.

He moved to speak, but I cut in, “If you want to help, find a way to get rid of this fucking thing for me.” With a flick of my red magic, I conjured my dragon’s head necklace onto my palm—a gift from my parents as their heir and a way for us to communicate across realms.

It had been a big deal when they’d gifted it to me.

Now, though, it was nothing to me.

I flicked it over to Kai and he took it, staring at it forlornly. “V, I—”

“Dragon fire wouldn’t work. I already tried. Twice. I want it destroyed as soon as fucking possible. I don’t ever want to see it again.”

He went to say more, but a knock at the door pulled us both up short.

“Yeah?” I called out, my voice coming out a little unsteady.

No answer came.

I cursed. I’d put an auditory reduction spell over the space when I’d stepped in here earlier.

I’d had a couple of flashes of what I’d been subjected to by my parents, and it had left me on edge, so I’d worried that I might lose control and start yelling or beating on the tile or something while I was in the shower alone with my own thoughts. So I’d taken precautions.

A towel flew into my hand from Kai. I gave him a chin lift, secured it around my hips, then opened the door.

I started as I found Jaxon standing there.

He was in gray shorts and a white tank, dressed for a workout, it seemed.

“Is everything okay?” I asked. “Something you need?”

“Let’s go for a run before breakfast.”

“A… what? Like last night?”

He nodded. “We shift. You soar, I run.”

“Uh… isn’t breakfast just conjured by all the magical beings in this household, meaning there isn’t even time to—”

“Mia and Lucian are cooking. They’re both very particular, so believe me, we have time.”

Kai’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Sounds like a great idea to me.”

Jaxon looked between us, clearly trying to figure out what the deal was with the whole thing of Kai being in the bathroom fully dressed and me in a towel and dripping wet.

He didn’t speak to it, though.

And then Kai squeezed my shoulder, harder than necessary. “Don’t you think, V?”

No. Being around Ariana’s dad and Jaxon , out of all three of them, didn’t seem like the best idea from one major aspect, when he already hadn’t taken well to knowing that his daughter was with three men, and two of those being men like Kai and me, just to make it all the fucking worse for him.

He was somebody I needed to be at the top of my game with, not how I was feeling now.

Strained, emotionally volatile, and hell knew what else.

But shifting into dragon form and doing something physical would actually help.

“It does, yeah,” I found myself answering.

Kai clearly wanted me to get some shit out of my system, the reason he was pushing this to happen.

“Good,” Jaxon said. “Meet me in the gardens in three minutes.”

Three minutes? That was really precise and military discipline like.

I guess it was his Alpha wolf mentality rising to the surface and the fact that he’d spent years commanding the largest wolf pack in the world back in the day.

He’d had to keep people in line and he would have needed to have been exceptionally good at it.

I just hoped that keeping me in line wasn’t his intent here.

Because that really wouldn’t bode well.

Especially not with how I was currently feeling.

I overshot the proverbial finish line.

I’d come in too hot in dragon form, swept down too fast and aggressively.

Needing to double back gave Jaxon in full wolf form the advantage he needed to blow past me on the ground below, then leap the rest of the way to the edge of the tree line and come to an agile stop right before the rockery and the patio furniture—where we’d designated the end of our run to be.

A snarl of frustration escaped me before I could reel it in.

Surprise. Surprise. I didn’t like losing.

I pivoted around, dropped low, then shifted back as I touched the grass, fixing a white henley and a pair of crimson leather pants into place with a brief flare of my magic.

As I approached Jaxon about twenty feet away, he’d already done the same—shifted back, then used his magic that was the same color as mine to dress himself in a pair of blue designer jeans and a black button down shirt this time.

“You had that,” he told me as I reached him. “You allowed something to override your instincts, which I’ve observed as being impressively solid for the most part, and it cost you that win.”

“Yeah,” I murmured. “I lost concentration, I guess.”

“It was more than that. With beings like us who possess an animal side, it’s always more.”

My gaze snapped to his at those words.

Heavy words.

Knowing words.

But, strangely, given my previous interactions with him, not reproachful words.

I cocked my head to the side, not sure what to make of it.

“Yes, that was me giving you advice,” he spoke, putting it right out there. He shifted his weight and folded his arms across his chest. “And… thank you. For what you did to help Ari. Employing that ability and risking exposure like that.”

“She was in pain and unwell. I had the means to heal her. Anyone would have done the same.”

“Not anyone. My thank-you still stands. As it does from our entire family.”

“It was a team effort.”

“Not even willing to take any credit? I never would have thought I’d live to see the day where a dragon was proven capable of that.”

“Well, as you saw from that ability of mine, I’m not an ordinary dragon.” It hit me then. “Just like you’re no ordinary Alpha wolf.”

“Right you are.”

“I see. You asked me out here because of that.” I frowned. “You want to be my friend now? I’m not going to disrespect you. You’re Ariana’s father and you’re a renowned badass, but—”

“While I didn’t relish finding out about the three of you being with my daughter through… scenting… it’s Ari’s choice.”

“It’s… what?” Really? He was on board?

He went on, “It’s not my business beyond ensuring she’s not in danger.

And she’s not. Not from the three of you.

She doesn’t give her trust lightly, so the fact that she’s done that with you speaks volumes.

And while, as I’m sure you can understand, my animal side rebels at the idea of anyone laying hands on my baby girl, the other more rational side accepts it.

” He scrubbed his hand over his scruffy jaw.

“She’s never seemed as free or as happy as she does now.

Current threat and Celestial burden notwithstanding. ”

“You’re giving us your approval?”

“No. That’s not necessary. It’s her decision. She makes her own choices as a grown woman. I’m telling you that, because I recognize the depth of your bond to her, I’d like to get to know you. That needs to start with you. Because you need my help, dragon.”

“I need—”

“It’s a strenuous task to control the animal while immersed in deep emotional turmoil.” He stared at me intently, then his eyes glowed with the wolf. “And trauma.”

He’d just used his wolf senses to read me.

In a very different way to how Nyx did with people.

“I can teach you.”

“I’m dragon. You’re wolf.”

“Animal is animal in this supernatural sense. I’ve also experienced the struggle of reconciling the Immortal Descendant side of myself, power that was forced upon me later in life. Great power.”

“Kai is already teaching me how to employ those—my Celestial-borne abilities.”

“Which you should continue with. But he can’t understand how to balance the animal with that extreme power.

I can feel the struggle in you. The animal wants to take that power and unleash with it.

But that would be utterly devastating, so you’re holding it back.

But it’s new and every time you use those extreme abilities it increases the strain to an almost unbearable degree.

When trauma and emotional pain is thrown into the mix, it becomes beyond unbearable. ”

“Yes,” I admitted. “That’s right.”

The comprehension that he had of this very niche-like issue was such a rare find. The knowledge he had, the understanding he possessed… it was… fuck, it was exactly what I needed. Especially right now.

I was on the verge of that dangerous state, that threat of destabilization with the beast within. I didn’t want it to get to this point over and over.

Where I felt like I couldn’t contain myself and all the shit coursing like toxicity through my fucking veins.

“Think on it,” Jaxon spoke, his voice drawing me back to the moment and having me realizing that I’d been immersed so deeply in my thoughts that I hadn’t spoken a word in response to his actual offer.

“I don’t need to,” I told him, just as he went to turn toward the patio doors to head inside for breakfast. “I’d like to take you up on your offer… to help me.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

He slapped my shoulder. “No worries.” He cut through the heaviness then, and gestured at the patio doors, telling me, “Let’s head inside. Time for one hell of an epic breakfast.”

I chuckled and we walked side-by-side back into the house.