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I f Lachlan didn't come soon, he was going to lose his damn mind.

He promised Apollo that it was about him, that he didn't need to reciprocate, but Lachlan needed to get off or risk coming untouched.

He brought one of his sticky fingers to his mouth and sucked.

Salt and musk and something his whole body recognized as Apollo filled his mouth.

This was his purest essence, and Lachlan was never going to get enough of it.

He dragged off his jeans and wrapped his hand around his aching dick.

"Are you using my come as lube right now?" Apollo demanded from the doorway. Lachlan was too far gone to be embarrassed. Let Apollo see. Let him finally fucking understand just how much Lachlan wanted him.

Apollo's eyes were glowing hot and gold as they took in Lachlan's naked body and the hard dick in his hands. He leaned against the door of the bathroom and gave him a lazy, predatory smile.

"Don't stop on my account. Put on a show," Apollo said, challenge in his eyes.

Lachlan grinned back. "You think standing there will stop me. It just gives me something sexy to look at."

And Apollo was sexy, especially with his golden hair a mess and that wet spot on the front of his boxers where he had tucked his spent cock back in.

Lachlan continued to stroke, Apollo watching every touch and twist he made. He wasn't going to last, and he had already been about to fill his pants when they had been in bed.

"Do you like your tip being played with?" Apollo asked, moving from the doorway to prowl about him.

Lachlan's heart was racing. "Yes," he managed to gasp. The hair on the nape of his neck rose, some part of his brain telling him he had a predator at his back.

Apollo's fingers traced over his ass. "This is a work of art." He went up on tiptoes and whispered in Lachlan's ear. "The things I could do to you… You would never dream of someone else's touch either, Ironwood. I swear on all the gods, this perfect ass of yours is going to be mine."

"Fuck..." Lachlan groaned, his balls tightening. He had never been topped, but that was because he had never met someone he trusted enough to be a bottom for. Like in all things, Apollo might be the exception to the rule.

Apollo stalked back around him, eyes all dragon, but the smirk was purely him. He reached out and ran the pad of his thumb over Lachlan's tip, and he came, Apollo's name on his lips like an agonized prayer.

"Look at that. One touch, and you're done for. Such a messy boy too," Apollo purred.

Lachlan's hand and stomach were covered in come, and he couldn't move to clean himself. Apollo ran his fingers over their combined come.

"Open," he demanded, and Lachlan's mouth obeyed.

Apollo slid sticky fingers into his mouth.

"Suck." Lachlan did, another pained moan escaping him.

He wanted to press Apollo up against the bathroom wall and rub all over him.

With his fingers still in Lachlan's mouth, Apollo stepped closer and licked some of the mess off Lachlan's chest.

"Mine," he growled, so possessively Lachlan's dick tried to rally.

Without warning, Apollo's teeth sank into his pec.

The fingers in Lachlan's mouth muffled his cry of surprise.

Apollo pulled back with a sucking sound and looked at the red bruise with satisfaction.

He removed his fingers from Lachlan's mouth and stepped away from him.

"You better get in that shower, Ironwood. You really are a mess," Apollo said before slipping out of the bathroom.

Lachlan willed his body to move and climbed into the shower on shaky legs. Had that just happened? He looked down at the bruise, and his dick throbbed. Fuck. What a way to start the day.

Lachlan scrubbed himself down and went to find his clean clothes. He wrapped a towel tightly around his waist and went to grab his duffle.

Valentine was standing in the small kitchen, calmly sipping coffee. His eyes zeroed on the bruise on Lachlan's chest. Lachlan held his towel around him a little tighter as he looked Valentine in the eye.

"I suppose you want to revisit that conversation about what you will do to me if I mess with your brother," he asked.

Valentine's smile was as cold and sharp as a dagger. "You're a smart boy, Lachie. You know what I will do to you. Just like you know that no one will ever find the pieces." He sipped his coffee again, and Lachlan grabbed his bag.

"Great. Glad we got that out of the way," he said and went back into the room to get dressed.

Lachlan was pulling on his jeans when his phone started ringing. "Hey, Cuz. What have you found for me?" he answered.

"These guys are suss as fuck," Layla answered, sounding chipper and well-rested. "Sorry, I haven't called earlier. I would have had something to you sooner, but Arne didn't wake me when he was supposed to."

"Because you needed rest, and I won't apologize!" Arne called from somewhere in the background.

Lachlan laughed. "It's okay, Lay Lay. We all needed some sleep. I was running on empty too."

"How is Apollo? Is he doing okay?" she asked.

He made me blow from a single touch, so he's great! I will never live it down, and he's sure to be thrilled.

Lachlan cleared his throat. "He's good. He was a bit wonky from blood loss, but he seems a lot better this morning."

"That's good. Okay, so about what I found...can you put me on speaker or something with the boys? I don't want to have to repeat all this again."

"Sure. Let me see if Apollo has come out of the shower yet."

Lachlan walked out of the room and found both the Greatdrakes boys dishing up breakfast. Well, Valentine was. Apollo was standing in the kitchen with a piece of bacon in each hand.

"Layla's found something," Lachlan said and put his phone down in the middle of the small kitchen table. "The boys are here, Lay Lay."

"And how is my favorite little dragon?" she cooed. "Apollo, I need verbal confirmation that you are okay."

"He can't give it to you because his mouth is too full of the bacon he's stuffing into it," Valentine answered.

Layla laughed on the other end of the line.

"So he's perfectly fine. Excellent. Okay, boys, gather around.

I've been deep-diving the Sanguis Vitae and their front Chrysopoeia .

I have found blueprints of the building in Paris, but I'm still trying to get into their system to learn about the security.

From what I can tell, the system is in a closed loop, with everything running off their personal servers.

I could get in there, but I would need one of you to be in the building to do it.

That brings me to my next bit of news...

They are having an auction tonight. It's invite-only, but Val could work some magic around that. "

"They know who we are, Layla. I can't see us being able to just walk in there," Lachlan pointed out.

"That's the best bit! It's a masquerade party, so no one will recognize you."

Valentine rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do they have a catalog of items posted? I want to see if they have anything good."

"They do. Looks like a bunch of old manuscripts mostly. Medieval texts with drawings in them. I didn't look too close, but I can send you the list."

"Excellent. I'm always hunting for new things."

"Jesus, Val. We need to get in the building to get Apollo's blood or corrupt their samples, not go shopping," Lachlan grumbled.

Apollo grinned at Valentine. "Depends on what they have? We could always work in a heist while we are there."

"Seems remiss of us not to take them off their hands. There might even be something there to help Dad's research," Valentine added. "The best way to hide a crime is to get everyone to focus on another crime. It's a great idea if I do say so myself."

Lachlan ran a hand through his curls. He forgot that he was trying to talk to dragons and magicians. Both were hoarders of shiny things.

"Come on, guys. We don't have time to plan a heist. We don't even have clothes and masks to blend in tonight," he tried to argue.

"We are in Paris, honey. You and Val can work out the complicated stuff. Leave the clothes and masks to me," Apollo said with a triumphant smile.

Lachlan knew he should argue some more, but it was pointless. He was outvoted, and Apollo had called him 'honey' in front of Layla and Valentine. He couldn't fight against that even if he tried.