Page 18 of The Dragon Queen #3

My men were fighting a war over me.

I saw Cynane, saw her mates doing the same, the males scrabbling with each other, unable to give up fighting for a place by her side, even though she’d already chosen them. With the dragons, that war was fought with fangs and claws, but mine were so much more seductive.

Teeth grazed my nipples, but right as I began to wince, the pain was licked away and replaced by long swallows that had me writhing for whole other reasons. Lips traversed the slope of my ribcage and down my belly, stubble grazing my inner thighs as my legs were separated. I couldn’t tell you who did what, just that I was lost. Fingers pushed inside me, others pinched at my pearl, giving the pleasure an edge. I moaned into it, riding the waves until the fingers were pulled away and a tongue replaced them.

“Like this, my queen?”

I looked down to find Draven between my legs, but any reply I might make was cut off as he licked upwards. My whole body shuddered in response. I rode his face unashamedly, needing more.

“No, like this.”

Draven was hauled away right as I got close to my peak. My hands fought the grip the others had on them, wanting to claw him back, but Brom settled down in his place. Fingers were pushed inside, forcing me to stretch, then curled upwards, a thin scream escaping me, right before he sucked it away. There, just like that, I mumbled something to that effect as they all went to work. I was getting close, so close, Brom’s pace punishing.

Only for him to be dragged away.

I jerked my hands free, rolling up onto my elbows to watch the two of them fight.

“She’s my queen!” Draven snarled, and I couldn’t help but see the warring dragons right then. “She stood beside me in front of the entire city.”

“Dressed in a fucking wig and gold armour Pippin would never choose to wear, just like you did when we left her estate!” Brom shot back. “You’ve never been able to accept her. You see everything she is and still you want to change her!”

“I didn’t want that.” All the heat seemed to go out of Draven then. He wavered on his feet and, through the haze, I remembered. He wasn’t just a king, but a son that buried both of his negligent parents. “I didn’t want any of this. Who knows that better than you?”

He took a step towards Brom, but my husband refused to allow himself to be drawn. That step back, it wasn’t right, somehow I knew. In my mind, I saw how it worked. Cynane roared over her dissenting mates, making clear how things would be.

Because she was queen.

“Kiss him,” I said and both men’s heads whipped around, not sure who I was speaking to. Ged pulled me back and into his lap and I went gladly. My hand went to his neck, teasing the little hairs there to the sound of his purr like rumble. “Kiss the taste of me off his mouth.”

Draven just stared, fists clenched, blood still trickling sullenly from his nose, as if waiting for the next blow to fall, but Brom’s thin sound of frustration told me everything I needed to know. We were entranced by our king, just as much as we were frustrated by him. Tomorrow, we could get up and sort through those bones of contention, but right now we needed this.

“You’ll never take her from me. Never.”

Brom was holding on by a string, but it would break. We always broke around Draven.

“I’m just trying to claim a part of her too.” My king’s eyes swung around and met mine. “If you hated the wig… If I was putting you through that debacle all over again?—”

“You needed something from me.” Ged’s hands covered my breasts and he placed kisses along my neck, turning my voice throaty. “Before and now. When we flew from my estate, you were a rude bastard, cruel and I hated every second of it. That silver dress, that terrible wig?—”

“If you ever try that shit again, I’ll be the one punching your teeth down your throat,” Flynn snapped, right before turning my lips his way.

I kissed him because I loved him, because he’d endured unimaginable hurt tonight, and because I wanted to every time I saw him, but I had one last thing to resolve.

“This time, you asked. You needed something from me and asked if I would give it. Now I asked something of you.” I kissed Ged, almost getting lost in his mouth, before turning back to the two of them. “Kiss him until you can’t taste me anymore and can only taste each other.”

They were wary as cats, but Brom’s eyes met Draven’s, and I saw it flare to life. It wasn’t like the love I shared with each one of them. It was harder, more brittle, as if it would shatter with a good tap. That’s not what they did right now. Brom’s hand went to Draven’s hair, and I knew what he was feeling. All that silken weight running through his fingers, right before he jerked him closer.

“You will never be king here,” Brom informed him in a dark tone.

“No?” Draven dared to smile. “I’ll settle for just being hers and… yours.”

I smiled when their mouths collided. The way they kissed, it was so much harder, more vicious, than when they kissed me, and I liked that they could unleash their strength on each other. I crawled forward on the bed, the others following me as I drew closer.

“Pippin—” Ged ground out as his hands slapped down on my hips.

“Yes.”

I arched my back, feeling like a dragon all over again, ready to be mated. Ged moved with intent, brushing the head of his cock against me in warning, right before he thrust in. Draven swallowed my gasp as he was pushed forward, his hands slapping down outside mine. Brom held him in place, spitting on his fingers before pushing them in. I saw Draven wince, but that quickly smoothed over, his lips finding mine as Brom replaced them with his cock.

“Gods…”

He’d swear the same oath when I rode him later, but right now we both prayed, calling out their names over and over as our lovers slammed into us. My hand was shaking as it slid down, my fingers wrapping around Draven’s cock as Flynn’s slid under my belly, finding my pearl.

We came at the same time, a pleasure that rushed through us, threatening to burn us whole, but it would not abate. A queen needed to be mated by all her mates before the fever could break. Draven collapsed onto the bed as Brom pulled free, watching me lick the king’s seed from my fingers. Ged erupted inside me, his fingers biting down hard enough to bruise, but as soon as he was done, he was yanked away.

“Flynn—!” Soren growled, but I turned over to welcome my lover, pulling Flynn towards me. He was right back there, where I needed him, joined as one.

“You can’t be my sergeant tonight,” I told Soren, right as Flynn’s breath sobbed into my ear. I wrapped my arms tight around my rider, clinging to him as he began to move. “I don’t need your protection.”

“You’ll get it whether you need it or not.”

Soren’s tone brokered no argument, but I could see it. My eyes slid down to his weeping cock, catching the way it throbbed in sympathy. His control was fraying, and I smiled at the sight of it .

“Pippin…” Flynn groaned. “Not going to last. I need…”

But I knew. The power that allowed me to look into the heart of murderers also gifted me a glimpse into theirs. Flynn needed pleasure, to rut away all the ugliness of tonight, and I was glad to be the one to gift him that, because I needed him just as much. His lips, his mouth, mumbling against mine, our sobs of pleasure mingling, right before I clenched down, my paroxysms of pleasure forcing his to follow. He held me close, his forehead pressed to mine, as we felt the last waves of it wash through us, and then he was pulling free.

“You need to claim all your subjects tonight, my queen.”

Soren watched me move, unable to stop himself from surging forward and pulling me close.

“Pippin, we can stop.”

“No, we can’t.”

I kissed the shell of his ear, a small moment of sweetness, right before he tipped my lips his way. His stubble, the wine that he drank earlier, the woody smell of man, it was all there as he kissed me slowly.

“You want all of me?” His hand slid down my side, caressing my curves.

“Always.”

Soren was gentler. He laid me down on the bed, the others drawing close as witnesses. My lover stared into my eyes and I caught his response when our bodies connected. A small crease formed between his brows as he began to move.

“Soren…” I reached up and stroked his cheek. “My Soren.”

“Yours,” he agreed. “All yours. Now eyes on me, my love. I wasn’t able to look directly at you all day and we need to rectify that now.”

I knew they were there, my lovers, ringed around us, but right now I gave him what we both needed.

There was wonder in my heart as I traced my fingers along his strong jaw, tracing the thin white lines of scars and wondering how each one was earned. He had a whole history, a whole life, before me and I knew so little about it. My eyes flicked up to meet his and I saw them soften. My gruff drill sergeant was nowhere to be found, Soren in his place.

“Pippin…”

He said my name like a plea, a prayer, as if he was trying so hard to hang onto something. Me, I quickly realised. More than that, me, this, what we were creating together and would create going forward. I shook my head slightly, my breath catching in my chest.

“Soren, I…”

He hauled me up and into his lap, our rutting never stopping. It became more than a chemical heat that burned due to Cynane’s psychic blast and instead transmuted into something that belonged to just us. “I… I…”

“Right there with you,” he whispered into my ear, his arms tightening around me like a vice. “Always with you.”

This time I didn’t burn as the ecstasy tore through me. Instead, I reached my peak and then broke like a wave, dissipating into a million different tiny pieces. Coming back to the world was a strange thing. I blinked as I focussed back on the world.

On him.

Soren grinned like a boy, his smile, mine, turning to laughter until we finally pulled apart.

“I think a clean up is in order.”

Brom had already gone to the night stand and retrieved several damp towels, having seen to himself and Draven, before turning to me. I was laid back on the bed and he worked carefully to wipe away all traces of our excesses as I reached up and stroked his hair.

“Thank you, husband.” Brom’s smile, when it came, was so beautiful my heart hurt. I couldn’t help but stare until he met my gaze, a question in his eyes. I didn’t answer it, not until he lay down beside me on the bed, snuggling into me. “There will be no divorce.” I half mumbled that, my eyelids getting heavier. “I won’t sign the papers, Draven. I won’t.” Brom’s arm went around me, holding me tightly, and I could feel the rapid exhale of his breath against the nape of my neck. “I won’t.”

“Not even to be my queen? ”

There was pain in Draven’s eyes and I hated that. No matter what I did, I always seemed to be hurting someone, but right now that was a burden I’d need to find a way to carry another day. In my mind I saw Cynane fly down to Wyrmpeak, going down, down into the hatching sands that lay at the very base of the mountain. She and her mates snuggled into the hot ground, the males positioned strategically around her.

She was precious to them, and her satisfaction in that feeling was the same as mine as my men collapsed down onto the bed beside me. That feeling of bliss was enough to carry me off to sleep, forgetting all about my problems.

That was fine, they’d be there waiting for me in the morning.

“Rise and shine, cadet.”

My eyelids felt like glue, unwilling to separate as I heard him prompt me again. A groan that wasn’t mine made clear I wasn’t alone in my exhaustion. Open my eyes, I did, though, to find Draven standing there in his dragonrider uniform. A small smirk made clear he knew exactly how painful he was being.

“You’re all a laggardly lot, and while I would love to leave you all in bed waiting for me.” He looked us over with a proprietary eye. “I need my wing with me this morning.”

“Why?” Ged asked, flopping onto his back and scrubbing at his face. “Why in all the gods?—?”

“This morning we’re going to send a message to my uncle, making clear what a mistake this war will be, so get dressed. You’re about to see history in the making.”