36. Castor

"Excuse me?"I say, blinking at Nico dripping on the floor. We're all stunned. But me more so. Annabelle said he would come to his senses, but I didn't believe it.

"I said it. Twice. Do you really need me to say it again?" Nico takes the towel that Holter throws at him.

"You... are agreeing?" Annabelle cocks her head at Nico, taking the towel from him and running it along his chest. "Should we vote again?"

"This isn't the governors' chamber. There is no official vote, Little Krill."

"But you're agreeing?" She holds the towel to her own chest.

"Yes," he says on a long breath.

The smile that breaks over Annabelle's face is world-stopping. She's the smartest, most beautiful mermaid I've ever seen. And she wants me to be hers. She drops the towel, and for a second, I see that she doesn't know who to go to.

Nico runs his knuckle down the side of her cheek. A shiver pebbles the exposed skin on her arms. I'm behind her. I've never taken off my clothes so fast.

"Damn, shit, don't start without me." Pots clatter and things smash as Eros turns off the dinner he was trying to cook. I've won twice today. I get the mermaid of my dreams, and I don't have to eat whatever it is Eros was making.

Eros's clothes are gone too. My hands are on the hem of Annabelle's tunic. Holter kneels beside her, peeling off her leggings; he lifts one leg and then the next, removing them from her.

Nico spins Annabelle to me. "Your mate is waiting. Drakos."

Drakos! It sends a shiver down my spine. Never again will that be my name. And damn if I'm not thrilled about it.

"Annabelle." My throat constricts and my heart thunders in my chest.

"Castor." Her smile fills me, her eyes flick over me, and damn I need to run through a list of things to keep me from spilling right now. She swallows and starts again. "Castor, would you do us the honor of joining our pod?"

"Yes." I want to say a hundred other things, like I would die waiting for you if I had to. Or you fill me with joy more than anything or anyone ever has. But I can barely talk. My throat is so dry and my hands tremble.

"Kiss our mate already," Eros says. He stands off to the side. "Kiss her."

Our lips brush lightly at first. Her taste makes me moan. I grab the back of her neck and tug our faces as close as possible. With every second, I'm heating more. Touching her, being this close... I know we've been together before. I was with her during her last mermaid need. But now it's my need, and I can't contain it. I grab her ass and pull her up to my waist. I take long steps, holding her, back to the pod room.

It's funny, when they first took this apartment, I was horrified my brother ever suggested it. But now, now I couldn't imagine living anywhere but here. Up there in the penthouse, all you see are solos and omadas. Down here, the ocean is full of life, vibrant with color. Brilliant, like she is.

Her clear blue eyes search mine. "I need you." Her breath is just a whisper and drenched in need.

"And you will have me, but first I need to taste all of you."

Holter and Eros have beaten us to the pod bed.

Holter reaches for her. "Come here, Belle. Lie in the middle so we can all feast on you while Castor makes you his."

I reluctantly hand her to him and crawl up the end of the bed. My mouth waters for the taste of her. I can't wait to have my face between her legs.

"Give me your knee, Little Krill. Spread yourself open for him." Nico cinches his arm under the backside of her knee and pulls it up to her waist. Eros does the same on the other side.

"You are magnificent. Look at you."

Her laugh fills the room. "I'm waiting for you, Castor."

"And you will have to wait a moment longer while I soak you all in."

"Get moving, Drakos, before she soaks through the whole mattress. Look at the way our mermaid glistens. So fucking pretty." Eros leans over her and sucks in her breast, but then he moves his head back. A good thing too. I want to see her watch me as I eat my dinner. The first lick of her makes my cock jump. Down the center and around her clit.

"How does that feel, Belle? You like his mouth on you, don't you?" Eros growls.

Her chest is rising up and down faster now. "Yesss, it's so good." She's slurring her words.

I suck on her clit, and her back arches from the mattress, dropping down with force.

Oh, she hasn't come, not yet. I'm going to make sure it happens many times tonight, but I'm frozen by this. It's like I want to hold her in my memory, have this moment in time forever. This—I thought it would never happen. It felt like an impossibility I was held back from, first by myself and then by Nico, and now I'm going to take it. Take it before anyone changes their minds and snatches her away from me. I will never let that happen. "You."

"Castor." She reaches for me, and I'm there. My tongue flicks against her clit. One finger and then two slide into her. I lick along the spot near where Holter's mating mark is. Damn, he's a lucky bastard. Every time one of us takes her, she feels it in his mark too. And I can't be more jealous of it. I want her to feel me every time too. But I'm not leaving my mark next to his. No, I have another thought. I lick her clit again, and her hips flick up at me. She grinds herself into my face.

"That's it. Take what you need," Eros encourages from the side. I lift my head just enough to see them all watching. They're letting me do all the work. There will be plenty of time for sharing later—a lifetime of sharing—but right now it's about the two of us. And our coach. I suppose I don't mind. Not when Annabelle mews when he says it.

I thrust my arms under her buttocks and pull her core tight against my face, taking her hard—fingers, tongue, nose. She responds perfectly. And when she tightens around my fingers, the little fluttering, I know she's close. I double down, faster, harder, until she's thrashing about the bed. Eros has one arm, Holter the other. They're holding her down, letting the restraint take her even higher. And I'm not stopping my assault.

"Castor," Annabelle screams at the top of her lungs before her spine settles back onto the bed. "Need you," she whispers.

"What, Belle? He can't hear you. His face is in your pussy. Louder, my love."

"Need you," she says a bit louder.

"Not good enough, Little Krill. You need to beg for a prince," Nico growls.

I'm smiling, licking at her, feeling the spasms of her groin against my face.

"Please, Castor, take me now. I need you now. Always," she says.

"Louder," Holter demands.

"Now, Castor, I need you now," Annabelle growls.

"Oh, I like when you get bossy, Sunshine. I bet the golden prince does too."

I can't take it any longer. I crawl up her body, kissing every inch of skin as I do. Her perfect breasts. I suck one nipple into my mouth and pinch the other between my thumb and forefinger. Annabelle arches up.

"Oh, she likes a little pain, doesn't she? It's so good. Do it again." Eros's voice takes on a gravelly edge.

And I do it again.

Annabelle lifts her head from the mattress, her blue eyes holding mine. "Enough torture, Castor. Give me what I want and do it now."

I laugh. "So needy. Is she always like this?"

"Yes. Isn't it wonderful?" Nico answers.

"Indeed." And in a smooth motion, I move from the plank position above her to straddling her, my cock at her entrance. She arches again. "So impatient, though. Perhaps I should make her wait longer?—"

"No," she cries out, and I sink into her.

"Thank Poseidon."

"It's my cock, not his."

"You know . . ." She shuts her eyes tightly.

I push the rest of the way into her, cutting off her ability to finish her sentence. "You feel so good, Annabelle." I rock forward.

"Move. Don't stop. Don't stop." Her eyes fly open, and we hold on to each other through the thrust. "I love you." Tears form in the corners of her eyes. And my heart twists.

"I love you more than anything or anyone, ever."

Tears roll down the sides of her cheeks, but she doesn't stop meeting my thrusts or look away. "So good."

I expect Nico to question the tears. He only swipes them away with the pad of his thumb.

I run my fingers over her chest and grab her from behind her neck before I lower myself down onto her.

She lifts her shoulders to meet me. Our lips crash together. Her tongue swipes into my mouth, tasting herself. She groans. And it sets me on fire. I can't control my hips. They take off with a fury of their own. I have to let her head go.

Rising up onto one arm, I have to go deeper, faster. I want to feel her all over me. I want to always be in here. Her little noises change to deep little cries. She's so vocal—it makes me want her so much more. I feel the void of never-ending loneliness vanishing from my soul. I'm filled up with her apple blossoms, quick wit, and love. So much love. She's able to be herself, and yet that one person is the right thing for each of us. She's close. So close.

"Give me your neck," Annabelle demands.

"No." This might be the only time in our mating that I will deny her. Oh, I will let her have my neck, but first... first I will have what I want. I rise more. My finger finds her clit, and I sink my teeth into the underside of where her breast and chest meet, flicking her clit at the same time. She explodes beneath me, her head kicking back, her body seizing into a rigid, flailing beauty. When she drifts down on the back side of her orgasm, I pull my teeth out of her, swiping my tongue over the puncture wound, sealing it. And flip us in one motion.

Her dilated eyes open wide, and she licks her lips. She rides me through the end of her orgasm and then strikes my neck like an eel on its dinner. I'm expecting dull human teeth, but no. It's exquisite, the sensation of her bite, and it takes me over the edge in a second. Stars explode around my eyes, blackness. I can hear the other guys shouting and hollering, but I have no idea what they're saying. It's a blur of emotion and the highest high I've ever had. I never want it to end.

But she pulls back. Her little tongue swipes across my neck. "Oh no." Her hand covers her mouth. My cock is still inside of her.

"Saying ‘oh no' after you mate someone is kind of poor form, Sunshine."

"Oh no. No, I don't mean I didn't want to mate Castor. It's just I aimed too high."

My hand travels up to my neck.

"It won't be covered up by the collar of your shirt or your tunic."

"Damn, you're right. Shit, what a lucky bastard he is," Eros says with a laugh.

"Eros, this is nothing to laugh about. Castor has to work with humans. They're going to wonder about the scar."

"I'm not going back to Athens." I run my hand over her breast. "Well, I suppose I will have to pass over the reins of the company. But I'm not going to live in Athens, not anymore."

Annabelle nods and sucks in her lower lip. I know that look. That's the we'll-talk-about-this-later look. But I'm fine with that. There's a lot more I want to do with her tonight. I tug on her neck and pull her in for a long, slow kiss.