Chapter Fifteen Zara

There's a Dark Fae in our kitchen and a feral dragon in our yard.

Right now, they're both causing issues in our domus for totally different reasons.

"I don't mind about the rose trellis or the herb garden, cobber," Dez says timidly to the massive dragon who's sprawled across our peristyle courtyard, with his snout protruding through the open glass doors and filling half our great room, while his thick forked tail floats in the pool.

"I've never been much for roses, to be honest, what with the prickly bits. Bloody-minded buggers, they are. And I can always plant more herbs, yeah?" Looking schoolgirl-tidy in her Monday plaid and sable ponytail, Dez hesitates with one hand resting on the big guy's scaly muzzle.

Wistfully she glances at me standing next to her, nose-to-nose with Xhevith's monumental mass. "If he could just spare the orchids…?"

"He doesn't understand mortal speech," Zephyr says coolly from his place at our oversized table.

He's sitting, stiff as a fucking poker, with a gaping ring of empty space (super obvious) yawning between him and the rest of my guys.

Clearly, they're all barely tolerating his presence.

"How d'you tell him what to do then?" Dez's clear eyes are wide with fascination. Since we don't have complex mating shit lurking between us but just a solid friendship, she clearly feels free to satisfy her curiosity about our exotic guest in a way the others don't. "Tried telepathy with the big fella already, haven't I?"

"Avalon dragons are telepathic—but only with their riders." Zephyr's gaze rests on his dragon and his cold face thaws into something resembling warmth. "Xhevith communicates with me alone, through images and emotions."

"Well, maybe you can give him the gist then, huh, flyboy." That's Racetrack, whose poor concussed head seems to have benefited quite a bit from the numbing potion Lucius doled out, but who still sounds cranky as fuck.

Wearing her own version of the school uni (accessorized with scuffed leather jacket and studded cuff), RT ambles in from the courtyard, where she's been checking out the rest of Xhevith, with her combat boots clumping on the flagstones.

"Looks like the big galoot managed to miss your orchids, hun," Racetrack reports to Dez. "Unless he rolls over or something. Maybe someone in this domus —like, I dunno, his rider— could tell him not to do that."

Dez looks hopefully at Zephyr, her olive eyes round with entreaty. To resist that look, you'd have to be a monster.

My Fae (if he is still mine, because the jury's still out on that one) inclines his regal chin, like, an inch.

But he does make that inward-looking face he gets when he's talking to Xhev.

The dragon chuffs out a surprised snort that blows my pigtails back in a gust of hot breath. His lips curl back from his fangy teeth in his version of a smile.

I figure that's him agreeing not to smush the orchids.

I grin up at him and give the sun-warmed scales over his nose a friendly rub. Under my palm, his well-oiled hide feels smooth as leather. Looks like he's totally recovered from our deadly adventures in Wonderland (a.k.a. Avalon) last term, and it's pretty obvi Zephyr takes really good care of him.

His rider might be on my shit list, but I missed Zephyr's pet dragon.

"The courtyard of this domus is no place for a dragon. That beast needs a proper lair," Max growls around his second heaping plateful of Ronin's eggs.

My dragon shifter eats with one arm wrapped protectively around his plate, so no one can steal his food (which is, like, a leftover habit from his fucked-up childhood) and one eye fixed warily on the rival dragon .

"Where would you advise he make that lair?" Zephyr's tone is wintry as he delicately navigates his own eggs.

At least he's eating at the table like a normal guy.

Plus he left his swords in the kitchen.

Small steps, showgirl, I tell my own inner dragon, who's been over-the-top excited and elated and wanting various forms of fucking (super distracting) ever since he showed up. He's eating and not stabbing.

"As for myself, when I am dragon…" Max pauses to engulf another big forkful of his second breakfast. In this one way—where his appetite is concerned—it's like being mated to a hobbit. After first period, to tide him over till lunch, he'll pack a sandwich and a big apple for elevenses.

"I sleep on the roof. Especially when it is sunny." Max gives the big green a warning scowl. "But that is my place. That dragon is not welcome there either."

"I'd actually prefer that your dragon find another place to sun himself as well, Mr. Rasputin." Lucius sips patiently at his coffee. "We've discussed this, have we not? The roof of this domus is no place for a three-ton dragon."

Our headmaster couldn't finish his grading last night, what with plunging into a mating rut and stuffing me and then Ronin with his first-ever knot, etc. So Lucius has been grading while he eats. Now he tucks a stack of neatly graded essays into his oxblood briefcase.

But he pauses long enough to give Max a stern look.

Honestly, right now you'd never know my headmaster spent a chunk of last night losing his mind with his thick dick buried down Max's throat. (I mean, if you weren't right in the middle of that shit, getting off on it yourself bigtime, the way I was.)

The sun-bronzed skin stretched over Max's Slavic cheekbones gets a little ruddy, which fascinates me.

Is Lucius actually making that dragon blush ?

While Max mumbles something contrite and hunches over his plate, Vasili lounges back in his chair at the table's head, swings his punk-rock combat boots onto the table, and crosses his elegant legs.

That maneuver plants his vivid green soles right in Zephyr's face.

"Never mind about that acid-breathing dragon, darlings, do, " the Goblin King drawls. A glimmer of malice surfaces in his sly gaze. "Whatever shall we do about this trespassing Fae? "

Looking down his royal nose at V's intrusive boots, the Fae in question says tightly, "By the moon, I am no trespasser. Zara herself invited me here, many weeks ago. Else I could never have crossed the wolf's powerful wards that guard this house without triggering them."

" Many weeks ago being very much the relevant point." V bares his wicked fangs in a sneer.

For a warlock with shifter genes like him, that's an intimidation display.

Because normally he's kinda sensitive about showing those permanent fangs he can't retract like a pure shifter. Those incisors of his aren't tiny, and they make him self-conscious as fuck.

Apparently unmoved by all V's bullying, Zephyr unbends enough to polish off his eggs. Even though he deigned to accept that heap of scrambled eggs and what he disdainfully calls sow only after Ronin himself shoved the plate in front of him with a scowl.

Perched uncomfortably at our table in his dragonscale armor, with his savage face all wary behind his green eyepatch and his pretty pointed ears poking through the spill of his mossy hair, alternating between stretches of uncanny stillness and flashes of sudden movement, twitching at every unexpected sound—that Dark Fae is practically feral.

When Neo fired up the espresso machine a few minutes ago to steam an encore hit of milk for my latte, he practically launched Zephyr into orbit.

I'm afraid to even ask what that psycho did with his cousin's severed head.

I really hope it's not buried in Dez's garden.

Because, like, we eat from there.

Now that fucking axe murderer of a Fae eyes V's invasive boots on the table. His nostrils flare in annoyance.

"I've explained the delay, have I not?" Zephyr's frowning at the boots, but I know he's talking to me. "My throne is in mortal peril. While he serves as my regent, Ash is bare of back, without my strength to guard him. Every hour I linger here, his danger grows more acute. If my enemies manage to unseat him, they'll slaughter him without mercy."

Sweet Jesus. Ash.

My chest tightens in a straitjacket of worry.

My tummy nosedives in a spiral of dread .

Sure, Zephyr's been an ass since the literal minute he popped up here, after ghosting me for ten weeks, sporting that lofty and totally unapologetic hi honey I'm home and aren't you lucky to see me attitude.

I'll probably be waiting for an apology till the day I grow sea dragon gills like Cleo.

But that asshole just managed to put his royal finger on the part of that whole sitch back in Avalon that's bugging me most.

"Yeah, I hear you." Giving Xhev's friendly muzzle a final rub, I work off my nerves by pacing around the familiar comfort of our sun-splashed great room. There's not a ton of room between our big Renaissance sofa and Neo's book-stuffed study nook and that dragon's muzzle practically nudging the central hearth, but I manage.

"Ash is no slouch, but sounds like he's gonna need some backup, for real." I drum my restless fingers against my thigh. "The thing is, like I just explained, right now I can't leave here."

Over our breakfast, I filled in the awkward silence by walking Zephyr through this whole epic cluster about me being dethroned and Cleo moving right in on campus to seal the deal and me being the unofficial new head of the witching world resistance.

Zephyr's been bristling with tension—I mean, like, more than usual—ever since.

"That fucking Cleo. Can't wait to run into that bitch in the student commons." Ronin slants me a dark look over his toast and marmalade. "Don't care if her skinny arse is on the cover of Vogue . She's a new freshman at this Academy. You know what that means."

"Purgatory for the new girl?" Vasili gives a wicked snicker. "How delicious."

Ronin grunts in agreement. My Brit's sitting as far away from Zephyr as humanly possible, with Neo tucked up against him. Under the table, my bookworm's big palm is planted on Ronin's knee for reassurance. That's such a Neo thing to do—offering comfort—it makes me love the guy even more.

Ronin won't even look at Zephyr.

But Zephyr can't stop sneaking peeks at him.

My Fae's doing it again right now, with his narrow jaw tight and his jade gaze all shadowed.

"Purgatory, huh?" I drift up behind Ronin to sift my fingers through his silky ponytail. Zephyr watches us both like he's starving. "Guess I should feel bad about that. But I don't. At least this time it won't be me getting hazed."

"And I'll not stop at a few nasty pranks, will I?" Ronin grins up at me with his topaz eyes narrowed in menace.

"Hazing is a violation of the Academy Codex, Mr. Pendragon," Lucius says mildly, locking his briefcase with a whispered word. "I'm disappointed, if not surprised, with Mr. Romanov for condoning it. Rest assured, Zara will have her opportunity to prove herself against Ms. Ferrari—in a manner that's entirely sanctioned and safe—during finals over the next few days."

"The next few days?" Zephyr jolts straighter (if that's possible, because V was right about that pole riding the Fae's ass) and looks appalled. "The Faerie Ball occurs in two days' time."

"Faerie Ball, huh?" That's Racetrack, who's stealing Dez's bacon and eating standing up. "What the fuck's that?"

"The Faerie Ball is a magical event," Zephyr says with mounting impatience. "According to Dark Fae lore, the fête takes place in the Unseelie city on the night of the summer solstice—a night when powerful witchcraft can be woven. This makes Midsummer Night the most auspicious date for my queen's coronation ritual."

That's Mr. Self-Absorbed right there, adding his two cents from the cheap seats.

"Yeah, finals. How's that even supposed to work?" Ignoring Zephyr and that pole up his Unseelie ass, I duck into the kitchen to collect my latte, then give Lucius a rueful look. "You and all the profs have been closemouthed as fuck about finals."

I actually aim this grievance, not for the first time, at both Lucius and Vasili, because my snake's provisionally on the faculty, despite being simultaneously a graduating senior.

(Staffing shortage, don't ask, but Vasili's class is a reign of terror. Half his students already have PTSD from the experience.)

"Every year's magical challenge is unique, little queen." V smirks at my simmering impatience. "With the parameters of the examination established by the Dean herself. Surely you're not suggesting that I spill the tea? I'm still on a faculty improvement plan after our, shall we say, unauthorized vacay in Sin City on your behalf last winter. "

"Oh, honestly." I roll my eyes at my snake, who's clearly having way too much fun with this. "I mean, what's the point of having a sexually inappropriate relationship with the faculty—a relationship that's currently front-page news across the whole witching world, by the way—when you don't even tell me this shit?"

"My dear, you mustn't blame Vasili. Or me, for that matter." Lucius gives me a wry look. "I certainly appreciate that the academic stakes have risen since Cleopatra Aquarius enrolled at this Academy. This late in the term, she'd typically not even commence her studies until the fall. All too clearly, she's making this exam an integral element of her succession strategy, to strengthen her claim to your throne."

"Exactly." I point at him with my cup. "She wants to prove it's not just some morality issue with me fucking all of you and liking it and getting caught on film by the paps—which shouldn't even be an issue for a poly queen, once everyone calms down from seeing my tits and your dick splashed all over The Witching Inquisitor ."

Lucius clears his throat and shoots Dez and RT an embarrassed glance. But I figure those two are probably the only female students at this Academy—along with Mallory, who's too decent to peek—that didn't check out our headmaster's junk in that scandal sheet.

Neo pushes his glasses up his nose and looks worried. "Cleo wants to prove she's a stronger witch than you, babe. That's gotta be the reason she's taking the test. So she can prove you don't deserve to rule."

"Fuck me," Ronin mutters.

Zephyr voices a little snarl like the barely civilized Unseelie he is. Between his snarling lips, one sharp tiny fang peeks out.

I just can't tell whether it's the threat to my reign or the thought of fucking Ronin (or maybe both?) that's triggering him.

"Yup." I give my guys a tight nod. "Everyone at school knows my grades suck. Since the Dean posts 'em like the fucking sadist she clearly is. Hell, my whole transcript got leaked to The Inquisitor ."

Vasili's dangerous eyes narrow and his smoky lids lower. His subtle reaction validates all my instincts and tells me I'm not being paranoid.

I'm being smart.

Smart like I need to be if I'm gonna win back my throne.

"Wow." Neo's earnest green eyes get big as dinner plates. "Do you think Cleo wants to be… First Girl on the Dean's List? "

"Oh, dear. Now it's your crown in danger, First Boy." Vasili smirks at our bookworm's worried face.

I give that snake one of my queen looks that tells him to stop terrorizing Neo and behave. "She'll settle for getting a better grade than me—which, let's face it, probably won't be hard—but yeah. Bet she thinks being First Girl at the Icarus Academy would definitely prove she'll make a better queen."

"Bollocks." With a sudden violence that makes everyone twitch, Ronin shoves to his feet and starts roughly clearing the table. I know it's because he can't sit still.

He's been simmering with nerves and guilt and anger since Zephyr showed up. My Brit's psychic barriers are usually airtight (when he wants that). But I can feel that shit like it's mine, because he's broadcasting on all telepathic channels.

Under that kinda barrage, my own issues feel tiny.

But they're still festering.

So I can't stay still either, I gotta pace.

I tap my fingers against my latte cup, violet sparks popping at the contact, and roam back over to Xhevith's big green snout.

"It's not like I'm even on the Dean's List," I remind the room at large without looking at anyone.

I know it's for reason s, not because I'm stupid, that my grades are in the crapper. But I'm feeling pretty judged and defensive and overall inadequate, in a way I'm definitely not used to, since my own predecessor spouted that shit on live TV about me being too wicked and unworthy to be queen.

Neo pops up from the table and hurries after me. "Yeah, babe, but that's only because you missed the whole first semester."

Which is true. I wouldn't even be here now if Lucius and Ronin hadn't kidnapped me right off a penthouse roof in Singapore last winter and dragged my ass through the wards.

Guess that's what you'd call a cute meet, right?

Yeah, not so much. At the time, I was pissed as fuck.

Now it looks like maybe they screwed up.

You know, pinning all their save-the-world queen hopes on me.

"One." I park my hip against Xhevith's snout and tick off my academic shortcomings on my glittery fingers. "I'm shaky in Witching World History. Two, I've been struggling all quarter in Common Magics. Three, I'm barely passing Science of Witchcraft. If I don't pass my finals I'm, like, seriously at risk of failing the whole year."

"You'll pass your finals, Ms. Gemini, if I have anything to say about it. Don't forget you're acing your independent study with me," Lucius rumbles. That's his wolf lurking in his voice, because our turbulent independent study sessions in the Belfry are how the two of us first started fucking. "You're the strongest lightning witch the arcane races have known in decades—if not centuries. I truly believe we've only begun to explore the depths of your power."

"You are a fully manifested dragon shifter queen." Max pushes aside his empty plate and stares at me with broody eyes that smolder with heat. "And you are fertile. You and I will breed clutches of beautiful dragonets to restore our failing bloodline."

That's Mr. One Track Mind with the breeding kink weighing in right there.

"Plus you're a wicked telepath, love, thanks to that badass Valyrian pedigree you're rocking," Ronin calls from the kitchen over the gurgle of running water.

" And you levitate," Vasili purrs, "due to your delicious Mogadon DNA."

"Yeah, I know. My whole genetic code's like a tossed salad with mystery dressing on top. That's the whole reason the Senate voted me in as queen in waiting." I stand on tiptoe and stretch to give Xhevith a good scratch under his eye ridges.

The attention makes his inner lids lower over those golden orbs in lazy pleasure.

"Here's the thing," I say softly, because Xhev's getting sleepy and I don't wanna wake him up. "If I've got all these dormant recessives that keep popping up and manifesting as weird strains of witchcraft we didn't even know I have, who's to say Cleo doesn't have a few tricks up her own witchy sleeve? She's half Aquarius and half Fae. We already know she's a sea dragon shifter, and they're supposed to be extinct."

"Her Unseelie pedigree is no enigma," Zephyr says coolly from the table. "If this stray mortal you speak of truly is Messalina's lost daughter with my late uncle Oberon, that connection would make her my first cousin. "

"Yeah, that's another part of what's fucking with my head." I groan and lean my forehead into Xhevith. "You two being cousins. And of course I boinked both of you. Think she's gonna cause problems for you too?"

"I do not." Zephyr's tone gets edgy. "Your queen Messalina irrevocably renounced her daughter's claim to my throne the day she stole the babe from Avalon." He pauses, and his voice turns diffident. "Still, the girl's Unseelie pedigree offers… insights… into the type of Faerie magic she's most likely to manifest. These are insights I'd be willing to share."

"And what will you demand in exchange?" Vasili sounds nothing but suspicious, and honestly I can't blame him. "The Unseelie offer nothing for free."

"Consider it a bridal gift," Zephyr says tightly. "I've been called a generous lover."

The clatter of crockery and a sudden curse drift from the kitchen.

Shit. I'd bet real money Ronin just dropped a plate in there.

Lucius murmurs Ronin's name and his chair scrapes back. I know he's going to check and make sure our guy's okay.

"Hear that? Zephyr's gonna help, we all are. It's gonna be okay, babe." Neo hovers anxiously in my periphery. "I know it."

I turn and pull him into me for mutual comfort.

"She was more than my bestie, okay?" I sigh into the side of my fated mate's neck. His soft purple curls tickle my face. "And I'm not even talking about us being friends with benefits. She was my accomplice in my burglar days—and she was wicked good. She's always been sneaky. And smart."

"You're smart too, Zara. Once we know the test questions, I'll help you study. You're gonna do great." My bookworm wraps his arms around my waist and tucks my head into his nice broad shoulder.

Gratefully I snuggle into his solid warmth and breathe in his clean soapy smell of sage and lavender. "I just feel like I need as much of a head start as possible to bone up for that fucking exam."

"There's no need to fret over the timing, my dear." Lucius emerges from the kitchen and calmly gathers a stack of plates for the sink. "I expect you'll find the examination announcement, with all the necessary details, posted in the student commons this morning. "

Zephyr's still body fires into motion. He flows to his feet to loom over the table (which at least gets V's boots outta his royal face.)

"There is no time for Zara to visit this student commons ," my Fae announces with a frown. "Has no one heard a word I've spoken? Zara must return now to Avalon with me."

Maxim passes over his plate to Lucius and gives our pain-in-the-ass houseguest a ferocious scowl. "Zara will go nowhere while she is breeding and multiple shifter males in this domus are in rut. Frankly speaking, even the commons is a stretch."

"Yeah, good luck with that, Godzilla." Racetrack snorts at Max and beelines for her backpack. "Z calls the shots about her own life, not you. She's got class and shit. Anyway, if you're gonna start talking about being all horny, Dez and I are outtie."

The two girls gather their books and papers, though Dez darts me an apologetic look over Neo's protective shoulder and mouths Sorry!

I wave goodbye with a wry grin.

The two slip out through our vestibule for their walk through the village to the deconsecrated church where our Academy classes go down. Lucius slips into his office to finish getting ready for class.

After a minute of shared comfort, I detach from Neo and give my fated mate a gentle nudge to help Ronin finish cleanup in the kitchen. With Zephyr lurking around this domus and the minefield of unexploded ordnance looming between those two, I don't want Ronin alone right now, and Neo's super comforting.

While I organize my backpack full of textbooks and grimoires and transfer my stiletto from my jacket to my pack, I'm uber-aware of the Dark Fae King lurking in my living room.

He's gone to stretch his lean sexy body casually against Xhev's big scary muzzle, while that dragon dozes off in a seesaw of rumbly snores.

As Zephyr cautiously sips a mug of what smells to my shifty senses like mint-and-hibiscus tea (because the guy can't stand coffee, it's a Fae thing), he broods at me with his inscrutable gaze.

"You better not be planning another snatch and grab," I tell him, just to be clear, while I muscle the zipper of my own straining backpack shut around my crapload of pre-exam schoolbooks. "No more of that Hades-Persephone shit. I mean it. Or else you and I are not gonna get along."

For the first time since he turned up on my doorstep, one corner of the Fae's mouth curls in a tiny smile. "Hades is your mythical god of the underworld, is he not? I am… flattered… by the comparison."

Oh, man.

That smile of his… does things to me.

Always has, because he doles them out so rarely.

Even now, when he's acting all standoffish and totally hasn't given me a real answer, my tummy gets all fluttery and my face heats up.

Suddenly I wonder if the reason he's all standoffish is because he's uncertain too. I mean, we haven't exactly rolled out the welcome wagon for the guy. The fact that he took a timeout and came through the portal at all, with a literal rebellion against his reign going down in Avalon, tells me I matter to him.

Even if he's shitty at saying it.

I unbend enough to give him a little grin back. "Don't let it go to your head, Your Radiance."

"Too late," he says softly. "Your Persephone fell in love with her terrible abductor, did she not? Thus, I am hopeful."

I'm contemplating the idea of actually going over there and seeing if maybe that hello kiss we still haven't shared might actually be in the cards when, from the table, Vasili utters a rude snort.

My Goblin King's still lounging with his combat boots on the breakfast table, sipping his coffee and watching both Zephyr and me intently. He looks deceptively relaxed, but that snake is never relaxed.

He's actually at his worst when he looks relaxed.

Despite what Max has been saying about shifty cycles, I totally don't expect Vasili to go into rut. He's always been adamantly anti-baby when it comes to his own little swimmers.

Still, V has been all intense and lurky (like the homicidal psychopath he is) since we started this whole breeding convo.

Then there's the fact that his dick barely left my vag all night. That snake was literally hogging my pussy.

All my other guys had to, like, work around him.

Of course Max should be getting ready for class himself. But he can't bring himself to leave me with a rival male. So he paces around the great room in his jeans instead.

"There is a rival queen on this island," Max announces. "One who will have allies we cannot guess or guard against. You should remain here in our domus where you are safe, my sovereign. I will remain at your side to protect you."

Zephyr's eye narrows to a dangerous slit. "She will be safest from mortal assassins in Avalon. Especially once she's crowned. When Zara comes into the full potency of her power—"

"Okay, guys." I've had enough of this shit, for real. "I'm standing right here. Let's all get a couple things straight."

Everyone looks at me attentively.

Lucius emerges from his office, briefcase in hand and tweed jacket folded neatly over his arm. Even Neo and Ronin crowd into the kitchen door, with Neo wearing his apron and Ronin toting a dishtowel, to listen.

"Look." I direct my first remarks at Zephyr. "I definitely appreciate that there's crap going down in Avalon. I get that Ash needs help. But he's also a BFD, like a literal Seelie Prince and a badass, so I hope he can hold his own for a minute till we get there."

A storm of protest gathers in the face of the Dark Fae King.

Typically he isn't the kinda guy you wanna piss off, he's really used to getting his way, and he's worried as fuck about Ash. Consequently, right now he looks fucking lethal.

But no one died and made him king on this side of the portal.

That means he's just gonna have to cope.

My gaze shifts to Lucius' alert face. "After what went down last night, I gotta show my face in the classroom this morning. I gotta. Plus I honestly do need to know ASAP what kinda fuckery the Dean's cooked up for our finals."

My headmaster gives me a careful nod, which reassures me he's on board with where I'm heading.

Finally I lock onto Max's intent and flaming stare.

"And we can't make any other, uh, big decisions till all that fate-of-the-world shit's resolved."

Max's chest rumbles with a subterranean growl of protest. Even my own inner dragon voices a chirp of indignation like the mouthy bitch she is.

I swallow down that sound and keep right on going.

"So here are my priorities." Squeezed by my mates' expectant silence, I count off on my fingers. "First, finals. I gotta pass 'em. And I gotta do better than Cleo on the test to save my crown. The witching world deserves, like, a queen who at least makes her people the priority rather than her next photo shoot."

Honestly speaking, I'm still not sure I'm all that. The witching world needs saving before we all go extinct, and that's the queen's major job.

But let's face it, I gotta be a better option than Messalina or my lying ex-BFF.

Right?

" Then we help Ash." I can't hide my uncertainty from my guys, and I really don't want to. But I use my queen voice for this little pep talk to brace everyone up, including myself. "We nail down Zephyr's grip on the Avalon throne. That relative of his doesn't sound like one of the good guys, and those Unseelie suffered enough under the curse we just broke."

I give Zephyr a sec to react to that, but my own personal Unseelie has retreated to his usual sphinxlike silence. Once you get past his downturned mouth and possessive stare, he actually looks lonely and kinda lost.

Now, as usual, my stupid heart goes all achy for the jerk.

God. I really wish I could read him like I do the rest of my guys.

While I'm talking, all three of my alphas have drifted close, pulled into me like magnets by the force of our bond. The mounting intensity of their need hums in my bones.

My divided attention hones in on them.

"Once we've got both realms sorted… and only then…" I pull in a breath to steady myself. "I guess the next thing on the to-do list could be, uh, babies."

Neo sucks in a gasp. Our mating bond floods with his excited sense of wonder.

Ronin slings an arm across Neo's broad shoulders and looks thoughtful, but his barriers are up and I'm not gonna pry. He'll let me in when he's ready.

At least there's no doubt where my shifters are coming from.

Lucius' wolf gives a sharp bark of triumph and his eyes burn crimson with hunger. Vasili hisses like the rattlesnake he is (but maybe that's a hiss of protest). Max lets rip with a dragonish snarl and lunges toward me.

I plant a warning palm between us to hold them all at bay .

"We only breed if it's safe for a kid of ours. That's a hard rule. And here's another one." My wary gaze follows the dangerous fault line in our cobbled-together polycule from Zephyr to Ronin to Vasili. Their tolerance for each other is brittle as shale. "We only take that plunge if we all agree."