Chapter Twenty-Two Ronin

When we pitch up at the lighthouse in the dive boat in a muck sweat—I mean Lucius and Neo and me—Vasili's having a nice leisurely sunbathe on the pier.

Without a scrap of clothes on.

Apparently half my polycule (including him) just almost got their tickets punched in the commons. Now here he is having a lie-about.

My boyfriend's lounging flat on his back with a languid arm draped over his eyes and one knee coyly raised to cover his junk (barely). Like he's on blooming holiday on a nude beach in the Greek Isles.

I swear he makes me mental.

Only it's not really him setting me off, is it?

As I maneuver the dive boat up alongside the pier under Lucius' anxious guidance, then kill the engine to coast the last few ticks, Zara pops up from that solitary brood she's having on a jumble of rocks. She knows her way round a boat, my girl does, so she scrambles to catch the mooring line tossed by a worried Neo.

She is, very pointedly, ignoring the green dragon draped on his belly over the breakwater. Xhevith's sunning himself in the Mediterranean heat with his eyelids lowered and his tail in the water.

And Zara's definitely ignoring that sinuous Dark Fae dragonrider propped against the curve of Xhev's neck, simultaneously sharpening his swords on a handy ledge of rock—and having a look-see at my naked boyfriend.

Just the sight of that bloody-minded Fae, brooding over someone else who's mine, is enough to flip my switch.

Again .

My heart starts tripping like I'm defibrillating and my gut goes to butterflies.

Bollocks.

"Oh my gosh, babe, we've all been worried sick." That's Neo, scrambling over the gunwale before we've even moored to engulf our girl in one of his smothery hugs. (He's generous with the PDA, our Red is, and we all love him for it.)

"I'm fine, baby. We're all fine." Zara stops snuggling into Neo long enough to shoot a glare at Zephyr. "No thanks to that guy."

My Unseelie ex stops sharpening his sword long enough to give my girl an inscrutable look. Then his gaze shifts to me. Slowly his stare wanders over me, barely in compliance with the dress code in my take on the Monday uni, with my blazer left behind in Genetics of Witchcraft class, the inky black flames of my dragon tattoo creeping up my neck, and my green-striped tie tugged loose and crooked in the June heat.

Under that smoldery stare Zeph's rocking, my whole body heats up like he's just tossed me in the skillet and turned on the hob.

While Zara gives Neo all kinds of reassurance and Lucius ties us off at the jetty, I grab the knapsack I've stuffed with fresh duds for Vasili (who's going to need a new Monday uni after he shifted in the old one). Then I leap off the boat to the pier.

Zara unwinds from Neo to fling an arm round my neck. Simultaneously, she pulls Lucius into a hard snog that feels desperate.

A bit like her vibe in our bond.

"God, Lucius," she mumbles against his mouth, while she clings tight to both of us. "He could've killed you."

"My dear, I was never in any real danger," Lucius rumbles. "In the commons, I was merely a bit of leverage. Nikolai Romanov does nothing by impulse."

Zara pulls back long enough to aim her incandescent glare at Zephyr. "I meant him ."

I bare my teeth in an ugly grin that's sparked by a nasty sense of glee. I mean, come on. Zeph's given me the cold shoulder for ages, after he made me choose between loving him and protecting my own twin sis. He let me think I'd murdered him. Left me to flounder in the quicksand of my own guilt. Left Gwen and me to grieve and suffer and mourn his so-called passing .

That fuckery might not be the actual reason Gwen hanged herself. She was bullied to death. But all that Zephyr-related drama in her rearview mirror didn't help.

So if Zeph's in the doghouse, I definitely don't mind the turnabout.

"Too right. Bloody little savage, he is." I wrap an arm round Zara's tiny waist and bend to give my girl's lush mouth the quick ravage she's begging for.

Her hot curves fit into my arms like she's spoiling for a fuck. Her lips part on a breathy moan that tastes like sweet vanilla and mating heat. The creamy scent of roses seeps from her overheated skin.

That's her mating scent, that is. Just a whiff makes my head spin and my dick hard.

I wrap my palm round her succulent arse and haul her up on tiptoe against my boner.

"Ronin." She licks into my mouth and pulls Lucius closer. "You feel so nice, Adam."

"Same, love. Care for a shag?" I slide an arm round Lucius so he's included. Even though I know we've not got the time for the proper rogering I'd like to give both of them, a rousing fuck would clear everyone's head.

"No thank you, Mr. Pendragon," Lucius says, all growly with alpha firmness. "You have class in an hour."

Neo wraps round us too, his big hand rubbing my back to console me for the turn-down, while he tucks his face into Zara's neck.

While I breathe in our bookworm's wholesome scent of soap and sage and enjoy our cuddle pile, my skin's tingling under the stalky heat of Zephyr's stare.

Safe to say I don't mind that prick getting a gander at what I've got and he doesn't.

"Where's Max?" Zara wiggles away from my rampant dick and divides a worried look among all of us. "I thought he'd be the first guy here. I can't even find him in our bond."

"Maxim is quite unable to concentrate on his studies at present," Lucius says gently. "That became apparent to me this morning. To channel all that energy, I've given him a hall pass and assigned his dragon to patrol duty. He's opted to overfly the island—including the portal to Avalon. Consequently, he's out of range at the moment. "

Lucius pauses and eyes Zara's flushed face. "I'm afraid he's going to become increasingly difficult to handle. He's, ah, very close to full shifter rut."

"Right." Zara bites her lip and looks adorably contrite. "Guess that's my fault, huh."

While Lucius reassures her that it's not, I snort and roll my eyes—and it's not over the comic visual of Max's big black dragon toting a hall pass. I'm snorting because Lucius has been in full shifter rut himself since Zara started that bit about making babies last night.

Even Vasili, who's only got shifter recessives to deal with, has gone a bit rutty.

Speaking of.

I detach gently from our kiss-and-cuddle, hitch my knapsack over my shoulder, and amble over to V, who's still having a full-on sunbathe with an arm draped over his eyes.

He's playing it up casual for our Unseelie viewing audience. So I follow his lead and drop the knapsack carelessly at his feet.

"Best have a care, love," I say lightly. "You've getting a bit sunburnt."

"Darling, I'm working on my tan." V lowers his arm and sits up to sulk. "Took you long enough."

His high cheekbones are flushed with sun, he has the palest sprinkle of freckles coming out across his nose like fairy dust, and his petulant pout's too yummy to resist. I hunker down and run a rough palm over his damp hair.

Ah. He's sticky with salt, that's what's got him all pouty.

"Had to round up Xiao and Skyler, didn't we?" I remind him. "Left that lot in detention with Aggie in the crypt. Between them, Cleo and her crew have crushed half the rules in the Codex to rubble. Your sweet cousin Skyler's looking at suspension for attacking our girl on Academy grounds. Could be Sky will miss her finals and have to take a do-over for the term."

"Too bad." That little nugget sparks my beau's malicious grin in a way that shows off his pretty fangs. "It appears Cleopatra doesn't trouble her head over the academic welfare of her minions."

My reply's lost when he winds an arm round my neck and pulls me close for one of his snakebite kisses .

Now that's what I'm talking about.

His lips taste like salt, but his fist clenches in my hair with a ruthless insistence and his tongue licks into my mouth with a hunger that makes me forget all our troubles. Makes me forget everything, in fact, except the consuming need to climb on top of him and straddle his hips and dry-hump him till he spills all over my uniform trousers. Till I paint his sleek chest and smooth abs with a load of my own spunk.

Of course we're linked, same as always. So he's got the filthy fantasy from my mind in a blink. He hums with approval and cups my still rampant and quite interested boner through my trousers.

So much for him being half-drowned.

"Thought it was a blooming crisis," I grumble, though I'm not really whingeing. "Lucius yanked me out of class for this, you know."

"Poor you," he purrs against my lips. Even after his immersion, he smells like vetiver and he tastes like vodka. I'm getting sozzled just kissing him. "And, for your information, I nearly did drown. Now I need conditioning rinse and a hair dryer on an emergency basis."

I grin and nudge the knapsack closer with my foot. "I've brought your duds and a few other bits and bobs."

"Hmm." That's his way of saying thanks. But he's distracted, and what he says next proves it. "Truly, we really must do something about this plague of Faerie magic running amuck at our fair Academy."

"Uh huh." I navigate his deadly fangs (not that I'd mind getting nicked, but he's self-conscious about his fangs and he'd be bloody appalled) so I can deepen our snog.

Of course, knowing Zeph's watching gives the whole experience an edge that's keen enough to cut. That royal prick's definitely not immune to the sight of me getting some from my pretty boyfriend, who happens to be sunning in the nude.

And Zeph's not immune to me either.

I was his first.

Just like he was mine.

That shit gets under a bloke's skin.

Not to mention, he's always been territorial and possessive as fuck.

"Okay, guys, listen up." Zara's insistent voice breaks our kiss and swings us all round to where she's sitting on the dive boat gunwale with her stockinged legs swinging like a Hollywood pinup girl. She's swigging from a bottle of water to rehydrate and flashing a good handspan of suntanned thigh, with Neo tucked up tight at her side.

When we all look at her with appreciation for that naughty schoolgirl vibe she's giving off in her plaid skirt and teal pigtails, she grins at us and waves a hand toward our headmaster. He's lurking nearby, clearly drawn to her pending fertility, but fighting like blazes to keep his rut in hand.

"Lucius has something to say," she tells us.

Obediently, we all look toward Lucius. He's rocking that vibe Zara calls his Gary Oldman look, still sporting his silk tie and seersucker suit, with his eyes hidden behind violet-tinted specs. The harbor wind's tugged his mane of chestnut curls loose from their tidy knot to spill down his back.

Of course, I've sensed him holding something back.

But it's telepath manners not to pry.

Now Lucius slips off his shades to give us all a sober look. "Thank you, Ms. Gemini. Here's the reason I was late arriving at the dive shop. I was summoned by the Dean to account for this morning's unfortunate altercation."

"Fuck. Me," Zara groans. "The Dean. Same Dean who just handed the Horn of Ceres to Cleo's sea dragon, right?"

Lucius slips out his Old World handkerchief and frowns as he polishes the seaspray from his glasses. "I assure you, the Dean is a neutral party, both in the succession struggle and as the creative force behind your finals. But she's under a great deal of pressure from the school board. Not to mention, she'll now be obliged to announce a tuition hike. This morning's damage to the student commons will be rather expensive to repair."

"She should send the bill to my father," Vasili says coldly. "He's the one who tried foolishly to confine me in the crypt while he threatened to slit your throat."

Clearly done with his lie-about, my boyfriend gestures imperiously for the knapsack I've brought him. I nudge it obligingly toward him and he pillages it like a naked pirate.

"Well, in fact…" Lucius hesitates. "Your father has precipitated the Dean's latest dilemma. He's phoned in, from wherever on the mainland he's now lurking, to file a grievance—on Cleo's behalf. "

"A grievance ?" Zara nearly chokes on her H2O. "She thinks she's got a grievance? That bitchy witch and her clique attacked me , remember?"

"Skyler attacked you, yes, and she'll be held accountable." Lucius stops polishing his specs and looks grim. "But you attacked Cleopatra first, my dear. There were multiple witnesses from her villa—witnesses whose loyalties lie with Messalina rather than you—to substantiate the allegation. With Nikolai Romanov a trustee on the board, the Dean clearly felt she had no choice."

Unease ricochets from mate to mate in my polycule like a bleeding pinball machine.

"Uh oh," Neo says softly, eyes worried behind his glasses. "What has Deanie done, Lucius?"

Lucius clears his threat. "She's, ah, suspended both Zara and Vasili. In his case, the offense is wanton destruction of school property, thanks to that catastrophic shifting incident."

"Oh, dear, suspended again. Well, cry me a river." Impatient, V pulls the silky black tee shirt I've brought him over his pretty head and reaches for his black lace panties, the sight of which (I can't help noticing) makes Zephyr lean forward with interest.

"It's unfortunate, Mr. Romanov." Lucius gives V's antics a repressive frown, because you can take the prof out of the schoolroom, but you can't take the schoolroom out of the prof. "You've only just been removed from probation after your last offense."

"Blooming Dean. That old throttlebottom." I sneer. "How long are they out for, then? For this suspension?"

Lucius replaces his specs with a sigh. "Two days."

Zephyr's watching V slither into those boy-cut briefs that cup his pert ass like a pair of hands. Now Zeph's gaze veers toward Lucius with a sudden narrowed focus that makes my pulse skip.

"Two days?" Zara jumps down from the gunwale and plants her hands on her hips.

"That was the bare minimum penalty she could assign under the Codex." Lucius eyes our girl's militant stance. "I'll say it again. The Dean's not working against you, Zara. She could have expelled you outright, but she didn't."

"Yeah, well, thanks for that." Zara's glittery fingertips drum with agitation. "Finals start tomorrow, Lucius. "

I've been a bit distracted myself by all that energy humming under the surface between Zephyr (whose non-human mind I can never read) and Vasili (who's definitely aware of his scrutiny, but pointedly ignoring it). Not to mention that potent tension zipping between Zeph and me, which is palpable enough to taste.

Now I zoom in on what's being said with a curse.

"Bollocks." I give in to my nerves and start pacing. "Gives that rotter Cleo and her lot a full day's head start on finding the Horn of Ceres, doesn't it?"

"Not like she needs one," Zara grumbles. "She's a sea dragon, and we already know the Horn's in a watery place."

Zephyr unfolds from his sinewy recline against Xhevith's neck and flows to his feet. Under that supple green dragonscale I used to fantasize about peeling off him with my teeth, every drum-tight muscle and tendon in his lethal body is alert and twitching with suppressed passion.

"Your punishment can be turned to your advantage, my bride," he breathes.

"Oh, yeah? How do you figure?" Zara shoots him a suspicious look that makes the air crackle. Clearly, after that rubbish went down in the commons, he's First Boy on her shit list.

Vasili's already on his feet, working a pair of black glitter jeans I love on him over his supple thighs. Now his gilded head jerks up with a hiss. He knows where this is going, we all do.

Fuck.

Undeterred by the hostile looks he's getting, Zephyr scrambles over his sleeping dragon's foreleg and prowls toward our girl like the predator he is.

"Since it seems you're not permitted to attend class for the time being," he says softly, "nor to commence your examinations, 'tis naught to prevent you from attending the Faerie Ball and taking your throne at my side."

Ever since he pitched up at Icarus, I've been a smoldering volcano of suppressed emotion. Now, without a tick of warning, that volcano erupts in a cataclysm of molten rage.

"Bloody hell, Zeph, are you daft?" I burst. "She doesn't trust you. None of us trust you! And for damn good reason—"

"No, wait," Neo says quietly. "Please let him finish, okay, Ronin? "

It's so rare for our Red to interrupt anyone that I slam on the verbal brakes and we all stare. Our bookworm gives me a look of total understanding through those big green eyes of his, then hops down from the gunwale and reaches for Zara's hand.

She's crackling with static, but she dials down the voltage and lets Neo take her hand.

Zeph, who's no fool, gives him a careful nod. "I sense that you grasp the essence of the matter. Will you not speak for me, friend?"

"Babe, you need allies," Neo tells our girl gently, but he's talking to me too. "You need a crown. You basically need as much power right now as you can grab. Plus you're already conflicted about leaving Ash to fend for himself back in Avalon. Even though you don't wanna admit it. So I think you should listen to Zephyr."

Vasili, finally dressed but still barefoot, zips his fly ferociously and glares at poor Red like a basilisk. "No one asked you to weigh in here, Mercury. If you want to help Zara find allies, I suggest you start by recruiting your senatorial father to the Gemini cause."

I expect Neo to feel hurt at getting verbally kicked in the nuts like that. But he gives V the sweetest look. "Dad's on his way back to the Senate, where he can help Zara the most. We talked on the landline this morning. But that won't be enough and we all know it."

To my alarm, Lucius gives a slow nod like he's actually buying this load of codswallop.

Meanwhile, Zeph's gotten with touching distance of Zara, but he knows better than to touch her while she's all pissed and bristly with her hair floating around her shoulders and the electric charge of lightning crackling in the air.

She tilts her chin to lock onto his stare with her own look of challenge. Which is how I realize he's actually a hair shorter than her.

He's not physically a big guy, but you tend to forget that because the whole Dark Fae King vibe he projects is so intense.

"What Neo Theodophilus Mercury says is the truth." Zephyr speaks so softly I can barely hear over the slap of the sea on the rocks, so I sidle closer for a listen. "I shall give you a crown no mortal witch or warlock can steal. I shall give you power the like of which these mortals can scarcely dream."

Zara nibbles her lush lower lip in a way that makes me want to bite it for her. But the look she gives him through her big Betty Boop eyes is brimming with a blend of challenge and vulnerability that makes my chest ache.

"What about your heart, Your Radiance?" she breathes. "Aren't you gonna tell me you'll give me that ?"

"That you have already." His silvery whisper turns husky. "Do you not know?"

Her thick lashes flutter and her voice gets tight. "Yeah, I thought I did. But ten weeks is a long time to ghost a girl, you feel me?"

A furrow digs between Zeph's green brows.

"I have explained my absence. Although it grieved me to be so long apart from you." His hand twitches like he's aching to touch her.

But Red gives a little head shake that tells Zeph to wait.

Very clearly, our bookworm's on his side.

Wisely Zephyr hesitates, then clasps his hands behind his back instead. "Also, there is Ash. If you will not aid him for his own sake, my bride, aid him to add a Seelie Prince to your list of allies."

Instant annoyance flashes in Zara's turquoise stare.

"Look, I don't need a political reason to help Ash, okay? I'm gonna do that anyway." She taps her toes on the rock and frowns. "If I'm sidelined here anyway, maybe now's that time. Just a quick in and out. Go to the Ball, get my crown, make sure Ash is okay, and get out. Just in time to nab the Horn of Ceres and put Cleo back in her place."

"Dear fuck." Vasili's hunkered down to lace his combat boots. Now he looks up in patent disbelief. "Am I hallucinating in this tiresome heat, or are you actually considering this Unseelie moron's absurd proposition?"

"Right, it's not like popping down to the pub for a pint, is it?" I agree with mounting heat. "We'd be starting after the Horn at least a day late, and it could be a lot longer. Just look what happened the last time you followed this prick to fairyland."

Zephyr shoots me a blazing look that nearly sets me on fire and pulls in a harsh breath. My own breath roughens and a rush of adrenaline lights me up like a Beltane fire.

Yeah, mate, bring it on. Every cell in my body rises to meet his silent challenge.

But Zara raises a cautionary finger to silence the lot of us before all hell breaks loose .

"Like I said before," she says firmly, "I'm not going anywhere unless we all agree. We'd only stay for the Ball. And this time, you'd all have to come with—including you, Lucius. I know you're supposed to be proctoring finals, but—"

"It seems I too am suspended," Lucius announces wryly, "for my unfortunate involvement in this morning's incident. Without pay, I might add. So it appears I too am relieved of my academic duties, at least for the next two days."

While I stare with my jaw gaping in indignation at every single aspect of this pronouncement (Lucius didn't do a thing wrong!), our headmaster turns to Zeph with a slight smile. "Besides, I've been… quite curious… to visit the Avalon Academy."

"Lucius Laszlo Aries, you would be most welcome," my ex says formally, inclining his head in a kingly nod. "I shall arrange a guest lecture for you as a visiting professor in the student kiva."

Great.

Crisis or no crisis, our headmaster looks pleased as fuck at that prospect.

Clearly Zeph knows the way to Lucius' heart.

And our bookworm's already on board. Just like Vasili's been warning all along would happen if my poisonous ex ever turned back up.

That Unseelie bastard's splitting our found family right down the center.

Feeling powerless to stop what's clearly about to happen—which is Zara flying off to fairyland again with my deceitful, unreliable, untrustworthy ex-boyfriend—I look desperately to my current boyfriend for help.

"Aren't you forgetting someone, little queen?" Vasili says rudely, rearing up between Zara and Zephyr like the adder he is. "Let me offer you a little hint. He's big and black and breathes fire when he's angry, and he has a forked dick—"

"Well, of course we gotta find Max first." Nothing about any of this is remotely funny, but Zara looks at V like she's fighting a smile. "What with him being in rut and my BC giving up the ghost, he'll obviously wanna come with. Anyway, I'd want you all to have equal access to my uterus—I mean, uh, assuming you'd all want that."

Now she's leaning around V's tall obstructive body to look at m e , because I'm pretty much the only guy in our polycule who hasn't been queuing to knock her up.

Of course Vasili claims he's not. But he had his dick in her continuously all last night. Literally would not be dislodged. We all sort of fucked around him.

So I don't trust him on this one.

"Ronin?" Zara prods gently. "We're not doing this without you. Are you in?"

"Don't look at me like that, love," I mutter, sounding sullen even to my own ears. "If you fancy jaunting off to Avalon with this untrustworthy arse, you bloody well know I'm coming with you."

Sure, I'm no shifter and I'm not in rut. Too young to be a dad, if you ask me. I'm just a blooming sophomore. I'm not desperate to make her preggo.

But I'll not hold her back on my account.

And fuck if she's leaving me behind.