Chapter Nine Zara

Sweet fuck. A mating rut?

While Lucius drinks in the scent of my ripening cunt through my panties… while Vasili torments my nipples through my bralette and his fangs menace my neck… while Max's demanding tongue fucks my mouth the exact way I'm pretty sure his cock will shortly be riding my cunt… Ronin's words sear and pulse behind my closed lids.

For a shifter queen, I gotta admit, I'm in an embarrassing state of almost total ignorance about mating ruts. Apparently I threw Max into one when I had my first superheat. And that possessive alpha dragon of mine in rut?

He was… intense.

I mean, even more than usual.

But V's still kinda new to the shifty stuff. He's vicious and unpredictable and I honestly have no idea how he'll be affected. And Lucius is always so restrained. I legit can't imagine my responsible headmaster abandoning all that ironclad control and losing himself in a mating frenzy.

Just the thought of Lucius losing it makes my pussy tingle and burn.

If all three of my shifter guys go into rut, you know, in unison?

Sure, I have an industrial-strength pussy. Like, we need that kinda resilience down there at ground zero with seven horny guys in this harem. But I'm not sure even my royal titanium pussy's cut out to handle three alpha shifters in a mating rut.

Under my drenched panties, my slick cunt throbs and clenches with need .

Clearly, she's ready to give this whole supercharged sex situation the old college try.

I'm still all shivery from the dangerous snick of Vasili's switchblade (which is, very possibly, the exact one he used earlier to slit the Aquarius queen's throat). Now his knife slices through the straps of my bralette, one after the other, with such wicked precision the blade doesn't even graze my skin.

"Hey," I mumble through Max's claiming kiss. "That bra came from my lingerie box from Paris, you asshole."

"I'll buy you another." Vasili's heated whisper spills in my ear. My snake's voice is a sandpaper growl, much harsher than his usual silky menace. "I'll buy you the entire inventory, little queen. Just for the pleasure of seeing your delectable body showcase every scrap while I slice your lingerie to ribbons."

"Whoa." That's Neo on the bed, sounding all sexed up and breathless from whatever Ronin's doing to him. "Dude, you can't just ruin all Zara's underwear."

"That does seem excessive, Goblin King. Even for you." I gasp out a laugh and surface from the hot suck of Max's kiss, just so I can catch my breath.

"Darling, I assure you. You haven't even begun to see me excessive." Vasili's hard hands drag my ruined lace below my tits in a makeshift bustier that offers my girls up like canapés. "Yet."

Before I can answer, my snake's cool palms cradle my full tits.

Which pretty much hijacks my brain.

My boobs feel way fuller and heavier than usual. My nipples are swollen and uber-sensitive (all signs of a looming heat for yours truly, which is so not the major distraction we all need during finals. Plus, you know, the revolution.)

"Pay attention, little queen." His vicious fingers twist my nipple rings—hard enough to wring out of me a strangled yelp.

That does it. I'm in charge here. He's a bully, but he's not gonna bully me .

Still, he is definitely gonna fuck me.

"Why don't you make me, bad boy," I breathe. "All of you."

God, I really should know by now when not to yank his chain. The Goblin King's practically a sociopath and it doesn't take much to push him over the edge .

But he's so good at this kinda foreplay. So good, so good. When he pinches my tingling nipples between his wicked digits, pleasure streaks through the pinch to pool between my thighs.

My breath breaks on a ragged gasp. My thighs twitch and quiver. My knees clamp around Lucius, still kneeling before my cunt like a priest at the altar.

My wolf growls and shoves my thighs wide with his taloned hands, then dives in to nuzzle my starving pussy through the lace. My drenched panties chafe the engorged bud of my clit. Under the ravenous press of his mouth and the scrape of his fangs, my folds get even slicker.

My head falls back and my mouth falls open.

"Oh, fuuuuck," I groan through my teeth. "Lucius."

He snarls and laps down my slit in long hungry licks that make me keen with need.

My alpha dragon looms over me, and my own inner beast coils and purrs. Max's eyes lock with mine, all burning with heat and narrowed to slits. Then his smoldering gaze drops to my exposed tits. His nostrils flare to pull in a hit of my mating scent.

Actually, we're all scenting heavier than a fragrance factory.

All these pheromones flooding the air. Including mine. They're making my head spin and my hips writhe under Lucius' hungry mouth.

"Tonight you belong to the snake," Max growls. "And the wolf. Yet you are also mine. If you will breed, my sovereign, it is my seed that will fill you. My dragonets you will carry. I hunger to see you ripen with my clutch."

That dark promise make my pussy ache. Especially when Lucius growls, low and savage, against my cunt and worries at the soaked lace like he's gonna tear it off me with his fangs.

I'm still boning up on shifter biology. I need, like, the 101 section of that class. Because Max seems to think I could maybe lay eggs with him like a goddamn hen. (Even though I'm not pure shifter. Genetically speaking, I'm a mutt.) But that's how dragon shifters do their thing.

Honestly speaking, I'm just not ready for that.

Besides, I am still on the shot.

In science we trust.

I'm trying to wrap my head around how to address all this when Max's hand drops to the fly of his distressed denim and pops the button. Behind his zipper, the thick bulge of his complicated dick shoves against the faded fabric.

Every flicker of coherent thought in my brain turns to smoke and drifts away. I swallow hard at the sight.

Sweet Jesus. I've missed that.

I literally can't wait to wrap my mouth around his potent dragon cock.

Totally unselfconscious, he rubs his dick for me though his jeans. Under his purposeful touch, all those inches swell and thicken.

That's when something new snares my gaze. A prickly circlet of gray ink twining around Max's sinewy wrist.

Huh. At some point while he was MIA, my dragon musta picked up… a tattoo.

That tattoo's like a barbed-wire manacle looped around his wrist.

And I like it. I like it a lot.

"Mmmm." I sigh with appreciation and skim my fingers over his ink. "That's new. I didn't even know shifters could hold a tattoo. I mean, once you shift."

He stills and shivers under my touch. His gruff dragon voice drops two octaves. "We can hold one when there is ground silver in the ink. In Warsaw, there is a place that specializes in shifters."

"Warsaw, huh?" When a sudden plink of caution quivers through our bond, my curious gaze darts to his wary face. "Is that where you were all this time?"

Max never lies. That's, like, a point of honor for him as a dragon. But there's definitely shit he doesn't mention.

Now, he hesitates. He fucking hesitates . "There… and other places."

"Hmmmm." Vasili licks and nibbles my mating bite—the one Lucius gave me where my neck meets my shoulder, a spot that's extra-vulnerable and extra-sensitive—with his razor-sharp fangs. Just the threat of that snake's teeth on my neck makes shivers spill over my skin and skitter down my spine.

Even before his wicked fingers tweak my nipples in a way that demands my attention and Max's.

Which is a fucking deliberate attempt to distract me. Damn it.

I love my snake, but I never make the mistake of trusting him .

"Barbed wire, hmmm?" the Goblin King purrs, all velvety with menace. "Do you feel like you're in prison, dragon?"

Max's smoking stare lifts from my tits and blazes at Vasili. "Mine is a prison of passion. I remain of my own accord."

Well, dayum.

Something's up with these two. Something's been up with them since Avalon, when Vasili finally stopped making Max's life a living hell and now ( very occasionally) lets Max have his wicked way with Vasili's sneaky, snaky, sexy body.

And yeah, sure, my snake might bend for my dragon a little these days. But Vasili's definitely topping from below in that relationship. Max doesn't have a subtle bone in his body.

But V? He's a goddamn pit viper.

Vasili knows where Max is sneaking off to. In fact, I'd pay real money Vasili's telling Max where to go. Which definitely can't be anywhere good.

Now, eyeing that whole prison of passion tattoo our dragon's rocking, I can't escape the feeling Max is in over his head.

At least, I can't escape it until Max eases his zipper down and lets that thick dick of his out to play.

Underneath, that dragon's wearing the world's tiniest pair of cheetah-print briefs stretched over his tumescent bulge. When it comes to his style in undies, Max is a Eurotrash kinda guy.

But I definitely don't mind.

Now he shoves his jeans carelessly down his hips and steps out of them, rakes back his buttery hair with a ruthless hand, and smolders at V and me like he's ready to set us both on fire.

Lucius is still crouched between my thighs and nuzzling at my cunt. He's actually guarding my pussy. That's something he does a lot lately, especially when I'm going into heat and he's wolfing out. Now his chestnut head lifts alertly, nostrils flaring in his broody face. His eyes are crimson and his fangs are out. But he's still Lucius.

Still, he sneaks a furtive peek at Max's junk.

That sneaky peeky gets me mighty intrigued.

They're the only two of my guys who aren't fucking yet. (I mean, when you leave out the two Fae, which definitely seems to be what everyone wants right now.) Ruthlessly I crush another twinge of heartache. I just crush that shit out like a cigarette. That's my standard modus operandi whenever I think about Ash and Zephyr these days.

Tonight I'm gonna focus on the one issue in my harem I can actually do something about.

An electric charge races over my skin. Tiny purple sparks crackle and pop at my fingertips.

"Hey Lucius," I say softly, all echoey with the lightning voice. "Kiss Max for me."

Max snarls in surprise. His slitted pupils telescope wide. But his big saber-toothed fangs (which never come out except when he means to use them) punch down from his palate.

That definitely means he's… not opposed.

Lucius lurks around my pussy and looks furtive. But there's no mistaking the sudden spike of wolfish hunger that rips through our mating bond.

With a growl, my headmaster surges to his feet—and drags me up with him. One hard arm locks around my waist and traps me up on tiptoe against his rangy frame. His mouth claims mine in a savage kiss that's tangy with my own taste.

I fist his scholarly cardigan sweater and arch into him. My throaty moan mingles with his satisfied grunt.

"My queen," he says gruffly against my breathless mouth, his Hungarian accent all thickening. "Your wish. My command."

With a ravenous hunger that leaves me reeling, he surfaces from our kiss, grips Max's surprised chin in a taloned hand, and lunges into a hard claiming kiss that makes even Vasili exclaim.

Max stumbles into us, one hot arm sliding around my hips, one hand gripping Lucius' shoulder for balance. I tumble against Max's sleek golden frame with my knees all wobbly. Our headmaster steadies us both, the contact sears through me, and my whole body ignites with heat.

Because I'm already nakey—except for a pair of panties that probably aren't gonna be on me much longer. And Max is nakey except for those tiny jungle-print briefs.

I graze Max's soft hair and stroke back the golden tendrils to keep them out of the way while those two guys of mine are kissing. At the same time, I tug on Lucius' sweater to nudge them closer.

God knows, I'd never push them into anything. But we've all been waiting for this .

We've all been waiting so long.

Plus the thrumming purpose in our mating bond, the desperate way they're both clutching each other and groaning and dragging me up against them, tells me how much they're both into this.

Oh, yeah. They want each other.

I actually think they need each other.

"Nicely done, darling." Vasili's voice, cool with amusement, slithers through the simmering silence.

The whisper of silk is the only warning I get before he rears up behind me like a cobra. "They've certainly kept us waiting long enough."

I nod in agreement. But I can't look away from the savage clash of Max and Lucius, mouth on mouth.

The wolf and the dragon.

I can practically see Max's dragon bating his wings and Lucius' wolf locking his jaws around Max's windpipe. The two of them are fighting to crawl down each other's throats. That's my alphas fighting for dominance in the only way I'll allow.

Before the night gets much older, one of them's gonna yield.

Probably the same one who's gonna bend.

If they regret it in the morning?

That'll be the fault of me and my fucking heat.

"Oh, pretty sure they'll not regret it, love." Ronin's husky voice draws my gaze to the bed. "They're been wanting this like blazes. Both of them. You're just helping them along a bit."

Ronin's a fast mover, so he's wasted zero time getting Neo out of his sweats. Our bookworm's already stripped down to his boxer briefs, his brawny frame pinned under Ronin's prowly length, his soft curls all mussed and his big eyes glowing with happiness at the attention he's getting. Neo's gotten a lot bolder since Ronin and I popped his cherry last winter. Right now he's gripping Ronin's tight ass in his big hands and moaning as he grinds up against our Brit.

Not that all his recent experience stops our bookworm from blushing.

When Ronin dives in to start sucking on his neck, Neo whimpers with excitement and blushes tomato-red.

But he's happy. And he's distracting Ronin, who hasn't been himself since Zephyr popped up —

But I'm not thinking about Zephyr. Remember?

I'm really not.

"Mind your manners, little queen. I'm right here," Vasili hisses against the super-sensitive scars from my mating bite. Because of course he senses when he's lost my attention, and he's not a Zephyr fan (to put it really mildly).

I sigh and sneak a hand back to stroke his thigh, long and sinewy under his kimono. "It's okay, Goblin King. You've got me. Don't go crazy."

"You've driven us all wild tonight." Completely unplacated, the snick of V's switchblade prickles my skin. The cruel point traces up my outer thigh. "Wild to fuck you raw. Wild to fill that greedy little cunt of yours until you're dripping with our cum. I trust it goes without saying—I'm not waiting in line."

With a single sharp twist, his blade slices through the narrow band of my panties.

And there's one more piece of lingerie ruined.

The soaked scrap of lace falls to the floor.

His cool hands bracket my hips—under Max's arm and Lucius', because those two are both still claiming me—and pin me tight against his tall body.

Now I'm trapped between all three of my alphas.

It's still hard to look away from Max and Lucius. My wolf's hand has gentled. Now he's cradling Max's face in those savage talons. And Max, who's always so skittish and distrustful, is clinging to Lucius' sweater and breathing so hard he's almost sobbing.

Max has daddy issues (as in, he's never had one—a daddy, I mean) on top of everything else. Right now, Lucius is triggering a kink we never even knew Max had.

Be careful with him, Teach , I breathe through our bond, just for Lucius. He's not as tough as he looks.

Lucius sighs, and his touch turns even gentler. Even half-shifted, he's so tender and careful he breaks my heart. Max melts into that careful kiss and clutches Lucius' sweater like he's drowning.

Vasili hisses in my ear like an adder. His hand snakes down my tummy to cup my slick and dripping snatch.

Clearly, he's done sharing his toys .

My hips punch into the Goblin King's touch. His palm rubs my clit and one cool finger slides into my heated hole. Around that delicious intrusion—both hot as fuck and yet not enough—my pussy ripples and clenches.

Vasili's ragged moan fills my ear. His hot breath spills down my neck.

I shoot a heated glance over my shoulder to claim a goblin kiss. His silky mouth still carries a tart hint of cherry from his pre-shower lip gloss. His shaggy rock-star mop of gilded hair slithers around his shoulders. It looks like it's literally growing as I watch—all those shifter pheromones at work—and his long-lidded eyes pulse with heat.

Guess that's what a mating rut looks like on him.

I arch my back like a cat and rub into his satiny PJs. "Lose the kimono, Goblin King."

He takes his time about that, slowly unwinding his kimono with one hand and pumping into me with the other. Setting the pace with long slow strokes, skillfully working my clit with the heel of his palm, letting us all hear the rhythmic wet suck of my cunt gripping his finger. The leisurely lick of his tongue against mine carries the dry juniper bite of his recent martini.

When he finally lets me surface from that head-spinning kiss, it's only so he can slide his hand out of my dripping slit and trace my breathless mouth with his soaked finger. The scent of musk and roses fills my head. My eyes lock on his and my tongue flickers out to taste my own slick.

When I encase his finger with my mouth and suck like it's his dick, stroking and kneading the underside with my tongue, his pupils dilate and his eyes narrow.

"Someone's asking for trouble tonight," he gasps on an indrawn breath. "Someone's asking to choke on my cock until I unload down her throat."

The warning rumble of Lucius' wolf fills the night.

"You can have her naughty mouth, Mr. Romanov," my headmaster grates, his beast lurking in his voice. "Mr. Rasputin can have her saucy and spankable derrière. But her delectably fertile quim is mine ."

Shit.

That wolf of his is definitely guarding my pussy. Clearly, this is one of those rutting alpha shifter traits .

My mouth falls open and Vasili pulls back, but not before V tweaks my nose with a playful wink. "Looks like someone's getting stuffed with dick in every orifice, darling."

Well, he isn't wrong.

With all this shifter rut in play, it's gonna be up to me to make sure my guys get what they need tonight.

All of them.

I slide a hand between Lucius and Max and unbuckle my wolf's belt. But my gaze never wavers from Vasili.

"I told you to lose that kimono," I say in my queen voice. "So do it."

Vasili's cruel mouth curls in a sexy smirk.

Never breaking my challenging stare, he unwinds his black kimono with serpentine grace and lets the garment slip down his long pale body. He's a lingerie boy himself, with a penchant for black lace.

But tonight, he's wearing something else stretched over the supple length of his hard goblin cock. A queer fashion staple.

A jockstrap.

In turquoise.

That's my color. In his own unique Goblin King way, visible to the only ones he cares about, he's wearing it as a declaration of solidarity.

With me.

My chest swells, my throat thickens, and my face heats with a rush of pleasure.

But I can still multitask. I can tease the edge of Vasili's jockstrap and unbutton Lucius' trousers at the same time. I can graze the long swell of Vasili's shaft through the fabric, while he hums and undulates into my touch, and ease down Lucius' zipper around the cola-can thickness of my wolf's fat cock.

Lucius would never be caught dead in a jockstrap. He's definitely a silk boxers kinda guy. And that rich silk fabric's already soaked with wolf jizz precum.

Now this, I can't resist.

I finally break my staring contest with Vasili to sneak Lucius a mischievous look. Max's face is hidden in our headmaster's neck, and Lucius has one clawed hand wrapped tenderly around our dragon's golden head .

Those two are so sweet together the sight of them makes my throat thicken.

I suck in my breath in wonder. I always knew Max never had a dad growing up. Yet, somehow, I've only just realized there's a big old daddy-sized hole in Maxim Rasputin's love-starved heart.

A hole my solid, firm, kind, responsible headmaster Lucius Aries is exactly the right size and shape to fill.

Now, meeting my upturned gaze, my wolf's eyes pulse crimson with need. His lip curls back to bare his savage fangs. That's a mating display, to show me how fierce he is. How fiercely he'll defend our little pack. My own inner beast bates and hisses with approval.

My teeth sink into my lower lip around a grin. Then my fingers slip through the slit in Lucius' boxers to curl around the delicious thick girth of his dick.

The growl that rips from his chest is all animal.

His shaft, hot and veiny, throbs in my grip.

With a sudden spurt of violence, his free hand clamps over mine and shoves his full length into my fist. That's when my hand bumps up against—whoa—an unfamiliar intruder.

Hello.

There's, like, a hard swell of flesh at the base of his cock that's totally new.

What the actual fuck?

That new addition he's packing under his boxers is the size of a freaking apple .

"Cheese on toast, Lucius!" I yelp, all squeaky with surprise. "What the fuck is this ?"

His red eyes blink down at me.

"I fear it's the inevitable consequence of a purebred wolf shifter in full mating rut," Lucius says, managing to sound simultaneously apologetic and primal, while also very much like a lecturing prof. "In a word, well, that's my knot."