Chapter 10

Istay behind when the others leave, knowing that I need a moment alone with Kai. He’s been unbearably stressed since Ben’s attack, and through Abel’s eyes, I can see the strain it’s taken on my dragon mate. His skin is sunken and pale, eyes appearing impossibly wide in his haggard face, with dark circles beneath them both, and his shoulder-length hair is wildly mussed. There are lines around his eyes and between his brows that weren’t there prior.

“Kai,” I say gently when the last of my men leave, once more pulling me into my customary darkness. I reach blindly towards him, and it doesn’t take him longer than a second to pull me into his arms. I feel so safe when I’m in his embrace, as if not even the fiercest of storms can take me away from him. Because I know, without an ounce of doubt, that I’m meant to be with this man.

There are only a few absolute things in this world.

The sun will rise every morning and then fall at night, blanketing the world in a silvery darkness.

The ocean waves will kiss the shoreline before retreating in a never-ending tango of push and pull.

And my love for these six men is infinite and unencumbered, defying the laws of time.

Kai buries his face in my hair as he inhales sharply.

“Rion’s right, you know,” I begin gently, running my hands up and down his back, tangling my fists in his gray shirt.

“Those are two words I never thought anyone would say,” he jests half-heartedly, but I can tell his mind is still millions of miles away.

“You guys are the biggest badasses in this place,” I continue, and I can practically feel his lips twitch against my scalp at the use of the word “badasses.” Abel would be so proud of me.

“If anything were to happen to you?—”

“It won’t,” I say, cutting him off, positioning my hands so they’re able to slide up his chiseled chest and cup his cheeks. “Do you want to know why?”

“If you say it’s because you know we’ll protect you, then I’ll have to spank you, baby girl. That’s a lot of fucking pressure,” he teases, but I can hear a sliver of truth in his words. I think that’s what bothers my dragon the most—he’s afraid that he won’t be able to save me. That one of the monsters lurking under my bed will grab my ankle and pull me under before he can stop it.

His fears are valid, considering what happened a few months ago, but it’s not only him anymore. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been, and I’m growing stronger every day. I still feel pain and hurt and worry. I’m still weighed down and destroyed by the scars of my past.

But I’m not broken.

I don’t believe I’ve ever been.

Sure, my edges aren’t as smooth as they could’ve been, but that doesn’t mean the pieces don’t fit. Just because they’re jagged doesn’t make them any less perfect.

I truly believe that’s why the universe paired me with these six men—because we’re all mangled, chewed-up pieces of a distorted puzzle, and only when we’re together is the picture complete.

“Actually,” I push up onto my tiptoes to kiss the corner of his jaw, “I was going to say that I’m capable of protecting myself.”

He murmurs something nonsensically, twisting his head to chase my lips, and I take his moment of distraction to thrust my leg out and wrench his arm over my shoulder. It’s a move Damien taught me, designed specifically to work on men larger than me.

I hear Kai’s startled yell and the audible whack as he hits the cement flooring. A giggle escapes unbidden as I move to stand over him.

“You’ve been practicing,” he murmurs from where he’s sprawled on the ground, and I move to straddle his waist, placing my hands on his chest.

“Just a little.” I wink, wiggling ever so slightly as his cock hardens underneath me. He moans low in his throat, a pained and heady sound, as his hands come to my waist.

“Fuck, baby,” he groans as I wiggle. He moves his hand from my waist to my breasts, once more pulling down my dress sleeves until I’m bared to him. The tips of his fingers graze my sensitive nubs as I throw my head back, feeling wanton and needy.

Ever since Rion fingered me in front of the others, I’ve been in a constant state of lust. It was almost to the point where I was tempted to take Rion up on his offer and go with him back to my room. Or at the very least stick a finger inside of myself and finish the job. But as Rion once articulately told me, “Why masturbate when you have six willing cocks to please your juicy sweetness?”

“What are you thinking about, my love?” Kai pants as I lean forward, pushing my breasts into his face so his tongue can lick a pathway from the underside of my boob to my nipple. He circles the nub before gently pulling it through his teeth, and I swear the sensation travels straight to my core. “Are you thinking about what happened earlier? When Rion fucked you with his fingers in front of all of your other mates? How good your pussy felt when he touched that pretty little clit of yours?”

I whimper at his dirty words, jerking my hips wantonly against his rapidly hardening cock.

But one thing about what he said sticks with me.

“They’re not all my mates,” I pant breathlessly, and his hand slaps down on my ass cheek. The move is so sudden, so out of character for him, that I pause, my mouth dropping open.

“Don’t you ever let them hear you say that,” he warns severely. “Some of them might not be able to have fated mates, but that doesn’t change their feelings for you. The stars themselves put you on a pathway to find them. They’re made for you, just as you were made for them. Don’t go thinking anything else.”

The urgency in his tone has me freezing, my hands lowering to clench his muscular shoulders. I swallow the ball of yarn stuck in my throat as I realize how my words could be construed.

I never want the others to think that they’re somehow less than because we’re not mates. From what I gathered, only animal shifters have fated mates, but that doesn’t make my feelings for the twins and Damien any less than what I feel for Bronson, Rion, and Kai. I love them all just as intensely, as if my heart has been cut into six equally proportionate slices.

They were meant to be mine, of that I have no doubt. I was born for them, just as they were born for me. We don’t need animal sides to see that.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper as he plants a gentle kiss to first one breast and then the other.

“It would break their heart if they heard you say that,” Kai repeats.

“I love you all so, so much.” I lean forward to plant a tender, reverent kiss against his lips. His stubble grazes my cheeks and chin, somehow increasing my desire. “I know it’s technically not possible for them to be my mates, but it feels…”

“It feels as if they are,” Kai finishes for me as he palms first one tit and then the next before releasing them. Before I can cry out at the loss of connection, I feel his hand move to his zipper as he frees his cock. “We don’t know a lot about what you are, baby. I mean, for all we know, you’re more than capable of having fated mates yourself. Maybe that’s why you feel so comfortable with them—because they’re your mates just as surely as I am.”

His cock slides back and forth across my slick folds as he positions himself, hoisting me upwards before pulling me back down until he’s fully sheathed inside of me.

We both groan at the sensation as my pussy involuntarily squeezes his girth.

“Fuck, baby, you’re so tight,” he praises as I begin to ride him. I found early on that this is one of my most favorite positions to take my men. It gives me a feeling of control, as if I can choose to stop this at any time I desire. Not that I ever would, but I like knowing I have the option.

I lean forward, his cock hitting a new angle, as he once more grabs at my breasts.

“I love your fucking tits,” Kai gasps as he plucks at my nipples. “They’re so big and perfect.”

“I love your…um…nipples too,” I murmur between pants as I struggle to reciprocate his dirty talk. I have to give him some credit—he doesn’t laugh at me, though I know my mate well enough to tell he’s amused.

“What else do you like about me?” He begins to thrust his hips harder, and I throw my head back, my black hair brushing against his thighs where his jeans still sit. The mere fact that we still have our clothes halfway on only amps up my desire. It’s dirty and raw and animalistic…and I freaking love it.

“Your cock.” I lower my hands to his chest as he drops his own to my slick opening. He begins to circle my clit with the tip of his rough finger as my body convulses around him.

“What else?” he demands.

“Everything!” I finally reach that blessed cliff and careen headfirst over the edge. I come with a scream, my nails digging into Kai’s pecs as he shifts us abruptly, repositioning me so I’m beneath him and he’s rutting into me savagely.

My pussy squeezes his cock like a vise as he comes with a roar, one I’m positive can be heard all the way across the prison.

“Fucking hell, baby.” Kai lowers his forehead to my own, and I desperately wish I could see the expression on his face. Would he be smiling? Stone-faced? Dopey? “You’re so perfect. If anything happened to you?—”

“We already went over this,” I say tiredly as I stroke his tangled hair. “Nothing bad will happen to me. I prom?—”

The door to the throne room slams open, and Kai immediately crouches above me with an enraged, guttural growl. I easily slide into his mind to see Bronson standing before us, distress evident in every line of his face.

“Bron?” I amble to my feet, not caring that my dress is still pushed down beneath my breasts and that Kai’s and my combined juices drip down my thighs.

Bronson whines low in his throat, more wolf than man, before hurrying towards me and wrapping me in his muscular arms.

“Bron? What’s going on?” I bite down anxiously on my lower lip, breaking skin.

When Bronson says one word—just one word—I know it will change everything completely.

Panic steals the breath from my lungs as my heart stutters to an abrupt stop.

“Rion,” Bronson whispers, and I feel myself shudder in his arms, falling apart at the seams. “It’s Rion.”