by Tate James
“Well, that sounds promising,” I announced, beaming. “He would surely be something more than human if he’s still alive. You could have a whole dragon clan, er... flock? What is the collective noun for dragons anyway?”
“Wing,” Cole responded, and I snapped my fingers.
“Yes! You could have a whole dragon wing in Romania that is just waiting to meet you! How cool is that? There are more of you out there.” I tried to keep my encouraging smile in place, even though a little pity party was throwing streamers around inside me. It was genuinely awesome that they had people. Others like them. As far as I knew, Bridget was the only other Ban Dia, and if all went to plan, I would soon be the last of my kind.
“Hey guys,” Wesley greeted us, coming into the room with his phone in hand. “I have just been chatting to Austin and—” He broke off when he looked up at the three of us. “Sorry. I’m interrupting something, aren’t I?”
“Nope, come join us,” Vali replied without hesitation. “No secrets in Ban Dia club, right?”
I snorted a laugh. “Keep working on that name, but yeah, come join us. What’s up? What did Austin call for?”
“Okay, well... If you’re sure?” He hesitated, and I smiled at how damn adorable he was sometimes.
“We’re sure, Wes,” Cole assured him. “We were just discussing the possibility that we might have dragon family in Romania.”
“Oh, really? That is... oddly coincidental on what I’m about to tell you. Not that I really believe in coincidences, but that’s sort of beside the point.” He rambled a bit but sat down to join us and placed his phone on the table. “So, Aus called from Barbados or wherever and said that they’d found a way to break Bridget’s dianoch bonds. Short version or long version?”
“Short,” all three of us replied, and he gave us a sheepish smile.
“Okay, so, we need this amulet that was broken into pieces back in the beginning of time and all the bits were split up. Austin and Caleb have one of them already and are hopefully getting the second one within a few days, but Aus wanted to know if I could think about who might have the remaining two pieces.” Wesley was practically buzzing with excitement over this news, which was to be expected. This was like an academic version of visiting a strip club or something.
“Do you?” I asked him, seeing he was practically bursting to tell us the rest.
He nodded frantically. “That’s why I said it was coincidental that you were discussing dragons. I think they have one of the pieces.”
There was a long pause as we all considered what he’d just said. Could it be that easy? And if so, why had no one else gathered up all these pieces before?
“Okay, so here is my reasoning,” Wesley continued on, like he had heard my inner musings already. “Aus said Bridget doesn’t even know about the amulet, so she hasn’t been looking for it. Apparently, your grandmother decided pretty early on that Bridget wasn’t super-trustworthy and never passed down any of the Ban Dia history to her. Anyway, what makes me think the dragons have one is because of us. Or, you two.” He indicated to Cole and Vali.
“Us? How so?” Vali asked, intent on what Wesley was saying, even as his fingers danced patterns along my thigh.
Wesley glanced at Vali’s hand on my leg, then darted his gaze back up to us and licked his lips. “Well, all of us, really. It was something I had been thinking about for a while now, and Austin’s call just gave me an idea. Why is it that Kit’s guardians are all one-of-a-kinds, so to speak? We are all either the strongest of our kind or the only representatives of what seemed like extinct species, right? The twins were destined to rule as Blood and Ink Mages, and with their familiars they’re the strongest ruling Mages that have existed in thousands of years. I’m quite literally the only babdh here on Earth right now. You two, well until today we were pretty sure you were the only dragon shifters in existence, and River...”
“Is something else altogether,” the man in question finished for Wes, coming into the room and sitting with us. He looked impeccable, just like the first time we’d met. Sharply ironed suit pants and a crisp white dress shirt open at the neck made me want to rip it all off him and...
“Hey!” I frowned. “You’re in fresh clothes! Who did your laundry?”
River’s lips pulled up in a hint of a smile, and he winked one of those gorgeous golden eyes at me. Bastard.
“Unimportant right now, sweetheart,” Wesley scolded me. “My point here is. I think that it was more than mere coincidence that we all became Kit’s dianoch. I think that there is something more at play here. Maybe that was also why Director Pierre had kept us all in the dark on this whole thing. I don’t really know. But what I’m saying here is—”
“That together we represent some of the strongest factions of supernatural kind. So, it stands to reason that if there are any elders or ancients in each of our species, they might hold the amulet shard we need,” Vali finished for him, and Wesley nodded.
“Or at least be able to point us in the right direction,” River murmured. “I think you’re right. It’s worth investigating.”
I glanced between the four of them, feeling excitement bubbling in my stomach. I really shouldn’t be excited at the prospect of piecing together an amulet that was broken and hidden for probably a damn good reason. But still. There was something about questing that seriously got my blood pumping.
“So, who do we visit first?” I asked, even though the answer was clear.
Cole sighed heavily, and Vali grinned. “Looks like you’re getting to visit our home country sooner than we thought, regina mea. I will call Bunica back and let her know we are coming.”
I bounced in my seat, trying and failing to contain my excitement. “In a couple of days. We should wait for the twins to get back, and I need to get some new instructors selected from the agents I tattooed today. Something tells me we all need to stick together through this next phase. Just having Austin and Caleb away right now is making me nauseous.”
“Agreed,” River concurred. “Now, go and grab all your dirty washing. I’ll teach you a cool trick.”
My jaw dropped, but I wasn’t giving him a second to rethink his offer. My knee practically clipped Cole in the cheek, I scrambled off the couch so fast and into the bedroom to collect up every scrap of clothing I had inside the apartment.
17
“Seriously?” I deadpanned, giving River a death glare. “This is the ‘cool trick’ you wanted to show me?”
He widened his eyes at me and placed his hands on my waist. “You don’t think this is a cool trick?” he asked with all the innocence of a damn hellhound. Ugh.
“Teaching me how to use a washing machine and dryer is not a ‘cool trick’ you ass. It’s a shitty trick to fool me into doing everyone’s washing. You know I just lost fifty bucks to Caleb on this?” I was pouting and I knew it. But fuck dammit, I hated losing bets!
“Ah, but I won two hundred getting you to do it, so if I just take you out to a nice dinner, we are both winners.” He arched a brow at me, and I bit my lip to keep from smiling at him. Charming bastard. I was definitely blaming his accent for my inability to stay mad at him.
“Besides,” he continued, “what better way to get you alone for”—he leaned past me to check the timer on the massive washer— “sixty-eight minutes? And that doesn’t include drying, ironing, or folding. We could be down here all day at this rate.”
“Hmmm,” I hummed, eyeing him shrewdly. “I’m starting to think that hellhound is turning you into a bit of a sneaky badass, River Morgan.”
He leaned in closer to me, pausing with his lips near mine. “And if it is?”
“Then I’m all for it,” I replied in a breathy whisper, silently begging him to kiss me.
He did one better than that. With his hands on my waist, he boosted me up and sat my ass on the top of the washing machine, pulling my legs apart so he could stand between them. His lips pressed to mine with a demand, not a request, his tongue slipping into my mouth w
ith a wild hunger I had only glimpsed in him since he’d embraced his dual nature.
It was feral and dangerous and hot as the damn sun. I couldn’t get enough of it.
“Maybe I need to do laundry more often,” I murmured as he pulled back to strip my shirt off me and toss it aside. River chuckled, but his only response was to unbutton my jeans, then lift my ass to peel them slowly down my legs.
“Kitten,” he purred, finding me commando under the denim. “What is this?”
I huffed, but also bit back a moan as his fingertips brushed my naked groin. “Well, for starters, Cole keeps ripping my panties and you keep stealing them. And for another thing, have you seen how long it’s been since we did laundry? I’m fresh out!”
He laughed properly this time, stroking his hands up my sides and unhooking my bra to toss it on the floor with the rest of my clothes. “That’s as good a reason as any,” he agreed, palming my breasts.
“Did that door have a lock on it?” I mumbled through my aroused stupor as River took one of my nipples in his mouth and sucked at it.
We were in the basement of the Omega residential building and, considering just how many people were on campus at the moment, there was probably a damn good chance of someone walking in on us.
Then again...
“Do you care, Kitten?”
“Uh,” I groaned. “No.”
I really didn’t, either, but to save any of the younger recruits any embarrassment, I used my magic to slide a chair under the door handle before giving myself over to whatever River wanted to do for the duration of a wash cycle.
“I have been going damn near out of my mind this past week, Kitten,” he admitted to me as his hands roamed my body and I kissed his neck. “Have you been deliberately avoiding us?”
“Uh,” I hedged, “maybe?”
He let a rather wolfish growl rumble his chest, and when he met my eyes, I swear the gold flickered a little. “Well, stop. That’s an order, Kitten.”
My eyes widened, and heat pooled between my legs. “Yes, sir.”
“Now I am going to need to punish you, so I expect you to sit there and take it with grace. Are we clear?” He arched a brow at me, and my breath caught in my throat, rendering me speechless. Instead, I simply nodded. “Pardon me, Kitten? I will need your verbal response.”
“Yes, sir,” I breathed again, and he nodded.
“Good girl.” He took my hands from his shoulders and placed them on the top of the washer, beside my butt.
Anticipation was driving my arousal higher, and I chewed my lower lip as I watched him roll up his shirt sleeves. “What are you going to do, sir?”
A decidedly wicked smile curved his lips, and he parted my legs wider with strong hands, sinking to his knees between them. “This,” he replied, his hot breath fanning over my exposed pussy and making me whimper. “For as long as I damn well like.”
The washer gave a jerk and shudder right as his fingers spread my pussy open and his tongue touched my already swollen clit, startling me into a little scream. Suddenly I was understanding the appeal of doing the laundry.
For far, far longer than any man should torture a woman, River teased at me with his lips, tongue, fingers, and teeth, until I was a panting, begging, sobbing mess on top of the washer. For its part, the machine was doing a damn good impression of me, the way it shuddered and quivered beneath me.
“Sir, please,” I begged for what felt like the millionth time, “you’re killing me here. I swear, I learned my lesson. Please, please, finish me the fuck off.”
“Hmm,” he murmured, nipping the inside of my thigh and smirking up at me with wet lips. “Perhaps you have learned. I think this lesson really needs to be driven home, though.”
Before I could demand to know what in the hell he meant by that, he pulled something from his pocket and slid it along the length of my soaking core. “This, my darling Kitten,” he informed me as the ribbed silicone toy massaged my sensitive flesh, “is going in here.” He used the small end to circle my asshole and then applied a little pressure. “Where it will stay until I tell you otherwise. Am I clear?”
“Yes, fuck yes,” I panted, pushing into the toy with eager acceptance.
“Good girl,” he praised, pushing with more pressure until the ribbed creation was firmly inside me with the tight ring of muscle holding it in place.
Getting to his feet, he unbuckled his belt and opened his pants, showing me that he, too, was going commando today. Then again, I knew from experience that was his preference regardless of the laundry situation.
“I hope I am making my point clear, Kitten,” he teased, tapping at my desperately swollen clit with the tip of his granite cock.
I moaned a little, trying to scoot myself closer to him, but feeling the toy in my ass shift, I almost blacked out from sheer pleasure. “Crystal clear, sir,” I responded, regripping the top of the washing machine as it slowed it’s wobbling but began whirring like something else was starting.
“Excellent, Kitten. Exactly what I like to hear. Now hold on tight; the spin cycle just started.”
His warning didn’t come a moment too soon. My hands locked around his neck, and his cock drove deep inside me right as the washer began shaking like a thing possessed. Even under the most mundane circumstances, the vibrations off the washing machine would be enough to drive one to orgasm. Add to that a toy buried in my ass and a hard cock pumping in and out of my cunt... I was destroyed.
Needless to say, when we finally made it back upstairs with baskets of perfectly laundered clothes for everyone, I had seriously changed my opinion of doing laundry. Fucking sign me up on a weekly basis if it was always going to be like that.
“How long am I keeping this inside me?” I murmured to River as we paused to kiss outside the apartment door.
“Until you are so wet and desperate to be fucked, you can barely stand. Then you’ll come to me on your hands and knees and beg me to remove it... and replace it with something more satisfying. Understood?” He murmured the sultry words in my ear, and I shivered with anticipation.
Still, it didn’t hurt to be a little defiant.
“What makes you think that will happen soon?” I challenged and instantly saw that he’d been waiting for that exact response. Reaching back into his pocket, he extracted a tiny remote—like a garage door opener, except when he clicked the button on this remote, the silicone plugged up my ass began buzzing with an intensity that made my knees weak.
Damn him.
Determined to be stubborn, I managed to hold out all through dinner and even managed not to smack River in his smug face when Caleb asked me to help wash up and he hit the damn vibrate button.
By the time the twins and Vali had headed out to run night classes, though, I was on the verge of killing someone with my mutant, overstimulated sex drive. Shit was getting out of hand.
“Everything okay in here?” River asked with an innocently neutral expression on his face as I put away the last plate and hung my towel up to dry.
Whirling around to glare at him, I propped my hands on my hips and glanced around to see where Cole and Wes were.
“No, Alpha. Things are not bloody okay,” I hissed at him in a whispered mockery of his accent. “You know that damn fucking well too. Now, what do you plan to do about it?”
His lips curved in a self-satisfied smile, and he tipped his head toward the bedroom. “Come on then, Kitten.” In a few brisk strides he was already inside the room and loosening his tie before my tingling, frazzled body could stumble into action and follow him. The second I crossed the threshold and closed the door, he held up a hand to halt me in my tracks.
“On your knees, Kitten,” he demanded, getting comfortable on the bed and gazing at me with hooded eyes. “I want to see you crawl to me and then beg for me to fuck you.”
Growling under my breath, but not able to deny the rush of arousal at his command, I sank to my knees and did as I was told.
“Please, sir,” I begged w
hen I reached the side of the bed. “Please will you fuck me and relieve this unbearable state of constant arousal you’ve left me in all damn evening?”
“Your begging could use some work, Kitten,” he observed. “But we can work on that. Take your clothes off. All of them.”
Eager to get down to it, I tore my shirt over my head and unclipped my bra, then felt a cool breeze against my full breasts as the door opened, and I hesitated at my waistband.
“Keep stripping, Kitten,” River ordered me, his hand cupping the bulge in his suit pants as he looked over to the door. “What’s up, Cole?”
“Sorry, Alpha,” Cole rumbled, actually sounding apologetic. “Vali has hit a snag with one of the shifters that he says he needs your help on.”
I watched as River’s jaw twitched with frustration and his eyes caressed my now naked form. “Can it wait?”
Cole grunted a noise. “Apparently not. Need me to take over here?” He suddenly sounded a whole lot less apologetic, and I cast him a wink over my shoulder.
River didn’t respond for a moment then sighed heavily. “Fine, I’ll go. You and Wes can probably handle this.” He gave me a mischievous smile. “To be continued, Kitten.”
“Count on it, sir,” I promised him, then grinned up at Cole who came to stand on the opposite side of the bed from me, his pants already open.
River reluctantly left the room, calling for Wes on his way, and both Cole and I waited for the shyest member of our team to come and join the fun.
“Hey guys, River said you—” Wes cut off as he entered the room and saw what was going on. Or what was about to go on. “Oh,” he murmured, his cheeks flushing.
“Get on the bed, Vixen,” Cole instructed me with his thick cock now fully erect and in his hand. “On your back with your head here.” His knee tapped the bed below his crotch, and I knew my eyes had widened with excitement.
