Bloody and Rare 🌶🌶🌶

ZAYDA

“There is ~nothing~ that would make me agree to work with you again!”

My words dripped with contempt. Every second that passed in his office made me more claustrophobic, more livid.

Though I couldn’t deny that his speech made me nervous.

I had absorbed Xythor’s powers. The dragons would find out.

And then they would come for me.

I’d even been so stupid as to tell Maddie what had happened.

I needed a friend so badly that I hadn’t even considered the consequences.

No way would she keep my secret from her mates…

If I had to pay for my stupidity, so be it. But I would face it alone. As far as possible from Xander and his fucked-up university.

“Zayda, I know there is ~one~ thing that will convince you.” Xander smiled wickedly. “Just like that panacea was a special project of your own,” he began, “I kept something from you too.”

I glared.

“Using simple methods, I have discovered an ingenious process…with life-altering results.”

I struggled with my bonds, but Xander pretended not to notice. Instead, he raised his voice.

“I can bring dragons back from the dead.”

~What?!~

My heart skipped a beat, but I didn’t let my face betray my surprise.

“As long as I have a sample of blood, I can resurrect them.”

“You don’t have Xythor’s blood—”

“No, I don’t, Zayda. But you do.”

The awful truth hit me. Since I had absorbed Xythor’s power, his blood coursed through my veins alongside mine.

Xander leaned toward me and went in for the kill.

“I can bring back Xythor. But only if you’ll agree to help me.”

Rage filled me so completely that I felt like my skin was burning.

It was hard for me to see straight as I contemplated this devil’s bargain.

I was lost in memories of my lover’s fingers tracing down my spine, the way his eyes lit up when I entered a room…

I knew I’d never have love like that again.

Unless it was with Xythor.

How could I say no to having Xythor back? But how could I ever work with Xander again?

Xander rose and approached me, unlocking the chains on my wrists with a small key.

“If you would like, you may leave of your own free will…”

But I was rooted to the chair. Even without the bonds, I was still trapped.

“You have three days to make a decision. But know that I will not make this offer again.”

I was overcome by the most powerful desire—the longing for lost love. My time with Xythor had been so short.

And for more time…I would do anything.

I glared at the mad scientist. The man I detested more than anything, who represented to me evil itself.

But how could I refuse him?

MADDIE

“Hey!” I shrieked.

I felt a sharp sting on my butt. I turned to find Loch with a metal spatula in his hand, his green eyes shining.

~Predictable.~

I charged as if I would tackle him, but he deflected my advance with a small wave of his hand.

I caught myself with my back against the kitchen island.

“Don’t you have something to do other than torment me?” I asked, rolling my eyes.

Loch came so close to me that I could smell his breath. I felt the heat from his perfect chest under his white T-shirt.

“Yes, I’m making dinner,” he growled. “New York Strip. Extra rare.”

I smiled at him under my long lashes.

“Medium rare for me, please,” I requested innocently.

But Loch slammed down his palms on the island, trapping me between his arms.

“Have we taught you nothing, mouse?” he hissed.

I shrieked and wiggled down, trying to escape his hulking form.

I managed to sneak through his legs, but when I stood again, I was facing a nearly identical chiseled chest clad in another white T-shirt.

Hael.

“I hear you’re being a bad little rat,” he smirked.

“Oh, the ~worst,~” I replied, mirroring my mates’ sinister tones.

Faster than lightning, Hael reached for my waist and dug into my sides, tickling me.

I shrieked, but I knew there was no escape.

I sank to the kitchen floor, squirming under Hael’s relentless touch. And when I looked up, I saw Loch standing beside him.

And he was also reaching down, right for my most sensitive tickle spot…my knees…

“Noooo!” I wailed, before I lost my voice in a fit of laughter.

I writhed around on the ground, kicking wildly, but none deterred my mates.

“How did you—know about—my knees?!” I asked, gasping for breath as I clawed against the floor.

I was still wearing my mint bracelet, after all. My mates couldn’t read my mind.

“As if we don’t know ~everything~ about your body, little pet,” Hael said seductively.

I tried to be tough, but they soon had me whimpering.

Because slowly their touches were changing from jabbing tickles to sensuous holds.

Loch pressed my shoulders into the ground so that my chest rose into the air with my ragged breath.

Hael separated my legs, turning them outward before pressing them down. Beneath my thin shorts, my sex was open and quivering with anticipation.

Hael leaned down until his nose almost touched me and breathed in.

“Ohhh!” I cried.

“Mmmmmmm,” he growled.

I wanted to squirm, but I was pinned to the marble kitchen floor.

Loch’s hands moved to my collarbone, massaging the tender muscles beneath before tracing down my sternum, between my breasts.

I was only wearing a flimsy tank, and the brothers watched my nipples immediately harden.

Loch scooped one breast and then the other from my shirt with one hand.

My breath caught at being exposed before my mates—a sensation I might never get used to.

Hael ran a finger over the center of me. I knew I had already soaked through my shorts.

I opened like a flower beneath their touch.

Returning his hands to hold my shoulders, Loch began nibbling and lapping at one of my nipples, making me shudder.

Hael, well aware of my desperation, tore apart my shorts at the seam.

I felt his warm breath on my exposed core as he leaned before me, holding down my legs.

His tongue darted lightly over my clitoris, and I arched my spine. I wanted to grind my body against him, but I was stuck in place.

Loch covered my nipple with his mouth, sucking and nibbling as Hael’s soft lips kissed my sex. His tongue ran lap after lap around my clit.

They knew I liked when they were rough.

They knew everything I liked, and they wanted to make sure I knew it too.

Finally, when I couldn’t handle the teasing any longer, Hael pressed the tip of his tongue directly to my bud…

The sudden pressure made my orgasm wind up like a spring inside me…

I was about to cum. And both of my mates knew it.

Loch bit my nipple hard as I released. The combined sensations made me scream, bucking into Hael’s mouth.

I sighed as the brothers returned to their feet.

Loch headed to the stove as I lay on the floor like a rag doll.

“You guys need to buy me some new clothes,” I said. “All of mine get torn apart.”

“We’ll see about that, street rat. Wouldn’t want you getting spoiled,” Hael said, looking down at me with his hands on his hips.

“Fuck!” Loch shouted. He was standing at the counter, slicing into a steak on a plate.

“What?!” I asked, hopping to my feet.

“I overcooked the steak,” he pouted.

“Uh, that looks rare to me,” I said, staring at the red center and the blood leaking out.

It had only taken the brothers mere minutes to make me cum, but apparently even that was too long.

Loch lifted the plate tenderly…and then sent it sailing into the far kitchen wall.

~Smash!~

“Woah!” I gasped. “What did you do that for?”

“It was inedible, mouse,” Loch explained as he looked at my naked body like I was, conversely, very edible.

There was steak juice dripping down the white wall.

“Hmmm,” I replied, reaching for another fine china plate. “Well, that’s too bad!”

I sent it spinning like a frisbee and crashing after the first.

And I had to admit, it was quite the rush.

I shrieked as Hael grabbed my waist, pulling me toward him.

“Naughty mouse,” he growled in my ear. “You think you can do whatever we do?”

“Um, yes,” I replied honestly.

Hael sent another plate soaring. I turned and punched him in the chest, and then Loch came at me from behind…

And before I knew it, we were all on the kitchen floor once again.

Hael’s head was resting on my stomach when it let out a low rumble.

“You’re insatiable, rat,” Loch said with a smirk. “Okay, let’s go out for dinner.”

STORM

As I touched down on Req Tower, I grabbed the edge of the tall building in my talons and fanned my wings to stabilize my massive dragon form.

It was true that I hardly ever left the Shadow Realm. I preferred that black and white world to the cold streets of Requiem City.

But after my time with Madeline, I knew I needed to investigate.

I went into our meeting knowing that Madeline was strong-willed. ~Spunky,~ to say the least.

But she did not take well to my hypothesis.

If she ~was~ the second coming of Freesia, she would have to accept her fate willingly.

And I was beginning to understand that there were few things that Madeline did willingly…

I huffed smoke from my snout, focusing my hawk-like eyes down into the city in search of the other young woman.

The other potential reincarnation of Freesia.

The one who might be able to save us all.

~Zayda.~

Though I was uncertain about the prospect.

She was a Blood Raven. Mages and dragons had been mortal foes since the beginning of time. To me, it was rather curious that her dragon lover had met an untimely death…

Just then, I caught sight of her.

It was a rather unlikely location, though I admit it was the first place my powerful intuition pointed me:

~Xander University.~

The young mage stood with her arms crossed, staring intently at the chapel that I knew held Freesia’s Rock…

Could it be that Zayda already knew about her potential connection to the one who had cursed us all?

If she stood on the grounds at all, she was associated with the university. With Xander himself. Therefore, she could not be trusted.

Or could she?

~Very curious, indeed.~

I would definitely need to keep a closer eye on this one…