The living space that connected her quarters with those closest to her was chilly, but for the first time Adelina felt like it was a relief after the hours training with Nadyah. After they’d warmed up, they’d set up the holo to train them in the Drakesthai fighting style that Kaiden had uploaded for her.

It was similar to the one the Draga Royal Army used, but created with wings in mind. They’d selected both male and female fighting forms to learn what they could about both, but Adelina felt anxious as she fought against a holographic Drakesthai.

They weren’t her enemy. But there was no fighting program for the Neprijat. Though apparently P’draic was working on one in his down time based on the scans he’d done of the battles.

There were no fighting programs on their enemy ships – no useful information. The Neprijat fighters weren’t built for long distance and they hadn’t been able to capture a warship. So the maps on the small ones were limited. But the outposts…the techs had been working on some of the deeper encryption.

Adelina wanted to know everything she could about her enemy, even if she no longer needed to worry about their home system. Asher had taken care of that bit at least.

Thank the Three-faced Goddess he’d survived. And after checking the reports Adelina had seen that Sirus and Veri had as well. Her cousins and Giselle were also alive. William, her little brother – whom she’d carried in her arms as a babe all those cycles ago…he was alive and well as Asher had said if a bit bruised up.

It was a gift from the Goddess.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and wished Nadyah had been able to stay a bit, but as one of the queen’s advisors she had to clean up, dress, and deal with the Unchanged. Adelina vowed to speak with them soon.

When Asher arrived with Brogna she would be the first to speak face to face with their Brogna citizens since…was it her father or her grandfather’s reign? Either way it had been too long since a royal deigned to care about the small system they’d acquired centuries ago.

They still had a few days before Kaita would need them, but everything had to be prepared. It had to be ready instantly when that beacon went off. No delays.

Soon, her armada would be poised to infiltrate Khara.

And the weapons she’d promised Asher…she should check on those as well.

The main door opened and Nash strode in looking exhausted. He paused when he saw her still in her training clothes and heat flared in his eyes. “You look ravishing,” he murmured, sitting on the couch next to her.

Adelina smiled slightly as he sat as close as possible without touching her. “Thank you. How did everything go?”

Nash propped his elbow up on the top of the couch and then placed his chin in his hand as he raked his eyes over her body. “The mechas are all prepped and ready to go. The ones that needed it are repaired and I have an army of techs building more. Varan is still working with some of the warriors to build up morale and teach them a few tricks. Kaiden is dealing with the Drakesthai ships and the supply lines from the planets in his system.”

Everything was going according to plan it seemed. “What do you think of the Unchanged?” she asked, scooting a little closer so that their knees brushed against each other.

Nash hissed in a breath at the contact, but still kept his hands to himself. “They are strange, but amusing. Much more intelligent than they let on. I heard you’ve ordered the research on the weapons. Do you think that a solution will be found in time?”

Adelina shrugged. “I have to hope so, but I plan to capture a Neprijat warship. Would you like to help me?”

Nash’s eyes glittered and he traced a single finger down her bare arm. Adelina shivered at the gentle touch and all the promise it held. “For their weapons?”

She nodded and placed a hand on his muscled thigh and let it trail up. And up. “Perhaps we can improve upon their design, find a weakness in their shields. But my main concern is finding a solution for the horde. We will need more weapons after we take Khara. And a way to keep them contained.”

Her mind had been chewing on the problem for a while now and slowly a plan had begun to form, but she wasn’t ready yet to reveal her idea. There were a few other things she needed to test first and Adelina hadn’t decided who to trust yet with Roxy off to war.

Sliding her hand higher Nash hissed as she grazed his already hard cock. Then higher still so she could place her hand on the lower muscles of his abdomen.

Nash flexed those glorious muscles as he pressed his nose to her hair and breathed her in. “We’ll find a way.”

Adelina felt something settle inside at his words. She trusted Nash to find a solution even if she could not. There were so many around her who were strong, smart, brave, and dedicated. She was not alone and they would find a way to win this war together.

Climbing into his lap slowly, Adelina straddled him, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. “If I can get you to agree to being my husband – then I believe I am capable of anything,” she teased, playing with his long hair.

Nash chuckled and gripped her hips hard. “Are you saying I’m a difficult male?”

She tilted her head and considered him. “I would have used the word hardheaded…problematic…perhaps even impossible.”

He growled and lifted Adelina up to settle her back down against that long hard length of him. She gasped and Nash took advantage, taking her mouth with his. Then he slid his tongue against hers.

The groan that escaped her might have been embarrassing if Nash hadn’t eaten it up with relish, grinding her against him – the thin training pants she wore making the sensation all the more delectable.

“Looks like I’m late to the party,” Varan purred from the doorway.

Nash cursed and broke the kiss. Adelina just laughed as color flushed the great warrior’s cheeks. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that,” Nash muttered, eyeing Varan like he worried her husband might attack him at any moment.

Varan simply grinned and plopped onto the couch next to them, leaning his head back and closing his eyes. “It’s been a long day, mate. I’m not sure I could satisfy our wife in my usual way. If you wish to try your hand at it go right ahead.”

Adelina hid her smile by pressing her face to Nash’s shoulder, waiting to see what he would decide to do. She rocked against him in suggestion, letting him know what she would like.

Nash’s grip tightened on her hips and Adelina peered over her shoulder at Varan. “Is there anything I can do for you, husband?”

“Go have fun and then cuddle with me after. I’m too tired to do anything other than let you ride me.” Varan’s lips twitched, but he kept his eyes closed.

Adelina leaned over to whisper in his ear, making sure it was loud enough for Nash to hear. “I can always ride you after as well.”

Varan grinned at that and cracked one eye open. “You’re insatiable, my love. I adore it.”

She felt Nash relax ever so slightly, but his cock was still as hard as a rock.

This was what would be the most work, getting all three of her males to become comfortable with each other. Adelina had no plans to make any of them do anything they did not wish to.

Based on previous experiences the one she was most worried about was Nash.

Kaiden and Varan got along well. Very well. Adelina flushed as she remembered how they’d made love to her together. She couldn’t help the way she moved against Nash’s hard length.

He groaned and it almost sounded painful. “You’re torturing me,” he murmured in her ear, glancing only once at Varan whose eyes were closed once more.

“Then do something about it,” she said softly, her lips brushing against his ear.

Adelina wondered if he could even manage it with Varan in the other room, but she hoped one day they wouldn’t have to leave the room. Perhaps one day…they would all be comfortable with each other.

Nadyah might complicate things, but Adelina knew it would work out. The road they’d traveled had prepared them and she knew that after a bit of adjustment everything would be fine.

Nash still didn’t move so Adelina peeled off her top, still damp with her sweat. There was nothing underneath and Nash hissed in a breath at the sight of her tight nipples and heavy breasts.

Varan ran one hand down her spine, but otherwise kept to himself.

“Would you like to carry me into my bedroom?” Adelina asked, holding Nash’s face as she studied it, every line and curve. She memorized the way his eyes looked when he wanted her so badly he clenched his jaw – the way that muscle in his cheek flickered as he considered, and how his long hair curled making him look like a wild man.

He was utterly delicious and she wanted him to be a brute – to take her like she knew he wanted to.

Without another word he lifted her up and Adelina wrapped her legs around his waist. She blew Varan a kiss and he caught it in his hand without opening his eyes. He held it to his heart and Adelina knew deep in her bones Varan was exactly who she needed him to be.

He was the perfect first husband, the perfect king consort. And she would make sure to reward him handsomely.

“I don’t want you to be gentle with me,” Adelina murmured as they crossed the threshold into her bedroom. “I don’t want you to take your time. I want you to dominate me.”

Nash threw her on the bed with a growl, losing all control at her words. It was an unleashing – an unmasking as she dared him to expose what he was under that barely polite façade he always kept up for her.

He was a Corinthian prince, born and bred for battle. Each of his muscles were a testament to the cycles he’d spent honing his body into a weapon – a beautiful weapon.

Her pants came off a moment later and then Nash unbuckled his, freeing that raging erection. Adelina sat up and grabbed him, gently pulling him towards her so she could wrap her lips around his massive girth.

Nash thrust into her mouth with a deep groan, but then he yanked away. Suddenly Adelina was on her stomach and those massive hands kneaded her ass. She almost protested the lack of intimacy, but this was what she’d asked for.

Him taking her with Varan in the other room…the door not even closed…it was a huge step and Adelina refused to distract him.

Then she sensed Nash drop to his knees and suddenly his tongue licked her from one end to the other and she couldn’t help but press back against his mouth, begging for more without saying a word.

The slick warmth of his tongue and the slight pressure took the edge off but it also built the want to a nearly unbearable height. She ached in a way that only having him inside her could satisfy.

But Nash took his time.

He’d always been a selfless lover. Only when she was little more than a shaking mess did Nash take what he wanted—what he needed.

The Corinthian prince – her fiancé and mate – brought her right to the edge, licking and sucking and kneading her thighs with his massive hands…then suddenly he stopped and Adelina prayed he wouldn’t make her wait much longer.

When the head of his cock pressed against her entrance she gasped and pressed back again, trying to force him inside, but Nash held back. “Is this what you wanted?” he asked, voice rough with need.

Her nails tore at the sheets but Adelina let him remain in control – right now she needed this, to be dominated. “Yes,” she murmured into the bed, groaning when he slid in just a few centimeters.

The glorious stretch as he filled her – so excruciating and slow and delicious…Adelina needed more, she needed all of him.

Then Nash slammed into her – just as she’d asked. Adelina cried out and gripped the silk sheets, not caring when they tore again. “Like that?” he asked, his fingertips pressing into her hips and Adelina hoped they left marks.

“Harder,” she whispered.

Nash’s throaty groan made her shiver in pleasure and anticipation. He may be in control but Adelina knew she was fraying that leash he held so tightly. The submissive still had so much control – all the control depending on how one looked at it.

Then he slid out, slamming back into her and the tip of his cock pressed right against that sensitive spot inside, hitting exactly the place she needed him and Adelina moaned, raking her nails down the bed.

Her warrior brute picked up the pace, taking her without mercy and the pressure built hard and fast on top of what he’d already done to her. Adelina was so sensitive – right on the edge as Nash filled her completely. He used her body just as she’d asked him to.

“Come with me,” she whispered – gripping onto the shredded sheets hard. Adelina was about to lose her mind and Nash hardened even further. He was so close. “Please, my love,” she begged.

A few more days and they would be attacking the Neprijat in Khara, fighting with Kaita and the Drakesthai to take back another system. If the battles throughout Hai were any indication…Khara would be so much worse.

Hai had been ruled by the Neprijat, but they had not been occupied to the extent Khara was. They had not been enslaved and murdered in quite the same way. The Neprijat hadn’t seen them as a threat with their entire race dying out.

And Adelina was no fool. She knew the risks were high. She knew that each of the one’s she loved could die fighting this war. It was entirely possible she might not survive the war, or she could go back to her homeworld with one less lover than anticipated.

The thoughts had been pushed to the back of her mind for weeks, but they still gnawed at her. They made Adelina feel desperate to take advantage of whatever time they had left. She wanted to take each of her mates as many times as possible. Each of them needed to be reminded how much she loved them.

They had to be reminded that she needed them to walk off those battlefields alive so they could come back home with her.

And with the desperation that Nash took her – his roar as he reached completion…Adelina screamed as she clenched around him, the orgasm ripping through her – her mates felt much the same way.

Nash breathed in harsh pants as he pressed inside her one last time, his entire body shaking.

Adelina crawled forward so he slid out of her, and then turned around, reaching for him.

Gently she held his face and kissed him, pouring every feeling she had for him into that kiss. She wanted Nash to feel her love for him – she did not want him to doubt. This kiss…she wanted him to remember it when they were fighting – when it felt like perhaps it wasn’t worth trying to live in those desperate moments.

He collapsed on the bed when she released him and Adelina quirked a smile at his tired form before sliding off the bed. His seed slid out of her and down her leg, but she didn’t care. She had another who needed her as well.

Adelina walked into the living space completely naked and Varan’s eyes were already on her, raking over her entire body, nostrils flaring at the scent of Corinthian male and sex – of her pleasure and the desire she still had.

Insatiable.

Her mates surely made her feel like that raging need she’d felt that first time she’d kissed Nash on the balcony during her coming of age party…they made her feel like being mated had only made it a thousand times worse.

Perhaps it would die down after time, after their bodies’ biological needs had been satisfied – an effort to procreate as quickly as possible as Ian had once explained. But even if it didn’t, Adelina wouldn’t mind.

After all, she had three mates, and perhaps one day soon, Nadyah as well.

Never once did Varan blink as she approached him. Adelina licked her lips and fell to her knees before him.

As queen she would never kneel to anyone but the gods and goddesses, and the Crown. But Varan? She would kneel before him for everything he’d ever done for her.

Her hands slid up his legs and her long fingers grazed the inside of his thigh and then his cock as she reached for the clasp on his pants. A flick of a finger and it popped open. She held his eyes the whole time, letting him see her soul as she slowly pulled down the leather pants he favored – the ones that always made her feel flushed and giddy.

Varan didn’t move as she slid them down except to lift his hips so she could pull them. They pooled on the floor around his ankles and boots. Again she ran her hands up his legs, but this time it was skin to skin and his emerald eyes sparked when she licked her lips.

But he didn’t tell her no. Rather his cock jerked upward when her thumbnail caressed the inside of his thigh. He was already so hard – no doubt listening to her find her pleasure had an effect on him.

Without a word she gently palmed his testicles and wrapped her other hand around the base of his thick cock. Adelina licked the precum glistening on the tip and Varan sucked in a harsh breath at the contact.

Then she took as much of him into her mouth as she could stand and sucked. He hardened to the point it had to be physically painful and Varan groaned so deep she felt it through his thighs. Adelina licked and sucked until Varan was panting, his hands clenching and unclenching.

She released him and slowly climbed up to straddle him, soaking wet from the pleasure she’d given him. It mixed with Nash’s seed on her thighs, but Varan never hesitated. His hands came up to rest on her legs – so natural it was like they’d been married for cycles instead of a month.

Then his hand slid down and he rubbed Nash’s seed into her skin with his thumb. Adelina bit her lip and adjusted his cock. Then she sank down on him with a sigh. He was large and hard and fit perfectly. It made her shiver again as the aftershocks of the orgasm Nash had given her rippled through her entire body.

The aftershocks added to what was already building – the new wave of pleasure that already demanded release as it built, ready to crest and barrel through her at a moment’s notice.

Adelina rolled her hips and closed her eyes at the sensation. Varan seated so deep it hit right where she wanted him – right where Nash had been only moments before. The thought made her wild and desperate. For a moment she wished Nash was ready, but knew he wasn’t. This was something they would grow into as a family.

Varan urged her on, watching her without a word, eyes unblinking as she rode him and the pleasure between them built into one and they both gritted their teeth, holding off for as long as possible.

She wanted this moment in time to last forever. Adelina wanted this bliss she felt with the males she loved to wrap her up tight and protect her from the horrors of what would come next. But this was not how life or destiny seemed to work.

So she rode him until her release hit hard enough she saw stars, until Varan’s growl as he came filled her senses – floating in that sound as her knees buckled and she collapsed on top of Varan. He pulsed inside of her a few more times and each time she clenched around him, milking his orgasm.

His hand ran up and down her spine, over the new mark the Master Sealer had etched into her skin after the battle of Hai. Varan kissed the golden mark on her brow and held her close. “When I said cuddle, I hadn’t anticipated this kind, but I believe I enjoy it just as much if not more,” he said with a chuckle.

Adelina smiled against his chest and snuggled closer. Varan rested his chin on the top of her head with a satisfied sigh. “I was hoping the brute would come out and join us,” he muttered. “But I understand how intimidating the size of my cock can be.”

She grinned and there was a snort from the bedroom.

“I doubt I’d be intimidated,” Nash stated from the doorway.

Adelina turned to see him standing naked, large length swinging with his arms across his chest. The tattoos always made her mouth water. And despite not having made it official, they’d already gotten their marriage bands. Varan traced the mark on her arm like he knew what she was thinking about.

Even if they weren’t technically married, Adelina had wanted that connection between them – that undeniable bond in case anything happened. She would know it was real, even if they never had the chance to marry.

There was no time for a big wedding to Kaiden or Nash amidst war. But Adelina had found a way to claim them both despite the universe keeping them so busy.

“Then maybe you’ll join us next time,” Varan said, cock twitching inside her as it hardened once more.

Adelina gasped at the sensation and both males fixated on her with their intensity.

“Maybe I will,” Nash murmured, eyeing the curves of her ass and Adelina watched as his own cock twitched in response to the sight – as though he were thinking of taking Varan up on the offer right at that moment.

Her mouth went dry with anticipation.

Right as Nash stepped forward the door to her suite opened from the main hall and Kaiden appeared. His wings filled the doorway and he stilled when he saw the scene before him.

Adelina smiled and reached out for him. “Would you like to join us?”

His wings rustled as he looked from her to Nash, both of them completely naked. The Corinthian prince had frozen, but he’d found a weapon from somewhere. Adelina smiled at the sight of him ready for battle in nothing but his skin.

Nash deactivated the plasma and tossed the sword on the empty couch with a shrug as if to say ‘one can never be too prepared.’

There was hunger in Kaiden’s eyes, but also a wariness that instantly sobered her. “As much as I would love to, kyotona, Asher is not far away and I have information I think you’ll want to hear.”

Adelina nodded and kissed Varan before standing. The scent of his seed mixed with Nash’s made her desire flare again. All three of them could smell her need based on the way their eyes darkened. “Let me fetch my robe and we can discuss it.”

Kaiden stepped in and the door closed behind him silently. “Should I undress as well?” he asked, eyeing Nash’s naked form and Varan’s undressed one.

“Only if you wish, my love,” she tossed over her shoulder, secretly hoping he would. “Can you tell me everything you need to while inside me?”

The scent of all three of their desire flaring at her words shouldn’t have pleased her as much as it did.