Jay was the first to regain consciousness and discovered he was in a stone-floored room with Rain and Asar that had no natural light or windows. There was no furniture either, so he assumed he was back in the palace dungeons. When the Queen had turned the full power of her wrath on Rain, both he and Asar had leapt in to save her at exactly the same moment, which had infuriated the Queen.
Which meant he had to act fast and get moving before the Queen left the province, leaving them to rot and taking her secrets with her. Jay staggered to his knees, still reeling from the force of the telepathic blow the Queen had dealt them. If they hadn’t all reacted instinctively to shield each other—
“Jay?”
He looked down to see Rain opening her now-bloodshot eyes.
“Are you okay?” Jay asked. Asar muttered something foul and rolled away into the darkness to puke and curse. “I need to get out of here, and find the Queen.”
Rain reached out and grabbed his ankle. “We all do, so slow down a minute. Let’s do what you originally suggested and work through this together.”
Jay hesitated, all his thoughts on the Queen. He wasn’t a natural team player. He wanted to protect Rain and Asar, not lead them into further danger. Rain dug her nails into his flesh, making him wince.
“Come on, Jay! We somehow survived by working together. We can do it again.”
“I’m not sure how we managed to temporarily block her, but it almost killed us.” Asar joined the conversation, his voice rough. “The Queen’s power is endless and unfettered.”
“But she’s never encountered a human like Jay before, has she?” Rain pointed out, “Or…” She went still, her eyes widening. “Us. All of us together.”
Jay frowned, trying to clear his lingering headache. “What do you mean?”
“Us as a bonded triad,” Rain said. “I mean what we could become.”
“You want to take time to have sex before we wander off to get the Queen?” Jay said incredulously.
“Think about it.” Rain sat up. “She doesn’t know I can bond. With the three of us and your A.I., we will become something she’s never encountered before.”
“I do not understand any of this.” Asar was now frowning at Rain. “My mother said you were not pure Neveks.”
“She lied, or else Jay brought something new to the equation and released that ability in me.” Rain shrugged.
For the first time Asar smiled, his heart in his eyes. Jay thought he was remarkably calm for a man who was at odds with his mother for the first time in his life.
“I would willingly give my life to protect you now, but bonding with you?” He put his hand over his heart. “That would be a miracle.”
“Be careful what you wish for,” Jay muttered as he wiped the sweat from his brow. It was incredibly hot in the airless room, and he had no idea how long they’d been in there.
“LESS THAN ONE EARTH HOUR,” his A.I. helpfully reminded him, and he winced at the noise level.
“It’s an interesting idea, Rain, especially if Asar is willing to go along with it, but remember.” Jay tried to regain control of the conversation. “We don’t have two days to bond, and neither Asar or I can be staggering wrecks by the time you finish with us and we have to face the Queen.”
Rain bit her lip. “What if we ask your A.I. for an optimum shortcut to achieve the result we require?”
“CALCULATING.”
Jay heaved a resigned sigh, sat back on the floor, and took off his clothes.
Asar blinked at him. “What are you doing?”
“You might as well get naked,” Jay said. “If Rain is going super feral, she’ll rip off anything that gets in her way. I’d rather not hunt your mother down nude.”
“I am still not sure what I am getting myself into.” Asar held Jay’s gaze. “But I must say this. I do not want you to kill my mother.”
“I get that.” Jay nodded. “I don’t intend to kill her. I just need answers to some very important questions. Rain’s the one who wants to murder the woman.”
Asar swung around to Rain. “Will you promise not to kill her?”
“I promise that I’ll only go for her if she threatens your life or Jay’s.” Rain glanced from him to Jay. “Will that satisfy you?”
“I suppose it will have to.” Asar stretched out his massive frame. “I doubt there is an answer that will satisfy me, but I appreciate your restraint.”
“CALCULATION COMPLETED,” the A.I. interrupted them. “THIS SHOULD BE ENTERTAINING.”
Jay blinked as his internal computer apparently developed a sense of humor at the worse time imaginable. The A.I. sent the information to all three of them, and Jay nodded. “Okay, that’s doable. Let’s go for it.”
“Wait.” Rain touched his arm. “When we form this bond, there is no breaking it until we die. Are you both willing to agree to that?” She took a quick breath. “And Jay, when we are bonded, I expect you to share exactly why you came to Neveks.”
Jay scanned the two bruised and battered faces in front of him, and made a decision that suddenly felt remarkably easy. “I’ll do that now if you like.”
“There’s not enough time.” Rain’s smile was shaky, but definitely there. “Let’s begin.”
Asar glanced nervously from Rain to Jay as he stripped off his tunic. He could sense no one around their prison, which was directly beneath the royal apartments. He dared not attempt to discover where his mother was. Knowing her well, he suspected she wasn’t done with them yet and was simply plotting to deceive them and leave, presumably with them all dead. If Jay hadn’t thrown his psychic energy over them, Asar was fairly certain he and Rain would be dead now. The faint remnants of his trust for his mother had died while he still lived. She was unstable, she was dangerous, and he would not allow her to kill Rain or Jay.
“I WILL MONITOR THE EXTREMITIES AND ALERT YOU IF NECESSARY.”
Asar jumped as the A.I. answered his unspoken worry about their security.
“Thank you.” Asar sent a tentative thought back.
“YOU ARE WELCOME.”
Jay held up his wrist, the soft skin exposed, and slashed a line across his flesh, wincing at the slight sting. “Here, Rain, start with this. I know how blood turns you on.”
Mystified, Asar watched as Rain pressed her mouth to the faint scar and slowly inhaled before rubbing her face against Jay’s hand and wrist like a feral animal marking its territory.
Then she stepped away and paced the small space. Something about her movements sent shivers of anticipation laced with a healthy dose of fear straight to Asar’s groin. He inhaled sharply as his skin heated and his cock kicked up…
Jay was also breathing heavily, his expression guarded like a man who knew what was coming but couldn’t decide whether he loved it or loathed it. He touched the side of his scarred throat and swallowed hard, one hand cradling his rapidly expanding shaft.
“Brace yourself my friend,” Jay murmured. “She’ll probably go for you first. New blood and all that.”
Asar reluctantly turned back to Rain, who was literally changing shape before his horrified eyes. He’d heard the stories of a female bonding, but he’d never anticipated this blood-curdling mix of fear and compulsion. She made a low, growling sound and turned fully toward him.
“Dear Gods…” Asar whispered as he stumbled back and hit the wall. The grotesque statues in the inner temple where only he was allowed as the son of the Queen suddenly made horrific sense. “The goddess in the flesh.”
Rain no longer looked female; her skin was scaled armor and glowed red, and her eyes had blackened and changed shape. Fangs protruded from her elongated jaw, and her fingers were now claws. His cock throbbed hard as she approached like a predator, and he couldn’t look away.
Her thoughts crashed into his mind, and for a moment he almost panicked. He floundered into the unknown, almost drowning in her demands until his body responded to her, lust betraying him, wanting her so badly that it hurt not to have her.
“Yeah, think of it like that,” Jay muttered somewhere in his consciousness. “The sacrifice is worth it.”
Rain snarled and leapt for Asar, her fangs snapping close to his face until they settled into his throat, holding him like the prey he was. Clawed fingers closed around his cock and then she was pressing down on him, her body taking him in. His mind dissolved into the chaos of fucking and a desire to give her everything she wanted even if he died from it.
He braced his feet on the floor, offering more, giving her his whole body to devour at her pleasure like a sacrifice laid open on the altar—blood, seed, and mind all hers, all—
He climaxed so fast it hurt, making him cry out as her fangs entered his neck to savor his blood. Even as he fought to gather the fragments of his mind, she moved off him and went for Jay, who groaned and toppled over as she brought him to the floor.
Asar could only watch as Rain rode Jay, her hips rising and falling, her claws raking his torso with each demanding thrust. Even as he struggled to breathe, Asar’s cock strained with need—he wanted more, wanted everything.
“Come here.”
It was impossible to resist Rain’s commanding tone. He was already crawling toward her before she finished her demand. With one smooth motion she flipped onto her back bringing Jay over her, one clawed foot pliantly squarely in his ass spreading his cheeks.
“Fuck him.”
Such was her power over Asar that he didn’t think to disobey.
“It’s okay. Do it raw.” That was Jay’s desperate voice. “I’ll worry about it if we survive.”
Asar slathered as much come and spit on himself as he could manage—which was a lot, seeing as his cock was dripping with need—and eased inside Jay’s tight ass. The instant connection between the three of them almost made his head explode. He set his jaw, fighting the need to come.
He yelped as Rain’s claws raked him from shoulder to ass like brands of fire marking him, making him smell his own blood.
“Come and keep fucking.”
Just the sound of her command had him obeying her. Each jet of come was forced out of him. He kept moving his hips, and was instantly hard again. It was easier now. He fucked Jay with his mind in some deep pit of sexual hell and desire that made him want to scream with the extreme pleasure and pain of it. But he couldn’t stop. He’d die giving her everything she demanded. He would kill anyone who tried to prise him out of Jay and Rain’s arms.
While he was coming for the third time, Rain threw Asar off Jay as if he weighed nothing. He rolled onto the stone floor gasping, one hand wrapped around his still jerking cock. In her mind, the A.I. ticked down the necessities of her conquest of both males, keeping her just this side of sanity and stopping her from giving in to the primitive desire to play with and fondle and drain her males for as many days as she could.
She pushed Jay off her, too, and breathed hard through her nose, her claws curling with the scent of her conquests. The smell of come, need, and blood owned her right now and bound the men to her. Both males were breathing hard, their gazes trained on her, half-fearful, half-lustful. She liked both of those things. She arched her back and considered what she wanted next.
“TIME IS COMPLETE. TRIAD FORMED.”
She growled deep in her throat as the A.I. spoke in her head. What did that puny set of nothing know? It was her right to take these men for as long as she wanted them.
“REMEMBER YOUR MISSION. STAY ON TASK.”
Rain’s gaze lingered on the spectacular beauty of the two men who were both watching her intently. They needed to give her more. She demanded more.
Reaching over she grabbed hold of Jay’s cock.
“Rain…you can drain us both later, but now we must stop the Queen.” Jay groaned.
She snarled and nipped the crown of his cock, making him jerk like a puppet.
“Rain…”
Asar added his calm voice to Jay’s, and she forced herself to focus, taking deep breaths until she could look at the men and see them not as her private meal, but as two warriors she needed to fight alongside her.
“Okay.” She eased back on her heels and breathed deeply, using the focusing techniques her mother had taught her to contain the beast within again. She wiggled her jaw as it reset to normal and watched her claws retract.
“Are you good?” Jay crouched in front of her, a goblet of water in his outstretched hand.
She managed to nod and then speak. “Yes. Thank you.” She could barely bring herself to look at Asar. He must think her a monster.
She drank the water, draining the cup as newfound telepathic paths forged their way through the meld of their three minds, expanding her consciousness and bringing a strength of purpose that was astounding.
So much power…
Even the A.I. was embedding itself in her mind. That tactical ability to calculate odds and probabilities might give them the edge they needed to capture the Queen.
She blinked as Asar fell to his knees and kissed her hand. “Goddess.”
“Not quite.” Rain tried to ease out of his grip, but he held on. She couldn’t avoid looking at the red gash her fangs had made in his skin and inhale the smell of their joining. The calmness of his spirit rolled over her, their minds in perfect harmony just as she had once dreamed of.
He looked up at her, his heart in his eyes. “I am yours, Princess. Blood and soul.”
She hated to spoil the moment but she had to ask…
“What about your mother?”
He sighed. “She…has been behaving strangely this last year. Even before you arrived, I was considering whether to seek help from the Senate as to her well-being.”
“Hopefully, we can restrain her and find out what’s going on.” Rain patted his hand, and he finally released her. She really could do without too much touching right at this moment. She needed to channel her lust into aggression. “What’s the plan, Jay?”
Her other male grimaced as he splashed water from the jug over his battered torso and pulled on his clothes. “I don’t have one.”
“What?” Rain gawped at him. “You always have a plan. You were the one who wanted to get out of here first!”
Jay looked quizzical. “You and Asar just fucked my brains out. Forgive me if I’m not quite on point just yet.”
Rain rolled her eyes. “You enjoyed it. Now what have you got?”
“Take the Queen alive and keep her that way until I can get her to the Senate.”
“Then perhaps Asar can distract her while you knock her out or something?” Rain suggested. “Or both of us can distract her. Where is she now?”
"INNER TEMPLE.”
Rain stiffened. “Near my mother?”
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
“Then I know the quickest way to get to her.” Rain approached the door. “Can one of you open this?”