Asar opened his eyes, and stared up at the ceiling. He’d woken from an erotic dream about the male Rain had brought with her to Neveks. The thin sheet that covered his body was now tented over the thickness of his heated erection. He slid a hand beneath the cover and grasped his cock firmly in one hand as he continued thinking about the scenario he’d previously been dreaming about.
His mouth on the human’s cock, the human’s on his…their minds locked together in lust.
Even as he stroked himself, he leisurely catalogued Jay’s slim frame, the taut muscles in his arms and chest that spoke of a strength not as obvious as Asar’s, but equally dangerous. And the human’s mind…
Stop making me hard.
Jay’s amused thought crashed into Asar’s mind.
With a curse, Asar got out of bed, fashioned the silken sheet into a garment, and strode back along the hallways to the inner sanctum of the Temple. No one stopped his passage. In his mother’s absence, he was the supreme authority in Neveks.
He went through into Jay’s room. A single candle burned near the side of the bed where Jay lay on his back, one hand grasping his cock while he pleasured himself.
With a groan, Asar crashed to his knees and glared at Jay.
“What spell have you cast upon me?”
“I’ve done nothing. You think I like this?” Jay demanded. “You think I want to wake up dreaming of your mouth on me, making me come?”
“Shut up.” Asar leaned in and simply closed his mouth over the crown of Jay’s wet cock and swirled the taste around his tongue. His own shaft kicked up again with the sheer thrill as Jay gasped and thrust upward. But Asar refused to take more and concentrated his efforts on teasing and nipping the most sensitive parts of Jay’s crown, his tongue dipping into the slit, his teeth grazing the heated, pulsing flesh.
A second later, pain shot through him as Jay shoved a hand through his long hair and yanked hard.
“Take more.”
Asar ignored him.
“Am I too big for you? Are you afraid?” Jay taunted as he attempted to force Asar’s head back and away from his cock. “Don’t you want me thrusting deep down your throat making you gag and beg when I come?”
With a last savage nip, Asar reared back and swallowed Jay’s shaft whole from tip to root.
“Jeezus…” Jay gasped.
Asar sucked hard, sliding his mouth up and down Jay’s shaft as the other man bucked and cursed under him. Jay’s fingers loosened in Asar’s hair, his grasp turning into a sensual, scratching caress on his skull.
Jay’s other hand was busy, too, working its way down through the layer of silk knotted at Asar’s waist to fondle his ass and stroke and play with the soft skin of his taint and puckered hole.
“Touch my cock,” Asar demanded, so glad that telepathy meant he didn’t have to release his grip on Jay’s cock to speak. He was mouth-fucking Jay hard now, enjoying the stiff presence crowding his throat and the ripples of sensation quivering through the heated column of flesh.
“Be my guest.”
An image flashed into his head of Jay’s mouth on him and Asar instantly complied, levering himself up onto the bed and presenting his needy cock. Even as he resettled himself over Jay, he fought the scream of pure delight when the other male took him deep and sucked him hard.
They moved together like seasoned lovers. Mouths locked around each other and minds in harmony as they silently fucked, neither of them willing to be the first to come.
Jay returned to probe Asar’s ass, and he bucked hard as the tip of Jay’s finger pushed inside him. It was enough to send him over the edge. Fighting the urge to bite down or roar his pleasure he came in long, shuddering waves down Jay’s throat, triggering an answering rush of come from his companion.
For a long moment, Asar just lay still, waiting for his heart to stop pounding and for his breathing to return to normal, before he rolled off Jay and onto the floor.
“You’re leaving?” Jay asked as he wiped his mouth, his fingers lingering and tasting in a way that made Asar’s cock twitch again.
“I do not want this, and neither do you,” Asar said as he restored order to his rumpled bed sheet. Even as he spoke, his gaze was hungrily roaming down Jay’s naked form.
“It’s just sex.” Jay yawned.
Asar took a hasty step toward him. “It is more than that. You are in my head. No one can do that to a Neveks male.”
“As I told you before, I’m different.” Jay reached down and cupped his balls and cock, his thumb rubbing small circles that made Asar’s mouth go dry with lust.
“This can’t happen again,” Asar said firmly.
“Hey, you’re the one who came in here.”
“Only because you don’t know where I sleep.”
Jay raised an eyebrow. “You don’t think I could find you in a heartbeat if I wanted to?”
“You are a prisoner here on sufferance, so, no, you could not.” Too late, Asar remembered his mother’s order to treat the human as a valued guest.
“Trust me, I’d find you if I wanted you.” Jay sat up, his pale eyes narrowing. “No one would be able to stop me.”
Asar curled his lip. “Well, seeing as I will not be chasing you down again, you might have to prove that to me.”
“Don’t worry, if I’m overcome with lust and want that big, hard cock of yours again, I’ll find you.” Jay yawned again. “Biggest I’ve ever had, so thanks for that.”
Asar went still. “You have bedded other men?”
Jay’s smile died. “They don’t break as easily as women.”
“You like to hurt people when you have sex?”
“Not intentionally.” Jay paused. “Unless that is something they crave, of course.” He rose to his feet and squared off with Asar, who tensed. “Next time we do this, I want you on your knees sucking me off, your hands clasped behind your back so you can’t touch yourself unless I order you to do so.”
Asar opened his mouth to reply, but it was as if all the air in his lungs had been sucked out. The only response his body could muster was the swift and betraying hardening of his cock.
Jay’s smug smile as he glanced downward made Asar yearn to hit him.
“Yeah. That.”
Asar swung at him, but Jay caught his wrist in a surprisingly iron grip.
“Don’t fight it. You know you’ll do it.”
“I have never—” Asar finally found his voice.
“I know you haven’t, but you will.” Jay rubbed his thumb over Asar’s skin. “Maybe I’ll yank your head back, and pull your hair really hard while you’re sucking me, make you fight yourself to keep me in your mouth.”
Asar’s breath hissed out as he imagined the scenario. He shook off Jay’s grip and strode toward the door. The sound of the other man’s laughter followed him out into the hallway before he carefully closed the door. He only managed a few steps before he had to slow down and lean against the wall. His cock was hard again, his thoughts in chaos.
What were the Gods playing at? Sending him this heathen human who seemed to understand him in a way no other person ever had before? How did Jay know the secret fantasies he’d harbored since he’d become a man? Fantasies that as the Queen’s son he’d had to hide because in his position he had to be seen as the strongest man in the kingdom?
His knees buckled. He slid down to the floor, and stared unseeingly at the wall opposite him. He wanted to go back, wanted everything that Jay had just offered him…
“Asar? Are you all right?”
He went still as Rain’s concerned voice came from his left. Gods, not now. Not when he was feeling so weak and confused.
“Go back to bed,” Asar ordered her.
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Go!” Asar roared.
“You condescending idiot!” She came closer and kicked him hard in the shin.
With a roar he sprang to his feet and reached for her, bringing her to the floor beneath him even as she hit and fought him all the way down. It took far longer than he had anticipated to immobilize her beneath him, and he was breathing hard by the time he managed it.
“Let me up, you big stupid oaf!”
Her green eyes flashed in warning, and her skin tone changed to a fiery red.
In reply he shoved his knee between her thighs, lowered himself down and settled his aching cock against her stomach. He had both her wrists clasped between one of his hands above her head.
He went to kiss her, and she bit his lip, which made him want her even more.
“Kiss me, Rain.”
“In your dreams,” Rain scoffed, but there was little she could do to get away from him, and her body and mind were enjoying the physical contact way too much to want to relinquish it just yet. His cock was hard against her, and all that was female in her was yearning toward him and softening.
“Kiss me.”
“Fuck you,” Rain snapped.
“Even better,” Asar licked the seam of her lips, and she stiffened.
“Where exactly have you just been?” she asked him out loud.
He focused on her, his golden gaze perplexed. “What?”
She bit his lip hard, and he recoiled and reared up over her, which gave her just enough time and space to kick him in the stomach and roll away. Unfortunately, she’d missed his balls, but he was still groaning, which was immensely satisfying. But she wasn’t done yet.
She marched to Jay’s room and went through the door. The faint smell of come and sweat told her everything she needed to know.
“Rain.” Jay was sitting up in bed, his gaze watchful and alert. “What’s up?”
She pointed behind her. “Did you fuck him?”
“Why would you think that?”
“He tastes of you.” Her words came out as more of a snarl. “And you’re mine.”
“What is it with you Neveks that you insist on trying to own everyone?” Jay asked. “Asar is as bad as you are.”
The door behind her closed, and she became aware of Asar moving closer.
“You fucked him,” Rain repeated.
“We fucked each other’s mouths, so what?” Jay shrugged. “You’re not the only one who is allowed to fuck who they want.”
She growled low in her throat, and the tips of her fingers itched as the beast inside her asserted its ownership and attempted to unfurl its claws.
“Rain…” Jay’s eyes widened. “Fuck, no. I’m sorry. Don’t do that.”
Like she could stop herself or even wanted to. He was hers, she had tasted his blood, mated with him, and—
Asar grabbed her arm and spun her around. “Rain—what the Gods is going on? You are acting as if this male is yours.”
“He is MINE,” Rain growled.
Her claws extended more fully, and Asar’s breath hissed out as they dug into his skin.
“What in the Gods name is wrong with you?”
She hissed a warning and shoved him hard in the chest, sending him flying backward to sit down beside her traitorous mate.
“I should kill you both.” Her words barely made sense as her heat level rose, and her fangs pricked the roof of her mouth.
Both men were staring at her now, their gazes narrowed and filled with a strange mixture of fear and anticipation. Her inner self loved that. Loved the thought of biting and ripping and tearing into them—
“Daughter…be still. Come to me.”
With her last coherent thought, Rain forced herself to breathe deeply as her mother’s voice resonated urgently in her mind. This was wrong. She refused to become a monster. She had to control herself, force her mating self back within her skin, and then get the hell away from the two men who were currently driving her insane with lust.
She thought of her mother and of the candles in the temple, pictured the beauty of the altar, and the Goddess within. Her claws retracted, and her jawbone eased back. With a soft cry, she turned on her heel and ran toward the sanctuary of her mother’s room.
Jay’s breath shuddered out of him and he caught hold of Asar’s tunic.
“Let her go. She’ll be safer without seeing us.”
“What in Gods’ name was going on?” Asar breathed. “I have never seen a female from Neveks act in that way.”
Jay gave Asar a quick look, but the man didn’t appear to be lying. Was it possible that an unmated Neveks male had no idea what a female transitioned into when she mated and bonded? Asar’s mother was hardly an average woman, so it was possible that he had no concept of how narrowly he and Jay had just avoided being mauled by a furious, rutting female…
“She obviously believes she has some…interest in both of us,” Jay said carefully. “Which I suppose makes sense, seeing as I’ve had some kind of sex with both of you.”
Asar groaned and lay back on the bed. “This cannot be happening. I am the Queen’s son. Rain is a banished Neveks female, and you… You aren’t even from this planet!”
“You can ignore it all you want,” Jay said. “But let me tell you that you’re not the only one with a problem.”
He’d been sent to Neveks to investigate the Queen Goddess and had ended up getting sexually involved with her son and the woman she had banished. His boss was going to kill him if the Queen didn’t manage it first.
Jay threw himself back on the bed beside Asar and stared glumly up at the ceiling.
“Dude. We’re screwed.”
“Daughter.”
Rain ran to her mother and threw herself into her arms.
“Help me. Help me control this,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
Alaya kissed the top of her head. “The Queen told me that because your father wasn’t one hundred percent Neveks you weren’t a full-blooded female, and that I should not mourn your loss because you would never breed or mate anyway.” She sighed. “Just another thing she lied to me about.”
“I didn’t think I could do it either,” Rain confessed. “And then one night, just before we arrived here, I…morphed and almost killed my companion.”
“The human prisoner?” Alaya shuddered. “I am surprised you did not.”
“He isn’t like most men.” Rain hesitated. “He doesn’t break easily.”
“Obviously.” Alaya chuckled. “If he survived, he is probably your true mate.”
“But then there is Asar…”
“Who has always been bonded to you.” Alaya paused. “Why are you sad? Most females would be ecstatic to discover both their males in the same place. Your sexual bond will be outstanding.”
“Did you have another mate?” Rain asked.
“For a little while.” Alaya smiled. “There was a delegation from Hakron. Your father and I met our third—he was acting as an interpreter. His mother was Neveks and his father had a Hakron grandfather. His skin color was quite confusing. That’s why when the Queen said you weren’t pure Neveks I wondered whether our third was your father, but when you were born you looked all Neveks to me.”
“Maybe that’s why I could bond with the human,” Rain said slowly. “Maybe the Queen is wrong, and we can look beyond the borders of our lands for mates.”
“No one has ever said we can’t mate with others. The Queen has always wanted to preserve the uniqueness of our telepathic abilities.”
“By making us feared and disliked by the rest of the population, and by denying people the right to find their mates and form triads.” Rain reminded her. “How can that be good for us?”
“The Queen cannot know what you have done, Rain.” Alaya gripped her hand hard.
“How can she not know when her son is one of my supposed mates?” Rain groaned. “She’s going to kill me anyway, but I don’t want to bring Asar and Jay down with me.”
“If they are truly bonded to you, they will not let you face her alone.”
“Then I will have to try and meet with her privately,” Rain said. “I refuse to allow her to kill anyone other than me.”
Alaya kissed her cheek. “Then may I suggest we consider ways to keep you from morphing? There are techniques that have been developed to help a female control her impulses. If you had remained with me, I would’ve taught them to you as a matter of course. But it is never too late to begin.”
Rain managed to smile and took a deep breath. “I hope you can teach me fast. I don’t think the Queen Goddess will take long to come back if she realizes I have a thing going on with her son and an outsider, do you?”
There was a knock on the door, and the healer appeared. “Are you feeling well enough for a visitor, Princess?”
Alaya released Rain’s hand and sank back onto her pillows. “As long as it isn’t the Queen I can manage a few minutes.”
Rain scowled as Jay and Asar came in through the door. She pointed her finger at them. “Don’t upset my mother, okay?”
Both men came in and dropped to their knees beside the bed. Asar reached for Alaya’s hand and kissed it, then Jay did the same.
“Greetings, Princess,” Asar said softly. “I am sorry to disturb your rest, but I wished to make the foreigner, Jay, known to you.”
Alaya smiled at them both and then turned slightly toward Jay. “Gods greetings to you, Jay. My daughter has told me a lot about you.”
Rain felt like squirming as heat rushed through her.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, my lady,” Jay said. “Your daughter is a very special female.”
Asar almost growled and attempted to turn it into a cough, which made Rain want to laugh, which was totally inappropriate.
“She speaks highly of you, Jay.” Alaya paused to gather her breath. “I am glad to have met you. I know you will do everything in your power to assist her to continue in good health.”
Rain began to protest, but Jay talked over her. “Princess, I swear that I will always protect her from harm. Not that she needs me to do that, but I am more than willing to oblige.”
“Thank you.” Alaya turned to Asar, her expression grave. “Despite your exalted position, I expect the same from you.”
The conflict on Asar’s face was plainly visible to Rain. “I will never hurt your daughter. I can at least promise you that.”
Rain tried not to snort, but couldn’t deny the sincerity behind Asar’s quietly spoken words. He’d try to help her, but if it came down to it, would he really defend her if his mother told him differently?
“You doubt me.”
“With good reason,” Rain replied to his thought.
“I will not let my mother kill you.”
She blinked at him. “And how will you keep your word if she orders you to do just that?”
“I will not let her kill you.” He placed his hand over his heart. “Believe that at least.”
Rain didn’t bother replying to him. Her silence should tell him everything he needed to know.
Jay rose to his feet. “We should leave.”
“Yes, my mother needs to rest.” Rain stood as well. Asar bowed and headed for the exit, pausing to greet the healer as he left.
Rain followed Jay to the door, and he caught hold of her hand. “Do you have a moment to talk to me?”
Rain gave him her best frown. She really didn’t need another lecture about her current abominable behavior. “About what?”
“It’s important.”
“I’ll just settle my mother, and I’ll be right over.”
Her mother was already half asleep, so she was able to liaise with Jay quite quickly. She shut the door behind her and waited. “Well, what is it?”
He was pacing the room, his expression remote and his gaze icy. For the first time she saw the technology that controlled him rather than the man.
“Which is safer here, our telepathic link or just talking?” Jay demanded.
She frowned at him. “Why?”
“Just tell me.”
“Talking probably, although we seem to have developed some kind of special link that no one else can penetrate.” She paused. “What’s up?”
He came close and met her gaze. “Which will make you believe me more?”
She tapped her skill. “This, obviously. It’s harder to lie.”
“Your mother is getting weaker.”
“I’m aware of that.” Ray stiffened.
“Who prepares her food and drink?”
“The priestess, why?”
“Don’t lose your shit.” Jay took her hand in a firm grip. “But I think your mother is being poisoned.”
Rain’s green eyes flashed with shock, and she stumbled backward.
“What in Gods’ name are you talking about?”
Jay refused to let go of her hand. “As soon as I got close to her, my A.I. sent out an alert and began to analyze her breath. Someone is trying to kill her, Rain.”
“But why?” Rain shook her head. “She’s not on the council, and she’s not in the Queen’s favor.”
Jay hesitated. While he’d been waiting for her, his A.I. had done thousands of computations for likely scenarios and had come up with two possibilities—neither of which he liked, but both of which he was going to have to run by Rain. He switched to speech in case he inadvertently gave away too much information.
“The two highest probabilities are these. One, that the Queen has a reason to dispose of your mother that we are not aware of, or, two, the Queen wanted a reason to get you back here, and deliberately made your mother ill enough to warrant an excuse for your return.”
Rain frowned. “I don’t like either of those options.”
“Neither do I,” Jay agreed. There was a third more torturous possibility that involved him, but he wasn’t going to share that one just yet. There was no reason to muddy the waters when all Rain currently cared about was what was going on with her mother. “Is there any way you can get me a sample of her food and drink so I can analyze it properly?”
“That will be simple enough. I’m the one who sits with her and makes sure she eats.” Rain paused. “I suppose the Queen could say I’m the one poisoning my mother. That would be just her style, and, considering my reputation as a potential assassin, the general population would probably agree with her.”
She was taking things very calmly, but he wasn’t surprised. She was a strong woman.
“We have to keep this from Asar,” Jay said.
“That shouldn’t be hard. He can’t access our link.”
“Yet.”
Rain glared at him. “You think he’s part of our Triad, too? My mother does.”
Jay stared at her. “Shit, I hadn’t even thought of it like that. What if he is?”
“Don’t play dumb.” She poked him in the chest. “You’re the one who’s been…fooling around with him.”
“Trust me, I didn’t want it to happen.”
“So you’re telling me he forced you to suck him off?”
Jay fought a smile. “Not exactly. I can’t explain what happened. I don’t think either of us likes it, but there it is. We’re both with you now.”
“Then we can’t have full sex with him,” Rain said firmly.
The image of that exploded in Jay’s mind, and he swallowed hard.
“No.” Rain glared at him. “He is the Queen’s son. If she is poisoning my mother, then he’s either aware of it, or he’s going to have to pick a side, and that’s not fair on him or us.”
“If he is mated to us, hasn’t he already chosen?” Jay asked.
“We haven’t had real sex with him.”
“You mean the kind when you morph and try and fuck us to death?”
She glared at him. “Yes.”
“God, now that you’ve mentioned it, I’d love to see you own his ass the way you owned mine.”
“Stop it.” Rain’s skin flashed red, and she shivered. “You’re not helping.”
“Because you’d love to do that to both of us.”
“We were talking about my mother. Can we stay on topic?” Rain asked.
“Sure.” Jay shoved his erotic dreams aside and focused on practicalities, which was supposed to be his strength. “Get me those samples, and we’ll take it from there.”
Rain left, and Jay sat down on the bed. With everything that was going down, he really needed to talk to Kaiden and get some idea whether the Queen was powerful enough to have anticipated his arrival and made plans to bring him and Rain down. Or was it even worse? Had someone on the high council revealed their plans to the Queen?
Neither scenario made him happy. He trusted his fellow soldiers, and Kaiden was gold. The only other member of the council who knew everything was Ash, and Jay would swear on his soul that he wasn’t a traitor. Ash’s Second Male had been injured during a clash with the Etruscans, and Ash himself had almost been assassinated on a deliberately downed plane.
So, either another member of the council was taking information from Ash, or the Queen Goddess really did have the power to infiltrate even the most secure of networks…
Jay rose from the bed and went to find where Asar had his quarters. The guard at his door had mysteriously disappeared the previous day and had not been replaced. Having already established a link with Asar—whether he liked it or not—Jay had no problem finding his way.
He knocked and went straight in to find Asar sitting at a table. He appeared to be eating and drinking so Jay sat opposite him and helped himself.
“What do you want?” Asar growled. “Haven’t you tormented me enough for one day?”
“Firstly, where’s my guard gone?”
“My mother said you are free to move around the temple, but that you cannot leave the city until she returns.”
“She’s coming back?”
“So I understand.”
“When?”
“Soon.” Asar glared at him. “It is not my place to question the Queen Goddess.”
“So I gathered. She basically gets away with doing what the hell she likes, doesn’t she?”
“She listens to my counsel.”
“Right.”
Asar visibly released a long, calming breath. “Do not start arguing with me again.”
“Why not?” Jay asked. “Are you afraid that you’ll leap on me, and we’ll end up fucking?”
“Yes.”
Jay sat back. “Well, that’s honest.”
“If you have finished, perhaps you could leave?”
“I haven’t finished.” Jay met Asar’s gaze. “If I have to stay here until the Queen returns, I need to send a message to my friends in the Temple of Quoxor to say I’ve been delayed so that they won’t worry about me.”
“You cannot communicate with them telepathically?”
“Between this Temple and that one? Apparently not.” Jay wasn’t sure if that was true, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to try and get a vitally secret message out through a society that had no telepathic filters. “Can I just write them a note and get you to deliver it?”
Asar regarded him for a long moment as he sipped from his goblet. He’d replaced his silk tunic with something more substantial that covered his chest and thighs. His long, dark hair was tied back in a neat braid. Jay preferred him naked, but that wasn’t going to happen.
“Do you have to ask your mother if that’s okay?” Jay asked.
“No. I am merely considering your request.”
“It’s not exactly hard.” Jay tried to look innocent, and then remembered Asar was already under his skin and roaming around his head. He focused on his shields.
Asar stood and Jay automatically stiffened, but the big man did nothing more threatening than fetch pen and paper from a desk in the corner of the room.
“You may write your message. I will make certain it is delivered at all speed.”
“Unless you’ll let me go there myself and then come back.” Jay took the writing implements and spread them out on the table.
“That’s not possible, and you know it,” Asar said flatly. “Write your letter I will read it and then I will seal it in front of you.”
Asar was not going to let him move from the spot, which made sense. He obviously didn’t want Jay doing anything funky.
Jay clicked on the pen and considered what to say. He needed to alert O’Neill to the possibility that the plan had been discovered, and he needed to do it a way that wouldn’t make Asar suspicious.
O’Neill, I’m held up in Neveks territory helping out an old military friend of ours, Rain Datta, so don’t worry that I haven’t arrived yet. As your favorite Scottish poet would say: The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley. Jay.
He passed the note to Asar who read it through, a frown creasing his brow.
“What does the last line mean?”
Jay shrugged. “It means things don’t always go to plan. O’Neill comes from Scotland, so he’ll get the joke.”
“I see.” Asar read the note again, and then just stared at it before reaching for the sealing wax and a candle. “I’ll have it sent out today.”
“Thanks.” Jay finished his bread and rose to his feet. “If I’m free to move around, can I train with you?” He gave Asar’s body an approving glance. “I’m sure you do something to keep so fit.”
Asar’s skin flashed gold and red. “I train with the Queen’s guard every day. You are more than welcome to join us.”
“Great.” Jay nodded. “Just let me know when.”
He walked out, confident than Asar would send the note and that O’Neill, who was as sharp as Jay, would get the message that things might be cocked up and relay that information to Kaiden. At least he damn well hoped so.