Nash paced the length of the sitting room while Kaita inspected the edge of her blade. The rhythmic sound of her sharpening the metal grated on his nerves. The last few weeks with her had reminded him why she’d annoyed him so much as children.

With no time to challenge each other for the position of king or queen it felt like every conversation they’d had was a pissing match of some kind or another. He knew it was mostly their instincts, but Fate help him he was going to smother her with a pillow one day.

“Could you please stop that?” Nash asked, running his hand through his long hair. He grabbed a band and tied the hair back, out of his face.

Kaita rolled her eyes, but put the whetstone away.

Ever since he’d gotten a whiff of Varan’s scent intertwined with Adelina’s, Nash had been on the killing edge.

“Your little princess is nothing like you described,” Kaita said, sipping on a glass of water. “Other than perhaps her honor. She may not be a fighter, but she’s still a warrior.”

Nash glared at his fellow Kharan royal, wishing that just once she’d keep her opinions to herself.

“Are you going to accept her proposal?” Kaita asked. Her brow rose in question. That annoying little smirk on her face begged him to rip it off.

Nash snarled at her. Yes, then there was that. Second husband. Varan could go cula himself if he thought he’d answer to him.

Still Nash hesitated to decline. He was undeniably drawn to Adelina. He craved her like he craved water. That kiss before everything had gone to shit had only whet his appetite and he needed her in ways he didn’t understand.

But…his kind didn’t share and the thought of having to share the female he loved – who consumed him, was a lot for Nash to swallow.

There was a frantic banging on his door and Nash whirled around with a glare, wondering who lacked the sense to knock like a normal person. “What?” he snapped as the door slid open.

Varan and the Prince Kaiden stood before them. The fear and panic Nash smelled on the air stuck in the back of his throat. He growled at both males standing before him.

“I need your fastest, deadliest warship with whatever high tech weapons you possess,” Varan demanded. His eyes were wild and his canines elongated. “And your strength if you’re done throwing a little fit.”

“Why?”

“Adelina has been taken!” Varan roared. “She’s somehow in space and headed toward the Khara Galaxy!” He shoved his shreve at Nash.

He watched a signal as it moved through Hai Delta space toward the nearest border and Nash felt his stomach drop in fear. His hand went to his weapon without even realizing. “What? How did this get past your defenses?” he asked Kaiden. The Drakesthai had someone constantly watching the skies. How had no one noticed?

The dragon prince glared at him but tapped his comm behind his ear and barked out a command. “We don’t know how she was taken,” Kaiden answered, watching Nash as he activated his armor and checked the protocols on it. “One minute she was on the bridge and the next she’s gone. The vids show her with Alpha, and then they both disappear.”

Kaita handed him the long plasma sword and a few extra guns. “Do you need help?” she asked in Kharan.

Nash shook his head. “Stay here and find out if we have that alliance or not, check in on Lilja and Milagros. I’ll get Adelina back before she crosses the border.”

“Nadyah is with Delphine and the Ravager is powered up and will accompany us.” Varan glared at Nash and moved toward the door. “You better hurry if you’re planning on tagging along.”

“Why was she alone, Varan?” Nash demanded, not liking the way the other male’s dominance pulled at him. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d been doing your job as husband and escort.”

Varan and Kaiden turned to glare at him. Even Kaita gave him a disapproving look. “Don’t you dare act like I’m not doing everything in my power to get her back,” Varan roared, stalking forward and jabbing his finger into Nash’s chest.

Nash growled at the shorter male and Kaiden flared his wings. “Enough! She was alone because she ordered us to leave her be. She commanded it as the Queen of Draga.”

That stopped his challenge before it could even fully form. Nash’s breath left his body in a whoosh and he felt like someone had stolen all the oxygen from the room. “Queen?”

“Yes, Queen,” Varan said. “Now are you coming with us or not?”

The thief’s dominance rankled but Nash rolled his shoulders back and kept his thoughts to himself. He may not know how he felt about Adelina’s proposal, but he still cared for her – loved her. Nash clenched his hands into fists and gritted his teeth together.

They needed to move. The longer they waited the worse it would be for her. This wasn’t about who had the biggest cock, this was about getting Adelina back. “I’m coming and you can have access to anything you need. Let’s go.”

Kaiden stopped them both from heading toward the stairs. “It will be much faster to fly, but I can only carry one of you at a time.” Without warning he gripped Nash by the arm and jumped straight out the window into the gloomy sky.

He managed not to screech as they plummeted before Kaiden’s wings caught wind, but just barely. Kaiden shifted so that he had his arms around Nash’s chest and then banked toward the landing station. Moments later their feet hit the ground and Nash stumbled, but managed to catch himself before he fell on his face.

Kaiden launched himself back into the air and flew quick as lightning back to the Royal Eyrie before Nash could throw a slew of curses at the blasted dragon.

“Nash!” Nadyah ran down the ramp of the Ravager toward him and grabbed his arm, desperation and panic leaving a bad taste in his mouth. “Delphine said she watched Alpha board the ship he came in on and then leave. She didn’t see Adelina, but I bet my life that’s the ship she’s on. He must have cloaked her somehow. The coordinates of her bracelet match those of his ship.”

Nash didn’t shake her off for once despite that awful scent of hers. Nadyah had tears streaming down her face and he didn’t even bother to ask who Delphine was. “Why in all the hells would Alpha take her? You think he’s a spy working for the Neprijat?” he demanded.

“I don’t know, I should have sensed it if he was – but I didn’t,” Nadyah stumbled over her own words, guilt and grief written on her face.

Then Kaiden landed with Varan and Nash relayed the information. The thief growled deep in his chest, the intensity coming off him was impressive. “Are you trying to tell me that little prick has stolen my wife and queen? I will shred him to pieces before I take one eye at a time and then feed them to him.” Nash saw the elongated canines and watched the way Varan stalked into the pirate ship.

He smiled in anticipation.

Nash couldn’t wait to deliver a world of hurt to the male who thought he could just take Adelina without anyone noticing.

“Ready to see blood run?” he asked Kaiden as they fell into step together toward his warship.

“It will be my pleasure to exact justice,” Kaiden confessed. “I’ve known him for all of one hour. It will be nothing to drop him into the heart of a volcano.”

Nash grinned and unsheathed his sword. They would hunt Alpha down like the rat he was before ripping him into tiny pieces until blood ran down the walls and he was nothing more than a pile of flesh and bone.