65. Kiron
I wanted nothing more than to cross the kitchen and join Harlow in tasting her. After a night of flying, I needed her too, but I wasn’t sure she would welcome me.
My dragon didn’t like the thought of her denying me.
Almost like she sensed my thoughts, Sina’s eyes opened and landed on me.
Her perfect little mouth let out a content sigh as Harlow pulled free, licking up the mess he’d created.
He looked feral as fuck, her blood coating his chin, eyes blown wide.
The sight twisted something sharp and possessive in my chest.
Slowly, she stood. Her legs wobbled from the effects of Low’s bite, but she didn’t falter.
She took a step toward me, and before I knew it, I was across the kitchen, towering over her.
I took her face in my palms, grounding myself in the warmth of her skin, running the pad of my thumb over her lower lip to stop her from gnawing it raw.
The urge to kiss her was so strong it made my teeth ache.
My thumb brushed her jaw, feather-light. “Do you hate me for not telling you about my dragon?”
The question surprised us both. It hadn’t existed until it tore out of me, but suddenly I needed the answer more than air. I let my hands fall away and waited.
She didn’t pull back. Her lashes fluttered as she looked up at me, pupils blown wide, cheeks flushed, breath still uneven from Harlow. I could smell him on her, blood and desire and something curled tight in my chest.
“I could never hate you. Any of you. No matter how infuriating you all are.”
Movement registered at the edges of my awareness as Elias and Rafe joined us, but I couldn’t look away from her. Her hands came up, tentative, resting against my chest like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to touch me after how wild I’d been yesterday .
Keith destroying her apartment flashed through my mind. I crushed the thought down hard. Now wasn’t the time for rage. Now was the time to remind my mate what she meant to me.
How safe she was with me. That she could trust me.
My dragon rumbled deep in my chest. Sina gasped and started to pull her hand away, but I caught her wrist gently, my grip careful around the delicate bones.
“Sorry princess,” I said roughly. “That growl wasn’t for you. I was thinking about ending Keith for what he did to you. My dragon agreed with a growl.” I searched her eyes for understanding.
“Does he do that a lot? Communicate with you?”
“All of our beasts do.”
Her brows knit. “Like a voice? Or instincts? Or is it more like another person living in your head?”
I nodded and shrugged simultaneously. It was a bit more complex than that, but I wasn't sure how to answer her.
“Is that normal? For them to be separate from you?”
Before I could answer, Nikolai spoke from his stool at the counter. “Each beast manifests differently. It’s shaped by who we were before the Change. Control, trauma, age. It all matters.”
Rafe stepped in beside me, solid on my left. “For me, it’s instinct first. Emotion second. Words come last, or sometimes not at all. My bear doesn’t talk much. He feels. Protects. Guards the hive. He’s happiest when you’re safe and happy.”
She smiled, reaching for his hand. “That tracks. I’ve always thought of you as my big, gentle teddy bear.”
Harlow snorted. “Lucky bastard.”
She turned to him. “What about you, Low? What does your fox say?” She winced. “That was unintentional. Sorry. ”
“The fox says too damn much,” he deadpanned, making her snicker. “Ghost talks all the time. He’s annoying. Opinionated.” A corner of his mouth kicked up. “He’s obsessed with you. But you already knew that. You named him.”
“Low,” Nik warned quietly.
“What? She loves Ghost. Don’t you, little vixen?”
She smiled despite herself, then her gaze slid to Nik. “Is that why your wolf has been stalking me from a distance? Because he wants to meet me but you won’t let him?”
The kitchen went quiet.
“He wants to meet you. But it’s more than that. He wants to claim you.”
My attention snapped to him. That kind of honesty didn’t come easy to our Alpha.
She absorbed that, eyes flicking back to me. “And your dragon?”
I exhaled slowly. No point sugarcoating it.
“My dragon is dominant. Aggressive. Territorial as hell. Every day he pushes for control over my soul.” I swallowed. “If it weren’t for Rafe, I would’ve already lost. His abilities have only bought me time.”
“What do you mean?” Her eyes never left mine, and I didn’t look away. And this was the part none of us had ever said out loud to her.
“My dragon will conquer me, princess. And when he does, he’ll burn Ash Harbor to the ground. There’s only one thing that keeps him satisfied. In control.”
“What?”
“ You . My blood mate.”
“Me? How do you know?”
“My beast is too feral for full-out conversations. He speaks in short phrases. Every one of them is about claiming you. Protecting you.”
‘Mine,’ my dragon rumbled, like he said it just to prove my point .
“What makes him so sure? You could have anyone.”
The words hit straight in my chest. I didn’t want anyone else. None of us did.
I reached for her again, gripping the back of her neck and pulling her into my body. She gasped, heartbeat spiking, breath uneven, and every predator in the room locked onto that sound.
“Careful, princess. Your body’s calling to your monsters.”
She didn’t pull away.
Rafe stepped in behind her, caging her between us, his presence heavy at her back. Harlow crossed the room, silent now. Nik followed. The four of us closed in until there was nowhere for her attention to settle without brushing hunger.
She felt it. I knew she did. I saw it in the way her throat worked when she swallowed, in the way her fingers tightened in my shirt like she was bracing herself against what she’d just started. Even if it wasn’t intentional. Her emerald eyes bounced between us, and my grip tightened in her hair.
I needed her eyes back on mine.
I leaned in, voice low enough that it was almost a threat. “Do you need us to prove it to you, Sina? Prove our feral devotion to you?”
Her lashes fluttered. She didn’t deny it. But she didn’t agree either, and right now my dragon needed her words.
“If I fuck you, I won’t be gentle, princess.” My restraint fraying. “I need you too much.”
Her breath warmed my skin. My dragon surged, pleased and possessive, but I held him tight, grounding myself in the steady beat of her heart.
Harlow growled, pinching her chin. “I’ve waited days to have you again, darling. I need you too.”
Her answer was to lean into his hold as much as she could with my grip still tangled in her hair .
“I want you too,” she whispered, and Harlow released her chin with an unhinged grin spreading across his face.
Sina’s gaze landed on our alpha. “I want you to make me forget about Keith. I need all of my mates to take me up to that beautiful room you built me, Nik, and fuck me.”
“Even me, little feather?” Elias asked.
He lingered in the doorway, half in shadow, transfixed. Elias didn’t move closer. He didn’t assume she would accept him. The room went deadly still as we waited for her answer.
“I shouldn’t want to let you see me take pleasure from my mates yet, Elias.
You hurt me the most out of everyone. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want you too,” Sina said honestly.
“But I’m not the only one who gets a say in whether you join us upstairs.
” She turned to Nik again, lifting her chin.
“He lied to you too. What do you think? Should we make him leave?”
Nik smirked, measuring Elias the way he always did when it came to the hive, amused and dangerous all at once. “I think I need to punish him for his insolence,” Nik said calmly. “He’ll be allowed to watch while he makes amends to me in the way I require.”
His gaze cut to Elias.
Sina’s scent sweetened with lust.
“Yes, Alpha,” Eli lowered his eyes in submission. “Whatever you require.”
“ Aw, fuck . Why is that so hot?” Sina murmured.
Nik and Elias both snapped their attention to her.
“You like the idea of us together?” Elias asked quietly.
She blushed, biting her lip, then nodded. Her eyes burned with lust, and fuck me, I wanted her. My breath left me in a rough exhale.
Was she really going to let all of us touch her ?
My dragon bristled, uncertainty rippling through him, but the moment Sina reached up and touched my cheek, pulling me out of my head, he settled immediately.
“It’s okay, Kiron. Kiss me. Help settle your dragon.”
That was all it took.
I bent, pressing my lips to hers, tasting the maple syrup on her plump lips. The kitchen, the tension, the danger waiting beyond these walls would have to wait. It all faded until there was only her.