Come Together
Jasper
T he shrimp is in their room, cooking with Salem for tonight’s meeting. He did his best to aggravate the fuck out of me during class; it didn’t take a fool to see he might be testing my words from his hospital room, so I stayed just inside the lines. It irked the fuck out of my dragon and went against everything I’ve been raised to do—but he doesn’t need to know that. All he needed to see was that I was serious about my declaration so I can figure out how to keep the annoying little shit alive.
I still haven’t worked out why the hell I care, but who has the time for examining their navel? Not me.
“Zavvie, how did the rest of the day go?”
My kitsune looks up from where he’s collating data for the meeting, his eyes bright under his glasses. I have to suppress a smile when his tails swish happily in response. “Mythology could have been better, but it wasn’t too bad. You know how Weapons went, and because you asked me to skip to do this, I’m not sure how Law went.”
I sigh, pondering whether I want to call my second in to ask before we all convene. “That’s better than yesterday, I suppose. Were you able to make in-roads with our newest member?”
He ducks his head, looking away as he shuffles some more papers. I arch a brow, knowing what that reaction means. Zavida likes the shrimp and whatever progress he made today pleases him. “Okay, I guess. I think he’s waiting for me to prove I’m not going to…”
“Zav, if you stopped talking because you were going to say ‘sell him out for me’, or some version of it—I’m not stupid.” I run my hand through my hair, pacing back and forth in front of my couch. “Perhaps I was pushing you too hard before.”
Before I can say another word, he’s rushed forward to wrap his arms around me and bury his face against my chest. I blink, surprised as fuck to find him hugging me like this. “What… what the hell?”
His voice is muffled in my shirt, but I make it out. “You never admit you’re wrong, Jas. Sometimes, you reassess, but this is the closest I’ve ever heard you come.”
Mother of ghouls, have I really been that much like dear old Dad? Fuck.
Resting my hand on his head lightly, I clear my throat as emotions zing through me. I can’t parse them all and it makes my dragon angry, so I huff a few smoke rings to calm myself. This fucking kid is making the entire world topsy-turvy, even my meek lover, and he obviously doesn’t have the slightest clue what he’s doing. I chew on my lip ring for a moment, my brain warring between fury and confusion as I decide what to say.
“Don’t get used to it,” I say gruffly. “I’m very rarely wrong, you know.”
Zavida chuckles and lifts his head, his lips curved up as he eyes me. “Obviously, my Prince. But I’m still glad you’re reversing your opinion on Kit—even if it’s slow. I think he’s good for the caliphate.”
That’s questionable, but I’m not going to burst his bubble.
Letting go of him, I jerk my chin to his doom piles. “What have you put together in the past couple hours, then?”
The kitsune frowns, walking over to grab his research. “I shifted from Kit because you said I could. Instead, I dug into the lore around the Games prior to our parents’ participation. Everyone knows it’s the first time any team bargained with others to secure a victory. I wanted to see how they ran before that so we know what could be coming if Darkstar and his supporters are planning to use them for a coup.”
“That's the worst case scenario,” I mutter as I head for the bar to pour myself a drink. “We’d better hope he’s not planning an actual onslaught during the Games; it will lead to a full-on war. We can kiss keeping ourselves out of the royal shit good-bye forever if that happens.”
His tails flick nervously as he nods. “Agreed. But I don’t know if he’s really had time to prepare that kind of thing. I’m leaning towards using them to cull the strong loyalists and royals before he makes a move.”
It’s a smart play, so someone other than Lucian came up with it. But who?
“He has to have been working on this for a long time. You know the King banned the damn competition after he and the rest of your folks ascended to the thrones.” Scratching my chin, I frown, my brain whirling as I spin the chessboard to figure out what vantage point I’m missing.
“Oh, definitely,” Zavvie says as he pulls a bunch of print outs from the stack and hands it to me. “See here? This is the decree that outlawed them and the laws binding it. Someone had to comb this shit for a loophole to even bring it before the courts.”
“So he has a legally savvy demon of high repute on his side—probably a crossroads demon because they’re naturally good with contracts.” The names of every high ranking bargain maker fly through my mind and I growl in frustration.
Too many options and not enough time.
“Maybe a full or hybrid Fae, too,” my lover says. “I know he despises hybrids, but he could be convinced to use one for their talents, and dispose of them afterward with little effort. He sees other supes and mixed breeds like us as tools to be used and thrown away.”
Snarling, I give him a sharp look. “That’s a disgusting opinion and it should have blacklisted him from the position of Headmaster. There are more hybrids than pure lines in Hell now. He’s a sad relic and my father should have sent him to the pits.”
Which makes me wonder what the fuck Lucian Darkstar has on the King—he wouldn’t allow him to be here, otherwise.
“Obviously, I agree, but you know I’m correct in my assumptions. Unless he has continuous use for the being who assisted him in this interpretation, he likely terminated their association permanently to prevent leaks. It’s boilerplate megalomaniac behavior.”
Zav’s right, unfortunately. My father definitely eliminates any possible squealers in his nefarious deeds as soon as they’ve outlived their usefulness. You don’t wrest control of Hell and stay in that position for millennia without getting your hands dirty—though his are soaked in blood in ways that even I admit outweigh practicality.
“So he’s got alliances built over… centuries… amongst various factions in Hell and maybe in other supe species as well,” I murmur as I stroke my chin. “Again, not unexpected, but maybe more vast than I anticipated at this juncture. The question is… why now? What makes this the prime time for his moves versus any other time in the past or future?”
He shrugs, wrinkling his nose. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’re all coming of age? But I doubt even Lucian believes our parents will cede control when we graduate, so that might be incidental.”
Frowning, I consider the board again, spinning it in my mind for a moment. “Maybe he’s gotten a whiff of our plans?”
“No way, Jas. None of us would dare to leave even a minute trail to our work on that project.” Zavida shakes his head, his expression serious. “You know we’re all in and we’ll be killed if anyone even suspects.”
My gaze hardens as I consider what’s changed. “Then I was right about this new?—”
“Stop it.” His tone brooks no argument and I can’t hide the shock on my features as my submissive kitsune stands his ground. “You know Kit is not a fucking spy. The kid knows dick about our world and it’s painfully obvious he barely interacted with his own world. Don’t be an idiot, Jasper Eversore.”
Wow. Full name—he’s serious as fuck.
Licking my lips, I gather myself, pushing the angry dragon down. He doesn’t like the disrespect that showed, but that’s only because of the way I was raised as he emerged. Between animal instinct and the asshole who raised me, my animal is more reactive to that than I’d like. Zavida is loyal to a fault—hence his situation with the shrimp—and I don’t need to smite him for speaking his mind.
“You’re probably right, Zavvie.” I hang my head, my frustration at peak levels. “But I’m also correct to assume Lucian has a specific reason or directive to do this at this moment in time. It seems out of the blue, but there must be other factors besides the appearance of this kid.”
“Good job, Sir,” he whispers as he looks at me shyly, as his bluster from before is gone.
I stalk over, grabbing him and spinning toward the wall to back him into it with a hungry smirk. “You know, you’ve never defied me quite so bravely before, boy. I hated it, but it was hot just the same. I might enjoy the spark this clueless fool is bringing out in you. It will make punishment much sweeter.”
He shivers against me, and I feel his cock twitch as he looks up at me through his lashes. “I’m not a brat, Sir. You know that.”
Laughing, I shake my head in amusement. “No, and I wouldn’t accept that for a second. Too much work to spank the annoying out of someone who’s asking for it.”
My hand creeps up to his neck, holding him in place as our bodies meld together. I see his tails flicking in excitement and his scent changes… cinnamon, red pepper and saffron. That’s the smell of his arousal, and it makes my dragon snarl inside.
“Jas… Sir. Please.”
Oh, fuck. How in the hell am I supposed to ignore pleading when I’m this close to the edge of fury?
“Eris, time!” I bark.
The Hell-based virtual assistant appears in a hazy hologram that looks like a small imp I customized to look like a sniveling version of my father that always makes me grin. “ Good evening, Prince. The time in Canto IV is seven thirty eastern underworld time. How else may I serve you today?”
“Go away,” I mutter as I look back at my lover. “We have enough time for you to please me, but only if you’re quick.”
The second the imp disappears, I let go of his neck and Zav drops to his knees like he’s going to worship at my altar.
I suppose he is, technically.
The fiery haired kitsune gives me a sly grin, and I groan as his eyes fix on the bulge in my pants. His gaze gets hungrier as he pulls my dick out, licking his lips as the light glints off my Jacob’s ladder and magic cross piercings. He loves the feel of them inside him, and I love when he plays with them as he sucks me off, so it was worth the effort. I reach out, grabbing the tail that twitches beside me, betraying his excitement. Zavvie gets immense pleasure from pleasing me and getting praised, plus he gives head like jizz is going to save his life.
“Now, Sir?” Zavida purrs, his voice dripping with lust and anticipation.
I grunt my approval, eyes blazing with my dragon as my other hand buries in his hair. Zavida leans in, pressing a reverent kiss to the tip of my cock, his tongue flicking out to taste my pre-cum. A low warning growl rumbles from my chest—he knows it means stop fucking around. Encouraged, my kitsune continues to lick and tease his way down my shaft, his tongue swirling around each piercing and eliciting shivers as blood pumps directly south without passing ‘go.’
The little tease is enjoying this and I’m going to splatter his face if he doesn’t get moving.
As he reaches the base, he does that weird fox-like scream that his kind do when they’re fucking and I grin. Zavvie can’t help doing it when he’s aroused, and it’s why I made sure my room was sound-proofed. No one else needs to hear that unless I permit it. I suck in a deep breath when he wraps his lips around the tip only to take as much of my girth as he can until I hit the back of his throat. I love that he doesn’t have a gag reflex, as the bumpy ridges and vibration of my dragon would be a task for someone as small as him otherwise.
I wonder if… no.
Cursing my errant brain, I force myself to focus on the scent of my boy as he sucks me. His dick has to be pulsing with need because his scent is practically filling my room now. He bobs his head up and down, applying suction or teeth where I like and my head falls back on my shoulders. Struggling to maintain control as his efforts intensify, I wing a thanks into the void for figuring out that I was into him when we were in middle school. It’s not acceptable at home, but this is the very best way I defy my father’s wishes, and I’ll be damned if I ever give him up. This man is mine, and I’ll destroy anyone who tries to force me to give him up.
Possessive thoughts always make my dragon push at the reins, and I tug on Zav’s hair, muttering dirty things to him as he works me over. His tongue and teeth are sharp and wicked, pushing me toward climax quickly. I’d be self-conscious about it if my boy wasn’t the best cocksucker in the ten realms of Hell, but he’s that fucking skilled. With a roar, I come, shooting hot seed down his throat in powerful spurts. White-hot pleasure courses through me as he eagerly swallows every drop, still making that screeching sound around me.
Fuck. Yes.
As my orgasm subsides, my grip on his head loosens and I pant heavily. Zavvie continues to lick and clean every last drop of cum from my softening cock, determined not to leave a single trace behind. His eagerness to drink me in is always a turn-on and I have to look away or I’ll get hard again. we simply don’t have time for the thorough fucking I want to give him, so I pull back a bit.
He looks up at me with a satisfied expression and a coy twirl of his thick tail. “Sir, did that... please you?” he asks with an adorable expression.
My eyes sparkle with humor as I look down at the kitsune. “Only you would ask that after blowing my brains out, Zavvie. Yes, you were a good boy.”
Rising to his feet, he doesn’t even ask to deal with what has to be a raging hard-on in his pants. He knows we’ll work on that later, and my wicked grin confirms that thought. “Then it’s time to see if Salem is done with the meal.”
Imagine that. He’s still hungry. I’m a lucky fucking Prince, indeed.