Chapter One
My home was beautiful. A little more so now that I'd killed a nest of frellen.
But those frellen were different than others I'd killed.
They had spikes atop their smooth heads.
As if frellens weren't already horrifying, with their gills in the center of their faces where we Sea Dragons had noses, and their massive eyes, dead of all emotion.
Jutting lower jaws extended further than their upper lips, displaying sharp teeth as long as my index fingers.
Long, finned tails moved them rapidly through the water, and their claws could hook through the toughest skin.
The only spikes they should have had were those running down their backs.
So, what prompted this mutation?
I'd been hibernating for centuries with the rest of my dread, but things had seemed the same when we woke.
My brother immediately opened the crown city of Kansu and reestablished his court.
But I hate court. I hate the pageantry and politics.
I hate the stupid clothes. To make matters worse, hibernating had done something to my dread. They woke up horny. Very, very horny.
All they did—including my brother—was eat, sleep, shit, and fuck.
Mostly fuck. Everywhere. Then the tithes arrived, and I couldn't bear to watch those poor people who had come so eagerly to serve my people get treated like whores.
Yes, they were slaves, but they served voluntarily, out of love for my kind.
We'd always been grateful for their service and treated them with respect.
I'm not saying that my people turned into rapists. I wouldn't have stood for that. But the people who come to us as willing slaves do so because they long to be close to us. That type of adoration can make people do things they don't want to. Like fuck in a room full of other people fucking.
It disgusted me. I don't know why, maybe because I've never been overly sexual, but I didn't have the same urges upon waking as my dread did.
It took only a week of trying to ignore people having sex right next to me while I ate to drive me away.
I couldn't go to my brother. He was one of the worst—fucking his slaves on his dining dais for all to see.
Well, I did not want to see my brother doing the nasty with his slaves. Gross.
So I did what I'm best at—hunting. I told my brother I would exterminate the monsters.
He thanked me and then pulled out of his bed slave.
No, I'm joking. Still, it was nearly that bad.
Ridiculous, if you ask me. Grown men and women should be able to control themselves better.
But oh, it hurt them if they didn't fulfill their hungers. Whine, whine, whine. Whatever.
At first, I hunted alone. Then, after I found a nest, Jucai sent some Sea Dragons to hunt with me.
Thankfully, they could control themselves better than the rest of our court.
There were a few times when I worried they might seduce the poor prisoners we occasionally found kept in cages in a frellen den, but when their need became too great, they would relieve it with each other.
We always cared for the freed prisoners and returned them to their homes.
We became a team. I even indulged in some sex with a couple of them. I'm not a prude. I just don't think people should fuck in public. That's animal behavior.
My team couldn't hunt as I did. They needed time off.
So, I had gone out on this last hunt alone.
I didn't mind. We'd cleared out all the frellen nests near undersea villages.
Our people were relatively safe. But I wanted to eradicate the monsters from our kingdom.
I couldn't control all the oceans and seas of Serai, but I could clean up Ilshi.
I grimaced as Kansu came into view. It was glorious.
It should be—I helped build it. But I preferred the open water.
Sleeping in the arms of the sea. Swimming wherever I felt the urge to go.
Nothing held me back, and nothing called me back.
Except for my brother. The King of Ilshi.
I loved him. He was the only family I had. But he was a perverted fucker.
I shifted into my man body right before I swam through the city ward.
The magic pulled the water from my skin and hair, even from the bundle of clothes and the sack I carried.
I set the sack down and unwrapped my clothes.
People nearby eyed me—a lone Sea Dragon entering Kansu.
I got dressed, picked up my sack, and headed for the center of the city.
Maybe I should have hired a carriage, but walking meant a few more minutes of freedom.
I nodded to passersby, peered into shop windows, and squinted up at the tower lights that made Kansu as bright as day.
I'd been away for so long that it took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust. Looking away from a tower, my gaze wandered to the Royal Palace.
As beautiful as ever, the palace dominated Kansu, with towers rising from its many wings.
The central tower was nothing more than a shell containing a giant glass tube that went through the city dome and into the sea.
Seawater and sea life flowed into the tube, creating the largest aquarium in all of Serai.
My bedroom abutted the column, with one wall made of glass.
That was nice, I had to admit. And I preferred sleeping dry, in my man form.
“I just don't want to wade through an orgy to get to my room,” I muttered as I approached the arched entrance to the palace courtyard.
“What was that, Lord Sero?” a guard asked.
“Nothing.” I grinned at him. “My brother is here, I take it?”
“I believe the court is in the dining hall.”
“Thanks.” As I walked away, I muttered, “Great.” The dining hall was the worst place as far as public fornication was concerned . “How can I eat when someone's sex juice is squirting next to me?” I shuddered. “That shit could get on my food.”
I trudged through the main doors and down the gleaming corridors, carrying my sack. It had started to drip. I couldn't do anything about it, so I carried on. Slowly, things registered with me.
I stopped a slave. “Is that a new uniform?”
“Yes, my lord.” The woman bowed. “The King has freed us and given us uniforms. We are now palace staff.”
I gaped at her.
“My lord? Are you well?”
“So, uh, there's no, um.” I cleared my throat. “Nudity?”
“No, my lord. We are functioning as we did before the hibernation.”
“Holy shit.”
“My lord?”
“No, I'm just . . . I'm glad. Are you folks happy with the change?”
“Yes, sir. Most happy.”
“Wonderful. Carry on.” I walked away in a daze, noticing the lack of naked butts flopping about in the rooms I passed. “Holy fuck, can I actually live here now?”
I found that the dining hall had changed as well. The sex sofas—as I liked to call them—had been replaced by sitting areas. And was that a beverage station? “Oh, nibblies!” I snatched a few appetizers and tossed them into my mouth. “Yeah, that's the stuff.”
Then I saw him.
“Holy shit,” I mumbled with my mouth full.
He was gorgeous. Blond, buff, and so fucking handsome that it was a shock to see him standing alone, without adoring worshipers draped all over him.
Eyes like kelp, shoulders broad enough to sit on, lips full but firm, and skin darkened by a sun I rarely saw.
This was a man who could throw me around like a sack of feathers and fuck me standing—which happened to be one of my unfulfilled fantasies.
“Hello, Daddy,” I whispered.
Then I saw his crown.
“Hello, Royal Daddy,” I amended.
Then I saw who he was with. My brother. Perfect. Wait. My brother wasn't pawing at some half-dressed slave. That's right! No slaves anymore. Instead, he had his hand on the back of a handsome, dark-haired man. What the fuck was happening? And how did I get that golden king inside me?
“All right, be calm. I’m sassy, I’m naughty, I’m a hunter.
” I grimaced. “Why am I talking like a randy teenager in a tavern for the first time? And when did I become the horniest Sea Dragon in Kansu?” I shook out my shoulders.
“I can do this. No problem. I kill monsters.
He's just a man.” I whimpered. “A really attractive royal man.” Blowing out a breath, I relaxed my body and then sauntered up to my brother's group, saying, “Well, well, well. Having a party without me? Rude, Brother. So very rude.”
Jucai spun to face me, his expression joyful. “Sero!” He came over to me with open arms.
Laughing and trying to ignore my next conquest, I asked, “What's all this, Your Majesty?”
“Come, come!” He put an arm around my back and led me to the dark-haired man. “I want you to meet my mate. This is Nadar. Nadar, this is my younger brother, Sero.”
Holy fuck! A mate? My brother had taken a mate while I was gone? I hadn't even been gone a month. What the actual fuck? Was that why he'd freed the slaves? If so, I needed to thank this mate of his.
“Your mate?” My sack fell to the floor with a splat, and I hugged the dark-haired man. He was handsome enough for Jucai, with a hard body, bright blue eyes, and long black hair that shone like glass. “I have been gone too long, I see. Welcome to the family.”
“Thank you.” Nadar glanced at the sack. “I didn't know Jucai had a brother.”
“He is gone a lot,” Jucai said. “Nearly didn't make it back in time to hibernate with our dread.”
I shrugged and allowed myself to look at the golden man. My lust was on lockdown, and I had every confidence that I could speak without sounding like an idiot.
Wait. I didn't act like this. No one caught my attention enough to make me nervous. But I'd never seen a Land Dragon under the sea, shining like gold and flashing green eyes at me.
All right, be suave, Sero. You can do this.
I smirked at the handsome Land Dragon and asked, “And who's this golden piece of man flesh?”
My brother winced, his mate's eyes went wide, and I nearly groaned. Why the fuck had I said that? But then I saw the golden man blush. He fucking blushed! I don't think I'd ever seen a grown man blush. Not in this court.
“Brother, please.” Jucai rolled his eyes. “I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. Forgive my brother. King Saric of Zaru, please meet my uncouth brother, Sero. Sero, this is the King of Zaru. And Zaru is my mate's birthplace. Our dreads are now allies.”
“A king, eh?” I pretended I hadn't noticed the crown or him, for that matter. But inside my head, his name echoed. Saric. Now, that was a sexy name. “Nice to meet you, Your Majesty.” I held out my hand, anticipating what his would feel like in mine.
“A pleasure.” King Saric gripped my hand as if trying to prove something. He didn't let go. What was wrong with him?
“It could be,” I teased, but then something strange happened.
Looking into his eyes, I felt a spark zing between us.
All thoughts about his handshake vacated.
I was left staring into the most beautiful eyes I'd ever seen.
Kelp? Had I truly compared his eyes to seaweed?
What the fuck is wrong with me? They're jewels, not plants.
They have a depth and translucency that no plant could possess.
They glitter. They're drawing me in. Am I falling into him?
Someone cleared their throat.
King Saric dropped my hand as if it had turned into a snake. “What's in the bag, if I may ask?”
My chest hurt. I thought we had connected, something I'd never done with anyone, and then he tossed my hand away like that?
What was with this guy? Then I saw him glance at a woman standing several feet away.
Her eyes were wide and worried, one hand on a necklace as if it gave her confidence.
Wincing, King Saric returned his gaze to me.
Oh. Right. He was straight. I was probably the first man he'd felt an attraction to. Normally, I wouldn't bother with a straight guy who was in a relationship, but for my golden daddy, I would use every trick I had to release those hidden desires of his.
“Sero?” Jucai laid a hand on my shoulder.
I flinched. What had he said? Right, the sack. “Oh, uh, the bag. Yes, the bag! It has a head in it.”
“I'm sorry, what?” King Saric looked at me as if he thought I was joking.
“I've been hunting frellen,” I said. “Sorry, brother.” I glanced at Nadar and then grinned sheepishly at Jucai. “I didn't mean to bring such a bloody gift to your mating. I just wanted you to take a look. They, uh.” I glanced at Saric. He was watching me intently. “They've mutated.”
“Mutated?” Jucai crouched and opened the sack. When he peered inside, he growled, “What the fuck?”
“Yes, it disturbed me as well, and I've killed thousands of them.”
“What's a frellen?” King Saric asked Nadar.
“They're monsters, sire,” Nadar said. “Terrifying creatures who prey on the undersea races. I've never seen one, but I've heard they are disgusting.”
“Even more so now,” I added. “They've grown spikes on their heads.” I looked at Jucai. “I don't know what this means, but it can't be good.”
“No, I don't expect so.” Jucai closed the bag. “Dispose of it, Brother. I don't want this to ruin our celebration.”
“Got it.” I picked up the sack and headed off. I'd dispose of it and return. Hopefully, that would give the land king enough time to come to terms with his desire for another man.
“Wait!”
The King's voice froze me. No, he hadn't. Had he? I turned to see Saric nervously glancing around the room. He cleared his throat. “Uh, I'd like to see it, if I may?”
I looked at my golden Dragon daddy, then at the woman he was obviously involved with.
She looked stricken. I should have felt bad.
Instead, I felt a surge of joy and triumph.
He wanted me. King Saric wanted me enough to cast aside his woman.
It looked like I'd be making my move sooner than expected.
“I'd rather not open it in here again,” I said, trying not to grin. “Would you mind accompanying me to dispose of it, Your Majesty? I'll bring you back to the celebration afterward.”
King's Saric's eyes lit up. “Yes! I mean, uh, I wouldn't mind at all.” He ran to me like a puppy.
Oh, this was going to be fun.