Kiss of Embers (The Dragon Lairds #5)

Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

STRUAN

F inn played a good game, but he didn’t fool me.

As remarkable as his control was, even he had limits. He neared them now as he sat at the head of the table. Zara and I flanked him, the remnants of our meal spread between us. A faint breeze drifted from outside, setting the lanterns swaying.

And the pulse in Finn’s neck fluttered just a little too fast for me to believe he had a grip on his lust. There were other signs. The occasional flash of red in his eyes. The random hitches in his breath. The subtle way he shifted in his seat.

It was Zara. Without her, Finn probably could have dragged things out for several more hours. He was a master of edging, capable of dangling gratification in front of his victims without succumbing to temptation himself—at least not for a long fucking time. Frustrating didn’t begin to cover it.

But our little alpha changed things. She wanted us—and she finally seemed to accept that she was meant for us. Oh, she’d put up a good fight, doing her best to ignore us as we navigated the first two challenges. I couldn’t blame her. She was trying to save her pack. But fate was a pushy bitch, always butting in regardless of bad timing or inconvenience.

Hell, for all I knew, fate had arranged our current predicament, trapping us in our jungle holding cell for a little forced proximity. Then Finn nudged Zara over the edge with his “you two go hunt while I make dinner” stunt.

And it worked, damn him. Zara’s arousal had soaked the air, her need summoning my dragon like a clarion call. The beast cared nothing for dominance or submission. It simply urged me to mark. To claim. Then she ran, trailing the sweet scent of her pussy because she wanted me to catch her.

My dick swelled—and immediately pressed against the cage. Pressure built, and frustration gripped me as my erection subsided even as my desire remained. The ring cut into my balls, which throbbed with every beat of my heart. I spread my legs a bit under the table, hunting for relief for about the hundredth time since we sat down.

“Everything all right, Struan?” Finn asked. His expression was polite. His eyes danced with wickedness.

“No,” I muttered, sitting back in my chair. He’d allowed me a hot shower—and a pair of pajama pants. While I was happy to be clean and semi-covered, my thwarted lust was a constant distraction. And in a true catch-22, the humiliation of being caged merely fueled my desire. Steel strangled my dick, each band digging into my shaft. The ring cinched my nuts. At least a dozen times throughout dinner, I’d reached to adjust myself only to encounter the unforgiving steel between my legs. My ass had yet to heal from Finn’s spanking, and every minor shift in the chair sent fresh pain stabbing through my buttocks.

He’d reduced me to an object. A toy. Now, I had to wait until he decided to take me down from the shelf and play with me.

Zara watched me across the table, her chocolate-brown eyes hazy with lust. She wore one of Finn’s T-shirts, and her nipples thrust against the white cotton. Her pale hair had dried in soft waves that spilled down her back and over her shoulders. With her full, pink lips and flushed cheeks, she had the look of a scantily clad angel.

But my angel had more than a little devil in her. She’d proved that much when she gripped my aching, abused dick, her wolf staring out from her eyes. She was plenty dominant, although not quite as much as Finn. He probably considered her a switch, her submissive and dominant sides surging forth or retreating depending on the circumstances. He cared about labels that way. At the moment, I just cared about finishing what I’d started with Zara.

Finn looked at her. “Have you ever met a submissive top, lass?”

My dick tightened, blood filling my shaft. Metal bit into my skin, and I clenched my jaw as pressure built and then ebbed.

Zara sat up straighter. Her lips parted as she looked between us. “I… No, I don’t think I have.”

The wicked light in Finn’s eyes danced higher. “It’s an interesting combination.” He turned his gaze to me, his eyes roving my bare chest. “Struan craves service. He loves to be used, all his considerable power placed in someone else’s hands. He needs to be directed. Controlled.” Finn turned back to Zara. “He takes, but he takes what you want.”

Feminine arousal thickened in the air, the scent so rich and sweet I couldn’t stifle my groan. My dick plumped, straining against the cage. Seed filled my balls, and I shifted in the chair as the ring tightened around my scrotum.

Zara licked her lips, the flash of her pink tongue setting a new fire inside me. Her nipples threatened to rip through her shirt. She wore no panties. I’d confirmed that more than once after she emerged from the shower. The only thing separating me from her lithe, silky body was a T-shirt, and I needed the cotton barrier gone .

“So,” Finn said softly, “what do you want, lass?”

I held my breath, every cell poised on the edge of a precipice—every part of me desperate to tip over the edge and into a future with the woman Finn and I had waited a century to find.

“You,” she whispered, looking between us again. “Both of you.”

Victory burst inside me. I leaned forward.

“But.”

I tensed, my heart stuttering.

Zara drew an uneven breath. “I don’t know if I’m ready for a commitment. A…claiming. Forever is a long time, a-and I’m not sure?—”

“We don’t have to claim you to make love to you,” I said. “And we don’t have to think about forever. Just right now.”

She stared at me, gorgeous and wary.

“Do you trust us?” I pressed. It was a risk. Even now, the possibility of her no hung in the air. But it was a risk worth taking. She was worth it.

Slowly, she nodded. “Yes.”

“And you want us?”

Her breath hitched. Her eyes lightened to amber, and her answer emerged as a growl. “Yes.”

My cock swelled again. My balls throbbed, my sack tight enough to burst. “How do you want us?”

Zara’s power filled the air, the unique crackle of werewolf energy lifting the hair on my arms. Her gaze followed the same path as Finn’s a moment before, running down my chest to my abs visible above the table. “I want…to see you.”

Finn looked at me. “Stand up and strip.”

His words struck like a whip, the lash wrapping around my cock. It strained against the cage as I obeyed, standing and loosening the tie at my waist. My pajama pants fluttered to my ankles, leaving me nude except for the cage.

Zara and Finn stared at my groin, their gazes searing my skin. Moisture leaked from my slit. The cage was a bulky, uncomfortable weight between my legs, the steel tugging mercilessly at my dick and swollen sack.

“I want to see you, too,” Finn said, and it took me a second to realize he spoke to Zara. She jerked her gaze to his, the pulse in her neck fluttering wildly.

Tension stretched, the air taut as a bowstring.

Red sheened Finn’s eyes. “Struan,” he murmured, “take Zara to the bed.”

I kicked the pants away and rounded the table, the cage weighing down every step. Zara took the hand I extended, and she let me pull her from her chair. Finn hadn’t specified how I was supposed to take her to the bed, so I swept her into my arms.

She gasped, clinging to my neck. The T-shirt rode up, and I fought back a moan at the tantalizing glimpse of her plump cunt with its tiny patch of blond curls.

I lay her carefully in the center of the bed and stood back, awaiting Finn’s next order. He stepped behind me and squeezed my ass with both hands, making me hiss through my teeth as he dug his fingers into my fading bruises.

Zara propped herself on her elbows, her amber gaze rapt as she watched me writhe in Finn’s grip. As always, the pain slid into a hot, buzzing pleasure that streaked to my dick. The cage bit into my shaft, and I moaned as the pressure in my balls grew unbearable.

Zara moaned with me, spreading her legs and plunging a hand between her thighs.

“No,” Finn said, stepping around me. As Zara froze, he twisted into smoke, his clothes falling to the carpet in a heap. He reformed just as quickly, his gaze fixed on Zara. “That pussy is ours, lass.”

Zara stared up at us, her brown eyes wide and her creamy body glowing against the dark bedding.

Finn’s voice went dangerously low. “Take that shirt off, Zara. We’ve waited long enough.”

She hesitated. Then she sat up and pulled the T-shirt over her head.