Flame Daddies

by Flame Daddies (retail) (epub)

  If they’d sat down and discussed limits and he’d told her exactly what was going to happen, she didn’t think she would have agreed to it. She was the daughter of the emperor-paramount, the princess of the entire galaxy—always perfect, always in control, always leading by example. It was wonderful to give that up, to let someone else take charge, to not have to worry about what others might think of her. After all, it wasn’t like Nidian society would ever see what she was doing out here. Even if there was anything left of it.

  A sharp pain in her chest accompanied the realization that she couldn’t stay here. At some point, she would have to go back to Nidia. The galaxy needed a leader, and if her father was gone... she didn’t like it, but she’d just have to step up.

  As her eyes closed and blackness surrounded her, Alora felt Canavan stirring beneath her. Was he leaving her? A pang of fear ran through her.

  “Please, stay,” she tried to say, but even to her own ears, the sounds came out garbled and too quiet.

  ***

  “Hey, little girl.” Brynn decided Alora had slept long enough.

  “Not without my whale!” He’d never heard anyone mumble so emphatically before.

  “Sure, bring your whale if you want.” He’d heard Alora had taken an item from Canavan’s aetheric field—the tattoos—so it wouldn’t surprise him at all if she could drag a whale out of a dream.

  Her eyes fluttered open, and for a moment, Brynn looked around for the whale. When it didn’t appear, he was slightly disappointed.

  “Where’s Canavan?” she demanded.

  “Not the greeting I wanted to hear when you noticed me,” Brynn remarked.

  Her face changed. “I’m sorry.” He might have thought she was genuinely apologetic if she didn’t add, “Did I bruise your ego?”

  He decided to mess with her a little. “It’ll live. Speaking of bruises, how does your ass feel?” She visibly winced when he mentioned it.

  “Fine. Never better.”

  “So if I spanked you again right now, it wouldn’t start off sore?”

  Her face turned a deep crimson as she shook her head.

  “What about your pussy?” He felt his cock hardening, straining against his pants. Everyone had heard Canavan getting laid last night. Brynn wanted some action, too.

  Instead of playing along, she slapped him. Pain exploded across the side of his face, and the sharp burn made him grin.

  “Naughty girl. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were cruising for a spanking.” His tone was playful, but for some reason, she got more riled up and tried to slap him again. This time, he caught her wrist in mid-air and held her tightly. Her delicate bone structure was noticeable as he barely used his strength to encircle her wrist with his index finger and thumb.

  Her face was still blushing furiously.

  “What are you going to do about it?” she managed breathily. He looked into her eyes—dilated—the horn-locking was turning her on. He could probably have her right then, but he decided to tease her a little more.

  “I don’t know that I should do anything about it. After all, you’re Canavan’s property now.”

  “What?” Her brows knitted and eyes widened as she looked at him in utter shock, and she stopped trying to hit him, so he released her wrist.

  “Yeah, you two mated. Now you’re stuck with each other. You gotta be monogamous.” He threw his hands up to imply it wasn’t his problem.

  “That’s bullshit! And not how things were explained to me yesterday! Seriously? Like... forever?”

  He nodded, trying his best to keep a straight face.

  “Nah, he’s just teasing you.”

  Brynn’s head snapped around, and he saw Sharpe standing at the entrance to this cavern, his arms folded, leaning on a piece of rock at a jaunty angle. Damn him. How did he have the brains and the swagger?

  “I know. You already told me female dragons have many male mates. I just wanted to see how long he’d stick to the script.” She punched Brynn in the arm and leaned her head back with a smirk. He hardly felt it.

  “Would it bother you if you could only sleep with Canavan?” Sharpe asked.

  Brynn realized he’d stumbled on an important topic they all needed to discuss.

  Alora paused, clearly thinking about her answer. Brynn loved the way her white hair glimmered with tiny rainbows in this light. It was so easy to get distracted by how hot she was.

  “I know it should feel natural to bond only to one man... dragon... uh... do you guys still use the word ‘man’ to describe yourselves?”

  “Yeah,” Brynn chuckled. Her attempt to avoid causing offense was adorably misguided and hilarious at the same time. “We have humanoid forms, remember.”

  “I just don’t want to accidentally oppress you or something.”

  He had to hand it to her, Alora’s poker face was inscrutable. Well, until she sniggered, at any rate. At that, Brynn and Sharpe descended into gales of laughter.

  “The oppression and disempowerment of dragons is an extremely serious and deadly matter,” Argon said from the entrance to the cavern.

  Alora’s face paled.

  “Hey, go listen in on someone else’s conversation,” Brynn said, setting his jaw. He was sick of Argon always bringing the rest of them down. Alora seemed to quickly recover her composure, and she turned to speak to Argon.

  “You’re stronger than the elves. All of you are. I don’t understand why you don’t fight back.”

  “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Argon said in clipped tones. He turned and left the cavern.

  Good riddance, Brynn thought. Usually, he got on with their alpha, but at the moment, he wanted to keep the princess away from an argument.

  “I thought you all had this daddy thing going on. Or are we playing a different game now?” And just like that, she was back to being a shallow-seeming, spoiled, rich girl, flirting with boys she liked. Brynn marveled at the swiftness of the change and how quickly she dropped her point once it was made.

  Argon clearly thought she was raving. One thing was for sure, they shouldn’t underestimate her.

  In the meantime, he wanted to lay claim to her. How could he make Sharpe go away though?

  An image of Alora sandwiched between Brynn and Sharpe suddenly flashed before his eyes. To his surprise, he liked the idea. But how would it go down with his brother or the princess?

  ***

  Sharpe watched Alora sparring, first with Brynn, then with Argon. That girl was fearless. He’d pretty much known that about her since the moment they met, but watching her take on Argon like that... it was so hot to know she had her own thoughts and opinions, and she let the dragons take charge, anyway.

  He exchanged a glance with Brynn. Ever since they were tiny hatchlings, they’d been able to communicate their thoughts and feelings with the smallest of gestures. Their father had been endlessly surprised by their ability to alibi each other without even having time alone to get their stories straight. Now, Sharpe knew exactly what Brynn wanted. A three-way. With Alora.

  “I’m in,” Sharpe spoke without thinking. Alora looked at him quizzically.

  “You’re in what?” she asked.

  Sharpe and Brynn grinned.

  “What?” Alora persisted.

  “You want to tell her what you’re thinking?” Sharpe prompted. Alora’s gaze switched to Brynn whose grin got wider.

  “I’m feeling like a sandwich,” Brynn said. Sharpe considered punching him for wasting a perfectly good pun at a moment like this.

  “Carbs? Don’t tell me you can hunt wild loaves of bread out in the forest like you chased down that deer?” Alora’s sarcasm wasn’t lost on Sharpe. She really was a firecracker.

  “Wrong sort of sandwich, princess.” Brynn seemed to enjoy teasing Alora, and when Sharpe looked at her more closely, he noticed her pupils were slightly dilated, and her face was a little flushed. She liked when Brynn talked to her teasingly, instead of getting to the point.

  “One of
you should tell me!”

  “You’re an impatient little girl, aren’t you?” Brynn spoke with a relaxed air. He was the king of chill. Sharpe watched him dance around answering Alora’s question until she couldn’t stand it anymore.

  “Maybe I am. Whatcha gonna do about it?” Alora’s impertinent tone made Sharpe snigger. She spoke better than that. Once again, she was teasing the men back.

  “Two guys, one girl,” Brynn gestured with his hands to show the dilemma.

  “And?” Alora wasn’t getting it.

  “I thought you knew everything,” Brynn teased.

  Alora looked like she was about to explode.

  “Will you tell me? He’s like talking to a door!”

  Sharpe nodded and decided to put her out of her misery. “He’s suggesting a three-way. Thoughts?”

  Her jaw dropped open, and she stared at the two of them as though she’d never even considered the idea before. Or perhaps it was in her blood to appear shocked about such acts of depravity... no. Sharpe remembered how she’d listened when he’d told her about how dragon females mated with as many males as possible. He knew in her culture, one man mated with one woman and they weren’t even supposed to think about anyone else.

  “You know more than one guy can have sex with the same woman at the same time, right?” Sharpe checked.

  “Obviously.” Her tone made it clear she’d never come across this before.

  “Never visited Minos Kerala, huh?” Brynn cocked his head sympathetically.

  Alora flushed the prettiest pink color, and Sharpe grinned again.

  “If you’re open to the idea, we could show you how it works,” he suggested.

  She looked between the two men.

  “You’d both be... comfortable with that? Wouldn’t it get weird?”

  “You’re from another planet. Pretty much everything about you is weird.” Brynn didn’t have a talent for tact. Sharpe sighed when Alora predictably frowned.

  “Get lost, both of you. I have an important appointment... with some sleep.” She laid down on the ground and closed her eyes.

  Sharpe gave his brother a Look. Sometimes Brynn didn’t know when to stop pushing.

  “Great. Now you pissed her off,” Sharpe growled.

  Brynn shook his head and gave Sharpe a look which said, ‘I got this.’

  Sharpe held his hand out, palm up, and nodded his head. Be my guest.

  Brynn poked Alora in the back with his toe.

  “Careful, keep doing that, and she’ll bite you,” Sharpe warned him.

  “Good. I like a girl with teeth,” Brynn replied.

  Sharpe left the cavern. There was no reasoning with Brynn when he was in this mindset. He returned to his own little cavern and laid on the ground, staring up at the stalactites.

  ***

  Poke.

  Alora ignored Brynn’s toe. She had been disappointed that Canavan had pretty much abandoned her after they had sex. Perhaps if that hadn’t happened, she’d feel more interested in Brynn’s proposal. The timing couldn’t have been worse, and she just wanted to see Canavan again.

  Poke.

  The fact she’d seen every other man in this cave since she awoke didn’t make her feel any better. Were they all going to be like this? Focusing their full attention on her until she put out then—

  Poke.

  “Fucksake, will you quit that?” she snarled at Bryn, trying to rein her temper in. It wasn’t his fault Canavan had abandoned her. Was he going to spank her now like Argon had?

  “Whoa. Who peed in your stroobfruit juice?”

  Alora sighed.

  “Look, if the three-way bothers you so much, we don’t have to. I didn’t want to upset you, I just... thought there was no harm in asking. Only, clearly, there was. I didn’t want to make you feel uncom—”

  “That’s not it. I’m sorry.”

  As Brynn talked, Alora’s heart sunk lower and lower. She felt bad Brynn and Sharpe had put themselves out there, and she’d basically pushed them away because of something that happened with someone else. She realized she needed to stay on top of that, or there was going to be non-stop drama every time any of the guys did something stupid.

  “What is it then?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to bitch about someone who’s not here.”

  Brynn fixed her with a perceptive look. “It’s Canavan, isn’t it?”

  Her eyes filled with tears. She wasn’t sure if she was anxious about not wanting the brothers to fight over her or relieved she didn’t have to tattle on Canavan to be able to talk to someone about how she felt.

  “He hasn’t come to see me since... since we...” She took a deep breath and decided she needed to spit it out. “Since we had sex.”

  Brynn raised his eyebrows, then surprised Alora by wrapping her up in a big hug.

  “Don’t worry, little one. He hasn’t abandoned you. We practically had to drag him off you. At some point, we all need to sit down and figure out when we’re going to do what, but in the meantime, the rest of us decided it was our turn to see you, and we insisted that he needed to rest before he took guard duty again.”

  “You really had to drag him?” Alora’s heart filled with relief at the prospect Canavan hadn’t left her willingly.

  “Cross my heart.” Brynn hugged her tighter, and she felt much happier than a moment ago.

  “I thought—” she paused and realized this wasn’t who she should be talking to about this. “Well, I guess I was wrong, anyway.”

  “Don’t worry about things so much. You’re clearly still quite tired, I think you need a nap. Are you cold? Do you want my tail?”

  She hadn’t intended to sleep right now, but when Brynn mentioned it, she found she quite liked the idea.

  “Yes, please. But only a little nap. Then I want to eat.”

  Brynn stroked her shoulder. “Don’t you worry about food. Your daddies are gonna make sure you’re never hungry.”

  She wasn’t sure whether it was this sudden wave of tiredness or the relief of knowing she could depend on the men to take care of her, but something made her feel so relaxed, she said, “Thank you, Daddy,” without even thinking about it.

  Brynn’s tail snaked around her, and she snuggled up beneath it, thinking how wonderful it would be to have four dragon daddies who loved her and took care of her.

  Chapter 8:

  When Alora awoke, she felt more put-together than she had before her nap. She stretched and wriggled her toes, savoring the warmth from Brynn’s tail. Something about this setup felt... right. It was almost like a memory of her childhood, but she was certain her father had never hired a dragon as a nanny for her, and the idea her mother might have a tail was laughable.

  Her mother had been elegant, always perfectly coiffed and could trace her family back through Nidian history for at least ten generations. The emperor-paramount had a love of things and people he deemed perfect, and he had no time or interest in things that didn’t measure up. While he had been extremely distant, only seeing Alora occasionally, he had always had a soft spot for her, and she knew he would let her get away with pretty much anything. Her mother, however... from what Alora remembered, she’d practically been a shut-in.

  Alora tried to remember how long her mother had borne the isolation and crushing boredom of being the most restricted woman in the galaxy. She had been seven when her mother had finally given up on life and killed herself. For as long as Alora remembered, her mother had been distant... empty. Dead inside. As pointless and unfulfilled as a teacup in a house of coffee drinkers.

  It had been no surprise to anyone when she’d been found in the petrified forest a few miles from the castle. The media had spoken of what a great loss it was, but really, the only thing Alora remembered about her mother was the way she came alive for photo-ops, then faded away the rest of the time, leaving Alora to be cared for by nannies.

  No, there was definitely nothing dragon-like about any of the women who had
raised Alora.

  Then why does Brynn’s tail feel so familiar when he wraps it around me like this?

  She sighed deeply, wishing she could figure it out.

  “You’re awake!” The joy spilled out of Brynn’s two words. Alora looked up at him. His tail was wrapped across her body protectively, and he was propped against the wall, gazing down at her with an impish expression on his face.

  “Have you been here the whole time?” She hardly believed it.

  “Yup.”

  “Did you sleep at all?”

  He shook his head. “Nope. I’m on guard duty, remember. I gotta make sure you don’t wake up and take it into your pretty little head to go and scale a sheet of ice again. Naked.”

  She felt her face grow warm as he reminded her.

  “I... I guess I was worried about whether my father was alive or not.”

  “He’s a grown man. He can take care of himself. Seems to me like you’ve spent a lot of your life worrying about taking care of him.”

  She snorted with derision.

  “How’d you come to that conclusion?”

  “You censor yourself all the time because you’re worried about making him look good. And you keep worrying about if he’s okay—”

  “Last I saw, the Prime Government building had been blown up, including the palace. I think it’s pretty normal to worry.”

  “You survived.”

  “It was a fluke.”

  “And how do you see your future if he’s not okay?” Brynn asked pointedly.

  Alora stared at him for a long minute. “I feel like you’re throwing my words back at me.”

  “Answer me.”

  “I’ll take over his job, so he knows his legacy is stable.”

  Brynn nodded. Alora shook her head in frustration.