The Viper's Nest

by Tate James

  “No,” he shook his head, then finished the last of his drink. “They’re running my entirely legal corporation of investments in property and stocks. I promised you I was cleaning the organization up, dragă, and I meant it.”

  Speechless, I finished off my own drink and then placed the empty glass back on the table. “So... Lucy and Elena, huh? Bet your men would love that if they ever found out.”

  “Exactly,” he chuckled, trailing his fingertips across my back. “Hence the figurehead. Another?” He nodded to our empty glasses, and when I accepted, slid out of the booth to order them for us.

  While he was gone, I considered this new development and found I was really happy for Lucy. She got bored so damn quickly, and without me needing her help on Fox jobs anymore, she was going a little bit crazy. This was actually just the perfect task for her, and I was really impressed that Vali had thought of it.

  “So,” I said as Vali returned with fresh drinks. “Do you dance?”

  “Dance?” he repeated, settling back into the booth beside me, close enough that our thighs were pressed together. “Like that?” He nodded to the dance floor where sweaty, half-naked girls writhed and rubbed up against equally sweaty guys.

  “Yeah, I suppose. Why not?” I wasn’t really a big one for dancing either, but the combination of an information and emotion overload, three long island iced teas, and Vali’s intoxicating nearness was making me want to grind up on him too.

  Damn dragon must have been tapping his gypsy powers because he seemed to read my mind as he leaned in close. “You don’t need the excuse of a dance floor to grope me, you know.” As he spoke, his lips brushed my ear, and I needed to stifle a moan.

  Under any normal circumstances, I might have been concerned at how fast my mood had shifted from hurt to angry to exhausted and finally settled on turned all the way on. But these were far from normal circumstances, and I had six boyfriends. Could anyone really blame me for wanting to jump Vali right then and there?

  “I thought we were taking things slow?” I murmured a little breathlessly as his arm slipped down from the backrest to tuck around my waist and pull me closer.

  “We were,” he agreed, his granite eyes tracing the lines of my face and settling on my mouth. “But now we’re not.”

  “Totally fine by me,” I groaned, closing the short distance between us and plastering my lips to his in a frenzy of pent-up sexual desire. To my intense relief, he responded with the same level of urgency, forcing my already willing lips to part and claiming my tongue with his own.

  While we kissed, my hands gripped tight to his broad shoulders, trying to pull him closer, even as his own huge palms circled my waist and tugged me onto his lap to straddle him. If I had any doubts in my mind about whether he was into me or not, the steel bar crushing against the denim of my crotch eliminated them.

  “We should get out of here,” Vali suggested, pulling back from my mouth just long enough to kiss and suck his way down my neck. My brain was floating solidly on cloud nine though, and all I could muster as a response was a breathy moan. Vali chuckled, his laugh vibrating the soft skin of my neck and sending lightning bolts of pleasure through me.

  “Come on,” he urged, lifting me off him and then standing. He took my hand in his, and I hurried behind him as he tugged me through the crowded bar and out into the street. “I borrowed River’s Maserati for the night.” He winked at me as we rounded the corner and passed the spot where my mother had dropped about sixteen thousand bombshells on me only maybe half an hour ago.

  “What?” I exclaimed, my arousal being tempered by offense. “He let you take one of his cars and not me?”

  “Let me.” Vali snickered another evil-sounding laugh. “I didn’t ask.”

  Oh, he really is the devil. I love it.

  If it was even possible, the fact that he’d taken one of River’s cars without asking—even though this was a rental and not actually River’s car—made me even more aroused.

  River’s careful control was a wild turn-on for me, but so was Vali’s blatant disregard for River’s rules. Fuck, it was one sexy conundrum. If I hadn’t already been pretty positive Vali wasn’t the sharing kind of guy, I’d kill to get them both in bed at the same time.

  “Where are we going?” I asked as I jogged a little to keep up with Vali’s long strides. I was still wearing my chunky-heeled boots from earlier in the day when Vali and I had gone for a walk to calm my magic down. Damn, that felt like a lifetime ago.

  We’d almost reached the back of the valet parking lot, which was why I’d asked, as it was pretty dark away from the main lights of the street and the bar.

  “Oh, never mind, I see,” I answered my own question when I saw River’s sleek black Maserati tucked into the last space of the row, almost totally hidden by an enormous GMC Yukon with something like nine seats. Who the hell needed nine seats, unless... Okay, sure, I had six lovers, so who was I to judge?

  Vali wasted no words, spinning me to face him, then lifting and pinning me to the hood of the hundred-and-something-thousand-dollar car. His hot lips descended to mine, kissing me without restraint, like I was the last damn woman on earth.

  “Regina,” he growled as my hands slipped beneath his shirt and my knees spread to let him in closer to me. “I don’t think I can survive the drive back to our hotel.”

  “So don’t,” I offered, then demonstrated my meaning by dragging his T-shirt up and over his head. That was all the encouragement he needed as he dove back in to claim my lips in a bruising kiss. His hands pushed my jacket off my shoulders, then returned the favor by yanking my dove-gray T-shirt off and leaving me in just my black bra, jeans, and boots.

  “You sure?” he checked as his hands went to the waistband of my tight blue jeans and flicked the button from its loop. “We are very public right now.”

  That was actually part of what made this such a turn-on. We could get caught any damn second, and I loved it. “Hell yes, could not be more sure if I tried.”

  Vali dragged my zipper down, and I lifted my ass so he could step back and drag the thick fabric from my body. Somehow—I have no idea how but made a mental note to ask later—he managed to get my jeans totally off me without getting them tangled on my boots.

  Magical creatures seriously have the best tricks.

  “Huh,” Vali muttered, grabbing one of my legs in a strong hold and pulling me tight against him while my upper body sprawled on the hood of the luxury car. “I see why my little brother keeps destroying your underwear.”

  “Don’t—” Before I could even finish the damn word, let alone the warning, a little fire ball had incinerated my black silk thong. “Seriously? Ugh, you two are as bad as each other!”

  Vali grinned his wicked dragon grin at me and stroked a sure finger down the length of my pussy, dipping inside me briefly then lifting that finger to his mouth.

  “Mmm,” he hummed, rolling his tongue over his wet finger and holding my eye contact. “Seriously addictive.”

  Arousal swept through me in another heady wave, and I moaned as my nipples tightened even more in the cool night air. “Vali, seriously? Shut up and fuck me.”

  “Your wish is my command, Regina mea,” he chuckled, making quick work of his own belt and fly and freeing his jaw-dropping equipment. It actually gave me a moment’s pause as I stared in fascination.

  I mean, I’d caught a glimpse here and there as he’d changed back and forth from dragon form, but that had just nothing on seeing him in all his erect glory. It was, simply put, shocking—in a really good way—but also sent a shiver of anticipation through me... Was it going to hurt?

  “Sorry.” He shrugged a guilty-looking shrug. “I usually keep lube handy, but I didn’t come here expecting to fuck you on the hood of River’s car.” I just blinked at him a couple of times, still at a loss for words, and he smirked. “Don’t stress, dragă. I know what I’m doing.”

  Using a solid dose of his dragon strength, Vali lifted me by the back of my thi
ghs, bringing my cunt to his mouth and leaving only my shoulders resting on the car while he sucked and licked at my already throbbing pussy.

  His lips and tongue worked me over in what seemed like no time at all, and right as I felt like I was about to come, he dropped me back down and pushed the tip of his monster cock inside my slick opening.

  “Holy fucking shit,” I moaned, writhing against the car as he pushed in another half inch and my walls tightened, relaxed, then adjusted to allow him more progress. By the time he had made it in as far as he was probably ever going to, I was a panting mess.

  “You okay, dragă?” Vali checked, and I was pleased to hear his own voice tight with tension and need.

  “I’m amazing, but I think I might actually die if you don’t start fucking me now, Vali,” I confessed in a rush of words, and he snickered.

  “I didn’t want to hurt you, Regina mea,” he replied. “But if you’re sure you’re okay...”

  In response, I hitched my legs up around his waist and pulled him in tighter, feeling him slip a little deeper. Guess I’d been wrong, after all.

  My words slurred into a jumble of noises as he began to move inside me, slowly at first as he coated himself in my lube, then faster until I was practically sobbing with the intensity of the orgasm clawing its way out of me.

  “Christ, Vali, I’m about to come,” I moaned, then seconds later felt like my entire body was shattering into a million pieces, with the epicenter at my pussy. The climax rippled through me over and over while Vali thrust his rigid shaft into me, and I heard myself screaming my way through a second and then a third orgasm in quick succession.

  When my quivering finally began to die down, I licked my lips and peered up at Vali with hooded eyes. “That was...”

  “Fucking intense,” he finished for me, grinning wickedly and still pumping slowly into me. “Also, not the quietest... I think we might have company soon.” He flicked a glance over his shoulder but seemed really in no rush to move.

  “Well, we better hurry things up a bit then.” I smirked back at him, removing his cock from inside me then scrambling up from the smooth car hood, now slick with my sweat, and sinking to my knees in front of him.

  His breath sucked in with a sharp hiss as my hand wrapped around his thick erection, my fingertips not even touching together. Looking up at him, I slowly and deliberately licked around the head of his cock while he held my gaze, until his fists bunched in his hair and he groaned.

  “I thought you said we were hurrying?” he reminded me in a teasing tone, and I grinned.

  “Oops, good point. Time for playing later, right?” I threw him a wink but didn’t wait for a response before wrapping my lips over the head of his dick and sucking him in.

  My tongue swirled around him while my hand made up the difference in length that I just couldn’t take into my throat. It made me think I needed to have River work on my gag reflex a little more.

  “Fuck, dragă,” he gasped, his hands gripping my hair and encouraging a faster pace while his hips thrust gently, testing the limits and begging for more. “I can hear someone coming.”

  Not willing to stop before he was done, I pumped him harder with my fist, sucking him deeper still until seconds later his hot come was filling my throat and he let out a decidedly dragon-like roar.

  “Well, if they hadn’t heard me, they couldn’t have missed you,” I snickered, releasing him and wiping off my mouth.

  “Shit,” he swore, grabbing our discarded clothes from the ground and bundling them in his arms. “Quick, hop in the car before they see you out here in all your glorious nakedness.”

  With all the chivalry of a well-mannered man, he helped me up from my knees and brushed the small pieces of gravel from my flesh before holding the passenger side door open, then closing it behind me.

  “River’s car is going to smell like sex tomorrow,” I commented as he got in the driver’s side, still shirtless, and started the engine. He’d tossed our pile of clothes in before me, so I yanked my T-shirt over my bra, just in case anyone could see through the tinted glass, then went to work on figuring out how in the hell he’d gotten my jeans past my boots.

  “Look,” Vali pointed up to a large tree overhanging the parking lot as we pulled out. It wasn’t far from where we’d been fucking, and sitting on a branch staring at us was a very intelligent-looking crow.

  25

  The sight that greeted us when we entered the hotel suite was confusing at best. Cole was on his hands and knees peering under the couch and speaking in a low and soothing tone while Caleb sat on the kitchen counter with his knees pulled up to his chest.

  Austin leaned casually against the counter, watching Cole with an amused look on his face, while Wesley was ignoring them all and tapping away on his laptop at the table.

  “Hey,” I greeted them as we stood there for a second, frowning in confusion. “Uh, Cal, can we talk? Privately?”

  Whatever weirdness was going on with the guys could probably wait. I owed Caleb an apology for my rash overreaction, and if I didn’t do it now, then I was either going to chicken out or the anxiety was going to give me a stomach ulcer.

  Could I even get stomach ulcers? It sure felt like I could...

  “Uh...” Caleb looked at me with an uncertain expression, darting his eyes back to whatever the hell Cole was doing and then giving me a cautious nod. “Yeah, of course. Let’s go... um... outside?”

  He did an awkward sort of shuffle along the countertop, pushing Austin out of his way while he went and ignoring his twin’s snort of laughter. Once Caleb was right to the end of the counter, he slid off and quickly dashed the distance between kitchen and balcony.

  “Coming?” he asked me, standing just outside and holding the sliding door partly closed as if scared something might chase him out there. Weird behavior.

  “Yeah, I’m coming, you-you oddball,” I replied, trying not to laugh at how strange he was being. Austin, meanwhile, seemed to be fighting laughter of his own, and Cole flicked an annoyed glance at the Ink Mage.

  “What’s going on?” I frowned, joining Caleb on the balcony and watching as he closed the sliding door firmly and took a seat as far from the door as possible.

  He hesitated, then shook his head. “Tell you later. What did you want to talk about? You were pretty mad when you left...”

  “Ah yeah.” I blushed with embarrassment and took the seat beside him. “That’s what I wanted to talk about. Actually, where’s Vic?” I twisted in my seat, looking inside again in case I’d missed him lurking somewhere. Wes hadn’t moved, Austin seemed to be offering Cole advice on whatever he was doing, and I could see River and Vali speaking near the door. No Vic, though.

  “He left,” Caleb informed me. “Or... got thrown out. Same difference, right? No doubt he will be back, though. He said he’s been working on breaking the geas that... er.... Bridget put on him.”

  As he said my mother’s name, he cringed. Whether it was because he didn’t want me to fly off the handle at him again or because he was anticipating pain from the secrecy spell, I wasn’t sure. But it solidified how harsh I’d been with him earlier.

  “Okay, so, Bridget.” I heaved a deep breath and smiled at him tentatively. “I owe you an apology. I totally overreacted earlier, and that wasn’t fair to you.”

  Caleb started to say something, so I held my hand up to silence him.

  “Just... let me explain. Or rather, not explain because it’s pretty cut and dry. You didn’t do anything that deserved that sort of reaction from me. It was just... a lot. All at once. First the pain from the bonding, then Vic showing up and dropping that truth bomb... I let my anger and fear drive my actions, and for that I apologize.”

  “Kitty Kat,” he groaned, scrubbing a hand over his face and through his hair. “You have nothing to apologize for. You really didn’t react that badly, unless you count storming out into Los Angeles in the middle of the night when you know bad guys want to string you up and drain your blood. O
ther than that, it was kind of understandable.”

  “Uh, so I’m also apologizing for all the things I thought but didn’t say. So... sorry!” I gave him an awkward sort of smile, and he chuckled.

  “I’m sorry too, babe. I never ever should have accepted that stupid spell in the first place. If I’d have been in my right mind, I would have known it couldn’t end well.” He leaned forward in his seat and took my hand in his, tracing a pattern across my skin. “It’s been eating me up inside this whole time, not being able to tell you and knowing how mad you were going to be.”

  “You won’t believe this”—I laughed a humorless laugh—“or maybe you will, seeing as you know her better than I do, but Bridget found me tonight. After I left here, I went to a random bar, and she showed up with Mr. Gregoric.”

  “What?” Caleb exclaimed. “What did she want? I was always so careful not to give her any info on you, Kitty, I swear.”

  “No, I know. I do trust you.” I linked my fingers with his and gave him a squeeze of reassurance. “A lot of what she said smacked of bullshit, but she did make it pretty clear you weren’t to be blamed for the whole situation. Did you know she was drugging your tea to make you keep going back there?”

  Caleb’s jaw dropped slightly, and his brows shot up. “What the fuck?”

  “Ah yeah, so... I really can’t blame you for seeing her behind my back. You didn’t actually have any free will to refuse.” I shrugged and gave him an apologetic smile. “But on the upside to all of this, the amulet she gave you really does seem to be working.”

  “Yeah?” He ran his fingers over the gold chain and then gave me a half smile. “I’m glad. I didn’t have any reason to think she was lying about this, but then I also didn’t think she was magically drugging my tea.”

  I snorted a laugh. “I know, my mother seems like a real piece of work.”

  “You really scared me earlier, Kitty Kat,” Caleb murmured in a serious voice. “The way you reacted after our bond... I thought I’d broken you or something. All I could think was that I hadn’t been ready after all. That my magic was going to cause you even more shit, all because I was so desperate to break the NDA and tell you about Bridget before Vic could get here.”