Camden watched her go, feeling completely drained. He hadn’t really understood why his parents hated Sage so much, but now that he did… It was a different kind of burden.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to carry that burden alone. A few moments later, Sage entered their room and rushed to his side. As the dragon sat next to him, Camden shifted into his human form and crawled into Sage’s lap.
There were a million things Camden would have liked to say, but the words clogged up in his throat. Fortunately, he didn’t have to speak. He just buried his face in Sage’s chest and wept, for himself, for the twin he had never known and the son his parents had lost. Sage didn’t try to silence Camden’s tears or to shush him. He just held Camden, petting his hair, his love for Camden coming through their bond as clear and strong as ever.
That love anchored Camden, telling him it was all right to live when his twin had died. The past could not be forgotten, but he couldn’t allow it to taint his connection with Sage and the happiness they were trying to build together.
When he broke away from Sage, Camden felt a little calmer. He looked up at his mate and Sage smiled down at him. The draechen brushed his thumb over Camden’s cheek, wiping his tears. “No more guilt. Promise me.”
Camden bit his lip, wondering if he could truly agree to that and be honest. Everything was still too new. His parents had been trying to protect him just so that he wouldn’t blame himself, but the explanations they had provided didn’t encourage that.
And then, Camden met Sage’s ice-blue eyes and froze. Sage’s gaze always fascinated him, but now those lovely orbs seemed to hold the answers his parents hadn’t given him.
“No more guilt,” he whispered hoarsely. “Only love.”
Chapter Eight
Sage held Camden close, his tongue delving into his mate’s mouth as they kissed. Camden arched against him, his slender and responsive body feeling so good and right in Sage’s arms. He had no idea how he’d lived without Camden, and also no plans to return to that cold and barren part of his existence – no matter who tried to change that.
Today, Talbot Stervos was arriving. In fact, if Sage had to guess, he was on his way to Patala even now. Sage and Camden should have been getting ready to greet him. They’d been doing exactly that, but then, Sage had taken one good look at Camden and he’d snapped.
Perhaps he should have been a little more self-aware, but the only thing he’d experienced as he’d pushed his mate down on the bed was satisfaction. And when their mouths clashed, that emotion flared into the need to claim, to possess, his dragon’s instinct emerging, stronger than ever.
Camden was the one who broke the kiss. Sage would have been put out by it, but then, Camden said, “Claim me, Sage! Fuck me.”
Sage’s dragon roared, urging him to take Camden up on the offer right away. In fact, it would have taken a man far stronger than Sage to resist the lust and need that flared inside him. An almost desperate desire burned in Camden’s slitted eyes, echoing the one inside Sage.
With an almost angry snarl, Sage ripped off Camden’s clothing and discarded the scraps onto the floor. Camden seemed to be experiencing the same urgency, because Sage’s garments soon suffered the same fate. With both of them naked on the bed, Sage now had access to the full expanse of his mate’s beautiful body, and he didn’t delay to take advantage of that. Normally, he’d have worshipped every inch of Camden at leisure, but his urgency didn’t allow it this time around. He just needed his mate too much.
Following that need, Sage crawled down Camden’s body and took his mate’s cock in his mouth. Camden cried out, his fingers tangling in Sage’s hair, guiding him down. Sage growled lightly, riding the waves of his mate’s rapture, one he himself was drawing out. He sucked the young naga’s cock for all he was worth, not teasing like he would have at a different time. By now, he knew his mate’s every erogenous spot, and while he tortured Camden’s dick, he rolled rubbed his fingers over the naga’s taint and massaged the perfect spheres of his testicles.
In no time, he had Camden hovering on the edge of orgasm. Undoubtedly, he’d have been able to make Camden come just by using his mouth, but Camden’s hold on him tightened to an almost painful extent. “Sage,” Camden hissed, the particularities of his naga nature once more showing up in his speech, “fuck me… Please.”
How could Sage deny him? He craved to be buried inside Camden’s channel when his lover found his peak. He ached to feel that almost excruciating tightness squeezing him in a velvet-like fist.
Releasing Camden’s cock from his mouth, Sage retrieved the lubricant they needed from the nightstand. He hesitated over the condoms, because he’d have preferred not to have any layer between him and his mate. In the end, he grabbed a foil package and ripped it with his teeth. He rolled a condom onto his dick, while his mate bent himself in two, exposing his nether opening to Sage’s gaze.
His hands trembled as he poured the slick liquid over his fingers. When he reached for his mate’s hole, Camden shivered, and the naga’s lust and desire fueled Sage’s, making it hard for him to take time with the preparation. He thrust two fingers inside Camden, groaning at the tightness that engulfed the digits. Overlords, how that would feel around his dick… Sage couldn’t wait.
Holding Camden’s gaze, Sage started finger-fucking his lover. The naga pushed back against the invading digits, releasing small whimpering noises whenever Sage brushed over his prostate. Their connection overflowed with the pleasure Camden experienced at Sage’s touch and the nearly unbearable need adding to it.
Far sooner than he’d have liked, Sage found the lingering remnants of his control snapping, pushed away by the onslaught of the desire he shared with his mate. He pulled his fingers out of Camden and supported his lover’s legs on his shoulders. In one single thrust, he slid home.
It was perfect, just like Sage had known it would be, just like it always was between them. Sage had to still for a few seconds to allow Camden to get used to his girth. It helped him too, because the pleasure that rushed over him threatened to make him embarrass himself by coming on the spot. But even those considerations couldn’t put a damper on Sage’s passion for too long. He started to thrust in and out of his mate, aiming for Camden’s prostate with every motion.
By now, Sage’s name was a hissed litany of Camden’s lips. “Sage…Sage…Sage,” Camden kept saying, over and over. The sound of it was like a physical caress on Sage’s skin, enflaming him even further. He sped up, hearing the plea for more in Camden’s words, but also in Camden’s mind and their bond.
Camden writhed under him, pushing back against him, fucking himself on Sage’s dick. Whatever ice Sage might have kept because of his nature melted in the blaze of the passion between them. He was dizzy with want, with lust, with the need to get deeper and never leave Camden’s body. It wasn’t only a physical urge. It went far beyond that and into an emotional compulsion, that thirst to have their very souls united. Every inch of Sage burned with it. His senses took in only Camden—the scent of his sweat, the sound of his cries and heartbeat, the soft feel of his skin under Sage’s fingertips, the clenching heat of his channel, and throughout it all, the love he felt for Sage.
And then, his mate tilted his head, wordlessly demanding the claiming bite. Sage didn’t wait to be asked twice and buried his fangs in Camden’s throat. Sweet blood exploded over his taste buds, Camden’s flavor going straight to Sage’s head, like the strongest of drugs Sage could so easily get addicted on. Camden’s essence seemed like the most potent aphrodisiac in existence, filling Sage’s limbs with erotic power.
One more thrust, and Sage came, filling the condom with his seed. He experienced a pang of distress at the fact that he couldn’t mark Camden with his spunk because of the latex, but it didn’t last. It couldn’t, not when Camden found his peak as well, his orgasm combining with Sage’s into an explosion of rapture that almost seemed to shut down Sage’s mind.
The mate bond tightened and glowed with the rush of
their bliss. Camden’s emotions, thoughts, and memories rushed into Sage, mixing with his own in a cocktail of pure sensation and want. For a few beautiful moments, Sage didn’t know where he ended and Camden began.
At one point, he must have blacked out, but he was only aware of it when he came to again, only to find himself collapsed on top of his mate. He was forced to slide out of his mate and pull back, lest he crush Camden under his bulk. When he faced Camden, though, he found his mate smiling brightly. He was so beautiful, his face flushed, his hair in disarray, and his lips swollen from Sage’s kisses, that Sage simply couldn’t bring himself to let him go. He brushed their mouths together again, and might have gone for a second round of love making if a knock hadn’t sounded at the door.
“Yes?” Camden called out a little breathlessly.
“Your Highness, Lord Stervos will be arriving any moment now,” a guard announced.
“Thank you,” Sage replied, unable to keep the frustration from his voice. “We’ll be right there.”
“I suppose we were lucky we had the time to finish,” he grumbled when the guard was gone.
Camden chuckled. “I don’t think that was a coincidence.”
Sage supposed it was possible the guard had waited until after their impromptu lovemaking session. That could easily mean that they were late, and while he didn’t look forward to seeing his mate interact with another candidate, they had made a promise and needed to keep it.
With twin sighs, Sage and Camden rushed to clean up. They found other clothes—their previous outfits, so carefully picked, had been destroyed—and made sure their hair looked presentable. Finally, they were done and abandoned their quarters.
The guard was waiting for them outside and led them to a private lounge, one Camden and Sage had never used before for such meetings. That spoke of an intimacy of the new guest with the Isaiat, and it made Sage grit his teeth in frustration.
Camden took Sage’s hand and squeezed it tightly. That small gesture made Sage take a couple of deep breaths. He buried his anger under the layers of ice his nature allowed him to build and opened the door to the lounge.
He expected to see the royal triad here, but that wasn’t the case. Apparently, they had truly decided to give Camden space to decide. If they had kept Talbot company before, they were gone now, leaving Sage free to assess his rival.
Camden’s first love got up from the settee he’d been lounging on and faced them with a wide smile. “Camden. It’s such a pleasure to see you. You look beautiful.”
“Greetings, Talbot,” Camden replied softly. “Thank you. You flatter me.” Clearing his throat, he gestured toward Sage. “This is my mate, Lieutenant Sagenamadeen Zager. Sage, this is Lord Talbot Stervos.”
Sage eyed the man in front of him from head to toe. He was handsome, tall, muscular, and tan, like an Overlords-damned Greek god. But Sage had expected that. He’d had the advantage of knowing his rival beforehand, since he’d seen Talbot in his lover’s memories. He also knew that he couldn’t turn the man into an icicle, no matter how much the thought appealed.
Camden arched a brow at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. He’s not your rival in any shape or form. Now just stop glaring so we can get this over with and you can go stretch your wings.”
Sage complied and automatically fell onto the icy facade he’d used while in Draechenburg. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Lord Talbot,” he said with a small bow. “It’s a pleasure.”
“The pleasure is all mine.” Talbot smiled, displaying perfect rows of straight white teeth. “And I must say you’ve become quite famous in our community. The first draechen to be a naga’s…mate. That’s quite a feat.”
Sage didn’t miss the little pause, and guessed the man might have intended to say concubine. He imagined punching him and seeing his perfect dentures in pieces, but he buried all of his anger behind the knowledge that his mate needed him to behave. “What can I say? I’m uniquely blessed.”
Talbot shot Camden a look, not even trying to hide his lecherous intentions. “Perhaps not so uniquely,” he whispered so lowly Sage only heard him because of his sharp senses.
He didn’t address that, because he’d already known Talbot would likely challenge him in some way. It didn’t matter. They just had to get through this stupid date, and then Camden would speak to his parents to end the entire farce. After the Isaiat had reached out to Sage, both Sage and Camden believed the royal triad would not push them anymore. It was a good thing too. Sage had been patient, respecting the circumstances and his mate’s ways, but every time another candidate approached Camden, he felt something ugly and dangerous emerge inside him. Ice dragons generally didn’t lose control of their abilities like black ones did, but Sage could guess that if it happened, it wouldn’t be pretty. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt for him to free his beast a little. One thing was certain, though. He wasn’t letting Camden out of his sight. Even if his mate seemed calmer now, he had been deeply pained by the revelations his parents had made. He was trying to be brave, but he remained vulnerable.
Pasting a smile on his face, Sage hooked his arm through Camden’s. “So I’m told we’ll be going to the surface. Do you have any particular place in mind?”
“Oh, there’s this beach where Camden and I used to go,” Talbot said. He was still glancing at Camden, his sensual lips twisted into a fond smile. “Do you remember?”
“Of course,” Camden replied, squeezing Sage’s hand. “You’ll like it there, Sage. It’s a private property owned by my parents, so we can pretty much do whatever we want. You can shift safely.”
Talbot scowled, having obviously expected that to go differently. Sage actually saw glimpses of the famous beach in Camden’s memories, and he had to admit it seemed like quite a romantic place. Well, if there would be any romance going on, it wouldn’t happen between Camden and Talbot.
They headed out of the palace, with Sage aware every step of the way of the guards following them. It was actually the first time he’d left his assigned quarters, and he had to admit that just stepping out of the building was a relief. No matter how fascinating the sight of Patala might have been, it got old really fast.
A limo with tinted windows was already waiting for them. Sage guided Camden inside and slid next to his mate, therefore preventing Talbot from taking the seat. Talbot didn’t comment on it, instead choosing to position himself across from Camden. Their guards got in two different cars, and after all the preparations were made, they were off.
“So tell me about yourself,” Sage prodded as the car drove through the Patalan streets. “Camden says you two were good friends a few years ago.”
Talbot nodded, leaning against the back seat of the car. “Basically, it goes back to our families being quite close, nearly awkwardly so.”
“Awkwardly?” Sage repeated.
The naga nodded. “My sire, Lord Jarrod Stervos, was supposed to marry Camden’s, but it didn’t happen, because King Zaire met his current mates. I’m actually not exactly sure what happened, but they remained friends after that.”
It was pretty much what Camden had told him about Talbot’s family history, and Sage had to admit it had stirred his interest. Stories like that were rarely as simple as “they remained friends.” But Talbot wasn’t about to make any revelations, if there was anything to reveal, so Sage put it all out of his mind.
“How come you left?” he asked.
Talbot shrugged. “Business summoned me away to Greece. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but chimeras have a very strong presence there. I had to learn how to handle the family estate, so to speak.”
“Talbot’s family is one of the most influential ones of our nation,” Camden explained through their bond. “It’s one of the reasons why his sire and mine were encouraged to wed.”
Sage wanted to scream. He was really tired of arranged unions. “And now, because that didn’t work out, they want to make you do it. Well, I’m thinking it won’t work out like they expect.”
In resp
onse, Camden placed his head on Sage’s shoulder. Obligingly, Sage wrapped his arm around his mate, then directed his attention toward Talbot once more. “Well, now that you’re back, let’s make things clear outright. What do you expect from me and Camden?”
If he wanted to be completely honest, he’d originally intended to wait a little before he prodded into Talbot’s intentions. But there was only so much he could take, and he’d truly reached his limit. He was tired of everyone challenging his connection with Camden, tired of having his time with Camden encroached upon by other men. It certainly didn’t help that Camden was emotionally shaken too, and Sage would have preferred to keep his mate shielded of anything else that could hurt him. Therefore, for once, he’d let his rival know exactly where he stood.
“I want Camden to be my mate,” Talbot said calmly. “I think we’d be great for each other. I always have. I admit I don’t know what to make of you yet, but the fact that Camden picked you tells me you must have some qualities. He’s always had excellent taste.”
“False modesty aside, right?” Sage arched a brow. He had to admit, however reluctantly, that in comparison to other naga he’d met so far, this man sounded far more open-minded. At least he didn’t outright dismiss Sage like others tended to.
Talbot shrugged. “There’s no reason to bother with that. The whole point of this meeting is to get to know each other a little better. Why bother with deception?”
“Why indeed…” Sage mused, narrowing his eyes at the naga. He was an expert in facades and masks, and Talbot’s unsettled him, mostly because he couldn’t quite tell what the other man was thinking. He definitely didn’t like Sage, and was in no way as willing to share with him as he wanted to sound. But was there more to him than that?
“I honestly don’t care,” Camden confessed through their bond. “Let’s just pretend to play nice with him and part ways as friends. With luck, he’ll understand, and so will my parents.”
Naga's Concubine [Chronicles of the Shifter Directive 4] (Siren Publishing Epic Romance, ManLove) Page 11