This time, I shook my head in the negative.
“Because we don’t want a bunch of undisciplined, untaught, untried, horny, hormonal teenagers fucking each other’s brains out through secondary school.”
I coughed. “Excuse me?”
“Your magic is inherent; your power comes from sex.” She drew her hand across the roof. “Why do you think we all pair up? Why do you think Elex was allowed to move in with you? Did you think Villea and Asterioth were Neves’ servants? Sex, Kimber. Without it, all we can do is little local things.”
A wave of dizziness swept over me. How had I never known this? No one had said a thing to me about having sex to increase my power in the magic.
I’d been living as a virtual celibate for the past sixty years.
I blinked a few times. “So, I was able to stop the tremors earlier in the week because…”
“Because you were out on the balcony watching the couple have sex. . . and having sex yourself. And last night you couldn’t because—”
“Wait. How did you know about the garden?” The blood drained from my face.
She grinned. “Because I was on Tymon’s balcony getting myself some as well. They are fun to watch. I don’t know who they are, but once a month, usually on the full moon, they go out there and have a really good fuck in the dark.”
“Isn’t that… intrusive to watch?”
Quirking her lip, she gave me a smile. “Didn’t stop you.” She waved off my statement. “No. It’s voyeurism. They like to take the chance that someone will see them. It’s a turn on. Missionary is boring when you need your power restored constantly.”
“Sweet savior, I had no idea.”
“I wish I’d known you didn’t know. I would have explained it a lot sooner.”
“I was still able to stop the tremor last night— Oh. Shit. Because Jallina and Drez had lent me their power.”
Her wordless nod confirmed my statement.
“Do I have to return the power to them?”
“No. I’m sure Jallina will be mostly naked as soon as she’s in the door, looking for a little power restoration from her mate.”
“I used up the power from both of them…”
“And what remained of yours,” Lunella cautioned. “You need to find Elex, and you need to get that boy naked and horizontal. Quickly. You cannot go without power—we just don’t know when the tremors will start.”
I turned to her. “But…yes, we do. It’s the project Elex has been working on for the past few months. It’s a way to tell when the mountain will shake.”
Lunella’s jaw dropped open. “What?”
* * *
“So, as you can see, while the device is still in its infant stages, we have been getting readings from the small tremors that happen almost constantly, to the peaks that jump up before one of the big shakes.”
The professor was proud as a peacock as he walked around the massive machine with me, and Lunella, Master Dorian, and Mistress Ophelia following him.
Elex was standing in the corner by the controls. His countenance was dark, brooding, and tired.
He was constantly tired.
I walked over to where he stood and placed a hand on his shoulder, and he almost tossed me off.
“Elex…”
Turning his scowl on me, I could see exhausted anger that fell away when he realized it was me.
“Elex, please. If this is too much for you, please leave the position. The professor seems like a nice guy, but you’re completely exhausted. We haven’t touched each other in a week…”
“Is that all you’re thinking about? My dick?”
“Don’t do that. I’m not only thinking about your dick. I miss you in the bed. I miss you in the apartments. You’re not at training with me, and now you’re behind on that, as well. If this is going to take you away from everything we have at the temple—”
His hand hit the console, and he stormed off out of the room. I let out a breath and hurried after him.
“Elex! Goddamn it. Come on.”
He jerked to a halt and spun on me. “This is my life, Kimber. This is what I have spent my life learning about, developing, trying to create. I can’t just walk away from it when you suddenly get elevated. Do you just want a kept man? Would you like it if I—”
“Stop.” I whipped the word at him harshly. The click of my shoes on the tiles in the room was smart and sharp. “Do you regret sleeping with me? If you want out of this relationship, go. Tell me now. We aren’t mated. We aren’t committed in any way. I’m standing here telling you I miss you in my days, and you immediately accuse me of trying to hold you back. Don’t you dare. If you don’t want in, then get out.”
Elex walked to the wall and sank back against it. I watched him with my arms folded, waiting.
He held a hand out a moment later, and I accepted his invitation, putting my hand in his.
“Kimber, I’m sorry. I’m just…wound tight. This is my research coming to life.”
“Elex, I would never keep you from the university and your research. But if we’re going to have a relationship, I can’t be the only one there.”
He sighed and twined our fingers.
I leaned in. “I also miss your cock.”
The laugh echoed through the hallway, and he smiled. “So you do just want me for my penis.”
“Well, your tongue, too.” I grinned.
His palm was warm on my cheek. “All right, Kimber. Head home with the others. I’ll be home, but probably late. I can’t promise no more late nights, but I will do my best to get home to you.”
I kissed his palm and nuzzled my cheek against him. “Good,” I purred. “I’ll wait for you. Naked.”
This was new for me, being so boldly sexual. But, if that’s where my power came from, and I was Breaker of the Spine, I needed to power up. And often.
Being shy about sex had to be a thing of my past.
It was kind of fun, but I needed practice.
I felt as seductive as a yam.
I headed back to the lab, leaving Elex standing in the hall watching me. I swung my hips a little bit as I walked, and I heard a low groan behind me.
Maybe Elex was attracted to dirty-talking yams.
But my little bit of confidence was shattered when he fell asleep mid-sex.
Again.
Chapter Thirteen
~ Kimber ~
I stepped on to the training floor, and no one was around.
I had found an official note telling me to be there, so why wasn’t anyone there?
More than happy to head down, a workout would be welcome. Something to get my mind off the fact that after three nights of trying to convince Elex to sleep with me, all he did was sleep next to me.
It was beyond frustrating.
I was beyond frustrated.
All I wanted was a quickie at this point, and he couldn’t stay awake, stay up, for more than a few minutes after getting home.
I had to talk to him about this again, but I knew he would take it as an attack on his career. I didn’t want to infringe on his career, but he also wasn’t bending to our new circumstances.
We needed to talk, but he wasn’t awake or home.
More than needing to talk, I needed to have sex. We didn’t know when the next tremor was going to hit. The machine Elex was working on could only give us about twenty minutes, currently, to get to safety.
It wasn’t long enough for a quick fuck—not when one of the active participants wasn’t nearby.
After five minutes, I was still alone in the practice room. I was patient, but I didn’t want to waste my day waiting. I decided to find someone to ask about the request.
Roran and Rilen stepped out from behind the columns.
“Good evening, Kimber,” they chorused.
I swallowed. Hard.
Their voices were like satin over my skin. There was no way to deny I found them scorching hot, perfect sexual specimens. Tousled brown hair, smoldering eyes
, light bronze skin. Muscles and mass for days.
Worse, I knew what they looked like naked and sweaty. I knew what they sounded like when they were aroused. I knew just how big of a cock they were hiding in their pants.
Alone, each of them was overwhelming. Together, it was almost too much. It was a whole lot of male I had seen buck naked.
God, I need to get laid. Not just for the power, either.
I needed the images of these two fucked right out of my brain.
Instead of taking an unsure step backward, I held my ground and smiled. “Hello, Rilen. Hello, Teabag.”
Roran threw his head back and laughed while Rilen’s grin split his face. He took a step forward, grabbing my hand.
“A pleasure, my dear. Thank you for coming at our request.” He dropped a kiss on my knuckles, and my nipples pearled instantly.
Gods, what?
I managed to stammer words out. “You requested me. Whatever for?”
Roran strode forward. “We’ve heard you need to be challenged with your sword work, and we’re here to oblige.”
He was suddenly so there, I took a few steps back. He followed me, covering the distance in a single stride.
I backed up again and slammed into a wall.
Roran’s single stride brought him right there again, pressing up against me. I swallowed, looking up at him while he looked down at me. He reached over my head, pressing the hard planes of his chest against my breasts, pressing the rough cloth against my suddenly aching nipples.
The sound of metal on wood rang out, and Roran had a sword in his hand and a wicked grin on his face.
“We thought that you might like to…spar.”
Crap! That was so not what he meant.
My whole body responded to him.
Stepping back, he turned and walked to the middle of the room. I slowly let out the breath I was holding. I didn’t want to attract his attention again.
Or did I?
Rilen raked his eyes over me as he passed to get his own sword.
I kept my eyes straight ahead, but I heard the whoosh of the sword just a moment before he hit me on the ass.
I bit my lip to keep the yelp and groan in.
Sweet Mother of S’Kir, my entire body was being a traitor.
I cleared my throat. “So, how do you propose to help me train?”
They must’ve planned to be creepy too because they both turned to me in sync and raised their swords.
Roran spoke first. “You’re going to fight both of us.”
“At the same time,” Rilen finished the thought.
Launching themselves at me at the same time, I spun and grabbed a sword off the wall and ducked just as one of their blades whipped through the air.
Whirling around on my knee, I threw myself forward and rolled back to my feet, suddenly behind them for just a moment.
Turning in opposite directions, Rilen took a high parry and Roran a low.
There was a whole lot of male, with a lot of sharp, powerful metal.
Dragging in a deep breath, I willed myself to just relax. They were here to help me learn. I had to pay attention to what they were doing because I still didn’t have my power back.
They did. They had loads of power.
Loads of Master Dorian’s power.
Oh, my gods. What is wrong with me?
Refocusing on the swords they were holding, I started circling to my right. Only Roran followed.
These two worked together a lot. I could see it in the easy way Roran walked away from his brother without ever really losing track of him.
They were going to be a challenge.
Finally.
I kept circling until I had Rilen between us and kept him there as I continued to move.
Rilen smirked. Sword up, he followed me around the circle. He spun the sword in his hand and was trying to distract me.
He moved, and I saw what was going to happen just as they executed the move.
Rilen dropped down and rolled onto his back as Roran charged at me—but he used Rilen’s upturned feet as a springboard, launching himself up and into the air to vault over my head.
Tracking him with the sword, I kept an eye on Rilen at the same time as he tossed himself up from the floor and came at me low, aiming for my knees.
Roran hit the ground and came at my back.
I kicked up, knocking Rilen’s sword away. I let the momentum of the kick pull me over, clearing the forward swing of Roran’s blade by a hair’s breadth. I landed in a crouch and tumbled forward, shooting a foot out into the back of Roran’s knee while I caught Rilen’s recovered blade on my own.
“Shit, you are good!” Rilen said.
“I thought they were pulling our legs when they said you chased Master Argo around the floor.” Roran used his sword as a cane to help himself off the floor.
“Give me another sword,” I said. “See how good I really am.”
Rilen’s eyes brightened. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, really,” I snapped. “I need a workout, and you two are it.”
“Oh, brother. This little chickadee will be a delight!” Roran laughed. He snatched another sword from the wall and threw it at me.
I caught it, quickly hefting it to check the balance.
Perfect.
Roran walked around to stand next to Rilen, both with their swords at the ready.
I couldn’t keep the smirk off my face. “Gentlemen. May the best woman win.”
The sword stabbed at least four inches into the floor as I circled it around and down from Rilen’s grip.
He had to let go of it, and that made it spring back and ring against the other sword stuck in the floorboard of the practice room.
I threw my second sword at Roran, who’d had a few minutes to recover.
Snatching it out of the air, he looked at it, looked up at me, and stabbed it into the floor with the other two.
“I can’t take you on, one on one.” He panted.
“We can’t keep up with you together,” Rilen said, hands on knees breathing hard.
I leaned the sword point down and used it as a prop. “Neither of you threw even one ball of power at me. Not one. I was expecting a barrage, and instead…” I pointed to the three embedded blades.
“We weren’t going to take advantage of that, knowing you have no power to use your magic right now,” Rilen said.
Roran nodded, sucking in air hard. “It’s been a long time since we even came close to being bested without magic and this was… amazing.”
I froze.
Did the whole of S’Kir know I wasn’t getting laid?
Staring at the two of them, I could feel the disgust on my face. “What did you say?”
Roran looked at Rilen and tried to cover it up. “We needed the workout.”
“No. You said you didn’t use magic because I have no power right now, didn’t you?”
The brothers exchanged glances, and Rilen nodded. “Well, it’s true, isn’t it? You don’t have any power right now. Elex is exhausted and sick and…”
I threw the sword into the board between them. “It is no one’s goddamned business if I am fucking my significant other!”
Pivoting on my heel, I headed for the doorway—only to have two massive bodies in front of me in the next moment.
Folding their ridiculously muscled arms over their chests, they weren’t about to let me pass. I stared up at the two of them, my anger simmering.
I wished I did have enough power at that moment to blast the two assholes back out of my way.
They spoke in concert. “But you see, Kimber, it is our business.”
“How so? And why would you care if I was getting properly shagged regularly?”
“You are very angry right now, Kimber, and you need to relax,” Rilen said. “I don’t know if it’s been properly explained how important it is that you have all the power you can manage to gather.”
“I stopped the mountain from falling,” I barked. “I d
on’t think that needs explaining!”
“And you don’t have power right now, do you?” Roran asked. “You haven’t had sex for nearly ten days, and that’s not right.”
“On so many levels,” Rilen mumbled.
“I am not having this conversation. Not here, not now, and not with you two incredibly tempting, fuckable specimens trying to drag this information out of me.”
Both of them took a step back.
The sardonic laugh ripped out of me. “I can’t even compliment you on how hot you are? What the hell does it matter? You’re mated, and you’re not interested in women.” I straightened my back. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to my room, bathe, and die from utter humiliation.”
Pushing between them, I strode to the stairwell outside the training room.
A heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
“Please stop, Kimber.” Rilen moved to stand in front of me. “Let us take you to your rooms. We would like to discuss this with you.”
“You’re a person of legend, and we’re concerned with your well-being.”
“No, you’re concerned with occupancy of my pussy.”
Rilen swallowed.
Roran shrugged. “Fair enough, we are. But it’s not our place to worry, is it? It’s Elex’s, and he’s failing. That’s what we need to talk about. Let us take you to your rooms. We’ll draw you a bath, and we can discuss this after you’ve relaxed for a few minutes.”
“While I’m naked in the tub?”
Roran grunted, grimacing.
Rilen stepped back into the conversation. “No. After your bath. We’ll call down for some food from the kitchen, and discuss the situation. We might be able to come up with a solution for you and Elex.”
I scrubbed a hand down my face. “Fine. Fine. My rooms and run me a bath. I make no promises for conversation.”
Chapter Fourteen
~ Kimber ~
Floating in the lavender and jasmine infused water, I tried not to let my mind drift too much beyond how lovely the scented water felt.
As that was nearly impossible, I allowed myself to try to think of ways to convince Elex to meet me half way on this whole sex thing and just give me a quickie.
King of Gods (Vampire Crown Book 2) Page 17