Wolf Princess Sold to the Dragon King

There was dark magic... and then there was this.

Zero people were willing to call a spade a spade: the fuck-noises demon had almost won.

Maddox sat shirtless in the chair with the general demeanor of a bomb with a pulse. Three ribs broken. Two cracked. Internal bruising across the right side of his chest cavity. Aldric began wrapping his ribs in tense silence.

Across the room, Guinevere had been staring at the table hollow-eyed for the last five minutes when nausea hit without warning. Her body heaved so violently she pitched out of her chair, landing on all fours as she fought the urge to not throw up.

Sterling was on his knees next to her in an instant. The moment he touched her back, his gold cuff vibrated at the same intensity it had down in that chamber.

He went still, glancing down at it, then at Guinevere.

”There’s dark magic in her,” he called. ”It’s making her sick.”

Lux was on her feet before Sterling finished the sentence.

She crossed the room in four strides, dropped to Guinevere’s other side, and pressed both palms flat against her back. Her eyes closed.

Her fingers spread. Two seconds passed. Three. Then her expression changed.

”Shit.” She opened her eyes and looked at Sterling. ”Hold her still.”

Sterling didn’t ask questions. He moved fast, gripping her waist with both hands and held her firmly in place. ”Hang on, Gwen.”

Across the room, Maddox’s dragon rumbled so loudly, Aldric paused for a moment mid-wrapping.

”This is going to hurt worse than last night,” Lux breathed as she unzipped the back of Guinevere’s zip suit. ”I’m sorry, Guinevere.”

”It’s okay, Lux. Just do it,” Guinevere replied, still trying to not puke.

Famous last words. Last night was nothing. This hurt like a motherfucker.

On a scale of one to merge-level pain, this sat around a nine. A scream tore from Guinevere’s mouth before she could stop it. It wasn’t a short burst of pain either. It took longer, and the scream turned into a sob.

The dark fragments were coming out through muscle and nerve and bone. It felt like being unmade from the inside. Like something had hooked into the marrow of her and was pulling the wrong thread, and everything attached to it was tearing loose.

Guinevere gasped and panted desperately, tears dripping onto the stone beneath her.

”Easy, Gwen,” Sterling said, voice calm. ”Keep your body relaxed as much as you can. Tensing makes it worse.”

He shifted closer, so he was directly behind her, knees pressing against the outside of hers, both hands on her waist.

”Fuck. I’m sorry,” Lux said with a pained expression on her face.

The pain was deeper this time. Full sobs were coming now, ones she stopped trying to cut off. She could hear herself and she hated it.

”Push back into me if you need to,” Sterling said. ”I’m right here.”

Guinevere did. The full weight of her pressed back into his lap. Both of his hands slid to her stomach to hold her there.

Somewhere in the background, Maddox’s dragon made another sound that resembled a pissed-off thunderstorm. His Third was behind his woman doggy-style. There was no other word for it.

Lux raised her hands about to do another when Guinevere jerked away.

”Wait.”

She lurched forward and dry heaved.

”Give her a minute,” Kael said, moving over to her. His nostrils flared and for a second it looked like he was going to rip her out of Sterling’s grip.

But he knelt instead and grabbed her hair, pulling it out of her face. ”If you puke on me, you have to puke on Sterling too. That’s the rule. I don’t make them.”

Guinevere let out a wet laugh that cut off abruptly, then turned into a sob because Lux drew another at that moment.

Her body bucked, but Sterling kept her locked in place, while Kael held her hair. She was vaguely aware that Sterling had a boner behind her and gave zero fucks about it. In her defense, she’d been screaming, dry heaving, and having dark magic ripped from her skeleton. A dick against her back barely registered on the list.

Sterling, to his credit, also gave zero fucks about it, which was either professionalism or the fact that he’d stopped being embarrassed about anything below the waist.

Another sob came out.

”Wait... please,” Guinevere said, collapsing onto her side. Her mind was trying to rationalize keeping dark magic inside of her because it hurt and she knew it.

”Hold on,” Sterling said to Lux.

Standard protocol: ignore the begging, hold them down, get it done. But this was Guinevere and her sobs were doing something to his chest that made him want to throw away the rulebook.

He had done this before. Held soldiers through extractions, poison pulls, curse removals. But none of those soldiers had looked up at him with Guinevere’s green eyes and whispered please.

So. Fuck the protocol.

He let go, then looked at Maddox, whose eyes had gone full dragon: solid gold, black slits, the beast one breath from the surface. He blinked, swallowing it down.

It did not appreciate being swallowed. His dragon wanted to eat Sterling, claim Guinevere, and burn this room to the foundation. Maddox told it to get in line.

”How many more?” he asked Lux.

Lux wiped her brow. ”At least three, Commander.”

Aldric paused mid-wrap. ”I won’t say it.”

”Good.” Maddox moved across the war room in a blur. He dropped down to the floor next to Guinevere, who was trying to push herself up. He didn’t let her. Broken ribs be damned.

With a pained grunt, he picked her up and flipped her onto his lap, while he sat on the ground. He arranged her so that her back was against his chest.

She was delayed in even realizing it, which told him everything he needed to know.

Both of his arms locked around her as he pressed a kiss to her temple.

Everywhere their skin touched, his body pulled heat. He felt it happening. He frowned, wondering if she still had merge fever.

”Is there anything we can give her?” he asked.

He would have given her anything. His ribs. His blood. His dragon. The entire kingdom of Drakencrest wrapped in a bow. Whatever stopped the pain.

”Not in my experience. Knocking her out will make it spread faster.” Lux looked up at Jaxon, then at Aldric. ”Confirm?”

”This is outside my domain,” Aldric answered. ”But generally, if the poison is spreading, you don’t put them to sleep. So my instinct is no here.”

”The spread rate is what concerns me or I would,” Jaxon said. ”I’m sorry Guinevere.”

”It’s okay, baby,” Maddox whispered in her ear. ”I’m right here with you.”

”If you can merge with Flame, you can do this,” Sterling added. ”Besides, if you don’t, I carried you for nothing and I’d like that on the record.”

She blinked up at him through tears, and let out a wet laugh. ”Did you just make a joke?”

Sterling held the eye contact one second longer than he normally would, lips twitching. ”You sound surprised, Gwen.”

”Don’t encourage him,” Kael said flatly. ”He’ll try another one and it’ll be worse.”

Maddox wiped her tears with his thumb.

He let out a ragged exhale, stifling a groan, that had nothing to do with his ribs and everything to do with the way her body fit against his cock.

”It’s okay, Maddox,” she whispered softly. ”Don’t cry.”

He wasn’t crying.

He blinked down at her. Then it clicked. She’d mistaken his shaky breath for something else entirely.

Adorable. Wildly incorrect.

He glanced up, and the look on Kael’s face made him want to set the table on fire.