“Un-fucking-believable,” I said, restraining myself from pounding the table. Not that it would pound any sense into the three of them. “You know what ticks me off?” My voice grew harder. “It’s not just the fucking soft spot you’ve all developed for this boy witch. It’s like all three of you have a hard crush on him.”
I let that land.
“He must’ve done something to you when you picked him up from that cursed land. Bespelled you. Made you vulnerable.” I held their glares. “That's why I had to step in. Someone has to think clearly around here.”
“Listen to yourself.” Caspian folded his muscled arms across his chest. “You’re full of shit. This has to stop, Drakken. I mean it.”
“Usually, I don’t agree with the wolf,” Nikolai said. “But we’re both agreed on this. Leave Max alone.”
“If it were any other soldier I’d disciplined,” I challenged, “would you gang up on me like this? Would you come for my blood over any other cadet?”
No one answered. I’d hit a nerve.
“What really went down between you and thatwarlock in the Scorched Wastes?” I leaned forward over the table. “Is there something I need to know? Something changed in you the moment you brought him back. All of you started acting out of character.” I swept my gaze across all three of them. “Don’t fucking tell me I’m paranoid. I deserve better than that.”
We heirs were of equal rank. When I’d failed to convince any of them to file a detailed report on the encounter, I’d resorted to interrogating Max over and over for three days. Until Aelindor shut it down.
“You’re fucking paranoid, man,” Caspian insisted. “More so than ever.”
“You don’t even stick your dick everywhere anymore.” I wheeled on him. “Not since you developed a crush on that boy witch. You’ve even changed your entire sexual orientation for him. And I know for a fact you were straight through and through.”
“Since when is my sex life your fucking business, Drakken?” Caspian’s neck reddened. “You sending your spies to sniff around my quarters now? And when have I ever stuck my dick everywhere?”
Nikolai shot Caspian a look of fake sympathy. “You’ve earned your reputation, wolf. Dark version of Casanova.”
I didn’t tell them that I had my own fucking shit to deal with. I was a big male with a healthy appetite, but ever since I’d interrogated the boy witch, my sex life had gone downhill. I couldn’t get hard for any woman I brought to my quarters. Not even Delia, my most frequent bedmate, could fix it. She was the best I’d ever fucked. Knew her way around men. But she couldn’t satemy beast. No one could. We’d given up on finding our true mate a long time ago.
But since Max’s arrival, my dragon had become restless. Agitated at the warlock’s presence. Maybe the beast sensed dark magic in him, on top of the cursed witch blood. Or maybe my frustration was rubbing off on it. I’d never turned Delia down before. Now I avoided her entirely.
I had no doubt that fucking warlock had cockblocked me.
I spread my palms on the oak table. “Man to man. What’s so special about this warlock that the three of you came after me for making him run laps?”
“If he isn’t so special, why do you keep going after him?” Nikolai’s velvet voice cut like a scalpel. “Why single him out, obsess over a nobody recruit you look down on? He’s so far beneath you. Shouldn’t you stay in character and just treat him like an ordinary cadet?”
“He’s a threat!” I pounded the table this time. “No matter how small, a threat is a threat. And that warlock is no small danger. We all know what damage a sleeper agent can do.”
“You only see what you want to see,” Nikolai said. “Tunnel vision. You’re always like that.”
“Name-calling now?” I sneered. “Throwing mud at me to knock me off your trail, aren’t you?”
Caspian, Nikolai, and I started talking over each other. Our voices rose. Insults escalated. The vampire and shifter didn’t even get along, yet here they were banding together against me.
This is lame,my dragon told me.I’m taking a nap.
Cued by the beast’s savvy observation, I swept a finger between them. “When have we ever fought over a woman?”
Caspian frowned at me. “Never. Why would we fight over a woman when there’s plenty of fish in the ocean?”
“Exactly.” I tried to sound more patient and less exasperated. “We don’t even argue over any woman, yet all of you jumped down my throat just because I mildly disciplined a cadet?”
Nikolai narrowed his red eyes at me. “Did you say mildly?”
I ignored his snide remark. “Can’t you see what’s wrong with this picture? I’m the only one immune to Max’s witchcraft, and I’m trying to take measures to protect all of you from yourselves since you can’t fucking do that anymore.”
“Your arrogance has no bounds!” Caspian fired back.
“I see your point, Drakken,” Aelindor cut in. He was always the final voice, like a blade slicing through ropes. “And thank you for caring. But for the sake of peace among us, just leave Max alone. That’s all I’m asking.”