“Feic no!” Gatlin pushed Teige out of the way as he invaded Viraj’s space. His natural instinct to challenge had him towering over Viraj, nostrils flared, eyes growing just as heated. “Will you listen?”
Viraj pushed him back, face twisted, cheeks flushed with rage.
“Yeah, alright. Enough. You said it’s ready, Tay?” Gatlin glanced over at Teige and sneered, a tremble in his features—barely holding scales at bay.
“They were packing up the tools, yes.” Teige hoped it’d been enough time. There wasn’t any gravel in the nest or soft blankets. The cleanup hadn’t been completed…
“Good enough.” Gatlin lunged forward and snagged Viraj by his waist. With a single gesture, he settled the seething male over his shoulder and locked his thighs with one arm and reached around for a flat-handed smack over the fullness of his ass. “Come on! If you’re going to have a tantrum, let’s go somewhere where we can settle it like adults.”
“I don’t want to settle things the way you want to settle them, asshole!” Viraj flailed and yelped when another slap rang out, his protest ebbing. With the right word, Gatlin would put him down and it’d be over, but until then, Gatlin knew best.
“Then continue on screeching, by all means, Vivi. We’re going to tear your arse up after all this hollering about.” Gatlin trucked his way toward their hoard, footsteps making no effort to fall lightly, every one made with purpose and irritation. And while Gatlin may have been the calmer of the three, his temper had specific niches it liked to flare within.
“I’ll scream as much as I like! It’s my house!” Viraj struggled and cried out with another sharp smack of hand to ass.
“It’sourhouse. My name is on the deed as much as yours. We’re mated, Vivi. As much as you want to twist our bond when you are havin’ one on, it won’t change it.” Gatlin turned a cornerpast their bedroom and toward a maintenance elevator, pressing buttons to send them down, the scent of fresh masonry growing stronger by the moment.
“And every time you go on about bringing a Dette into the house, I regret that decision more!” Viraj struggled as the doors clanged and motors whirred, taking them the several floors down where their hoard lay.
And it wasn’t clean yet, nor were all the tools packed away, but it was completed. Every gleaming surface shone with purpose and intent. The best work anyone could boast they’d done in a week. Teige huffed and crossed his arms. “And I regret ever bringing it up! You whinge about wanting pups and that’s all I wanted to offer you.”
“Don’t put this on m—” Viraj choked as Gatlin leaned forward and dropped him ass first onto the dusty floor.
“A moment, please?” Teige smiled at the artisan who signaled his assistant, and they gathered an armload of things to leave.
Viraj knew better than to quarrel and bicker before staff, so his silence stretched on, growing in intensity until the elevator doors clanged. “Do not put this search for a Dette on my head. You know I can’t stand the thought of—I don’t want to share.”
Gatlin knelt down, pulling something from his pocket, extending it toward Viraj. In his fingers clasped a beautiful gold earring set with a large black emerald, gleaming and well-faceted with the matte girdle. It was all the difference in the world, that little touch. He stared as Viraj took in the piece, eyes flashing with a mien of greed that simmered within him. “This is a jewel I picked for you. I finished it off and crafted an earring for you.”
Viraj stared, breath caught.
“And Teige outbid a dozen others on the materials for your nest and brought out the best mason his money could buy.”Gatlin gestured at the nest. “Once it’s cleaned and filled, it’ll be fit for a nest foryou. You are the only Dette we ever need, Vivi.”
The pained look on Viraj’s face twisted as if he were going to break into tears and halted, something inside him warring with itself. He opened and closed his mouth a few times while Gatlin roughly worked one of Viraj’s earrings free to replace with the other, the smooth weight of it as beautiful as anything a Dette would wear. “Do you understand?”
Viraj shook his head ever so gently.
“Gat…” Teige gave a warning whisper, but words had been spoken aloud.
Viraj stared, body trembling.
Gatlin sniffed and nuzzled into Viraj’s neck. “Gaspard had things to say.”
Teige flinched, and the next words out of Gatlin’s mouth could very well break their mate.
And Teige didn’t know if he could be fixed.
Chapter Six
Gatlin
As Viraj’s soft scent inundated Gatlin’s senses, he leaned in to their mate with soft nips at his neck and a wandering hand that slid down his back and lifted the hem of his shirt. “You will listen, and you will accept what I say as truth.”
Viraj made no move, frozen like a bunny in the sights of a hawk. One move would draw the predator’s wrath.
Gatlin traced fingers along Viraj’s silken neck, tips brushing the sparse hairs that he grew, never a full beard. When his fingertips touched Viraj’s chin, he tilted the male’s head up and captured his mouth in a kiss that he’d intended to be soft and gentle, but nothing ever could be so sweet with Viraj. He needed a heavy hand and certain words, or nothing else would do. He craved to be as submissive as any Dette had ever been trained to be in his father’s forsaken harem.
Hot tongues slid back and forth, their lips warm and slick as Gatlin intensified his grip and bit, coming down on Viraj’s lip to make him curl and whimper in ecstasy. A soft rumble of pleasure eked from Gatlin’s throat. “Are you listening, now, brat?”
