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“You have my promise,” I said. “No awkward situations. I won’t go and sleep with Kai’s brothers.”
Visir’s eyes flashed—I knew he would be drawn in by the juicy details. “Oh? Leo and Makoa don’t suit your tastes?” he asked. “I didn’t think you were so particular.”
“Well, I wouldn’t want to say no,” I said with a grin. “I bet Leo could show me things I never knew about my body. Quiet and sensitive types are like that. And Makoa, if he wanted to take me into the jungle and show me his wakka…”
Visir laughed into his hand. “Stop, Istil.”
“And what about Kai?” I said coyly. “I can only imagine the ride he gives you.”
“Imagine as much as you wish. You’ll get no more than that.”
It was a friendly, but serious warning, one that only needed to be said once. We’d swapped partners countless times at home, but those were betas, and they weren’t mates. It’d been a joke on my part, mostly, but territory had been marked and boundaries drawn.
“Of course,” I said, bowing my head in apology.
“What about Ari?” Visir said.
I snorted. “Cousin! Didn’t you hear what I told you? Either that dragon has an issue with me, or he has issues with himself, and I can’t be bothered to sort through either. What was the name of their other cousin? The one whose head always seems to be somewhere up in the sky?”
“Lance,” Visir said.
“Lance. I bet he could throw me around,” I said. “How many other unmated alpha cousins do they have?”
“How many are you planning on bedding?” he asked.
I picked up the cup. “If fortune finally falls on my side… As many as I can.”
The mixture was sharply bitter, and I swallowed it quickly.
“I know how intense your cravings must be,” Visir said, his eyes following the cup as I tilted it up. “But don’t get yourself into any trouble. They don’t keep our culture of sharing here.”
The last drop hit my tongue.
“Well, I won’t be here for much longer,” I said.
“Yes, and then your aftermath will be my problem to deal with,” he said with the slightest smile.
It might’ve just been my mind playing tricks on me, but I thought I felt a tingling sensation spreading out from my stomach.
“I think this thing is working,” I said, draping my arm around my cousin’s shoulder. “Come on, Visir. Everyone keeps telling me T’Wanu dragons know how to celebrate. I want to see just how they do it.”
* * *
Even with all of the talk, I still wasn’t prepared for what came that night.
The ceremony started slowly. Family and the closest members of the clan gathered in the calm of a nearby lagoon and stood in concentric circles around the mated couple as chants and songs were performed. Other than getting my legs wet, it didn’t feel very different from an Othos ceremony. But then the drums came out—huge wooden barrels strapped across the chests of the largest alphas. Makoa carried the heaviest and stood in the front, and Leo led a circle of dancers around and around Kai and Visir, sending sparkling splashes through the air with kicks and palm slaps. The surface of the lagoon, which had been quite still, actually started to tremble with the beat of the drums. Each hit hammered through me like an invisible punch I felt in my chest and stomach.
Then, each circle joined the procession, rotating in opposite directions. I and the others from my group—Shen, Enry, Eli, and Theo—were part of the outer circle of clan members. Beside us, one step closer to the center were the cousins. As we sloshed past each other, I tried catching Lance’s attention with my eyes, but he was busy chanting and wasn’t paying any attention to me.
Okay, then. Time to try something different.
We went around again. As I neared him, I stuck my hand out just enough to brush against his fingers—only it didn’t. Just as we were about to pass, Lance lifted his hand to his chest, and I was already committed. My fingers barely kissed the side of his robe and sailed onward to the target next in line. Ari was behind him, and I swatted him right in the crotch, not enough for it to hurt him, but definitely hard enough for me to know what was hidden beneath those robes.
I could feel it all happening slowly. My look of shock as he swiveled to glare at me, the drums going silent, and me colliding into Eli’s back as the dance came to a stop.
I was good on my feet—I could dance from tree branch to tree branch without dropping a single leaf—but wading thigh-deep in moving seawater threw me off, and I wavered and fell over. The side of my ass slammed against Ari’s leg and I caught myself by grabbing a handful of his robe, yanking it open at the front just enough to expose his pectoral and the slender scar riding just above his ribcage.
Out of everything I could’ve narrowed in on at that moment, it was that scar that caught my attention. Ari had been out swimming with us several times, but for some reason, I’d never noticed the scar. It was so fine that you would need to be up close to see it was there.
