His eyes narrowed slightly, his head shifting back in thought. As if he had no idea what I was talking about.
“What can I do to help you feel more comfortable?”
He slowly shook his head. “Queen.”
Which was Blood for “you’re the fucking queen. Why on earth would it matter to you if I’m comfortable?”
I resisted the urge to sigh or roll my eyes to lighten the mood. He wouldn’t understand because he didn’t know me well enough to not take offense, or worse, he’d decide I was seriously exasperated with him. My grand plans of taking my newest Blood to bed tonight so he didn’t have to wait until we got to my nest were circling the drain. At this point, I didn’t even know if Vore would be interested in me that way.
Rik made a soft sound, drawing my gaze to his face. Amusement, by the quirk of his lips. “Do you have any suggestions?”
A pleased glint sparked in his eyes. He fucking loved it when I asked him for help. Especially in matters of the Blood. “Nevarre, our queen’s hair needs our attention. In fact, it’s so tangled, I think we’re going to need several of us to help her fix it.”
Nevarre moved toward a door I assumed led to the ensuite bathroom. “How many brushes and combs should I fetch, alpha?”
“Four should do it.” In the bond, I felt Rik call Tlacel inside with us.
My gentlest, calmest Blood. Tlacel and Nevarre together never failed to soothe me. Though I wasn’t the one who needed to be assured. Vore didn’t think my formidable alpha could stop him from feasting. What would he think of…
My eyes widened when Nevarre came back into the room.
Without his kilt.
Tlacel opened the door and strode toward me. Also naked.
His hair flowed around his shoulders, drawing my gaze across the bronzed planes of his chest. Bright red, green, gold, and black markings were tattooed across his skin. Tonight, the symbols shifted into words I could read. “Sink your teeth into me, Great One, and I will fly you to Mictlan and back again.”
As if it was the most casual thing in the world to brush my hair buck naked, Nevarre tossed a wooden comb to Tlacel, gave the silver tray to Rik with a couple of brushes on it, and then they dropped down on their knees around me. Carefully picking up one long tendril at a time, combing through the snarled ends, and gradually working their way up.
Without once tugging on my scalp.
Rik set the tray on the floor beside him, picked up one of the brushes, and started to work on the less tangled sections. He didn’t command Vore to help. Not even in the bond. In fact, none of them even looked at the new man.
Tlacel lifted his hand to his mouth and breathed in. Deeply. His gaze flickered up to mine. His pupils wide and dark. Hungry.
With need. A very special kind of need.
And I suddenly knew exactly why Rik asked my feathered serpent to join us.
58
TLACEL
Long silken strands of my queen’s hair slipped free of my fingers and curled around my throat.
Her eyes flared, as if she hadn’t intended for her hair to bind me, but I wasn’t surprised at all. I didn’t even have to touch her hair to feel the magic flowing in every single strand. Her hair gleamed with the same supernatural glow of her skin, as if the moon itself gleamed inside her, casting rainbows of delicate hues through crystal prisms to flash in every cell.
She smelled like a goddess. Heavy, sultry oil, delicate flowers, sacred incense burning forever on a golden altar. I would gladly worship, on my knees, every moment for the rest of my life. Simply to sink my fingers into her hair once more and feel the goddess’ love flowing in her.
Truth be told, she didn’t need us to tend to her hair. With a thought, she could command it to braid and curl into the most complex designs or flow about her like a smooth, untangled velvet cape. Though I’d rue the day she came to that realization, because I would grieve the loss of being allowed to serve her. Even in such a small way.
She traced her index finger over my chest, lightly scratching her nail into my skin. “What’s Mictlan?”
“It’s the Underworld where the dead go.”
Her eyes fluttered shut and she leaned closer, pressing her forehead to mine. “Oh, my Blood. How I love you.”
“I love you more than life itself, my queen.” My breath caught in my throat, and I dared voice the need growing inside me. “Show me, please, my queen. Show me how much you love me.”