Mirrors lined the wall around them, the one behind Tina betraying the ample lines of her perfect ass beneath the tight black pants. She had changed so they could properly train. Tina’s hair was pulled back into a slick ponytail, the long strands curling over her shoulders as she studied him, waiting for the next command. He circled her, breathing in her radiance and beauty as he checked her stance.
She stood tall as a queen, confident and regal. Her skin was radiant, almost glowing. Her eyes sparkled with mischievous energy. She radiated power, and he wanted nothing more than to explore every curve on her body.
He wondered if she had sex with one of the other princes already. He mercifully walked behind her as the realization hit him, and he was able to hide an envious grimace from her and the mirror. While it was highly unlikely, it wasn’t impossible. It stung that he was the one best known for his sexual prowess, and yet he might not have bedded her first. She and Zane certainly seemed chummy, not to mention her obvious history with Anthoy, and Draven hated to think he had lost in any way to the stoic wolf or the nerdy tiger shifter.
Draven shook his head to clear himself of the jealousy and focus on the task at hand. With everyone after her, both inside and outside of the palaces, she desperately needed training.
Tina tilted her head toward him as he finished his circling. “Is this form okay?”
He nodded, though his eyes drifted again to the line of cleavage in her mercifully low-cut top. He’d never had such a dazzling training partner, and his pants tightened ever so slightly as he imagined relieving her of the clingy shirt. “Try the jab again, Tina.”
She glared at the air in front of her and stabbed the blade into the empty space with precision, this time keeping her elbow close to her body until the last moment.
“Good. Very good,” he said. She was a fast learner, and those were his favorite students to teach.
Draven, however, was an easily distracted teacher. As he circled her yet again, his eyes drifted down to the curves of her hips and her alluring rear end. He closed the gap between them, her ass brushing the growing bulge in his pants as he reached for her wrists.
He carried on as if nothing were happening behind his zipper. “It’s important to keep the blade turned slightly out from you as an extra security measure. You don’t want to accidentally stab yourself.”
Tina grinned, the roguish twist to her lips letting him know full well that she didn’t mind his teasing. She did not, however, rub against him like he had expected. She didn’t hook her finger through his belt loop and pull him closer like he had hoped, nor did she indulge him in any way.
Fine. He enjoyed the chase, and he would up the ante. In a fluid motion too quick for her to register, he twirled her around and pressed her against the nearest mirror. The knife fell from her hand and clattered along the floor, sliding a good five feet away.
Draven pinned her wrists over her head, pressing his body against hers until she was sandwiched between him and the mirror. Her lips parted in surprise, those pretty eyes widening as she stared up at him.
He leaned in close, nose trailing along her cheek. “Tell me, Tina, what would you do to escape this situation?”
Draven had expected her to wriggle under his grip, to squirm and further tease the bulge beneath his zipper. He had expected she would perhaps try to twist her wrists or hook his leg.
Instead, she reached up on her toes and kissed him, the peck warm and fleeting.
When she pulled away, that charming smirk on her face, he shrugged as if considering her answer. “An unorthodox choice, I’ll admit, but improvisation is good.”
She laughed. “Idiot.”
This was his chance.
He grinned and kissed her deeply, pinning both of her wrists with one hand so that his other could find its way up her shirt. She gasped at first, tensing under him as he explored her mouth, but her resistance lasted barely a second. She leaned into him, opening her mouth for him, letting him in.
Yes. Inwardly, his dragon growled in victory.
The seductive scent of her arousal called to him, daring him to run his hand over every inch of her. His fingers trailed down her pants, his fingertip dragging between her underpants and the soft skin near her pelvis.
Just as he was about to run his fingers between her thighs, she leaned away from his mouth and planted one last kiss on his nose. “I think we should resume our training, don’t you? I’m not going to learn how to use the knife if I’m on my back.”
“You can choose any position you want. Hands and knees. Against the wall. I’m good with whatever.”
A blush crept up her neck as she giggled, and he allowed her to slip out of his grip. She retrieved the knife and once more assumed a defensive position. “Teach me, sensei.”
“Tease.”
Tina shrugged, shamelessly accepting the jibe.
“Let’s resume our lesson, then.” Draven’s eyes wandered her body. One of these days, she would let him demonstrate what the time in his bed was like. Once he did, he would become a teacher of a different sort.
He could hardly wait.
15
Tina
At dinner the evening before their contest officially began, the sun cast red and blue light through the stained-glass windows of Epara’s dining hall as Tina leaned her elbows on the table beside her mostly empty plate. The temple chefs had prepared a feast for her and her five suitors, but no one spoke. The tense silence consisted mostly of the other men glaring at each other, sizing each other up around the small round table.
Frowning at no one in particular, Flynn reached for another roll.
Draven snorted. “You’ve eaten at least twenty rolls so far. Save some for the rest of us.”
The demigod rolled his eyes. “I’ve eaten three. You might be frail and wiry but having this much muscle means I need eat more than you, dragon.”
Tina’s eyes wandered the dragon’s powerful, sleek frame. He didn’t have Flynn’s bodybuilder bulk, true, but Draven was far from frail and wiry. The memory of his strong body pressing her against the mirror sent a wave of desire and need through her, and her body warmed at the memory of his hands around her wrists, of his mouth on hers. She blushed, smiling, and pretended to briefly look out the window so as not to let the dragon shifter know how much his sexy allure got to her. She was pretty sure he would find a way to lord it over her if he knew the truth.
Draven snatched the last roll from under Flynn’s hand and bit into it.
“Hey! I’m hungry, damn it.” Flynn snapped.
Draven shrugged. “I’m the pretty one, so I should get it. Tina, tell him.”
“Behave, kids,” she said with an eye roll.
“Draven, you don’t take a demigod’s food!” Flynn smacked the table with his fist, and the wooden surface shook. An empty glass toppled over, rolling a bit on the tablecloth.
She sighed in annoyance. “Flynn, honestly. We’ll get you more food. Chill out.”
The demigod faltered, his gaze briefly shifting to her before he nodded. “I’m sorry, Tina. Sometimes I forget my strength.”
“It’s fine,” she said before turning her eyes on the dragon shifter. “And Draven, honestly, what are you doing? Flynn’s right. Don’t take another man’s food. Go get him something else from the kitchen.”
The dragon shifter hesitated mid-bite, the last bit of his roll lifted to his mouth as he watched her, as if to figure out if she was serious.
“Go,” she said with a nod to the hallway.
Draven sighed and nodded, his chair scraping the floor as he stood. “Of course, Tina. Sorry.”
Beside her, Anthony took the final bite of pie off his plate and leaned back in his chair, one arm casually going around her shoulders. She caught his eye, and he grinned slightly as if daring her to brush him off. She didn’t.
The others knew she and Anthony had a connection, and she wasn’t about to push her protective wolf away. He cared too deeply for her, and she was growing fond of him as well in other ways.