her palms. It felt different than the night she’d mated her men. While there was love in the flood of magic, it was filled with more of a sense of ambition and partnership, of a shared hunger for accomplishment, for glory. It was a silent vow between their beasts to fly together to victory.
When the waves of pleasure subsided and they sat panting with their foreheads pressed together again, Ksenia slowly released her hold on Astra’s hands. With trepidation, she dropped them onto her lap and opened them, palms facing up. Astra did the same.
Teague was the first to react with an awed curse. The others stopped their needy fondling and circled around. Astra began to laugh.
“This is fucking epic,” she said, and Ksenia nodded.
Each of their palms was now branded with the image of the glowing dragon skull that represented the Fire Wraiths, their duo.
21
Ksenia
After she and Astra marked each other, they paused just long enough to agree this should be a regular occurrence and set some ground rules.
Ksenia and Astra, of course, were the core, and could do whatever they wanted with each other as long as their dragons were on board. Similarly, their mates could cross swords to their hearts’ content if they wished, which the men all humbly agreed was fine with them, though Ksenia didn’t miss a few hungry looks cross between the two trios. But the men were still bound by their bonds to each woman, so Ksenia would only fuck her own mates and Astra would stick to hers. Also, no sharing was allowed without the whole group present.
“I think we both need a break from dick every now and then anyway, so I’m good with the rules. Now you two have a choice,” Ksenia said, looking between Teague and Javin, who had been patiently waiting their turns before they got preempted by the women marking each other. “Let us watch you for a change, or we can have a bit of a free-for-all for the rest of the night.”
Teague glanced around the room, then stood. “I vote for free-for-all, but let’s get out of this dank little room. Shower anyone?”
Everyone was in agreement, so they headed for the showers, then spent the rest of the night with Teague and Javin alternating suggestions, which the others all followed eagerly.
Ksenia had the time of her life. The relief of ending her fight with Astra was far overshadowed by her elation over the fresh bond they’d formed. They shared a shower, and later a meal during which the men chose to eat their dessert off each woman’s body, which of course prompted a second group shower. The progression of the evening only made it more evident how deep their bond now went.
Even when they weren’t touching, she was conscious of the other woman’s presence, her awareness overlapping with Astra’s to the degree that she had an impression of her emotions whenever she mentally reached out. She could also sense Astra reaching for her, their dragons easily communing through their bond.
Tonight was all about pleasure, but the heightened senses and emotions they shared wouldn’t be much different in the arena. She couldn’t imagine a more fun way to “practice” with her partner, and when that thought crossed her mind, Astra let out a laugh as if she’d actually read her thoughts.
Astra reached out a hand and found Ksenia’s in the midst of each of them being serviced yet again by their mates. The squeeze was more than enough acknowledgment that they were finally in sync.
Training was a breeze for the rest of the week. They were able to predict each other’s moves without even using hand signals to the point that Ksenia worried it would be considered cheating the same as her cloaking talent.
“This is one trick that is allowed. Every shifter team is capable of it if they try,” Jacob said. “You two might be better at it than most, though, which is going to mean the difference between winning or losing against those assholes.”
“We’re going to win,” Astra said, wiping sweat off her brow with a towel. They’d just finished a long day of training, and their match against Silver Fangs was the following day.
“Remember, they’ll be able to predict your moves even before you can,” Jacob said.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to be unpredictable,” Ksenia said. “With the level of training our dragons have gotten, I think we can keep them guessing.”
“I hope so.” Jacob still looked apprehensive, so Ksenia moved close