Violet Purple and her men returned to their quarters, and no sooner had the door closed behind them than Asher said, "Can we talk? All of us?"
At once an awkward tension settled. Whatever joke Roman had been telling Alaric died off immediately. They shared a look, sensing that whenever Asher used that business tone of his, something was up—and deep down, they already knew what it was.
Violet straightened. "Sure, go on."
Asher looked at his brothers one after the other, then said, "I appreciate you guys being considerate of me, but I didn’t ask for that."
"Oh boy," Roman mouthed. Just what they thought.
"Just because my bond with Violet hasn’t formed yet doesn’t mean you have to pity me. I’m uncomfortable with it. Moreover, it’s totally unfair of me to ask the three of you to go celibate when the bond pushes you to do otherwise. I wouldn’t keep my hands off my purple queen if I had the chance." Asher finished with a smoldering gaze aimed Violet’s way.
She blushed instantly.
Griffin said, "I apologize. It wasn’t our call to make without consulting you, but you wouldn’t have agreed."
"Exactly," Asher said pointedly.
"Don’t blame them, Asher," Violet told him gently. "We only wanted to be considerate."
"And how’s that turning out? Great, right?" he said sarcastically, hinting at Roman losing control earlier.
Violet couldn’t form a word because he was right. Being in the same room and unable to touch any of them had been painful torture. For all of them.
"Moreover..." Asher’s eyes darkened, letting his wolf peek through as he began to walk toward her with a predator’s grace.
Violet’s heart picked up speed. She stepped back slowly, as though moving any faster would set him off. Yet with every inch she tried to reclaim, Asher took two, closing the distance effortlessly.
Then her back hit the wall, and before she could breathe, he closed the remaining space. His body pressed flush against hers, caging her in completely.
Asher lifted a lock of her hair and let it slide slowly through his fingers. Leaning in, he breathed in her scent. The low, guttural groan that escaped him was pure man and pure animal.
"...who said I don’t like watching?" he finished, the smile that curved his lips equal parts thrilling and menacing.
Violet’s breath hitched when she felt his hand slip beneath her gown, his fingers slowly caressing the inside of her thigh.
"You don’t know how damn attractive you look when you’re pinned beneath them," he murmured, "or the way your sun-kissed eyes glow when they hit the right spot... the way your lips part just perfectly."
Violet didn’t know which was worse—the vivid images he painted in her mind, or the way he kept her suspended on the edge, deliberately avoiding the place she knew those fingers were headed.
"Or..." he whispered, "the way you gasp when I do just this..."
He tugged her panties aside and slipped a finger into her.
And she did gasp.
Violet instinctively gripped Asher’s shoulders, her eyes widening, her expression betraying exactly what he was doing to her.
"Yes... just like that," Asher rasped, his fingers sliding in and out of her soaked heat with expert precision. He kept the pace agonizingly slow, intentionally holding her orgasm just out of reach.
"Asher, please..." Violet begged, breathless and shaking.
But the puppet master would not hurry. He kept moving at his own merciless pace, savoring every reaction she gave him.
While he fucked her with his fingers, Asher glanced over his shoulder at the cardinal alphas and said, "What do you think? Watching is hot, right?"
None of them needed to answer. The thick tents straining against their pants said everything. They were staring at Violet like starving wolves eyeing a feast.
Asher’s low chuckle vibrated against her ear, smug with the knowledge of it. As a reward to his purple queen, he eased in a second finger.
Violet let out a shuddering sigh, her tight walls clenching around him greedily, desperate for more fullness. She was so wet she slurped and gushed around his digits, every obscene sound only making the moment more intoxicating.
"Goddess," Asher groaned, his eyes fluttering shut in bliss. She was so hot and tight around his fingers he could almost feel how she’d be wrapped around him instead. She’d be slick, perfect, and devastating.
He pumped faster, and Violet lifted her hips to match his rhythm, her breath coming in soft, frantic bursts. She could feel her release building, coiling, climbing higher and higher until her entire body quivered with the need to fall.
"Yes... yes..." she gasped, everything tightening, and rushing toward that peak she was more than willing to topple over.
Then Asher pressed his thumb to her clit and dragged it in a slow deliberate stroke and that did it.
Violet fell apart, stars bursting behind her eyes as her orgasm crashed through her in a dizzying wave. But Asher didn’t stop. He kept thrusting his fingers in and out of her, unrelenting, and dragging her pleasure out until it rose again, blurring straight into a second orgasm building just beneath her skin.
"Oh God," Violet cried out, her fingers digging into Asher’s shoulders as the pleasure stole her breath. He went perfectly still, his fingers pausing inside her as he soaked in every aftershock rolling through her body.
Finally, Asher withdrew from her. Then, without breaking eye contact, he lifted his soaked fingers to his mouth and licked them clean, tongue dragging over his knuckles like a cat savoring a treat.
Violet could only stare, breath caught in her throat, while heat unfurled between her legs. The sight alone made her throb. She wanted him. She wanted them.
Drawn together like magnets, Asher leaned in and captured her lips, licking over her bottom lip first. Her mouth was soft, and full, and he loved every inch of it.
He suckled her lower lip, then nibbled lightly before tracing the upper one with his tongue. There was no flavor that could describe her; she simply tasted addictive, and he wanted more.
When Violet parted her lips, Asher slipped his tongue inside, and the moment hers met his, it was electric. A possessive growl rumbled in his chest as his grip around her waist tightened.
Violet’s arms looped around his neck, fingers threading into his hair, pulling him closer. Their tongues danced slow and seductively, the world ceasing to exist around them.
They finally broke apart, chests rising and falling, their breaths mingling. A small smile tugged at Violet’s lips, and against his will, it pulled one out of Asher too.
Then Roman ruined it.
"Dude, message passed. So when do we start?"