"It's okay, Anna. You don't have to come if you don't want to. I'll tell him it's too much."

She looked up from the bathing pool, an unnatural pallor on her usually warm brown skin. Even from here, I saw her throat swallow, then swallow again when the page, a young mottled grey gargoyle, had arrived to request our presence in the throne room.

"Are you sure he won't mind?"

I knelt and grasped her hand. "He noticed you had difficulty with the violence yesterday. You're a mortal, and not from a war-torn country or from the worst your society has to display. It's not surprising you have a gentle heart. Don't feel bad about your reaction, Anna. It's natural. Not everyone can see that kind of thing and maintain their composure."

I'd seen much, much worse, recently in fact, when Loki had exploded those dwarves' heads and sprayed us with chunks. They'd deserved it, but still, Pazuzu was tidy in comparison to Loki's fury. And the atrocities we'd discovered in the last war with the elves... the Unseelie had some disgusting rituals. I'd actually found the way Pazuzu played with his food funny, although I'd never tell Anna that. She was soft in a way I don't think I'd ever been.

And I'd noticed the regret on his face when he saw her reaction. He hadn't meant to scare her. No, his message of brutality was meant for others. It was effective, and if faced with the same choices, I'd likely have done the same.

"If you are sure?"

"Yes." I patted her and stood. "You relax in the hot water. I'll ask the harpy guards to remain and have a couple more stationed outside the door to reassure our lord that you are well protected here in the baths. We'll come get you when he's done doling out today's discipline."

"Okay," Anna murmured, laying her head back on the edge of the steaming pool.

Swiping up my silver thigh-length shift, I tugged it over my head and strode to the door. "You'll stay here and guard our lord's mate?" I asked the two scowling harpies.

"Of course, Valkyrie Mist. We've called for two of our Cauldron to join us," Riina agreed, tossing her black feathered head.

"We will allow no harm to come to Mate Anna," Airi said, crossing muscled purple arms over prodigious black-leather-covered breasts and displaying razor-sharp talons on her yellow three-fingered digits.

With a nod, I left them and padded through the halls, up the stairs, and into the rear entrance of the expansive throne room. Even from here, I sensed Pazuzu's annoyance with the petitioners seeking an audience with him, like a building storm hanging over the occupants. One black leather-clad leg and boot hung over the arm of the opalescence throne and an arm was hooked over the top. It was a careless pose he seemed to take when he was bored.

I bit my lip to restrain my smile as I approached him. Hundreds of thousands of years old, and yet Pazuzu managed to give off the air of a disaffected teen at times.

When he wasn't being an amorous, greedy possessive dragon.

I trailed my fingertips over his dark arm, letting the hairs tickle my skin, and his head popped up over the top of the throne. A lazy grin spread on his face as his eyes darkened, turning half-lidded with lust. He'd only left us an hour ago, but his heat seemed to be insatiable... and given his usual libidinous appetites, that was impressive.

"Anna turned pale when confronted with the idea of joining you here. Perhaps a slower, more sheltered introduction to the violent aspects of your rule, my lord?"

He caught my hand, directing me around the throne with gentle, but relentless pressure.

"Indeed. Would that I'd had your wisdom yesterday, kitten. I fear I've scarred our poor Anna. You've ensured she's well guarded, I trust?"

"Of course. I doubled the harpy guard on her. She's still in the baths."

He drew me up onto his lap, kissing me with a thoroughness that scattered my senses, then shifted me to sitting on one thigh with his arm around me.

"Fisk, tell Captain Dedrick I want to see him now."

With a nod, Fisk left.

Pazuzu took my chin and met my gaze. His eyes had turned serious and his tone lost its playfulness. "I wanted you with me for this, kitten. It's thanks to you that I know of his betrayal, but at the same time, I need your wisdom to aid me. Should I show mercy? I understand how he'd be torn between his duty to me and his responsibility and love as a father."

As he waited for my answer, I marvelled at the trust he'd given me. How had I gone from fucktoy to palace advisor? That he valued my opinion had me considering my words carefully. "His honour seemed integral to him. It was eating him alive that he'd betrayed you. I'd bet he's at the point where he'd be willing to brave a suicide mission to attempt to free his son instead of betraying you again."

Pazuzu gave me a small smile, caressing my cheek with his thumb. Just as he leaned in to kiss me, Fisk returned with the Captain of the Palace Guard.

Captain Dedrick sunk to his knees and bowed his head. "My Lord Pazuzu, my mind is yours, my life is yours. Please, Lord Pazuzu. I have failed you. I failed to protect that which was precious to you. In my weakness to protect my pup, I succumbed to blackmail."

Pazuzu focused on him, eyes narrowing slightly, and I wondered if he was reading Dedrick's mind.

"Lamashtu lied to you. She doesn't have power over air and would not have known if you had come to me about your son," he growled.

Dedrick's pale eyes widened with horror. "I could have come to you at any time, without risking my son further?" The words came out in a harsh condemnation of himself and he tore at his hair, an agonized snarling whine escaping his lips.

Pazuzu pressed his lips together, wincing slightly. "Lamashtu's greatest power is her ability to lie convincingly. I failed to safeguard your pup. That's on me as she should never have been able to get to your packhome. I know how rare it is for us to be blessed with children. I'll not fault you for putting Stefan first, above your duty to me. If he still lives, I will rescue him."

Dedrick prostrated himself further. "My lord, I am unworthy of your mercy. Thank you for sparing my son."

Pazuzu snorted. "I expect you to redouble your efforts on my behalf, Dedrick. I'd hate to have to break in a new Captain of the Guard and alpha of your pack. Don't fail me again."

Dedrick swallowed, looked at me, then back at Pazuzu and I knew what he was going to say. If I didn't want Pazuzu to bite his head off in possessive heat-driven fury, then regret it, I needed to divert this conversation right now.

"Yes, Captain Dedrick. Our Lord also appreciated your efforts to ensure I was well prepared for him to stuff me full of not just his cocks, but tail as well," I said in as dry a tone as I could manage.

Just remembering had gooseflesh rising on my body. It had been incredible. Powerful, soul-shaking orgasms, the experience would linger with me forever. I'd been sore for the next twelve hours, but he'd pampered me after that, giving me orgasm after orgasm with his long, clever tongue. At least until I'd recovered and he filled me with another dragon load of jizz. It seemed he wasn't happy during his heat until Anna and I dripped with his seed. A biological imperative, perhaps.

Pazuzu's grip tightened on me and a possessive warning rumbled in his chest. Yeah, he didn't like the reminder of Dedrick fucking me, and even worse, cumming inside me. I shook my head slightly at Dedrick, warning him with my expression to keep his mouth shut. I'd made it clear that Pazuzu knew, but if Dedrick insisted on discussing it further, this was not going to end well.

Perhaps it was time to divert Pazuzu's attention.

"And speaking of cocks, my lord," I said, shifting from Pazuzu's thigh to straddling his waist. "I'm feeling awfully empty." I lifted my silver shift and brought his fingers to my sex, then I untied the laces of his pants as his fingers plunged and thumb rubbed over my clit.

"You are dismissed, Captain Dedrick. It seems my kitten needs some discipline. She's getting a bit bratty," Pazuzu growled, humour lightening his tone slightly as his lips curled and his eyes met mine.

Dedrick's footsteps receded.

Pazuzu's smile widened as he worked me up to the edge of orgasm, then stopped. His cocks in my hands, I whined, "Why? Why are you so mean to me, my lord? I saved you from biting his head off."

His head tilted back and he laughed, letting it echo off the stone walls. It was a lighthearted sound I hadn't heard from him in days, not since his heat had started... actually, not since I'd begun investigating the traitors in his midst. He laughed so hard that he lifted a hand to wipe tears of mirth from his eyes.

When he finished, he fisted the hair at my nape and drew me in for a blistering kiss. My body hummed, nippled pebbled, and I gasped for breath as our lips parted.

"My fierce kitten. Hissing and spitting one minute, but spear you on my cocks and you purr, melting around me." The hand between my thighs teased me again as he continued, "You enjoyed my tail and cocks, all stuffed in this tight little space between your silken thighs, didn't you?"

"Yes," I gasped, grinding down on his hand as I continued to stroke his cocks.

"You want it again, don't you? Tell me, Mist. Beg me for it again," he growled, tilting my head to scrape his fangs over my neck.

"Oh fuck... yes, please. Please, my lord. Fuck me with that huge tail. Impale me on your cocks. Please," I panted, so close to orgasm that my pussy fluttered.

And then I felt it... sliding along my sex with those ridges that rubbed my inner walls in delicious friction. His hands gripped my ass as I fisted his cocks between us. His fingers spread me, coaxing me open for that massive knot that pressed for entry.

I moaned, relaxing as I orgasmed and with every breaking wave, he thrust his tail deeper until my body finally sucked it in. A guttural groan and I climaxed again as the extreme fullness pressed tightly against flaring nerve endings.

"That's it. Good girl. Such a good girl," Pazuzu murmured as he continued to nip at my neck in a sensual scrape of teeth.

An odd crackling sound came from behind me, in front of the throne, and Pazuzu's head rose.

"My Prince, I've brought Manan—" The deep baritone voice cut off abruptly on a sharp inhale. "By the Abyss! Pazuzu, are you fucking her with your tail?"

A/N - The second episode of Breaking The 4th Wall Season One - Delayed Gratification is now available on Amazon, and the third episode - Don't Taunt The Trickster is available for preorder! Check out the sneak peek teaser for each here on Wattpad.