The words hung in the steamy air between us like a confession. Maki’s golden eyes searched my face with an intensity that made my chest tight. Her rough tongue had just traced the line of my jaw, and every nerve ending in my body was firing warning signals that had nothing to do with danger and everything to do with the naked supernatural cat currently straddling my lap in a bathtub.

"Maki loves Master," she repeated, softer this time. Her hands pressed flat against my chest, feeling the rapid thrum of my heartbeat beneath her palms. The purring in her throat reached a frequency that vibrated through the water.

This was bad. This was catastrophically bad. Not because I didn’t want it. The hardness pressing against her inner thigh was making my position on that front extremely clear. Bad because Natalia had claimed tonight. Bad because my soul-bonded telekinetic girlfriend possessed the supernatural ability to detect emotional infidelity through scent alone. Bad because World War Three was about to break out in my bathroom and I was ground zero.

"Maki, you need to get off me."

"Master’s body says different things than Master’s mouth." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Her hips shifted slightly, and the friction made stars explode behind my eyelids. The water displacement sent gentle waves lapping against the stone rim of the tub. Steam rose around us in lazy spirals, thick enough to blur the edges of reality.

"My body is an idiot. Don’t listen to my body."

"Maki likes Master’s body. Master’s body is honest."

She leaned down until her breasts pressed against my chest, skin on skin, water trapped between us in thin sheets that made every point of contact electric. Her mouth hovered an inch from mine. Close enough that I could feel her breath on my lips. Close enough to count the gold flecks in her dilated pupils.

"Master fought so hard today. Like a king defending his territory. Maki watched from the stands and wanted to bite everyone who hurt Master."

Her tails wound tighter around my arm, wet fur clinging like silk bindings. The sensation was alien and arousing and completely unfair. No human woman could do what Maki was doing with just her tails. The way they moved independently, the way they applied pressure in exactly the right spots, the way they seemed to know where my nerve clusters were located.

"You could have helped instead of just watching."

"Master said no familiar assistance during fights. Maki obeyed."

"Since when do you obey anything?"

"Maki obeys when it matters." Her tongue flicked out and caught a drop of water from my lower lip. The brief contact was scorching. "Master needs to relax. Maki knows how to make Master relax."

The bathroom door exploded inward with enough force to crack the frame.

Natalia stood in the doorway like an avenging goddess carved from winter fury. Her purple hair whipped around her face in an invisible wind generated by telekinetic rage. The white streaks that marked our Covenant bond blazed like phosphorus against the darker strands.

Her combat suit was gone, replaced by a silk robe that barely reached her thighs. The fabric clung to her curves with the kind of perfection that suggested she’d chosen it specifically to devastate my higher brain functions.

The temperature in the bathroom plummeted twenty degrees in three seconds. Frost spread across the mirror in crystalline fractals. Ice formed on the surface of the bathwater with sharp crackling sounds that echoed off the stone walls.

Maki didn’t move. Didn’t even twitch. She remained straddled across my lap with her hands on my chest and her tails wrapped around my arm like she owned the place. Her cat ears perked forward with interest rather than alarm.

"Well," Natalia said, her voice carrying the kind of deadly calm that preceded nuclear winter, "this is interesting."

The Cryo-Lich Ring on her finger pulsed with arctic light. The temperature dropped another ten degrees. My breath came out in white puffs.

Maki turned her head to look at Natalia with the casual indifference of a house cat being interrupted during grooming. No shame. No embarrassment. No acknowledgment that she’d been caught doing something she shouldn’t.

"Purple Queen. Maki was helping Master bathe."

"I can see what you were doing."

The ice on the water surface thickened. Sharp geometric patterns spread outward from where Natalia stood, turning the bathroom into a winter palace. Icicles began forming on the ceiling fixtures.

"Master was very tired after fighting. Master needed care. Maki is excellent at care."

Natalia’s purple eyes shifted to me. The look she gave could have flash-frozen molten steel. Our Covenant bond hummed with emotions I couldn’t untangle. Rage and possessiveness and hurt and something darker that made my stomach clench.

"Satori."

Just my name. Said with the tone women use right before they destroy everything you’ve ever loved.

"I can explain."

"Explain how my familiar ended up naked in your lap while I was getting ready to join you for exactly this?"

Maki’s ears twitched. Her head tilted with feline curiosity.

"Purple Queen was coming to bathe with Master too? This is very efficient. Maki approves."

The temperature plummeted again. The bathwater was turning to slush around the edges. My skin was going numb from the cold, which was probably a mercy considering where Maki was still positioned.

Natalia stepped into the bathroom proper. Each footstep left a thin layer of frost on the tile. Her robe shifted with her movement, revealing glimpses of pale skin and curves that my body responded to despite the arctic conditions and impending doom.

"Get. Off. Him."

"Maki was here first."

"I don’t care if you’ve been here since the Mesozoic Era. Move."

Maki’s tails unwound from my arm with languid grace. She shifted her weight but didn’t stand. Instead, she leaned back against my knees, putting her body on full display. Water droplets clung to her skin like scattered diamonds. Her dark hair fell in wet waves over her shoulders, framing breasts that were perfectly sized and shaped and completely, unapologetically bare.

"Maki understands Purple Queen’s concern. But Master needs both. Maki provides relaxation services. Purple Queen provides different services. Very complementary."

I could actually watch Natalia’s last thread of patience snap. The Covenant bond transmitted her emotional state with perfect clarity. Murderous didn’t begin to cover it.

"Different services?"