My Scumbag System

Chapter 621: The Queen and The Contender

The pendant burned cold against my chest. Natalia’s reaction to Reyna’s confession.

"She heard that," I said.

"Good." Reyna lifted her hips and ground against me. "Let her know I’m serious. Let her know I’m not going anywhere. Let her know that when you come back to that island, I’m coming with you, and she’s going to have to learn to share because I refuse to give this up."

Brave words from someone who’d never met Natalia in person. Never experienced the full force of her jealousy when it was directed at a real, present target instead of a voice on the phone or a sensation through a pendant.

But Reyna was Reyna. She didn’t back down from anything.

"You’re going to start a war," I warned her.

"Maybe." She reached between us and positioned me at her entrance. "Maybe that’s exactly what I want."

She sank down onto me in one smooth motion.

We both groaned.

"Fuck," Reyna breathed. "I’m never going to get used to how good this feels."

"The Nectar—"

"Not just that." She started moving. Slow rolls of her hips that dragged me in and out of her. "The way you look at me. The way you touch me. The way you make me feel like I matter beyond my rankings and my family name."

I grabbed her hips and matched her rhythm. The moonlight turned her sweat-slicked skin into something luminous. Her crimson hair fell around us like a curtain, blocking out the rest of the world.

"You do matter," I said. "You always mattered. The rankings and the family name are just noise."

"Easy for you to say."

"I mean it."

"I know." Her rhythm increased. Her breathing grew ragged. "That’s why I love you, you impossible man. Because you mean it when you say things that should be empty flattery."

The pendant pulsed. Hot and cold in alternating waves. Natalia was experiencing everything I felt. Every surge of pleasure. Every spike of emotion.

I should have felt guilty. Should have felt ashamed of doing this to her again.

Instead, I felt something else entirely.

Pride.

Not the cruel kind. Not the kind that came from hurting someone who loved you. But the kind that came from being loved so completely that the woman on the other end of that psychic bond would rather share you than lose you entirely.

Natalia had chosen this. Chosen to stay connected even knowing what I would do. Chosen to experience my betrayal in real-time rather than cut herself off and preserve the illusion of fidelity.

That took strength. The kind of strength that most people would never understand.

"You’re thinking about her," Reyna said. Not accusatory. Just observant.

"Yeah."

"Tell me about her. While you’re inside me." Her eyes gleamed with something between curiosity and challenge. "I want to know the woman I’m going to be sharing you with."

"That’s... weird."

"We passed weird about six orgasms ago. Tell me."

So I did.

I told Reyna about Natalia while we moved together in the moonlit darkness. Told her about the girl who’d hated me so completely that it had transformed into something else entirely. About the ice princess who’d learned to let herself burn. About the woman who’d given me everything and asked for nothing except my loyalty in return.

"She sounds terrifying," Reyna said between gasps.

"She is."

"I can’t wait to meet her."

"She might actually try to kill you."

"Let her try." Reyna’s rhythm increased. "I’ve spent my whole life fighting things that wanted to kill me. At least this time I’ll know what I’m fighting for."

The pressure built. The Nectar turned every nerve ending into a live wire. I could feel Reyna’s orgasm approaching through our physical connection, and the feedback loop amplified my own rising climax until we were both racing toward the edge together.

"Satori—"

"I know."

"Inside me. Please. I want to feel—"

I gave her what she wanted.

We came together. Reyna’s body clamped around me as waves of pleasure crashed through both of us. The Nectar created an echo chamber of sensation that seemed to last forever, each peak triggering another in an endless cascade.

When it finally subsided, we collapsed together. Sweat-soaked and gasping and tangled in sheets that had been kicked to the foot of the bed somewhere during round two.

The pendant had gone still against my chest. Neutral temperature. Natalia had felt everything, processed it, and arrived at some conclusion I couldn’t read through the bond.

"She’s quiet," Reyna murmured against my shoulder.

"Yeah."

"Is that good or bad?"

"With Natalia? Could be either. Won’t know until I get back."

Reyna hummed thoughtfully. Her fingers traced lazy patterns across my chest.

"I meant what I said. About coming to the island."

"I know."

"I’ll have to convince Veronica. She won’t want to let me go. I’m too valuable to the brand."

"You’re more than a brand."

"Tell that to the shareholders."

I laughed despite myself. Reyna joined me. The sound of our combined laughter filled the room, and for a moment, everything felt almost normal.

Almost.

"Thursday," Reyna said eventually. "The meeting with Seraphina."

"Yeah."

"I’ll have intel by then. Everything Veronica’s network can dig up about what they’re planning."

"You don’t have to—"

"I want to." She lifted her head and looked at me with those emerald eyes. "You told me to stop thinking about what I deserve and start thinking about what I want. Well, I want this. I want you. I want to help you survive whatever’s coming, and I want to be there when you come out the other side."

"Even if the other side is a prison cell?"

"Especially then." Her smile was fierce. "I’d look great in a jailbreak rescue mission. Very dramatic. Lots of explosions."

"You’re insane."

"You said that already."

"Bears repeating."

Reyna kissed me. Soft and sweet and entirely at odds with the woman who’d just demanded I tell her about my girlfriend while we were having sex.

"Sleep now," she said. "Tomorrow we plan. Thursday we fight. And then we see what happens next."