My Taboo Harem!

Phei had seen how Dravenna avoided anywhere close to him.

He would have had to be blind, dead, or David during a livestream argument not to notice. Dravenna Ashford had always separated herself by a table, a cluster of women, a passing server, or the sheer cowardice of intelligent self-preservation dressed up as social grace.

So Phei did something that surprised her.

He did not chase or pursue her openly, less; not even greet her:

In fact, he ignored her completely.

At first, Dravenna maintained the calm mask even though she had expected the opposite.

But now and then, her jade eyes moved toward Phei only to find him looking elsewhere; speaking with Sierra. teasing Amber or Yuki, laughing with Maddie.

Never giving her the pursuit she had braced herself to reject.

And maybe it was at that moment Dravenna realized pursuing a woman did not always mean chasing after her like a simp or fly towards a abd scent.

Human language was annoying like that.

One word could carry ten meanings, and sometimes half of those meanings were the opposite of the word itself. Pursuit could be pressure, yes. It could be hunger; could even be a man closing the distance.

But it could also be patience, distance, refusal to play the script she had prepared and silence placed so deliberately that it became louder than a compliment.

Phei ignored her and the party went on.

The princesses kept mostly to themselves at first, gathering in their elegant little constellations under the black-silver lights. Jade, Elena, Natasha, Clara, Priya, Juliette, Zara, Paige and Brielle. They teased one another with the cold precision of women trained in etiquette and privately committed to emotional violence.

Gianna was the first to break the barrier.

She pulled Natasha toward the dance floor with a grin and one shameless accusation about "standing like an expensive statue," and from there everything began to loosen. Nastya joined next, Yuki followed her first two friends with a laugh.

Jade resisted for only a minute before Maddie appeared beside her and said something too ridiculous to refuse.

Soon, the princesses were dancing; laughing, circling, dragging one another into the rhythm beneath the crystal rain and violet glow.

Maddie became the bridge; she brought Sierra with her, then Yuki brought Natasha, then Delilah was pulled briefly into the edge of it before remembering her body had very legitimate complaints about the past few hours and retreating with royal dignity.

Then the boys’ women joined.

David’s date first, shy and laughing, dragged in by Maddie, who declared that any girl brave enough to appear with David deserved immediate protection and dance rights, Cherry followed, smiling warmly, her movements softer but confident once she found the rhythm. Brian’s women entered next, welcomed by Sierra and Maddie as if the boundary between "Phei’s women," "the boys’ women," and "guest circle" had never mattered much in the first place.

The room warmed.

It changed from polished birthday reception into something alive.

At one point, Phei stood back and watched the princesses, his women, and the boys’ women moving together beneath the silver lights, laughing and roasting one another as the music rose. Maddie said something to Natasha that made the usually composed girl nearly choke on her own laugh.

’Beautiful, ridiculous and family, apparently.’

Valentina and Patricia spent most of their time near Melissa, Roxanne and Adriana.

That little circle had its own atmosphere.

Mature beauty, dangerous warmth, and an amount of observation that could have made a weaker man confess crimes he had not committed. Valentina looked lush and grounded in her dress, the fabric clinging to her full toned and trained curves with soft confidence, her waist held neatly enough that Phei’s gaze had already betrayed him twice and earned him one knowing smile from her. Roxanne adorned a deep-toned gown that flattered her lonely glamour, the fabric flowing over her curves like candlelight over wine.

And Adriana...

Adriana spent much of the night drinking; wine, champagne, then wine again and always pretending the faint blush on her cheeks came from alcohol and not from the hidden storm moving beneath her skin.

Phei smiled whenever he looked at her.

He could feel it!

The Void-Ice cock construct was hidden inside the deep cave of her wet pussy, obedient to him, responding to a cold-warm ghost of his control teasing her in ways no one else could see. He had made it subtle enough that she could stand, speak, laugh, and pretend she was not slowly being ruined beneath everyone’s noses.

Not merciful enough to let her forget him for even one breath.

He had told her if she wanted him to wait then she should have something of him keeping his cock’s place warm until he fucked her; until then she’d keep the construct deep in her walls.

Cassiopeia stood on the other side of that same coin; she did not tremble where others could see.

But Phei knew.

Her gaze sharpened and then briefly unfocused her fingers pressed too tightly around her glass before she recovered. The Void-Ice construct within her pussy answered him as perfectly as Adriana’s did, and Cassiopeia, disciplined monster that she was, endured it like a battle she had no intention of admitting she enjoyed.

Neither woman hated the feeling as Phei simply reminded them now and then that distance meant very little to a Young Dragon with Void-Ice and poor restraint.

What a nice way of taming his Hot Rude Neighbor!

Adriana glanced toward him once, lips pressed together, eyes narrowed as if she could murder him with elegance if only murder would not disturb the seating arrangement.

Phei lifted his glass at her and her blush deepened.

Roxanne, sitting beside her, raised a brow. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine," Adriana said too quickly.

Melissa looked at her.

Adriana took another sip of champagne.

Roxanne’s brow rose higher.

"Very fine," Adriana added.

Phei’s smile nearly split his face.

Everyone slowly found their own comfort in one another. Noor and Soraya, once hovering near the edge like beautiful strangers still unsure whether they had been allowed into the wrong dream, began to settle properly into Phei’s circle. Noor spoke quietly with Sierra and Melissa, her reserved elegance loosening one careful smile at a time. Soraya laughed with Yuki and Gianna, then later found herself pulled into a conversation with Jade that left her glowing with validation.

Phei watched them from across the room.

Proud.

Warm.

A little dangerous with it.

He could not thank his women enough:

They had taken two new of his women and made space for them without turning kindness into performance; some were teasing, yes, because this family would apparently rather die than welcome someone normally, but warmth lived beneath it.

Noor and Soraya were finding footing and not as ornaments but as his women.

His eyes drifted to Delilah again and again.

He could not help it.

Delilah spent most of the evening near the bar, seated gracefully on a tall stool with one leg crossed over the other and one hand resting near her glass. She looked breathtaking and tired, the kind of exhaustion that softened her rather than diminished her. Her dress still flattered her royal figure cruelly, hugging her waist and flowing over her hips, but Phei knew the truth beneath the elegance.

She was sore; very sore.

And she was trying not to show it.

That made him smile like an absolute villain.

Delilah caught him looking and narrowed her eyes from across the hall.

He smiled wider.

She lifted her glass slightly, warning him through distance.

He almost laughed.

Courtney sat next with her and that had surprised him at first, but only a little. Courtney did not personally know most of the people here, and normally, she would not have chosen to sit near the center of this kind of gathering. But she had been invited, and she knew enough now to understand that remaining outside too sharply would only make her look more alone.

Delilah, perhaps sensing that, had drawn her into conversation with an ease that made Phei’s chest warm.

Courtney said something.

Delilah laughed.

Good.

The night went on.

Dravenna eventually joined Melissa’s circle again.

He watched from a distance as Dravenna settled among Melissa, Roxanne, Valentina, Patricia, Adriana and, eventually, Cassiopeia.

’It is almost unfair.’

A whole cluster of mature beauties and dangerous intelligence gathered beneath black crystal light, their gowns clinging, flowing, revealing and concealing with such deliberate elegance that several men nearby remembered urgent business elsewhere while Cassiopeia stood like a blade pretending to be a guest.

Phei, meanwhile, stood alone for a while, watching his women.

His.

Not as possession alone, though the dragon in him certainly approved of that interpretation like a beast with terrible manners. More than that; his in the sense of belonging, responsibility, affection, desire, loyalty, chaos and warmth, his in the sense that they looked toward him and expected not only hunger, but care.

His in the sense that he could hurt them, and therefore had to become worthy of how much they trusted him!

Dangerous thing, being loved by beautiful women.

Men wrote poems about it.

’Idiots; they should have written warnings.’

"Standing alone, huh?" The voice came from beside him.

Phei turned:

The Goddess.

She stood with her head slightly tilted, elegant enough to make the black-silver hall look like it had been designed merely to escort her outline. Her presence was divine without needing light, regal without needing a crown, soft enough to seem approachable and untouchable enough to make that approach feel like blasphemy. Her gown held her body with a grace that made even Phei’s shameless gaze quiet for half a breath. The fabric embraced her chest gently, narrowed at her waist with almost unfair precision, then fell over the curve of her hips.

Courtney was not with Delilah now.

Phei realized she had crossed near him when he was busy observing the room.

The Goddess looked toward Dravenna, then back at him.

"You want her that much, huh?" she asked.

Phei’s brows rose.

Her gaze remained calm, but something in it had sharpened: "Is it because she is intriguing? Or because she denied you once?"

Phei’s smile softened and reached for her hand.

She let him, he lifted it and kissed the back of it slowly and her fingers stilled in his.

"Are you jealous again, Goddess?" he asked.