The Dragons' Bathhouse: A Reverse Harem Enemies-to-Lovers Soulmate Romance

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Denying that need would result in eventual death. Dragons needed their soulmates, they needed her to keep the flames alive. If they tried to reject her, tried to escape before their bonding, the soul fire would eventually die out, the flames disappearing into ashes.

A fireless dragon was a dead one.

Satisfying that need would satisfy the fire, it was like a steady supply of wood to a roaring hearth. But when the fire surged too high and too far, it would become impossible to control and then it would be deadly for all in its wake.

Fire was needy and wanting. It ate at everything in its path. It was unrelenting, and it fed on destruction. The soul fire was no different. It ate at a dragon. It was easy to lose one's sense of self into the desire, easy to need nothing but their soulmate's pleasure. It would tear at them until they couldn't see past their soulmate's tears. Until they couldn't see anything but lust.

There was a time when younger dragons would find their soulmates and kill them. In their youths, they didn't know how to control their yearning, control the need to keep the flames high. They would turn into lustful, mindless beasts that hoarded their soulmates, never letting them leave, forcing orgasm after orgasm. It was impossible to fight the need once it reached a peak. Impossible for their soulmates to escape their strength.

It was one of the most horrible ways to go. The soulmates would reach overexertion, perishing from the steady starvation and dehydration as the dragons continued, lost in the fire. The dragons would only realise when it was too late, when their soulmates were long dead in their arms and the fire within them would dwindle into nothing but ashes.

The two lovers would be found dead in their homes.

They called it a sickness, a lust for their gold, for their soulmates.

It was the reason why the soul flowers were consumed. It was different for each species, but for the dragons, the flowers dulled the need until the dragon was ready. It gave them the time to mature and grow until they were old enough to control the fire, strong enough to withstand the need for fuel, powerful enough to give their soulmates space. The older the dragon, the more time they were given to understand the fire and the better they were at controlling the flames.

Keegan and Kaizel had eaten the soul flowers as children, consuming it again would then unlock the final barrier against that fiery heat within their bodies. The soul fire that threatened their lives and their minds, the soul fire that made them vulnerable and exposed. It would be unleashed and freed from its chains in their body once the soul flower entered their system. And the twins would then have to face the curse of their lives, the curse to keep their fire and their soulmates alive, or die trying.

Keegan hated the soul fire, he hated the concept of soulmates. He hated the curse. He hated the control that his soul had over him, the desperation of the situation. He hated the thought of being a prisoner to such a monstrosity. To be chained to a soulmate, controlled by the need to fuel his soul fire. Even now he could feel it, his soul, burning against the barrier within him, the magic dancing and coaxing him to let it free. To let it burn, to let it rage.

And he hated how seductive it could be.

He was sensitive to magic, after all, so he could feel it in his every moment. His brother, Kaizel, was less attuned to his soul. He didn't understand soul bonds as much as Keegan did, but Keegan could see his brother's soul fire steadily leaking out of his barrier, just like his own, and it wouldn't be long before it searched for their One. The barrier had been unsteady since the day they reached their 20th birthday in dragon years. The day of adulthood. His brother had taken it and expressed it like how all the other dragons did.