“Welcome, Dorothy. Welcome to Oz.”
She whirled around with a surprised laugh. “Did you actually say Oz? You’ve got to be—”
Before she could finish, he was kissing her with a pent-up passion she recognized. This was why she’d come. What she’d been longing for. He was real and solid and right in front of her. Z pulled her closer, gripping her hips in his hands. Dorothy moaned, angry at the clothes that separated them. She wanted to feel him against her, bare skin against bare skin. She wanted him inside her.
“Not to interrupt, but why is your hot neighbor here and why is he kissing you?”
Dorothy tore her mouth from Z’s, dropping her head to his shoulder to catch her breath. “It’s a long story, Em,” she panted.
When she finally lifted her head, her eyes widened as she took in the silent audience. There were so many of them and they were an…unusual looking group.
And they were looking at her like she had two heads.
“Make that long story short,” Emily insisted stubbornly, comfortably nestled in Braxim’s arms.
Dorothy noticed several other centaurs shifting toward the front of the crowd, all of them looking curiously at her sister. Oh dear.
There were also at least a hundred men who seemed to be made of pure gold, all with amber eyes and ebony hair like Z’s.
All but one.
“Kansas? Kansas!” She took off at a run, and he met her halfway, wrapping his arms around her with that happy laugh she’d missed so much.
“Dee baby, how are ya, sweetheart?” She pulled back, looking into his cornflower eyes, that shaggy blond hair that always made him look a little rakish, and beamed through her tears.
“What are you doing here?” He’d mentioned he’d be traveling, but she’d assumed he meant another country. Not another dimension.
“Well, you see, there was this storm…” He winked at her and she looked over her shoulder at Z, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. He wasn’t smiling. In fact, the way he was staring at her friend’s arms around her made him look jealous. But that didn’t make any sense. Not from a man with his sexual appetite.
“He brought him for me.”
Dorothy nearly swallowed her tongue when the velvet voice parted the crowd to reveal a golden demi-god that had to be the king. Everything about him screamed royalty. That and his powerful features and bald head made him look a little like a young Yul Brynner. Only hotter. Way, way hotter.
“Wow,” Emily sighed and Dorothy nodded in mute agreement. Wow indeed.
Kansas blushed when the man wrapped a beefy arm around his shoulders, pulling him close.
“That’s what I said as soon as I saw him,” he muttered. “Which is why once I got here, there was no way I wasn’t going to lock that down. They don’t make men like this anywhere on Earth.”
Now it was the king’s turn to blush. At least, she thought he was blushing. He was definitely turning a darker gold.
“Congratulations,” she said with a soft smile. “I’m sorry I missed the wedding.”
Kansas winced. “About that…”
She nudged him playfully. “He’s a king. You’re forgiven.”
The king in question eyed the listening crowd, his bearing regal and resolved. “Everyone get back to the safety of the base for now. Tonight we celebrate the new arrivals and the power they’ve brought to join with ours.”
He frowned at the spots of charred earth left by the Gliders’ arrows. “Tomorrow will come soon enough.”
The crowd shuffled obediently away, still sending curious glances in their direction. She understood why. Other than Kansas, no one else looked anything like them.
Her friend brushed a kiss across her forehead. “We need to talk,” he whispered, before allowing his king to lead him away. She nodded, her smile fading at his worried expression.
Braxim pranced by with his shoulders straight and proud as his friends looked on. Emily giggled, obviously delighted to be the center of attention. “Dorothy, I should be mad at you for bringing me along, but since none of this is real, I think I’m going to accept Braxy’s invitation to his tent so I can…um…lie down. My foot was bleeding, you know. I’ll see you later.”
Dorothy eyed the large horsemen who were obviously excited at the prospect. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay with me, Emily? At least until we find out what’s going on?”
A pair of warm hands dropped to her bare shoulders, soothing her with a caress.
“She’ll be fine. None of the Equus would hurt her, Braxim least of all. Trust me.”
Dorothy watching them wander away, waiting until they were out of earshot to spin on her heel and confront the wizard. “Trust you? Why on earth, or in Oz…Goddess, I can’t believe I just said that. Why should I trust you? You manipulated my stepsister and stole my best friend. You teased me with promises and kisses and mental foreplay until you were all I could think about and then you left. Like a fool I followed you, only to find myself taken prisoner, marching naked and barefoot all day, and to top off that shit sundae, being shot at by insane bird people with flaming arrows trying to take me to their leader. I should have stayed in my apartment.”
“But you didn’t.” Z stepped closer, forcing her to crane her neck to meet his gaze. “You chose to come here. You said my name and called the storm. Why?”
“Hell if I know. Temporary insanity brought on by the poppy field. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go find Emily before she’s trampled by those young studs and catch the next tornado out of this madhouse.”
Before she took her first step he was lifting her into his arms as an angry wind whipped around them. “Oh no, my sweet. You’re in my world now. I won’t let you get away from me again. I think it’s time you and I got a few things straight.”
The wind lifted them off the ground, taking them over the campground and into the mountains beyond.
Dorothy bit her lip, Z’s expression forbidding further conversation, plus the whole floating above the ground thing was really throwing her off. Aunt Glin had never taught her how to do this.
Aunt Glin. Would she be worried? She hadn’t returned from her vacation by the time Dorothy had left, so she had no way of knowing.
Thoughts of her elderly relative disappeared as they dove into a dark crevice hidden within the mountainside.
“Where are we—” The darkness gave way to an unearthly blue light and she gasped in delight.
“We’re home. My home. And this time nothing and no one will interrupt us.”
Chapter Five
It was beautiful. On closer inspection it was less a cave than a palace, hewn out of crystals and gemstones and magic. She didn’t know where the light was coming from, but it poured in from every corner, reflecting off the purple and blue stones to warm the room.
“You live here?”
Why would you ever leave?
Z leaned against the far wall, watching her take in the low tables and fat, tasseled pillows on the floor. “On and off. I’m bound by the pleasure of the king and his demands. But when I need to be alone, I come here.”
Dorothy tilted her head. “Alone? Are you telling me this isn’t the Oz version of a swinging bachelor pad? Because I won’t believe it.”
His lips twitched, but he shook his head. “I can find the kind of company you’re referring to anywhere. But I’ve never brought anyone here before. They call them sanctuaries for a reason. But I admit it pleases me, even more than I thought it would, that you should be the first to join me.”
She ignored the leap her heart gave at his words. It didn’t mean what she thought it did. It couldn’t.
You can’t lie to yourself.
She could try. “What now? Are you going to tell me what’s going on here?”
“Later.” He stood away from the wall, his fingers reaching up to undo the top button of his white linen shirt. “Right now, we’re going to finish what we started the other night.”
Dorothy took an instinctive step ba
ck. Feeling like prey. “Oh is that what—What are you doing?”
“Earning your trust.” Another step, another button undone. “You know now that I never had any interest in Emily.”
Dorothy bumped against an oddly shaped chair that looked disturbingly like a torture device, altering her retreat without taking her attention away from him. “You forget I had a bird’s eye view of just how interested you are in everyone. Why should Emily be any different?”
He slipped the shirt off, and Dorothy swallowed. Goddess, he was a beautiful man. The ruby amulet lay against his lean, smooth chest, his stomach muscles rippling with his slow, deliberate movements as he continued to stalk her.
“I was never intimate with any of them. You saw that with your own eyes. They were an experiment. A curiosity I indulged in to help me gauge your appetites and show you mine. Don’t lie and tell me you didn’t enjoy every minute of our nightly show.”
“Who’s lying?” Dorothy heard the sound of rushing of water and looked behind her. He’d backed her into a room with a small waterfall. Steam rose from the heated pool at its base. This was the kind of bath a woman could die happy in. But first she had to know.
“And Kansas?”
“He was fated to be the king’s consort and so I sent the storm. Yes, I was attracted to him. And yes, I joined them in their bed. Only once, but I refuse to hide it from you. That is what you wanted to know, yes?”
The waterfall blurred before her eyes. “Yes.”
“Look at me, Dorothy. Please.”
He was naked. Gloriously, unashamedly aroused, and looking at her as if she were the only thing he wanted in the universe. If only she could believe that.
He held out his arms. “I stand here before you, Zenamulous of the Crow Warriors, born from a line of wizards dating back to the time of Transformation. I have never used my magic to increase my wealth or power, though occasionally I have used it to increase another’s pleasure. I have never repressed my passions, but I’ve never forced them on the unwilling.”
His chin lifted proudly, but Dorothy could see a hint of vulnerability darken his gaze. “And from the moment I saw your picture, I knew you were mine. Knew I had to be near you and know you. From the first moment I was lost. You are the only one I want.”
He wouldn’t use words or powers to woo her, wouldn’t take her in his arms or sweep her off her feet. She could sense that she would have to make the next move. She would have to choose to trust him or not.
In spite of her pique, her insecurities and his past, the choice wasn’t hard at all. Hadn’t she ridden a storm to find him? A few steps were nothing after that. She stopped directly in front of him and, with one twist of her fingers, the blanket she was wearing fell silently to the floor.
“Don’t let me wrong about you.”
His hot look scorched her skin. His nostrils flared when she laid one tentative hand on his bare shoulder, skimming it down his arm to wrap around his wrist. She lifted his hand and covered it with her own as it cupped her breast.
Dorothy closed her eyes, reveling in his touch. She hadn’t been sure she’d ever see him again.
“None of that.” Z’s low command startled her. “Open your eyes. I want you to see everything. To feel your gaze as I make you come again and again.”
His words had her trembling, arousal coating her sex and heating her thighs. He inhaled and groaned. “Makers, you smell amazing. I don’t think I can wait to taste you.”
He knelt in front of her and she gasped, grabbing at his shoulders as he pressed an open-mouthed kiss against her clit. He spread the lips of her pussy wide and flattened his tongue against her, as if he were absorbing her into his blood stream.
Z growled against her sex, the vibration weakening her knees until she was leaning heavily against him, her body bowing over his, hair grazing his back. He grabbed her waist, pulling her down to the floor and lifting her legs over his shoulders.
She felt a moment’s insecurity. Her body was totally visible, completely open to him. He sensed her hesitation. “You have the most sensual body I’ve ever seen. Soft curves of silk and cream. I could drown in you. You are a goddess, sweet Dorothy. My goddess. Let me worship you.”
Her head fell back against the cool floor as he disappeared between her legs. She gasped when his tongue thrust inside her sex, his palms spreading her ass cheeks wide, opening her completely to him.
When his thumb, damp with her juices, pressed against her ass, she jerked in surprise. Hadn’t she touched herself while imagining him inside her just like that? Wasn’t that one of her fantasies?
How did he know?
He pushed through the tight muscles with the thick digit, biting her inner thigh at her groan. “No one has ever touched you here.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I will. I want you on your knees, begging for my cock in your ass. I could come just thinking about how you’ll feel around me. You’re so tight, sweet, but you can take me. You will take me.”
He twisted his thumb inside her, and she screamed at the fullness.
“Not yet. Now I want to feel you come against my tongue.”
“Z!” She climaxed, her hips pumping against his face, pressing down to force his thumb deeper. Her body was a firestorm of sensation. Wave upon wave of pleasure engulfed her as Z delved deeper, drinking her in as though he couldn’t get enough of her taste.
He lifted his head, mouth shining from her juices, with wild eyes. “I’ve never wanted anyone this much. I want inside you more than I want to breathe. Let me in, sweet Dorothy. Let me have you.”
A sense of inevitability, of rightness, washed over her. She opened her arms, wrapping her legs around his waist to pull him close, and smiled. His groan rumbled deep inside his chest, and he bent down to take her mouth. She could taste herself on his tongue, and she tilted her head, wanting more.
But he ripped his lips away. “I want you to watch.”
He wrapped his strong fingers around her thighs, holding them high and wide, giving her the perfect view of his flushed erection caressing her thigh.
Oh my.
A feminine thrill made her shiver. She couldn’t look away. It was a beautiful monster, and she was getting wetter just imagining it inside her.
His sharp cheekbones had darkened to a deep, burnished gold with his arousal, and he bit his lip as his cock slipped through her wet heat. “You’ve stolen all my control. No. Fuck, don’t move…just…give me a… Ahhh.”
He thrust deep, his cock stretching her until she wasn’t sure he would fit. Her back arched as he kept coming, lifting her legs higher until her ass was completely off the floor, her hips angled to take every inch. “Z!”
“Yes. Take it all. Makers, you’re perfect for me.” Their cries of pleasure mingled when his hips were finally pressed flush against her own. A thundering echo bounced off the gemstone walls. The pool water rippled as their powers joined along with their bodies.
Dorothy felt the floor beneath her warm, the sultry wind surrounding them, lifting her hair until it caressed his shoulders. His jaw was clenched, and she knew he was trying to go slow, to draw out the pleasure. But she felt greedy, starving for more. “Don’t hold back. Please.”
Their gazes met. Pure need and perfect understanding. The sounds of hurricane force winds couldn’t drown out their cries as he gave her what she wanted, fucking her hard and fast until she didn’t know where she ended and he began.
The seductive wizard was gone, replaced by a madman who couldn’t get deep enough, couldn’t stop calling her name as her pussy clenched around his cock.
“Dorothy, damn you, Dorothy. Give it to me. I want to feel you squeeze my cock when I come. Like that. Yes. Yes.”
Dorothy soared off the edge. She was in the eye of the storm, riding the fury of the wind. And then he was there with her, touching her mind, her soul, her power with his. They were meant. Fated. One. She saw all her worries and fears disappear at their connection. How could she not trust
him when he was a part of her?
She came back to awareness with his forehead against her chest as he shuddered against her with the last of his orgasm.
“Holy moly.”
“Indeed.” He lifted his head, his expression more carefree than any she’d seen on him before. Then she noticed his amulet. “Um, your necklace is glowing again.”
“Just a little. No one is in immediate danger this time. The king just wants to meet with us as soon as we can get back to the base.”
He looked down at her body and his gaze narrowed. “You’re glowing too.”
“I am?” Dorothy saw the light dance over her skin, fading even as she watched. “How strange.”
He stood, picking her up and walking with her into the heated pool. “Yes, but interestingly, not the first time I’ve heard of it happening.”
She tensed. “It isn’t?”
He lowered her into the water and knelt behind her, rubbing her shoulders. “The first time Kansas and the king were together, I’m told he had a similar reaction.”
Dorothy relaxed. “So it’s a human thing? A reaction to your people?”
“I don’t think so.” He hummed thoughtfully, and she sunk deeper into the steaming pool, his talented hands turning her into a melting pile of goo.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t waiting when you first arrived.”
“So are my feet,” she mumbled sleepily.
“The water will heal you.” He paused. “Emily’s presence was unexpected.”
“She was worried. It was an accident. Less talking, more rubbing. Why does the king want to talk to us?”
“Obstinate woman. I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that all is not right in our land.”
Dorothy nodded, leaning against him. “The bird people shooting at us gave me a little clue. Is that why you had to come back?”
“Yes.” Z nuzzled her neck. “The palace, the city itself, has been taken over by someone we used to know as a friend. The matriarchal clans, the Gliders and the Weavers, have sided with her. The Equus and Felix have remained with their king, as well as all the Crow Warriors. The only ones who’ve remained on the fence are the pleasure droids who are, by nature, androgynous. Our whole world is divided.”
Surrender Dorothy (Kinky Oz Book 2) Page 5