by J. N. Baker
“God, you’re beautiful,” he whispered, tracing his fingers over the sunburst nestled between my breasts. “Perfection. Better than I ever imagined. And I’ve imagined it a lot over the years. It’s always been you.”
The idea of Josh fantasizing about me was nearly my undoing. The image of him standing in the shower with that large cock in his hands and my name on his lips…
I bit the corner of my lip as those same hands dropped to his pants, popping the top button and unzipping them, revealing even more of those sexy oblique muscles that I’d done my fair share of fantasizing about. My eyes trailed lower still, fixating on the massive bulge still straining behind the material of his pants.
“If you look at me like that,” Josh panted, drawing my attention back to his face, “this won’t last nearly as long as I planned.”
Leaving his pants loosely hanging from his narrow waist, he turned his attention to my cotton shorts. Holding my gaze, he slowly slipped them down my hips, watching me as he bent over me, placing wet kisses down my abdomen and over my lace-clad hips. His mouth followed after my shorts until they, too, were gone and I was lying beneath him in no more than my underwear.
“Beautiful,” he said again.
As I reached out for his pants, the hauntingly familiar sound of snapping bones filled my room and I froze. Josh’s eyes met mine before he whirled around and leapt from the bed, throwing a very naked Lindsay against the wall.
I cursed under my breath, wrapping a blanket around myself and rushing to join him on shaky legs.
Lindsay’s wide eyes darted from me to Josh before sliding down to where Josh’s dick still tried with gusto to break free of his partially closed pants. A growl slipped past my lips and her gaze shot back to me again. “He remembers you,” she hissed.
“He does.”
“I knew it,” she started, wincing as Josh’s fingers tightened around her throat. She tried without success to push Josh’s hand away.
“Let her go,” I finally said, grabbing a towel from beside the tub and throwing it at her.
Reluctantly, Josh released her, tucking himself away and zipping up his pants. He never strayed too far, ready to grab her at a moment’s notice. She’d be fool to try to escape either of us.
“Are you insane?” she whisper-yelled at me.
“Likely,” I replied curtly.
“The king,” she said and I held up a hand to stop her.
I took a step forward and she sank into the wall a little more. Did she think we’d kill her for what she’d seen? Probably. I was her enemy, right? If we were smart, that was exactly what we should do. But we both knew Lindsay—the old Lindsay. And hiding a body with so many watching eyes was rather difficult. Even if she had been clearly spying on us.
“You know Baldric isn’t my mate,” I told her. “Josh is. Which I think you also know. And, you said yourself, mated bonds between supes are unbreakable. Baldric never stood a chance when he took me to be his queen.”
“You don’t have a choice,” she blurted and Josh clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Story of my life,” I grumbled. Forced to live with a “family” who despised me. Turned into a monster and murderer against my will. Pushed away from the only people I cared about. Made to believe I was destined for someone else. Taken as Baldric’s prisoner. My entire life had been one big “not my choice.” But not when it came to Josh. I chose him. He was mine.
I took a deep breath and blew out my growing frustration. “I love him,” I told her, feeling Josh’s hand on the small of my back as he moved to my side. I blinked away the nonexistent tears building in my eyes. This couldn’t be how this ended. “You can understand that, can’t you, Linds?”
“I’d never betray my king,” she bit out.
“What if it was Cody? You say you still love him. Wouldn’t you do anything to have him back, king or not?” I paused, letting her digest my words. “Well, I love Josh, and he loves me. I’ll do anything—risk anything—to be with him.”
She eyed Josh for a moment. “How’d you break the glamour?” she asked, quirking a brow at him.
“I’d say love conquers all,” I answered for him, “but that seems a bit cliché, doesn’t it?”
“Baldric will be blind with rage when he finds out,” she said.
“That’s why he can never find out,” Josh said, his voice dropping an octave and taking a menacing edge.
“Please, Linds,” I begged. “You can’t tell him. He can’t know.”
She looked between the two of us, face hard. “Fine,” she finally said. “I promise I won’t tell him.”
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Thank you,” I told her.
Lindsay tightened the towel under her arms and headed toward the door. She paused before opening it. “Be careful. Secrets don’t tend to stay in the dark for long here. I hope you both know what you’re doing.”
As the door clicked shut behind her, Josh enveloped me in his arms. “It’s going to be okay,” he reassured me.
“What if she tells him? Or what if she tells someone else who then tells him. He’ll take you away from me, Josh. He’ll kill you to keep me for himself just like Alec tried to do.”
He tilted my face, so I was forced to look at him. “Do you trust me, Zoe?”
I nodded. “Of course I do.”
“Then believe me when I tell you this is going to be okay. And even if we are separated, I will find you all over again. Whether in this life or the next, I will always find you. God Himself couldn’t keep us apart. I told you once and I’ll say it again…I’ll always come back to you. Always.”
As he slipped back out the open window, I hoped to hell he was right. Luck hadn’t always been on my side. Like, ever.
I half expected to be greeted by a swarm of guards or an irate, bloodthirsty, wannabe king the next morning. But when I opened the door to my bedroom chamber, there was no one there.
I glanced back into my room for the umpteenth time to make sure nothing was amiss—no torn clothing or crumpled sheets. I’d even rubbed lavender into the bedding to try to mask Josh’s scent from anyone who might enter.
“There you are,” Baldric’s deep voice rumbled as I stepped into the main room.
I forced myself to meet his eyes, wondering if he knew. Had he already taken Josh’s head? Wiped his memories? If so, I was going to burn this whole godforsaken world to the ground, starting with Lindsay.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Did I sleep in?” Sleep, yeah right. More like lie in my lavender-infused bed, torn between lust and worry, longing and panic. “It’s so hard to tell these days,” I continued, adding a bit of sass to my tone. “You know, since there aren’t days.”
“You nearly missed training,” he replied, ignoring my slight about the endless night. “Let us go. I have something special in store for you today.”
My stomach dropped as I followed. “Special” didn’t sound like a good thing, not when it came from his lips.
As we exited the castle, my eyes darted to the training grounds illuminated by its usual circle of torches. In the center stood Josh’s shift buddy, Philip; Felix, the gladiator of a vampire who I’d seen sparring with Baldric; and a still-very-alive Josh. But alive didn’t mean he was whole. After all, there were far worse things in life than death.
We approached the three men and Josh’s icy eyes darted to me if only momentarily and I exhaled. My Josh was still in there. Lindsay hadn’t said anything to Baldric…yet.
“What is so special about this?” I asked, gesturing to the feast of three muscular men standing before us. “Am I getting my own harem?”
“Hell, yeah,” Philip said, moving to fist bump Josh who shot him a rather terrifying look. Felix only grinned, yanking off his shirt and flexing his layers upon layers of muscles.
Baldric dismissed them. “Today you get to fight all four of us.”
My brow furrowed. “And that’s supposed to be special for me?”
; “I know how much pleasure you take in bringing me pain,” he said with a smirk. “I figured you would thoroughly enjoy inflicting that sort of pain on more of us. Plus, you need to continue to further expand your abilities.”
So, we were going from Baldric, to Baldric and his imaginary beasts, to four living, breathing powerhouses?
“Awesome,” I sneered. At least when I knocked Baldric on his ass today there’d be witnesses.
I watched as the four men spread out around me, my mind racing. Baldric took the spot to my right, sword in hand. He’d be my main target. Josh moved out in front of me, hands empty of any weapons I could see. I wouldn’t be able to hold back on him or Baldric would be suspicious. Philip stripped and shifted to my left. I’d have to be careful with him. Being technically mortal and all, I didn’t want to accidentally kill him. He reminded me too much of Cody.
And then there was Felix who took his place behind me with not one but two swords in his hands. I’d have to watch out for him. I’d only seen him fight once and he’d held his own against the king himself.
Of course, I wasn’t given a weapon. Baldric wanted me to hone in on my new ability. It had been far too long since I’d felt the weight of cold steel in my hands. I did a slow turn, taking in each of the men around me, and their blades. Maybe I could change that.
The solid black panther lunged at me first. Even with the torches all around us, the animal was nearly invisible. I zeroed in on those golden irises as they flew toward me. Shooting out my hand, I wrapped it around one massive front paw, giving him a small jolt of electricity as I slammed his body into the ground. Like I said, I didn’t want to kill the guy.
A dagger hit me next, coming from Josh’s direction. How fitting.
The short blade imbedded itself in my stomach—he clearly wasn’t holding any punches either. Before I could even remove it, I felt the bite of a sword slicing into my back as Felix made his move. All the while, Baldric watched on from the shadows, eyes transfixed on me.
As I heard Felix’s blade cut through the air once more, I spun, dodging another flying dagger from Josh. In a blur, I grabbed onto the vampire’s tree-trunk of an arm and swung myself onto his back, wrapping my legs around his middle. My hands coiled around his neck even as both of his swords came barreling toward me. It was now or never.
With a twist of my hands, I snapped his neck and the big man collapsed with a groan. Making quick work of his body, I hoisted him up to block the incoming daggers from Josh, using the vamp as a not-so-human shield.
“Sorry not sorry,” I muttered, tossing his body onto the panther that was beginning to crawl back to his feet.
Scooping up one of Felix’s discarded weapons, I flipped the hilt in my hand. God, that felt good. I swung the steel up just in time to block another one of Josh’s daggers. Where the hell was he storing all of them? Then again, being a telekinetic, he could just be reusing the same few blades.
“You are to use your ability,” Baldric ordered and the sword in my hand was yanked away from me, whether by Baldric or Josh, I wasn’t sure.
My eyes locked onto Baldric, ignoring the blade that pierced my shoulder and the sound of Felix’s neck snapping back in place. I only had eyes for the self-proclaimed king.
William might have lied to me about Baldric and Sera—maybe more—but it was Baldric who was keeping me from the man I loved. He was the one demanding I be his and his alone. He was the reason I wasn’t with Annie or Cody.
One Baldric became four. Four, plus Josh and the now standing Felix.
The power built within me, searing my skin as it reached the surface. The white-hot lightning erupted from my palms, coiling up my arms. And still I called more until it encompassed my entire body and I could smell my flesh burning. I grunted against the pain. I had to last a little longer.
The electricity continued to build around me until I was glowing, and I started to worry I might not be able to control it to do what needed to be done.
“Zoe!” Baldric shouted—reabsorbing his duplicates. “Stop!”
I cried out, collapsing to the ground as the electricity around me vanished. All four men ran toward me—well, three men and a limping leopard.
Smoke rose from my body, what little clothes there were left melted to my skin. I groaned as the men gathered around me, concern etched into each of their faces—especially Josh’s. But it was Baldric who placed my head in his lap, black eyes scanning my blistered flesh.
“Never let yourself get distracted,” I croaked. “Not even by a pretty lady.”
Before Baldric could get the question off his lips, I called back the power I’d left burning deep within me. It blasted outward from my hands as I willed the bulk of it to go toward Baldric. Bolts of lightning coiled around each of the men, dropping them like flies. I released Philip before the others, hoping I hadn’t ended up killing him. The groan that left his now-human lips was reassuring. As was the one that came from Josh.
Fighting through the pain, I rose to my feet, standing over the four big strong men. “I win.”
“She tried to fucking cook me!” Philip said once he’d found his voice.
“Should have let me keep the blade,” I sneered.
Baldric was already back on his feet along with Josh, both looking a little worse for wear. “And risk missing that brilliant display of power?” Baldric asked. “Not a chance.”
Felix moaned as he sat up, those gray eyes finding mine. “This one is a damn sadist, Your Majesty.” He flashed me a smile, smoke seeping from his mouth. “I like her. She plays dirty.”
“That is a good thing,” Baldric said. “She works outside the rules of war. She has no code. She fights without honor. That makes her difficult to predict. It could very well be the thing that keeps her alive.”
“Maybe you should start training her less,” Josh muttered, his gaze fixated where one of his daggers was still imbedded in my shoulder. I held his gaze as I yanked the knife free and tossed it at him. It stopped directly in front of his face and then lowered, landing gently in his hand.
Baldric took a step in my direction, violet bleeding into his black eyes. “Are you all right?”
I winced as some of my charred flesh began to reform, struggling to stay on my feet. “I will be.”
“Philip, stop licking your wounds and go fetch some burn cream for the lady,” Felix ordered. “And for all that is holy, put some damn pants on, this isn’t Game of Thrones.”
“No,” I told him, holding up my hand and trying not to cry out at the motion. “I’ll be fine.” I just needed time. I was learning burned flesh took longer to heal. Figures my new twisted super power would involve regularly burning myself. Just my luck. At least the burns weren’t as bad this time, with the lightning not being solely concentrated to my hands. But still, it hurt like a son of a bitch.
“Stubborn,” Baldric said, shaking his head, “just like her.”
“And yet, I’m not her,” I said, forcing my wobbling legs to carry me back to the castle so I could collapse in the comfort of my own room.
The best laid plans…
“Where the hell is my room?” I roared from the hallway, staring into what used to be my room, now nearly empty save for a stripped-down bed. I stepped into the room, looking at the pile of ash that once sat beneath the now-missing clawfoot tub.
Olive appeared in the door behind me. “Did you not know? The king told us to move you into his room this morning. We were instructed to move your belongings while you trained.”
What. The. Fuck.
“Baldric!”
The king manifested in the room almost immediately, teleporting himself directly in front of me.
His eyes, black once more, scanned my still-wounded body. “Do you need assistance? Are you not healing?”
“Where is my room?” I ground out.
Baldric looked over my shoulder at Olive and nodded. “You may go,” he told her.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course,” he
said, his eyes finding mine. “My queen is no threat to me. Now, go.”
There was no warning in his voice, no menace. Only confidence. Confidence that I wouldn’t try to hurt him outside of the training grounds. He fucking trusted me.
“What is wrong?” he asked the second the door clicked shut. “I thought you would be pleased.”
“Pleased?”
“Well, yes,” he said, going to the window and looking out into the blackness outside. “Lindsay came to me early this morning and told me you did not wish to be alone at night anymore. She said she thought you would be happier in my room.”
My blood boiled. I’d kill her for this.
He turned back to face me, his expression cold and hard. “Clearly, she misunderstood.”
“Clearly,” I sneered, hands clenching at my sides, burns forgotten.
“But what is done is done,” he continued, heading toward the door.
“Excuse me?” I practically shrieked. “But you said—”
Baldric paused at the door, his one hand gripping the handle. “I said I would not touch you until you wanted me to. And I will continue to honor that.”
He moved away from the door to face me once more. “However, while this might not have been what you wanted, it will remain. My people seeing you in my room will go a long way to building a relationship with them. They will see it as you finally accepting me as your king. It will make it easier for them to accept you as their queen. I should have thought of it sooner, if I am being honest.”
“But—”
“Enough,” he bellowed and I took a small step back. “It is done. You will be mine, if in appearance only.”
With that, he stormed out of what used to be my beautiful prison.
Lindsay was avoiding me and I knew it.
I scoured the castle looking for her all day but she was nowhere to be found. She was probably hiding away somewhere like the cockroach she was, and I was going to enjoy exterminating her when I found her. She couldn’t hide forever.