Macabre Melody: Reverse Harem Siren Romance (Spellsinger Book 7)

by Amy Sumida

  When the final echoes of my song filtered through the stunned crowd, I jumped off the stage—landing on my heels with a solid thwack—and strode up to the Zone Lord. As I reached the lower door to the lounge, Slate smirked at me again and stood. He hit something on the wall beside him and curtains fell over the windows; hiding him from my view. The thump of a new song began just as I reached the top of the stairs. I shut the second door behind me and strode across the stone floor. Without an audience, Slate didn't need his mask. He met me halfway; an exultant look on his face. Pure happiness.

  With a sweep of Slate's arms, I was off my feet. I covered his mouth with mine and gave into the passion that had been building between us for what seemed like lifetimes. A growl, low in his throat, and I was on the bar; my back bent and my legs spread wide. His fangs bit at my neck; drawing blood which he lapped up eagerly. I held his head to me; just as fierce as he.

  “Not here,” his voice had gone low; still part growl. He started to ease me down.

  “Yes, here,” I snarled in his face as I shoved my hand down the front of his pants. I rubbed him with the flat of my palm. “We've waited long enough. It doesn't matter where it happens, only that you're inside me as fast as possible.”

  Silver light flashed over his face; shining down from his glowing eyes as his body shivered.

  “Oh, little girl, you've just unleashed the beast.” Slate jerked me off the bar and laid me down on the stone floor.

  It was cool against my back; my bare back. He'd removed my top in the seconds it took to lay me down and was already peeling my skirt away. I undid my bra myself, and he tore off my panties. When I laid naked before him, Slate jerked to a stop; arms braced straight and chest heaving. He stared down the length of my body and took a shaky breath.

  “I... you're so beautiful, Elaria,” he whispered.

  I blinked up at Slate. The words were even more precious coming from him—a man who didn't hand out compliments frivolously. I slid my hand up his throat and into his hair; my gaze meeting his steadily.

  “Will you forgive me for staying away so long?”

  Slate smiled wickedly.

  “You have two choices, Spellsinger,” he said crisply. “You can either suck my dick or you can fuck it. Then we'll talk about forgiveness.”

  I ripped his zipper open, I was so eager to get him out of his pants. Slate chuckled as I freed his hard length, but he stopped laughing when I knocked him over onto his back. I gave him my own wicked look before jerking his pants down around his knees, straddling him, and taking him in my mouth. I'd been wanting to do this since the day I'd first held his beautiful shaft in my hands.

  Slate roared.

  I smiled against his skin; licking and sucking and even biting until he was clawing at the floor and bucking his hips upward. The scent of him was nearly as good as the taste and the sounds he made far exceeded my expectations. Slate hadn't roared for those other women. Nor had he made those groaning whimpers; as if he were in pain but didn't want it to ever stop. His stare locked on mine and his hands tangled in my hair.

  “Am I forgiven?” I licked my lips.

  The silver of Slate's eyes was glazed; making them look polished. His breath was wild, and he'd torn his shirt open. His chest gleamed gold in the low lights; muscles on beautiful display amid the black fabric border of his button-down. He met my gaze and bared his teeth at me.

  “I lied,” he growled. “You have no choices. I want both.”

  Slate grabbed my shoulders and pulled me up his body before he rolled us. I was on the stone again; my legs spread wide. His eyes burned into mine as he shoved himself inside me. We both cried out with that sublime sensation, and I clawed at his arms; pulling him closer as he pushed my legs up and back.

  It wasn't the romantic lovemaking most women would have wanted for their first time with a new man, but it was exactly perfect for us. A savage thrashing of hips. A pounding of flesh like tribal drums. His teeth in my neck and his cock in my sex; one making me bleed and the other making me wet. I was beyond sanity, beyond tenderness and whispered words of love. There was only this deep, aching need for him to fill.

  “I thought you wanted me to fuck you?” I growled as I jerked my hips up to meet his.

  “Then do it.” Slate wrapped his arms around me and picked me up. He carried me to the bench along the window—his flesh still inside me—and sat down with me straddling his lap. “Fuck my dick hard, Spellsinger,” he purred into my ear. “Make me come in you.”

  I grabbed Slate's shoulders, leaned my head back, and rode him until he roared again, and I roared with him.

  When our first wave of lust had finally been sated, and I was draped across him limply, Slate started laughing softly in my hair. I shifted back to look at him with a curious smile.

  “I still have my pants on.”

  I glanced down and saw Slate's trousers bunched around his ankles.

  “And your shoes,” I added. “How did you manage to fuck me like that with your pants on?”

  “I was motivated.” Slate laughed and then it faded into a sigh.

  Slate's eyes were softer than I'd ever seen them; gray velvet with just the hint of a metallic gleam. He kissed me sweetly and slid his hand across my collarbone, down to my heart.

  “You were right; that metal collar was the only thing standing between me and utter annihilation,” Slate whispered.“I thought you weren't coming back and it was killing me.”

  “I will always come back to you,” I promised. “I don't give my heart lightly.”

  “Nor do I.” He let out a shaky breath. “And you have it, Elaria. For good or bad; my heart is yours now. I think it's belonged to you since the day you strode into my office and offered to take the place of a little Sasq'et girl in my arena.”

  Tears sprang to my eyes; I have no idea why. I blinked them away as I lowered my lips to graze his gently. Just a light caress.

  “I love you, Zone Lord,” I whispered against his skin.

  “I love you too, Spellsinger.” He eased back to look at me steadily. “I won't let anything threaten our love again; not even you.”

  I breathed in his words—let them fill my heart with his savage melody—and I knew that no matter what we faced, be it beautiful or macabre, that melody would play on forever.

  Keep reading for a sneak peek into the next book in the Spellsinger Series:

  Aria of the Gods

  Now available on Amazon

  Chapter One

  How had my life gotten even more complicated?

  I sighed as I watched Torin face off with Slate. Again. Before I'd met Slate Devon, Lord of the Oregon Zone (I hadn't found out which zone he was lord of until after he'd set me free), I'd been about to marry four men. My fifth lover is a griffin, and Gage didn't want a ceremony; he said we were already bound stronger than any words could make us. Gods; I love that griffin. Anyway, I'd been in the middle of four wedding preparations. Then I'd got kidnapped by gargoyles and forced into fighting in their gladiatorial arena. Gargoyles are shapeshifters with stone magic and they are also one of the few beneather races that are native to Earth. They had been here for thousands of years before homo sapiens showed up. It gave them lots of time to develop their civilizations and even carve out a few cities underground.

  Those gargoyle cities became popular with beneathers, especially those who weren't able to hide their appearances easily. When the Beneathers started flocking to gargoyle cities, the Gargoyles saw an opportunity. They made the cities into Zones; underground communities where Beneathers could live, shop, socialize, and be entertained. One of the most popular forms of zone entertainment is the arena.

  So, there I was, fighting for my life, held captive under the power of a nifty collar that subdued my magic, when my old nemesis, the Rooster Spell, came quietly back to life. She didn't make a peep as she gently nudged Slate and me together. It wasn't until I was already half in love with him that both Slate and I began to notice the tingles of magic flowing
between us. Since the RS is a spell and not an innate magic, she'd been able to circumvent the collar's dampening effect. She'd grown stronger and stronger while Slate and I had fallen for each other. But then there came the reckoning.

  The whole reason Slate had abducted me was that Galen and Odran—the ex-king of Sapphire and the Howlite King I'd made human—had manipulated him into believing I was a murdering spellsinger hellbent on destroying the Shining Ones. Slate—who made a point of imprisoning psychotic beneathers to fight in his arena—also happened to have a zone that was built directly over an imprisoned god; Gargo the God of the Gargoyles.

  When I released Darcraxis from the prison our children the Shining Ones had put him into, a shock wave of god energy had rung out through the realms. That energy had awakened other sleeping, imprisoned gods. Gargo was one of those awakened. He had just enough magic to reach out to the pair of vengeful Shining One men and set them on a course to bring me to him. Not only bring me to him, but also get me to bleed on top of his prison. It turns out that god blood—even that of a goddess who sliced her soul in half and trapped her goddess magic in an orb—could break Gargo's bonds.

  It hadn't worked out so well for poor Gargo. He was back to slumbering beneath the Oregon Zone; thanks to Slate and I. But the problem was; according to Galen and Odran (both now dead), there were numerous gods who had awakened. The Witches had contacted Beneather Governments on other planets to warn them about the possible uprisings, but there wasn't much else we could do until one of the awakened gods made his or her presence known.

  And then there was the little problem of Darc and I having blood that may or may not be able to open god prisons. Just because my blood was able to crack open Gargo's subterranean tomb, it didn't mean that it would work for all of the Gods. Odin Earthshaker, my friend and the Witch Leader of Fire, believes that my blood worked for Gargo because not only am I a goddess, but I had also been born on Earth. I was hoping that was the case. Because if it wasn't, both Darc and I would have all sorts of beneathers gunning for us. There was always someone crazy enough to bargain with a god; someone crazy enough to think it was worth it.

  In light of all of these recent developments, certain individuals—Slate, Gage, and me—thought we should postpone the weddings. Certain other individuals—the men I was engaged to—disagreed. We'd been arguing over it for days now.

  “You just don't want anyone to have a stronger hold on Elaria than you,” Torin snarled in Slate's face. “Well, let me be the first to inform you; I already have a stronger bond with her than you. All of us do. You crashed this party late, Gargoyle. Get over it.”

  “You're the one hung up on hierarchy in our group.” Slate's eyes flashed silver as he looked over Torin scathingly.

  Torin was both taller and wider than Slate, but the gargoyle still managed to look superior. Yep; that was my arrogant Zone Lord.

  “I don't give a fuck what kind of bond you have with her,” Slate went on. “All I care about is the way she looks at me when I'm inside her. And it's fucking glorious.”

  Torin punched Slate in the face and sent the gargoyle crashing out to the balcony and nearly over the railing. I sighed. Slate had that effect on people; I can't count the number of times I've wanted to punch him in the face. But I couldn't have Torin killing my new lover. Since we were in my bedroom at Kyanite Castle, we were incredibly far up. I don't know if Slate could have shifted into his gargoyle form in time to save himself if he'd fallen over the railing, but I didn't want to find out.

  Slate shot back into the room; ready to finish what Torin started. I jumped between them.

  “All right, that's enough.” I held up my hands and glared at Slate when he started to speak. “You deserved that.”

  “He was the one talking about having a stronger hold on you,” Slate pointed out smugly. “I just let him know what my priorities are.”

  “In a way that was certain to make him furious.” I pushed Slate's solid chest but he didn't budge. “I need you both to stop bickering. This isn't helping.”

  “Then let's end this argument.” Declan got gracefully to his feet. He'd been lounging in an armchair; listlessly watching the other men argue. “You agreed to marry us, Elaria. It's time to follow through on your promise.”

  “I don't want to have our wedding interrupted by a war, Declan.” I threw my hands up and stalked back to where I'd been sitting; on my new enormous bed. “I want it to be a day I can enjoy... four days that I can enjoy.” I reached to my right and took Darc's hand. “I won't be able to relax with this god uprising hanging over us.”

  Darc lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. “If war comes, my fire, we shall face it together. There is nothing to fear.”

  “You're still thinking like a god.” Gage leaned forward out of his casual lounge behind me. “We need to prepare for this.”

  “We are Shining Ones; we are prepared,” Darc said coolly.

  “The simple fact is; we want to marry you.” Banning came around to stand before me. “Do you still want to marry us?”

  “Of course, I do,” I whispered.

  “This delay hurts us.” Leave it to Banning to go right for the jugular. He's a blooder; it's kind of their thing. “It hurts me. I question myself; if I'm still what you want. Slate's arrival and the Rooster's resurrection has strengthened us but they've also wounded us. We need these weddings to heal.”

  “Fuck,” Slate muttered. He knew me well enough to guess my answer to that.

  “All right, Banning; you win,” I said. “We go forward with the weddings.”

  Four of my lovers smiled bright enough to banish the bad feeling that twisted in my gut. But Gage and Slate brought me back down; their grim stares reminding me that this could go very badly.

  It usually did.

  Grammar Giggles

  And just for a little giggle, here are some grammar mistakes found during the editing of this book.

  Correct Line: I set to work on the food. Days of only bread and water had taken their toll.

  Giggle: I set to work on the food. Days of only bread and water had taken their tool.

  Correct Line: Look deeper, sweetheart.

  Giggle: Look deeper, sweatheart. (I laughed so hard at this one)

  Correct Line: He'd taken a significant amount of time out of his busy, zone lord schedule to take me shopping.

  Giggle: He'd taken a significant amount of time out of his busy, zone lord schedule to take me shipping.

  Pronunciation Guide/ Character List

  I'm trying to limit these to characters who appear in more than one book.

  Aaro Devon: Ah-roh, Gargoyle; Slate's brother

  Adam MacLaine: Human client

  Aoide: E-da, Elaria's aunt and siren

  Arnet: Are-net, Knight of Flourite

  Ava: A-vah, Queen of Sapphire

  Banning: Ban-ing, Gheara of the Kansas Gura

  Barret: Bare-it, Commander of Chrysocolla Army

  Binx Devon: Binks, Gargoyle; Slate's brother.

  Bran: Bran, King of Garnet

  Branna: Bra-nah, Duchess of Jade

  Carrick: Care-ick, Knight of Onyx

  Cerberus: Ser-bur-us, Demi-god dog-shifter

  Cyrus: King of Copper

  Danyon: A leader of the Coral Court

  Darcraxis: Dar-cracks-es Ex-God of Darkness, Water, and Earth.

  Declan: Deck-lan, King of Alexandrite

  Diana: Blooder of the Sofia Gura

  Edmond: King of Jet

  Eileen: I-lean, Queen of Copper

  Elaria: Eh-lar-ee-ah, spellsinger

  Finbar: Fin-bar, Duke of Sapphire

  Gage Saeiqa: Gauge Sah-E-kah, griffin

  Galen: Gay-lin, King of Sapphire

  Garret: Gare-it, King of Topaz

  Gerard: Jare-rod, Knight of Onyx

  Giovanni Borgia: Blooder gheara

  Hugh: Hew, Knight of Onyx

  Isandra: I-san-dra, Queen of Diamond

  Jack Armstrong: Loup

&
nbsp; Jago: Gargoyle; Arena Warden

  Jameson: Jay-meh-son, Knight of Fluorite

  Janae: a mermaid

  Jarlath: Jar-leth, King of Diamond

  Jonah Malone: Human gangster

  Kalliope: Kah-lie-oh-pee, Elaria's mother and a siren

  Kean: Key-in, Knight of Howlite

  Lorcan: Lore-can, King of Copper

  Maeve: May-ve, Queen of Peridot