by Ella Fields
“Dade,” I eventually whispered, not sure if he was asleep, if he ever truly slept while in my rooms. “Your uncle is being held somewhere, I assume. You can come back now.”
He said nothing, and after some moments of staring at the ceiling, light and dark throwing each other into the shadows of the moon, I knew it didn’t matter if the threat was contained.
Scythe was right. The king wouldn’t return until he was ready—until he’d spent enough time alone with his anger and shame and whatever else ailed that dark, strange mind.
I had to wonder if maybe he wouldn’t come back until I’d forgiven him. And maybe I could forgive him this, but there were too many other things I could not.
In any case, Scythe’s visit had been more than a mere message about his uncle that anyone could have delivered. It had been a checking in of sorts. Dade was a king, a tyrant but still a king, and this kingdom was now without one and an advisor until he chose to come back.
I had a feeling his uncle and advisor, the same male who could now not be trusted in the king’s eyes, was the one who’d govern in the king’s absence. Which left his most trusted warriors, the same warriors who liked to bed females in a ballroom under many a watchful eye while others gambled and drank themselves stupid.
I might not have known them well, but I knew that Scythe and Fang were ill-equipped to hold this place together for weeks. They’d likely never had to do such a thing before.
Dade had to know that, had to be well aware of that, given all else he was so keenly aware of in this form, yet…
“Dade,” I whispered again, harsher this time.
He sat up, eyes bright in the dark, horns dipped in moonlight.
I was crazy, most certainly. A fool for the way I cared when this would be an opportune time to take advantage of this murderous king. To swoop in and take back some of what he’d stolen from me and so many others. I could alert what remained of our forces—could send word to the human kingdom—if I could somehow leave this room or get a message out of Vordane.
But none of those things were possible, even if I could do them.
He would chase me. Wherever I went, whatever I did, he would know, and he would follow.
Nevertheless, I would continue with this asinine quest. But I was selfish, so I’d take advantage of this king while also feeding my starving heart—this invisible need that would inevitably be my end.
Keeping my eyes on his, I rose and patted the end of the bed. Dade didn’t move, didn’t so much as shift his gaze toward the bed.
Stubborn asshole.
Withholding a groan of frustration, I tore my eyes from his and scrunched the bedding in my fist. Fine. If he wanted to sulk in his beast form upon the floor for the rest of his miserable days, then—
I looked from the bed to him and nearly laughed.
He would break it. Perhaps even if he were careful, the wood would still bow and bend and snap beneath his considerable weight.
Right. I stood and marched to the door. Dade reached it in one leap that shook every piece of furniture in the room. He growled in warning, blocking my exit.
I propped my hands upon my hips and raised my brows.
He sat on his ass and lifted his nose into the air, every inch the spoiled royal brat, even as a wolf.
Sighing, I said, “I thought we might be more comfortable in your rooms.”
He stared, then blinked, then twisted and marched to the door on the opposite side of the room—to the door that I’d never dared open, never dared to even near, before now.
I opened it, knowing what I’d find and not entirely sure that merely closing it would mean it would never be used again, then paused in his dressing room.
A dressing room that was almost the size of the bedroom we’d just left. Reds, grays, blacks, and a small smattering of whites and creams were all I could make out in the dark.
Dade huffed and rounded me, soft fur grazing my leg and hand, waiting for me to lock the door behind me.
Satisfied when it clicked, he strutted into the bedchamber, then paused, blocking my entry as he sniffed the air. I waited in the doorway, the moon bouncing off the pristine dark bedding on the gigantic bed, as Dade sniffed every corner, every item of furniture, then climbed onto his bed.
It groaned but otherwise seemed plenty big enough for him and even myself. Yet I halted, thinking perhaps I should just tell him I was okay and make my way back into my own quarters.
Dade waited, head upright, shadows dancing around his pricked ears and those deadly horns, and I sagged with defeat and relief, crossing a woven carpet and climbing onto the monstrosity to sit beside him.
After staring at him for endless moments, I gave in to the urge to crawl closer and laid my head upon a pillow soaked in his scent. I was tempted to roll my face into it, tempted to rip it to shreds with my hands and teeth while swallowing as much of him into me as I could.
Then he laid his head down below the pillow next to mine, eyes searching, fur rising and falling with each breath.
Beautiful was too small a word to describe him. He was magnificent, terrifyingly intimidating, and so utterly enchanting it captured each trembling breath. Despite every natural instinct I’d been born with screaming not to, I surrendered to the newest one. The one I was still struggling to come to terms with—the instinctual need to be as near as possible. I surrendered, and I curled closer to trace his muzzle, the silken white fur between his eyes.
They closed at my touch, his tongue wetting his lips when I continued over his head to the horns. Stone. Twisted, sharp twins of stone, they were warm and smooth under the pad of my finger.
Wings, tucked into his side, rustled when I dragged my finger down to his soft ears, and I couldn’t keep from smiling. “You want me to touch them too?”
He opened one eye in answer. My smile remained as I settled back against the pillow, thinking it was best we both sleep instead.
A nudge from a cool nose at my arm had me conceding, and those wings flicked out, stretched wide to skim the floor, downy feathers brushing my cheek. “Show off.”
A fire roared to life, lighting the silver stones in the hearth, but I couldn’t drag my tired eyes from the magic beside me long enough to admire the stonework. They drooped, Dade’s breathing evening out, his heartbeat a slow drum near my ear that lulled me to sleep as I nestled closer.
I woke some hours later, sweat misting my forehead, and realized why. A wing had blanketed my entire body. My face was buried in fur, a snout evicting even breaths that stirred the hair at the back of my head.
Smiling, I rolled over to gain some air, noticed it was morning, and happily drifted back to sleep.
Opal
Early evening brought a half-naked male with it.
Chin on his palm, his other hand toying with my hair, Dade watched me with a smile in those lupine blue eyes as I stretched my legs and forced my own to stay open. “I never partook in the festivities,” he said by way of greeting.
It took me three confused blinks to gather what he was referring to, and relief swaddled me so tight that I sat up. He hadn’t been with any of those females that night in the ballroom.
He passed me a glass of water, and I guzzled the lot. “You may do as you wish.”
I tried to crawl off the bed, to set the glass by the books on the nightstand and to leave. He was back. He was back, and now I didn’t know what to do with him.
With myself.
The glass fell to the carpet on the floor, rolling under the bed when an arm looped around my waist and threw me beneath a large, toned body. Dade stared down at me, a fresh cedar scent rolling off him. He must have bathed while I was still asleep. “What I wish for is you.”
Stunned, I gaped at him for searing moments. “You watched them,” I said and immediately wanted to smack myself.
Dade’s brows gathered. “I have at times, yes. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn’t.” He grinned then, strands of blond hair falling over his forehead, cu
rling around those sharp cheekbones. Both dimples deepened, my fingers itching to touch. “You even watched. I saw you.”
He had me there, and I bit my lips against the heat wanting to rise into my face. “I was shocked.”
“You were curious.” His smile drooped into something deadlier, then he lowered until his naked chest was almost pressing into the satin covering mine, and murmured, “But if it bothers you, I won’t look ever again.”
I knew a vow when I heard one, especially given in that deep, rasped tone. “Truly?” I still asked.
My lips parted, breath sailing between when his eyes dipped to them, then down to my chest. They returned to mine fevered, his nostrils flaring. “My lovely swan,” he purred. “My bittersweet nemesis, I’m beginning to fear there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for you.”
I gasped at hearing those words and the way his lower body fell into mine, my legs spreading before I could think better of it. I couldn’t think.
He erased everything rational, and the aggressive shine that deepened his eyes, causing the muscles to flex in the powerful arms on either side of my head, said he knew it. “Princess,” he said, voice hoarse. My hands grabbed his cheeks. My body arched into his. His eyes shuttered as he choked out, “Fuck,” before slamming his mouth over mine.
Fire filled every extremity, my heart an explosion of failed beats as his mouth pillaged and plundered, and it was all I could do not to melt into the feathered mattress beneath us.
A clawed finger skimmed my side, gooseflesh rising in its wake, and then the other. The straps were next, then both hands returned to fist the bedding beside my head as my nightgown fell in strips with each thrusting slide of his lower body over mine. “I liked that nightgown,” I panted when his mouth gave me reprieve, and grazed my neck and chest.
“I’ll buy you twenty more to tear apart,” he muttered to my breasts, breath hot and ragged, and I mewled as his warm mouth closed over a beaded nipple. He sucked, then licked, then moved to the other to give it the same attention. His eyes flashed up at me, watching, learning, knowing. Gently, his teeth scraped over the delicate skin, his question more of a search for confirmation. “Like that?”
“Love that, but come back.” Desperate, I clasped his hair between my fingers, pawing at his back when he gave that luscious mouth to mine, and then pushed at the waistband of his pants.
They left his body with one movement, and I froze at the feel of him, the heat of his smooth skin near boiling. “Need you,” he whispered, husked and nipping at my lips. “Like I’ve never truly needed anything until now.”
I nipped his lips back, then licked at the tiny pearl of blood I’d spilled. “Do it,” I pleaded, too soft for it to be the taunting dare I’d intended.
Dade stiffened over me. His head lifted far enough for his eyes to search mine. I gazed back, my heart thundering against his, my tongue tangled in all the words I wanted and refused to say.
Take me, possess me, reduce me to nothing but yours.
He read the unsaid message loud and clear, a shuddering exhale shaking his broad shoulders and leaving his nose. My fingers dug into his muscular back, my thighs tightened around his waist, and my heart thrashed like the wounded animal it was when he didn’t devour me.
No. Instead, the monster kissed me sweetly, earnestly, as though I were porcelain that would shatter if handled without care.
My eyes smarted with tears, and I closed them, sinking inside my own peril as I kissed him back. A soft caress for every shaken breath, rubbing and melding and incinerating. I lost myself so thoroughly that when he reached between us, a finger pressing and then entering, I released a loud moan.
“Exquisite,” my beast breathed against my mouth, removing that finger just far enough to slide it back in and torture me all over again. He stopped when he reached the barrier, the one I’d thought he would decimate with the same skilled cruelty he was known for, then retreated and moved down my body.
I mewled in protest, but my reaching hands were no match for his eager mouth. He licked my breasts, my stomach, tongue dipping inside my navel, giant hands squeezing my hips, then he paused at my mound.
A heated exhale burst over my slick skin, my legs twisting in the bedding on either side of him as he drank his fill with his eyes. A graveled curse was all the warning I had, his mouth falling over me. He might have been unpracticed in the art of bedding a female, but I knew I wouldn’t know even if I’d had experience in this arena myself.
In long velvet strokes, his tongue ravished me—tasted me from thigh to thigh. They shook so violently, I half feared they’d rattle the bed, my fingers in his hair tugging and pulling. More.
More, more, more…
He answered my call, finding that place he’d been purposely avoiding to give himself time to explore, and a single coaxing drag of his tongue over it was all it took. I shuddered and moaned, my thighs trapping his head between them, and my body curling toward the ceiling as an ocean of pure rapture held me under for blissful moments.
I was released gently, the barely-there kisses Dade pressed to my center violent in comparison, and I pulled him away, desperate for his mouth to return to mine.
He loomed over me, lips glistening and his lashes bobbing low. “Never in my entire existence have I tasted anything quite like you.”
My breathing was still uneven, my heartbeat sharp and bruising, but I wanted more. Wanted it bad enough that I managed to whisper hoarsely, “What do I taste like?”
“The stars and the sun and mine.” He licked his lips. “All fucking mine.” I clasped his chin, pulling him closer, wanting to see for myself—just wanting, needing more. Dade’s hooded eyes widened with a flash, his lips curling. “You surprise me.”
“Shut up and kiss me, savage.”
I swallowed his laugh, then his groan as my tongue swept into his mouth, tasting my own essence. The way it combined with his caused my head to spin.
But he pulled away, breathless and suddenly seeming so unsure of himself that I wondered if he was the same male I’d been stuck with these past weeks. “I will hurt you.”
At that, I smiled, my nose brushing his as my thumbs danced over his stubbled cheeks to coast beneath those long lashes. He released a panted breath, arms trembling, and I whispered, “You’ve already wounded me beyond repair, so why stop now?”
Wrong thing to say.
The king peeled away, lust battling with something I couldn’t name in his eyes.
Shocked, I sat up, scrambling for him and hating myself for it but too afraid he’d back out of an agreement I’d thought we’d already made. “Wait.” He stood, his perfect backside stealing my attention, the muscular thighs collecting shadows and starlight as my panic rose higher.
His order was low, barely more than a grumble. “You may return to your rooms.”
“Excuse me?” Unbelievable. Annoyance trampled panic. A wild noise nearly exploded, but I swallowed it. “I will not be returning anywhere,” I said, shifting back over the bed and crossing my arms and legs.
Dade halted by the chest of drawers, his entire frame stilling. “That wasn’t a request. It was an order.”
“Come and punish me then, for I refuse to obey.”
Peering at me over his shoulder, the animal that prowled beneath his skin shone back at me through his eyes. “Careful, swan.” A warning wrapped in two deceptively soft words.
“Or what?” I taunted, proud that I’d kept my voice steady when he slowly turned, and my insides quaked. “You’ve made a mess between my legs. Prior to that, you made me a promise you haven’t kept.”
“Did I now?” he mocked, then took two large, calculatingly slow steps to the edge of the bed.
My eyes dragged over his terrifying yet undoubtedly impressive manhood, my stomach dissolving into butterfly-flooded lava. They roamed over the sharp definition of his hips and abdomen, then lifted to the wings that flared in shadow behind his back and arced over the walls to block out the moonlight.
As if my gaze were a feathered touch, he groaned.
Finally, I met his eyes. I met them, and I dragged my teeth over my bottom lip before purring, “It sure seemed that way to me.”
His head tilted, and then it was his turn. His gaze was utterly inhuman, growing wilder as it crawled between my legs, swayed over my breasts, and then shifted to my face when I threw myself back over his bed and tangled my hands within my already tangled hair. “Honest answer?”
The bed dipped with his weight. Fingers curled around my ankle before slowly moving up, up, up, and stopping at my thigh. “Always,” he said, strained.
The admission burned, my throat and my tongue and my lips. “I don’t think I could leave even if you really wanted me to.”
He froze. Then he was back, above me and staring down at me, so fast that I squeaked as he said roughly, “You torment me.”
“So,” I said to that addictive mouth. “Torment me back.” My legs wound around his back, feet pressing him closer.
Another groan. “You will regret it.” Yet he was still aligning himself, prepared to strike and kill as soon as he’d been given the go-ahead. “We both know you will.”
I wouldn’t lie to him, not like this, but I found myself wanting to when he looked at me like that. As though I were a blade he adored yet would continuously puncture himself in the chest with.
That was impossible. The blood king had no heart, no feelings outside of his own, but maybe, judging by the fear flickering on the surface of those depthless, stormy eyes, he had a soul.
A soul I would destroy.
Gently, I clasped my hand over his cheek, brought his forehead to mine, and kissed his nose as tears stung my closing eyes. “Maybe I will, or maybe…” I kissed his mouth, his sharp exhale burning over my lips. “Maybe it will be the one and only thing I could never regret.”
His arm slid under my shoulders, his hand trapping my face to his as he fused our mouths, and his body crashed into mine with intense precision, erasing my maidenhead and my faulty plans.
Dade swallowed my scream, fingers at my hairline smoothing sweaty strands, his cock lodged inside me and so hard, so huge, that I feared I’d burst—rupture at every seam.