Rogue Within

by Mima

  She rested her head against him, just above the waterline. What was she saying? After the night he’d had… But she knew. She knew what was coming and she wanted to warn him. “Just take me. Make me glow.”

  Their hips worked together, flowing up and following, sinking in tandem, rocking in tightly. For the first precious moments, it was incredible. But the need spun up. Again, she could see he wanted it to go on and on, and she wanted it to end. Driving in tighter, faster, with shorter movements, she quickly grew out of breath from following his dodges, from chasing the way he gave beneath her drives. Always his brown gaze was there, staring her down.

  “Stop it, Donte! I want to finish!” Her hands twisted beneath his iron grip.

  “Behold, it’s not what I want.”

  “The Queen is waiting—”

  “Please,” he scoffed. “Princess, you have a severe case of dominance, and unfortunately, your mate is not submissive.”

  “That’s not true. All my partners had a great deal of freedom. They took me in many different ways.” She licked at his skin, more and more frantic at the winding, binding, twisting desire inside.

  “I’m your mate, the last man you’ll ever fuck, and this is the last time you’ll ever bring up touching other men while we’re having sex.” He picked her up and took her off him, the water a shock against her tingling folds. He set her down next to him.

  By the time she found her footing, he was out of the pool. “Donte?”

  He dried himself off at the mageheat. There were no attendants, she’d dismissed them even from waiting in the hall. She struggled over to the stairs and flailed out. “This is important, Donte.” She strode over to him, reaching for his thick erection with hungry fingertips.

  He firmly swept her hands aside, spun her and snapped a towel around her torso, binding her arms along her sides. “I’ll be back in your room directly from seeing the Queen. Wait for me there.” He stood behind her, all growling menace.

  “I cannot. I’m Chatelaine. There are a thousand duties to be done on a normal day, and this is my wedding, being thrown together on a moment’s notice.”

  “I’m your mate. Wait for the fuck you need, naked on your bed.” His whisper growled into her ear, a warm rumble that sank straight to her throbbing belly.

  “You could be with her for hours. I have arrangements to make, and I must follow up on what happened at the apartments.” She jerked in his hold. “I won’t be ordered like some smoothskin.”

  He nipped at her neck. “Stop struggling.”

  She froze, breath heaving, breasts aching from being squashed in the tight towel, and liking it.

  “I won’t be ordered either, Moriko. No, you do not have my blessing to enjoy sex without me because I will not have you so vulnerable with anyone else. I have lit the wasp’s nest on fire, and there is no way you can move about the compound without me until it is completely cleared and sealed.” He licked up her neck and she shivered.

  His foot settled between hers and one flick knocked hers wider while his grip around her chest held her balance. “You’re afraid. You’re literally afraid of needing sex so much you’ll disappoint me.”

  She gasped. “Can you read minds?”

  “Not at the moment, no.”

  What did that mean? He could at other times? Really?

  His hand snaked down the front of the tight towel and gripped her thigh. “We’ll find a way to help you. But for now, I’m punishing you.”

  She gasped. “You big old muck pile. I just worked through the night to help you and—” Another gasp rang out when his hand rose right up under the edge of the towel and sank inside her valley.

  His huge, blunt finger fished around inside her hood, identifying her clit. “Muck pile? Really?” Then he rubbed right across the engorged pearl.

  She sagged, already sliding into the moment. “Please,” she whispered.

  “Yeah,” he whispered back. His mouth took almost the whole side of her throat, and his finger rolled back across her clit. Forward, to the side, swirling, and then he found it. The perfect place. His finger settled in tight with a hard, flickering rub. Lips pulling and gliding along the sensitive sinews in her neck, his tongue lapped with long sweeps, his teeth grazing just enough to sting. The heat there sank to mingle with the rising spirals from her core.

  “Yeah, Moriko. Come on, sweet.”

  The orgasm took her up onto her toes, her body jerking, unable to arch in the towel. He rubbed into the exploding fire and another pulse took her, shaking her so hard her knees gave out. He held her against him without shifting his stance. When his finger slid from her lower lips, her clit sizzled, ready for more.

  He painted her mouth with her own juice. “Don’t lick this off. When I return from the Queen, I’ll do it. And I won’t stop there.”

  It was so good to lean on him and so unfair. The whole world was leaning on him, even while they turned their backs. Fighting the towel, she turned to face him, craning her neck back to look up at him. His face still held the tight look of a man on the sexual edge, but she knew he wouldn’t fuck her. Mental notation: do not bring up serious things during sex with Donte. He took it as manipulation.

  “I need to talk to Avis before I go into seclusion,” she said wryly. “May I call an attendant?”

  “I’ll do it.” He dressed in his leather pants again and went out.

  She dried her hair, combing it into place carefully. By the time she shrugged into her robe, he was back with Avis. The young woman had been right by her side the entire night and looked distinctly frazzled. However, she followed Donte in without cringing. Donte shrugged into his vest and put his boots on.

  “Report from the Guild?”

  “The Queen has sent three more messages demanding to see you, My Lord. I have the main hall decorations and the feast meal underway, and six seamstresses are waiting for you in the south receiving room, Moriko. The guards have arrested five and are holding about a dozen more from last night’s raid. There is anger at the lack of coordination and planning, but people widely defend you saying any planning would have placed the raid at risk.”

  “Raid?” Moriko wondered at how they’d attributed purpose to a pain-soaked, desperate fumble. “And the identities of the dead?” She’d learned three of them last night, but the rest hadn’t been removed before Donte left.

  Avis rattled them off.

  Of the ten dead, she personally knew three of them. True, she was the Chatelaine and knew more people than most, but it still shocked her to learn that those three people, all of whom had had families, had turned their back on the Sacred Couple.

  “Where are the children?”

  “All the young ones have been placed with other Guild families for the moment. The older ones are staying at the Temple. The people have been escorted in to get some belongings, but all the families have been relocated to temporary housing in the south garden or the outer bailey until the apartments can finish being cleaned and searched.” Her posture of formal reporting sagged, her hands easing out of their sleeves. “My parents are staying in my room. I hope that’s alright.”

  Moriko moved up to Avis and hugged her. The slender body hugged back hard. “That is just fine, Avis.” She had forgotten Avis’ parents lived in that building.

  “The Queen is organizing a fealty event for the coming hour.”

  She jerked back from Avis’ braided head, staring into her blue eyes. “In an hour! But Donte has been in battle all night!”

  “She has kept the entrances sealed since you alerted the Temple last night. A restless crowd has gathered at all of the gates to the Royal compound and also is forming at the Main Gate and Guild Gate. They are demanding to see the Queen and the others want to leave the Compound.”

  Donte, now booted, walked up. “The darkmages will be trying to flee. It’s a good sign we’ve actually sealed off all their secret travel routes.”

  Avis sidled away from him ever so slightly. “What are our next steps, Moriko?”r />
  “You’ve done a fabulous job, Avis. Thank you for your help, last night and in this last break. Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to help this morning. Donte feels I am now a target.”

  “You are,” he snapped grumpily.

  “I need you to go to the Royal Temple and ask Mother Shara if she’ll be the guide at my wedding. Then I need you to go to Ravi and tell her I’m unable to work.” Ravi was one of the two names she’d given the Queen as a replacement. She was one of Moriko’s top echelon of managers, in charge of all food stuffs for people and animals. “She’ll help you think of anything you’ve missed.” Moriko squeezed Avis’ hands.

  “I’ll do that. And I just wanted to say…”

  “Yes?”

  “The dawn had just arrived when I came in. So I happened to notice it was peach. From one side to the other.” The woman blushed, turning her face from Donte. “I’ll see you soon.” She hurried away.

  Donte rumbled, “I’ll escort you to your room.”

  “To the seamstresses, please.”

  He remained unmoved. “I liked your dress last night.”

  She looked at the crumpled confection in the corner. “It wouldn’t do to wear it twice in a row, and Royal wedding dresses are usually blue.” Then there was the fact she wanted the dress burned. It would forever make her ache for Bear, and think of the pain darkmages had spread among her people.

  “I think you’d look nice in green.”

  She smiled at him, again surprised to have him standing beside her, so strange and so real. “I think I could manage green.” Her man.

  “What did it mean, about the sunrise?”

  Clamping her lips firmly between her teeth to keep from laughing, she managed to say, “Babies. Lots of babies.”

  He scowled. “Swear to me you are under an infertility spell, Moriko.”

  She nodded. “I do so swear. No babies during war for us.”

  He sighed and it was with such heartfelt relief it touched her. He wouldn’t see it that way, but he was a protector through and through.

  “If I take you to the dressmakers, you must stay there until I come for you.”

  “That won’t be a problem.” Seamstresses always wanted more time with you than you were willing to give. “Will you set a guard at the door?”

  “Yes, but I’ll trap you in as well.”

  “These traps of yours…” she sucked in a large breath. “They wouldn’t make a person explode, would they?”

  “Some can. Yes, one did last night.” He looked down at her, arms relaxed at his side. “That was the powerful darkmage. While he’d gotten me down with a poison attack, he stunned me in the back with an acid strike, and tried to run. But I’d sensed his power and put up a lethal trap after I entered.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  “Spiritmages excel at traps and locks.” He winked. “Even though I’m also seriously good with keys.”

  She stared at him, surprised at his teasing, but her smile couldn’t be brought under control. In sexual slang, a key was a penis, and a lock was a woman’s vagina. “I’m the Chatelaine. No key is a mystery to me.”

  “Well, then between us, we’ll manage to open up an awful lot of secrets.” He held out his hand. “Take me to your dressmakers, tasty pie.”

  Giving up the fight, she laughed out loud, threading her hand into his big paw. The princess led the fierce Beast through the castle.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Despite the Temple’s objections, the Queen wanted him to kill people before his marriage. According to her, every single person within the compound was accounted for and they all paraded before him. The Queen sat on the balcony Moriko had shown him yesterday, surrounded by lots of people in red. He stood at the far end on the little stage, surrounded by a dozen growling, uneasy martens. Dom was a black blot in the corner. Surprisingly, Wolf was with him.

  They started with the army. There were eight kills among them. Then there came more of the Guild he’d stalked through last night. Seven more were there. Then he saw Royals who had for some reason avoided him. Since the behavior of people clearly indicated they felt guilty, many more were taken away to be questioned.

  First the people entered in a line. He killed who needed to be killed, and again, without Bear’s help, it wasn’t as efficient. Or as perfect. Bear throbbed inside him, like an open wound sucking at his energy. Even touching Moriko hadn’t roused him and though he’d known it wouldn’t, it had disappointed him all the same.

  After the people passed by him, they knelt before the balcony, pledging themselves to the Queen. They left and the next batch would be brought in. Every time he killed, there was a chance the guards or the martens would go for him, so he’d always spin back out, assessing. But they managed to control their bloodlust for him, even during the time where there had been three in one group. As he leaped for the third darkmage, the only thing that kept him from being grabbed was the fact the man started flinging green darkcraft bolts. Made it obvious Donte hadn’t gone berserk then.

  After it was all finished, a servant brought him water to wash his hands in a large brass bowl. Most necks had broken cleanly with little effort, so there wasn’t much blood. The water shivered with the force of the man’s trembling. Scanning and finding Dom standing at the back wall, he relaxed at the man’s distance. Wolf appeared to have gone. The Queen liked his tattoos very much and fed him some bread and cheese. But he was still hungry. It was such a familiar state he was surprised to be uncomfortable with it. Two months as Dom’s prisoner had made him soft. He declined to change his clothes mostly because he didn’t have any others.

  It made him nervous not to go to Moriko. Darkmages could have hidden in the intricate compound to avoid him. He had to trust his trap would keep her safe while she was locked in with the dressmakers. The parading and the killing went on for a long time.

  Finally, the Queen stood and led him into the large open-air bailey, announcing the start of the wedding. He tried to tell her about the trap, but she just waved her painted nails. The space was now covered in swaths of winter blue. There were decorative puffs on the walls, rugs on the flagstones, even pale blue flowers down the center of all the long tables. Then they led him up to the dais, where Moriko’s parents stood. He nodded to them and stood alone on the far end of the platform opposite them.

  Music played, lilting and nice, soothing. Bear would have liked the low reed pipes. An older woman came onto the stage, her dark hair salted with white and a cream shawl wrapped cleverly around her body. She smelled amazing. Like meat, sex, and napping in the shade of a summer tree. She smiled at him, talked about the Sacred Couple, Skyfather and Earthmother, and how they shared the elements in eternal balance. He listened hard to that, then tuned out again when long talky speeches about the Royal family started.

  There was more music, this time with harps, and Donte adjusted his stance to that of waiting-through-torture since he hadn’t expected this. There was a speech from her father, a speech from the Queen about him, mentioning her eternal thanks for his effort and how it was not a time of fear and sorrow over those lost but victory and celebration over enemies defeated. He approved. There was more music, of the clattery jumpy kind from last night, and then trumpets blared from the high walls around them, almost making him jump.

  Moriko appeared at the far end of the packed courtyard. Having all eyes on her brought a sick feeling in his stomach. The energized darkspell slithered eagerly, tasting his fear. If her dress yesterday had been light and puffy, this one was sleek. The soft moss color shone as if wet, and it clung to her strong shoulders, molded over her unbound breasts, skimmed her waist then flowed over the flare of her belly and hips, before pooling at her feet, dragging behind her like a tear.

  A crown of the same color flowers sat on her perfectly smooth hair shining chestnut in the sun, and a belt of them rode her hips. Her arms were bare and she held a bundle of blue flowers to match those on the tables. But as soon as he fo
cused on her gripping them, his blood froze.

  He tried to seek her gaze, but she was smiling out into the cheering crowd. Her eyes were stroked with black eyeliner making them even more exotically slanted, and her lips were stained deep red. He preferred them plain, when the shade matched his cock. But as she continued to ignore him for the adoring, clapping crowd, he focused back on her hands. His heart squeezed and his breath hitched. It hadn’t been a trick of shadow.

  She had tattooed her wrist to match his marks of shame.

  Without knowing what they meant, she’d stained herself in solidarity. His furious gaze flew to Dom. The man still held up the back wall, arms crossed. If he’d put one hand on Moriko, he would kill him first, after he killed Thad. Had Proteus held her down while Mac worked his vicious mallet? He caught the growl that left him and noticed he’d moved to the edge of the stage.

  The music had reached a feverish tempo and it wasn’t doing anything to help his agitation. Barely, he held to the platform. Did they tell her what it meant? She knew he was rogue, but didn’t truly understand what he’d lost. To her, it would never matter much to be cut off from truxet. Had a bodymage dulled her pain? Piss and Puke, had she cried, lost in the agony he’d known?

  The Priestess touched his arm and he leaped up and back, crouching on the stage. Holding her smile, she gestured to the crowd. “Most haven’t noticed your disturbance but you should stand and stop growling.” Misunderstanding his agitation, she nodded to him happily. “She loves you very much. I can see it from here. Soon she’ll be yours.”

  She was already his. She’d been his when he’d found the pulse of her light from the seeking, before he knew her name, before he knew her face or smell, before he knew how bold her soul truly was. She’d reached the Queen, on another higher platform off to his right. Moriko curtsied low and the Queen stood to make another speech over her folded form.

  “Calm now, my son. Calm from the earth. There is only acceptance.” The Priestess’ words struck him.

  Over and over since his escape, he kept forgetting to use his craft. It was like they’d trained him not to even try. In the fortress, the six elements had been muzzled. Even his Bear had been locked from him before he’d taken ahold of their spell. But he was out now. He immediately summoned his earthcraft, settling his body into an easy stance.