by T. S. Ryder
She only hoped that was what he was going to point out when he opened his mouth.
“You were abandoned as a child?”
Was that pity she heard in his voice? All warmth disappeared. She didn’t care if he was the father of her child. She didn’t care about him being a mark or not. She was not going to be pitied. Yanking her hand from his, she glared at him with everything she could muster.
“Vampires still have a trial by combat, don’t they?”
The king’s eyes widened. “Technically, I suppose.”
Belinda folded her arms as best she could, what with one hand being handcuffed to the bed frame. “Then I want that. I don’t care about the whole citizen exchange thing. I want to fight for my freedom.”
“There’s a reason why that was done away with.” Carlos’ eyes were narrowed at this point. “Trial by combat is a fight to the death. And even if it weren’t, in your condition, don’t you think that it would be better to—”
“No, I don’t.” Her hand drifted to her stomach but she snatched it back quickly. Two thoughts went through her mind.
One was that a clean death in combat was better than the lingering death The Guild would give her for her failure. So, what if she was so successful in her assignments before this? They’d want to make a lesson out of her. If Carlos handed her over to the States, The Guild was going to get her. And then she’d be dead, baby or no baby. He did say he wasn’t going to release her until after she had given birth . . . but that was a whole eight months away and chances were that the human government would demand the return of their citizen.
And the second thought was that this gave her a better fighting chance. Carlos clearly cared about her pregnancy. He wouldn’t want her to be killed. And so, whoever he chose to fight her would have that handicap to deal with.
She smirked at him. “I can handle any vampire you throw at me.”
***
Any vampire? Carlos stared at her. When she first brought up the trial by combat, he was certain this was her attempt to complete her mission to kill him. But it seemed like she didn’t know. Well, he wasn’t going to tell her. The vampire she was on trial for attempting to harm was him. He was the judge.
He would be the one that she was fighting.
“It is your right, I suppose,” he said reluctantly. “Trial by combat is outdated, but it’s still codified in law . . . ”
“Good.” Belinda’s smirk turned into an all-out grin. “Select your champion, then. I’ve got things I want to do.”
***
After his talk with Belinda, Carlos discussed the matter with Pan. He had suggested that perhaps it was best to go through with it all. She was clearly counting on her pregnancy to protect her, and if he got her on the ropes, she’d change her mind. Then, the fact that she had requested a trial by vampire law would mean he wouldn’t have to hand her over to the humans, and the assassination attempt and her pregnancy could be kept a secret.
He could only imagine how many of his enemies would go after her and his child if they knew about them.
The fight would take place in his personal gym. The equipment was all cleared out, leaving it empty save for a table that had an array of silver-iron stakes on it. Weapons they would both need to go after.
When the guards brought Belinda in, her eyes widened at the sight of him. He wished it could be because he was bare-chested and she was awed by the contours of his chest and abs. More likely she realized that this was her chance to finally kill him. Carlos had to work to prevent his hands from shaking. This wasn’t what he wanted. But what he wanted hardly mattered, did it?
“What are you doing here?” Belinda squeaked.
“This is your trial. And I’m your judge.”
The guards unlocked her handcuffs and stepped outside. They’d remain there for five hours – or until one of them won.
Belinda glanced back warily, then focused on him again. “So . . . I’m fighting you.”
“Yes.”
She stood still for a moment, staring at him. Then she darted across the room, making a beeline for the stakes. Carlos hadn’t intended to allow her to get near them, but he had been so surprised by her burst of speed that she reached them before he did. She snatched two up and twirled them expertly. She whirled back and punched him straight in the face.
Carlos stumbled back, blinking at her strength. She was very muscular, but it still took him by surprise. It must have taken her by surprise, too, because her next blow was slow in coming. He was able to easily block it and lift her into the air. He spun her away from the table and then pushed her deeper into the center of the room, making sure to keep spinning her. She stumbled, but righted herself and took a deep breath.
“Toying with me, are you?” Her eyes narrowed as she charged him again.
Carlos grabbed her wrist, twisted the stake from her hand and flung it aside before sending her on her way again. As she spun on her heel to face him again, he darted in close. He gripped her other wrist, the stake pointed towards him, and wrapped his free arm around her waist. She made a soft “oh” and actually relaxed into him. It took him by surprise enough that his grip on her loosened.
Something that cost him. She wrenched her hand free and punched him in the face again, then kneed him between the legs. Carlos groaned as he fell to one knee. She stood over him, stake risen high, fire in her eyes.
“Stop being such a coward and fight, damn you!” Bits of spit flew from her mouth. “This is a trial by combat, not you dancing around with that dumb expression on your face as though you’re afraid to hurt me. You’re a vampire! Show a little of that bloodlust you’re famous for. Fight!”
She brought the stake down. He grabbed her wrist again, but this time instead of moving the blow aside, he brought it down. She jerked but he held tight, bringing the stake right to his heart. The sharp point pressed into his skin. His heart hammered.
This was a bad idea.
She was going to kill him.
And yet her eyes were wide, fearful. She opened her mouth, closed it and opened it again. “What are you doing?”
“I’m not going to hurt you. I won’t. You are carrying my child. And even if you weren’t, I wouldn’t.” The words tasted thick on his tongue – like he wasn’t quite certain what to do with them. It had been a long, long time since anybody had ever made him feel this vulnerable. If Daye had sent Belinda, then she had made a good choice. “I . . . am drawn to you in a way I have never known before. And I’ve had many lovers. Some just one night, others hundreds of years. None of them have made me feel the way you do.”
Belinda shook her head rapidly. What she was denying, he didn’t know. “If I don’t kill you, the guild will send people after me. I failed, and worse than that, I slept with my mark and I got pregnant. I’ve broken every rule and they’ll kill me for it. But it won’t be quick. It’ll be long and painful, and even if I survive long enough to give birth, they’ll take my child. They’ll claim it as a replacement for me and make it live the life they made me live.”
He knew that her fear of The Guild was too entrenched to be banished by his words. No matter how well he could protect her, she had no reason to believe him. He took a deep breath. “You’d better kill me, then.”
Her hand trembled. She lifted the stake a little higher – then threw it away. Tears started to course down her cheeks and she collapsed next to him, shaking her head. Her fists pounded his chest without any real enthusiasm.
“What did you do to me?” she demanded. “What vampire spell did you cast on me? I never cared about anybody but me and I liked it that way. What did you do to me?”
Carlos let her keep beating him, her blows like gentle taps more than anything else. She slumped into him and he put his arms around her. His heart soared at what she was saying, even though he tried to stop himself. She lifted her face to his and he responded on instinct. Their tongues clashed as they kissed, each fighting for dominance. Belinda’s fingers wrapped into his shirt and he held her close.
Moving fluidly, Carlos stood, picking her up with him and heading for the door. The guards outside looked startled, but he didn’t care as he carried his lover toward his room.
Chapter Five
There was a thrill of release as Carlos carried her through the hallway. Belinda kissed him again and again, hardly daring to believe that this wasn’t a dream. If it was, she never wanted to be woken up. She enjoyed the sensation of her breasts squashed up against Carlos’ chest. Like the night they had met. He chuckled as she delved into his neck and scraped her teeth along his collarbone the way he had said he liked.
A door slammed behind them, and within a few moments, he laid her down on a soft bed. She glanced around, eager to see what his bedroom was like.
It wasn’t sparse, but neither was it crowded. The bed, which seemed slightly larger than king-sized, sat squarely in the center of the room. The posts were made from branches with their bark scraped off until they were polished to a shine. A few of them ended in small lights, which she imagined would light the bed quite well once the forest-green velvet curtains were pulled around it. There were several steel-colored pillows on it and the bedspread was a worn patchwork quilt that didn’t look like it belonged at all.
Belinda ran her fingers over it. “A gift from a lover?”
“Not really. It was from Pan. At the time we were . . . ” Carlos frowned. “I suppose you could say we were in a queen’s harem.”
She couldn’t imagine a man with a presence like that of Carlos being content with being part of a harem. Having one, yes, but being in one?
“We were the shared lovers of the queen. Sometimes we both pleased her together. This was, oh, two thousand years ago?” Carlos frowned. He cupped her breast absently and shrugged. “Don’t quite remember. It was a long time ago, though. It was never a sexual relationship between him and me, but when I decided that it wasn’t the life for me, I offered him a job. He accepted and he’s been my most trusted friend and servant since.”
Belinda nodded, though she knew how she must look. Eyes like saucers, mouth in a perfect ‘o.’ Carlos focused on her again and smirked.
“Jealous?”
“Um . . . ” She considered her feelings for a moment. “I don’t really think so. You left that queen, right? So I don’t need to be jealous. You’re not going to ask me to have anybody else join us, though, are you? I’m not into group sex. Like at all. I tested it out a few times, and it’s just . . . yuck.”
Carlos laughed and shook his head. “I would never ask you to do something that you weren’t comfortable with. And I prefer one-on-one, too. It’s more intimate that way.”
Intimate. Belinda wasn’t sure she had ever had real intimacy. Sex, yes, but never the emotional connection between two people she read about in romance novels — not that she read romance novels.
He stroked her hair from her face, neck bent as he gazed down at her. There was something so intense in his eyes that she couldn’t stop herself from shivering. A soft, tender kiss had her moaning for more, but he pulled back again.
“I will allow no harm to come to you, Belinda. I promise.”
The assurance was more than she had ever gotten in her life before that moment. Tears welled in her eyes and she looked away at once, unwilling to let him see. “Shut up already and make this worth it.”
“Can’t have a real moment, huh?”
Belinda rolled her eyes at that, but it wasn’t as though they needed to say anything else. Carlos’ mouth caught hers, hungry and demanding. The warmth that had filled her chest as he talked didn’t fade. It intensified. It was joined by a fire in her core, a twisting feeling that made her gasp. Her breasts tingled and seemed to swell, nipples hardening. Carlos found one through her clothing and rose a brow at her.
“I like having them played with, okay?”
“Of course.” Carlos’ expression softened as he gazed at her. One of his hands cupped her face and his thumb stroked her cheek. Belinda shivered. This was intimacy. “We have to be open with each other. If there is something you like or don’t like, just let me know.”
Belinda lifted one side of his hips, pitching him over onto his back. She grasped both of his hands and pinned them to the mattress behind him and narrowed her eyes. “Talking kills the mood.”
***
He rubbed his nose against her cheek in a way that was more intimate than their bodies pressed together. “You’re allowed to be soft, you know.”
“Maybe.” Her voice trembled. “But I want you hard.”
To prove her point, she slid a hand between their bodies and started to massage him through his clothing. With a moan, her king rolled off her. He thrust his hips forward, pinning her hand against her body and grinned at her.
“I’m trying to be romantic here. You can calm down a little. We’re in no rush.”
Belinda wanted to say that she was, but she inhaled sharply and allowed herself to relax. She realized that everything she had done with the conversation, from bringing up old lovers and talking about group sex then everything else, it was all to distract herself from what had happened. She pushed closer into Carlos’ arms and hid her face in his chest.
Carlos stroked her hair softly. “If you’re not ready, we can just lay here.”
Tears burned Belinda’s eyes. Why did he have to be so perfect? She wasn’t used to this. Being shown such gentleness and kindness. And was that why she had chosen not to kill him? She shuddered as she remembered the stake in her hand, the weight of it pressed to his chest.
Her heart clenched and she buried herself deeper into his side. “Did you know I wouldn’t do it?”
“No.”
She raised her head, her lip trembling. Why did she have to be so emotional? His face blurred, and his thumb caressed her cheekbone again. “Then why did you do that?”
“Because I knew I couldn’t hurt you.”
Belinda sniffed. She shifted herself again so she straddled him, rolling her hips gently as she gazed down at him. There was something in his eyes that she had never seen before, and she wasn’t entirely certain how to handle it. Was that love?
No. Of course, it wasn’t. They barely knew each other.
And yet it was the most tender look she had ever seen.
“I want you,” she whispered. “I want you inside of me. Filling me.”
Carlos’ hand drifted over her breasts again. “Soft and sweet or like an animal?”
Both sounded good. “Somewhere in the middle.”
Carlos nodded. “Okay, then. That sounds like a plan. I suppose we can’t be too rough anyway.”
His hand moved to her stomach. At first, there was a pang of disappointment that they wouldn’t be able to resume their Olympics from their first night together. But then, it reminded her that she had a baby growing inside of her. The warmth in her chest grew until it was like there was a cat purring inside of her.
“Not too gentle, either,” she whispered.
Before Carlos could speak, she flung herself down on him, kissing him hard. She ended it with a nip to his lower lip, then ran her hands down the smooth contours of his chest, the way she’s been wanting since he had stepped into the room they’d had their fight in. She tugged his waistband down and Carlos moved her up a little, then curled around her and stripped off his pants.
Then he grasped either side of her hideous blue scrubs and ripped them in half. The sensation of the cloth tearing off her skin left Belinda giggling breathlessly. Carlos tossed her clothes aside and sat up, holding her with one arm. He latched onto one breast and sucked eagerly while sliding his free hand between her legs. She was so sensitive that it didn’t take long for her to be slick and ready for him. By then he’d sucked both nipples, leaving them stiff, swollen, and aching for more. His hips thrust upwards steadily. The friction between their bodies soon left him hard and Belinda panted as she fought her rising arousal.
“I need to do something for you,” she pleaded. “I hate not reciprocating.”
>
Carlos sucked on her left breast again. “No. You hate not being in control. But right now, I’m in control. You do everything for me and it’s my turn to show you just how much I love it.”
Belinda’s head fell back with a groan. Even though she straddled him, her body over his, he was right. At that moment, he was in total and utter control. And she loved it. So much so that it frightened her . . . but when he nudged inside of her, thick and ready, she forgot about everything.
“Is that okay?” her king breathed as he began to move.
All the fight went out of her. In an instant, she knew that she didn’t have to fight him for control. That giving over wasn’t a defeat. That trusting him wasn’t a weakness. She wasn’t really aware of herself moving, rolling to allow him on top. But then he was over her, resting himself on his elbows to avoid crushing her. He stared into his eyes as he moved steadily, the tightness inside of her nothing compared to the connection between them that she could almost taste.
Her back bowed. Galaxies exploded overhead and she let out a cry of delight.
***
Humans were sensuous creatures. Nobody could deny that (except, perhaps, humans themselves). Still, none of them could compare to his lover. Belinda was not only sensuous: she was soft in all the right ways, yet hard in others. A woman who didn’t give up control. Yet, in that minute, she did. She gave him everything she had, holding nothing back. As a vampire, he had extreme control, but it was difficult to hold back as she screamed his name.
It wasn’t until he was certain that she was orgasming, feeling her clench around him as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, that he allowed himself to finish. A wave of dark washed over his vision as he thrust wildly, needing to fill her but also desperately not wanting to hurt her. Her nails dug into his shoulders and her teeth clenched onto his shoulder. He felt her canines break his skin and he couldn’t stop himself from nipping at her throat, his own fangs breaking the surface. The taste of her blood was so sweet and intoxicating that he roared with pleasure, his orgasm hitting him harder than it had even during their first time together.