Devil Inside

by S. A. Price

  “Congratulations, goddess in training.”

  “What now?” Scur asked.

  “We wait for our next task, I guess,” Khalid said and smiled at her when she turned her head to look at them. “I told you you’d know.”

  “Hold on. That’s not an amethyst,” Abaxley said.

  She turned and dropped the stone and it broke in half, revealing a purple glimmer. She bent and picked it up, pulling the stone out. “Amethyst.”

  The manticore inclined his head. “That which is hidden holds the most value.”

  “And again,” Scur said, “what now? Alyx got the stone, now what are we supposed to do with it?”

  “Enjoy the fruits of your labor,” the manticore said.

  Alyx bowed softly. “Thank you, Thermopoli.”

  The manticore nodded and faded to nothing, leaving them alone in the space. She felt the magic starting to close off. “We need to go. I’m thinking home, and some quality time.”

  “And a shower,” Eli said. “I really, really want an actual shower.”

  “First we need to get out of here,” Khalid said, taking her hand and leading her back the way they came, Scur, Bax, and Eli following. That’s when she noticed the coyote loping up the steps in front of them, she hadn’t realized he’d come down with them.

  “Think we’ll be able to get a hold of Hendrix once we’re topside?” Scur asked. “I’m hoping Nihar will be around so we can make his head explode with what just happened.”

  She laughed. “Sadistic,” she said. “But I agree. Let’s go home, and let’s celebrate.”

  12

  Alyx hung up the phone and sighed. the past two hours had been chocked full of conversations with Gogo, Nihar, even Aziz and Kaelyn. It was exhausting, and giving Verity the info was the last thing she needed to do. Now that they were home she was focused on the most important thing, getting some R and R.

  On the way home they had talked, and Khalid and Bax had decided they needed some time on the boat, and they were making plans with it now. She had said she wanted Bali, and they were going to make it happen.

  But now, now she had unfinished business with her berserker. She slipped her clothing off and wrapped herself in a sheer robe and left the room, walking toward where she knew Scur would be.

  She slipped from the Sithen, her feet light on the cobblestone of the back patio, and then on the mosses and lichens that lived on the ground of the surrounding forest. Scur had a penchant for hanging out in what she called the Moss Garden in a copse of trees just west of the patio. The day was warm, scented of jasmine and peaches as she made her way into the small place Scur liked to hangout.

  She found him lying on the ground, arms behind his head. “Strip,” she said as he noticed her, and dropped the sheer covering.

  A slow, seductive grin spread across his lips, but he didn’t move. “Look at that. You say the word strip and your clothes fall off. Damn nice talent you have there, minx. How about you come over here so I can get a better look?”

  “I wasn’t wearing any clothes. That bit of gossamer just made sure I didn’t freak out Puziel if he saw me.” She sauntered over to him. “Come on, consort...” she teased, though it was something she wanted to talk to him about. “Get those pants off.”

  “Take them off me,” he said, brow raised. “I have this thing about you doing anything while you’re naked, but my favorite is taking my clothes off.” This time his brows bobbed, his smile growing. “I believe you owe me. Although, not sure how I feel about this consort thing. Is that what you want from me?”

  She went to her knees next to him, motioning for him to stand up. “I think that is what you are, regardless of what I want. Though I kinda like it.” She reached for the button of his fatigues and then pulled the buttons open and slipped her hand inside. “You are my first guard. And you have said I was your end game, right? If we were not in this situation, it would just be me and you, right?”

  He hissed a breath through his teeth and pushed his pants down his hips. He didn’t have his shoes on, so he easily kicked his pants to the side. “If you weren’t destined to be with all of us?” he said, looking down at her. “It would be just you and me, Alyx. One way or another, it was always going to be us together. We’ve both known that for a long time.”

  She smiled up at him. “So, if I wasn’t a princess, if I was just Alyx, you would have pursued me, and taken me as yours, right? How is this any different? Without being a princess, I don’t think I would be with anyone but you. You are my consort, Scur. Not because I love you more, but because you love me more.” She nuzzled his shaft and then licked a slow line along his thigh.

  She heard him take in a deep breath and when she looked up, he’d closed his eyes. “I do love you more than I’ve ever loved anything. I plan on doing that for the rest of my existence and I also plan on being one of the ones who gets you pregnant, Alyx.”

  His eyes opened and the look he gave her was intense. All of what he was feeling for her shone through for that instance. “Now get up here. I don’t want you on your knees for me. Unless you’re kneeling, legs spread, over my face.” And there was her foul-mouthed berserker again.

  She grinned. “Does it matter that I like being on my knees for you?” she said but still climbed to her feet. She ran her fingernails down his side. “And I expect to have our child, Scur, I’m counting on having it. You and me, we are forever. A dark fairy tale, complete with a happy ending,” she said softly, and she meant it. She loved all her guard, she felt a connection with them, needed them to live and be happy. But she knew without a doubt, if the world had kept turning as it had for the past thirty-two years of her life, she would be with Scur, and would have been happy.

  He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it behind him, then his hands were on her ass and he was lifting her up. “Last time I had you like this, seconds away from being deep inside you, you had me stop. We’re not stopping today, minx.” Keeping one hand on her ass, he slid the other up her back then gripped the back of her neck. “It’s just you and me right now, and you’re not going anywhere. I don’t give a fuck if Faerie, herself, shows up and tells you she needs to talk to you.” Leaning closer, he nipped her lip.

  “I would tell the bitch to get bent. I would tell the fucking queen to fuck off,” she said and nipped his. “You think I wanted you to stop last time?” She scoffed. “All I wanted was a stiff fucking, especially after watching you fucking dominate on those scorpions.” Nuzzling his throat, she ran her hands down his back, feeling the bunched muscles. The man was perfect, and what was best? He knew it.

  “You always want me to give you a good fucking.” He dropped her down a bit and his cocked rubbed against her. He held her there and he stared at her, his eyes glowing around the edges. Then she found herself against the moss-covered ground, his hard body pressing her down. “Hard, fast, and deep first. Then I’ll take you however you want me. Deal?” he asked, already pushing her legs up until her knees were against her chest and his cocked was pressed at her entrance.

  “Fuck yes,” she said.

  “Say that again,” he said, sliding home. It was the only thing he did gently, as soon as he was inside her it was like a switch flipped. He pulled out and thrust in, then did it again and again. Each time taking her faster, a little harder. “Say it again, Alyx.”

  “Scur... Fuck yes. Harder, you bastard!” She moaned and threw her arms over her head, biting her bottom lip as bliss started to build between them. “That’s it... Fuck yes...”

  Sitting up, he put her legs down then pulled out of her, flipping her on her stomach. He grabbed her hips, lifting her ass in the air, then slid back into her, giving it to her like she asked. “I remember the first time I had you like this,” he said, his breathing heavy. “It was the night of the Revel. The night I fucked you until the sun came up and neither of us could move.” One of his hands gripped her hip, the other moving around her to cover her breast. “Best night of my fucking life.”

>   “Mine, too. The relief that you were mine...” she moaned. “Scur, if I don’t feel your balls slapping me you are not fucking me hard or fast enough.” She squeezed him with her inner muscles as he pulled out and groaned. “I want bruises.”

  “What my female wants...” he said, but that was the last thing he said before she felt his body swell behind her, his cock filling her more as part of his beast took over. He moved fast, punishing her body with each thrust. His hand left her breast and went between her legs, his fingers rubbing circles over her clit.

  This she loved. She loved when he gave over and just took her, and she surrendered, like she knew he loved. Moaning, she shuddered as the first orgasm ripped through her, causing her to clamp down on him, her sheath rippling, milking him. Her nipples pearled causing exquisite sensations around her rings, and her clit throbbed as he played a wild tattoo on it.

  “That’s it, lover. That’s what I have wanted since the cave.”

  “Since you were sixteen,” he growled out. He didn’t slow, didn’t give her time to recover.

  Fuck, that was true. Seeing him when they were younger, the out and out sex the man exuded, her panties were constantly soaked when he was around. Not that he cared, not that he even acknowledged her then.

  “My nights were filled with fucking myself, wishing it was you back then, or fucking other people wishing it was you,” she admitted, as another orgasm tore through her. “Oh fuck... Yes...”

  “Fuck,” he roared and he stiffened behind her. She could feel him vibrating. His orgasm was as violent as hers was and the way his hand tightened on her hip, she knew she’d be left with finger-sized bruises against her skin.

  Panting, she licked her lips and pushed back on him, feeling her body flutter in answer to him pulsing inside her. She chuckled to herself as she came down, feeling him ease up on her body just a little. “Bet you didn’t know that...”

  “No, but I just imagined you doing that through the years.” He pulled out of her and rolled onto his back. “Think you almost killed me with the images. Come here. I’m going to play the role of sweet berserker before I take you again.”

  She grinned. “Oh yeah? What does that entail?”

  “Us lying here and me getting to hold you.”

  She snuggled in and laid her head on his chest. “I used to fantasize about this, too,” she said softly.

  “You can still fantasize about it as long as I actually get to do it.” He tucked her closer, arms going around her. “It might have taken us a while to get here, but now that we’re here, we’re never going back. You’re not needed for anything at the Sithen today, are you?”

  “Nope,” she said softly. “Well...” she smiled. “Our little cicada friend,” she pointed to her wrist. “I think she needs to go to the moth room, but that can be for later. She’s content to sleep right now.” She leaned down and licked his nipple. “You have an idea of what you wanna do today?”

  “First thing is not talking about the flying creepy crawlies you got living in your skin. Second,” he said, his hand moving to her leg to hike it over his. “We’re going to lay right here and do absolutely nothing for a while.”

  “I think we deserve it,” she agreed. “I never thought I would miss being here as much.” She ran her fingers down the furrow of his muscle on his stomach. “Khalid and Bax are planning a boat trip for us to Bali,” she said absently. “A week out, turquoise water, sunshine...”

  “You in nothing but one of those tiny bikinis...” She could feel his smile. “Sounds like a damn good plan. Get in a little vacation before the next scroll. But if we’re going on a boat, you might want to teach your little princess of lust how to swim.”

  “I plan to,” she said, her smile against his skin. “She is that...to me I mean. Seeing her, I just want to drown in her.”

  “Yeah, I pretty much picked up on that from what I heard of you guys in the closet at the party,” he said with a laugh.

  “Did it turn you on?” she teased. “It should. She’s...” she giggled. “I couldn’t keep my hands off her.”

  “Did hearing you make those sexy little sounds of pleasure as she was getting you off turn me on? Fuck yeah, it did.” He moved her up his body until he could kiss her. “It wasn’t easy trying to be the good guy and not walk in earlier. I’m not really good at being the good guy.”

  “I don’t think you will have to be going forward,” she said and sighed, settling herself.

  She let her mind wander to what the manticore said. She didn’t go into detail with Verity, or even Gogo, telling them they would have to have lunch soon enough. Goddesses. It was heady. But her hope had soared at the idea of being powerful, but not because of the power. She wanted to help protect Faerie, lend her own life force, talents past death, to helping it thrive.

  And knowing her guard all had special names, designations... Scur as her consort made the most sense, along with the idea that Khalid was her protector, and Eli was the Princess of Lust. But Abaxley, they would have to talk. It was interesting to her that the manticore didn’t mention his goblin parentage, but just his fae, and linked him to Starlight. The Ruler of Stars... She wasn’t sure what it meant, knew Abaxley didn’t know either. Whatever it meant, they would face it together.

  Sliding her hand down his stomach, she found Scur hard, and squeezed then swung her hips so she was straddling him. “So...I think I need to ride.” She rolled her hips. “All you need to do is lay there. You up for it?”

  “That’s already apparent. Do your worst, little minx.”

  Task one was done. They were lucky, making all the right steps and choices even though a lot of it felt like she was bumbling through. Still they had the first jewel, and hope for a future where her, her guard and all of Faerie became better than they were. She decided to be happy, not worried, and resolved to start her month-long vacation, which she earned, right now.

  She sank down on him and sighed, feeling the connection with him once more and closed her eyes, slipping into a lovely rhythm, slow and deep. “I love you, Scur,” she whispered and he gasped, feeling the orgasm start to build once again. “To the end of the world...”

  13

  “Everything is on schedule then, Baalim?” Incanta said to her companion and turned to her lady, Innoa. “Is there a problem?”

  The hobgoblin female curtsied and then bowed, her small branches starting to grow from her head signaling her of high birth in their ranks, but Incanta could barely remember what the girl’s parentage was. Not that it mattered, she would never cede the throne to anyone. She didn’t give thrones away, she took others for her own.

  “Empress, Lemmot has returned.”

  She smiled. Lemmot was the head of her detail she sent after the stone. Which meant he was bringing her her prize or... “Is he alone?”

  “I am afraid he is, Empress.” The girl squeaked.

  “Well?! Send him in!” she said, dismissing the girl. Her guard hobbled in moments later and then fell to his knees.

  “Well, what happened? Where is my stone?”

  “Empress,” he said, and she saw blood on his lips. “I failed. We were ambushed, our task was filled with pitfalls and situations that picked us off, one by one. And then the Mayhem bitch...”

  “Stop. You are telling me you failed, and she has the stone?”

  He nodded. “I will take all punishments. I failed you. I failed our race.”

  She scoffed. He failed her, yes, but their race? “Stand, if you can, Lemmot. Tell me. Who was with her?”

  “Three males, one was the old goblin king’s son, and a female.” He coughed, blood coming up.

  That was problematic. “And they got the stone?”

  “I don’t know, I fled, to come back to you, to give you this information.”

  “And this, all you have told me is why you fled?”

  He shook his head. “We were ill prepared. They were not. The nomarts were right, one of royal blood must be on the task. It’s how she was able to
make it as far with all her guard.”

  Sighing, she looked to the man sitting with her. “I suppose that means I must do the next task myself?”

  Baalim looked up from his tablet, which he was constantly reading something on, and grunted. “I find if you want anything done correctly, you need to do it for yourself, or make sure the one you assigned the task isn’t a complete idiot.” He eyed Lemmot. “If these were the best you had, you have problems.”

  Lemmot stayed quiet, which was smart. She wasn’t one to reward insolence, and the male didn’t know who Baalim was to her, so he erred on the side of caution. Exactly the kind of male she wanted beside her.

  She looked to Lemmot and Innoa. “Go. See to his wounds and if he makes it through the night, send him to my chambers.”

  Her lady smirked. “For punishment?”

  Her lady was a vicious thing. It was something she was going to have to remember. “For use. Have him washed, and ready,” she said, turning back to her companion.

  “Please tell me you don’t plan on torturing the boy. I’ll never understand all the thirst for war and violence. There are other ways of getting what you want. Though, you do need that stone. We need that stone,” Baalim said, his voice hardening. “What we both want won’t work without it.” He walked over to the settee and sat down. “Of course, that stone is now lost to us, which means you better get the next one. And when I say you, I mean you.”

  “Lemmot is from a very prominent hob family,” she said and sat in her high side chair, crossing her legs. “He’s more useful to me alive and in my bed than he is dead.” She smiled, thinking about tying him down and using his body. If the dark gods were smiling, he would get her with child, which was part of her end game. “Trust me, he will enjoy his task, should he live the night.”

  Picking up a berry, she popped it into her mouth and chewed, then swallowed. “I had hoped to let my retainers do this, you don’t see the redheaded bitch doing this. No, she has someone else, and yes, I understand she is a royal in the eyes of Faerie...”