by K. A Knight
“Their blood will rain from the heavens, and they will feel every ounce of harm they placed on you and yours,” he promises, one eye glowing gold and green as Nyre agrees. “Anyone who touched you and the ones who touched the sister of mine, they will not die quickly, little one.” I can hear the pain and hate in his voice. He means it, the anger shaking his body beneath me telling me how much he wants to hurt them.
It shouldn’t make me feel better, but it does, blowing out a breath I nod. “Let’s try then.”
I close my eyes, resting my chin over Mishal’s heart as I reach for Nyre. Scrunching my eyes together hard, I blow out a breath and try.
“Nyre?”
Nothing.
“Nyre?” I try again.
Frustrated, I search harder, blindly fumbling in the dark. I don’t know what I’m reaching for or trying to do, only that I have to. I have to free them.
“You are trying too hard, forget it for now, it will come when you least expect it,” Mishal whispers, but I reach blindly inside, trying to find Nyre, begging him to come to me.
“Little one,” he orders, and I slant my eyes open to see him smiling down at me. “A bond does not have to be found, it is simply there. We can try again later when you are more relaxed. You are putting too much pressure on yourself,” he offers, rubbing my bottom lip with his thumb.
“Relaxed, huh? How do you plan to relax me?” I laugh, his eyes locked on my lips, telling me all I need to know. “Oh, is that how it is? I get a growl and a veiled dirty offer and you just fuck me?” I grin.
“What, you want more?”
“Ever heard of romance?” I tease, wiggling my eyebrows.
“What could be more romantic than being tied in an underground cell?” He grins.
“Oh, you charmer you, take me, Mishal, take me.” I pretend to faint dramatically, and he growls as I laugh.
“I will offer you the world on a silver fucking platter when we are free. I will give you crowns, castles, as many showers as you want. I will give you this world and the next, whatever you desire, whatever you want. I will kill your enemies and let you bathe in their blood. I will find your real parents, just so you may know because I know it hurts you that you never knew them. I will stand with you when you tell your adoptive parents about Rachel, and I will love them as my own and shelter them under my wings as they grieve. I would do anything for you, little one, no matter how crazy. You want the moon? I will drag it down from the skies and paint it red with my blood for you. I don’t know romance. I have never had it or love. You will have to teach me, but I am willing to learn, I am willing to do anything for you except live without you. That, I cannot do, no matter the cost. How is that for romantic?” he growls.
My pulse is racing, my eyes wide and filled with tears, and it feels like my heart is about to explode from my chest. He listened and watched, every fear, every little want or worry niggling in my head…he listened, and he is offering to stand by me through it all. I try to blink back the tears, but they fall anyway. No, he doesn’t know romance or soft poetic words, but he knows so much better. He is rough and dangerous, but his love is so deep and true that I can feel it in every uttered word. He will never be a soft man, but he will be there no matter what.
He growls, wiping away the tears from my face with his fingers. “What? Did I upset you? Tell me how to make it stop?” He sounds pained. “Please, little one, I can’t handle your tears. I am sorry, I never meant to upset you...” He goes to carry on, but I laugh softly, pressing my wet lips to his to silence his rambling.
“I love you, Mishal,” I whisper. “It was perfect, I don’t need romance. I just need you.” A growl rumbles through his chest, making us both laugh. “And Nyre of course.” The rumble settles to a purr and I pull away from his lips. “If you’ll both have me?”
He grips my cheeks, forcing me to fall into those black eyes. “You will never get away from us, we are yours, little one.” He seals it with a kiss, our teeth clashing as urgency fires through me, I want this man and everything he offers, and a bad feeling is creeping through my body that everything is about to change, so I must treasure the present as much as I can. I didn’t once before, and I will regret that for the rest of my life—I won’t let that happen again.
He pulls away from my kiss and I open my eyes, seeing the vulnerability on his face even as he demands, “Say it again.”
“I love you?” I say, confused and drugged from his kiss.
He nods, gripping me tighter and I gasp out loud, has no one ever told this man they love him?
No, Nyre whispers in my head, and I swear I nearly start crying again. I will tell him every minute of every day just so he knows I mean it. So he knows what it feels like to be loved because he deserves it, he might not think he does, but this man, this dragon god, deserves everything in the world as well.
“I love you.” I make my voice strong and sure and I kiss him hard. “I love you,” I tell him again and he shakes beneath me, those black eyes filling as he lays quietly in my arms like he is waiting for a but, or for me to strike him down or laugh. “I love you, Mishal,” I finish, kissing him hard, trying to make him understand how he has become my everything.
“Say it again.” His voice croaks, breaking in the middle, and I know how much it cost him to ask.
“I.” Kiss. “Love.” Kiss. “You,” I whisper against his lips.
He rolls us with a growl, grabbing my hands and stretching me out beneath him, he pins them to the stone floor above me, and I shiver under his gaze as he runs his eyes across my bare body, heat trailing in their wake until I’m almost arching from his gaze alone.
“Say it,” he demands as he leans down and sucks my nipple into his mouth, making me groan and arch up.
“I love you,” I offer breathlessly.
He rewards me by turning to my other nipple and sucking that too, before shifting down my body, trailing kisses down my belly to my pussy. He kisses my clit softly before running his tongue in a long line down me and rolling his eyes up to meet my gaze.
“Don’t stop saying it,” he orders.
“I love you,” I gasp, reaching down and anchoring his head to my pussy as he laps at my clit.
He pushes a finger inside of me, curling it before pulling out and adding another. I tug on his hair and he growls, lifting from between my legs and grabbing my hands. He presses them back to the cement with a narrow-eyed look before diving back into my pussy. Licking my lips, I grin as my fangs drop. I have the stupid urge to push him, to see what he will do if I don’t follow his orders. Chest rising faster and faster, I pull my hands away and grab his head again, he freezes against me, his eyes meeting mine with a menacing look.
Mishal gets up from between my legs, crawls up my body, and growls at me. “You know what happens to bad girls, little one?” he asks.
Licking my lips, I shake my head, loving the darkness and harshness on his face right now. I love soft, I love kind, but fuck, sometimes a girl just wants a good, rough fucking.
“They get punished,” he whispers. “You stopped saying it, little one,” he growls and I shiver, my pussy clenching at his tone alone. Fuck yes, punish me, I almost scream and he smirks, hearing it in my head.
He scoops me up and walks over to the back wall where his chains are hooked into the cement. I spot the scratches, the dents and blood around them from where he has obviously tried to free himself. Mishal drops me to the floor gently, pushing me until I lie down on my back. He grabs my wrists and pulls them above me before looping the chains around them, tying them together with his excess chain. He nods to himself and I stretch my wrists, testing it only for them not to give at all.
He lies back down between my thighs, his eyes on me as I stare down at him, more turned on than ever with my hands restrained. He can do whatever he wants to me, he could before, but this only makes it feel so much more real. I’m putting my trust in him and I love the feeling.
Relaxing, I lick my lips and he lightly slaps
my thigh. “You stopped saying it,” he growls.
“I love you,” I ground out, as he ignores my aching pussy. “Misha-ah,” I moan as he thrusts two fingers inside me, stretching me and fucking me with them as he goes back to licking my clit and pussy. He runs his talented tongue down it, around his fingers and dipping inside me before moving back to my clit. Moaning, I rock my hips up to meet his fingers, fucking myself on them. “I love you,” I mutter breathlessly, my eyes closing as I arch up.
“Again,” he demands, his voice muffled against my skin.
“Mishal, please, god, I love you.”
I almost scream in frustration, but he rewards me. He speeds up his fingers, his tongue lashing my clit until I come with a scream, yanking on my chains and chafing my tied hands.
I have barely come down from one high before he is pushing me to another, his fingers stretching me, obviously adding another one as his pinkie slips into my ass, just enough that I can bear down on him, needing more. He hums in pleasure against my clit, making me cry out as he fucks me, holding my pussy to his face as I thrash, trying to get away.
“Again,” he orders.
“I love you!” I cry, my body oversensitive from his attention already. It’s too much yet not enough. I don’t know whether to fight him or drag him closer.
He lifts his other hand, trailing his chain from my wrists across my nipples, the catch of metal and coolness making me cry out, so he does it again and again as he fucks me.
“Love you, I love you, love you,” I chant, ending on a scream as I come, my head thrashing back and hitting the cement as I taste copper in my mouth from biting my tongue—I came that hard.
He moves up my body, his face wet with my cream before he kisses me, tasting my blood in my mouth as he lines up and slams into me in one move. He swallows my moans, reaching down and hoisting my legs over his shoulders before he breaks the kiss and leans back on his knees. My ass is pressed to his thighs as he slams into me again and again, brutal and hard, forcing me higher again, even though I just came twice.
He yanks my bottom half in the air, keeping me there with his hands so I can’t move, just accept him as he fucks me. My arms stretch above me, tied together to the wall from his chains, and I’m helpless to him as he uses me, fucks me, and makes me his again and again. Each brutal thrust brands me, each flick of my oversensitive clit commands me, forcing my body to become his. He wipes away the trace of everyone else, filling me up until there is only him.
“Love you!” I scream and he groans, roaring as he stills.
He slumps down over me, kissing me softly. “I love you, little one.”
Breathing heavily, his hard cock still inside me, I start to laugh before it catches on a groan when he flexes his hips and thrusts shallowly inside me.
“Again,” he orders and I almost cry.
“I can’t—” I moan, and he keeps up that shallow thrust, just rocking into our combined wetness in my pussy, and before I know it I’m coming around his cock, clamping him inside me as I open my mouth on a silent scream.
“I love you,” he groans against my neck, licking at the skin there.
He moves, pulling out of me, and his chains rattle. He looks up at my hands before he unwraps the chains, kissing and licking away the sting of where they were. Pulling them to my chest, I massage the circulation back into my arms and grin at the pink marks left around each one, just another mark from Mishal. He frowns at it and I can almost feel him regretting it, so I grab his face.
“I loved it, Mishal, I love you and these marks will disappear. Fuck, feel free to mark every inch of my skin if you’re going to make me come that hard, punish me however you want,” I offer and he barks out a laugh.
“Little one.” He shakes his head, pulling me to him as we lie back down again, content to be with each other. “Your trust in me undoes me,” he admits.
“I trust you with my life, Mishal, I trust you with my heart,” I confess, a thought that should terrify me but somehow, I know he will never betray that trust.
“I love you, little one, more than life itself.” His arms tighten around me and I close my eyes in happiness. Curling up on him, trusting him to derive a plan of how we escape after I free Nyre—something I don’t know how to do yet, but his trust in me settles my nerves.
I came in here with no hope, broken and alone, and he put me back together again, forcing me to confront the truth of what I am, rebuilding my desire, marking me and making me his. I feel like a completely new person, the pain and grief are still there and maybe when I’m free, I will be able to sit down and face it instead of ignoring it, but right now I can’t afford to break down. Mishal and Nyre need me. I have to be strong for them. They have been trapped here for a hundred years. I will do whatever it takes to get them free, even at the cost of my own life if need be.
Never, Nyre growls in my head.
I freeze, seeing if Mishal will react underneath me, but it seems Nyre’s words are only for me, like he was waiting for me, lurking in my head.
He is busy, it is just me and you, mi cielo.
I grin, okay with that. I love them both—
You love us?
I freeze, my mind halting, and I try to stop myself from blushing. He can see the truth in my head, so I don’t know why he sounds so shocked, plus I just told Mishal that over and over again, but maybe he thought that was only for him and not my grumpy dragon.
Yes, I tell him, not shying away from it, life is too short for that.
Good, love is not a word we know, mi cielo, so don’t let that scare you away. You have my love, mi cielo. It is why I call you that and you have Mishal’s, even if he will struggle to tell you all the time.
He has never had love?
Nyre growls in my head, explaining, His parents were cruel. They didn’t want children, they wanted power. It forced him and his brothers to become a certain way, they are rough and don’t throw words around like that. Before you, he hadn’t even been hugged, he doesn’t understand that you do it because you care.
Neither do you, I reply.
True, but I am a fast learner. Mishal took the brunt of the pain and punishments when he showed weakness, and that is something hard to break through.
He shows it, I defend and Nyre huffs.
Not enough, but we will, mi cielo, we will.
I settle down again, loving having Nyre’s voice in my head. It helps me keep my eyes closed, even as I want them to open so I can be sure no one is waiting to hurt me.
Never again, Nyre roars and in my head. I watch him flow from Mishal to wrap around my mind, protecting me, his large dragon form blinking at me in the dark. Is this how I free him?
Don’t worry about that yet, you need to sleep. When you wake, I will be waiting, and you know how to reach me now.
Goodnight, my dragon, I murmur through our bond.
Goodnight, mi cielo.
Mishal
I don’t know how she will free me, Nyre grumbles in my mind, but I have faith. I know she will figure it out and when it comes to our mate, Nyre can break even these enchanted chains to get to her.
I will try, for her, he huffs, before ignoring me again. Grumpy bastard.
I get a scratch for that, making me grunt, and Dabria moves in my arms at the sound, almost seeking my pain as her fingers stroke my chest, trying to wash it away with her touch even in her sleep. Dropping a kiss on her forehead, I hold her tighter to me. That feeling inside her that something is coming is in me too. I can feel it between us, a sense beyond our control. An itch that can’t be scratched, and it has never been wrong before. I know we can face whatever is coming together, but I fear for her, which is something so foreign to me I don’t know how to control and react to it. Usually, I would just burn whatever the threat was to the ground, but I can’t, and as much as I don’t want to admit it, I can’t protect her as much as I should be able to. She’s my mate and I am helpless in that sense. These fucking chains prevent me from doing the basic tasks
of a mate. I don’t want her to live in fear and I never want her to be scared again, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth that Nyre agrees with.
She didn’t feed, Nyre points out helpfully and I wince. Fuck, I am a bad mate. I didn’t even remember to bloody feed her. I will have to make sure I right that as soon as she wakes up. We need to get better at this mate business. I don’t want her regretting being with me.
She would never regret me.
Fucking dragon, I shoot back, even as a smile curves my lips. It’s nice to hear him so strong in my head again, even if he is being an annoying, cocky shit. It seems the longer we are bonded, the stronger he is getting. I am hoping that means she will be able to call him forward at some point using our mate bond.
I wince when I hear the roaring of another animal, something that not often slips through these thick walls, but they must be torturing him or her. Dabria stirs in my arms, lifting her head, her eyes half asleep, and adorable confusion is painted across her face.
“Shh, little one, we are okay. Go to sleep, I will protect you,” I whisper fiercely. She nods, accepting me at my word, and goes back to sleep on my chest, snoring with quiet mumbling that has me smiling as I watch her.
Can you imagine my brothers’ reaction when they find out I have a mate? I ask Nyre.
He huffs out a laugh. They will go in search of their own, no woman will be safe.
I almost laugh out loud but hold it back, so I don’t wake my sleeping mate, knowing he is right. They are petty and jealous, but they would want a mate for their own…well, maybe not all of them.
He is too broken, Nyre agrees.
He would hurt her without meaning to, I sigh.
But that fucking nightwalker will sleep with every single woman on the planet to figure out which is his, Nyre scoffs in my head.
He makes me grin, even as my thoughts turn dark, wishing it wasn’t true. They deserve this happiness, they deserve to know the love of a woman, to hold her in their arms and know they will never be alone again. If any men in the world deserve that, it’s them. They have sacrificed everything to protect our people and this planet, yet they are doomed to watch on as others find their mates, fall in love, and have children, but never us. It takes a toll on a being, one I know personally, and I hope Dabria’s appearance means we have finally been gifted with mates. It would be the goddess’ twisted humour that when we least expected them, that when we gave up hope and are in the darkest places, we finally find them.