Frost (Queens of Hell Book 1)

by Liza James

  This is insane, I’ve never experienced something like this. It’s in the atmosphere. My mind is clinging to and amplifying every single sensation my physical body is perceiving. It’s a new level of arousal, one that leaves me high and euphoric, captivated by her touch and needy for more.

  I step out of my sweats and the cool breeze I’ve been noticing this entire time blows across my entire figure. My skin lights up with the chill and a shiver races down my spine in response.

  “On your knees, don’t make me ask again.” A lash, her tone feels like a whip striking the ambiance around me. My heart pounds uncontrollably and I instantly shift back down onto my knees while my hands feel for the ground so I don’t stumble. Remembering the details of what she described earlier, I sit back on my calves, slowly raising my hands and lacing my fingers behind my head.

  I release steady breaths, the anticipating of what’s to come eats at my sanity while I wait.

  “Good girl,” she speaks quietly but powerfully. Her words elicit a heated breath from my lips while I attempt holding back a small whimper. Why does that sound so good coming from her? My pussy throbs, my chest swelling in pride for that simple bit of praise. It’s ridiculous, and yet I want to hear more of it at the same time. “You look so pretty for me on your knees like this, Kitten.” This time, her words breath into my ear and her lips brush over my skin. I want to reach for her, but I keep my hands still instead, locked behind my head as her fingers suddenly stroke up my thigh.

  Breathe, Skilla. I remind myself by mentally repeating the sentiment over and over again.

  She moves to my inner thigh, her chest hovers over my back and I can feel her tits press against me. I can’t help it, I lean back just slightly, craving more of her in any way I possibly can. Her fingers move higher, and her lips work over my neck in gentle, slow kisses. I can hardly believe she’s being this kind, and as her thumb sweeps up to brush over my pussy, I moan at the simple touch.

  As soon as that sound leaves my mouth, her fingers bite roughly into my upper thighs as she yanks them apart. I yelp, my hands falling instinctually to the floor to catch myself before I lose balance.

  “Don’t fucking move,” she snaps, commanding me still as I quickly put my hands back behind my head. There’s that dark demeanor, the familiar frozen exterior that I’ve become so used to. I release several rapid breaths, my eyes darting around in the bleak darkness for any of light. For a moment, I almost panic at the continuous reminder that I am truly stuck here.

  “You are to stay in your room once everyone has gone to bed. I monitor the grounds at night, and will know if anyone leaves their rooms. Do not explore, do not attempt escaping, do not speak to anyone you’ve not met. Do you understand me?” she asks, but it’s not truly a question.

  There’s only one right answer here.

  “I have to learn this place if I’m to stay here. Right? Become accustomed to my so called home.” I tread a very thin line with this question, and for some reason, a part of me likes the way I know this will push her. I’m terrified and turned on, a dangerous mix for this situation.

  Her fingers move closer to my core again. My legs are spread wide for her, my pussy wet and open and aching to be touched. I absently roll my hips forward as her slow touch tempts me even more. At first, I’m shocked as one of her fingers slides through my pussy up to my clit. Immediately, I’m moaning, quick breaths leaving my lips as my head falls back against her shoulder.

  But it’s the sting that comes next that truly snaps me back to attention. Her touch vanishes before coming back with a slap from her palm on my soaked cunt. Hard and fast, I cry out in pain and move to slam my thighs shut against her touch.

  “Don’t fucking move,” she bites out, and this time, her teeth sink into my shoulder without breaking skin as she pries my legs apart. “If I have to tell you again, you won’t be able to sit down tomorrow."

  I force my hands still and use every ounce of my own strength to keep my legs wide open for her. My core is pulsing from both my own need and the throbbing pain remaining from her slap. In the next moment, one of her hands weaves through my hair and she yanks my head back against her. Small whimpers escape me even though I try to hold them back. I’m struggling to keep myself together, but the way my body and mind are completely split in desire has me reeling. The cold air blows across my flesh, slipping over my hardening nipples and tight breasts. Goosebumps explode across every inch of me and I slip my tongue out over my lower lip before biting down on it.

  I try catching my breath, but Na’amah’s lips sweep along my neck, her teeth dragging along the narrow space and she kisses me tenderly before biting hard with a stinging mark.

  Fuck, fuck. She has to be leaving marks, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want her to continue.

  It’s a war, the sharp pain on my scalp where she so tightly holds me, and the fire blazing in my blood as she continues turning me on. Her hand slips between my legs, sliding through me and circling down around my opening. God, I want her to fuck me. So, my legs fall even wider as I try to roll into her touch. I’m needy, and I can’t help the way my hips thrust forward as I seek even more of her.

  But as soon as I make the motion, her hand is gone and wrapped firmly around my throat. She’s yanking me up as I’m still restrained against her chest. I struggle and gasp as I rush to stand with her quick movements. “What did I tell you?” She grinds the words in my ear. I can feel her lips pulled back and the sharp points of what I know now must be her fangs scrape my ear as she speaks. “Say it.”

  I don’t answer right away, but I know what I’ve done. Fuck, I should have known it would apply to all movements. She waits for only a moment longer before her hand smacks the side of my face, her fingers then grip my jaw, and she twists my head back toward her as my eyes meet her shocking gaze.

  She’s electric, and the blue of her eyes glows in the darkness. It’s the only thing I’ve seen this entire time and it’s almost paralyzing to see it now in this way. With her strong hand woven into my hair and holding my wrists together, and other hand so tightly controlling my jaw, I’m lost to her. The pain is now working in hand with my arousal, betraying any need for safety as my soul begs to surrender.

  “Not to move,” I respond this time, giving her exactly what she wants.

  “And what did you do?” She repeats herself, stepping back and dragging me along with her while my feet scramble to keep her pace. I have no balance like this, and I’m relying on her completely to keep me upright.

  “I moved.” My voice is weak, my words strangled as her hold moves to focus on the front of my throat.

  “My disobedient Kitten, now you’ll have to be punished. Being so bad tonight, aren’t you?” she whispers in the heated space around us. Once she stops moving, her hands force me still as well before completely releasing me and stepping back.

  “Yes. I’ve been bad,” I agree with her, my heart racing and my mind seeking out her praise as I give in to what’s happening. My thighs rub together, an attempt to stifle the painful ache as I try being patient. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry means nothing to me.” All of a sudden, she’s completely detached as she says it, and I’m nervous at the sound of her swift vacancy.

  My palms turn clammy and begin trembling in fear of what’s to come. I can’t help wondering if she’ll bite me, but I hold on to hope that she wouldn’t do something like that yet. This is what my training is all about, right? Being able to physically survive something like that is exactly what she needs from me. I have to trust she wouldn’t put me through that just yet.

  In the next instant, she’s gone. I feel nothing in the space, not even her familiar chill. Until my hands are suddenly yanked straight over my head uncontrollably. What feels like ice burns through my flesh, completely overtaking my ability to move in the slightest. I’m pulled upwards, something securing my wrists above me in ways I can’t possibly see in the darkness.

  “What? What are you doing?” I beg
in to ask, my voice quivering with every word. She doesn’t respond, and it’s not until I’m barely touching the ground with my toes, body stretched and naked for her that I finally see her eyes light up in the shadows.

  “There are things about the Underworld,” she pauses, her voice taking on a quality that seems distant and irritable. “About this kingdom, that will remain off limits to you. Exploring the grounds in the middle of the night is one of them.” She pulls it together when she continues, switching off the part that shared the slightest piece of emotion.

  Instead, the atmosphere around us shifts, churning with a toxic ice that chills me to my bones. For a moment, I have the strangest feeling she’s leaving something out. I can’t even explain why exactly, but the way in which she speaks leaves me questioning whether there is something specific she wants me to stay away from.

  I try to press my toes to the ground and falter, the ice digging into my wrists in a way I worry will cut my skin. What happens if I bleed around her? Around any of them? She was already around me yesterday after Rowan and I fought, but I’m unsure how blood affects her. My mind spirals with inconsistent thoughts, bouncing around to the millions of questions I have regarding this place. But I’m stuck on what she’s demanding, wishing there was some way I could have the freedom to learn a means of escape.

  I have to get out of here somehow.

  “When will that change?” I push her instead, curiously questioning whether this is a temporary rule put into place that I’ll one day be able to work around.

  Her eyes quickly disappear and I snap my head to the side as I search for her. I’m completely caught off guard when something light and warm slides down my spine and over my ass. It feels like several strands, tiny scrapes of something along my skin I can’t decipher without seeing.

  I gasp, arching my back and instinctually moving away from it out of fear. But it’s in the very next second I hear the sharp sound of a slap against skin and it takes me only the briefest moment of realization when the sting rushes to the soft flesh at the back of my thighs. I move to yank my legs away, picking them up when I notice that doing so puts immense strain on my wrists. I can’t hold myself up completely, and I cry out when she comes at me for a second hit in the same place.

  “Fucking hell, are you kidding me?!” I grind through clenched teeth as the ache crests and then slowly subsides. I twist away as my heart thunders in my chest uncontrollably and my mind begins sorting through the chaotic feelings washing over me.

  The strands of what I assume now is a leather flog—I’ve seen them at the club several times—are on me again, only this time, dragging across my stomach gently. I’m breathing heavily, mentally preparing myself for what’s coming when she lets it fall even lower.

  “It won’t change. This is a dangerous place for a human, and now, you belong to me, Kitten. Your role is to submit, to prepare for the Bite, and to join Lilith’s harem once you’ve been deemed ready.”

  You belong to me. The sentiment lights something strange inside of me. In a way I wasn’t anticipating and I don’t have the mental strength to process it at the moment.

  Her words almost convince me she’s completely uncaring—until the very end of her sentence. For some reason, I feel as though there’s a slight change in her tone.

  That piques my interest.

  The flog slips between my thighs, and I mentally fight the spark of arousal in my blood as soon as she drags it over my core. She pulls back, hitting the strands against me in a much lighter touch this time. One that feels incredibly different, one that leaves me curious for more, and the pain amplifies my arousal instead of dousing it.

  This blend of pain and sex is a masterpiece I’m unfamiliar with. It’s an experience of control and surrender I’m so deeply drawn to. I’m torn on fighting and refusing and running. Or surrendering, chasing, and drowning in whatever this is becoming.

  “You’re fucking with my head,” I stammer, inhaling a deep breath as the flog nears me once again. It starts at my shoulders, slowly and intricately tracing my collar bone while I tilt my head back and give her more room. “I can’t even process what’s happening to me now. I—” I pause, unsure of how much I can reveal here. “I feel as though I’m going crazy.”

  “Good,” she whispers, her voice carrying an authority and sexual tension that works together seamlessly. “These coming weeks will be difficult for you.” The flog snaps over my tits, harder this time, and I feel every ounce of pain and arousal in my core. I whimper and moan, aching for more while trying to avoid the sting she provides.

  The flog comes to my ass this time, and my head falls forward on my shoulders while I breathe in anticipation. “You’ll learn and connect with the others. But ultimately, you belong to me. You answer to me. Any questions, you save for me. Until we transfer your bond to Lilith. You and I will become one, Kitten. There is no connection like the one we will share for this period of time in.”

  “What if I don’t want to do any of this? What if I don’t want to join Lilith’s fucking harem, or take this fucking Bite?” I mutter between heated breaths. Frustration evident in my words as the fight in me rears her ugly head.

  She snaps the flog harder against my ass, and I bite my lower lip as a rough groan breaks free of my mouth. That one fucking hurt. This time the sting sinks deep under my skin. I can tell my blood has already risen to the surface, and I’m surprised when I suddenly feel Na’amah’s palm slide over the space she just hit. Her fingers linger over my hot flesh, her thumb tracing the marks I assume she’s left. I subtly push back against her touch, seeking more of this gentle side after the agony she’s inflicted.

  “You don’t have a choice,” she responds, her voice quiet, her touch soft until her fingers slide over my hip and move toward my lower stomach. God, the chill that follows her caress is such a wild blend of ice and fire.

  How can someone leave such a dichotomy of sensation in her wake?

  The obvious truth to her words sits at the forefront of my mind. The idea that I’ve somehow lost myself in this new world, one so unlike my home at the club, my experiences with the girls at Pandora’s Box. My step-brother.

  Monsters for monsters.

  Her hand slips lower, sliding between my thighs and slipping through my pussy. I moan around her touch, and her other hand moves over my throat as she pulls me against her. I’m still tied up, trapped in this space she’s kept me in. My body is sore from her punishment, my ass still lingers with an ache as she pulls my hips back against hers.

  “I shouldn’t be doing this yet,” she suddenly whispers, surprising me completely. Her voice is laced with a tone of confusion and denial. My mind focuses on her words, trying to decipher what exactly that means. But I’m soon distracted when she slides over my clit at the same time as her nose slides up the column of my neck and into my hair. Fuck, I think she’s breathing me in, devouring my scent in ways that draw even more questions than resolutions.

  “Answer my question now,” I beg her, wanting to ask what I was thinking earlier tonight. The thought has surfaced a few times, ever since the girls revealed the four Queens were Vampires.

  “I’ve answered far too many already, Kitten. And I haven’t gotten every ounce of submission and pain I’d like from you just yet.” She scoffs against my skin, her tongue slipping out and over my neck as if she’s tasting me. She grips me even tighter, her finger working over my clit before pulling up and sliding over my tits. Her palm rolls over me until she pinches my hard nipple between her finger tips, rolling and pulling as I unravel against her.

  Her lips kiss and suck and devour my flesh in aggressive ways that leave the tension building around us. Everything grows quick and desperate, every touch, every bite, every moan coming quick and heady as if she’s losing control just as much as I am. The quietest, darkest part of me begs for her to do exactly that. But I dare not say it out loud.

  “Can you sense my blood already? Without tasting it?” I breach the intense subject instead
, assuming she probably won’t answer. But my head is falling back against her shoulder while she holds me roughly. My thighs tremble around her touch as she moves back to my wet pussy. I’m dying for her to slip inside of me, to fuck me while she tastes and takes whatever she wants.

  She scoffs, and both of her hands move to my waist as her touch disappointingly stills. For a moment, everything quiets aside from our heavy breaths and shifting chests. I remain needy though, with my nipples stiff and sensitive in the darkness, the cold working as another sense my entire self clings to. But where her hands lay against my skin the temperature drops. I wish I had a logical explanation for it, but I don’t, and it feels as though my flesh freezes in a pain I’ve grown to crave in the short time we’ve known each other.

  “With every step you take. Every word you speak, every moment you’re nearby. I can practically taste you. Your blood radiates off of you in everything you do.” She leans closer behind me, my skin almost burning now under her hands. I arch my back, attempting to twist out of her touch but she doesn’t let go. “I can hear your pulse every time I’m close. I can smell how turned on you are by the pain. Is there something wrong with you, my filthy little Kitten?” She whispers the fear into my ear, her tongue sliding against me as she takes another taste.

  Oddly, the question hurts, and I’m surprised but taken aback. “Stop,” I reply immediately, my own embarrassment at her truth overriding my uncontrollable lust. “I don’t want to hear this.”

  She laughs as she finally releases my waist and steps back. The instant she’s gone, the pain intensifies, as if she was both inflicting and soothing at the exact same time. “You wanted an answer.”

  She’s gone. Emotionally now, and an indescribable annoyance builds in my chest at the ways she appears and disappears so rapidly.

  In the next instant, I collapse to the ground unexpectedly. My hands and knees hit the hard stone as my body relinquishes to the exhaustion of what I’ve just been through.