by Mel Teshco
She gnawed her lower lip. She’d been prepared for his arrogance, his ruthlessness, not this softer side she’d uncovered.
“Happy?” he asked.
She let out a little shriek when he lifted her high and placed her on the edge of the pool. She managed a nod, only too aware her nipples were pebbling hard beneath his sweeping gaze.
“Then let’s make that smile even wider, hmm?”
She gasped as he spread her thighs apart. His eyes glittered as he looked up. “Relax, angel. Lie Back. Open for me.”
“Again?” she squeaked.
“You’re complaining?”
Never.
Excitement and shock coalesced into an urgent need that swept over her as if a tidal wave. She lay back, thighs falling apart. The marble floor of the bathing room pressed into her spine. Uncomfortable. Hard.
She barely noticed.
His wet tongue lapped across her flesh, gently scraping her entire pussy—except her clitoris.
She wiggled, panting. If he didn’t lick there soon she’d—
His tongue scraped hard across her clit, amazingly rough.
Holy shit.
She jerked, gasping when a climax immediately hit, causing her toes to curl and her hands to clench as spasms rocked her from the inside out. Leaving her feeling as if, bit by bit, Judas was unfurling her defenses.
He didn’t feel like a stranger anymore. Not. One. Bit.
And how had he done that with his tongue? With one touch she’d imploded. She abruptly giggled. Her father had been right. Judas really did eat girls like her for breakfast.
Judas arched a brow and her giggles subsided as she said, “At least now I know why you like your girls to be plucked of all pubic hair.”
“Actually, I preferred you just how nature intended—if it didn’t arouse suspicion.”
“Arouse suspicion?”
He raked a hand through his hair. “It’s a long story.” He stepped back. “Come, let’s get you clean.”
Aren’t I supposed to serve you, my king?
The words didn’t make it past the lump in her throat. Instead she allowed him to tug her back into the water with him, allowed him to wash her hair and soap her skin, all the while feeling languid and hopelessly smitten.
I must surely have been numb before I met Judas?
This wasn’t what she’d planned. The king was supposed to fall for her, not the other way around. Not that she was really falling for him—of course she wasn’t. It was his charm and delight in everything she did that had her feeling…strongly. Add the fact her hormones were going crazy at withholding the beast, and of course she’d imagine something deeper than what there actually was.
After years of practice, only the eldest shifter could abstain from shape change for any length of time. But always strong-willed, Akeisha had come to discover she too was adept at restraint.
Yeah, but for how much longer?
Judas kissed her throat, his lips then brushing gently across hers. “You’re going to turn into a prune,” he said with a smile. Climbing the steps out of the pool, they dried off with the towels hanging on hooks. With deft hands he wrapped her towel snugly around her before securing his in a knot around his waist.
“Come,” he said, “breakfast will be waiting for us.”
The dining room of his private quarters was simple yet stunning. A large alcove showcased the rare cedar timber of a two-seater table and twin velvet-cushioned chairs. Windows on three sides revealed the private orchards and vegetable gardens, swarming with servants. Silver dishes with lids awaited them. Judas pulled out her seat and then took his own before lifting a tureen lid. Steam billowed out and the scent of jasmine and beef assailed her nostrils.
“Hungry?” he asked.
“Starved,” she admitted.
How long since she’d last eaten? Long before she and the other girls had been taken by a trio of big horse-drawn carriages to the palace. As a shifter, sustenance was even more important to maintain her out-of-control hormones and regenerating body.
She helped herself to a little of each from the dishes, feeling somehow decadent eating in nothing but a towel. She gulped the food down, aware the textures and flavors were unbelievably good, if she’d allowed any time to appreciate them. Instead, she gave into the demands of her ravenous body to refuel.
Judas chuckled, looking less like a king and more like an indulgent lover every moment she spent with him. “I take it you like?”
She flushed. “Sorry. I guess I’m hungrier than I realized.”
“Don’t apologize. It’s…refreshing.”
A knock sounded. “Your Majesty, may I enter.”
Judas and Akeisha turned to see the captain of the guards in the doorway. The king sighed, then gestured him inside, “Yes, Raffia. Come in.”
The captain strode into the room and bowed. “Do you wish me to inform the people you will be late in your duties today?
Judas frowned. “That won’t be necessary, Raffia.”
The captain nodded with a relieved smile—until Judas added, “You will be delegated the role of judge, jury and diplomat in my absence.”
Raffia’s eyes rounded, mouth pulling into a taut line. “Your absence?”
“Yes. The next few days are mine to enjoy.” Judas reached for Akeisha’s hand. “Ours.”
The captain’s eyes hardened a little as they brushed over her. When he faced the king once more he didn’t bother to conceal his disappointment as he said reluctantly, “As you wish.” Then bowing once more, he pivoted and stalked to the door.
Akeisha turned to Judas with an arched brow. “Is having time out against protocol?”
Judas shook his head. “No. My people are just used to me being available at all times.” He shrugged. “I’ve never seen a need to have it any other way…until now.”
Akeisha stared, heart thumping. Could the greatest king of all time truly have such feelings for her? Feelings he didn’t even try to disguise.
Elation was doused with a good measure of remorse. Saving her people was her only objective, but deceiving Judas didn’t sit right with her. Not when he’d been nothing but up front and considerate with her.
Honesty. Integrity. Sincerity. They were all qualities the larakytes lived by—the same qualities Judas had in spades.
Though she hated that to save her people she was the one who had to neglect their most fundamental behavior, she knew that sometimes those qualities weren’t enough. Sometimes guile and a need to atone was all one had left.
“Eat,” he said, indicating the spread of food, “before it grows cold.”
When she was replete and all but glowing within, Judas pushed back his chair and, acting more like a gentleman than any king she knew, he pulled her chair out too. “I have another little surprise for you,” he said.
Her pulse fluttered, but it was less to do with whatever he wanted to show her and everything to do with him being so close. He was so very tall and vital, a fact emphasized by him standing behind her. So very aware of him now, she’d probably pick him out in a crowd, blindfolded.
Back in his mandeolo, the garments lying on his bed of cushions immediately drew her eye. She put a hand to her mouth, eyes growing wide.
“What do you think?” he chuckled beside her.
The almost sheer black pants and bra top glittered with a fine sweep of jewels as though stars in a midnight sky. Black calfskin ankle-boots with a throw of tiny jewels at the instep, completed the ensemble.
“They’re beautiful,” she whispered.
As a larakyte princess she’d worn amazing royal garments on occasion, but nothing like the extravagance before her. Not by a long shot.
Then again, her father and his people had had to leave behind all but their most essential items. The famous larakyte jewels, the exquisite royal furnishings. Even the once beautiful palace itself had been pillaged. Rumor had it not even a stone had been left standing.
His pleasure at seeing her pleasure was
obvious. “I’ll have one of my servants help you dress while I attend to my own attire.”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“I insist,” he said huskily. “I want to see your hair dressed as beautifully as your body.”
She nodded. “Okay.” She wasn’t about to make an issue out of it. Besides, she just might learn a tidbit or two from a servant’s slip of the tongue.
She swallowed, drifting toward the king without volition, the palms of her downward facing hands skating over the fine ripple of his abs and under the knot of his low slung towel. She looked up, into his eyes that were blazing hot at her touch. She smiled and breathed, “Hurry back.”
Chapter Three
Akeisha looked into the round mirror with something close to awe. The austere Fontaine might not have given anything away about the king, but she’d done an amazing job with her hair.
The elder woman had brushed out her silver tresses until they’d shone. She’d threaded diamonds into triple strands at either side of her face and pulled the bejeweled hair back into some sort of intricate braid, leaving the rest of her hair to free-fall down her back, a silver cascade against midnight, glittering black.
The effect was…sublime. She’d too often seen her beauty as a flaw, something people didn’t look past to the person she was beneath. But right then she was proud of what she saw…more than proud.
I hope Judas likes what he sees.
She closed her eyes. Damn. This obsession with the king had to stop. She needed to be in control. Be in control of him. Breath shuddered from her lungs. It was the way things had to be if she wanted to save her species.
She wouldn’t—couldn’t—fall in love with the Zaneean king. Besides, was it even possible to feel that way about someone in such a short time?
“You look beautiful, angel.”
Her eyelids flickered open and she spun around. God, he had the silent tread of one of her own kind. Even in her big cat form she’d have been lucky to hear his approach. She tried not to stare at him as she touched one of the jeweled strands with an unsteady hand. “Fontaine is very clever.”
Judas strode toward her. “Mm. But then she had great material to work with.”
She flushed, ridiculously flattered. “Thank you.”
He kissed her on the brow, his breath warm, his gaze lingering. She unobtrusively breathed in his spiced scent. Dark. Delicious. Exotic.
Just like him.
In his traditional rakkia robe with his sword and double fighting rods hanging from the belt at his waist, the gold cuffs on his forearms somehow enhancing his strength, he looked every inch a king. And more.
“I thought you might enjoy some sightseeing of the markets outside the palace.”
She smiled, delighted. Being seen with the king was the highest honor afforded to anyone. She wasn’t going to refuse. And despite the palace being huge, she craved the outdoors—even if it was within the great rock wall that barricaded the humans inside against potential enemies.
Minutes later she was stepping into a carriage pulled by four big grays. The horses’ heads tossed, pink nostrils flared and manes flowed as they jigged on the spot.
She wasn’t surprised to find the carriage flanked by soldiers protecting their king. Something within ached for him. Despite her royal status, she’d been much luckier, blessed to have lived in relative freedom.
She turned to Judas. “Do you ever tire of guards shadowing you wherever you go?”
He shrugged. “There are those out there who wish me harmed.”
She shivered. Yet another reason the larakytes shouldn’t leave the Scantia forest. With humans so far only breaching the fringes, their kind could go about their business without fear of what Judas must face every single day.
But if the humans were braving the forest border, how long before they delved deeper? Was that her father’s concern?
She sucked in a breath that didn’t quite reach her lungs as the horses’ hooves clattered loudly on the cobbled street leading away from the palace. She had to talk to Judas about her people at the first opportunity.
Before it was too late.
The road quickly narrowed until small wooden houses either side were easily within arm’s reach, wooden shutters tightly drawn. Everything was neat and clean, but claustrophobia pushed in at her from every side.
Terror constricted her chest and she shrank back in the carriage seat, inching ever closer to the shelter of Judas’ hard heat. She’d never liked small spaces and big crowds. It was yet another reason her father had given her a freedom that few princesses experienced.
For most of her life she’d lived with her father in a simple, but large sprawling home in the forest. More often than not she was outside, avoiding the scattering of other larakyte houses and exploring, hunting and breathing in the open spaces, the crystal clean air pungent with the scent of pine.
Judas put an arm around her shoulders. His hand that absently stroked her upper arm kept most anxiety at bay, but even so she fought against the churning in her belly, her mind. She refused to allow him to see her one paranoia. Besides, if she let anxiety get out of control—any emotion—she mightn’t find the strength of will to restrain the beast already stirring within.
Smokey cooked bacon and open fires assailed her nostrils as the carriage clattered into the crowded market place, where vendors in little tents sold their goods. The noise as they shouted out their wares even while buyers quibbled over prices, goat and sheep herds bleating with fright, was almost overwhelming.
“Are you okay?” Judas’ dark eyes searched her undoubtedly taut expression.
“Of course,” she lied. She wouldn’t let his being nice tear down her defenses. But when she took in his poised, calm expression, all sense of false bravery faded away. Her voice cracked, “Just stay close.” Please.
His eyes glinted, perceptive, knowing. But his smile was easy. “I won’t be letting you out of my sight, believe me.”
That’s what I’m afraid of.
As much as she wanted Judas’ possessiveness; counted on it, one slip up in front of his sharp stare and she could forget about helping her people. Her deceit might very well cause the larakytes more harm than good.
She put a hand to her mouth, stifling an alarmed gasp of dismay. It might well be her actions that finished them all off.
Judas wrapped a protective arm around her waist. “Relax, angel, I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Won’t you?
Yet, soon enough his touch calmed her frazzled nerves. Soon enough she even began to forget about all the “what ifs” and enjoyed the festive air, the camaraderie of the humans who seemed all the happier for seeing their king. Though everyone clearly sensed his ruthless side and remained respectful at all times, none appeared to fear him.
They welcomed him.
She leaned closer still to his hard strength.
He really is a great king.
Even the soldiers trailing some yards behind faded into oblivion as she lost herself in the array of markets. The stores were fascinating, the vendors selling everything from boiled fish eyes, cakes sweetened with honey, to squawking chickens in reed-woven cages and the most intricate of gold and silver jewelry behind sealed glass cases.
Diamonds dazzled from one of the wealthier stalls. The vendor’s apathetic stare widened, his be-ringed, veined hands clapping together when Judas steered her toward him. “Your Majesty!” The man bowed his head, clasped hands pressing against his lined brow.
“Vasilous,” Judas said with a wry smile.
Akeisha hid a smile of her own at the man’s almost pompous display of deference. But she was somehow unsurprised by the fact the king knew many, if not all, his people’s names.
“What do I owe the pleasure of the king’s company?” Vasilous asked.
Judas’ arm tightened around her momentarily, before he commanded, “I’d like to tempt Akeisha with some of your best work. I’m sure you have a piece or two hidden away?�
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The older man turned toward her with a beguiling smile. His lips abruptly thinned even as his eyes widened, a flare of surprise—shock?—registering in his stare.
Shit. He didn’t recognize her real self, did he? No, he couldn’t. The beast was at rest, for the moment accepting its restraint. And though her silver hair and irises were a dead giveaway, few people knew that fact and even fewer linked the two together.
The vendor’s eyes clouded over and a grin spread across his face, revealing crooked, overly large teeth. He turned back to Judas. “What perfect timing, sire. I’ve been working on a pendant from a large diamond—fresh from the Tikal mines.”
Akeisha stiffened, forgetting all about his reaction on seeing her. She’d heard horrified snippets of conversation about the mines that were just outside Judas’ realm. She couldn’t withhold a glare as the vendor bent and lifted a small, locked strongbox.
He paused, hands lovingly cradling the varnished wooden chest when she asked, “You mean the mines where young children are forced to work?”
Vasilous peered up at her, evidently mystified by her reaction. “Surely a woman of your,” his eyes swept up and down her jeweled garments, “refined distinction, wouldn’t think beyond her own beauty?”
Everything sensible dissolved at this greedy old man’s assumptions. “You dare judge me?” Her voice came out sharp, brittle. “You should feel nothing but shame growing rich from blatant child slavery.”
The vendor’s eyes glinted. “Yet your clothes are awash with diamonds?”
Her breath snagged. She turned to Judas. It hadn’t crossed her mind that he’d use diamonds from that…place. Surely it wasn’t true?
Judas stared down the other man. “Those diamonds came from my royal coffers, sifted from the sands of the Helbelzcha desert.”
Vasilous looked suitably chastened. “Of course, Your Majesty. Please forgive me for my inference.”
At the king’s fierce expression, Akeisha put a hand on his forearm. The vendor had left a sour taste in her mouth, but she didn’t want it to ruin Judas’ good mood too. “The stall nearby looks lovely—”