She wriggled against him at first, her hands pushing at his chest, and then she yielded, going soft in his arms and lifting her hands to grasp his shoulders, clutching him so hard that he felt it through the black scales of his armour. The murmurs running through the crowd grew in volume.
Mad elf prince.
That one had him growling against his female’s lips.
Others hit the right mark.
Not the mad elf prince.
The sane one.
Someone dared to grab his shoulder and he turned on them with a vicious snarl, and then froze when he saw it was Bleu who gripped him. His second in command scowled at him.
“And you had the audacity to warn me not to go too far?” he said in their language.
Loren looked down at Olivia as she panted in his arms, and then beyond her to Sable who stood in a puddle of glass and liquid with a shocked look on her face and her empty hands held in front of her, and then around him.
Bleu was right, and he had gone too far, and it hadn’t stopped the males from staring at his sweet Olivia.
Darkness curled through him, rage burning up his blood like an inferno, and he unleashed a roar in their direction.
“Newly mated?” A male voice came from behind him, calm and cool, not a trace of fear coming from his scent.
Loren scowled over at the owner of the voice.
The male jaguar shifter set a shot glass down on the black bar top and grinned to reveal short fangs. “On the house. You need it.”
Loren drew in a deep breath to stop himself from killing the male and sent his helmet away, keeping the rest of his armour in place. He released Olivia and lifted the proffered drink to his nose, and sniffed. It burned all the way down to his lungs.
“What is this?” he said with a frown and the male scrubbed a hand over dirty blond tousled hair, his bright golden eyes filled with amusement. The colourful club lights flashed over him, changing his white shirt to match each hue.
“Hellfire,” the male said with another grin and winked at him. “The only known cure for the bitch of a bond.”
This male didn’t seem to place much importance on a sacred bond and it irked Loren. An eternal mate was something to seek out and cherish.
“I am expected to drink this?” Loren raised an eyebrow at the black liquid in the small glass.
“It would be rude not to drink it and it will stop you from scaring customers away from my club.” The jaguar’s expression turned serious.
Bleu’s black blade was against his throat a heartbeat later and Bleu was growling at the male. “You seek to poison my prince?”
Several males of different species melted out of the crowd behind Loren, triggering his senses to high alert. They formed a loose crescent around Bleu and Loren. Come to protect their boss, presumably. The jaguar wielded more power than Loren had given him credit for. Loren calmly placed the glass down on the bar and pushed it across to the jaguar male.
“So you are an elf prince then?” The jaguar casually placed two fingers against the razor-sharp edge of Bleu’s sword and eased it away from his throat. The heavy scent of his blood filled the air around them and he placed his fingers into his mouth and sucked thoughtfully. He pulled them out with a pop and quirked both sandy eyebrows. “Not the crazy one, I hope.”
Loren lost his patience again. “I remind you that is my brother you speak of in such a foul, disrespectful way. I am in no mood for this. Tell me what you know of Vail, or you will have no customers in need of service. I will kill them all.”
Olivia tensed and he thought she would say something, but she remained mute beside him.
The jaguar waved around him and Loren sensed the gathered males backing away and blending into the crowd. He pushed the shot glass back across the tacky bar top to Loren. “You really need to drink this. It will take the edge off your temper if nothing else. Drink enough and you won’t even remember that collar around your neck.”
“I do not desire a cure for my predicament.” Loren pushed it away again.
“I’ll take it.” Sable leaped in before he could stop her, grabbed the glass and drank it down in one go. She gasped and her eyes watered, and then she was coughing and smashing her fists against the bar top.
“Poison,” Bleu muttered and was beside Sable in an instant, one arm around her and the other clearing her black hair from her face as she wheezed. “You dare poison the female.”
“Human?” The jaguar glanced at Olivia, his voice weak. Loren snarled at him for daring to look at his female, grabbed the collar of his white shirt, and dragged him over the bar.
He growled at the male, his face mere centimetres from his and his black claws shredding the male’s shirt.
The jaguar growled back at him, the sound feral and strange, and his fangs lengthened. Fur rippled over his body.
“Water,” the male spat out.
He wanted water? Loren frowned, confused by his request considering his predicament.
“Water!” Olivia called out and one of the female bartenders rushed over to her with a glass. She helped Sable drink the liquid down, Bleu holding her steady in his arms.
Loren released the male shifter.
The jaguar backed off beyond arm’s reach and straightened out his ruined shirt. “You need to leash that temper if you want to stay in this club.”
“Do not look at my female then.” Loren was trying to keep a ‘leash’ on his temper but it was hard when there were so many males in the club and he viewed all of them as a threat.
“Noted.” The jaguar poured another shot of Hellfire and drank it down, following it with a second one.
Sable finally stopped choking but her eyes still watered, her face flushed red.
“You okay?” Olivia said and she nodded and then seemed to realise that Bleu was holding her.
Sable jerked out of his arms and buried her face in her hands. When she emerged, the dark mess her tears had created under her eyes was gone and she made a strange awed-sounding noise. “That was some drink. Can I have another?”
Olivia gave her an unimpressed look. “No.”
Bleu muttered something and returned to Loren. “I couldn’t find a siren.”
The jaguar male shook his head. “You won’t. Not around here. Too many nymphs. Those ladies hate them. The males mess with their mojo. I think they cancel out each other or some crazy shit like it.”
Bleu gave him a disinterested look but Loren could see that his second in command was already trying to figure out the best way to tap the shifter for information. They hadn’t gotten off to a good start but Loren would find a way to smooth over the rough beginning and convince the jaguar to talk more about his club and those who frequented it.
“Bathroom,” Olivia shouted just as the music faded to change songs and everyone nearby looked at her. A blush burned up her cheeks and she grabbed Sable and rushed away from him.
“Interesting female you have there.” The jaguar male stripped off his ruined shirt.
Loren was thankful that the male had waited until Olivia was out of sight before revealing his muscular bare chest. Scars slashed across his golden skin. Claw marks. He had fought a lot in his years. It was impossible for Loren to tell his age from his appearance though. Most shifter species could easily live to over a thousand years old without appearing beyond forty in mortal terms.
“Are all elves as aggressive when it comes to protecting their females?”
Loren nodded. The jaguar didn’t need to know that part of Loren’s aggression was because his bond with Olivia was incomplete. Until he convinced her to seal their bond, finalising it, he would be permanently on edge and convinced that all males were attempting to steal her from him.
He had heard rumours once, when leading a regiment of his army, that it was extremely rare but possible for a female to have two males as her fated ones, and that she could bear an incomplete bond with both until she completed it with one of them, at which point the bond to the other would shatter.
He had never seen or heard any solid evidence to prove it was nothing more than the idle talk of marching soldiers trying to wind each other up, but the thought that Olivia might have another potential male in this crowd sent a shiver through him and chilled his blood, and he wanted her back with him.
The jaguar opened two slender brown bottles of something and set them down on the bar top in front of Loren, and then began mixing something in two glasses.
“Name’s Kyter.” He poured several different liquids into the two glasses and then tossed ice in with the mix, and glanced up at Loren. “I take it you came here looking for your brother?”
Loren nodded. “Vail. His name is Vail, and it would be wise you contact me should you see him. He is extremely dangerous. He may have a female with him, a dark witch known as Kordula.”
“We get a few witches in here and it can be hard to get a bead on them because of their spells, but I’ll keep an eye out. You got a number we can contact you on if your guy comes walking into the joint?” Kyter poured the mixes into a tall metal container, plugged the end with one of the glasses and shook it.
“Olivia will have a number for you.” Loren hoped Olivia didn’t return while he was mixing the drink. The action of shaking the contraption in his hands showed his muscles off and was drawing attention from several females lining the bar.
Kyter didn’t seem to notice them. He set the metal container down, cracked the glass off the end, and poured the mixed liquid out into two clean elegant glasses with long stems and a wide curved bowl.
The female bartender came over and handed a fresh shirt to the jaguar and he teasingly flexed his muscles, earning a roll of her eyes but gaining an eruption of giggles from the females waiting at the bar.
Kyter put the shirt on and buttoned it. Loren’s gaze followed the female bartender and then settled on the women at the bar. Did the jaguar male like the attention from all the women?
His earlier words about bonds left Loren feeling that he was a devoted bachelor like Bleu, determined to avoid finding his mate.
A prickle of awareness ran down Loren’s spine and a blast of anger followed it. He shifted his gaze away from the females at the bar, to the point behind them where Olivia stood staring at him.
“Busted,” Kyter muttered and Loren glared at him.
He held his hand out to Olivia. She came to him, leading the way with Sable ambling along behind her, but didn’t take his hand. She sat on the stool beside him and settled against the bar, her profile to him. Kyter pushed the glass of coloured liquid to her and then slid one over to Sable when she finally reached the bar.
Loren barely leashed the growl that rumbled through his chest.
Bleu moved, grabbed one of the bottles of alcohol in front of them, and took a swig from it, and then another. Was Bleu irritated by the attention Kyter showed Sable?
Loren was more than irritated by the attention the male jaguar showed to Olivia.
But Olivia was annoyed with Loren too. He had been looking at those females and she had seen him, and she thought he was attracted to them. He could feel it in her.
What could he do to show Olivia that she was the only female he desired?
Being in the club with her, where she had been with that other male, a male who had hurt her and made it hard for her to trust another, and seeing so many other men looking at her was driving him crazy. He wanted to erase the demon from her heart and wanted to stamp his mark on her in front of all these males.
It was becoming impossible to resist touching her, even though he knew that she was still fragile and was still intent on fighting him, and that things were still precarious between them.
He hadn’t won her yet and this evening had made him feel he wasn’t even close to achieving the victory he fiercely desired.
Perhaps Kyter was right, and Bleu had chosen the best recourse.
He needed to dull the edge of his temper. If he were lucky, it would dampen his need for Olivia at the same time.
Loren picked up the bottle of beer, brought it to his lips and drank it down in one go.
CHAPTER 16
Olivia wasn’t sure what happened. One moment Loren was standing beside her and the next he was on his knees, growling dark things in his language. She looked past him to Bleu, who stood frozen with his beer in one hand and his eyes locked on Loren.
“Holy fuck.” Bleu awkwardly slammed his bottle down on the bar. It rocked and then fell, spilling the contents.
The nice man behind the bar swore too.
Loren’s ears went very pointy and just as Bleu stooped to help him up, he shot to his feet and shoved his hand into Bleu’s face, sending him flying backwards into an unsuspecting group of people. The two males pushed their females behind them, their eyes flashing red at the same time. Vampires.
The blond male in the group shoved Bleu aside and bared his fangs at her. A corona of gold fire and blue ice edged his crimson irises and elliptical pupils.
Olivia stared into his eyes, lost in the strange sensation of falling and the growing haziness that swept through her, heating her from head to toe.
A feral growl shattered the hold the male had on her and she shook her head, trying to recall where she was and what was happening.
Loren stood before her, his gaze locked on the blond male. A vampire or something else?
The two females had moved out from behind the males, their dark gazes narrowed on Loren and her. The one closest to the brunet male muttered something about taking Loren down with a kiss.
Succubus.
Olivia growled now. No succubus bitch was going to sink her claws into Loren when she was around.
Bleu got to his feet and faced the vampire males, his black blade at the ready. The males stared at him for long tense seconds and then flashed their fangs and moved on, guiding their females away.
“Loren.” Olivia reached out to touch his arm and he whirled to face her, his fangs enormous as he growled and knocked her hand away.
He said something she didn’t understand, grabbed her cocktail and drank it in one go. He staggered forwards and dropped the glass, and she saw Bleu behind him, his hand on Loren’s arm, as if he had tried to reach for the glass. It smashed at her feet and she leaped back, bumping into a huge man who caught her and tossed her a wicked grin.
That did it.
Loren erupted, launching himself at the immense male and shoving her towards Sable. Sable caught her and they banged into the other women sitting at the bar. Olivia pushed out of Sable’s arms and tried to grab Loren before he could attack the man, but she wasn’t quick enough and neither was Bleu. Loren slammed a right hook into the man’s face and followed it with a left uppercut.
The dark-haired man snarled, all of his teeth sharpened and ram-like horns curled from behind his ears. He huffed and smoke curled from his nostrils and she swore he grew a few inches.
The man from behind the bar leaped over it and shot his hands underneath Loren’s arms, hooked them over his shoulders and pulled him back. Bad move. He had left Loren completely exposed to the demon.
Olivia rushed forwards to intervene but she was too slow again. Something collided with her cheek, the taste of blood filled her mouth, pain stabbed like a million hot needles across her skull and the room faded to black.
Cool.
Warm.
Hot.
Her cheek was hot. Her brow was cool. Her body was warm.
Noise. Disjointed. Pain. Fragmented. Intense.
Her cheek was hotter.
“Liv?” Sable.
“Olivia?” Loren. Warm. Sweet. Violent. Loren.
“What?” she murmured, wondering what they were doing annoying her when she had been having a really good dream about Loren.
“She’s coming around.” Sable again. Coming around? Had she not been sleeping?
Olivia opened her eyes and frowned at the three familiar faces hovering above her, and the one vaguely familiar one.
Loren looked, different. His purple
eyes lacked focus and he had a really big bruise on his cheek. The same cheek as her hurt one. His fingers pressed against that cheek and the pain faded as he touched it, caressed it. The wound on his cheek worsened. The riot in her skull quieted.
“Loren?” she whispered.
“I am here, ki’ara.” He smiled at her but he didn’t look happy.
“What happened?” She looked at the four people and realised she was in Loren’s arms but was on a floor, in a loud flashing room.
“Turns out that Loren has never had booze before and there’s a bloody good reason for it.” Sable grinned when Loren and Bleu scowled at her, and then Loren’s face fell and she could feel his shame flowing over her.
“You were hurt because of me... again. I am sorry, ki’ara. I do nothing but hurt you.” He released her and stood, and she reached for him on instinct, afraid he would disappear again if she let him. She wrapped her hand around his ankle and held on to it, and he looked down at her but remained with his back to her.
She refused to let him go. It was coming back to her now and he wasn’t solely responsible for what had happened this time, just as he hadn’t been solely responsible for all the other times.
She had been the one who had acted like a child when she had seen him looking at those other women. She had been so jealous and angry, and they had been so beautiful. She had felt that he hadn’t been interested in them. There had been a marked difference in the constant quiet flow of feelings that came through the link between them when he had gone from looking at them to looking at her. She hadn’t been able to get it through to her heart that he hadn’t been lying when he had said he only wanted her though and didn’t want any other female, and had ended up shunning him and drinking instead.
And he had done the same.
If she had known he would react as he had, she would never have pushed him. She would have done things differently.
“Loren,” she said and lost her courage.
He looked back at her again and then sighed, stooped and helped her onto her feet. She closed her eyes when he gathered her into his arms and wrapped one hand around her head, holding it to his chest.
Kissed by a Dark Prince (Volume 1) Page 20