The Hard Way (Box Set)

by Stephanie Burke

  “Humans and Fey.” He sighed, closing his eyes and slouching a bit.

  “Hmm, and you have discovered…?”

  “That there are more things that I need to look into.”

  “And let go of, like your prejudicial belief that Fey are so damn perfect.”

  “I never said we were perfect…”

  “And you never admitted you have faults, either.”

  “We have faults,” he hedged. “We do… questionable things.”

  “How very human of you.” Ash chuckled, pulling her hand free and wrapping it around his waist. “Have you any idea why we are trapped in this room? Have you come to any conclusions, dear prince? We humble masses are dying to know.”

  “Well.” He rolled her eyes at her mocking form of address. “That other female, the one who was here before you, she got out.”

  “And why do you suppose that is?”

  “I don’t know!’ Johansen was honestly perplexed. “She stopped acting like a spoiled little bitch after I gave her the silent treatment.”

  “So she gained some humility?”

  “And some self-respect. Then she was gone.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What?”

  “A theory. She learned her lesson and she left. So what lesson do you have to learn, Johansen?”

  “Lesson?”

  “And for that matter, what lesson do I have to learn? It’s all so confusing.”

  Johansen sighed and snuggled back into the covers, closing his eyes in frustration. “I got trapped here, running from my people. Well, from my marriage to a human.”

  “Ohhh!” Ash purred. “A fiancée! My dinner has connections and attachments.”

  “Not funny,” he snapped, reaching out and slapping her lightly on the ass. “Besides, I let you get away with a lot of stuff because you are a phenomenal fuck.”

  “And no care for the bride?”

  “Hell, for all I know, she could be crying her eyes out over this.”

  “And you never bothered to check?”

  That gave him pause. “No,” he answered finally, pulling Ash’s hand up to his lips. “And maybe I’m beginning to think I should have.”

  “Ohh, the prince is learning,” Ash teased, then laughed as he slapped her ass again.

  “So I can learn,” he snickered. “Anyone can learn.”

  “About time you realized that.”

  “And why are you here, Lady Ash? What are you running from?”

  “Myself…” Ash trailed off. She pulled away from Johansen and settled herself deeper in the covers.

  “Yourself?”

  “Sometimes, this monster I have within me, this arcana that doesn’t belong to me? Sometimes I hate it.”

  “Hate… Are you trying to kill yourself?” Johansen asked, eyes growing wide in shock. “Do you hate yourself…?”

  “I love myself, prince,” Ash growled, eyes burning red in her anger. “It took me a long time and a lot of healing to realize that, and I am not going to let anyone take that away from me.”

  “So…”

  “So… I wanna… I hate this thing that tries to control me. I hate this thing that dictates how I should live. I hate the monster I’ve become.” She turned to look at him, serious as he had ever seen her during their short acquaintance, and it was a horrifying sight. “Sometimes I just want to kill each and every one of you fuckers,” she hissed. “And then I realize that would make me no better than you, taking my anger out on all of you because I can’t get at the one I despise most.”

  Johansen was at a loss for words. He stared at the vampire he had come to believe was nothing more than smart talk and hunger, an amusing distraction while he was stuck here, but again her words gave him pause. There was something about her… something…

  “I need to use the bathroom,” Ash sighed, blinking rapidly, allowing her red eyes to take on their normal brown tint. “I need you to move so I can get myself together.”

  Wordlessly, Johansen moved out of the bed and let Ash climb free of the covers. Maybe he was a hypocrite. Here he was complaining about being forced on a human when she had gone through so much more. No human, even a mate, had used arcana to hurt him. No human would hold sway over his life. In a few years, the human would age and eventually die, despite the mate bond to an immortal. With no arcana to sustain them, aging always caught up. And then he would be free again.

  But Ash… She was stuck this way for an eternity.

  And the sad thing was that the Dryad who’d cursed her had to have known what he was doing, known that wild arcana would alter her in this manner. He’d ensured that she would never forget him and his lake, and he’d done it in the cruelest way possible.

  The betrayal she’d felt must have been overwhelming.

  He jumped when he heard the shower start again. He could go and join her, but no. He needed more time to reflect on what he was learning.

  The Fey who had so betrayed her was one of his own kind. How many times had he turned a blind eye to what his own people had done, because it was mainly done to the humans? How many atrocities had he allowed and not spoken out against all because he felt the humans deserved it? What kind of ruler would he be?

  “I wonder what my mate is like?” he finally asked himself. He got up and absently walked around the room, tugging on his robe and covering his naked body.

  His mind began to wander to the plight of his people if he ran away. It was not an easy thing to be an oath breaker. Even if the oath had not been spoken by his lips, he would still bear the brunt of the burden of bringing shame and disgrace upon his family.

  “I really hate my family sometimes,” he grumbled, plopping back on the bed. Rolling onto his stomach, he buried his face in the pillow Ash had been lying on. He inhaled deeply, the scent of wild arcana, of near-human spice, and of his own blood.

  Ash, as far as things that were human went, was not too bad. She managed to be intelligent without being a know-it-all. She was wise beyond her years, which probably made her older than him if the tales of her past were true. And she was blunt to the point of being brutal with her honesty.

  Being infused with wild arcana would not have done anything to alter her basic personality. What she was, she was because of the things that she’d gone through. Her past had shaped her, the events that made up her life had made her the way she was.

  He kind of liked her.

  Maybe there were more like her. Maybe this human mate of his would be like this, as well. But he would never know unless he took a chance and went back.

  “Damn, I hate it when I’m wrong,” he growled, climbing to his feet and turning toward the shower. He was going to get him one more piece of Ash before he went back… if he could find a way out of this place.

  Being a king demanded certain sacrifices, he decided. He would put up with his human mate for a time. And if she was anything like Ash, he would even mourn at the end of her short life span.

  “Ash?” he called, stepping into the steamy bathroom. “Brace yourself, baby! I’m about to show you why Dryads are considered the Lords of the Water!”

  Chapter Seven

  Johansen clenched his fist, and instantly Ash was enveloped in the grip of steaming hot waters.

  “Johansen!” She was bodily lifted from the ground, her legs spread even as she was held in a sitting position.

  “I hope you’ve gotten yourself together.” Tossing the robe from his body, he stalked into the bathroom. It seemed somehow bigger than it had been before.

  “Johansen?” Ash’s eyes went wide as she stared at the man before her. She seemed to realize he had come to some conclusions and wanted to celebrate.

  But he spoke not a word. Instead, he opened his hands and the tingling waters spread Ash’s legs even further, lifting her so that, as he approached, her pussy was just about at mouth level. His eyes were a deep, dark blue as he stepped even closer. He closed his eyes and inhaled her personal scent.

  “Even through this water
, I can smell you.” His words were spoken in a deep bass. He opened his eyes, staring up at her through long lashes.

  Before she could gather her wits enough to comment, he leaned forward, his fingers separating her labia, exposing her to a harder stream of water he directed with his arcana.

  “I want you to feel everything,” he purred. “And I want to watch.”

  Ash hissed, closing her eyes. He spread her wide and the stream of water teased her clit. She felt it swell under his gaze and the direct touch of the water, heard the whimpers that flowed from her throat.

  “Beautiful.” He directed a tendril of water to wrap around the base of his cock, a semi transparent, bubbly cock ring that held him hard and erect. He moved to hold her spread with one hand as the other trailed over her ass. “Have you ever played here?” he wondered out loud. The delectable flesh of her ass had drawn him ever since she’d bent over when they first fucked. Now he wanted a piece of that for himself.

  As she nodded frantically, a slow grin spread across his face. He felt his heart pound and his cock grew even harder in its confinement as he thought about spearing her with his hard flesh.

  “Then we must play.” He directed another tendril of water to rise between them. At his silent direction, the shaft of water began to spin, bubble and twirl while maintaining its form.

  “Do you know where this is going?” he asked, and a shocked Ash could only shake her head no.

  He chuckled, deep and dark, and ran one finger over the puckered entrance to her ass, feeling the tight muscles quiver beneath his touch. Ash moaned, throwing her head back as she reacted to his words. Her body grew full and wet, her juices running over her labia to join the water all around them.

  “Have a toy,” he whispered, then that twirling bubbling mass of water began to work its way into her pussy.

  “Ahhh!” she screamed, her hips fighting to arch up against the warm, wet grip of the water. But there was no give at all. She was held tight as the shaft of water ravaged her hungry pussy. His fingers relaxed their hold on her folds but immediately traveled to her clit, pinching and tugging at the small, swollen nubbin.

  “Johansen!” Ash shrieked, and he shuddered, trying to concentrate on getting her ready when all he wanted to do was slam as hard and as deep as he could inside her.

  His other finger began to press harder against the opening of her ass, striking nerves rarely stimulated and causing her to bite her lips in anguished ecstasy. He leaned forward to lick away small droplets of blood that appeared as her fangs pierced the skin of her lip.

  “Don’t hold it in,” he breathed. “I want to hear you moan.” With another silent thought, a slim shaft of water appeared at her ass, slick water that coated his fingers and the muscles of her anal opening. “I love this.” He pressed his finger inward.

  She shrieked her pleasure, and Johansen felt his cock lurch in its suspending ring. Her insides were so hot, so soft, so tight and elastic. He couldn’t wait to bury himself there. Slowly, moaning himself, he began to pump his finger inside her, moving it in time with the twirling shaft that filled her pussy to overflowing.

  “Johansen!” she bellowed, tears forming in her eyes at the intensity of the feelings he created within her. She bit her lips, tossing her head from side to side, held suspended by the gently flowing waters. They seemed to caress every inch of her body while fucking her pussy to the same rhythm Johansen’s finger fucked her ass. Her hands clenched and her body shook, and Johansen could not get enough.

  “You are so beautiful this way,” he groaned, fucking her a little faster with his finger, then slowly and carefully adding a second. “Soon, I’m going to take your ass, Ash. I’ll fuck your ass with my cock as my waters dance within your pussy.”

  “Yes!” Ash managed, her voice high and needy. “Yes please! In my ass!”

  Johansen grunted and added a third finger, cramming them carefully inside her, fantasizing about the tight velvet grip he would soon feel surrounding his cock. Suddenly, Ash stiffened as the first of what he hoped would be many climaxes rocked her body. He watched in rapture as her cunt struggled around the shaft of water, watched her convulse rhythmically and shudder with her release.

  He felt a drop of pre-cum slip past his foreskin as it retracted farther back, exposing the glistening purple head.

  “This is going to feel so good…” He pulled his fingers out of her ass, watched her anus gape open like a small hungry mouth. Determined to fill her, he pulled her down to his level, directing more of the slick water to coat his cock. “I’m going in, Ash,” he breathed. “Come for me again.” Johansen pressed against the outer muscles that guarded her inner treasures.

  He wrapped his hands around her hips, the confining waters reclining backwards as he eased forward. The head of his dick popped through the first ring of muscle. Ash opened her mouth, threw her head back and panted while he groaned and shuddered.

  “Slowly,” he reminded himself out loud, easing in further. Her heat was amazing, unbelievable, and so tantalizing it almost brought a tear to his eyes. He felt the head being strangled by the tight, muscular grip before it suddenly gave way and he found himself sinking deeper. “Arcana, you are so hot, Ash.” His spine tingled and his toes curled on the tile floor. “You are so perfect on my cock.”

  Ash shuddered. The shaft of water in her pussy began to move faster, keeping her on the edge of release as her ass was filled to capacity. Slowly, he forged onward until at last his balls slapped at the crease in her ass and his pubic curls meshed tightly with hers. “Perfection,” he moaned.

  Ash responded by screaming as another orgasm ripped through her body, sending her anal muscles spasming around his thick cock.

  “Arcana, Ash!” Johansen bellowed, resting his forehead against her chest and trying not to lose control.

  After a moment of her erotic groans and whimpers, he pulled out an inch and carefully eased back in. The pull on his cock was delicious, and he felt his balls draw up almost instantly. She was driving him over the edge without even trying. He carefully eased his way out and then back into her ass, the shaft of water in her pussy keeping time as the tendril of water teased her clit.

  Ash was losing it, her eyes wide as intense pleasure stole her voice and her muscle control. She just grunted every time he bottomed out, her pussy and her ass convulsing around the objects filling her. The water ran over her body, stimulating her nipples, her sides, her neck and other places she’d never considered erogenous zones.

  And Johansen savored each and every wiggle and sound.

  “Hot and tight,” he panted, leaning over to pull one erect nipple into his mouth, “Mmm.”

  He began to speed up his motions, Ash’s body struggling to arch into the touch, demanding more with her silent, wonder-filled eyes. And Johansen was happy to deliver, running his hands over her body through his waters, moving his hips faster, grinding his cock in deep.

  Time lost all meaning to him as he enjoyed his pound of flesh. And Ash responded wonderfully to him, climaxing over and over, giving so much of herself without restraint.

  It was too good to last.

  Soon the heat and her velvet tightness drove him over the edge.

  “Ash… Ah! Ash!” he grunted, his hands tightening on her waist as he began to spiral into release. “Arcana, bless me!” he bellowed at last, the tingling in his balls reaching critical mass.

  He closed his eyes. His muscles clenched, his thighs froze, and his hips drove him onward in uncontrollable spasms of ecstasy. Again and again he thrust, driving himself in as deep as he could as his cock shot wad after hot wad of come deep within her ass. Ash herself stiffened and found the energy to scream when one final climax tore through her body. Her eyes closed and her pussy and ass tightened down one last time before her consciousness fled.

  Johansen groaned and gasped, fighting for breath, to draw in energy for the waters, because having sex with Ash was about to kill him. He felt his knees wobble and called upon the waters to cushi
on and support him. It was with the last of his energy that he recalled the shafts and tendrils that tormented her body.

  His waters had done their job well.

  It was a prince, replete in every way, that called the waters from their bodies and carried them back to the bed, depositing them there dry and clean once more. He cuddled Ash close and finally closed his eyes, his body demanding rest.

  Chapter Eight

  Johansen smiled down at the exhausted female currently snoring in his bed. He chuckled at the thought of the expression on her face when he had speared that tight little ass of hers.

  Ash was the oddest female he had ever come across. It was sad that she would not be his mate. He didn’t know much about her, in spite of the time they’d spent together, but he had a feeling discovering her hidden facets would be… interesting, to say the least.

  He leaned down and placed one more kiss on her forehead, running his fingers through that wonderfully textured hair of hers. It was so different from what he was used to that he wished he could bag some and take it with him. But he didn’t have that right.

  He pulled away and began to dress in the clothing he had arrived in, a velvet tunic over a linen shirt and tight, black leather pants.

  Something was urging him to dress, and it seemed he had no power to fight the call. Completing his toilet, he turned one last time to stare at her perfect yet imperfect human features and then he walked out the door… right into an elevator car.

  He had time to gasp once and then the glass car moved swiftly downwards. It slid open with a hiss and suddenly he was faced with a team of porters dressed in livery.

  “Mr. Blakeley,” one said, grinning. “I see you are ready to check out. Very good, sir. I hope you enjoyed your visit here, and will return to us when you have a need.”

  Johansen blinked, as if acclimating himself to a new environment, then he nodded.

  “It’s time for me to make my way home.” His words were spoken softly but with determination. “There are matters I have to see too.”