The Black Prince (Shadow Unit Book 5)

by Tigris Eden

  Chapter 3

  Yewa woke with a start. She still remembered her dream. Enri. He’d been the one to give her over to the Agency— or had it been a figment of her imagination? Her mind supplying the memory because she slept in the crypt with him? The dried blood on her arm irritated her skin, the viscous liquid having caused her skin to stick to the floor. Why do these things happen to me? she mouthed heavenward as she peeled her arm from the ground. She was covered in dried earth, blood, and Oshún only knew what other manner of filth. Sitting up, she scraped the filth from her skin and looked at Enri, who remained asleep. His chest barely moved.

  “It’s about time,” came a dark voice from the corner. It was Gregor.

  “Gregor?”

  “You slept in his blood?”

  “I was tired.”

  “But you slept in his blood.”

  Yes, she’d slept in his blood. She didn’t understand why Gregor was vexed.

  “I did not see any other choice.

  She’d been drained. Zapped of any strength.

  “You could have called one of us. We would have taken you to your room.”

  “I see.” She looked over at Enri’s body and shrugged. “He needed me. His chest was opened, and he bled out on the floor.”

  “You didn’t do this?” Gregor wondered aloud. He stepped from the wall he’d been leaning against.

  “No. I would never harm another.”

  “Well, if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

  “The Earth shook.” But she’d known someone else was there in the crypt with him. Whoever they were, they’d been the one to shake the ground—and to harm Enri.

  The male looked at her as if he waited for her to say more. When she said nothing, he spoke again. “You mean an earthquake?”

  “Yes, the Earth shook.”

  She wasn’t that well versed in English, but she thought she spoke the language well.

  “There was no earthquake, Yewa. I know Enri can be a pain in the ass, but you can’t go around harming people.”

  “I did no such thing!” Yewa explained. “I would never. I heal people, not hurt them. I also do not lie.”

  Gregor stood a breath away from her, his form tall and menacing as he stared down at Yewa. He offered her a hand, and she willingly accepted. She didn’t feel any fear. Not from Gregor. And she wouldn’t dread the actions of another man for long as she lived. She’d made peace with that a long time ago. If ever there came a time when a male tried to inflict harm on her, she would check out. Leave her body and pray to Oyá, goddess of the wind and sudden change, to take her into the heavens until the horrible deed was completed. It’s what she’d done the first time she was brutally attacked, and the Mother of Nine had always come to her calls.

  “I’m sorry, Yewa. How else do you explain what happened?”

  “I thought I already did.”

  “Forget it. I came down here because the girls are looking for you. You missed the evening meal.”

  Yewa looked around. The crypt smelled of death and was covered in filth. She’d already healed Enri. Improving his view was next on her list of things to assist with.

  “I’d like to dine here. Maybe get some light, and some blankets to make a pallet for Enri, as well as some linens for me. Fresh clothing, as well.”

  The look on Gregor’s face could only be called lost.

  “You can’t mean to stay here?” He asked.

  “I do.”

  “Dietrich will raise hell if he finds out I allowed you to do this.”

  “Omari is my brother, but he is not my keeper. Please help me to help Enri.”

  Gregor shook his head and cursed under his breath.

  “I can hear you.”

  “I know you can, but I’m trying to be respectful. I know you’re not one for foul language.”

  “It is not the word itself, but the way you use it.”

  “How else should one use it, Yewa?”

  “Sparingly.”

  “Right. Let me get you set up down here with the Fallen. I’ll have Caelian bring you some light and clothes. Is there anything else you require?”

  “A water basin and something to clean him with.”

  “Now you’re going to bathe him?”

  “Is this something you’re not accustomed to?”

  “Lady, no one bathes me but me.”

  “Even when you are unable?”

  “Yeah, even then.”

  Gregor walked into the darkness, and moments later, Caelian returned with light and some clothing. He didn’t speak to her as he placed two lit torches in the wall mounts and handed her the garments. He didn’t have to speak to her, but she spoke to his retreating form as he left.

  “Thank you, Caelian.”

  The male didn’t respond.

  Now that there was light in the room, she could look at Enri’s form. His body had healed nicely, although his trousers were ruined, and his shirt was non-existent. Good thing I requested clean fabrics. She couldn’t imagine Enri wanting to remain in what he wore now.

  “This will be good for him,” Yewa said to herself.

  She believed everyone had a little kindness in them, including the dark prince. Gregor returned with the additional items she’d requested, and Yewa set about her task of cleaning the area. The water basin and towels were warm. The water would soothe Enri’s aches and possibly allow him to wake in a more forgiving mood. It wasn’t the earthquake, as Gregor had called it, which did this to him. It was something darker, sinister, more aggressive. Could he have angered one of his gods? Deities became jealous and displayed fickle behavior if they felt spiteful toward one of their own. Many deities walking among them acted out of malice. The gods were prideful. Often, they tried to disguise their outbursts as warnings. What lesson had this particular god tried to teach Enri? Is that why he’d wanted her to leave? Could he have been protecting her?

  “There is good in you, Enri. I know there is,” she whispered down at his prone form.

  Enri could open his eyes. He could move if he wanted. Instead, he waited. Waited for the right moment to strike. She’d removed the chain around his neck, and one from his foot and arm. As if two bonds could hold him. He’d probably rip the appendages off, but they’d grow back. The foolish female didn’t get it. There was nothing good about him. Not one single iota. People craved the light; Enri thrived in darkness. There was no reason to smile, and laughter happened when it came at someone else’s expense. Enri did everything in his power to ensure others around him felt miserable, and the one time he expressed a little kindness, the results turned out to be in his best interests, not theirs.

  Things weren’t going the way he’d planned, but they would soon. He’d deal with the Danea Trinity and Clan Ellys, and he’d also deal with Erebos and see if there was any truth to the Throne of Creation. They were pieces being shuffled around on a board of his choosing. And today, he’d work Yewa to his advantage. If she wanted good, well, he could be accommodating. The warmth of the cloth against his leg annoyed him and pleased him at the same time. If he thought about it for a while, he could conjure up an image of a woman servicing his cock. For that, he’d rise.

  He knew the moment she realized his dick was hard. The cloth on his leg stopped moving, and her breath became clogged in her throat on an indrawn gasp.

  “Don’t stop there, Sundara, keep going. Work my dick, sweetheart. You said you’d give me what I need, and I need you to get my body warm and my seed pumping.” He opened his eyes. Liquid pools of silver stared back at him in shock, the color bright against her warm, dark skin. What an oddity she was. He thought her irises had been brown before. He looked closer. Behind the silver, he could see the undertones of a clay-colored brown. Her eyes change color. There was dried blood on her chin, and dirt smudged her cheek. She blinked a couple times as if to clear the erotic image he’d supplied from her head.

  “Well, don’t stop. Keep going,” he urged, propping himself up on his elbows.

&nb
sp; “I…I cannot do as you ask.” She stood, backing away from him until she hit the wall.

  “Why the fuck not? You want me, don’t you?” Every female wanted him. It was his curse and his reward. He’d been given a face able to wet the driest of panties. Hers included. He wasn’t complaining. A good fucking served him well.

  “Please, must you talk to me that way?”

  Enri stood. One arm and one leg still restricted by the damn chains. He stalked toward her until the irons stopped him. It gave him enough leeway for him to stand inches from her face, her air, mingling with his.

  “I’ll talk to you how I see fit. I thought I told you to leave.”

  “Yes, you did. But I came back.”

  “I see that. Why?”

  “Because you needed me.”

  Why did she insist he needed anything?

  “I don’t need you.”

  “You keep telling me that.”

  “Well, try and clue the fuck in. If a person says they don’t need you, it means they don’t need you.”

  “But you do,” she avowed. Her warm, sweet breath covered his face, temporarily clouding his judgment. His eyes were momentarily distracted by her bewitching mouth. Full, ripe, and puffy. Plush and easy to tug between his teeth. It had to be the only reason his head bent forward, bringing their lips together. Her mouth was soft, deceptively so. Enri slid his tongue along the edge of her lips and slightly dipped between the seam. Yewa’s eyes widened as her body froze. She didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. She stood absolutely still. Against her mouth, Enri enunciated each word, drawing them out to make sure she understood exactly what he intended to do. Every syllable, a kiss of its own. He kissed her a total of seven times.

  “If. You. Stay. I. Will. Fuck. You.”

  Yewa stayed perfectly still. She didn’t breathe for fear of setting him off. She wasn’t scared of Enri, as much as she was frightened of the act he threatened to commit. His eyes bore into hers. A piercing blue that at times fluctuated between black and iridescent cobalt. They weren’t exactly dark, or light, but somewhere in between. The longer she stared, the more lost she became. So much darkness in his depths. She could see the anger, the hatred, and the utter loneliness he kept buried deep inside. Something beyond her sight swirled in the blue pools of his orbs. Reminiscent of the night sky before it allowed the Dawn to stretch her arms wide across the expanse of the universe. The touch of his lips unsettled her. They were warm—too warm. His words were harsh, but his mouth was soft. Each syllable caused a slight touch of his tongue. A sensation she’d never experienced. Her body’s reaction caused her heart to thump against her ribcage. How could such ugly words come from the lips of a man so well put-together?

  He was nude.

  She wasn’t blind to the attractiveness of the opposite sex. She just avoided any type of physical contact. A male’s body was hard and lethal. Enri had that in spades. Including the very male part of him currently inches away from her own skin. Do not think of him in that way. He is a person. Ropes of muscle packed neatly and purposefully beneath his skin exuded arrogance and virility. Everything about him reeked of raw power. She knew the chains would only hold him for so long because she could smell the stardust fading.

  His arms rose to cage her in, keeping her trapped between him and the wall. Enri pressed the hard length of his body against hers. Her breath halted within the confines of her chest. The heat radiating off his skin seared hers. The hard exterior of his chest, pressed deeply into the swell of her breasts, almost stopped her pulse. The top half of their bodies touched while their bottom portions barely grazed the other. His head dipped forward again, and she heard—as well as felt—the growl vibrating inside his chest.

  Yewa froze, her eyes wide with concern. Like one of the animals of her native land when cornered by a lion as it took aim and charged forward, Enri would go for the kill. She could see it in his unflinching gaze. He wanted to do harm to her. He didn’t care a bit about her well-being or peace of mind. He wanted her rattled and afraid.

  Maybe this was a bad idea. I should have left with Dietrich. She could have. But then, he’d try keeping her locked away. Not intentionally, but it would happen. Her brother didn’t see her as a woman. He saw her as the child she was when captured. Her infancy no longer existed, hadn’t for some time. She was a different person now, an adult. She might not have seen the world, but she’d experienced most of what it had to offer by way of cruelty.

  “I will not leave you,” she forced out on a rushed breath.

  Enri’s eyes shuttered at her words, and when they opened again, she thought she glimpsed a hint of kindness. Concern. So, she pressed on. “I will not leave you.”

  “Why do you keep saying that?” he hissed. Like her promise burned him.

  They were talking, and their lips still touched. Maybe they were kiss-talking? No one does that. His body was pressed into hers, and as they stared at one another, he didn’t let up. Refused to move. Yewa didn’t want to test her boundaries. Instead, she went for conversation. They may as well have been kissing. She’d seen it done many times in her tribe. She’d tried once with one of the boys in her village but had been shunned. Proper females were not the aggressor. It was the men. Why wouldn’t Enri step back? He had to find this whole thing uncommon, and absurd.

  “I only say what needs to be said,” she said softly. The words, when spoken, caused her mouth to brush against his again. Yewa made the mistake of licking her lips. Why did she do that? Her tongue swept out quickly with the intention of moistening her dry lips, but in the process, her tongue touched his lips. And almost as if he waited for her to do just that, he took control. A handful of seconds was all it took, no more than two or three, but those seconds felt like an eternity. Yewa swore she could taste the beginning of her end in his flavor, bold, and hot . A spice that didn’t burn but tingled pleasantly against her taste buds.

  When Enri spoke, his voice sounded raw, coated in a thick layer of roughness she’d not heard from him before.

  “Well, I don’t care for it. Now leave. Unless you’re staying, which means you want me to fuck you.”

  “Fuck me?” Yewa questioned against his lips. “Do you mean you want me to lie with you?”

  “No, I mean, fuck you.”

  That made her breath stall.

  He couldn’t mean that. Could he?

  “You would take from me without permission?”

  “It wouldn’t be without permission. You’d beg me to.”

  “But I am not your mate.”

  Enri turned his head and cursed. But was quick to return to their previous position where their lips touched.

  “You don’t need to be someone’s mate for them to fuck you.”

  “I don’t like this word, fuck,” Yewa said. It was the second time she’d said it, and even the first time felt funny. Awkward would be a more apt description. When she said those words, her lips pressed deeper against his. Enri didn’t back away. He stood there, unmoving. Clarity hit her then. He liked her talking in this manner. The word itself wasn’t the problem, but how one said it in a sentence, or how it was used in passing is what bothered her.

  “I don’t like the word lie,” Enri said sharply. The tip of his tongue touched her lips again as he spoke. Testing his boundaries. Trying to see how far he could take it with her.

  “This word you use, fuck,” she said it harsher this time; emphasized it the same way he had when he’d spoken to her earlier, and she’d felt—as well as heard—the sound lodged in his throat.

  No. No. That was not her intention. Then why did you say the word again?

  “Say it again,” he said, his voice thick and harsh.

  “Why?”

  “Say it again, Yewa.”

  He was the only one besides her brother who actually knew how to pronounce her name. The others pronounced it wrong. She liked the way the A rolled from his mouth and fell upon her ears. Appropriate, but inappropriate. He talked in softer tones, though, still demandi
ng. If he really needed her to say the word again, she would.

  “Fuck.”

  “Again.”

  “Fuck.”

  Enri’s head dropped to her shoulder, and he sniffed her.

  “You want to help me, don’t you?”

  “I have said I would. Yes.”

  “Then remove the chains.”

  Caelian would try to kill her if she freed Enri.

  “I cannot.”

  “You can. If you do, I’ll take you with me. You’d be helping me. Isn’t that what you said you’d do? Help me, by giving me what I need?”

  Yewa nodded.

  “Then, help me.”

  He said he’d take her with him. She’d get to see some of the world. Parts she’d not yet seen.

  “Where will we go?”

  “Where do you want to go?” he crooned at the shell of her ear, the words vibrating along her spine in a pleasant way.

  He is a demon, her mind supplied. No, he is misunderstood, and misguided.

  “If I do this, will you harm me?”

  “No.”

  Yewa nodded her head, and Enri stepped back. The chain around his leg was the first to come off, then the one secured to his left wrist, finally freeing him. When the irons dropped from her hand, Enri stood to his full height. He towered over her, and if it could have been believed, she swore he grew in size. He looked down at her as she looked up at him. A smile ghosted his lips before he spoke.

  “You stupid, stupid, girl. You should have never let me go.”

  His laugh echoed throughout the cave, and he took two steps toward her, herding her back into the wall.

  “You said you wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “I lied.”

  Enri’s hand reached out and grabbed her by the throat. His hold was tight, but otherwise, she felt no pain. He pulled her into the brawny wall of his chest, and there he held her. She thought it was for comfort, but he had other ideas in mind. One moment they were in the crypt, the next, they were not. They were in the middle of the courtyard. Darkness had not yet fallen. Enri kept a strong grip on her, his eyes burning like liquid fire as they zeroed in on her face.