by Lexi Blake
“Shut up!” Lee shouted from his place on the floor. “How do you two get anything done? You’re either fighting or fucking. God, I never thought I’d want the faery back.”
Daniel and I stopped and looked at each other. It was true. Daniel and I both had big personalities that often rubbed each other the wrong way. When Danny had been human, he’d had much better control of his temper. His vampire DNA had taken over, and we fought a lot since his turn. I was just now considering how Dev balanced us. If Dev were here, he would have steered us away from the fight. He would have suggested other options or said something ridiculously outrageous and turned our minds from our stubborn positions.
Danny pulled me back into the warmth of his body. “We’ll figure it out, Z. Let’s get back to the palace and find a way to stop this war so we can get Dev and go home.”
I nodded.
Daniel looked back down at my broken bodyguard—who probably wouldn’t have gotten all broken if Danny had followed my advice in the first place. “I’m going to take Zoey back to the tent. She’ll be warmer there while we wait for your bones to heal.”
“It won’t take more than an hour or two.” There was an unnecessary apology in Lee’s eyes.
Daniel leaned down for me to hop on his back. I jumped up and wrapped myself around him. He looked back at me. “It’s just until we get past the winds and then we’ll fly the rest of the way. Neil, stay here with Lee. I’ll be back for the two of you in an hour if you aren’t down the mountain by then.”
Neil nodded and Daniel leapt out of the cave. He made his way down much faster than we had come up. I was thankful when Daniel stopped and let me down briefly before cradling me to his chest and taking off for the final part of our journey.
“We’ll be back at the palace tomorrow, Z,” Daniel promised as we floated toward the ground. “I’ll fly us as far as I can before dawn tonight and then we’ll be there after the sun goes down. We’re not going to let him kill himself.”
“Thank you, Danny.” I was so grateful to have him with me. I grinned up at him. “I’m cold. I can’t feel whole portions of my body. How am I ever going to get the feeling back?”
His smile was all male promise. “I think I can help you with that particular problem, baby. You just show me where you’re having sensitivity issues and I’ll make sure all those parts are functioning.” He leaned down and kissed me, his tongue making a brief, sweet appearance across my lips. “I’ll warm you right up. We have an hour. I can’t think of any way I’d rather kill some time than making sure you’re hot.”
We hit the ground softly and his hands were already delving into my shirt, his mouth back on mine in a possessive kiss. I went up on my toes to deepen the kiss and started backing us toward the tent and our somewhat comfy makeshift bed when Daniel’s head came up.
“Zoey, run,” he yelled as the arrow slammed into his torso. He flew back and was impaled on the trunk of a tree, his body stuck and unable to move.
I turned as fast as I could and saw a group of sidhe warriors advancing on us. They were led by a single female who had the nastiest grin on her unfortunately familiar face.
“I would not run if I were you.” Gilliana was wrapped in a fur-lined cloak and looked comfy. “I will order my men to kill that nightcrawler you are so attached to. They missed his heart. Barely. I could make sure they do not this time.”
I moved backward, standing beside Daniel and not letting that bitch out of my sight.
“Don’t, Zoey.” The tight tone of Daniel’s voice gave away the amount of pain he was in. “It’s silver tipped. I can’t move, baby. Just go.”
“She is not going anywhere,” Gilliana said. “Well, not anywhere she would want to go. I will take whatever weapons you have on you, please. Or I will order my men to fire. We can take you out with arrows, too. You should understand we’re prepared. After we heard you were looking for the leprechauns, I set my trap. Everyone in this part of the kingdom knows where the leprechauns hide their treasure. We’ve lost more than one citizen to that monster who guards it. I rather hoped he would eat you, but I do have a backup plan.”
I gritted my teeth and slowly pulled my gun out and laid it on the ground. There were too many of them to try taking a shot and Daniel was a big target. I pulled the knives out and gave them up, too. “What do you want, Gilliana? Killing me isn’t going to endear you to Devinshea.”
She sighed. “Yes, I’m afraid I got caught in that little web of Miria’s. Who would have guessed a mortal could be that good in bed? Trust me, if I had known what that fluffy piece of impurity could do to me, I would have begged Miria for a betrothal earlier.” She shrugged. “Some things do not work out the way we could hope. I had planned on getting him back with a baby. You ruined that. Father came up with a much better plan. I lose Devinshea, but at least you do not get to keep him.”
“Turn the Seelie against the Unseelie.” It was exactly what I had decided they were doing.
“That was the easy part,” she admitted. “The common folk hate the Unseelie. So does that idiot prince. Getting the queen and our good priest to agree to a war was the difficult part. Father is clever, you see. He knew the only way the priest would ever push for war was to engineer a very personal loss for him. He tried to take you out, but the baby proved easier.”
Rage pulsed through my system, and the only thing that kept me from tearing her throat out was the fact that Daniel was vulnerable. I wanted to, though. She’d taken my child, killed my baby. Dev had asked me if I wanted revenge and I did, but I couldn’t risk Daniel. “I’m going to kill you, bitch.”
“I am sure you would try.” Gilliana looked back at her guard. “Wrap the vampire in the silver chains. I would be careful if I were you. It might be best if one of you held a knife to his wife’s throat to ensure his compliance.”
I quickly found myself hauled against a body with cold steel at my throat.
“I’ll cooperate,” Daniel promised tightly.
“I know you will.” Gilliana turned back to me. “I would rather kill you, but I am afraid Father needs you alive. Even as we speak, Devinshea is weakening. The people will listen to him. The army will listen to him. I have to make sure he wants this war. He will be incensed when he realizes the two people he is closest to in the world have been taken as slaves by the Unseelie. I hope you like it rough, Your Grace.” Gilliana walked right up to me and slapped me as hard as she could. I tasted blood but refused to show it to her. “That was for humiliating me.”
“All of this for money?” I had visions of slicing her open and playing in her entrails going through my head.
She looked down at me. “This is not about money, Your Grace. This is about power. Father has been trying to kill Miria for decades. That guard of hers is good, but things happen on the battlefield. We will take out Devinshea and Declan, and then we will make certain that Miria meets an accidental arrow. The battlefield is chaotic. When we win, my father will take the throne and we will rebuild the Seelie into a pure haven for the sidhe.”
She glanced back at something I couldn’t see. I saw only that Daniel moaned as they pulled his body off the arrow and quickly bound him in heavy silver chains. He remained still, though he could have fought. His flesh smoked where his skin met the metal.
“I hand you off to your Unseelie hosts, Your Grace,” she said to me before addressing someone behind me. “I think you will find these two will get you a good price on the slave block. The vampire is exotic and can do the work of ten men, though precautions must be taken, of course. As for the girl, consider her a well-trained pleasure slave. She kept a sex god satisfied, so I think she can be called an expert.”
The voice behind me was scratchy, as though it hurt him to speak. “They’ll never make it to the auction house. I’ve already secured a private buyer to take them both.”
“Excellent,” Gilliana said. “I hope he is well satisfied with the purchase. I will make sure that the tale makes the rounds on this side of faery.”<
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“I have no doubt,” the voice said. “It may be time to up the rhetoric, my lady. King Angus is talking about negotiating.”
“He will have no choice but war after news of Her Grace’s enslavement is known. It is better than merely giving them a dead body.” Gilliana turned back to me. “I wish you joy in your new profession. I assure you serving that vampire of yours has not prepared you for the roughness of an Unseelie lord. They are barbarians. I will be surprised if you survive the night. Knock her out.”
Something hard came down on the back of my head, and I was down for the count.
Chapter Twenty-Four
I came back to consciousness gradually, having the most delicious dream. My body was warm and safe. There had been no confrontation with Gilliana and no one was going to take me to an auction house. Dev was with me, his tongue laving my nipples with the greatest of affection. My breasts were heavy, the nipples taut as they stood up begging for his attention. I didn’t have to do anything but let him pleasure me.
He sucked gently, more sweetly than ever before. Usually with Dev there was a certain amount of domination. He liked to show his strength and I got turned on by it so we all won. This was a new side to him and I sighed into his gentle touch. I would have thought Bris was with me, but I didn’t feel the rush of lust roll over my skin. There was a laziness to his tongue, like he had all the time in the world and he was content to play forever.
“God, that’s hot,” Danny said from somewhere in the darkness. I smiled in my sleep. He always liked to watch when Dev made love to me. He liked to join in, but sometimes he would just sit back and enjoy the show. I was naked and the world was warm with Dev’s love and care surrounding me.
“You like that do you, vampire?” Dev asked but his voice was strangely…feminine. “I’m surprised. I’d heard vampires were extremely possessive. It was a worry of mine when I made the deal.”
“Yeah, well, I might be a vampire, but I’m still male.” Danny laughed, a deep sexy sound. “No male is that possessive. Besides, you’re very much not what I expected. Why don’t you let me join you?”
There was a sweet tug at my breast, and I felt myself getting soft and wet. I sighed because I didn’t want to leave this dream. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew I would wake up and be forced to deal with the fact that I’d been sold to a goblin, or something like a goblin, as a sex slave. I would be used roughly and Danny would be forced to watch, and he’d probably be killed when they realized he couldn’t be controlled. Dev would fight his war and he would die. I would live my life out on this plane in agony, so I didn’t fight the dream of being gently made love to.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but I do know what you’re talking about,” Dev said in that strange, sweet voice as his mouth moved to the other breast and his hand sought out my soft center and rubbed so gently I moaned. “She’s so responsive. This is why I had to buy a girl. My boyfriend would freak if I played with another guy. I just…like girls. They’re so soft and sweet. I can be gentle with a girl. With my boyfriend, it’s all strength and power and dominance and that’s fine most of the time.”
“But sometimes you just need a little sweet pussy, right?” Danny asked, his voice low, and I knew he was ready to go.
There was a soft sigh. “Oh, and it is sweet. I’m not going to hurt her, you know. I really do promise that.”
Something small began to play with private parts of me and my eyes flew open. Even in my craziest dreams there was nothing about Dev or Danny that was small and soft. I looked up into the eyes of my Unseelie captor, who was supposed to be a brutal, barbarian overlord.
“Hello,” the small, sweet-looking female said with wide eyes. “Welcome back. I hope they weren’t too rough getting you from…well, wherever you came from. They didn’t tell and I didn’t ask.”
I couldn’t estimate how tall she was, but she was slender and her breasts were small but spectacularly formed. Dark-brown hair curled around her face and gave her the appearance of a gorgeous pixie with violet eyes.
I knew her breasts were pretty because she was right next to me and she was naked.
“You’re not wearing any clothes,” I said because I wasn’t sure of anything else.
The pretty pixie smiled, a decadent grin spreading across her expressive face. “That’s all right, gorgeous. Neither are you.”
I shoved my head up, which was a mistake because my brainpan felt like it was going to split in two. I rested it back down, but I’d confirmed the fact that she was telling the truth. I was naked and spread out for the world to see. My arms were over my head and I was pressed into a soft mattress, apparently tied to the headboard.
I moved my eyes to the left and the right, but all I could see was a softly feminine bedroom. The walls here were wooden, and I suspected I was in some sort of cabin. The only sound I could hear beyond my own labored breathing was a dog barking somewhere.
“What am I doing here?” I wasn’t where I was supposed to be. I doubted Gilliana had meant to sell me to anyone who looked like this girl. She would be flustered at the prospect.
The woman sat up. She smiled down on me and let her hands run across my torso. “Well, sweetie, I kind of bought you. Don’t freak or anything. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to play with you for a while. I was promised you’re experienced at giving and receiving pleasure.”
“I’m not a whore.” God only knew what Gilliana had said about me. I might have a strange sex life, but I’d slept with exactly two men.
She frowned and touched my face gently. “I didn’t say you were. I said you were an excellent lover. At least that’s what I was promised. Goddess knows you are extremely responsive. You got wet the minute I started rubbing your pussy.”
“Well, you should stop that.” I was sure my entire body went red with embarrassment. I would have crossed my legs but my feet were tied to the posts at the foot of the bed.
“God, please don’t,” I heard a familiar voice plead.
“Daniel!” I nearly shouted and I looked around again. If I stretched, I could catch a glimpse of him. He was stuffed in a corner, but he had a view of the action.
“Sorry, Z,” he said with a shake of his head. Even from where I was lying I could see that his fangs were out. “I’m just a guy and I didn’t even get to watch you and Sarah do it last month.”
“We were keeping Neil warm,” I explained for the thousandth time. We certainly hadn’t done it.
“Baby, you were naked with another girl in a big old bed. If Neil was there, I’ve blocked it from my memory,” Daniel admitted in a husky voice. “All I remember is four pretty breasts rubbing together and both of you looking at me and begging me to join you.”
I looked up at the smiling woman staring down at me and shook my head. “That was a fantasy of his, a product of his horny male imagination. I didn’t sleep with Sarah…well, I slept with her but I didn’t…” She slid her fingers down and gently played with my clitoris, parting my labia and rubbing with perfect pressure. I gasped. “Yeah, I didn’t do that with her.” I tried to get a little oxygen into my lungs. Girls really know where to touch other girls.
“I can teach you what she likes if you just let me out of these chains, sweetheart. I’ll tell you this much. She likes it when you rub little circles,” Daniel commented.
“Shut up, Daniel,” I hissed even as I proved I really liked little circles.
“I’m sorry, baby,” my vampire apologized. “It’s just this is so much better than we expected. This isn’t a bad place. We can relax here. She’s not a bad person, Z. I need you to know, I’m doing this for us. If she plays with you a little longer, I think I might be able to cut through these chains with my dick.”
The brunette threw her head back and laughed long and hard. “He’s hilarious.”
Her right leg rested on the lower half of my body. She was certainly a girl comfortable in her own skin.
“Yeah, he’s a laugh riot,” I said sarcastic
ally but I was happy she’d stopped playing with me. My body apparently didn’t care that she was female and not married to me. If she’d played a little longer, I would have gone off like a rocket. I blamed my husbands. When you’ve had that much amazing sex, your body gets conditioned to it. I decided it was time to ask a few questions. Since I wasn’t being tortured by a goblin and Daniel was with me, we might have a shot at getting out of this. “Who are you?”
“My name is Nim,” she introduced herself. “The hot vamp over there told me your name is Z.”
“Zoey,” I corrected.
“That’s pretty.” She moved her thumb lightly across my lips. If she’d been a nasty old barbarian goblin I would have been tempted to bite her and set our relationship on a proper footing. I found myself strangely reluctant to hurt the dark-eyed girl who looked down at me with an amused fascination.
“So you bought me?” It wasn’t the first time someone had tried to buy me. There were several vamps out there who had offered cash to Daniel for me. It was just the first time someone had succeeded.
“For a pretty penny, too,” she admitted, wide eyed. “I’ve been saving up. I’m afraid I haven’t found anyone over here who does it for me. I mean my boyfriend does, but the women here tend to be a little fierce. They’re actually kind of scary, if you ask me. I like soft. There’s one female but she isn’t into girls. I guess she’s my best friend. She actually has awful taste in men. Her last boyfriend was an asshole. You look like her. It was a bonus in my book.”
I wasn’t sure what that had to do with anything, but I nodded. “So you thought a slave could do it for you?”
She smiled brightly. “Oh, I made them describe you, but I knew the minute they said they had a human female that I was finally in luck. Human females are so sweet. The vampire was just icing on the cake. My boyfriend is going to love him.”
Now it was my turn to smile as I heard Daniel swallow nervously. I’d been planning our escape but it just might have to wait an hour or two. Turnabout was fair play. My vampire had enjoyed my sexual servitude. It was only fair that I enjoy his. “Nim, I’m going to have to watch that.”