Her hand tightened into a fist in the back of his jacket. Jerked. Half the coat came away under her Direkind strength. “Sorry,” she managed. “Didn’t mean to do that.”
He was too busy swirling his wet, clever tongue over her nipple to answer.
She dropped his coat and reached for the back of his shirt, hungry to feel bare skin. Her nails rasped over the linen.
He lifted his head. “Claws.”
“Sorry.” Diana tried to retract them, but she couldn’t seem to manage the concentration.
Before she could figure out the trick, the world swung around her, and she realized he’d scooped her into his arms. She clung to him, dizzy and panting. “Where are we going?”
“My bed.” He dropped her onto something soft and yielding, then pounced, warm and bare. Somehow they’d both become naked.
“Where’d our clothes go?”
“They were in the way,” Llyr growled back. “Too many buttons.”
Then his mouth returned to her nipple again. Teeth raked gently, sending fiery curlicue spirals up her spine. She writhed against the silk beneath her, feeling her mind spinning away, drowning in heat.
He suckled her in long, deep pulls that wrapped up in her consciousness and dragged everything to a tight and quivering point. Mind reeling, Diana grabbed for his head as the only stable thing in her universe. Her fingers slid into the long, sweet-smelling strands of his hair and bunched into fists, holding him tight. The cool slide of blond silk in her hands made her moan.
Touching him was so seductive she just had to go exploring, stroking her palms over the warm contours of muscle and bone, over satin flesh dusted in short blond hair. Breathing in deeply, Diana groaned. “You smell so good. Like magic and sex.”
Llyr chuckled and lifted his head. His opalescent gaze met hers, bright with dancing flecks of color. “You smell of mortal soap and wild things.” His mouth curled into a smile. “I like it. All buttoned-up and prim on the outside, hot and feral underneath.” One big hand brushed down her thigh. She gasped as he slipped a finger between her labia. “Very hot. Dragon’s Breath, you’re wet.”
Diana smiled and reached down the length of his body, found something jutting and thick. “God, you’re hard.”
“I’ve got to taste you.” He slid down her body, and she groaned at the feeling of his strength. His cock brushed her thigh as he moved, maddening her with its erotic tease.
She lifted her head, gasping at the feel of his long hair slipping across her skin. “If you’re going to do that, I want a bite, too.”
He looked up her torso as he settled between her thighs. “I think not. I suspect you have fangs to go with those claws.” Then, angling his head, he contemplated her sex and lowered his head to lick.
The first pass of his tongue had her arching off the bed with a shout. Before she could writhe free, he wrapped his arms around her thighs and pinned her. His tongue flicked over her clit. “Ah!” She threw back her head at the fiery pleasure.
“You taste just as good as you smell,” he said, with another delicate lick between her lips.
“You’re going to drive me insane!” She pumped her hips pleadingly, dying for another pass of that magnificent tongue.
He caught one of her lips between his teeth and gave it a gentle, teasing tug. “Mmmm. I do believe I might like that.” Then his tongue thrust deep into her sex, wet and hot. He lapped slowly, as if enjoying an ice cream cone.
Diana sucked in a breath and groaned. “If you don’t quit teasing me, I’m going to bite you!”
Llyr lifted his head to smirk. “Sweet, people who threaten kings get clapped in irons.” His wicked grin widened. “Come to think of it, that isn’t a bad idea.”
“Don’t you dare!”
“But you’d look so good in bondage.” He contemplated her wet, spread sex. “And just think what I could do to you, once I had you at my mercy.”
“Oh, God,” she whimpered, as his tongue began its hot dance over her clit. “I’m already at your mercy.”
“Now that,” he rumbled, “is what a man likes to hear.” Then his mouth locked over her clit and sucked. She exploded like a bottle rocket with a scream of delight.
Diana’s nervous system was still sparking and fizzing when Llyr fell on his side beside her and propped his head on his fist to grin down at her, smug and very male. “Did you like that?”
“I’ll tell you—” she had to stop and pant—“once I can string a sentence together again.”
“Ahhh.” Llyr rolled over onto his back, and her mouth went dry at the sight of his perfect strength. “In the meantime, I have another question.”
Deciding she’d better get another taste of him before he got high-handed again, Diana sat up and contemplated his powerful body. “And that is?”
“Are you ready to play again?” He flung his arms out in invitation across the silken disorder of his hair. His shoulders looked wider than the pile of pillows he was propped against, and his torso was sculpted in ridges and tempting hollows, thick pectorals capped by small brown nipples.
She reached out and ran one forefinger down the washboard ripples of his belly. His chest hair curled in thick, bright gold strands. “Definitely.”
“Good.” He smiled lazily at her, and the light in his eyes made her sex clench. “I want to watch you ride me. Now.”
It didn’t occur to Diana to deny him. She rose, slung one thigh over his waist as he caught his cock and angled it upward. Aimed. And, with a groan, sank onto the thick, delicious shaft, knowing even as it slid deeper and ever deeper that she was making a very big mistake.
She just didn’t give a damn.
She looked like his dream.
Diana’s sweet, warm little backside rested across Llyr’s hips as her sex gripped his cock, hot as melted butter and strong as a fist. She’d thrown her head back at the sensation of being impaled on him, and her soft, pink mouth gasped as her lashes lay like long feathers on her cheeks.
Hungrily, he let his gaze slide down the length of Diana’s body. She was lithe as a pixie, her breasts small, exquisitely sensitive, her legs long and muscular as they gripped his flanks. And the way she felt…
Llyr threw back his head and gasped as she moved, sliding upward slowly, her small, soft hands braced on his belly. He felt something pricking his skin and realized her claws were still out, long and curving, a silent warning she wasn’t quite in control.
Dragon’s Breath, that was arousing.
She flexed her fingers again, unconsciously kneading his belly like a cat. Claws pricked, but didn’t quite dig in. Llyr rolled his hips upward, driving his cock deeper into that slick satin body.
“Ah!” Diana flung her head back at the sensation. Her face was framed by dark, wispy strands of short hair, like an elegant silk cap. White teeth nibbled her upper lip. She leaned back, grabbing her slender ankles and bowing her torso up into an erotic arch, the better to grind down on his cock.
Her next thrust very nearly clawed an orgasm out of him. He held on by bare will and gritted teeth. She braced her knees farther apart, rose, and forced herself down again, impaling her slick, sweet sex on him.
Pleasure blazed its way up Llyr’s torso and seared right into the base of his brain, agonizing and gorgeous. He’d long since lost count of the women he’d had, yet he’d never had one like her. He hadn’t known strength could be erotic in a woman, but the power of her slim body gripping him, riding him, was hotter than anything he’d ever known.
Hungry to touch her again, he reached up and cupped her small breasts. Tight nipples pressed into his palms as he squeezed the dove-soft flesh. Diana groaned and rolled her hips, doing exquisite things to his cock.
His fragile grip on control snapped. Llyr caught her by her waist and rolled her under him, mad to ride her. Wide silver eyes blinked up into his, and she gasped as he came down over her. He speared deep in one long thrust. She felt even slicker and tighter like this. Llyr drew back and powered into her again. �
�God!” She writhed. “God, you feel so good!”
“Yes,” he gritted. “You’re…ah! You’re snug.” He lunged again, unable to resist the temptation of her slick, gripping heat.
She lifted her long legs and wrapped them across his working ass as she slid her arms around him. Claws pricked at his back like little spurs.
And Llyr went mad.
Bracing his weight on stiffened forearms, he ground deep, drew back, slammed inside again, ground—each thrust pounding pleasure through him like a spike.
“Llyr!” She convulsed under him, her eyes widening with shocked delight. He watched her climax take her, arching her body up and back, her pretty mouth opening in a long, strangled scream. She flung her arms out, gripped the mattress. Something ripped violently. He didn’t care. Her inner muscles milked his cock in long rippling swallows, and he could feel his own orgasm boiling up out of his balls.
He went over with a roar.
Maddened, submerged in a blazing climax, Diana watched the Sidhe king come, tendons standing out in tight cords on the sides of his neck as he threw his head back. She’d never seen anything more beautiful, masculine, or wild.
All that elegant royal culture is a mask, she realized. He’s as feral as I am.
It was her last thought as her climax drowned her brain in pleasure under Llyr’s pounding cock.
When he finally collapsed back onto the bed, it was to wrap his arms around her and pull her half onto his chest. Diana was perfectly content to be there, listening to his galloping heartbeat and breathing in his erotic Sidhe scent.
Absently listening to his rough breathing quiet, she ran her fingertips over the muscled ridges of his belly. “Thank you.”
He laughed, a little breathless. “Ah, sweet, believe me—the pleasure was most definitely all mine.”
Diana smiled. “Well, not all yours.”
“That’s good to hear.”
They fell silent again, concentrating on breathing.
Unfortunately, that gave Diana too much time for certain unpleasant realizations. She’d just had a nooner with the King of the Fairies. That couldn’t be good. There’d be those “bitch in heat” comparisons again, not that he’d ever be so vulgar as to say such a thing aloud.
Okay, stop that, she told herself sternly. Yes, she’d banged Llyr only a few hours after she’d met him, but that made her Direkind, not a slut. She might look human, but she wasn’t. The rules were different.
But stupid, said a voice in the back of her head, is still stupid.
Silently, Diana groaned. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?
Sighing, she sat up and raked her hands through her short hair. It was probably standing up all over her head. “Ummmmm.”
He opened one eye. His expression was easy, relaxed. “If you’re about to spoil the mood, don’t.”
“I do have to get back to the office,” she told him reluctantly. “I told my clerks I was only stepping out for lunch.”
Llyr grinned. “And a lovely meal it was, too.”
She grinned back, unable to resist his wicked smile. “I’m glad you approved, Your Majesty. Unfortunately, however…”
“…Duty calls,” he finished for her.
“Loudly.” She started climbing reluctantly out of bed. “And then there’s the whole killer-vampire-on-the-loose thing. I’ve really got to stick a stake in that bitch.”
“I do intend to help you with that,” he pointed out, lifting a brow. He frowned, his mind visibly shifting gears to their common problem. “By the way, did the killer leave anything behind—hair, blood, anything of that nature?”
“You mean physical evidence?” Diana looked around absently, searching for her clothes. “I don’t know. I could check with the chief. If he found anything, he’s probably planning to send it to the state lab for DNA tests.” She grimaced. “Unfortunately, given the backlog at SLED, it’ll take months to hear back.”
“SLED?”
“The State Law Enforcement Division. South Carolina’s answer to the FBI, only even more underpaid and overworked. Did you see what happened to my clothes?”
Llyr waved a regal hand. Diana’s eyes widened at the tingling rush of power over her skin. When she looked down, she was dressed again in her charcoal gray pantsuit and red blouse. “Now there’s a time-saver.”
“My pleasure. About the killer…I could work a locator spell with a few strands of hair, if you can get them for me.”
“I’ll see what I can do. How am I going to contact you if I manage it?”
He nodded and extended a hand toward her. Automatically she reached out to take it. Light flashed, and he held a hand mirror. She accepted it awkwardly. It was so heavy, it must be solid gold. Diana examined it wonderingly. “What’s this?”
He smiled slightly. “Magic. Say my name to it, and it will call me.”
There were actual honest-to-Tiffany jewels set in the back. And she’d bet they were real, too. Diana looked up with a nod. “That’ll work. In the meantime, could you create one of those gate things and send me back to the hotel?”
“Of course.” She watched with admiration as he rolled out of bed. Another absent wave, and he wore a dark blue velvet doublet, snug blue hose, and a jeweled codpiece she knew from personal experience he did not stuff.
It was all she could do not to drool. “Wow.”
“Wow?” He cocked his head. Bright golden hair shifted across the dark velvet. “I’m not familiar with this term.”
She dragged her gaze away from his codpiece with difficulty. “It means if you don’t make that gate for me in the next five minutes, I’m going to have to dock my own pay for taking a three-hour lunch.”
He smiled slowly, seductively. “But Diana, darling, it’s only been two.”
“Exactly. Gate, please.”
It shimmered into being. She stepped through with Llyr’s rich chuckle echoing in her ears.
Llyr watched her go with a mental purr of satisfaction. He’d had more than his share of women over the centuries, including four wives and ten mistresses, but none had ever matched Diana London in sheer lush enthusiasm.
She might not make a good queen, but as a lover, she was everything he’d ever dreamed of.
Smiling in sated delight, he strolled into the formal chamber. He still had tasks to take care of if he meant to go on a vampire hunt.
But as he started to seat himself at the desk with its pile of waiting work, guilt pricked his conscience.
Janieda.
Much as it pained him to admit it, perhaps Kerwyn had been right after all. He hadn’t loved her.
She’d fascinated him, yes, and he’d thoroughly enjoyed her passion in bed. But more than that, he realized with a prick of regret, she’d been safe. She’d kept the other Sidhe ladies at a distance with her jealousy, so Llyr hadn’t had to worry about becoming involved with any of them.
Meanwhile he’d kept Janieda herself from expecting more by his search for a queen among the Majae. Though she’d resented it bitterly, the gambit had worked. None of the assassins who had tried for him over the next century set their sights on Janieda.
Unlike his wives and the other women he’d courted, she’d been safe. At least until Geirolf kidnapped her.
Diana would be even safer, if what Merlin had told him about the Direkind was true. The Fey had designed Diana’s werewolf people to fight the Magekind if need be, so they were highly resistant to magic. She’d be more than a match for any assassin.
So he’d woo her. It shouldn’t take long, since she needed him right now as badly as he needed her; the arrangement would suit her as well.
He’d just have to make damn sure neither of them got his or her heart broken.
SIX
Suddenly the outer door banged open. Llyr conjured his sword into his hand and lunged to his feet.
He relaxed as his grandmother pushed her way past the guards in the hallway. “For the record, Llyr Aleyn Galatyn, I do not want puppies for grandchildren!”
Laughing, he put the sword aside. “I have no intention of marrying her, Grandmother.”
Oriana glowered at him. “Does she know that?”
He settled back into his chair. “She’s not a fool.”
“Well, that’s obvious,” the Dowager said, impatient. “And she seems a nice enough child, Direkind or not. Not enough to be Queen of the Cachamwri Sidhe, mind you, but personable and bright.”
“I’d agree with you there. Your point?”
“You are very hard on your women, grandson. Or at least, that wretched brother of yours is. Keep in mind who’ll pay the price for your pleasure.”
Llyr stiffened, stung. “The pleasure is not mine alone, Grandmother. And the little werewolf is more than capable of taking care of herself. Why do you think I’m even considering making her my mistress?”
Suddenly his frustration boiled over, and he rose to pace. “Dragon’s Breath, I tire of this. If it weren’t for Father’s curse, I’d have settled it when Ansgar’s pet murderer killed Isolde and our son. Perhaps it’s time I begin hiring assassins of my own. See how my dear brother likes it.”
“Don’t go down that road, grandson.” Oriana’s voice was low with warning. “You won’t like its end. And neither will your people, when your nobles rise up against you as your father instructed.”
He wheeled on her. “And what of Ansgar’s nobles? Why do they sit silent when he flouts Father’s will over and over?”
She shrugged. “They have no evidence of his crimes, and he has them too cowed to look for any. But you, my boy, are justly unwilling to brutalize your people enough to cow them. You must abide.”
“Or die.” Llyr curled his lip. “Sometimes it would almost be worth it to have an end to this.”
Oriana’s eyes widened. “That is not a welcome jest, boy.”
“I’m not joking.” Pacing to the window, he braced a hand against the wall and gazed out over the gardens. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s cowardice, this abiding by Father’s will. One magical strike against Ansgar…”
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