Chapter 50
Knox stood in front of me, shirtless and covered in blood dripping from his razor-sharp claws, pushing through the tips of his fingers, black as night. Blackness surrounded his eyes, which were now swallowed in obsidian, banked with fiery embers that burned within them. He looked like something out of a horror story! Power was rolling off of him in deadly waves as he took a step toward me, and I tripped backward, landing on the ground only for him to follow me down.
He didn’t speak, but his nose went straight to my sex, inhaling it deeply like some wild beast before he slowly climbed my body, pinning me to the ground. He stared down at me as fiery embers continued to burn within his gaze. His mouth lowered to my neck, running his nose over the rapidly beating pulse at the hollow column where my neck touched my shoulder. Knox’s teeth skimmed my shoulder, sniffing it as he boxed me in with his body and held me to the ground with his weight. His knee pushed against my core as he licked my shoulder, creating a moan within my throat that I couldn’t prevent from bubbling up and escaping.
“Knox.” His name came out past the chattering of my teeth as heat flooded my core. He slithered against my flesh, watching me through dark eyes. He was one hundred percent predator, and I was the prey that he watched as he played with me. His facial features were more defined sharper as he studied me.
He pushed up from the ground, staring down my body, and his mouth opened to reveal razor-sharp teeth. He growled, lowering his mouth again, running his nose against the hard nipple of my breast that responded to his mouth against my shoulder.
“So pretty, little one,” he hissed thickly, nipping my nipple until I shivered with fear as his serrated teeth threatened to rip my poor nipple off.
He chuckled, watching my reaction. His clawed fingers moved between us as he held himself up by one arm, rubbing against my wetness that his close proximity had created. His claw pushed against the thin material, lifting it away before pushing his claw into my panties. In all reality, it should have torn me apart, but it didn’t. The hardened curve of claws skimmed my sensitive nub, and my legs spread while his eyes lifted. “Mine?”
“Please?” I was uncertain what I was asking him for since he was all sharp edges and razors.
I should have been screaming my head off for help, but no one in this entire realm that could stop this creature if he wanted me. His deep, husky laughter created more heat in my core, and he inhaled, watching me, learning me.
Knox lowered his mouth, brushing it against mine as his scent hit me full force, causing my body to jerk with the magnitude of it. It wrecked my senses, holding me prisoner to the raw, terrifying need to spread my legs and beg him to fuck me. It was terrifying, and yet it excited me knowing that he could either fuck me or destroy me if he chose to.
Knox rattled loudly from deep in his chest, and I followed it with mine, which was feminine sounding. His men entered the clearing, covered in blood as they watched us together through heated stares. I looked away from them to gaze back up at Knox, watching the predator that held me beneath him, trapped.
He was dripping blood from his lips, and his teeth were serrated weapons that scraped over my flesh, stealing a gasp from my lungs as they touched my throat. His cock pushed against me, and I shuddered, noting it was much larger than he’d ever let me experience. He pulled back, staring at me coldly.
“You and your people brought the realm to its knees for this pathetic dream to claim another realm. I will be the one to bring them to their knees as I watch them die, burning this dream to nothing more than ashes. You, sweet girl, you will be on your knees, watching me as I rain down fire on the Nine Realms until there is nothing left. You will crawl and bleed for me, little one, but you will not die.” He rattled loudly with his declaration and his men watching him as he continued to rattle until the trees trembled from the sheer velocity of it. “I will enjoy you as they cower in fear, knowing I am hunting them to extinction. You will be mine, and mine alone, woman.”
Yowsers.
That wasn’t ominous as all get-out, now, was it?
My hands trembled as they lifted, pushing through his hair while I brought his mouth to my throat. I bared it to him like a sacrificial lamb, and he smiled against it. His heated lips brushed against my wildly beating pulse, rushing blood to my brain with adrenaline coursing through me wildly, as he rubbed his erection against me unabashedly.
I turned my head, brushing my lips against his as he stared into my soul, devouring pieces of it slowly, meticulously. Knox had a beast, and that beast was a heartless prick who wanted to hurt me, and I wasn’t sure why I wanted him to, but I craved it. I craved him. All of him, uncaring that he had just admitted he was my enemy.
Embers moved in his eyes as if there was a fire within them that called to me. His mouth dropped against mine, brushing across it carefully, without hurting me, as if it was a coherent choice not to damage my flesh. He spoke of hurting me in one breath while holding me as if I was something to be treasured with the next. It confused, excited, and called to me.
His hands pushed the hair away from my face, watching me as I took in the changes and found them beautiful. I lifted against him, inviting him to take me, without being able to ignore the visceral need for him to fuck me right here, right now. Knox was burning from the inside out as if we were alike beneath the flesh we wore. His hand drifted to my stomach as a wicked smile filled his lips, and then he leaned down, whispering huskily against my ear.
“You’re so fucked, little Aria. You have no idea how much the thought of you on your knees, pleading for me, excites everything within me.” He inhaled against my ear, bringing his hand up against my throat, and I shivered with need as he chuckled. “Soon, I promise.”
“Knox.” I shivered as he pushed his erection against my belly. The power lessened in the clearing as I exhaled, pushing myself against him as white-hot need ripped through me. His head pushed against my shoulder as the rattle sounded again, but when it lifted, and he peered down at me, his gaze was once again the color of a turbulent ocean that could sink ships with the storm raging within them.
“Do not ever fucking do that again, Aria,” he uttered as his eyes turned to a deep, storm-colored blue. “Do you fucking understand me? If they had captured you, you wouldn’t have walked out of these woods tonight.”
“They weren’t the ones that terrified me, Knox,” I admitted softly, watching him as his lips curved into a dangerous grin while his gaze searched mine, but the moment he inhaled, his eyes grew heavy with lust.
“Careful, little lamb, you smell good enough to eat right now.”
“I kind of like the way you devour me,” I admitted.
He shivered and shook off whatever had taken control as a masculine grin lifted the corners of his mouth. Unlike mine, his wasn’t all about sex. It was more about things like murder, ripping alphas apart like they were nothing more than a wispy scrap of paper, and putting them right back where he had found them because apparently, it was rude not to, but in a few more pieces than they’d been before. He moved his hips and smiled wickedly, lowering his mouth to mine before he inhaled.
“They didn’t touch you.” His tone held relief as he studied me, letting his gaze drift to the shirt that was still wet from where he’d grasped my nipple between his massive teeth. His hips pushed against mine, and his heated blue eyes rose to lock with mine, raw need banked in their depths.
“I never planned to let their game get that far.”
He stood, pulling me with him as he picked something up from the ground and placed three tiny canisters into my palm. “They weren’t planning on playing fair, Aria. They planned to rape you and then remove your head. Why are you even out in the woods alone after dusk?”
“Dimitri found portals on our property.”
“And you intended to keep it from me?” He watched me as a tick in his jaw hammered, anger starting to take root as he assumed we were withholding things from him. I rolled my eyes at his reaction.
&n
bsp; “No, of course not, jerk. The first thing we asked Dimitri was if you had been notified before us, and when he said no, we asked why you hadn’t been. He said considering Amara’s situation, he wanted to tell us first. We planned to figure out the location of each and then show you where they are.” I left out the part where Dimitri had questioned Knox, and he shook his head.
“What else did he say?”
“He doesn’t like me fucking you and thinks I should be with someone of my own stature within the Nine Realms. He doesn’t like that I sleep with you and that I don’t even know what breed you are, which is a violation of the covenant. I told him to not worry about who I fucked. He got pissy, but he dropped it. Anything else you want to know?”
He searched my eyes before he turned to the men. “Clean up the evidence of the kills and toss them through a portal. You, Aria, get to come with me. I thought you wanted to fuck Dimitri?”
“If I had wanted to fuck him, he’d be fucked.”
“Interesting, considering every time you lose control of your beast, you end up on my dick,” he said, watching me carefully.
“It’s good dick, Knox.”
He chuckled, pulling me closer as he nuzzled my ear before slipping his fingers through mine, dragging me toward the creek. Once he reached it, he released my hand, and I watched him as he stepped closer to the water, scooping his hands into the ice-cold section of the creek to remove the blood from his body. The moment the water touched his flesh, it sizzled and then steam curled into the air. Slowly, he scrubbed the water over his arms and chest before standing and turning to look at me.
“Come here, woman,” he ordered, and I listened, because beneath the cool exterior, there was something else watching and waiting for me to disobey. And it was probably a serial killer that I’d totally almost just gotten off with. “Kiss me.”
“Why?” I carefully studied the way his body pulsed with carnal power even as I stepped closer to him, doing as he asked.
“Because I need your pretty scent to hide theirs, and it oozes from you when you kiss me, so fucking kiss me like you want me, little one.”
His hand lifted my shirt, exposing my midriff as he pulled me closer. I tipped my head back, claiming his lips slowly as he rubbed my body against his, creating erotic friction. My hands skimmed over the washboard abs to his chest, then down his arms, rubbing my scent over his flesh, marking him. Deepening the kiss, he devoured my mouth, pulling me closer until I was pushing my fingers through his hair as he lifted me. My legs wrapped around him, and I tossed self-preservation to the wind as I kissed him like the last few days away had left me famished, and half-crazed with need. He pushed his cock against me, and I started to undo his pants to get to what I needed.
A cough sounded behind us a moment before my sisters exploded into the clearing next to the creek. I pulled away from his kiss, staring at him, and my hands slipped off of his cock unwillingly, moving around his shoulders as I climbed down, skimming over the cock that had grown hard again to remind him he was mine. He smirked roguishly as I pushed against it, wanting it on an animalistic level.
“You’re coming home with me tonight,” he whispered huskily against my ear as he turned me to face the people moving through the woods into the clearing.
“You bet your ass I am, big boy.”
Dimitri took in the way I leaned against Knox and his arms wrapped against my body protectively. His chin rested on my shoulder, and I was confident he had a shit-eating grin on his lips. He rumbled his growl deep from in his chest, and then the rattle escaped his lips, and mine sounded instantly, as if his beast called to mine, and it answered him eagerly.
“That explains where Aria went,” Kinvara chuckled. “The new portals are larger than the first two on the property, but they are in the back and as large as Dimitri said they were.”
Dimitri hadn’t looked away from me. His hands fisted at his sides, and he turned his lips up, taking in the way I melted against Knox. I couldn’t move, not because I didn’t want to, but because there was a massive erection resting against my lower back. I was a greedy bitch, and I didn’t want anyone to see the rather large package that I was going to get delivered tonight.
“Logan, Chase, and Brent have all vanished. I can’t sense them or catch their scent,” Dimitri growled angrily. “You wouldn’t know anything about the disappearance of my men, would you, Knox?”
“I only just entered the woods and came upon a ravishing maiden drinking from the creek and decided to devour her pretty mouth. Then the impish maiden climbed on, and things got hot and heavy rather quickly, which made it rather hard to give a fuck what happened to your men. She’s rather demanding when she needs to be fucked. You know how it is with Aria. Oh, wait, you don’t.”
“Ouch, he went there,” Kinvara snickered.
“I will have her, eventually. You will be recalled to the Nine Realms, and I’ll be the one to catch her when she falls. Your kind always leaves. Sooner or later, she’ll welcome me instead of you.”
Knox chuckled darkly like it was funny, but Dimitri’s words had echoed within me. He wasn’t here to stay, that much was clear. He wasn’t even trying to fit in, and that was a requirement. Our races had to be kept secret from humans because it would create mass hysterics, and then they’d want to study us.
Carefully, I turned, looking up at Knox as his eyes continue to stare at Dimitri in open challenge. I stepped away, exhaling, and moved to where my sisters stood as a chilling iciness filled the clearing. I paused, hesitating, exhaling slowly as I watched my breath steamed in the frostbitten air. The men looked around as we moved closer to them.
Kinvara whimpered, remaining outside the area we’d all stood within. Her mouth moved, and sheer terror entered her eyes. Ice particles started to form on her fingers, and I frowned as I watched it growing thicker on her flesh.
“Kinvara?” Tears ran down her cheeks, turning to ice that left red marks over her flesh as they fell to the ground, shattering. “Kinny, come to me,” I whispered in a plaintive tone.
“I can’t, Aria,” she sobbed as her skin began covering with frost, turning blue.
I rushed toward her, uncaring of the danger. Her hand lifted, and she shook her head, opening her mouth to scream in warning. The moment I got close enough to her, I felt it. It was debilitating fear, so thick and horrid that my legs slowed as I grabbed her, pushing her out of it before I started back in the other’s direction, only to feel something grab ahold of me from behind. Claws slid through my flesh, and I screamed with pain ripping through me as the ice pierced my flesh. My mouth opened, and I watched Knox lunge for me, only to brush his fingertips against mine as I was ripped through something that felt as if I was being cut to shreds, screaming his name as incapacitating, all-consuming fear and pain devoured me. Knox rattled loudly, shaking the darkness that severed through my mind, fading everything around me to nothingness. I blinked past the ice that covered my eyes, solidifying in them as I hit the ground hard. The ice burned my eyes, slithering over me as I continued blinking to keep it from blinding me.
Staring up, the world blurred around me as a figure bent down, grabbed me up by the hair, and tossed me into a cart, covering my body with blankets. I was losing consciousness from the immense pain still firing through my entire body, ripping apart the nerve endings until it became too much to bear, and I finally gave in to the nothingness.
Chapter 51
The sound of dripping water over concrete woke me. I wiped the crusted sleep from my eyes and peered around the dark room. The horrendous smell of rotting flesh and feces filled my nose, and I gagged, sitting up on my knees to vomit onto the floor. My arm lifted, covering my eyes as they burned from the rancid smell of putrid flesh. I threw up repeatedly until everything in my stomach was spilled on the floor. Looking around the dark cell, I noted the leg of the cell’s last occupant still rotting in the corner, and heaved again, even though my stomach had nothing left to give. I pushed up to my feet, staring at the bars that a
llowed very little light into the darkness.
I was in someplace beneath ground level. I was in a fucking prison cell? There was a pail in the corner, still holding urine and excrements from the last inhabitant. A single crusty blood-covered, blanket sat beneath me, and as I peered down as something rushed over my foot, and I screamed, standing up to hug the claw-ridden prison wall. Where the fuck was I? My ears heard very little over the sound of my racing heart, and I turned as something in the cell across from me, moaned loudly before whimpering in pain.
I shook my head to rid my mind of the fear-gripping icy claws trying to sink into it. I closed my eyes, seeing the last thing I remembered. Knox’s panic eyes filled my mind, and I frowned, recalling the icy cold grip of death that had pulled me through some type of vortex that had felt like I was being torn to pieces. I’d blacked out after being tossed into some kind of cart and ended up barfing everywhere the moment I’d started waking up. I had felt the cold chill once more. The fear that had slammed against my mind had knocked me out cold, as if someone had spelled me to remain asleep.
The sound of feet moving over stone echoed loudly, pulling me from my memories. My heart beat wildly at the voice coming closer to my cell. I’d have known that singsong voice from anywhere. Moving closer, I approached the bars and peered through them, angling my head to stare down the dark hallway. It was filled with cells and cries of people. No, not people; women sobbed and cried for help from each of the cells lining the hall.
A masculine voice crooned to the singsong voice, and I narrowed my gaze. I watched my sister as she stood on tiptoes, kissing a large male before turning to look down the hallway in my direction.
“Amara,” I whispered.
They started walking again, and I sagged in relief as she came into view, only to drop it as her angry glare held mine. There was madness in her blue eyes as she let it slide over my crumpled frame.
Flames of Chaos Page 38