by Emma Alisyn
“I—”
“If I have to tell you twice, I won’t give you what you want.”
Her clit throbbed in time to the deep timbre of his voice. She grabbed the edge of her shirt and inched it up, exposing her upper thighs and the v between them.
“Lean back.”
She obeyed, spreading her legs even wider, exposing plump lips. “Am I doing good?”
“We’ll see. Spread your lips, let me see all of your cunt.” Niko dropped to his knees, gripping the edge of the couch.
“Don’t shred my leather,” she warned him sharply.
He reached between her thighs and pinched her flesh. Bea gasped. “Shut up,” he said. “Little girls who give orders to warriors get punished.”
Her eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth. He leaned forward menacingly, voice soft. “Yes, Bea?”
She rethought her response, lowering her eyes. He watched her for a moment, then nodded approvingly. His fingers delved into her curls, and she sucked in a breath.
“Are you aching for me? My cock is hard. It wants to fuck, but I need you wet first. I don’t want to hurt you. Well . . . only a little, anyway.”
His finger dipped inside her, testing. Bea’s head tilted back, resting against the couch. He pushed inside to the knuckle, making a hook inside her. Bea gasped.
“Wet, but I think we can do better,” he said. A second finger entered her, stretching her tissues. “You’re so tight. How long has it been?”
“A while,” she breathed.
“Do you have a toy? A fake cock you fuck yourself with?”
“If I did, it would be because I’m thinking of you.”
He stared at her, then swore, pumping in and out of her. “You can’t say things like that. It’s naughty, and it makes me want to eat you.”
Her hips bucked. “Then eat me.”
Niko’s head lowered, nestling between her thighs. His tongue flicked her, gently lapping at her nub as his fingers fit inside her, finding her spot. Her hands left the couch, and she clutched his hair. She was going to cum, and the orgasm wouldn’t be gentle.
He lifted his head for a moment. “If you pull my hair out, I don’t mind, but I’ll return the favor.”
Her body clenched, clutching greedily at his fingers as her orgasm broke free. Just the timbre in his voice, the promise, was enough to send her over the edge. Men like this didn’t want moms next door like her, they just didn’t.
But, there was no faking the fire in his eyes, or the bulge in his pants as he rose, her fingers slipping listless from his hair. He bent, grabbed her shirt, and pulled it over her head.
“I want to watch those pretty tits,” he said, and unzipped this pants. “Remember your real ‘no’ word, Bea?”
She nodded.
“Good. You might need it.”
"What are we going to do?"
"Baby, you're going to suck my cock, and maybe if you're good I'll come all over your pretty titties. Would you like that?"
Oh, man. But . . . " It seems like a . . . waste."
His smile was cruel. "No. It isn't. Don't worry, Bea. I can fuck all night long."
Her thighs pressed together instinctively. She didn’t necessarily think that was a good thing. His hand fisted in her hair as she reached up, placing her palm flat against his unzipped bulge. His face tightened.
"Stop fucking around. Take it out."
"You're kind of mean," she complained.
He snorted. "You know how to make me sweet as a kitten again."
Damn, if she would. She loved this edge in him, and understood that he was releasing quite a bit of pent-up tension. She reached in his pants, suddenly disturbed, frowning, and grasped his cock, pulling it free. Dark and veiny, a smooth, circumcised head with a pearl of liquid.
"What’s wrong?" he asked. "Stop."
She looked up at him. His eyes were keen, telling her that no matter how rough he was—or how disturbingly rough he behaved—he was still attuned to her mood. He cared.
"Have you slept with anyone else lately?" she asked. "I know it's none of my business, we aren't really—"
"Bea." Horror mixed with irritation, amusement, and need. "Veda would have killed me. I haven't been with a female in . . . a while."
She relaxed. It was what she needed to hear, and she didn’t for one moment think he was lying to her.
Bea covered him with her mouth, gratified at his sharp hiss. She loosened her jaws, opening as wide as she could go, careful not to gag. Her hands rested on his thighs as she milked him, tasting the droplets of pre-cum.
“Fuck,” he swore, and pulled out of her. She was about to protest when he grabbed her waist, flipping her around and pressing her chest on the cushions, placing her knees on the floor.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking over her shoulder.
“If you keep sucking me like that I’ll cum in your mouth.” He laughed at her expression.
“Umm, cauliflower casserole?” she said. “That might be Sex 201. We’re still 098.”
He snorted, fingers trailing in the crease between her buttocks. Niko entered her pussy from behind, three fingers pumping in and out of her. Her back stiffened, arching a bit from the pressure of the angle.
She gripped the couch, riding him. He pulled out of her and the slick wetness of his fingers touched her ass, spreading flesh and caressing her other hole.
“Niko!”
He continued to caress her. “Do you know how good this will feel?”
The hoarse lust in his voice scared her. “I’ve never done that before.”
He leaned over her, teeth grazing her neck. “My cock in your ass while my fingers fuck your pussy. Pressure from above and below. Do you know how I can make you scream your throat raw?”
“Is-is that what you want?”
“I want everything,” he replied, savage. “Your mouth, your ass, your pussy. If we had the time, I’d chain you to my bed for a week and bathe you in my seed. I wouldn’t let you leave until you were pregnant.”
His words hammered through her heart even as another orgasm pummeled her body. As the pleasure rippled, the head of his cock pressed against her hole.
"Cauliflower casserole," she squeaked.
He paused, hands tightening, then his weight was gone, and her buttocks relaxed.
Bea rose to her knees and turned, sitting on the couch. “Not yet, not that. But . . . ” she wrapped her hand around his cock as he rose. “I can take you in my mouth. I can do that for you.”
The idea may have squeed her out a bit before but the pleasure he’d provided . . . she wanted to do this for him. Her mouth closed again over his length, and this time she didn’t let him stop her. His hands tangled in her hair and he growled, pulling out as seed drilled into her mouth and then a gush over her breasts as she used her hand to pump him.
He hissed, hands loosening in her hair as his cock slowly went flaccid. “Female, you’ll kill me before this is over.”
She smiled, wiping at her mouth, and leaving the glistening fluid on her breasts alone.
He inhaled, hot satisfaction in his eyes. “You smell like me. Tell me you have something here to distract me.”
“I have brownies?”
She warmed the brownies and added ice cream, slanting a wary look at the ceiling. Children couldn’t hear a demand to clean up from five feet away, but they could hear the sound of the freezer opening and a carton of ice cream hitting the table three floors down. But Aeezah remained asleep.
They leaned against the kitchen counters and ate, facing each other. Niko picked through his dessert with surprising daintiness for a male who watched her with a wolfish appetite in his eyes.
“Bea,” he said, setting the bowl aside. “I am going to fight Malin for you. My mind is set. But if you tell me now that you don’t want this to go any further, I’ll step away.”
She opened her mouth to respond, and he held up a hand. “No, stop and think. Gargoyle males are hard to deal with, and warrio
rs are even worse. We’re demanding, controlling, and there are times I’ll come home in a foul mood and won’t be able to tell you about it, and you won’t be able to comfort me. Living with me won’t always be comfortable.”
She listened to his words, weighed the sincerity in his voice, knowing only a stupid woman would ignore a man when he was trying to be honest about the downside.
“No relationship is perfect,” she said. “What counts is commitment and respect. You’re training me to be a warrior’s wife, aren’t you? So you don’t have to worry about me as much.”
“I’ll always worry.” He crossed the kitchen, slid an arm around her waist and pulled her in close. “But you’ll be an obedient wife, won’t you?”
She punched his shoulder, glaring and he grinned, flashing the hint of fangs that had receded over the last several minutes.
Niko lowered his head, brushing lips against her ear. “Don’t worry, Bea. When you finally let me have all of you, you’ll enjoy being obedient.”
15
Niko moved fast. Her head spun from the intensity of his sudden, active, and open courtship. Flowers at work followed by romantic dinners at quiet restaurants. Trips to the zoo with Aeezah followed by hot fudge sundaes. He came to her job unexpectedly just to say hello. He showed her his urbane side, his relaxed father-figure side, and the casual, everyday boyfriend.
It wasn’t all sweetness and light. He took the threat to her, of all Malin’s vassals, seriously.
“You have to stop this, Niko!” she exclaimed the third time he sent an escort to her job to see her home. A gargoyle escort in battle leathers.
“You were attacked once,” he said, voice and expression hard.
“In the Prince's own suite. If I’m not safe there, I’m not safe anywhere.”
She’d taken one look at the three males who’d walked onto her floor right at punch-out time and immediately fled to Prince Malin’s office. The Prince had only looked amused, and shrugged.
“You do know you’re courting an Ioveanu guard, Bea? This is what you’re accepting when you accept him.” The Prince paused. “Did he tell you the date of our duel?”
“There won’t be a duel,” she’d snapped, forgetting herself as she accessed Niko on her personal comm unit, not bothering to leave her employer’s hearing while she yelled at her boyfriend.
“I have a court date coming up, Niko,” she said. “If Ben’s lawyers think there’s a threat to Aeezah, they might take her away.”
She was so upset, she’d forgotten Prince Malin was listening.
“What do you mean, Bea?” he asked. She heard the rustle of his suit, and then he was at her side, peering into her comm unit.
“Did you know about this?” he demanded of Niko.
“Yes. I told her to tell you, but she refused.”
“And you listened to her?”
The incredulous tone was nearly too much for Bea. Her teeth ground the words that wanted to pepper both the of the males. She didn’t want to lose her job, though she was becoming increasingly aware that it wouldn’t be that easy. She was Malin’s vassal, all but sworn in court—and the only reason that had been delayed was a last ditch attempt to keep her cloistered. He couldn’t just get rid of her for snapping at him.
“The same way you listen to Surah when she wants something foolish?” Niko asked.
Unexpectedly, Malin laughed. “Indeed. However, I do not allow her to jeopardize her own safety for the sake of independence. Bea, I will assist you with this problem. No, be quiet,” he snapped, holding up a hand. “We need your full attention, and any threat to your family is a threat to us. We will take care of it.”
“Ben should be allowed to have his day in court,” Bea said. “I don’t like him much, and I don’t like what he is trying to do. I’m furious, in fact. But that doesn’t give us the right to take away his due process.”
Malin’s glance was considering. “Whatever aid I give will be within the confines of human law.”
“Happy now?” Niko asked, voice dry.
“Happier.”
She suffered the bodyguard home, knowing that the two males most prominent in her life weren’t telling her everything. There were ebbs and flows to Niko’s duties and Malin’s responsibilities as a Prince of his people, that they didn’t keep her apprised of. Nor should they. Her role in their lives was defined, and didn’t include being taken into their confidence during . . . war meetings. She still wished she knew more about what was going on.
She started to complain to Veda, but then stopped, thinking, and called Stacia. The older female smiled. “It’s the life of a royal guard’s wife, Bea. They are quite often under threats we know nothing about, but then they’ll come home one day, and certain protocols will be put in place. There will be years where everything is quiet, and then years where you’re barely allowed to step foot into a supermarket without an escort. We’ll talk some more about it this weekend at the Garden.”
Butting heads with Malin and Niko put her on edge, enough that when she arrived at Prince Geza’s tower on instructions from Niko, she was already bristling with irritation.
“Why are we here?” she asked as soon as he and Veda touched down. Aeezah clambered out of the backseat and ran to the pair, already chattering. Veda slung an arm around the girl's neck and began wrestling with her, careful to keep the girl from entangling in her wings.
“I told you it was time to upgrade your training, and I meant it,” Niko said.
That conversation had been last week, and she’d forgotten about it. Ire evaporated, replaced by apprehension. “We’re joining the regular recruits?”
Niko snorted. “No. I pulled in a favor, and Malin had a word with Kausar.”
She knew who Kausar was. He put the grizzle into grizzled old warrior. Not literally, since gargoyles didn’t tend to show much in the way of age. The only tell that he was several decades older than Prince Malin and Niko were the few lines around his eyes, the unrelenting stern demeanor, and threads of silver in his shoulder length hair.
“Sir Kausar is training us?”
“He’ll do an evaluation,” Niko said. “It will be an evaluation of my skills as a teacher, as well.”
“So no pressure, right?”
Niko frowned at her, probably not liking her sarcastic tone. She sighed, and approached, but shied away when he would have reached out to her.
“Bea?” he half growled.
She growled back. “I’m mad at you right now. Leave me alone.”
His eyes narrowed, flashing with his fire-starter temper, then he shrugged. “I’ll just get you back on the field.”
It sounded ominous. She bared her teeth. “Bring it on.”
“Kausar trained me and hundreds of other palace guards over the years,” Niko told her as they walked to the training ground. “He trained Malin, Geza, and Surah as well. It is a great honor to have him as your teacher.”
“Whatever.” She paused, waiting for Veda and Aeezah to catch up. They’d wandered behind, mostly because the girl was busy exploring.
“This place is cool,” Aeezah said.
Before Bea could answer, Niko interjected. He told Aeezah the history of the palace and details about the royal family, but all at a level that she could understand. Bea wondered if he even realized how kind and patient he was with her daughter, something she appreciated more than she could ever verbalize. It softened her mood a bit—but she was still going to do her best to pummel him. He usually let her get in a shot or two, evidently to teach her follow through. She itched for the day when she could just smash him on her own.
She glanced at him as he was talking to Aeezah, and he met her eyes, his half smile slow and dark. His eyes knowing, as if he were telling her he accepted the challenge. That was one thing about dating a warrior, she supposed. He wouldn’t get mad if she wanted to beat him up for not putting the toilet seat down. He’d just consider it practice.
All too soon, Bea and Aeezah were standing in front of th
e famed weapons trainer, Kausar. Niko had already been directed to stand off to the side and stay out of the way. The grizzled old gargoyle was more than intimidating as he looked Bea over from head to toe. She drew herself up straighter. One thing she had learned in working for Malin was to never let any gargoyle sense an ounce of fear. They looked down on humans enough without giving them additional reasons to feel superior.
“Have you had any formal training before?” Kausar asked.
“No, nothing official,” Bea said casting a sidelong view at Niko.
“You were brave to attempt to defend Prince Geza. You have courage, and the instinct for battle. We’ll see what my student has taught you.” Kausar turned his forbidding look on Niko. “And thus we will see where his deficiencies lie.”
An hour later, Bea’s muscles screamed for rest, but she pushed on. Kausar spared no mercy in moving her through an intense series of moves and forcing a level of perfection with every nuance. He went much easier on Aeezah, giving the girl simpler versions of the forms that he used with Bea.
“Every good soldier needs a rest, Kausar.” A familiar voice filled the courtyard. Bea looked over her shoulder and saw Surah standing there with her arms crossed over her budding stomach.
“Princess,” Kausar said stopping long enough to bow to her. “I didn’t know we’d have the pleasure of your presence this afternoon.”
It was then that Bea noticed a small crowd of gargoyles, both males and females, had gathered. She immediately felt out of place under the weight of their stares.
Bea felt slightly less out of place as Surah practiced the forms with her. She started to hear murmurs from the crowd, though.
“Niko’s going to have his hands full with that one.”
“I heard she wanted training so she could have the upper hand in bed!”
“Hopefully, he doesn’t break her in half. She seems fragile. Being a human and all.”
Her cheeks flared with heat, but she didn’t let the comments distract her. Finally, Kausar gave the nod that they were done. Bea fought against every muscle that wanted to collapse onto the stones. Aeezah brought her a bottle of water, Kausar having dismissed her from class half an hour earlier, and she chugged it without thinking of how unladylike it looked. Surah pulled Aeezah to the side asking her to show her what she had learned.