Demon Untamed (Shadow Quest Book 4)

by Kiersten Fay

  After all this time, she still wasn’t ready to relive it.

  “First, tell me about Evlon,” she hedged.

  He bent his arm and propped his head on his palm, offering one of those looks that made her feel all too exposed. “Two suns orbit my world,” he started. “Our ancient ancestors worshiped them, believing that, united, they fuel the magic that encompasses Evlon.”

  Her anxiety began to wane. She rejoined him on the mattress, her curiosity piqued. His arm opened in welcome. When she settled, he rested his palm on her hip, caressing lightly with his thumb.

  “Is it true?” she urged him on.

  He responded with a sly smile. “Your turn to tell me something.”

  She hesitated. “We didn’t have royalty like you. Instead, we had village councils. Elders who presided over each town. They mostly just settled disputes between landowners and discussed matters that pertained to everyday life. Pretty dull stuff, to be honest.” She glanced up at him, “So, is it true?”

  His lips thinned, but amusement curled the corners. “Partly, I believe so. For example, twice a year, the suns align in the sky. Somehow it causes a…unique effect on us.” He paused thoughtfully, as if remembering. “I haven’t felt the power of it in so long. I can’t imagine how it would overwhelm me now.” He gave her a meaningful look.

  “Well? What happens to you?”

  “Uh-uh. Your turn.”

  She frowned, not liking this game. “There isn’t much to tell,” she replied. “We lived simple lives, only starting to delve into science and technology when the Kayadon arrived. Very few of us had ever been off planet before that, though we’d been aware of the outer races for some time.”

  “Hmm.” He leaned back on the mattress and clasped his hands behind his head.

  She waited for him to speak. When he didn’t reply, she whined, “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  She poked him in the side. “Tell me!”

  He rolled on top of her, capturing and bringing her arms above her head. She jutted her chin, growing irritated, yet aroused at the same time.

  He smirked. “At twilight, the sky turns violet, with streaks of crimson. It will forever remind me of your eyes.”

  She blinked twice, taken aback by the sudden tenderness in his voice.

  “I love you, you silly woman. Why won’t you let me in?”

  Her breath caught, and her heart jerked into overdrive. “You what?” She became acutely aware of the hard muscles of his body over hers, keeping her in place.

  “I love you,” he repeated irefully. He hadn’t intended to blurt it out like that, but he could no longer hold back. Her stubbornness was never ending.

  “But…you can’t,” she insisted, eyes going wide.

  “Can’t I?” he said. He could tell if he wasn’t partly restraining her, she would have bolted. Was the idea of mating with him so revolting to her that she would deny her very nature? Yet still her fangs advertised her desire.

  “You’re the one who doesn’t want to be with me like that. You just said so.”

  “You misunderstand. What I want is for you to be upfront with me. This pirate thing hangs between us. How can we overcome it if you won’t talk to me about it?”

  Swiftly, she fired off, “It’s nothing. I’m over it anyway. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “That sounded convincing.”

  “Shut up! Get off of me!” She bucked, but he held fast.

  “I just told you that I love you, and you want to run away?”

  “Do you think I should love you back just because you’re supposedly my mate?”

  “Pretty much. Yeah.”

  “Well, sorry to disappoint you.”

  A muscle ticked in his jaw. He didn’t believe for a second she didn’t love him. “Why are you being so stubborn about this?”

  “Because, since you couldn’t trick it out of me, you’re trying to force it. You’re always making me do things I’m not ready for!”

  Her words sliced through him, and he released her.

  As if she couldn’t get away from him fast enough, she scrambled off the bed, refusing to look at him as she laced up her bodice. He could tell she was going to leave without a word. Probably wouldn’t talk to him for a full week or two, maybe ever.

  “Wait, Sonya.”

  She paused halfway to the door, keeping her back to him.

  “You’re right. I’m sorry. Please don’t go. I can tell you keep me at a distance, and it’s driving me crazy, but I won’t bring it up again. Alright?”

  Her shoulders hunched, and he thought she might be wavering. An agonizing moment later, she turned to face him.

  “You keep me so off balance,” she admitted. “I have no idea how to deal with”—she gestured between them as if the right words escaped her—“all of this.”

  He pursed his lips, unsure how to proceed. Finally, he said, “If you come back to bed, I’ll tell you what happens when the suns align.”

  Repressing a grin, she replied, “Resorting to bribery?”

  Already he knew he’d won. “Usually the best course of action.”

  He sensed the debate warring inside her. She wanted to resist, yet she wanted to submit. He imagined she had never experienced those conflicting emotions at the same time, at least before he’d come along.

  Taking the choice from her, he pushed off the bed and crossed to her. Her gaze followed him cautiously, as if she thought he might attack.

  “No longer curious?” he drawled in a husky voice.

  She averted her eyes, and one smooth shoulder hiked nonchalantly.

  He cupped her face and trailed his thumb over her cheek. “It would be better for me to show you.”

  He dipped his head, and their lips drew together like a pair of magnets. After a few strokes of his tongue, she melted into his arms. He untied her bodice and let it fall to the floor. Her skirt joined it seconds later. Then he lifted her into his arms, bringing her back to lie on the mattress. She looked glorious, clad in only a pair of black panties, like a feast prepared for him alone. His cock jerked with a hungered response.

  He left her to cross to the opposite side of the room. She rose up on her elbow, looking ready to protest his absence, which pleased him.

  When he revealed a length of chain and returned to the bedside, her breath hitched, and she met his gaze. That war was back behind her eyes. He didn’t wait for her to decide which side of her instincts to obey. He looped the chain several times around one of her slim wrists, then the other before binding them together and fixing the other end of the chain to the crude metal headboard.

  He stood for long moments, giving himself leave to admire her body. With his forefinger and thumb, he pulled hard against the fabric at her hip and let it snap back into place. “You drive me mad, but I think you know that by now,” he grated, his voice no more than a rumble in his chest. “I think it’s time I drive you a little crazy.”

  She narrowed her gaze and pulled at her restraints, testing them. He hooked one arm under her knee and lifted her leg, exposing part of her backside. His other hand, palm open, came down hard against her.

  She yelped. “What are you doing?”

  He smacked her again, his palm lingering against her soft flesh to massage the tender area. “Ah-ah, no talking.” He tightened his hold on her leg.

  “But—”

  Smack.

  She let out a soft part-growl, part-groan of pleasure. He smirked.

  Looking disgruntled, she rolled away from him. He let her go. The chain had enough give that she wasn’t trapped on her back. But when she made it to her stomach, he crawled over her and pulled her hips up, fitting her ass against his crotch. Her forearms on the mattress held up her torso.

  “Giving me better access?” he teased.

  “No!”

  He smacked her plum ass once more, but only enough to provide a titillating sting. Her head flew back with a clipped feminine moan. The sound of it gave him the impres
sion that she was shocked by how much she was enjoying this, which was probably infuriating her too. His palm connected once more, before he pulled the elastic of her panties taut. The material creased into her slick folds. After she let slip another moan, he let it snap back against her hip.

  “Ethan.” Her voice was little more than a plea, her hips rocking.

  He rubbed his palm over her ass, and she knew what was coming. Her head craned around to watch him.

  Smack.

  Another moan, this one louder.

  Then he ran his fingers over the fabric between her thighs, reveling in her growing wetness. Her body undulated against his touch. He played there for a moment, until she was panting mindlessly. Then he pulled away. She groaned in protest and met his gaze again, glaring daggers at him. She’d figured out his game. But the sexual torment was backfiring on him, making his cock painfully stiff.

  He flipped her to her back, keeping himself between her legs, and trailed his hands over her thighs, her hips, her waist. She squirmed with every inch he took. Farther up he went till his thumbs met the hard peak of her breasts. He bent down to rake his tongue over one pert nipple, loving the mews of pleasure that came from her. Her back arched and her body rolled, seeking his shaft. Her legs clamped around him as if to keep him from backing away again.

  He chuckled and extracted himself from her death grip. Then he snapped her panties again. She growled at him, her arms straining against the bindings.

  “Be a good girl, and I’ll let you come,” he said in a grating tone that telegraphed his own maddening lust. When she stilled, he dipped his head to her inner thigh and nipped her with his teeth. Her body jerked, and she let out a whimper, yet she wet her lips in anticipation. He moved closer to her center, giving another nip. The sound she made came out utterly desperate, driving his own lust past the point of insanity.

  He yanked down her panties and rolled his tongue against her tender flesh. Matching moans escaped them both. Leisurely, reverently, his tongue circled her clitoris. She cried out, and her body shuddered. Soon enough, her moans came faster, more urgent. Her thighs boxed him in as if she was afraid he might move. She was right. When her body began to shake from an oncoming release, he pulled away.

  She cried out, her climax thwarted. If she took it as more punishment—which by the looks of her fiery eyes, she did—then she was wrong. He wanted her to come…fiercely. And now she would, but he wanted to be inside her when it happened.

  He rid himself of his clothing. She opened her legs for him and wrapped her ankles around the backs of his thighs.

  He plunged into her. The wicked heat of her sheath encased him. There was no slow build up as he pulled out and rammed back into her, again and again, in an almost violent taking.

  They both watched the other with cool anger, both refusing to look away. His thrusts came fast and hard, giving her body a kick every time he slammed into her. Her hips moved to keep pace with him, deepening each drive. Her fangs lengthened, catching his attention, but she didn’t hide them as she usually did. Perhaps he could take that as a small triumph.

  Their pleasure built into something savage. Beautiful and overwhelming and almost agonizing in its ecstasy. It burst through them with the force of a thousand suns exploding in quick succession, reverberating for long moments, as though it would never end. Finally, they grew still, yet their breaths remained harsh.

  Ethan’s mind felt like it had shattered from the inside. He rolled to lie on his back next to Sonya, who was still tethered to the bed. She didn’t complain, just worked on capturing air, same as him.

  After the fractured chunks of his mind began to reform, he reached up and set her free. He feared he had gone too far, shown her a darker side of pleasure that she would resent him for, but she curled her body around his and laid her head on his chest.

  He hooked an arm around her. “Do I need to apologize for that?”

  He felt her lips curl into a smile against him. Then she shook her head. Neither of them said a word, and soon, sleep took over.

  Chapter 30

  The surface of Evlon

  Portia had been right about her cloaking spell. Marada had no problems reaching the surface of Evlon, a planet literally blooming with life.

  Puking it up was more like it. Sonya practically couldn’t turn her head without being smacked in the face by some biological extremity. All around her were dizzyingly tall trees with bloated trunks. Their adjoining roots arched high before digging back into the soil. Plants with shoots as thick as her leg stretched over head. The connecting leaves could wrap her body twice over. Even the rocks glittered with life. Their surfaces appeared to shiver as light refracted off countless faucets.

  A stick cracked under her foot. She mentally cursed and swept a wary gaze around, as did the others. There was no obvious path to follow and with the snake-like vines disguising the ground and slithering up any stationary object, it was almost impossible to watch her footing.

  Every time a crunch rang out from one of them, the group would pause and listen for trouble. Who knew what manner of creatures might be tracking them from behind the forest’s camouflage.

  Kyra, Nadua, and Ethan continued to assure everyone that they wouldn’t likely cross paths with a predator, but that didn’t mean Kayadon weren’t lurking about. Or their horrendous looking pet-creatures of which Sonya had seen sketches of in the book. Only Cale and Kyra had encountered the beasts first hand. Back on Earth, the two had been attacked by a pack of them.

  Sonya noticed both Sebastian and Marik kept their mates close, though neither Anya nor Nadua appeared nervous. In fact, both were wide-eyed as they marveled at their old home world. Cale was the same with Kyra, his attention constantly glued to her, regardless that they weren’t mated. Again, Sonya’s heart broke for her brother. And yet, even though Cale was unable to claim Kyra in the traditional sense, Sonya hoped the little Faieara would accept him—somehow make him happy—if that was what he truly wanted. By the heated looks they gave to each other when they thought no one was looking, Sonya had to assume it was.

  After a few moments of silence, the group moved on. They’d left the ship behind, guarded by Aidan, mercenaries, and Portia’s magic, to seek out a group of Faieara supposedly hidden nearby. The book had indicated a possible location, but they’d been walking for hours now, with no signs of intelligent life. However, numerous strange animals scurried about, unnerving everyone but the Faieara.

  When Ethan attempted to educate her on the local critters, Sonya had put her hand up and replied, “I don’t care. Just tell me when I need to kill them.”

  Every so often, the thick canvas of trees broke to reveal a vast horizon of high mountain ridges, painted in every manner of color. The scene was so beautiful as to be nearly unreal, like an artist’s rendering.

  Nestled within a deep valley, at the base of one particularly high mountain, sat an elegant chateau with a large village circling around the front.

  Ethan followed her line of sight. “The palace,” he informed her. “It’s overrun by Kayadon now. If we are captured out here, that’s most likely where we’d be taken.”

  Judging by the distance, it would take a full day’s hike to get there, if not more. And there was no telling what obstacles lie between here and there. Sonya indulged herself for a moment by imagining that piece of land engulfed by a fiery explosion.

  As if reading her thoughts, Ethan lowered his voice so that only she could hear him. “That’s where Anya’s father will be kept. The king.”

  That doused any immediate plan of attack. Sonya would never hurt Anya by taking out her father, even if a slew of Kayadon went with him.

  Ethan continued, “When we’re ready, I hope to reclaim the palace and rescue him, as well as anyone else being held there.”

  She raised a brow at him. “Anyone else?”

  He gave a thin-lipped nod. “The whole town had been turned into a prison camp before I had left. No one could get in our out without the Kayadon
’s knowledge.”

  “How did you get out?”

  His lips quirked smugly. “A little instruction from the king, my magic, and a small child who’d managed to hide her gift for invisibility from the Kayadon. She escorted me straight to my escape shuttle.”

  “What happened to the child?”

  His expression fell. “That, I hope to find out.”

  “You didn’t take her with you?”

  Another twig snapped from Marik’s direction; another pause by the group.

  While glancing around, Ethan answered, “I wanted to, but she was young. She didn’t want to leave her parents. At the time, I thought it would be safer for her to come with me, but when I tried to explain that, she disappeared.” He paused, looking thoughtful. “Now that I think of it, it was probably for the best. I was barely able to keep myself alive in the beginning. I could never have taken care of a kid. A female at that.”

  “What do you mean, a female?”

  He rolled his eyes. “Like your brothers, most Faieara males take on the role of protector over the females in their charge. Even capable females,” he added at her indignant look. “I would have been so overly concerned with keeping her safe that she probably would have gotten me killed.”

  “You mean you would have gotten yourself killed,” Sonya countered. “I imagine an invisible girl could have easily avoided danger. In fact, she might have even helped you out.”

  Ethan shook his head. “Imagine one of those immoral mercenaries I told you about discovering a child who can make themselves disappear at will. Her life would have depended on total secrecy, lest she end up like…” He glanced at Anya.

  Sonya gnashed her teeth together. Anya might be coming into her gifts now, but she’d been brutally exploited from the time she was a child.

  As the group continued on, Kyra and Cale’s flirting increased in frequency, which was entertaining to watch, but also—for some odd reason—made Sonya feel awkward around Ethan. She almost felt guilty for not engaging in similar behavior. But, while Cale had decided to make no secret of his desire for Kyra, Sonya was doing everything she could to keep her eyes off Ethan. To tamp down the fierce instinct that demanded she keep by his side, weapon palmed, ready to defend. She reminded herself that the boy could take care of himself. Besides, she was still thrown by his unexpected declaration of love.