Havoc & Hell: A Dragon's Prize: Ethereal Foes, Book 3

by Marie Harte

  When those of the Ethereal lost their human hosts, they took new forms. Demons normally inhabited any human they wanted, uncaring of what possession did to the soul within. Angels, on the other hand, only entered the soulless—those who had never before known life. They took the human forms of deceased newborns, and so had to wait for them to mature before incorporating a fully matured host. It took time to rebuild an army if one didn’t expect to fight using schoolchildren.

  Annoyed, Uriel wanted to know, “How is our strength overall?”

  “I’d estimate our numbers are at seventy-five percent.”

  Not as bad as he’d feared. “The damned Sinclairs.” He meant that literally. Asael’s progeny wrought mayhem wherever they went. Because of James and Duncan, the angels had been warred upon by those vile beasts of the lower realm.

  “Well, one thing I can say for Ranton and his legion,” Annua said. “They pointed out our deficiencies in battle. We need to rally our troops and train harder.” He scowled. “But I still want a piece of James Sinclair. He’s not off-limits, is he?”

  “No. However, Duncan and Eve are,” Uriel reminded him. Eve had mated the dragon commander, but even so, she’d been innocent in the scheme to blame the angels. Duncan had recently done his penance, serving his time under Uriel’s watchful eye. Though he’d had fun trying to deliver Duncan to a higher, heavenly calling, Uriel had known Duncan would be far better utilized in helping Sapphira, a troubled angel, find her way.

  Sapphira, a nephilim, had Descended, lost to her holy family. The progeny of an angel and a human normally functioned best in the middle or lower realm. Had Uriel realized her parentage before assigning her to watch over a demon, he might have reconsidered putting her so close to temptation. But in the end, she was where she needed to be.

  Now she swayed those human souls on the brink of Decision, pushing them gently into hell’s fiery arms. The balance of souls remained at the uppermost of importance. Too many human souls in heaven would be as bad as too many souls in hell. Or so the higher-ups believed. Personally, Uriel thought they could do with a few more heavenly hosts.

  “What’s the plan?” Annua asked.

  Daniel and Zephon, two of Uriel’s mightiest warriors, entered his chamber.

  “Just who I wanted to see.” As the angels gathered close, Uriel explained, “A great wrong was wrought, and evil triumphed in the wake of our defeat. But we are not yet done. Though one of the demons responsible for the slaughter of many of our brethren has been held accountable, the other has not.” Not to Uriel’s satisfaction, anyway. From his spies, he knew James and the dragon prince were friends. What kind of punishment was it for James to serve Teban? Asael would have been wiser to give James into Carmaron’s beastly keeping. The queen of dragons did not tolerate anyone messing with her young.

  “But Asael has spoken,” Daniel said.

  “He is Fallen.” Uriel waved away any implied authority the fallen angel might have. “He’s of no consequence up here.” Not anymore, sadly. Uriel continued before he lost himself in memories of his old friend, “Asael’s second son must pay the price of his misdeeds. James Sinclair owes us a life.”

  “At the least.” Zephon frowned. “Many lives, actually.”

  Despite the fact none of their comrades had suffered a true death, merely the inconvenience of inhabiting a new body, Uriel keenly felt their loss. “So we will listen to our spies, and we will see what hurts the demon most. Touching Teban or any of his dragons will start another war we can’t afford. I remind you to leave Eve out of it.” As an official Guardian to the future dragon king, she would not be touched. Period.

  The others nodded.

  “We wait, and we watch. Sooner than later, James Sinclair will pay.” Uriel couldn’t wait, the anger of righteousness burning in his breast. “And our holy justice will be that much richer for our patience.”

  Annua grinned. “Amen to that.”

  Kihra watched with awe as Teban undressed. So handsome, so charming, so perfect… He’d escorted her around his stronghold for the better part of the day, then let her see the blessed catacombs, where dragons congregated in the cloying heat of underground caves and tunnels. She’d loved it.

  Their lair was hot, so welcoming and peaceful, despite being populated by giant scaled, clawed and fanged creatures who breathed fire. Though her brother had warned her not to leave her territory, she’d gone anyway. What an opportunity to see new lands. Finally, a place she didn’t know like the back of her hand.

  The dragons flew. She’d watched them soar across the lower realm, through the dark red skies and gray clouds, past the black orb of a sun. There were no consecrated bones here, nothing to pray to or tiptoe around for fear of offending. Teban had explained that they worshipped no god or deity. They relied only on their own strength and will.

  She was fascinated with his culture. And even more, with Teban himself.

  Their sacrifice had bound them as one, but she had to stake her claim carefully. She’d easily displayed her possession of the demon, James. No one had commented on it, so she assumed the dragons had no problem with her keeping him.

  Teban, for all that he considered James a friend, hadn’t balked at Kihra’s blatant ownership either. But she had a feeling he might take exception to her claiming him. A prince, after all, lorded above many. Much like her brother, the chieftain, who would never be owned by a member not of his race. Though any female strong enough to defeat him in battle could claim him, none had ever been brave enough to face sure death at Myfere’s hands.

  She’d fared as poorly finding a mate at home. Males feared her, as they rightly should. But the dragon prince and his friend, the blue-flamed demon, didn’t know her. They didn’t realize that a sacrifice made on the altar of Kingu’s Claim would bind them to her should she wish to keep and not kill them.

  “Remove your clothes, sweetheart.”

  Sweetheart. Teban kept calling her that, and each time he did, she felt funny inside. Protected, when she’d never before felt the need for shelter. She soaked in the affection and care. Only her brother and his young, Naya, had given her such. Kihra had experienced plenty of physical contact from fellow havoc. Her kind had to carnally engage to live. Sexual energy empowered her, much like it did her succubi cousins.

  She took off her clothing and let Teban take the small pile from her. He looked her over, and his eyes turned red. She shivered. She loved that color on him.

  “Come here,” he whispered, and lengthened his fingernails into claws.

  She couldn’t help it. Her nails elongated, as did her fangs. She wanted to bite him so badly, the way she had earlier when she’d nipped James. The pain had enhanced his pleasure, and she’d known for sure she planned to keep him.

  “Yes?”

  “Now we dispense justice. I need you to do what I tell you to, understood? Time for James’s sacrifice.” He ran a claw over her cheek, his combination of dangerous dragon and sensual human so incredibly alluring. Her crush blossomed into something deeper.

  “Anything you wish, it is yours.” As she said it, she froze. She hadn’t meant to offer herself like that, but with those words, he could demand anything, and she would be oath-bound to provide.

  “Right now, I want you.” Smoke poured from his nostrils.

  She sighed. “Yes, Teban.”

  He pulled her in front of James so the demon could see them together.

  “Oh, really? You’re going to fuck her in front of me? What’s this? The horrors of sexual frustration? Night of a Thousand Blue Balls? That’s supposed to be painful?” James huffed, yet his thick erection told another story. The male wanted her. More, he wanted Teban, and Teban knew it.

  Kihra had been enthralled with their play on the altar. They had wanted each other as much as they’d wanted her. She’d felt the buried need in the demon, the want much closer to the surface in the dragon.
Since males couldn’t procreate with other males, she wasn’t used to seeing them play like that.

  She wanted to see them together again. Right now. “I would give you that which you seek, Teban.”

  “Then do nothing but stand there and watch James,” he said in a thick voice.

  She faced the demon, aware of the scent of his lust. Teban got down on his knees in front of her. He nudged her ankles wider, and then he—

  She gasped and threaded her fingers through his hair. So soft, the long strands felt like silk. She gripped him tight as his tongue found her most sensitive flesh. With great skill, he licked and sucked her closer to orgasm.

  All the while, she stared at James, aware of his jutting cock, of his heavy breathing and flaming blue eyes.

  Teban backed off, staring at her slick sex. Then he shoved his face back between her legs and sucked hard, while at the same time he shoved two fingers inside her.

  She cried out as waves of bliss rocked her, and power rushed into her. Teban kissed his way up her trembling body, his own far from unaffected.

  “Just what I needed,” he rasped. “Something sweet.”

  He kissed her, and she cupped his taut sac, desperate to have him come inside her.

  “That’s good, sweetheart. Very good.” He seemed to purr like a giant feline, and she wanted to watch him experience his own release. But he stilled her hand. “Now watch while I give James what he deserves.”

  James shuddered and wrenched at the chains holding him upright in the middle of the room. “You going to blow me? Because I deserve a few orgasms. She is fucking hot as hell.”

  “You’ll get what you deserve.” Teban chuckled. “Kihra, sweet, I need you to suck me. Get me nice and wet.”

  “Oh yes.” She couldn’t wait. She knelt in front of him, aware of James’s gaze burning into her back, and put her mouth over Teban’s thick cock.

  She hollowed her cheeks as she drew on him, loving his strength. She worked him harder, wanting to swallow him down. The need to take his essence deep inside her burned, an almost-desperate desire fueled by something more than lust. A connection forged in sacred lands, an affection born of respect and power.

  But again, he stopped her.

  Teban pulled back and ordered her to keep an eye on James.

  Confused but eager to see what he had in mind, she watched the demon.

  Teban circled behind him, and James suddenly burst into blue flame, a sheen of fire covering his entire body.

  “He’s beautiful,” she said in awe, meaning it. She loved when James turned blue. Imagine owning something so fine. She still couldn’t believe he was hers.

  “Teban, what are you doing?” James sounded panicky.

  Teban gave an evil grin and stepped behind him. He gripped James’s hips and moved closer, as if mounting him from behind.

  Oh, so that’s what he means to do. Even better. “Yes, Teban. Please tell us what you’re doing.” She nodded, aware that despite James’s anxiety, he hadn’t tried to break free from his friend, and he hadn’t looked away from her. She held his attention, especially when she cupped her breasts and pinched her nipples.

  His pupils dilated and turned his eyes pitch black. Interesting.

  Teban answered, “Now we give James the painful pleasure he clearly needs.”

  James moaned, then flinched as Teban clenched his hips with clawed fingers. “Fuck, you’re not going to—oh no.”

  “Oh yes. I felt you grinding all over me on the altar. You want it. Time to give me the sacrifice I’m owed.” The prince’s voice grew deeper, guttural, a mix of pain and rage and lust that licked over Kihra like a kiss. “You lied to me. You nearly lost Jentaron.”

  From what she could gather, this had to do with that stolen dragon egg business. Talk about dragons holding grudges. She found that so endearing about him.

  “Come on, you’re still mad about… Wait. Fuck. Teban, you’re too big.”

  “And you’re a kinky little bastard. I’ve watched you in orgies with your many women, while you fucked and were fucked with special toys. Come now, James. I’ve seen the way you look at me. I know what you really want.”

  “Shit. You don’t know… I mean…” He broke off as Teban shifted behind him, no doubt taunting James with his fine member. “Oh Darkness, just do it.” James bit his lower lip and closed his eyes.

  Teban must have moved, because James cursed and the dragon groaned.

  “I can’t see,” she complained, to which Teban barked a laugh.

  “Come closer, my havoc.”

  No, you’re my dragon, she wanted to correct him, but didn’t. Not yet. She stepped closer and to the side of the pair, only to see Teban pressed belly to back against him.

  “Are you inside him?”

  “All the way up to my throat,” James complained, breathless.

  “Watch.” Teban locked gazes with her and pulled out just enough that she could see his slick cock withdrawing from James’s body. He stopped before he fully disconnected, then pushed back inside, much to James’s moaning and groaning.

  “Ow. Too big,” James whined, still glowing bright blue.

  “You are not burned,” she said to Teban and ran a finger over James’s hip, glad to feel he wasn’t burning either. What beautiful, carnal magic is this? She felt the loving, the sexual pull, and was enveloped by it.

  “That’s because he wants this. Wants me.” Teban began fucking him, and she wanted to help in some way, to be included in such wonder. The dragon must have read her mind, because he said, “Go to his front, touch him. Kiss him anywhere and everywhere you want.”

  “Yes.”

  “Hell, no,” James protested, yet his cock was steel hard and slick at the tip, his arousal plain to see.

  She kissed his nipples, his throat, then stood on tiptoe to reach his mouth.

  He ravaged her lips, literally on fire and no doubt aching to come. His cock rubbed against her belly, insistent, full, and he gripped the chains, straining for release.

  “Need to come,” he pleaded. “In you, Kihra.”

  “While I come in you,” Teban agreed on harsh breath. “While I own this pretty ass. My demon—mine.”

  Then there was no more talking. She caressed and kissed James everywhere until he was a babbling mess, so ready to climax she could taste it. So she did. Putting her mouth on him while Teban drove deeper, she broke down the last of his resistance as he cried out and jetted down her throat.

  After a few moments, she swallowed the last of him, reeling with energy, and finally pulled away, only to see him still hard, still flushed, while Teban pounded into him without mercy.

  Had the dragon taken her that way, she would have loved him until the end of time. Such mastery in his hips, in his thrusts. The havoc prized might, and Teban was the living embodiment of the word.

  His claws pierced James’s flesh, yet nothing but blue flame licked those claws. No blood, no skin, just fire. More power, subtle, yet no less deadly, from the demon she’d claimed as her own. Such a treasure in the pair. She wanted to cry at the beauty of her prizes. All her years spent guarding Kingu, and finally she’d been rewarded. Thank you, oh thank you, great Creator.

  “Mother night, yes, yes,” Teban roared and finally stilled inside James.

  She watched in awe as the dragon came, the room awash in blue-and-red flame. As he poured inside James, Teban blew fire over the demon, like a marking of some kind. Even as she knew the dual claim should bother her, she didn’t worry. Since she planned on keeping both the demon and the dragon, they could claim each other as many times as they pleased.

  Eventually they’d realize where they belonged.

  With her.

  Teban worked to catch his breath as he emptied into James. For so many years he’d dreamed of fucking his friend. Caught in bonds of friendship and not want
ing to alienate the demons, he’d had to be very careful about his needs. In the time he’d known his demon, James had never seemed very interested in men. Not sexually.

  Yet lately he’d been giving Teban some strange looks. Teban had caught the scent of his arousal when only Teban had been near. Then, with Asael’s judgment in place, Teban could finally do as he liked without insulting the demonarchy or James. His demon had to know he owed Teban for stealing the egg. A tiny breach of trust, since Teban had known James would never harm Jentaron, but James owed him.

  “Dark gods and dragons, you fucked me,” James said, as if still in disbelief.

  “I did.” Teban, still connected to his demon, reached up to release James from his bonds while Kihra undid James’s ankle restraints. “And I’ll be doing it again.”

  “Yeah. Good. I mean, oh hell. I came so damn hard.” He reached out to cup Kihra’s cheek when she straightened. “Right down your throat, baby. You have one hell of a mouth.”

  She smiled, and her eyes sparkled. Small pools of gold surrounding a sliver of night.

  “Man, I love when she’s all fanged and clawed, you know? She’s so cute and scary looking.” James sighed and clenched around Teban when he shifted.

  “Don’t move,” he warned. But James wouldn’t listen and squirmed again.

  Kihra stroked them both, passing her fingers through the blue flame to glide over Teban’s hands, holding James to him. Like Teban, she didn’t seem to feel the burn.

  “How?” he asked James.

  James shrugged, which tightened the vise around Teban’s cock.

  “Sorry,” the demon apologized. “Man, you are just wedged up inside me, aren’t you? Anyway, she’s just…I don’t know. I feel her, deep inside. Kind of like how I sense my brother and sister, my dad. A few others I’ve known over the years haven’t been affected either.”

  Teban hugged him closer with one arm and with the other hand slid his fingers through Kihra’s hair. “They don’t hurt me.”