He bent down, his hands gripping each of her thighs as she continued to hold her lips apart. He studied her for a long time as she lay there, panting, then he slid his tongue along her slit, flicking over her clit. Janelle pressed her head back against the mattress and cried out at the sudden sensation.
He didn’t stop there. His mouth returned to the assault, licking from her core to her clit, then flicking at the throbbing nub of nerves. He did it again and again until she squirmed and whined, her second release just out of her grasp. He was owning her with his mouth, controlling each stroke of his tongue to push her closer to her release, but keeping it just out of reach.
Then his mouth closed around her clit and he sucked. His fangs brushed the bundle of nerves as he did so, and the orgasm blindsided her.
The second time around, her clit throbbed and throbbed, sending long, deep shivers of pleasure throughout her body until the pleasure bordered on pain and her empty core screamed.
Just when the rapture morphed into pure pain, Dalgo stopped. He took his merciless, expert mouth away from her.
Janelle just lay there, staring at the light reflecting off the ceiling, her body feeling used and useless. Never had she been so utterly possessed before, and he hadn’t even fucked her.
Dalgo came just above her and his hard lips closed on hers. He kissed her, spreading her own taste over her tongue, his heaviness over her body. His cock throbbed against her stomach, telling her that this was far from over.
Then he broke the kiss and his silver eyes flickered in the low light.
His growl filled the room as he turned her over on her stomach. The sudden movement made her gasp, then two fists closed around her wrists. She didn’t move, didn’t speak as he brought her arms over her head. He moved faster than she could react and suddenly, two metallic shackles fastened her wrists to the bed frame.
Janelle cried out, then pulled on the restraints. Fear coursed through her veins as she shot a glance over her shoulder.
Dalgo knelt behind her, his long, hard cock jutting out in front of him, a cruel, merciless expression on his face.
“You’re tying me up?” It was a stupid question. She was shackled to the bed, her back to him, bare and defenseless. Yes, he was!
“You belong to me now.” His eyes flashed as he ran them down her back all the way to her ass. “You are my prisoner. I can do whatever I want to you. Isn’t that what you agreed to?”
“Yes.” Her voice was full of lust and shame burned her cheeks, but she was too far gone. She wanted everything he was going to do to her, and more. “You can do whatever you want to me.”
The corner of Dalgo’s mouth curved into a smile and he ran a hand over her buttock. He moved, covering her body with his own, the tip of his cock pushing between her legs.
Janelle turned her face back to the mattress, her hands reaching blindly for the metal posts. She held on to the bars so hard it hurt, her heart racing as Dalgo’s body pressed against her entire back. Hands on her hips traced up to cup her heavy breasts and those fangs raked her nape.
His hands moved from her breasts to between her legs, where the wetness had spread to her thighs. He spread her thighs wider apart, lifting her ass up as he ground his hips against her. Her core clenched hard and all she could think about was that thick, long shaft.
“Do you want my cock?”
She wanted it more than she wanted to live. She needed it more than she needed blood in her veins. “Yes. Yes, please.”
“Not yet.” Dalgo spoke low as he trailed his tongue down her spine, his fangs barely touching her skin but sending an electric current of arousal to the far reaches of her body as he went. “Not until you beg for it. I want to hear you beg and plead for my cock.”
Janelle was panting hard as he lowered that delicious mouth along her back and down to the swell of her ass. He nipped at the soft, supple skin and she yelped, weak and faint. She was at his mercy, and she would beg and beg for more.
She could never get enough of him.
His mouth traveled lower, and she froze as he gripped her cheeks, then parted them slightly. His tongue slid just over that tiny, puckered hole.
“One day, I will take you here,” he promised as she trembled. “But not today.”
He brought his fingers back to the wetness of her pussy, the tips playing up and down her slit, circling her entrance without pushing inside. She needed to be filled by him but he kept torturing her, his fingers going up and down, passing fleetingly just over her clit, then away.
“Please, now,” Janelle said breathlessly. “I can’t wait anymore.”
His fingers moved, brushing over her clit, applying just enough pressure to make her whimper. Despair took hold of her body and she moved her hips to increase the touch but he moved his finger down, just to the entrance of her pussy. Her core clenched and a desperate sob escaped her lips.
“That’s it, my beautiful, beg me for my cock.” Dalgo’s voice was a caressing growl. “Beg me for it, and I’ll fuck you until you cry.”
His fingers stopped circling and pushed just inside, and that was it. The last shred of her pride disappeared.
“I want your cock. Please. I’m going to die if you don’t fuck me now.”
She couldn’t see him but knew he was smiling as he withdrew his fingers. His hands went to her hips, holding her securely in place. The tip of his cock probed her entrance and she felt the moisture spilling out of her at the feel of it.
He growled as he pushed inside her, his thick shaft entering in her in one long, steady thrust. Janelle cried out, tugging on the shackles but unable to break free. Dalgo pulled out, then pierced her again; harder, harsher. Then again… and again.
She could feel him growing thick, impossibly hot and hard inside her. Sensations filled her, building deep inside as he fucked her ruthlessly.
She cried out and whimpered, so close to her third release that her mind was blank and she no longer even felt like a person. There was nothing but her all-consuming need for more of Dalgo’s flesh, more of Dalgo’s raw possession.
He was growling behind her, close to his own release. She didn’t need to look to know his face was more beast than man at this moment.
Just when she thought she wasn’t going to be able to stand anymore, his hand slid from her hips to her pussy and he pressed on her clit. That was all she needed.
Janelle screamed louder than any time before as the most powerful release of her life washed over her. It rattled her bones and her nerves, coming in wave after wave until she felt empty.
Then Dalgo roared behind her, his cock inside her to the balls as his own release came. It spilled inside her, hot and thick, filling her with a sensation she’d never felt before.
After his pleasure was spent, he pulled out of her and reached over her head to free her wrists. He lay down beside her, cradling her against his body, petting her hair like she was a scared little animal.
Exhaustion washed over her as her eyelids closed. Behind her, Dalgo whispered nonsense in that beautiful, exotic, alien language she understood none of. She didn’t need to know what he was saying. She felt it.
As sleep came over her, she understood that feeling—that new, marvelous feeling.
It was belonging. At long last, she belonged.
Chapter 8
A hand caressed her cheek and her lips stretched in a lazy smile.
“You snore.” His voice came from just above her ear.
“I do not!” Janelle turned within the large, warm arms that were wrapped around her body.
She blinked as she focused on his features. Her eyes had adjusted to the low light and she could see him clearly now. Gone was the beast of last night. Dalgo’s face was as it had been before, in the ballroom and in the snow. Perfect and male, yet subtly different. The shadows made the angles in his face softer, almost gentle.
Or maybe it was just that she didn’t see it before.
She looked at that mouth that could work miracles. She had
been wrong. It wasn’t thin and cruel. It was hard, yes, but it was also giving in the curves that made it pinch at the corners. In the slight fullness of the lower lip that gave him a boyish expression. As she watched, Dalgo smiled, and she lost her breath.
His face was changed by the smile, transformed from the stern, dark man of the night before. There was warmth in his silver eyes, and a glimmer of humor hung around him like a song, ready to be sung.
“Worse than a dragon.” The smile on his lips spread wider and a dimple creased his left cheek. “You snore like an old drover.”
Janelle laughed, and the sound floated out of her with easy honesty. It had been so long since she’d laughed for real, and it did her more good than any feast. Dalgo laughed with her, his voice masculine and good, full of a zest for the easy, happy things in life that she’d never suspected him capable of.
He moved fast and she ended up flat on her back, looking up at his face as a strand of dark hair fell over his brow. His hand went to her forehead and he brushed a stray lock away from her eyes with a tenderness that left her speechless.
He was a wonder. More magnificent than the castle, more magnificent than the warmth of the black diamonds on the walls. Even more so than the black dragoness he called his Bound.
Dalgo was a wonder, and her throat suddenly clogged with emotion.
“You are beautiful.” His words were simple but the emotion they carried was anything but. “And I am the luckiest Draekon of this world, and the next.”
“How can you say that?” Janelle tried to smile but it felt frozen on her lips. Her voice shook with a sob, then broke. “You have no idea who I am. What I am, and what I did. I am not beautiful. I’m a criminal, a thief. I’m no great prize.”
His face lost its humor and the hard angles of his cheeks turned stern. His silver eyes hardened as he stared at her.
“You only did what you needed to do to survive.” His voice was hard but not without kindness. “You stole, yes, but you did so under the orders of someone else. Someone who I suspect has been feeding off your skills for many years. Someone who would have let you freeze or fall to your death out on that mountain.”
Janelle stayed silent as Dalgo stared at her. She was prisoner of his body over hers, of his authority over her entire life, yet she was more free now than she had been since she became one of Darrick’s orphans, all those long years ago.
Tears sprang to her eyes and she let them fall.
“Now, tell me who sent you to steal Lady Endora’s Draekar bracelet.” His finger went to her cheek and he softly wiped away her tears. “Tell me who could send such a wonderful young woman to her death – and for what? Money? You are worth more than that, Janelle. You are worth the whole world to me.”
Was she?
“I am not.” Her smile turned sour on her lips. “I’m nothing. An orphan no one wanted.”
“I do.” Dalgo wouldn’t let her go easily. He had her trapped beneath him, and he had her eyes trapped by his silver gaze full of something she longed for more than air. “I want you. I want to keep you, but not as my prisoner. I want you to stay with me of your own free will.”
“But you said…” she began, but stopped when his face turned sad.
“I would do anything to keep you close.” His voice had the tone of a confession, low and quiet. “There is nothing I would refuse you, no limit I wouldn’t cross.”
“What are you saying?” Her heart fluttered and a tiny spark lit up in the space between her ribs.
“I’m saying I want you to stay as my Draekarra.” He looked at her with large, open eyes, withholding nothing, even if it meant she could hurt him. “You can’t tell me you haven’t felt it, too.”
“I have.” Her heart pounded as she breathed hard. “And I couldn’t leave you if I tried. But we don’t know each other.”
His fingers passed over her brows, and a lazy smile brushed his lips. “We will have a long, long time to figure things out. You, Myral and me. I will set the Draekar mating ceremony for tomorrow. I can’t wait any longer. You are the treasure I have waited for all my life.”
A treasure.
That was what her mother had called her, all those years ago.
But she had never been that to Darrick. Not to anyone since she became an orphan and was taken in by a man who saw unwanted children like her as a commodity. And who never let them forget how much they owed him.
If this wonderful, powerful man saw her as a treasure, then he deserved to know who she was.
“My mother died when I was eight. She’s the one who called me her treasure.” Janelle chuckled and she feared her voice would shatter into splinters but she kept speaking, because she had to. Because Darrick’s hold was finally broken. And she had to save the others like her, those who were still prisoners of the sick man’s greed. “But after she was gone, I was no one’s treasure. He took me in, fed me, clothed me. But I was never loved again. And I’m not the only one. There were many before me, and many since.”
Memories washed over Janelle, of her terrible pain when her mother passed, leaving her alone to fend for herself. Of that cold winter during which she had grown hungry and cold, so cold. Of the day Darrick had found her hiding in the trash pile, alone and abandoned. Of the day he’d taken her in like a homeless puppy. Darrick had shown her that love came at a price, and that redemption was the lick of a whip.
No more. He won’t do that to anyone anymore.
“His name is Darrick. He doesn’t have a last name – at least, none that any of us know. He’s got a whole clan working for him.” Her voice was steadier now. Now that her fear of Darrick had lessened and her resolve to see him fall was growing. “The orphans, the abandoned, all the unwanted children… He takes them in, feeds them, clothes them, teaches them to steal, to fight, to cheat. And they love him for it. Until the day they don’t make their quota, and then love turns to terror. I’m one of the lucky few, those who had the skill to keep earning, keep love going instead of earning his fists.”
Dalgo’s rage shimmered under the liquid silver of his eyes but she wasn’t afraid. Because she understood that rage wasn’t for her. That he would never hurt her.
“Tell me who he is, and where.” That wasn’t just an order, it was a chance at a redemption she’d thought long dead. “And I will make sure he never hurts another child again.”
“But what about the ones who work for him now?” That was the real reason she’d come to Whispering Castle on Christmas Eve to steal a prize so precious she knew she would be caught. “Darrick is bad, but he gives them food no one else would give them. A bed, and a fire at night. They will starve and die if you kill him.”
Dalgo’s mouth curved up but his smile was sad. Sad and filled with tenderness.
“You have a good heart.” He nodded, more to himself than to her. “But do not worry. I will collect those orphans you speak about, find them a good, safe place to grow and heal. They will never have to steal or go hungry again.”
“You would do that?” She blinked the tears away, too stunned to do anything else. “You would take care of them?”
“Whatever Darrick told you, it wasn’t true. Orphans don’t go hungry or cold in Katanie, not since Aldric became High Lord and I his Captain of the Guard. It’s a shame no one took you to the shelters when your mother died. You would have been taken to one of our homes. Orphans are well cared for there, Lord Aldric sees to it.”
Janelle’s eyes filled all over again. She broke down in sobs of relief and grief. Grief for her lost childhood, for all those who had died under Darrick’s hand. And relief because she never had to worry about their safety again.
Dalgo cradled her against him as she sobbed. He stayed silent, never trying to stop her from crying as she freed herself from all those years of pain and fear. Like he understood that all she needed was to be held.
Finally, after a long time, she was able to speak. “I will tell you all you need to know to get to him.” Her voice was different; deeper,
stronger.
Then she began to talk, giving him all he needed to know to destroy the man who had held her life in a chokehold.
Chapter 9
Dalgo had left right after Janelle had finished telling him all about Darrick’s many hiding places and the houses where he kept the orphans. There had been death in his eyes as he’d gone, and she was glad.
She could never repay that debt. She was free from Darrick, but more than that, Dalgo was offering her a place by his side that she was determined to earn.
Her belly rumbled and she turned to the door to Dalgo’s private quarters. He had instructed her to go and seek out the kitchen if she got hungry. He’d said the staff were expecting her for breakfast and that she would be well received there.
She hesitated. Regardless of Dalgo’s words, she was pretty sure a known thief wouldn’t be so welcome in Whispering Castle.
Her belly rumbled again and twisted into painful knots. It was hours past midday, and she was starving.
With an exasperated sigh, Janelle looked down at the new gown Dalgo had given her. It was made of velvet and warm, perfect for the winter, and the soft blue set off her eyes. It was a nice dress, the kind that suited her perfectly without being too revealing. The kind Darrick never would have let her wear.
I’m not a thief anymore. I won’t hide like one.
That thought steadied her resolve, and she walked out of the room and into the barely lit hallways with her head held high.
It wasn’t long before she was out of the dragon’s lair and in the maze of corridors that made up Whispering Castle. She let her feet guide her through her memory of the layout she had memorized for her doomed mission, and soon the aroma of food teased her nostrils.
She paused outside the service door to the kitchen. Her stomach rebelled and demanded food, but her hand hesitated on the handle. No matter how much she wanted to be free of it, she wasn’t beyond the judgment of others. She had been a criminal most of her life.
Will I be strong enough for this? What if they reject me?
12 Naughty Days of Christmas 2018 Page 47