Ties That Bind: The Bellum Sisters 3 (paranormal erotic romance)

by Grey, T. A.

  “Why do you think he wants you dead? You already told him you'd leave him alone.”

  Telal shrugged and pressed his thumbs against his eye socket. A throbbing beat stamped against him in his skull and at his temples. The pressure in his head felt tight. “I don't know. He's different. He hates me too. My mother might have put him up to it. Maybe he feels threatened and wants to ensure he doesn't lose the throne.” God, he could never have believed how his brother turned out. Physically altered from the cruel life he'd led. His chest pulled tight and he refrained from burying his face in his hands like he wanted to. He didn't want to think of Alrik, couldn't without the guilt eating away inside of him.

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  A knock sounded at the door then Alpha Lyonis Keelan came in looking grim. He took a seat with them and leaned forward so his elbows rested on his knees.

  “I'm on board for whatever you need, Telal.”

  Telal cocked a brow in surprise. After the way he'd last treated the Alpha when his mate had gone missing, that surprised the shit out of him.

  “Thank you,” he said finally. The words felt strange coming from his mouth even though he meant it.

  Tyrian spoke carefully. “I believe we should be prepared for an attack. I think we should head in there and take out Alrik one way or another. If we catch him, we can subdue him and imprison him. You are the eldest brother and will rightfully gain the throne.”

  Telal almost laughed. Subdue his brother? It had to be a joke. His brother was demented and would only give up with a fight to the death—he'd said so himself. Telal didn't know if he could wield the final blow that would end his brother’s life.

  “My powers are gone for now.”

  “We'll wait until they come back. I can bring some of my people,” Lyonis said. “They are excellent fighters, especially when shapeshifted.”

  Telal's head pounded even harder until it felt like his brain was trying to escape. “I don't want innocents to die.” But how could it be done without any casualties?

  The aristos lived in the castle. If they planned the timing right then they could attack and try to single out Alrik while the others were in bed, but then there'd still be servants and soldiers in the way. Either way it was risky and people would die.

  “Alrik has sent assassins after you and Lily. I don't think he'll stop until you die. Could you let her die, Telal?” asked Tyrian in a soft voice.

  Telal stiffened, his heart pounding with a strange emotion. He'd never really thought about it. What if she died? He swallowed hard because the thought made him want to vomit and kill something at the same time.

  Lyonis suddenly laughed a hearty sound. Telal hated it. “You do love her.”

  Telal glared at him. “I care some. I do not love her.” He felt a twinge inside that felt as if he'd lied. Panic instantly swelled inside him. Love? Did he love the crazy succubus? God, he did not want to think about that right now because his heart and his mind were disagreeing on the subject.

  “Whatever. I'd recommend that you don't let a great thing like that pass you by. You never know when she might be taken away.” Lyonis' expression turned grim. Telal knew he'd almost lost his mate to the jaheera demon, but seeing how it affected him made him shift uncomfortably in his seat.

  “I'm going to bed,” said Telal, coming to a stand. “I'll think about it and let you know.” He was a planner, had always excelled at weighing the pros and cons of a situation. He'd do the same with this one. Only this time was different because he was weighing his life to his brother’s.

  After shaking hands with the men, Telal found Lily and let Chloe escort them to the bedroom they'd be using. Telal made for the shower and dropped under the hot spray letting it clean the feeling of filth from his skin and loosen his tight muscles.

  He heard her soft steps before she came into view, beautifully naked. She stepped into the shower with him and wrapped her arms around him. His heart squeezed tight and he held her in return. It felt good to have her in his arms. It eased even more tension in him but made his heart thump erratically. Did he love her? God, he hoped not. Lyonis' words floated in his mind. But he shoved the thought away because they didn't count. Even if he did decide to go to war with his brother, he'd never let her come. She'd be here in the castle safe and locked away.

  Her hands roamed across his back then cupped his cheeks giving him a playful pat. He almost laughed. She thought she was so much different off that drug of hers but really, he liked her like this. A little bit more serious, still sweet and naive, and kind.

  The shower spray covered them both, matting their hair down and wetting their bodies. His eyes roamed over her form, loving the dip of her waist, the flare of her hips, and the soft press of her mounds against his chest. She felt womanly and perfect against him. She pressed a kiss to his chest then another, slowly going lower.

  His cock punched hard and erect, his body growing tense once again. “What are you doing, lilit?”

  She smiled up at him with warm eyes, her lips pressed underneath his belly button. “You're tense. I thought I'd help you to relax.” She kissed further down to each of his hipbones as her hands trailed up his thighs.

  He almost staggered at her touch and had to slam his hand on the shower wall to keep from falling over. His cock fell against her cheek. He ached to have her suck him in deep but she ignored him and continued to lick her way down his groin.

  She trailed her fingers over the area. “Why don't you have any hair here? Seeing blue down here would be pretty fun. Do you shave it?” The naughty witch asked the innocent question while her hand curled around his cock light as a butterfly.

  “No,” he gritted out. “Demons don't grow hair down there.”

  “Oh.” She said it like it was the most interesting thing to learn. She pressed her forehead against his thigh. In a voice devoid of playfulness, she said, “If you don't want to retake the throne that's fine. I support you. But please, please help me to get my mother out.”

  He swallowed hard over the tightness in his throat and rested his head on her hair, so dark and wavy, beautiful. Love. Is this what it felt like? The need to please her and do anything for her to make her happy?

  “I'll get her out, Lily.”

  She looked up at him and saw the sincerity in his gaze. Like a light flipping on, her expression lit up bright as the sun. “Telal...thank you. Thank you.”

  Then in a smooth move, she swallowed his cock whole, burying him to the back of her throat. He did choke now, his hips jerking from the raw pleasure.

  “Lily,” he warned. Though he wasn't sure what he was warning her about . She made a moaning sound around him then slid him out and back in again, flicking her little tongue around him and licking his shaft like a delicious treat. Raw possession came over him. He wanted to keep her, he realized. Only let her mouth ever please him. The thought didn't shock him as it might have even a few weeks ago, but it settled deep inside him like concrete—sure and strong.

  She pulled back, letting her hand massage over the tip of him trying to coax his orgasm from him. And it was working. His sack pulled tighter and tighter, his muscles clenching. Hell, it took an effort not to let his toes curl. The pleasure of just watching her getting poured on from the shower and pumping his cock in her little fist nearly undid him.

  “Let me have you.”

  She shook her head and swallowed him whole again and again. Breathing became a chore as his lungs pumped hard to suck in oxygen. His head fell back and he let his fingers touch the tresses of her wet hair. He didn't hold her to him or guide her because what she was doing to him was magic of its own.

  His body grew incredibly hot as his climax neared. “Let me inside you,” he begged without shame. The torture of her mouth sucking on him was too much.

  She pumped him with her hand and bobbed up and down his shaft, moving faster, sucking harder. His hips started jerking in response. The hand in her hair tightened out of reflex. He only had one last c
hance to warn her so he did.

  “I'm going to come in your mouth if you don't stop.”

  Fuck. She moved faster. A growl started in his throat then ended in a ragged shout as his entire body jerked from her little mouth. His semen seemed to shoot down his spine and out through his body in hot, erotic spurts that didn't want to end. The little succubus moaned around him, licking him clean then gently released him.

  He fell back against the shower and when she came into his arms again he held her tight. His mind felt foggy and heavy. He wanted nothing more than to drop onto the bed and pass the fuck out.

  “Let me finish you,” he said instead though. He had to make it even, make her come.

  She kissed his peck and smiled up at him. “No, let's go to bed.”

  She shut off the water and he followed her by hand into the bedroom, too tired to do anything else. Before he passed out, he wrapped his arm around her to pull her close. She felt so right there so good. So he told her so.

  “You're not so bad yourself, baby.” He heard the laughter in her voice and smiled as he fell asleep.

  CHAPTER 38

  Kearny's eyes popped open as he groaned. Someone was jabbing at his stomach with something hard and unforgiving.

  He jerked to a sitting position with his fists pulled tight ready to fly. A woman with dark skin, darker than Rosa's, stepped back from him, her hands raised in a defensive pose.

  “I'm Nanu, the healer. I'm just stitching you up.”

  He smelled her before he saw her. Rosa came up from behind him. She looked raw like she'd hadn't slept in days and her eyes were puffy and red from crying.

  “What's wrong baby?” His voice sounded too hoarse from not being used. That and his tongue felt brittle as dried wood. He needed blood. She surprised him. She knelt over him pressing a dozen kisses across his chapped lips and holding his head in her hands. “It's all right. I'm okay.” She made a half-sob, half-laughing noise and pulled away, her lips trembling in a smile.

  “I thought you were going to die.”

  His chest felt entirely too tight at her words. He didn't know what to say so he just pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her, his heart beating with an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time.

  She stepped away after a minute. “Let Nanu stitch you up so we can get you out of here.”

  He smiled at the order. “Yes, ma'am.”

  Nanu stitched him up in no time and offered him pain meds that he refused. His stomach hurt but it wasn't anything he hadn't dealt with before. Once he got some blood in him he'd feel even better.

  Rosa had to help him stand up. His legs wobbled like rubber bands and his upper body felt too heavy to be supported by his weak legs. He hated looking so frail in front of her; hated even more that he had to lean on her just to stay upright. She only smiled up at him and his worries eased just like that.

  “I missed you.” They moved slowly out of the medical ward taking it one step at a time.

  “I missed you too, bambino.”

  They stopped at the foot of a staircase that looked so long the image of them spun in his head with a dizzy spell. But she only tightened her arm around his waist and helped him up the stairs one foot at a time. God, he loved her. He smiled at the thought and when she caught it and raised an eyebrow in question he merely shrugged. He didn't think she was ready to hear that yet. He'd tell her at the right time.

  She helped him into a guest room furnished with two dressers, a huge arching window, tall ceilings, and an adjourning bathroom. The idea of a shower almost gave him enough energy to take one but after the journey up the stairs his muscles started to tremble from exertion. She pressed him against the bed and he fell on it with a groan. She instantly lifted his shirt to inspect his bandage.

  “Are you okay? Did that hurt? Maybe I should get you that pain medicine.” She looked away in thought. “Or I could make you some. Maybe the healer has herbs or I can have that demon Draven port me back to my shop or—”

  “Kiss me.” He enjoyed the surprise and pleasure that fleeted over her face.

  “What?”

  He would have laughed but his stomach felt raw and he didn't want to tear the stitches. “You heard me, Rosa.”

  Her cheeks darkened with color and then she leaned down and placed her lips over his. Soft, smooth like silk or satin or some kind of fabric he didn't recognize. But no flimsy material could hold anything on her, not with the heat and pressure she added. Her scent teased him, soft and delicate. Fresh like a flower. Her tongue darted across his lips, wetting them, then pushed inside. He groaned. His body hardened at her womanly taste at the slippery glide of her much thinner, smaller tongue. His hand curled into her hair, pulling her closer but she broke away breathing in an unsteady way that made him grin.

  “We can't...not until your wound is better.”

  “That's a shame.” He meant it too.

  She laughed a little. “Can I get you anything?”

  His eyes fell to her neck. The animal in him wanted her to part her hair off her neck so he could see the pumping pulse there. His hands crushed the comforter in hard fists.

  “Blood. I need blood.”

  Her eyebrow flew up in that pretty way and another blush darkened her cheeks. Her hand fluttered to her throat. “Mine?”

  His cock jerked in his pants at the huskiness in her voice. His turned equally low. “No, Tyrian will have some here.” Get out before I take yours. He wet his lips, his eyes closing as he tried to imagine what she'd taste like. That only made him harder, made his mouth drier though. “Please go.”

  “You can have mine,” she said softly.

  He tensed, the points of his fangs throbbing in time to his cock. She had no idea what she was asking, what it meant. He couldn't take her blood and not her body. No matter how much he wanted to feel her wet heat wrapped around his cock again, he couldn't do it. He needed to get strong again.

  He looked her straight in the eyes. “That means a lot to me. I promise to take you up on that as soon as I can do sit-ups without breaking my stitches. But right now, if I take your neck...” his mind wandered off as he envisioned taking her inner thigh right next to her pussy. He almost started panting. “If I do then I'm going to fuck you. It's going to be hard and fast, and now is not the time, baby.”

  Her chest rose and fell in fast waves but she slowly backed up then fled out the door. Shit. That hadn't gone well. As his mind tried to figure out if he'd ever see her again or if she'd just gone to get him some blood, he also thought about the demons that had attacked him.

  They were good. Trained like fucking assassins, which made since. They'd had a purpose coming to Telal's headquarters: to kill Telal and everyone in their path. Kearnyn didn't wish to be in Telal's shoes right now. He couldn't begin to understand how he felt. He'd never really known his own five. Some died of illnesses before they were even twelve, and, well, those who were still alive turned their backs on him when they found out what he'd become. Like it was his fault. He ground his teeth but stopped as his fang almost cut his tongue.

  Sometime later, a soft knock sounded at the door and Rosa came in with a plastic container filled with red. His tongue watered. She gave him a wobbly smile and handed the container to him. He tore it out of her hands and was chugging it in big gulps in the next second. He closed his eyes in pleasure. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he'd been. His taste buds opened up, absorbing the delicious taste. The blood fueled his body moistening his muscles and cells, powering him up. He finished the entire container and wanted more but he refrained from asking her to get some.

  If he took too much he could make himself sick. He wouldn't vomit the blood up but he'd get tired and lethargic from overeating and it'd take him at least a day to adjust to it.

  She took the empty container from him and set it aside. “Can I sleep with you?”

  He almost laughed because there was no way she wasn't sleeping with him tonight. “Yeah, get over here.”

  She pulled off h
er dress and he groaned. She wore nothing under it. Not a stitch on her beautiful body. Only all natural woman, just how he liked it. She didn't flush with embarrassment either and he smiled. Good to know she was adjusting to him, because he planned to see her body a lot more in the future.

  She cuddled up next to him but didn't touch his stomach.

  That night, he slept like a rock.

  CHAPTER 39

  After slow, passionate lovemaking with Lily, Telal grabbed a quick shower and dressed in some clothes provided by Tyrian. The clothes weren't his usual fair but they fit. Plus, he had to admit, wearing suits got bothersome. Not enough pockets and even the smallest of spills resulted in a dry cleaning bill. The money didn't bother him but it always felt like a hassle, one necessary to his job.

  The forest green cargo pants, black tee, and boots worked out better than he thought. If he were fully equipped with his favorite weapons, his knives since he'd always favored them in hand-to-hand combat, he'd have enough pockets to put all his extra gear. Lily came up beside him with a satisfied expression that showed just how sated he'd made her. His chest swelled with a mixture of possessiveness and pride. He had the urge to grin at her and say, “Yeah, I did that, baby.” But he didn't. He wasn't going to make himself look like a fool even if he did feel that way.

  “Ready?” she said.

  Nodding, they went downstairs to a meeting he'd call with everyone. All the Bellum sisters were there along with their mates and even Kearnyn felt well enough to attend. Rosa sat next to him, their hands clasped together.

  Telal's stomach felt jittery. He'd awoken early in the morning and had lay there with Lily wrapped in his arms as he'd thought…planned. He weighed the pros and cons of all the possible situations the best he could. He'd miss something, he knew. Last time he'd had no idea his brother was the king or his father dead. At least in some ways that knowledge might help him to succeed. He still teetered on the edge though. What he really wanted to do and what needed to be done were two different scenarios. And in this case, not just for him, but also for Lily and his people, he had to do the latter.