by Chloe Cole
“What do you mean?” I asked, cocking me head as I studied her mischievous expression.
Anaya shifted so she was facing me more squarely. “All this time wondering where you were and if you were safe helped me see something important,” she said before pausing for a long moment. I waited for her to continue and, when she did, she chose each word carefully. “Iris, you all brought down a man who posed an incredible danger to me and to Ironhaven. The four of you. That’s very impressive. You’re impressive. And I think I was wrong.”
I blinked. “I’m sorry?”
Anaya nodded with a knowing smile. “I was wrong for excluding you from serving. I need a Captain for my fleet of ships, Iris. There are too many lands we haven’t seen, too many people outside of Ironhaven who might need our help. I want us to be a beacon for free thinkers and those who need refuge. I also want to make sure we have soldiers prepared to fight on the seas and eyes and ears in all corners of the globe so that a plot like this will never escape our notice again. In order to do that, I need to focus on travel by sea. I’ll need someone to recruit and train our sailors and spearhead these first journeys to spread the word. I think the position should be yours, if you would have it.”
My heart hammered so loud, I could hear it. I hadn’t expected something like this. The swell of excitement and elation inside me reminded me of how much I had wanted this moment back before everything had changed on the day of the archery competition.
That felt like a very long time ago now. But my dreams and aspirations still beat like a drum inside me.
“I want it,” I said. “I want it now more than ever. Thank you, Anaya. You won’t regret it. I promise. I’ll do well. You’ll see. Just give me-”
Anaya held up her hand as she chuckled and I fell quiet. “Iris. Relax. Let’s just get home first. Then we can discuss the details, and maybe plan your first course together. You’ll have to have a first mate, of course,” she added, giving me a sideways look. “Or three.”
“Three.” I nodded. “Three is good.
“Then three you shall have,” Anaya said.
We chatted for a while longer, but my imagination had already taken flight.
I was to be made a Captain.
I could hardly believe it. And if the men I had my eye on for my mates would accept, I would finally have it all. Everything I’d ever dreamed of…
Epilogue
Five weeks later…
After his hanging, Du Monde had been buried in an unmarked grave outside the city walls. Many of those in the lands he’d presided over in Forest Vale had opted to accept my sister’s invitation to join us in Ironhaven for a better life. Some of them- nine, to be exact- had pledged their lives and their services to me.
Now I was on the deck of my very own ship, on our first journey. She was still unnamed, but she led the fleet as we set sail for open sea. Ironhaven was behind us and glowed orange and pink in the light of the setting sun across the horizon.
My three first mates stood behind me on the deck. Our first stop was Juniper. From there we would visit other cities and towns and extend an invitation to seek solace in the Kingdom of Ironhaven at any time. All were welcome in the Queen’s land.
Sailing away from her had been hard, but adventure and purpose beat within me, and I was beyond excited to begin.
I clasped my hands behind my back as the horizon flashed a bright shade of pink before the sun disappeared.
“Gentlemen,” I said, not turning to look at them, “it would seem as if we have been blessed with quiet seas and an easy night to lead off our journey. Shall we retire early to celebrate?”
“Aye, Captain,” the three of them said hastily before turning and heading to my cabin.
My pulse skittered as I crossed the deck and made for the Captain’s quarters, taking my time. Enjoying the building anticipation curling in my belly. When I slipped inside, I found the room aglow in candlelight, and I shivered as I locked the door behind me.
I would never tire of this. We’d spent many a night together since we’d arrived back in Ironhaven, me and my mates. But each time was different. Magical. A gift that I would never stop cherishing.
My bed was at the back of the room beneath the wall of windows. The curtains had been drawn and my men were all standing at attention, already completely naked.
Titus, like a brick wall of corded muscles, big and strong both above the waist and below. Eryk, lithe and fit, his jaw tense with need as his member bobbed to reach his belly button. And Dimitri, his cock thick and proud as his heat-filled blue eyes connected with mine.
Swallowing hard, I undid my belt and let it fall to the floor. My sword clattered as I kicked off my boots and peeled off my leggings. I quickly stripped off the white tunic and my Captain’s jacket, tossing them down to join the rest of my attire at my feet. Lastly, I delicately removed my hat; a royal blue velvet masterpiece with a white feather atop it. I placed it on the pile of clothes and cocked my hands on my hips.
“Your Captain orders you to do whatever you wish to her,” I said, wiggling my hips teasingly. Then I traced my bottom lip with my tongue.
“You should probably put the hat back on, then,” Dimitri suggested.
“Indeed,” Eryk nodded, his gaze soaking in the sight of my nakedness and then flicking to the hat. “Makes you look more…official.”
“And sexy,” Titus added with a slow grin.
I chuckled and turned slowly away from them. I made a show of bending down slowly to pluck the hat from atop my clothes, reveling in the chorus of low groans that the motion elicited. I straightened, my spine arching as I turned so they could only see my profile. Then I placed my hat on my head and traced the brim of it with one finger.
“Bloody hell, lass,” Titus growled, “that’s a wicked thing to do to a man.”
I shot him a grin but kept my back to them. “And what are you going to do about it?” I asked.
“I’m going to make you see stars,” he vowed gruffly, closing the distance between us in three easy strides. He grabbed me by the waist and lifted me effortlessly off the ground. Then, he carried me to the bed and tossed me down atop it.
The three of them closed in around me, sending a shudder through me as my mind conjured all the things those mouths…those hands could do.
I stretched myself out to lay on my back, but Titus was impatient and grabbed my ankles, dragging me to the edge of the bed. He wasted no time spreading my legs wide enough to accommodate him, dropping to his knees and closing his molten mouth over me.
“Oh my,” I gasped and wriggled in his grasp as Dimitri and Eryk knelt on the bed on either side of me. I reached for Eryk first, closing my hand over him and stroking him root to tip, slow and steady as Titus continued to lick and suck that sweet spot between my legs.
I turned my face to Dimitri, who dipped his hips lower to slide his cock between my lips.
I ran my tongue over the tip of him in the way I knew he liked while I worked Eryk’s shaft with my hand. Titus was relentless the whole while, sucking and licking my clit with wild abandon even as Eryk plucked at my nipples with his clever fingers. I moaned and rotated my hips, stunned at how quickly the fire had bloomed inside me.
I released Dimitri’s cock, expelling him from my mouth just long enough to beg.
“Please, Titus. Inside me,” I muttered as I gripped the sheets beneath me with my free hand.
Titus straightened, his gaze hot on my pussy as he took his throbbing cock in band.
“Ah, lass, you drive me mad,” he growled as he eased the swollen head of his cock inside me.
I always forgot how big he was, and the sensation of him filling me managed to steal my breath. His nostrils flared as he stretched me wide, plunging deeper, filling me to bursting. I gasped and stilled for a long moment. Once I had recovered from the initial pressure, a let my hips flutter against his in a slow grind as I sucked Dimitri back into my mouth and began to work Eryk in longer, faster strokes.
T
itus needed no further encouragement as he gripped my ass in his big, strong hands and lifted me from the mattress so he could push deeper inside me. His cock dragged against that place deep inside me and I groaned around Dimitri’s shaft as Titus pulled all the way out of me and before dipping back inside. Over and over, he rode me harder…faster, using my ass to work me over that massive cock until my channel tightened around him.
I released Dimitri again and let my head fall back as waves of pleasure broke over me. I cried out Titus’ name, twitching and jerking as I came.
“Beautiful,” he groaned.
I was sure he would follow me over the edge…could vaguely feel the heavy weight of his cock bucking inside me, desperate for release, but when my spasms finally quieted, he slid from me, still hard as iron.
“I want to come in your mouth this time, lass,” he managed through gritted teeth.
I nodded, my own teeth chattering with the aftermath even as my desire bloomed anew at his words.
They switched places with a dizzying speed as Eryk got off the bed and took Titus’ place and Titus climbed onto his knees beside me. He fed his cock into my waiting mouth as Eryk settled between my legs. I used my hand on Dimitri as I sucked Titus off, and as I swirled my tongue on the bottom of his shaft, Eryk slipped two fingers inside me.
He always liked to start off this way. He would tease me at first with slow thrusts, and then, when he knew I was hot and ready, edging closer to the brink, he would pull away and make me wait.
It was a torturous game…one that I loved and hated all at once, but that never failed to drive me mad with need.
Dimitri dropped his head to my chest and began to nip and suck at one of my nipples while Titus tugged on the other in a gentle rhythm.
I drew hard on Titus’ cock, until his head pressed against the back of my throat as I took my frustration out on Dimitri, working him up and down in frantic strokes.
“Ah, fuck, Princess,” he growled. “I’m going to come if you keep up that pace.”
I was past the point of caring as Eryk finally gave into my silent plea for him to fuck me.
He pressed his swollen shaft into me and, as soon as he was buried to the hilt, I exploded around him in a wet storm. I let out a muffled scream, delirious from the pleasure as I soaked his cock. My scream was cut short as Titus exploded into my throat, grunting as he stiffened above me, gripping my hair tightly in one fist as he climaxed.
Dimly, I was aware of Dimitri’s lean hips moving in time with my strokes now as he gave up the good fight and came on a bellow, shooting ropy streams of silky, hot liquid over my belly.
I thought I was done. Sated beyond my wildest dreams, but as Eryk moved in powerful strokes, he dropped a hand between us. I gasped when his fingers grazed the swollen bud between my thighs, sending a shock through me. He took the sound as encouragement and rotated his fingers in a delicious circle, making my toes curl and my thighs quiver.
Again?
But I’d barely formed the thought when the waves crashed over me. My orgasm shook me to the core and I rode it out as Eryk’s hips moved like pistons. A moment later, he too stiffened and jetted into me in a hot rush. I gripped his hips as he flexed deep one last time, every muscle in stark relief.
Titus released my hair and fell back onto the bed with a groan and, for the next few moments, none of us moved. Soon enough, the heat in the room began to subside and a chill ran through me.
Eryk pulled away and I felt a gentle hand swipe a soft cloth over my belly.
I found Dimitri smiling down at me, looking at satisfied as I felt, as Titus tugged the covers down and drew me under them.
“Did we deliver for you, Captain?”
“Aye,” I murmured as we lay on the bed in a haphazard pile, staring up at the ceiling.
“Glad to be of service,” Eryk said with a grin. “Now, on to Juniper. Of all the places in the world to see, you choose to go there first, you say?”
I nodded. “I have a promise to keep.”
“What promise is that?” Dimitri asked, propping his head up in one hand.
I thought back to the woman who had helped me what seemed like so long ago.
“Carrace. The barmaid who sent word to Anaya for me. I owe her a visit. I want to tell her she can join us aboard, if she so chooses, or find honest, good-paying work in the palace at Ironhaven. Juniper did not strike me as the happiest of places.”
“And after that?” Titus asked.
“Wherever there are people who might need us.”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “Can you imagine what our lives would be like if you hadn’t kidnapped me that day?”
Dimitri chuckled deeply beside me and put a finger under my chin. He turned my face to his and held my gaze. “It wouldn’t be a life worth living, Princess.”
My throat went tight as he bent close and kissed me. I leaned into him and his warmth as the others stroked my bare skin.
This was heaven.
The sound of the waves rushing against the sides of the ship as we cut our course to Juniper, and onwards.
Together, forever.
Haven’t read Anaya’s book yet? Check out Anaya’s Pride, the story of Iris’s sister (free with KU!)
Want more Chloe Cole, get a sneak peak at Coercion!
Forced to wed a dragon who wants her but will never love her...
When Willa Stone is cast aside by the alpha-wolf she’s been promised to since birth, she’s humiliated and angry, but also secretly relieved. Now, maybe she’ll have the chance to mate for love. If her power-crazed parents will just give her a little time, she’s sure to find the man of her dreams…
Dragon-shifter, Drake Blackbourne, has an itch to scratch and precious few options for an outlet. When the Stone family offers up their daughter’s hand in exchange for protection and political favors, he agrees to wed her, sight unseen. Drastic times call for drastic measures and, so long as she does her part and keeps out of his way the rest of the time, surely he can manage to bed her, no matter how plain she might be.
What he doesn’t expect is that captivating, defiant Willa will ignite a fire in him that will burn everything in its path, and turn both of their worlds upside down…
Chapter One
“I don't get it."
Greyson West sat up in his oversized desk chair and probed Willa’s face with his laser-like gaze, but she managed not to react in spite of the tumult of emotions rioting inside her. When he reached out to touch her consciousness with his own, she shut down entirely, not ready or willing to let him in.
"What don't you 'get'?" Willa's mother asked, her chin raised at a haughtier angle than was appropriate when talking to her alpha.
There was no question that Grey took notice, but he kept his tone measured and polite as he turned his attention back her way. “Your fury seems out of line, Faustine. In fact, I had thought that we’d come to an agreement.”
Her ramrod back went even straighter. "You fractured this pack with your abominable actions. Then you turned your back on your betrothal to our daughter and the ancient ways of our kind. I don’t know what you expected to have happen, but this is what you've wrought, young man. I’m sure my husband and I will be the first of many elders taking a stand."
Grey's posture changed on a dime and his nostrils flared. Where he'd been open and almost apologetic before, now, he was flat out pissed.
Willa swallowed hard in an attempt to dislodge the golf ball that had been lodged in her throat for the past week.
She didn't love Grey. Never had, but, since birth, they were bonded. Sworn to one another by their families to mate and rule the pack together once Joseph, Grey's father, stepped down.
The whole stepping down thing hadn't come to pass, but Grey was now, indeed, the alpha. Only Willa wasn't by his side.
She shifted uncomfortably in her armchair and shot a quick glance toward Maggie, Grey's new mate who sat beside him.
She didn't hate the woman. Quite th
e contrary. From what Willa had seen and heard, she was tough, ballsy and seemed to be mad about Greyson. And Willa was glad for that. At least one of them had gotten to mate for love.
What was harder to swallow was the fact that Willa’s entire identity had been tied up in this antiquated, now-broken, marriage deal. And now, even the wolves who considered themselves progressive and forward-thinking--the young generation who had sided with Grey to overthrow his tyrannical and murderous father--had turned their backs on her.
Where once, they'd treated her with a respect bordering on reverence, they now looked on her with pity. Whatever they might say with their mouths that made them come off as politically correct under this new regime, deep down, they thought she was damaged goods.
No two ways about it. She had lost her best friend and planned mate in one fell swoop, and she had no prospects. If the alpha had cast her aside, why would anyone else want her?
Raised voices caught her attention and she tore her gaze away from raven-haired, slim, Maggie right in time to see Grey turn his attention to her father.
“Jacob, come on now. Surely, you can see the time has come for change. Your ways…the old ways just don’t work for us any longer. We need to co-exist with humans, not murder them. And the idea of arranged marriages in this day and age--”
"You entitled little pup,” her father cut in, his face turning a mottled red. “Your father broke his back to build this pack. Now, you betray your entire bloodline by imprisoning him and taking over, and you think to pass judgment on me?" He tossed his head back and barked out a bitter laugh. "That's rich, Greyson."
He shoved himself to his feet, whipping his dark, wool coat over his shoulders as he did.
"Sit. Down," Grey commanded, his jaw clenched, and his silvery eyes blazing with fury.
Willa's mother and father locked gazes and turned to face Grey in unison.
"No," her father said simply. He reached for his wife's hand and pulled her to her feet to join him. "We won't. In fact, we have obeyed our last command from you, young Mister West. Without Joseph at the helm, we have no interest in remaining with the Big Sky Canyon pack.”