Celibacy hadn’t been harsh or as bad as I’d thought it would be at first. Also, there was a sense of freedom that came without needing to drink the moon berries that prevented life from taking root in my womb.
It also kept me from enduring the pain they created, once swallowed. It had actually been easy since I hadn’t had an issue ignoring men, not until I’d met the warlord who consumed my mind and awoke the darkening need of desire within me.
I was lost to the beat, swaying and moving until arms wrapped around me and yanked my body against a hard, muscular frame that caused my pulse to jackhammer. Torrin lifted my chin with a single finger, bringing his mouth against my ear before a whispered breath fanned against the sensitive flesh.
“You’re teasing me past my limits, woman,” he growled huskily. “I don’t enjoy sharing my toys with other men, either.”
“That’s not the rumors I’ve heard. In fact, most state you often share your pussy with your king. I, on the other hand, don’t plan to be shared with anyone.” I laughed huskily, enjoying the slight buzz I’d caught. “And you don’t get to tell me who I can and can’t dance with. I couldn’t give two rats’ asses about your limits, Torrin.”
His hand glided up my spine, sliding through my hair, twisting it back without hurting me. His mouth moved over my throat, sending heat rushing through my body while he teased me with his scorching lips. Teeth scraped over my pulse, and he chuckled darkly with my reaction to him.
“You’d be in heaven with two mouths ravishing your body. Two cocks pushing into your tight holes that have been neglected for far too long. I bet you’d make the most delicious sounds as we pounded into your body until you were nothing more than a sobbing, quivering mess that couldn’t move once we’d finished using you.”
He held me against his thick erection, pulling back to show me the heat burning in his wintery stare. He smirked, turning to the men who had drifted around the girls, slowly dancing with them while Torrin and I stood still on the dance floor.
“Come, we’re going to retire for the night,” he growled, pulling me toward the long, steep staircase that led up into the sleeping quarters.
“I was having fun,” I protested, shuddering against the idea of being at his mercy in a room alone once more.
“You were teasing me with your slow moves while you touched all the places I want to drag my lips across. If you like, you can dance for me in our room, naked. I prefer you naked, after all. I enjoy knowing how wet I make you.”
I snorted, stopping on the landing to peer out over the dance floor where the girls were grinding and moving against the men. They looked erotic, gyrating, and pulsing against the warriors who were, in fact, our enemies. I scanned the room, noting that men stood within the shadows, guarding the place against the nightwalkers.
Hands landed on either side of me, caging me in against the railing as Torrin’s mouth skimmed over the back of my neck, dragging from my shoulder to my ear. “Does it piss you off that they willingly fuck my men? I’ve been told your girls are rather—wild with them. Amo especially sheds all her inhibitions and enjoys taking more than one man into her body.”
I bristled at the fact that he thought we were loose in morals, or worse, whores. I turned in his arms, brushing my mouth against his lips. Teasingly, I nipped his plump bottom lip between my teeth, moaning as I cupped his hard erection. I tightened my hand, and my teeth pulled his lip before releasing it.
“Don’t confuse the fact that we’re fucking your men with weakness. Pussy has power, and right now, they’re using it to lure your men into a false sense of power over their delicate sensibilities. We’re trained to use all of our body, and that includes our nether regions. Amo has your men eating out of her flower petals, literally. They’re assuming she’s some fucking damsel that needs protection, when in fact, she’s a cold-blooded killer. She could ride a cock while slitting a throat, and she would even finish after her victim has bled out beneath her. Tabitha has sucked a cock while shredding the vein in it with her teeth. She loves the taste of blood and rubbing it against her swollen clit after she’s finished her job. We’re not whores, Torrin. We’re assassins, willing to play dirty to lure our prey into a false sense of strength and masculinity before we end their pathetic fucking existence.”
I ducked beneath his arm and started toward the bedroom we’d be sharing. The moment I opened the door and passed through it, Torrin yanked me from behind and slammed me against the wall, caging me in with his massive body pressing against mine. His hands lifted as I tried to push him away from me. Forcing them above my head, he pinned them to the wall with one hand. The other wrapped around my throat just hard enough to show me who had control.
“If your girls harm my men, I’ll slaughter them while you watch me ending their lives. You, on the other hand, would end up caged in a dungeon for my enjoyment. Do you think we’re not aware that you’re all murderous whores who use your cunts to end lives? I know everything about you and your little band of bitches that traipse across your lands, killing those you feel have endangered others.”
“You don’t know anything about me!” I hissed, watching his lips curve into a lethal smile that promised pain.
“Alexandria Helios, chosen to lead her Moon Clan unit. The last remaining Helios female of her entire clan,” he stated, holding my angry glare. “You’re skilled in archery, unequaled in marksmanship, and unmatched in swordsmanship by any assassin before you or after you. You’re skilled in tonics, healing, magic, and your skin is lighter than any they’ve seen before you, meaning your blood is purer than those within the Order of the Moon. You lost your virginity at nineteen and weren’t called by the moon to breed until you turned twenty-three. The male who chose you as his mate fell in love with you, yet you declined him, and they sent him away. You earned three immortal marks of strength, power, and one thousand kills before you turned twenty-five. That alone is an accomplishment unheard of for someone with a pussy.” Torrin watched me through chilling eyes, his lips moving as my heart thundered, knowing that the things he’d spoken of were only known by those within the Order or by Landon.
“You were chosen to lead your group before you could even speak full sentences. They trained you for war by the most skilled warriors within the Order of the Moon. You think you aren’t as beautiful as the others you ride with, choosing to allow them to pick their lovers first. Then you take whatever they leave at the end of the night, and you fuck hard. You fight on and off the battlefield, but you find men lacking. It isn’t because they’re unskilled lovers. It’s because you’re dominant and demanding, and they don’t know how to handle you. I do,” he growled, releasing my throat to push against my aching pussy. “You’re always in control because those beneath you depend on you, to never relinquish it, ever. You have not met a man who can give you what you crave, which is to quiet your fucking mind so that your body can find release. You have no control right now, which is why you’re so fucking wet for me, here,” he stated, pushing my panties aside to slide his fingers through the wetness of my arousal.
I swallowed hard, staring into his frosty, pale blue eyes that burned bright while he watched me coming to the reality that he was right. He knew me. He hadn’t sought out just any moon-touched riders; he’d hunted me down on purpose.
That told me more about the situation than listening to Torrin speak to his people in a language they assumed I didn’t understand or comprehend. He also had no clue what languages I was fluent in since that wasn’t in my files.
“Let me go, now,” I seethed, watching as he shook his head.
Torrin’s fingers pushed into my body, and my muscles clamped down hungrily against him. My entire body burned with the singular focus to come undone around him. My spine arched into his touch, and I closed my eyes against the multitude of sensations that ripped through me. I rocked against the fingers, sliding in and out of my body until his mouth crushed against mine. Torrin released my hands, and I moved them to hi
s hair, holding him against me while his scorching kiss left me gasping for air with oxygen-starved lungs. I moaned hungrily against his mouth as he lifted my rear with one hand, never withdrawing his fingers from my body while he walked us to the bed.
Laying me down, he stared at me while lifting his shirt up and over his head. His eyes held me prisoner while my mind slowly came back. I shook my head, and he turned, moving away from me to an enormous desk that had a thick, leather-bound book. His hands rested on it while he faced away from me, fighting to calm the urgency rushing through him.
“Bathe and go to bed before I forget you took a vow of celibacy, and I bury my throbbing cock in your tight body. You make it difficult to ignore your needs when it’s running down your thighs, woman. I have some work to do. I suggest you bathe quickly before I finish.”
He continued to face away from me, gripping the desk firmly. The muscles in his shoulders bunched with tension, straining against the need to give in to the chemistry happening between us. My attention shifted to the window where the moon was shining. I knew I’d be called to the moon this time. That meant I would be with Torrin during the mindless mating need that took control.
Slipping from the bed, I silently shed my dress and moved to the large, opulent tub that had been filled to the rim with steam wafting from it. Beside it on the table were small glass vials of soap and candles that burned with a soft glow, filling the room. In front of the tub was a crackling fire that soothed and removed the chill that remained within my bones. Citrus lingered in the room, and it calmed my senses against the sexual assault that was rocking through me.
Shimmying out of my panties, I slowly stepped into the tub as a moan escaped my lips. Settling in, I leaned back, watching the dancing flames in front of me as the sound of pages turning fought with the crackling and snapping of the fire that licked the wood. Sitting up, something in the fire caught my eye. I leaned forward, which brought my ass out of the water.
“There’s something in there.” I swallowed, watching the tiny creatures that crawled on the logs, dancing within the flames. Fire fairies? I smiled, turning wide eyes toward Torrin, who watched me with lust in his gaze, burning hotter than the fire.
“Fucking bathe, woman,” he growled, sitting back in the chair as his nostrils flared.
Sulking, I sat back in the tub and washed my body quickly. I worked the shampoo through my hair, grimacing when I discovered there was no conditioner to make brushing my hair more manageable.
Stepping from the water, I wrapped the drying cloth around me and went to the amber decanter of whiskey. After pouring two glasses full, I padded to Torrin, offering him the second glass. I waited for him to drink it before indulging, uncaring that if someone had poisoned it, he’d have died from it first. Someone had to be the sampler, right?
“Are you planning to bathe too?” I asked, noting his brows pushed together as he watched me drink the alcohol.
“Not tonight, no. I’ve given your laundry to the hostess to wash. I figured it was safer than you riding with me without panties.”
“Indeed,” I chuckled, sitting in the other chair while sipping the drink.
The liquor tasted different from what the last inn had served, but it was wet, and I was thirsty. My eyes slowly feasted on Torrin’s powerful body while he studied me. This legendary warlord boasted of strength in everything he did, and there was a cunningness in his gaze that bothered me.
I knew he was playing me. That much was evident from the words he’d spoken to the others and his king. Torrin was used to getting what he wanted, and that was currently me. He had women falling at his feet, which wasn’t my issue. I didn’t care how many women he had because I didn’t intend to get attached to him.
My mission was simple: find the library and my brother. And then get as far away as possible from this man and his king. Torrin assumed he’d caught us, and while I hadn’t expected to end up at his feet, it worked out in my best interest. If it hadn’t, I’d already be gone. Hell, I’d have been gone the moment he got too close to me.
I’d already worked out an exit plan from this inn, but that wouldn’t get me any closer to finding Landon or the library. I’d seen Torrin’s memories, and I’d seen within his mind the book that could have only come from the library. That meant either he’d been within it, or he had someone who knew the location.
“You’re plotting,” he stated, narrowing his eyes on me as I lifted the cup to my lips.
“I’m deciding if you’d be worth bedding when the moon calls me in a couple of days. If I decide otherwise, I must find another male in which to unleash my sorely neglected pussy.”
His lips twitched as his eyes pooled with heat. “You assume I’d allow another to fuck you after tasting you?”
“I assume the male who ends up in bed with me is my choice, and only mine, to make. Unless, of course, you believe you can force me to accept you as my lover.” I stated, lifting the glass to my lips as my eyes grew heavy.
I looked into the glass, frowning before setting it down on the desk. My body grew heated while he watched me. Smiling roguishly, Torrin steepled his fingers in front of his mouth. I stood and moaned as the chair brushed against my thigh. Turning, I looked at him before shuddering violently.
“Moonflower-spiked whiskey,” he explained, watching my hand slide to my tingling nipple. “Aphrodisiac to your kind; normal whiskey to mine,” he muttered, his eyes heating while they dropped to where my hand was smoothing over my flesh.
Moaning exploded from the surrounding rooms, and I groaned. “You didn’t think you should tell me?” I questioned, stifling the urge to rub my fingers against my core that pulsed with a sharp, painful throb. My skin grew hypersensitive, and the drying cloth was too tight and offended everything within me.
“You’re a big girl, Alexandria. I assumed you wouldn’t drink whiskey from strange places without asking what was in it first. I was wrong.”
“I assumed it was just whiskey,” I whimpered, grabbing the chair to keep my hands from moving to the wetness pooling between my thighs.
“You assumed wrong.” He shrugged, grabbing the leather-bound book to continue reading. “You’re about to be in immense pain since the whiskey imitates your moon’s call, which is why it’s in every room of the brothel.”
“I thought it was an inn!” I shrieked, bending over to place my hands on my knees as a wave of scorching heat rolled through me. Shit!
“You should stop assuming things. You’re not in your world anymore, Little One. You’re in mine. Here, we enjoy sex and crave the intensity that comes to your kind naturally when you’re moon-touched and called to answer it.”
“It’s a breeding thing, not a sexual encounter for fun,” I ground out, dropping to my knees while he smiled. “It’s also very painful when it’s denied, asshole.”
“So we’ve been told. However, most of the women who indulge aren’t celibate, Alexandria. They’re also not inflicted with the power of the moon, as you and your girls are. More often than not, they’re from a watered-down line that has gone unnoticed by your order. Or they’re deserters who have refused the moon and sought out the darkness. Most who visit this establishment are women, and the ones drinking the whiskey are men who have ignored the call to join the Order of the Moon.”
My body was covered in a fine sheen of sweat. My eyes rolled back in my head as my nipples hardened, and everything within me grew taut with need. My head dropped forward, bowing before him as my hands went flat against the floor. The pulse in my core throbbed violently, and soon it would become a pain that cramped in my belly.
Standing took effort. Moving to the bed to curl into a ball was torture. I lay on the mattress, spreading my legs apart to keep my thighs from brushing against the needy, burning flesh of my apex. I fisted my hands in the blankets and parted my lips for the moan of raw, sexual need to escape the confines of my throat in a sorrowful sound. I could do this; I knew I could. I’d done it before, ma
ny times.
I’d ignored the need to fuck everyone close to me with a red-hot urgency that ended in debilitating pain if dismissed. I’d disregarded it for four years, and the fact that I was mere days away from ever having to deny the call again, only to end up in some induced reproduced version of it, pissed me off.
I felt Torrin’s heated eyes on me, noting the way my hips moved while my sex lay exposed, drenched in arousal, dripping from the drugged whiskey I’d drunk. Moans were coming from all around our bedroom. Each of the girls had probably partaken in the whiskey, too.
I wasn’t stupid enough to believe they’d simply ignored it happening. No, Torrin’s men observed us drinking their watered-down version of the known aphrodisiac. They’d allowed us to drink it, showing us that even though we’d been sneaky about the seduction, they were in full control. Now they would show us viscerally who was in charge, and they’d do it through orgasms. Fucking great!
Torrin’s hand touched my body, and I curled into the heat it offered, peering up at his wintery eyes that promised relief. A single finger trailed between the valley of my breasts, stealing a moan from my lips. His dark head leaned over as his teeth clamped onto one nipple. Groaning loudly, I moved my hips with an invitation. The thrust of them was unhurried, while his tongue flicked my nipple leisurely.
His other hand gradually slid between my thighs, cupping my sex before leaving my neglected clit untouched. Three fingers danced against my opening, and I held his stare before they moved, sliding down to where I was writhing against them with need.
“It’s also more potent than your moon’s call to breed. The men use it to keep aroused, to sate the women’s hunger who come here to experience endless, unbridled passion. You will not win this fight, I’m afraid. You will not endure pain, just a raw need to find release any way possible.”
Moon-Kissed Page 10