by Katie May
“You scared the shit out of me today, you know that?”
She nodded wordlessly.
“I can’t...” I took a deep breath to rein in my emotions. “I can’t imagine a world without you in it. I don’t want to live in one like that. Do you understand?”
Again, she gifted me with a small nod. I wondered if she was paying any attention to my words. Her gaze flitted from my shoulder blades, to my stomach, and then back to my eyes.
Suddenly, so suddenly that I gasped in shock, her hands grabbed my ass, pulling me even closer.
Her neck strained as her pink lips clasped around my nipple. The heady sensation sent lightning bolts of desire straight to my perpetually hard cock. I groaned, squeezing my eyelids shut as her tongue swirled around my aching nub.
“Fuck,” I muttered through clenched teeth. She pulled her mouth away with a satisfied slurp, and I dared a glance down. Her breathing was heavy, and her eyes were hooded. So fucking gorgeous.
“You’ve never done this before?” she asked softly. Her hands kneaded my ass.
“I’ve been saving myself. For you,” I whispered. As an Incubus, I needed lust to live just like a human needed food and a Vampire needed blood. However, that didn’t mean I had to partake in sexual activities myself. The pheromones that permeated the air in most brothels were substantial enough. Hell, I would sometimes sit in front of my brothers’ rooms and get fed.
And of course, after I met Z, I would touch myself. A lot. But before that? I hadn’t ever felt the need.
“So you haven’t...done anything?”
“Not with a female,” I replied, my body still thrumming from her touch. The hands on my ass paused.
“But with a male?” she asked. She didn’t sound disgusted, only curious and a little turned on. Still, my face flamed in embarrassment when I realized how my words could be construed.
Chuckling nervously, I said, “No, not with a male either. Well, technically a male, since I do touch myself a lot.”
Shit, Killian! Stop!
“I meant...um...” My face was an inferno. God damn my mouth.
She chuckled, her hands once more resuming their ministrations on my ass. I practically mewled like a cat in heat.
“Don’t worry.” She leaned up once more, teeth finding my earlobe. She bit down once before suckling the skin. Nibbling on it. This time, I couldn’t contain my groan. “I touch myself too.”
My cock was painfully hard, throbbing almost, inside my pants. There was a fine line between pleasure and pain, and the damn thing was dead smack in the center. I pictured Z lying in bed, her hand between her slick folds.
I was going to come in my pants.
Her fingers fisted in my hair, and she eagerly brought my lips down to hers. I swallowed the appreciative moan she made in the back of her throat, prodding her lips with my tongue and demanding entrance. Everything felt instinctual to me, as if I had done it a thousand times before. There was no hesitation as my tongue tangled with hers in a choreographed dance. She still tasted sweet, despite being paralyzed for hours. Delicious.
She salaciously grabbed my bottom lip between her teeth, tugging. Her eyes remained fixed on me. Gauging my reaction, perhaps?
When I nodded once, encouraging her to continue, she reached for my boxer briefs and tugged them down. I froze, briefly, but any self-consciousness I might’ve felt disappeared when she ran her eyes over me.
“God, you’re so fucking big,” she whispered.
“Thank you.”
Was that a thing people said? It felt appropriate. After all, she was complimenting my cock.
And I had a rather great one, if I was being honest. Not that I had a lot to compare it to. Nobody would let me look at theirs and see-
My thought cut off when her hand pulled at my balls. I whimpered, the feeling unlike anything I had ever felt before. It was ten times better than when I had touched myself there.
“Wait,” I breathed, and her hand immediately released me. For the first time since I knew her, Z’s face turned a delicate shade of red, and she hid her face.
“I’m so sorry, Kill. I just got carried away.”
I cut off her ramblings with a searing, claiming kiss.
“Don’t ever apologize,” I whispered harshly. I gently grabbed her hand and brought it back to my aching cock. “I want you to touch me.”
I kissed her again, hoping she was able to feel all that I felt for her through the clash of our lips.
“I don’t want to have sex tonight,” I stuttered, and if I expected judgement or anger, I was sorely mistaken. I shouldn’t have expected anything else, though. This was Z. She understood me better than anyone. “And it’s not because I’m not ready - because I am. I’m so fucking ready, you have no idea.”
I leaned down to breathe her in before planting a kiss to her shoulder, directly where her dress was sliding down.
“I want you, Z. I want to love you and fuck you and do so many other things to you. But I don’t want our first time to be like this.” My face heated. “I had it planned. I would make it romantic and shit with rose petals and candles and chocolates. I just...I want it to be perfect. I want-“
She cut me off with a quick kiss. Her eyes were glittering with a suppressed emotion, and my heart hammered at what I suspected I had just seen.
“It’s okay, Killian. You don’t have to explain yourself. We can go as far as you want.”
As far as I wanted...
“Take your dress off,” I whispered darkly. Huskily. I barely recognized my own voice.
Eyes heated, Z made quick work of sliding the dress over her shoulders and shimmying out of it. My tongue turned to cotton in my throat when I took in - devoured - her scantily clad form.
She wore only a white, strapless bra and matching panties. Panties that were currently soaked through.
“You’re already wet for me,” I murmured in observation, and she let out a whimper. Huh. She liked when I said that.
I grabbed the tip of my cock, using the pre-cum as lubrication. Slowly, I began to rub myself from tip to balls. My cock had always fascinated me. The velvety softness of the skin contradicting the hardness underneath.
“You need to get naked, sweetheart,” I said softly. Because really, at that point, it just wasn’t fair. “Be a good girl and remove those clothes.”
Once more, a needy whimper escaped her.
Huh. Interesting.
With a blistering speed, she unsnapped her bra and kicked off her panties. I made a mental note to undress her myself when we finally did make love. To take my time removing each article of clothing, showing her my love with each kiss to her soft skin.
Worship her, the way she deserved.
Breathing heavily, she glanced up at me. Waiting.
For what?
Instead of answering her silent plea, I took a moment to take in her perfect body.
Her skin was porcelain in appearance, the occasional scar marring the perfect smoothness. Her breasts were large, quite easily a handful, and her pink nipples screamed at me, demanding me to put each one in my mouth as she had done with mine.
Patience, I told myself firmly. The last thing I wanted to do was explode before we even started.
I lowered my gaze, taking in her dripping pussy. Her legs were spread wide, offering herself to me. My own personal feast.
I continued to rub my cock, eyes alternating between her nipples, lips, and pussy.
“Touch yourself,” I pleaded and was shocked when my voice came out sounding authoritative. I was even more shocked when Z released a breathy moan.
“Where?”
“Touch those perfect tits,” I instructed. I fondled my balls, once, before moving my hand back down to the tip. Z’s eyes were fixated on my cock even as her own hands moved up her sides and to her breasts. Two fingers from each hand pulled and tugged at her nipples.
“Shit, Z,” I whispered, awed. She was beautiful and perfect and mine. I had never been overly religio
us before, but I thanked God that I had gotten her.
“Keep touching your breasts, but I also want to see a hand in those pretty pink lips,” I said. I figured if she had listened to me the first time, she would be willing to listen to me a second time.
If the gasp of pleasure was any indication, she liked what I had said. A lot.
One hand continued to fondle her breasts, her thumb circling around her nipple but never quite touching, while the other spread her pussy apart for my viewing pleasure. I groaned low in my throat, utterly transfixed as she jabbed a finger inside of herself.
I erratically stroked the length of my cock in tandem to her own finger entering and exiting her liquid heat. She began to fuck her finger in earnest, jabbing a second and then a third inside.
Her fingers pinched her nipple before moving to her neglected breast. She tested the weight before pulling her nipple out and releasing it. The momentum caused her boob to bounce, and she moaned.
“Look at me,” I whispered harshly. “I want to see you come.”
Her eyes lifted from my cock to my eyes and held them as she played her body like a violin. She knew which string to pluck and when to pluck it, each moan that reverberated from her body a symphony of music.
I could feel myself reaching the precipice of pleasure. One more tug, and I would be tumbling head over heels off a cliff.
“Come for me, sweetheart. My love.”
I exploded the same time she did. Our cries echoed in the large bedroom. My balls clenched painfully as I released the last of my seed onto the bedspread.
“Fucking hell,” Z breathed, panting. She glanced up at me with doe-like eyes. “I didn’t know you fucking had it in you.” She sounded awed.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I admitted, standing up from the bed and moving to the adjacent bathroom. Turning on the faucet, I wetted two towels before moving back to the bed. I gently cleaned Z off before rubbing the cum off my own dick. Our mixed seed still darkened the bedspread, but I was too lazy to send up servants to change the bedding.
Instead, I grabbed a blanket from a chest near the foot of the bed and laid it overtop of the sex-drenched one. Z waited until it was sprawled out before climbing back on the bed, still naked. I curled around her, tucking my head beneath her chin.
This was heaven. Bliss.
It was unlike anything I had ever felt before.
“Kill?” Z mumbled sleepily. Her fingers were idly stroking patterns on the skin of my chest.
“Yes, my love?” I asked, tentatively pressing a kiss to the crown of her head.
“You don’t have to be a fighter or a protector for me to love you. You just have to be you.” The last words were nearly unintelligible, but I heard them as if they were screamed.
Did she...?
Did she just confess...?
I didn’t want to hope, but my heart began pounding against my rib cage. All I could do was hold her closer against me. Surrounding her in my love. I languidly nuzzled her perky nipple with the tip of my nose.
Before I could ponder her unintentional confession, I felt darkness encroaching at the edges of my vision. Sleep claimed me like a thief in the night, stealing away the last of my coherent thoughts.
I fell asleep holding the love of my life in my arms, her confession of love hanging palpably in the air.
TWENTY-ONE
Z
The Kings loved to hear themselves talk.
I imagined they spent hours in the mirror, practicing their speeches and animated facial expressions.
The send off was small - only the Kings and their sons present. I stood in the center of the throne room dressed in tight, leather pants and a black shirt that clung to me like a second skin. Over my shoulder, I had a bow and arrow set and a sword sheathed. On my wrists, I kept two throwing daggers hidden beneath my shirt.
I felt powerful, exuding danger that no amount of haughty smirks from the Kings could replicate.
A part of me missed the badass outfit - my ninja costume, as Mali had called it - that Diego had made me. One push on the magical pendant allowed me to completely transform into Z the assassin, not Zara the simpering maid. Complete with a black cloak, white mask, and a variety of invisible weapons.
Unfortunately, the Kings had procured the pendant after The Damning had ended. Too much power, they had insisted.
Too much my fucking ass.
As the Mermaid King droned on and on - and the Incubus King released tiny sparks of his power straight to my core - I focused on the men present. Namely, my mates.
Dair sat behind me, muscles taut and knuckles white where they gripped the wheels of his chair. He looked strikingly handsome today in his fighting leathers and with his golden hair slicked back. Beside him stood his three brothers. Tavvy and the twins, whose names I couldn’t recall. I would have to ask Dair at a later time.
Lupe and Devlin stood behind their fathers, eyes intently trained on me. Killian stood off to the side, not next to his father but still close enough for the King to flaunt his ownership.
My core tightened when I met Killian’s eyes, memories assaulting me of our time together only last night. The way he had taken control. The domineering voice. The lust emanating from his eyes. Who knew my sweet Incubus was an accidental dom?
He offered me a salacious grin, completely unlike the timid man I had grown to care for, and I felt my own lips curving in response. Just as quickly, I shut that shit down.
Now was not the time to lust over my sexy, seductive mate.
Bash was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, eyes flickering from his sleeping father to me. His expression was unreadable whenever he met my gaze. Seeing Bash brought back the aches and pains that had all but diminished after my time with Killian. It rubbed repeatedly at the wound until blood sputtered out, draining me.
I wrenched my eyes away from Bash’s. Did he notice the pain and betrayal in my eyes?
Did he care?
Did I care?
It was the latter question that bounced around in my head. It brought about connotations that I had accepted the mate bond and everything that went with it. Accepted Bash as one of my mates.
The man barely tolerated me, keeping me at arm’s length as I did him. Still, my mind traveled backwards to when we had danced together, carefree and laughing. He had held me so tenderly, so reverently, as if he was afraid that I would dematerialize as quickly as I had arrived.
That was one road I couldn’t travel down until I was sure of where we stood. Sure of what we both wanted.
Jax and Ryland were both missing, and their absence slammed into me like a sledgehammer. I wasn’t necessarily surprised with Jax, but Ryland? Where the hell was he?
I hadn’t seen him all day, not after the awkward stare off in my bedroom. I would’ve believed him to be mad at me if I hadn’t known him better than that.
Everybody began walking towards the door at once, and I realized I had missed the dismissal. Oops.
Frowning, I once more removed the map the King had given me when announcing my first task. My eyes traced the sloping lines adorning the crinkled page. No particular landmarks stood out.
And then the description of the man I had to find and kill...or lack of one.
I sighed heavily. This wasn’t a mission that they expected me to complete. It was a game designed for failure.
“Dair,” the Mermaid King called, waving his hand. Dair’s jaw clenched, but he obediently wheeled himself towards his father. I remained standing near the entryway, watching their exchange with narrowed, suspicious eyes. The rest of my mates and their fathers had already been ushered out leaving only me, Tavvy, the Mermaid King, and Dair.
Tavvy’s smile was smug, almost sardonic, when his eyes met mine. He offered me a wink that he probably thought was attractive, but came across as constipated.
The King said something to Dair, and I watched my mate lower his head minutely. Reaching into his pocket, the King handed Dair a small bottle,
the liquid continually changing colors in the artificial lighting. A spell, I realized dumbly.
As Dair put the liquid to his lips, my fascination turned to horror when he keeled over, falling out of his chair.
I ran towards him, ignoring Tavvy’s dark chuckle and the King’s expectant grin. Dropping to my knees, I pressed the palm of my hand against Dair’s forehead. His skin had taken on a ruddy tint, sweat plastering his hair to his forehead.
“What’s happening?” I asked, fear tightening my stomach until it was a mesh of tangled nerves. I glared at the older man towering over us. King or not, if he had hurt my mate, I would end him. Painfully.
Dair’s breathing evened out, but his eyes were pained.
“Z...” he whispered helplessly, and it was only then that I got a good look at him. Where his stubs had once been, two legs sprouted out, the skin as golden as the rest of him. His toes flexed, wiggling, before he slowly stumbled to his feet.
In my dazed state, I couldn’t help but think he reminded me of the little mermaid learning to walk for the first time. A laugh bubbled up, threatening to break free, at the accurate comparison.
“It’s...it’s a miracle!” I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. Tears burned in my eyes, and I was not ashamed to admit that more than one escaped.
Dair’s smile was sheepish when he looked at me, eyes haunted. Why was he not more excited about this? He could walk!
Before I could stop myself, I threw myself into Dair’s arms and peppered him with kisses. He kissed me back instinctively, arms tightening around my waist before releasing me.
The Mermaid King released a feigned gasp of shock, and I threw him a glare. “I know you already know. Don’t act so fucking surprised.”
That expression of shock morphed into one of pseudo-sweetness. His eyes were bright, illuminating. It always struck me to see my mate’s blue eyes - the clearest shade of water - reflecting back at me from such a cold man’s face.
“I had my suspicions,” he hedged , that same damn amusement dancing in his eyes.
“Not suspicions,” I said without hesitation. “You knew.”