Sold to Serve: The Dark Brothers Book 1

by Kyra Alessy

  And now – he adjusted himself – it was doing the same.

  Her tear-filled eyes rose to look at him. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked softly.

  And though he deserved nothing of the kind, she looked at him with such trust – even after everything he’d done. It crossed his mind that perhaps Kade was right. It almost made him reconsider what he was about to do. Almost.

  ‘I’m here to make you feel better,’ he said truthfully, ‘if you’d like me to.’

  She cast her eyes down. ‘I don’t want to feel better. I deserve to feel this way.’

  He chuckled. ‘None of this is your fault, Kora. I don’t think so anyway.’

  ‘And the others?’

  He could lie to her, he supposed. It would make things simpler if she felt cut-off from the others. He lied to everyone, after all. Even himself. But he wanted to tell her only truths. He frowned, not sure why that was. ‘The others feel the same,’ he conceded. ‘Do not dread Blackhale. We are Dark Brothers. He will fear us by the end.’

  ‘But you aren’t part of the Army anymore,’ she sniffed, ‘and I’ve brought the worst trouble to your door.’

  ‘Hush.’ He angled her face up to his and silenced her with a kiss, gentle and soft. She didn’t struggle as he moved a hand over her chest and kneaded her breast. In fact she made a noise that sounded suspiciously like she was enjoying his touch. He grinned against her mouth as he felt her nipple bead in his palm and she moaned.

  ‘Please,’ she gasped.

  ‘What is it you want, Kora?’ he asked, not above making her beg just a little.

  ‘You,’ she breathed. ‘Please.’

  He had her on her back before she’d finished speaking, hand sliding under her gown and up her thighs. He parted them slowly, giving her ample time to stop him, but instead she pulled at his shirt, trying to bare him to her eyes. He took it off in one smooth motion, only to see her eyes darken in distress.

  ‘What is it?’ he asked, suddenly terrified that she was going to stop him, but her eyes were on the bruises that still marred his chest. He cupped her cheek. ‘Pay them no mind. I deserve them.’ He was shocked to discover that that too wasn’t a lie. He’d earned that beating from Kade and more besides if he was truthful.

  His breath hitched as she ran her hands over his shoulders and down his chest lightly as if afraid she would hurt him. Her eyes caught his and he was ensnared by them. He couldn’t look away. He didn’t want to.

  He freed her breasts from their confines and licked them into hard peaks. She began to writhe under him, rubbing herself on the leg that was between her knees. He sat her up and pulled the dress over her head, revealing her body to him. He drank her in, the swell of her breasts, the widening of her hips down to the dark thatch of curls. He dragged his fingers through it gently, making her shiver, before parting her lower lips and doing what he’d wanted to since he’d seen her that first day. Her body was already slick for him and he groaned, almost not believing that she was allowing him this.

  Then she widened for him willingly, angling her hips up for him to touch her, and he was ruined. He opened his breeches and took himself in his hand, watching her face as she stared at him. Her eyes flicked to his and then back to the very hard cock in his fist. And then she licked her lips and he almost spent himself there and then like a callow youth. Unable to wait any longer, he entered her gently – more tenderly than he’d ever been with anyone, letting her channel adjust to his size gradually. Then he began to move slowly and she gasped as he filled her.

  Her fingers grasped his shoulders, digging into his skin as she turned her face into his neck and stifled a moan.

  ‘No,’ he growled, drawing back from her to look into her face, ‘I want to hear every sound I make you utter.’

  With that, he took her mouth with his, nipping her lip hard enough to cause a yelp and a clenching of her nethers, he noticed. So she liked a little pain, did she? He groaned as he licked the blood from her lip before moving down to her nipple. He took it in his mouth and bit down, making her squeal. She whimpered, her eyes flying to his in accusation even as her legs wound around his waist to urge him on. He grinned.

  ‘Now I know another of your secrets, Kora,’ he murmured, not slowing his movements, nor quickening them. ‘You like a little pain with your pleasure, don’t you?’

  She looked away, not meeting his eyes as her cheeks coloured and he licked her to sooth the sting of his teeth.

  ‘So do I,’ he whispered and her lips parted on a gasp.

  He kept the pace slow, burying himself in her fully with each stroke. She felt exquisite around him and it was torture when all he wanted to do was rut her hard, but he wouldn’t. The agony was beautiful.

  And, just when he thought he couldn’t possibly take anymore. She moaned in pleasure, her channel spasming around him. Then, she did something he would never have expected of her. She dug her nails into his back and drew them down, hard. He gave a yell at the sudden act and his release hit him like a hammer, spilling his seed deep into her. His body shook with the force of it and he collapsed on top of her, breathing hard and biting down to keep from making a fool of himself by telling her the first thought in his mind – that he loved her.

  Instead he did something else; his own blood on his tongue, he kissed her deeply. He couldn’t not. A delight he’d never known before zinged through him. His plot forgotten, he basked in what he’d done. She was his now. Theirs. Irrevocably.

  A moment later, her door practically flew off its hinges as it was thrown open and he looked back at both his Brothers, their expressions thunderous.

  She squirmed beneath him, and he moved so she could breathe though everything in him screamed to crush her into the bed and take her again. He grinned down at her and she met his eyes shyly. Gods, she was perfect.

  ‘What have you done, Lucian?’ Mace snarled.

  ‘What does it look like?’ he countered. ‘I decided to have her myself to see if she was as good a fuck as you both said.’ His lips quirked up as he looked down at her confused face. ‘And she was.’

  Her eyes clouded in the familiar despair that he found he no longer wanted to see there. He would banish it from her countenance forever, he vowed silently.

  ‘Another trick?’ she asked softly.

  He caressed her hair away from her face and gave it a sudden tug that made her gasp. ‘No.’

  Kade pulled him away from her, throwing him halfway across the room. Lucian hit the floor hard and groaned. He turned over and looked up at his Brother with a dark smile, refusing to be apologetic.

  ‘That’s not what we mean and you know it!’ Kade said, his rapidly darkening eyes boring into him. ‘You began the ritual.’

  ‘Oh, that.’ He shrugged as well as he could from the floor.

  ‘Did you even tell her what you were doing?’ Mace yelled.

  Lucian sat up and considered. ‘No,’ he said finally. ‘I didn’t know I was going to do it until I did. It’s a bit late to ask her now.’

  He looked up to where she was on the bed, sheet pulled up to her neck, swollen lips and looking adorably tousled. Her eyes were moving from one to another as she tried to understand what they were talking about.

  Kade loomed over him. ‘This morning you didn’t believe she was our Fourth. What changed?’ He looked from Lucian to Kora and back again before letting out a roar that had the girl cringing. ‘You were being left out and, after everything you’ve done to her, you decided to wait until she was vulnerable to have her. That’s why you’re here.’

  Lucian winced. He hadn’t wanted her to know about his previous plan. One taste of her was all it had taken to leave it in ruins anyway.

  She was still in the bed, fumbling to get her gown over her head. Her tell-tale sniff had Lucian grinding his jaw, his eyes narrowing at Kade and his big mouth.

  Mace ran a hand through his hair. ‘The urge to bind her caught you unawares or you’d never have done it. Fool!’ He stomped forward and hit L
ucian’s face so hard he fell back against the wall with another groan.

  Chapter 15

  As soon as she was decent, Kora jumped from the bed, trying to understand what was happening, why Kade and Mace were so angry with Lucian. Kade hadn’t been this way with Mace she didn’t think, but then she’d been unconscious for days just afterwards … so perhaps they had had a reckoning for … what – sharing her?

  Mace hit Lucian again and she grimaced. ‘What is happening?’ she asked Kade. ‘Why?’

  Kade looked so angry that she took two steps back, wrapping her arms around herself as she stared into his eyes that no longer looked human. He was Dark Realm. She had to remember that. When he saw her reaction, he blanched, his eyes turning back to normal immediately. He put his hand out to her. ‘I’ll never hurt you, Kora. We’re angry with Lucian because he’s done something he wasn’t meant to.’

  ‘Is it because we…’ She looked over at the bed.

  Kade grimaced. ‘No, it’s not that. We’ll have to explain. He will have to explain.’ He looked in Lucian’s direction again and his body went rigid as if he were trying to force something back. He swore loudly. ‘You had no right,’ he snarled.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ she said.

  ‘He’s bound you to him.’ Mace suddenly said, his eyes not leaving his Brother who was still sprawled on the floor. ‘With blood.’

  ‘Lucian?’ she questioned him.

  Lucian sat up and coughed. When he looked at her she thanked the Gods she didn’t see that awful glint in his eye that appeared when he was going to do something cruel. But when she saw the pure satisfaction he exuded she almost yearned for it. Whatever he’d done, whatever they were talking about, Lucian was proud of himself.

  She shook herself from Kade’s grasp and stepped back as Lucian got to his feet, none the worse for wear despite the blows he’d received.

  Kade frowned and began to say something, but it was drowned out by the sound of the alarm bell. The village was being attacked again.

  ‘Fuck! This isn’t done, Lucian,’ Mace promised. Then, without a backwards glance, he was gone. ‘Come,’ he called to his Brothers from the corridor. ‘Lets finish these marauders once and for all.’

  Kade started towards her, but she backed away from him. He sighed heavily. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Lucian gave her an indiscernible look. ‘I will speak to you about this when we return.’

  Moments later, Kora watched from the casement as the Brothers left the keep on their great, black steeds, the dust carrying on the breeze behind them. She tried to guess what they’d all been talking about. Blood binding? She’d never heard of it. Lucian had bitten her lip and drawn blood. Perhaps it was something to do with that.

  When he’d appeared in her room, she’d known he wasn’t there because he liked her, but, in her moment of weakness, she had wanted the comfort he promised. He’d counted on that, she supposed. Perhaps they’d used each other. She sighed heavily, unable to shake the feeling that something life-changing had just happened without her knowing.

  She left her room, making her way down to the kitchens as she usually did, only Davas wasn’t there. She turned to go in search of him when she noticed a slip of thick paper by the hearth where she’d slept her first nights at the keep. Her brow furrowed. Who’d leave her a note?

  She picked it up and put a hand over her mouth as she read the scrawled writing.

  ‘Be at the stables by sunset if you want to save the keep – and your beloved Brothers.’

  At the end was that fucking sigil she couldn’t believe she hadn’t recognised before. Blackhale. She crumpled the note into a tight ball and threw it at the hearth, her heart pounding. Blackhale would do as he threatened. He would raze the keep to the ground and he’d torture the Brothers until there was nothing left of them but bones. He had the men to do it. She’d heard enough stories about him to have an inkling of what he was capable of. No one fought him and survived.

  She walked from the keep and saw that sunset was almost upon her. There was no time to consider her actions nor wait for the Brothers’ return. She had no choice. Feeling a numbness settle over her, she made her way slowly down the steps and across the yard to the stable on leaden legs.

  The door was ajar and she entered slowly. She couldn’t see anyone there. She heard a noise behind her and turned. Something thudded painfully into her cheek and she went sprawling, hitting her head on one of the stall doors. Dimly, she wondered if the amount of times she’d been hit in the head today was going to cause permanent damage. She was aware of a pair of boots coming to rest in front of her and then of being hefted up and thrown over a shoulder like a sack of flour.

  MACE

  Mace jumped off his horse in the dark with a curse and practically threw the reins at one of the men. Again they had lost the trail. Where were they hiding and how were they obscuring their tracks?

  He glanced up at the keep, dreading facing Kora a thousand times more than Blackhale. He was the leader. He should have recognised what Lucian was going to do before Lucian had even known himself, but he had let himself be distracted by her past, her story, by Blackhale. In truth none of that was important. What mattered was that she was going to hate them when they explained what Lucian had actually done and what it meant for her. A binding was nigh unbreakable.

  He looked over at Lucian, who seemed infuriatingly unperturbed as usual and then at Kade who was still atop his mount staring straight ahead, his entire body clenched. His control was waning and Mace didn’t know what he was going to do when it came loose. At least if Kora was with him, he wouldn’t let his inner beast take over. He would want to spare her that.

  ‘Your woman is gone.’

  Mace turned to find one of their men looking nervous. He held a charred, rumpled slip of paper in one hand. Mace’s stomach turned to stone. ‘What?’

  ‘This was found by the hearth in the kitchen. It must have fallen from the fire before it could burn. We searched the keep, but she’s not here.’

  The note was plucked from his grasp by Lucian. ‘Perhaps she’s simply run off again.’ He drawled. ‘While you were all looking for her the yard would have been empty. She could easily have slipped out unnoticed while a lone guard’s back was turned. She could have written this to throw us off the scent.’

  Kade snatched the note from Lucian with a low growl. ‘And the sigil here? Did she fucking conjure it from nowhere?’

  ‘Control your emotions.’ Mace snapped at Kade. ‘Losing yourself to the beast helps no one.’ He looked to Lucian. ‘Do you truly believe what you’re saying?’

  Lucian stared at the paper in Kade’s hand. ‘No,’ he conceded, ‘but if Blackhale has her then we need to find them quickly. She may be ours by law, but Blackhale holds much influence.’ He frowned as he surveyed the men going about their work in the yard.

  Mace saw where his mind was going easily enough. ‘The spy is one of the men.’

  Lucian nodded. ‘But which one?’

  Kade dismounted. ‘I’ll check the stable’, he said, already walking stiffly through the doors. He reappeared almost immediately. ‘She was there, all right. I can smell her faintly over the horses. There was another there,’ Kade said grimly.

  ‘Who?’ Though Mace feared he already knew the answer for the man was suspiciously absent.

  ‘Davas.’

  Kora’s eyes opened suddenly and she lurched up. She’d been taken from the keep, she thought, looking around wildly. Her wrists were bound in front of her. It was dark, but a torch flickered not too far from her, casting long shadows through a small cavern. It smelled wet and she could hear the echo of water dripping. There was rough stone at her back. She felt it. Damp. She shivered, wishing for one of the hated homespun wool dresses instead of the unsuitable silk she was wearing. A figure stepped out of the shadows.

  ‘I’m sorry, lass.’

  ‘Davas?’ Not Davas. Her hand came up to her mouth in shock. ‘I don’t understand. You do Blackhal
e’s bidding?’

  He heaved a sigh, not looking her in the eye. ‘I must. I have a daughter. She’s in Blackhale’s power. If I do what he commands of me, she is safe.’ He looked up for a moment. ‘I wish things were different, girl. I couldn’t believe it when he told me you were the girl he’d been searching for. Right under my nose.’

  The older man knelt before her and tried to take her hand, but she ripped it out of his grasp. ‘Don’t touch me! I thought you were my friend, Davas. How could you betray the Brothers like this?’

  ‘Betray them?’ he scoffed. ‘I’ve saved them and the keep. Because of me, Blackhale will leave the keep and the Brothers alone.’

  ‘And what about me? Do you think they won’t notice I’m gone?’

  ‘They’ll notice and mourn in their own ways, but they’ll eventually realise that a slave is replaceable. I like you, Kora, I do. I consider you a friend and, in fact, you remind me a bit of my girl, but you aren’t Tilly and blood is blood. I do what I must.’

  Kora tried to push the sting of his treachery away. She had to get out of this place. Perhaps she could change his mind if she could convince him she was worth more to the Brothers; if losing her would cause them distress. Blood was blood.

  ‘Lucian bound me to him!’ she burst out, hoping that that would mean something to him.

  Apparently it did because Davas gaped at her. ‘He what?’ he asked faintly.