by Ana Calin
I scoff, barely holding back my anger. “I know what I saw, Xerxes.” He takes another step toward me, but I hold up my hand. I have to stop him before he comes too close, before his powerful voice goes down to those frequencies that open me up, weakening me, making me willing prey. I can’t let him play me. “Save your breath. I don’t want explanations or excuses. Things are as they are, but don’t worry. That doesn’t change anything about my loyalties. I’m still fully on your side to settle this with Samael, especially now that harmony for all the realms is in our grasp. But make no mistake, Xerxes. When this is over, I’m going to leave you.”
The words stop like a lump in my throat, but it’s the look on Xerxes’ face that seals my lips. His golden skin takes on a dangerous reddish hue, and his sharp features turn to steel. His lips draw into a hard line, and before I know it, he pins me to the wall, his hands on my wrists.
“Oh, great, fantastic. Two cavemen attack me on the same fucking day,” I say, but I don’t feel as angry as I sound. If anything, I want to give in. I want him to kiss me, take my breath away, force me to go back to him so I don’t have to make the decision, and hate myself forever.
“There is no version of the universe in which you’re ever leaving me,” Xerxes says under his breath, his eyes laden with fire. I huff and try to look away, but he lets go of one hand and grabs my face, forcing me to look at him. “I would do anything for you, Cerys, except this one thing—let you go. No matter what you do, where you go, or how you may manage to escape me, I will always find you, make no mistake about that. You belong to me, you belong with me.”
“If the love between us as bonded mates is so real and profound, then why do you have to stake your claim like this? In real love there’s no room for insecurities, don’t you think?”
“There will always be insecurity between us, Cerys. What we feel for each other is against reason, against our will even. We’re slaves to something bigger than us.”
“I fucking saw you with her,” I growl, struggling in his hold, but he pushes his impossibly hard body against mine, pinning me to the wall, keeping my face to his.
“There was nothing between Zestari and me.”
“Just how stupid do you think I am?” I jerk my knee to his cock, but he catches it between his thighs, his leather pants harsh against my skin. “Let me go, Xerxes. Bonded mates or not, I still have my free will, and I don’t want to hear your excuses about what happened with Zestari.”
“Oh, don’t worry, my Queen. It’s not excuses that I have for you.”
With that, still keeping a grip on my face, he pushes his sculptured lips onto mine. His kiss is demanding, and yet I can feel he’s restraining himself. As if he wants to do so much more, but what worries me most is the way I’m losing myself to him.
It’s been too long since I’ve felt him like this, and my body is aching for him, needing him. He peels his lips off of mine only to open them against my mouth, and deepen the kiss, his lips burning hot. His scent takes over my mind, I can’t think straight anymore. My body arches against his in a last, hopeless attempt of resisting him, but he overpowers me, his large, kingly body pushing into mine, trapping me against the wall.
He lifts me up and parts my legs, the robe falling off of me. My hands wander on his body as I melt into his kiss, hungry to feel him, but then flashes of Zestari shoot through my mind, and I start hitting him with my fists.
“No,” he growls. “I feel you, Cerys, you’ve hungered for me as badly as I have for you.”
He kisses me again, tearing down all of my defenses, while my hands knot furiously in his silky black hair.
“Wait,” I manage, catching a breath. “Kareim. He could come back to himself anytime, if he catches us—”
Xerxes scoops me up in his arms, pushing with his shoulder against the rock wall. It gives in, and we enter a secret corridor as if through butter.
“By the high realms, this place is alive.”
“As alive as my need for you,” he says, the sound of his voice raising the goose bumps on my arms. Pleasant currents travel up my skin as I feel his leather armor against me, the hilts of his knives pushing against my breasts, reconfirming his power, his masculinity, his ruthlessness. It does things to me on deep, primal levels.
He growls deep in his throat as he winds his fist into my hair and tugs, forcing my head back. He traces my jaw and my neck with his lips, and he’s not gentle about it. His mouth his hard, his jaw like steel. I squirm in his arms as my pussy creams for him. No, I can’t let this happen, I can’t show weakness, I can’t let him conquer me like this.
I stiffen, but he breaks my resistance again, freeing his erection and rubbing it lengthwise against my lower belly. High realms, I won’t be able to resist him.
“I want you to the point of madness,” he says in my ear, his gritty voice throwing fuel on my fire. “But I won’t take you without your permission. I won’t enter you unless you ask me to. Or order me to.”
Order him to. Me, commanding this fearsome warrior.
“No,” I manage.
“Then I’m just going to have to pleasure you differently.”
“I don’t want you to pleasure me. I want to you to quit doing this. I want you to let go.”
“Letting go of you is the only thing I’ll never do, I told you that. Every inch of me yearns to possess you.”
He lowers his hand as he speaks, two thick fingers slipping through my pubes, between the lips of my pussy. I lean my head back, my lips parting as I let loose a sigh.
“Fuck, Cerys, the sound of you is enough to drive me wild.” He makes love to my pussy with his fingers, sliding between the lips, pushing just a little bit inside me. My pussy clenches to suck in those fingers, my hips rolling forward.
“Ask me, Cerys.”
“No.” I bite my lower lip, fighting against myself, against the urges rising in waves from deep within me, screaming at me to let this man claim me. But my hands knot in his hair, and I tug hard, desperate to keep myself from traveling lower, over his leather armor and his knives and daggers.
I look up into his face, his eyes glowing in the darkness like a handsome demon’s. Seeing him, acknowledging his every feature, that’s when my downfall starts. When I take in the sight of that hellish face that stares back at me as if he could run away with me, and keep me only for himself for the rest of time. As if he could never get enough of me.
His fingers slide over my clit, and I can barely hold it. It’s so inflamed, and I’m so wet, that I can’t resist, and pleasure pours out of me. I scream, the sound muffled against his chest as I push my face into his leather armor. He moves his hand smoothly between my legs, stimulating me harder, letting me come long and hard. As I tremble in his arms, spent and dying to lick those fingers that gave me so much pleasure, he brings them up to his sculptured dark lips. I stare hypnotized as he licks my juice off of them, holding my gaze.
“Ah, Cerys, the taste of you.” He bends in slowly and breathes in my scent, pushing his raging cock against my lower belly. “See how badly I want you? This can get so much better for the both of us, if you only just say the word.”
Every cell of my body wants to, but now that I’ve found some release, I also recovered some self-control.
“No,” I manage.
He crushes my breasts against his chest, rubbing that cock against me. My cheeks burn, my breath is shallow, and I’m this close to giving in, begging him to fuck me, right here, against the wall, even though the risk is through the roof. If we get caught, it will cost us everything, but not even that awareness helps. My desire for him becomes unbearable, but I won’t give in. If he wants to paly the power game, then I’m going to flip the balance.
I drop to my knees, the rock scraping my skin. I’m so horny, my blood has turned my skin a peachy hue. Here I am, on my knees in front of this king in leather and metal, but ready to take back my power. I take his cock in my hand. It’s hot, fire pulsing through its veins, the head engorged and re
ady for release. But Xerxes holds back, his entire body tense.
“What are you doing, Cerys,” he says, that gritty voice making my scalp prickle.
“I’m doing exactly what I want to.” I close my lips around the crest of his cock, feeling him wince and let loose a hiss. His cock is too big for my mouth, but I slide down as far as I can go, then suck hard as I pull back. I’m no expert at this, but I do it with visceral passion.
My jaw and my throat hurt as I suck him with all I have, holding his cock at the root, but what I want is for him to lose control. That’s when I’ll know that I’m the one in power, when he loses it and cups my head, pushing me against the wall and fucking my mouth. Yes, I’ll drive him wild, and when’s close to coming, I’ll play my best card.
Wicked ideas pop up in my head as I acknowledge my dirtiest desires. I swipe my hand between my legs, and wrap it with the juice of my pleasure around his thick shaft. He groans so deeply the walls reverberate. This is dangerous, and it causes him to stop and check the surroundings, his pointy ears adjusting to pick up distant sounds. I keep stimulating him, basically giving him a blowjob and a hand-job with natural lube at the same time.
Control starts to leave him, and it sends pleasure up my spine. Yes, this is what I want, him cramming me against the wall and pumping my mouth. His cock throbs, ready to pour semen down my throat, but that’s when I slow down. Xerxes slaps his hands against the walls, his fingers curling and leaving trenches in the rock as they drag down.
“Fuck, Cerys, please.”
“Who’s begging whom now, great king,” I tell him with swollen lips that I can’t feel anymore. He stares down at me with burning eyes, his face raging with violent need, but he refuses to move and take me. I’m starting to think that the bond we share prevents him from ever doing anything remotely non-consensual to me, which I find dangerously seductive.
“I won’t take you,” he says. “Not unless you specifically allow me to.”
“Order you to.”
“Yes.” His ears move again, but if he’s still here, then we’re safe. No one heard or, if they did, they don’t know where the sound came from.
“Very well, then.” I rise to my feet. I’m between his arms now, with my back against the wall as I raise my hand and trace his lips. He closes his eyes, taking in the sensation. His fingers curl harder against the wall, splinters dribbling to the ground.
“Cerys,” he whispers.
“On your knees, great king.”
He opens his eyes slowly, giving me a lazy grin.
“Oh. I see how it is.” But he doesn’t move until I put a hand on his shoulder, applying some pressure.
“Now. I order you to.”
“Yes, my Queen.”
High realms, he loves this. And I can barely hide the fact that I’m trembling with anticipation.
Xerxes kneels in front of me, and before I can do what I planned to, he grabs my hips. His big hands feel coarse on my flesh, which adds to my desire big time. I’m soaked from both my prior orgasm and my renewed arousal, and ready to come as he buries his mouth into my pussy. When his tongue pushes between my folds, going for my crack, I lose it.
I planned to look down at him, this great warrior on his knees, pleasuring me with his mouth, but fuck. He has me in the palm of his hand when he slides his fingers inside me and starts pumping me.
Soon I’m bouncing against the wall, my hair a mess, my skin flushed, as he fucks me so hard with his hand, I’m sure I’ll barely be able to walk tomorrow. His tongue swipes hungrily over my clit at the same time, then he bites my folds, giving me pleasure and the slightest hint of pain to keep me on my toes, never knowing what to expect.
He makes me come again, a deep orgasm that shatters me. Only that this time he shoots back to his feet before my sounds of pleasure escape me, pressing his other hand on my mouth.
Moments later I fall in his arms, spent, exhausted, and unable to play this game anymore.
“Do it,” I tell him. “Put your cock inside me and fuck me hard.”
His chest vibrates with the low, satisfied growl of an animal. Before I even realize what’s happening he flips me around, pushing me with my tits against the rock. He takes my hands and puts them on the wall, then tips my hips in such a way that my ass presses against his body. He moans as he dips a finger into my overflowing pussy, and then into my ass, which sends a jolt of power through me. The exhaustion is gone, and I’m horny as hell again.
“Ah, you wicked, wicked king,” I manage as he pushes his cock between my folds, sliding in, filling me.
I bite the back of my hand to keep from screaming as he fucks me like there’s no tomorrow, one finger pushed inside my ass, his thick cock pounding my pussy, taking me completely. He grabs my hair as he comes, making low, suppressed sounds as he empties himself inside me, his cock throbbing against my walls.
He comes long and hard, resting his forehead against my back in the end, and when the craze settles down, the question slithers into my mind—and now what? What does this even mean?
I ease myself off of his cock, turning around to face him, intent on asking that very question. But when I see him, the words freeze on the tip of my tongue. This mighty king that has just given me three orgasms in a row stares at me like he wants to possess my soul.
“High realms,” he whispers. “Does it ever stop? The wanting you?”
“If you need more, I’m afraid I must refuse you. But Zestari is still in your room, isn’t she? I’m sure she’ll gladly suck you off as many times as you want.”
“Ceryes, I swear. I didn’t—”
“Don’t even.” I bend down and snatch the robe, whirling it around me.
“Why won’t you just let me explain?”
“Because I know I’ll end up in your thrall. A woman in love is easy to manipulate. I want nothing more than to believe what I saw never happened, but I sure as fuck won’t give you the chance to use that against me.”
I turn my back to him, starting down the corridor in the direction we came from, but I remember we basically blended into the wall, which gave way like some kind of portal, and we wound up here.
“You should bring me back,” I say, ignoring the heat of his presence too close behind me. “I hope to the high realms that Kareim didn’t come back to himself because, if he did, he will have alarmed the entire Palace about what happened.”
“You mean that he was about to win your favors, but your husband intervened?”
I swirl around, keeping the robe tight around me with one hand and jabbing my finger into his chest with the other.
“Listen to me carefully, Xerxes, because I’m done trying to convince you. Kareim tried to force himself on me. I didn’t invite or allow anything, and it’s fucked up of you to even suggest his attack on me could be my fault.”
His features lose some tension, and he nods.
“You’re right. It’s the worm of jealousy that’s eating me on the inside.” He bangs his fist against his chest. “The green-eyed monster won’t let me be. Only imagining another man’s hands on you, it makes me thirsty for murder.” He winds an arm around my waist, and yanks me to him. “I want you, Cerys, so badly that I’m not even sure it’s healthy anymore. It’s like only blending with you will ever give me relief.” He leans his forehead against mine, while I hang on his every word, unable to pull away. “Maybe, when this is over, and we’ll be together again, without the entire world against us, maybe then this passion will stop hurting.”
I’m completely at his mercy as his lips inch closer to mine. But just before we touch his ears move, and his head snaps up. Fire retreats from his irises, only to resurge an instant later.
“We have to move.”
He takes my hand and places his ear to the wall, listening intently for a moment before he pushes his shoulder into the rock, causing it to give in and let us back into the room from which we left.
We are in the main room of the Divinity Suite, with the water cascading down the
wall, and the incredible smells of the night from the wild nature outside the open arches that serve as windows. There’s no sign of Kareim in the bath chamber, but the proof of his confrontation with Xerxes is everywhere—the shattered mirror, the punched wall, the stains of blood on the wall.
“They must have taken him away for healing.” Xerxes scoffs. “Since he can’t do it himself.”
I start to tremble as I get flashes of what happened here. I stagger, looking around for Nazarean.
“Cerys, are you all right?” Xerxes says just as my legs give way, and I’m about to fall. He catches me and scoops me up just as Nazarean appears from the small room, and leaps into my arms, curling at my chest. He’s been worried sick, I can tell by the way he purrs.
“Please,” I tell Xerxes in a faint voice. “Just make sure nobody but Marayke can get to me. If I’m ever alone with Kareim again, I don’t think I can...” I can’t even finish the sentence.
Xerxes lays me down on the bed in the small room. He tucks me in and sits down by my side.
“Please, Xerxes, you have to go.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“You’re the King of Fire, ancient, wise warlord,” I press. “Use that wisdom. We can’t risk anyone finding you here after everything we’ve risked to make things look a certain way.”
“I lost my true kingly rights when I met you, Cerys. A man who’s got a bonded mate cannot place the greater good above the woman he has feelings for.”
“But we’ve almost achieved harmony between the realms. We’re so close to everything we ever—” I stop as I realize my mistake, and Xerxes finishes the sentence for me.
“What you always dreamt about.” He smiles warmly, brushing my swollen lips with his thumb.
“I’m a creature bred for war, my Queen. I’m comfortable with confrontation and conflict, I’ve been living with it for thousands of years. Been thriving in it. But all those thousands of years didn’t teach me the smallest part of what these past few months with you did—that I can care about the wants and needs of someone else more than anything, and that I’d be happy about it. So your desire for harmony has awakened the same inside me as well. And I will fight for it to the very end, knowing that it will make you happy.”