by Talyn Scott
“Who are you?” Volos asked quietly.
“To you, I am a Donor. A nameless human who, if I’d lived inside your court, would have come to your fangs when summoned. But to your tainted underlings?” He pointed a finger at Edik’s half-burned, lifeless body. “To that male deemed Edik the Honorable, I was a lucrative commodity and a tantalizing drug. I filled his deep pockets by keeping his junkies coming back for more: More blood. More sex. More violence. More violent sex.”
He kept his finger straight on Edik, but he was losing steam by exposing himself in the midst of a flock of Gryphs and Lovci. Because Nolan’s nerves weren’t even close to healing. “And all the while, I endured that pervert’s sick fantasies.”
Volos’ eyes skated up and down Nolan’s body. “And you say Edik’s clients did this to you?”
Nolan lowered his head, looking up beneath his brows at the prince of vampires. “All of these are from Edik, every damn bite.” He hooked his thumb in the waistband of his pants. “Would you like to see the rest, or is my present humiliation enough?”
Scarlett intervened, “Please, check his teeth.” She pushed down Nolan’s arm, which appeared to be frozen while still pointing at Edik’s body. “You can match Edik’s teeth to Nolan’s scars.”
“He doesn’t have to,” a small, feminine voice said from next to Oycher. The commanding Vojak nudged her forward. “I am Edik’s chosen mate, his widow.”
“Come closer,” said Volos. “I will hear you.”
When she did, she extended tiny claws, and slashed the lace bodice of her crimson gown. The flock of Gryphs gasped at what they saw. “They speak the truth. My Edik was a terrible male, and though I wear crimson to mourn his death properly among you. I wear white in my heart.” She placed her hand over the marks that echoed Nolan’s scars. “Because today, I am free.”
Scarlett raised her unbroken hand to her mouth, cupping it. But her eyes easily left Edik’s widow and locked onto Roman and Sage. Though they were still bound, Scarlett never saw two prouder males. Both were staring back at her with adoration bursting from their eyes.
When she opened her mouth to address Volos, Oycher cleared his throat. “Permission to speak, Prince Volos.”
Volos looked down at Oycher. “Granted, Commander.”
“In light of this evidence, I request a stay of execution for Sage and Roman Noskov.”
“I grant that request.” Volos inclined his head. “Not only will they be reinstated to their honorable positions for false accusations, but they also will be heavily compensated by the Gryphs and Lovci.”
Prince Volos raised his voice to the crowd, as he signaled for Sage and Roman to be unbound. “My father may have tolerated this behavior. I do not know, and he is no longer here to defend his actions. But I will not accept any untoward behavior of our Donors in or out of court.”
The prince circled on his booted heels, meeting eyes with many of his subjects, his cloak billowing in the breeze. “To keep reports given to court objective and accurate, I will propose a new faction to the werewolves and shifters.” The crowd gasped but he kept going. “This faction will consist of Donors, but will be hereafter known as the Evdokimov Faction.” He gestured at an astonished Oycher, who stepped upon the stage and stood next to the prince. “From the beginning, Oycher committed himself and his Vojaks to righting the wrongs in the lives of stricken Donors, such as Nathan and his very own Isladora. It’s time the monarchy acknowledges his hard work, and contributes equally if not more.” He clapped Oycher on the back. “You and Isladora must continue to head this project by overseeing this new faction.”
“I am honored, sire,” said Oycher humbly, his sunset eyes a beacon of color among hundreds of midnight wings. “Thank you.”
“I expect Isladora to meet with me by week’s end, presenting her staff to my court.” Volos smiled at Scarlett. “I will suggest her assistant.”
Oycher followed Volos’ line of vision. “I’m sure Isladora will accept such a suggestion eagerly.” Removing his great cloak, Oycher quickly covered Scarlett’s half nudity. “May I take mine home now, sire?”
“Only after we’ve taken care of something vital first,” Volos replied cryptically.
Chapter 26
Beneath the main castle inside the Dynasty Empire, Sage and Roman stopped before a wood and iron door that led to Volos personal lair. He could sense the call of his Nevesta, his Bride, beckoning him to transform her. And when Sage’s strength combined with that of Roman, Scarlett should be as strong as most Dynasty Vampyrs, which would give her an edge over the typical vampiress.
“She’s downstairs waiting for us.”
Roman nodded. “And she’s relaxed.” He raised a puzzled eyebrow. “How did that happen?”
Shaking his head, Sage muttered, “Scarlett fed several vampires to aid in tracking Flynn Ruyter.” He tightened his cloak at his throat.
Roman opened the door. “Is there something I should know?”
“Nothing is as important as claiming our Bride for eternity, so let it go.”
Scarlett couldn’t help but smile when Sage and Roman came down a multitude of swirling, stone steps. She wanted to jump up and down, while telling them to hurry before Volos changed his mind.
But then her breath caught in her throat at the sight of her beautiful males, both dressed in black, silken robes. Though their heads remained covered by cowls, she could easily spot the differences between Sage and Roman. Sage was broader, built like the warrior of his birthright. Roman, however, was narrower than Sage and four or five inches shorter. However, he was still larger than mortal men.
She glanced away from her males for the barest of seconds, her eyes going to a high balcony to see Prince Volos standing among fellow witnesses of his court. As if sensing her, he turned, his butterscotch eyes scorching with something she didn’t understand. He had to be the most arrogant and complicated male she’d even come across. Out of touch with basically anything in the mortal world, she thought, and quite possibly the loneliest person living.
He raised a flaxen eyebrow, and Scarlett flushed. If her males thought she was checking out Prince Volos — though he sure was easy on the eyes — they could think again. Laws or not, he’d been a complete and utter ass up until the end, and she’d be hard pressed to forget any role Volos had played in their misery. But she sure as hell wouldn’t pass up on his offer to aid in empowering her for her immortal life. Scarlett may loathe Volos, but she wasn’t stupid.
Suddenly Sage was in front of her, his incredible green eyes glowing from the shadows beneath the cowl. Roman moved to her opposite side, his hand lifting to brush a wayward curl from her forehead. His golden eyes, so similar to those of Volos, also gleamed from underneath his cowl.
With her males so close, her fears of living in their world waned away. Almost disappeared. Sure, doubts still lingered here and there. But for the most part, Scarlett pushed them out of the way. Wasn’t that the way in regular marriages, too? And she had to ask herself: How else would she ever live a full and happy life without the males she loved? This mating, this turning herself into a vampire, was her only choice in order to stay.
She lifted a hand to her mouth, replaying the thought that just whizzed through her brain. Scarlett loved them both! And it wasn’t any bond or even sex talking. It was the real deal, the death do you part sort of stuff. A level of commitment most people never achieved, no matter how hard they tried.
What better time, she figured, to marry her males, than on the night Scarlett realized she loved them? When she opened her mouth to tell them exactly how she felt, what they’d been longing to hear, Master Gryph Fedor leaned forward and shook his head at her.
Maybe this was a faux pas, speaking before the ceremony began. But Scarlett wouldn’t wait too much longer to tell them, either.
With his incredibly frightening wings arching around her back, the Master Gryph brought his hands around Scarlett and unfastened the royal robe Volos had placed on her. He curled his br
onzed hands inside, his fingertips careful not to touch her breasts, and lifted the shimmering, gossamer from Scarlett’s naked body.
No matter how it looked, this didn’t make her feel like an offering. Scarlett refused to entertain that silly notion. On the contrary, what she was getting out of this ceremony — the love of her two males and her transformation into a vampiress so she could be with them for all eternity — was incomparable.
With her head held high, she stood before Sage and Roman in nothing but a platinum and diamond choker, their gift to her. Scarlett also refused to be ashamed of her imperfections, though Volos, Fedor, and at least six other Dynasty Vampyrs looked on in avid interest. Because nothing would stop this joining, not after she’d done everything in her power to keep Roman and Sage with her.
“Prince Volos and his senior court are prepared to uphold the power by which Sage and Roman Noskov join their Bride,” Master Fedor stated. This was a formal way of saying Volos would combine the faintest portion of his magic with Roman and that of Sage, so Scarlett could transform properly into a vampiress.
Just like she tried to forget that she was standing naked in front of a room full of vampires, Scarlett tried not to focus on the freaky aspect of her transformation. Luckily, she wouldn’t become an Undead - a vampire who usually died every day and only lived at night. But she would have to give up food and drink blood.
Lots and lots of blood…
But Roman and Sage insisted she would only feed from them.
This might be sort of sexy, if she set her mind to thinking that way.
“Do you, Scarlett Rudavin, accept the claiming of Roman Noskov of the Dynasty Empire?”
She nodded, her necklace glimmering beneath a truly Gothic chandelier of black and crimson candles. “I am given.”
The melted wax, which resembled thickening blood, dripped onto Roman’s cloak as he stepped forward and took her mouth in a soul-claiming kiss. For the wax on his cloak, she couldn’t wrap her arms around him, but Scarlett put everything in her kiss. She wanted Roman to sense her love. But more than that, she wanted to tell him.
Master Fedor cleared his throat. Scarlett and Roman parted lips, her face burning at Prince Volos’ bemused smile.
“Do you, Scarlett Rudavin, also accept the claiming of Sage Noskov, Vampyr Vojak?”
“I am given.” Her hands clenched at her sides, when Sage stepped forward.
He trailed his forefinger down her cheek before dipping his head and closing the great height distance between them. She expected — maybe even wanted — a bruising kiss, one that said, ‘I’ve missed the hell out of you, and we’re finally doing this’. But his mouth came against her lips softly, as he licked at the seam of her mouth, teasing her with his piercing, before gaining entrance.
As their tongues toyed with the other, her arms came up to wrap around his neck, only to be stopped by Master Fedor. She gasped, when she realized the hot wax had almost burned her. But upon closer inspection, Scarlett truly thought it might be blood.
When she looked up, studying the candles of solid crimson, the Prince of Vampires clapped his hands two times. Roman immediately lifted her in his arms, placing Scarlett upon an onyx dais. She adored the way her ass felt on the smooth surface. But when Roman, Fedor, and Sage attached her limbs at four corners, and a curling horde of shadows filled the air, her libido take a nosedive.
“Shh, Scarlett,” Sage soothed as he opened his cloak slowly, revealing the body of an immortal warrior. He dropped the blood-slathered garment to the floor. “No one died in the making of those candles.”
“For some reason,” she whispered as Master Fedor stepped into the shadows. His topaz eyes gleamed in the darkness, though, much in the way of a lion. “I don’t believe you.”
Sage brought his hand to his cock. He squeezed where his veins bulged around the straining circlet. “Forget where you are, Nevesta.” Then he brushed her nipple with the back of a knuckle, swirling it around and around until her breath hitched. “Concentrate only on your males.”
He traced his thumb over his weeping slit, moistening his head. With an almost reptilian movement, he opened his mouth and his fangs audibly slammed down. Sage’s eyes closed briefly as his hand rose to mold her breast in his palm.
At her back, Roman was breathing hard. His fangs must have snapped, too, because he grazed the side of her throat carefully with the very tips.
When Sage’s glowing, green irises bled into the whites of his eyes. This time, however, Scarlett was taken aback to find them simmering with green flames, and she had the sudden urge to run. However, the restraints stopped her easily.
“You don’t want to run from us,” Roman scolded, “especially on our wedding night.” His hands pressed against her shoulders, his be-clawed thumbs circling her freshly perspiring skin.
In a clearly predatory manner, Sage started circling her, right along with Roman. She felt entirely small while stretched at all corners in the middle of her men. Their mouths remained opened, their breaths panting between their fangs. And as they transformed further into their vampires, their bodies expanded in width and height, and their cocks also grew in girth and length.
Odd symbols, ancient in nature, separated from the smoky shadows. They reformed in crimson and bronze, the colors of Volos’ monarchy. As they grew closer, they pierced her skin as Volos chanted with the Dynasty Vampyrs.
Roman stopped before Sage, his clear voice resonating within the dungeon, “Krv z mojej krvi sme sa vzali na vecnost.”
She shivered as the vow sank into her skin, altering her somehow. “What is that?”
“Partly, my blood for your blood,” Roman translated. “Now, you must repeat this vow.”
Scarlett said the words. And they no more than left her mouth, before she sensed another presence inside her.
“Now we will honor our vows.”
Roman slashed his throat with his claw, and Sage followed suit. When blood spilled down their chests, rolling over muscle and plane, an instantaneous, deep thirst burned her throat.
She opened her mouth, and it felt far too full. Her skin started prickling all the way inside her body, until her teeth started aching, which built up into a deep-seated throb.
Scarlett try to reach up from her bonds, as her fingers stretched and flexed. Then something coppery seemed to detonate in the center of her torso. For a split second, her ribs expanded, stretching, stretching, stretching until she thought they would explode into a thousand different directions.
Since her ears were ringing, she could hear nothing but muffled chants or maybe people talking.
His arms came around and untied her, along with Roman and Fedor. Then he lifted her in his arms, carrying her to an intricate platform as soft and silky as a mattress. When he placed her in the center, she looked up in time to catch Volos and his Dynasty Vampyrs leaving.
Sages fingertips came up and swiped at the perspiration on her brow. His voice combined with Roman’s, both talking back and forth, or possibly they were talking to her. She didn’t know.
Roman’s lips came down on her forehead, and they were a hot and scorching thing. But there was nothing sexy in the kiss. He was burning her already burning skin.
Her heart started fluttering in her expanded ribs, as the heat increased. It was as though a scared bird flittered inside the cage of her ribs for shelter.
Her arms and legs tightened into twisty cramps, as she struggled to move from side to side. But she wasn’t going anywhere. Either her body was immobile or Roman and Sage were holding her down. She had no idea. But the sensation wasn't the same as when they put their weight on her during sex. No, this felt like sheer restraint without any cuffs.
Sage brushed strands of hair from her forehead and cheeks, caressing her face with gentle fingertips. Although the burning was fire in her veins, the flames dancing from her skin, she started to soothe under his and Roman’s touch. The skin on skin was not as scorching as when Roman was kissing her forehead only moments ago.
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She opened her mouth again, her incisors throbbing and begging for a taste — a taste of blood. It was a terrifying prospect, or it should have been. But all she could think of was biting and sucking.
“Sssss,” she tried to speak, working her mouth to form his name.
Sensing what she wanted, Sage leaned toward her and kissed the corner of her mouth. Roman nipped at her ear, then worked his fangs over the curvature of her strong jaw and her throat. He traced her with the very tips of his fangs, and it was surprisingly soothing.
When that familiar, succulent sensation took over, Scarlett realized what her vampires were doing to her, or should she say for her. They were releasing their endorphins with the scraping and nipping, giving her a far better alternative than any pain medicine available. And when the endorphins combined fully with her overheated skin and the swirling and scorching in her veins, Scarlett finally released an audible word. Or maybe she’d been demanding all along and hadn’t realized it.
“More!”
“More!”
“More!”
Chapter 27
Roman’s throat came down for Scarlett’s mouth. When her aching incisors touched his skin, she could sense his blood moving just beneath it. Scarlett knew exactly where to bite, too. She licked a line up and down the column of his gorgeous throat, tracing and hunting, looking for that perfect spot that made him shudder.
She wrapped one hand tightly around Roman’s head. With her free hand, Scarlett reached out for Sage. While pulling him closer, his head dipped to the side and took one of her nipples in his mouth to suck and bite. More endorphins for her, she realized seconds later when the clenching in her womb echoed all the way to her pussy.
She bit down on Roman’s throat greedily, her hunger a hot, thirsty. Scarlett didn’t even relax when an explosion of pure pleasure hit her tongue. On the contrary, she yanked him even closer, fisting his hair and pulling so hard a few of the strands broke off in her hand.