“What’s strange about that? I mean, Kellan is the king, of course they would have guards posted in his wing. Aren’t there other fae who would like to see him dead?” I ask.
“Of course there are, but usually the guards assigned to him will follow him around. If they were worried about someone attacking, then guards would sweep the hall and his quarters. They wouldn’t just leave them stationed there, unless they were guarding something.”
Verkor has my complete attention. “You’re thinking that the piece of map is somewhere in his room?” I question.
“Yes. I knew the piece of the map was here. I’ve heard tales about it as a child, and I only ever saw it once. I had my suspicions, but this almost confirms it. There would be nowhere safer than the king’s quarters.”
“Is there somewhere in there where it could be hidden?”
“There was a safe in there, hidden behind a painted portrait of the royal family. Cliché, I know, but most fae aren’t stupid enough to try an attack on the royal family. There has only been a handful attempts. Those attackers never got very far into the castle to really do any damage. The guards they train to protect the king are excellent at what they do. They are going to be our biggest obstacle.”
“So how do we get past them?” I ask.
“First, how do we leave the ball without anyone noticing?” Stolas interjects.
“You’ll have to leave that to me.” All of them shift their eyes to me. “I can play my violin, spelling them and we can slip out.”
“How do we get the king to let you play the violin for him? And how do we get it into the ballroom?” Stolas questions.
“Well, according to the prophecy, I’m supposed to dance with the king. We have to make him jealous, tempt him into wanting to dance with me. I can bring it up in conversation, making it sound like a special treat just for him.”
“If that doesn’t work?” Obsidian inquires.
“I don’t know. That was my contribution to the plan.”
“The only other option is for us to sneak out one-by-one,” Verkor responds. “If it comes to that, then we need a meeting place. My wing isn’t that far from Kellan’s. I say if we have to sneak out, come here. No one will question anything if we’re going back to my room. From here we can make our way over to Kellan’s room. Everyone agree?” A round of yeses come from all of us.
“We make it to the guarded hall, then what?” Stolas states.
“We fight,” Obsidian says. He crosses his arms over his massive chest. “You all know it’s going to come down to that. I don’t know why you’re trying to kid yourself.”
“We’ll fight if we have to,” I agree.
“Oh, you’re not fighting. You’re going to let your mates take on the fae,” Obsidian says, as he narrows his eyes.
“Like hell will I stand back and let you guys do all the work. I know how to fight. We’re a team, and four fighters against six are better odds.”
“No! I won’t risk the life of my mate,” Obsidian bellows.
“It’s not your choice.” My voice is low and even, not leaving any room for doubt about my feelings. He growls. “I will do everything I can to protect my mates, just like you.” I sigh. “Look, there’s no point in worrying about it right now. We’ll deal with it if or when the time comes.” I don’t want it to come to that, but even I know Obsidian is right.
“Did you even bring any of your knives and daggers with you?” Stolas asks. “I don’t remember seeing Obsidian pack you any.”
I give him an impish smile. “I currently have six on my person. I’m never without them.” He smiles, shaking his head.
“You know, one day I’m going to find out exactly where you hide them all.” He winks. Mmm, I can’t wait. I bet Stolas is a fun lover.
“Can we get back to the plan? You can think with your dick later. Right now we need your brain,” Obsidian sighs, exasperated.
“Right.” I salute him. “Where were we?” I ask. Obsidian groans, and I laugh. Oh, this will be a fun game.
Obsidian
I swear if we don’t get back on track, we’ll never come up with a plan. We’re going to be going in blind and that is never a good situation. That’s when someone gets hurt or dies. I refuse to let that happen to my mate or one of my best friends. Finley is currently giggling. I love the sound, but now I know she’s doing this on purpose.
“Alright, let’s focus,” I state. “Plan one, make the king jealous enough to want to dance with Finley. She mentions that she plays the violin and suggest that she play a song for him. He agrees, she puts everyone in a suggestive state, and we slip out. We get to Kellan’s quarters, and we fight the fae in the hallway. We enter the room, find the safe, and open it.”
“How exactly do we open the safe?” Finley ask.
“That’s the second biggest problem. I’m not sure. I’ve never seen the safe, so I don’t know how to open it,” Verkor responds.
“Maybe we should take Kellan with us and have him open the safe.” Finley shrugs. “I mean, he will be more pliable underneath my spell. We can tell him to do it and he would.”
“That’s risky, but I don’t see any other option,” Verkor says.
I don’t like this plan. There’s too much that can go wrong, especially if all the pieces don’t fit together properly. Finley is out of her mind if she thinks that I’m going to let her join in any sort of fight that may happen. I’m going to shove her behind me or in the first open door I can find. She’ll be pissed, but I’d rather have her mad at me than dead.
“So, now at some point we have to basically kidnap the Winter King and make him open the safe. We get the piece of the map and haul ass out of there before people start coming out of their trance.”
“Seems solid,” Stolas says dryly.
“Plan two,” I continue, “is Finley dances with the king, he doesn’t agree to her playing the violin, so we have to sneak out one-by-one. We meet back here, go to Kellan’s quarters. Fight the fae guarding the hallway, enter Kellan’s suit, find the safe, somehow break into it, and haul ass out of here. Does no one see the problem with this? You know damn well that this won’t go down, like either of those plans. We have to be prepared for everything.”
“I don’t understand why you won’t let me play my violin?” Finley crosses her arms over her chest.
“Because it will take too long to put them in a trance. We’re only going to have a few minutes at best.”
“Whatever. Can we get back to this?” She huffs, looking away from me. She knows I’m right.
I run my hands down my face and through my beard. “I don’t like this, any more than you do.” She whips her gaze in my direction.
“Do you have another plan? The safest bet is my violin.”
“No,” I growl.
“Then I suggest you make sure one of those plans go off without a hitch.” I huff at the same time she sighs.
Finley gets up off the bed, walks over, and stops in front of me. I don’t know what I thought she was going to do, but it definitely wasn’t what she did. She sits on my lap. I adjust my legs so she’s sitting evenly across. She stretches her legs out, placing her feet on Stolas’ lap. I unfurl my arms, placing one across her lap, and the other behind her back, locking her in place. My amber eyes meeting her stormy gray ones. She runs her hand over my beard, tugging on it slightly.
“You know I’m not serious, right? I’m just kidding. You make it too easy to rile you up. You need to let loose a little. You can’t go into this mission thinking the way you are because that’s when something will happen. I learned that a long time ago. I realized the more I thought I was going to screw up and get caught, the more I did. Once I changed my way of thinking and got that spelled violin, my job went better. We’re going to be fine because all of us are going to stick together.”
“She’s right,” Verkor agrees.
I pull her closer. I kiss the top of her head before resting my chin on it. I know she has a point, but I like bei
ng in control. It’s something she’s going to have to learn. It’s only going to be worse with her.
“I’ll try,” I whisper.
“That’s all I ask.”
“There’s one more thing I would like to do that I didn’t get a chance to earlier. Stolas, will you come with me?” Verkor ask.
“Where are you going?” Finley inquires.
“Remember when I said I was going to ask Kellan if he had this item that belonged to me?” Finley nods. “The item belonged to my mother. And I didn’t get a chance to ask about it earlier. He was busy when I first went to see him. So, I decided to go and get the items that I needed for the ball. I forgot to go back. Kellan should be done with whatever he was doing. I’m going to see if he’ll meet with me.”
“Good idea. Be careful.” Verkor nods. Stolas gets up, following Verkor out the door, leaving me and Finley alone.
Chapter 15
Finley
The silence in the room is deafening. Neither Obsidian or I make a move or sound. But after a while, I can’t take it anymore.
“What do you think Verkor is looking for?”
“I don’t know. I knew what happened, but I thought the few items he has of hers were all that were left.”
“I hope he gets what he’s after.”
“I have a feeling this about more than just getting back something that was hers.”
I shift back so I can look Obsidian in the face.
“What do you mean?”
He reaches forward, brushing some of my hair from my face.
“If he’s going to Kellan’s room, the only place the map could be, would be in the safe. If I had to guess, he’s going to see how the safe opens.”
“Huh, well alright then. I hope he succeeds. So, what do we do while we’re waiting on them to return?”
“Oh, I have an idea,” he growls, but in a sexy way. I think I know exactly what he wants to do, and I’m totally down for it. I place my hand on his chest.
“What’s that?” I purr.
He wastes no time. Obsidian moves the hand on my back to the nape of my neck, fisting my hair. He pushes me closer. Our lips only a hair’s breadth away. I close the last bit of space, pressing my lips to his, showing him I want this too. That’s all the encouragement that he needs. He changes the angle of his head, parting his lips slightly. I follow his lead, parting mine as well. His tongue enters my mouth, as mine does his. It’s ecstasy. There’s just something about this man, this shifter. He’s quiet, yet controlled. He’s ruthless, yet loving. I have no doubt that he would do anything and everything for me.
I move my body, straddling his legs, never breaking our kiss. I run my hands up his chest and over his shoulders, wrapping my arms around his neck, pressing my body flush with his. Obsidian rubs his hands up and down my back, before gripping my ass, pulling me even closer to his body. I start moving my hips, feeling him harden. A moan escapes my lips. I want more. I need more. Moving my hands down, I grip the hem of his shirt, pulling it up. He breaks our kiss, helping me take his shirt off. I run my hands over his tattooed chest, down his muscular abs, stopping at the hem of his pants. Biting my lip, I look Obsidian right in his eyes, as I work open the button and zipper on his pants. Without hesitation, I pull his hard cock out, stroking him from root to tip. My finger glides over the piercing at the top. His muscles clench, as he lets out a groan.
Obsidian pulls me close to his body, trapping my hand between us. His hands going to the zipper on the back of my corset, pulling it down. He flings it over the side of the couch. His hands immediately go to the hem of my shirt. There’s enough space to remove my hand from his cock, so I lift my arms, letting him pull my shirt off. The second he drops the shirt to floor, his hands are running over every bare inch of skin. I come alive under his touch. His fingers trail a path from the swell of my breast, to the top of my pants. The ghosting of his fingers causes me to shiver, pleasing him, by the smile that crosses his face.
“Stand, and take your shoes off,” he says, his voice husky.
I do as he asks. Pushing me back a few steps, he stands, quickly divesting himself of the rest of his clothes. He stands before me completely naked. His body is a work of art. I’m not just talking about the sculpted muscles. I’m talking about the very intricate details of the tattoos that cover almost his whole body. I want to run my hands and tongue over every inch of tattooed skin, including the Prince Albert piercing, winking at me from the tip of his erect cock. This man has nothing to be ashamed of. I bite my lip. I can’t wait to have him inside me.
“Like what you see, doll?” I nod my head, unable to speak.
Obsidian moves, standing behind me. He presses his body against mine. I can feel every hard inch of him. His hands rest on my waist a moment before he runs them up my sides, stopping to pull the daggers from my corset. They clank as they hit the floor. I feel his breath on my neck, before his lips. He kisses a path from my shoulder, up my neck, tugging on my earlobe, before making his way back down. His hands slide across my lower stomach, just above the button on my pants. Quickly, he undoes the button and pulls down the zipper. Obsidian’s hand snakes his way down my pants and into my underwear.
“How am I going to find you, doll? Are you wet and ready for me?” My breaths start coming out in pants. I’m dying for him to touch me, but he doesn’t move.
“Please, Obsidian, touch me,” I beg.
“I will, once you answer my question.”
“Yes. Yes, I’m wet and ready for you. Please, Obsidian, please.”
“Good, girl.” One finger enters me, and I moan. Finally. His thrusts are shallow because of the restriction my pants are causing. He adds another finger, bringing me higher, making me wish it was his dick instead. All of a sudden he stops and removes his fingers. I whine in protest. “You’re still overdressed. I think we need to do something about that.”
Obsidian moves back, and I shiver from the cold breeze, not realizing how hot his skin feels on mine. He moves the straps of my bra from my shoulders then unhooks the back. I watch as the black lace falls from my arms to the floor. Obsidian’s back is against me, his hands coming from behind, cupping and squeezing my breasts.
“So perfect,” he whispers as he pinches my nipples. The feeling goes right to my clit. I feel my insides clench. He moves his hands to the waistband of my pants, tugging them down. I feel him kneel behind me. He helps me out of my pants. I’m standing there in nothing but my black lace panties. “You don’t need these.” That’s all the warning I get before he rips the lace from my body. I don’t make a sound. It didn’t scare me. Oh no. It turns me on even more. Obsidian moves, coming to stand before me. There is nothing but desire in his amber eyes. “I’m about to make you mine.”
“God, yes, please.” Obsidian chuckles, and I realize I said that out loud and not in my head like I intended. He holds out his hand, and I place mine in his, thinking that he’s going to guide me over to the bed. But no, we move back to the couch. He takes a seat in the middle. He’s angled so that his ass is close to the edge.
“I want you to ride me, doll. I want to see those perfect tits bounce. I want to see your face when you cum all over my cock.”
Well, damn. I move, straddling him. He grips my ass, pulling me closer. His cock is flush with my core, and I can’t help grinding against it. Both of us groan.
“Soon, doll, soon.”
Obsidian keeps one hand on my butt, keeping me close to him. His other hand goes to my hair, tugging on it. He leans forward, but instead of kissing my lips, he uses his grip on my hair to turn my head to the side, and he starts kissing my neck. He makes his way from my neck to my collarbone, to the top of my breasts. I push them closer to him, giving him better access. He blows cool air over my nipples, making them pucker. His tongue flicks over each nipple, before he puts his mouth on them. Sucking, licking, and nipping, giving both equal attention. By the time he’s done, I’m more than ready for him. I can feel my wetness seeping down my thighs.
<
br /> “Please, Obsidian. I need more. I need you,” I beg.
“Just because you asked so nicely, and the fact I can’t wait another second to be buried in your warm, wet pussy.”
“Yes, please. Take it, take me, claim me.” I’d give him anything he wants; I just need more of him. I need, or want, him to give me everything.
He loosens his hold, gripping the base of his dick. I move, placing my entrance over the tip of cock. Our eyes meet, as I slide down the length of him.
“Holy shit,” I shiver. The piercing hitting places I didn’t even know I had, and we hadn’t even start moving yet.
“The fun has just begun,” he says, right before he shifts his hips, surging upward.
My hands go to his shoulders, and his on my waist. He lifts me up and down, helping me bounce on his cock. I’m lost in the pleasure this man is giving me.
Obsidian
Nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever look as good as my mate bouncing up and down on me, lost in the throes of passion. Her eyes are closed, head back, mouth slightly parted, breathy little moans escape her lips. This is a beautiful sight, but I’m about to take it up another notch. I want to see how she’ll react with me dominating her a little more. I slow our pace, until I have her hips locked into place where she can’t move. Her eyes snap to mine, questioning me on why we stopped. She’ll know soon enough.
“Place your feet on the couch beside my hips.” She does. I hear the gasp she releases. I’m deeper in her, my piercing hitting that sweet spot. Finley sits more fully on my lap. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
In this position, I need to keep her steady. Her hands are resting on my shoulders, but I grab her wrist, moving her arms behind her back. Her wrists are small enough that I can grip them both in one hand. Using my other hand, I cup one breast, rubbing my thumb over her nipple. It pebbles under my touch. I do the same to the other. Her body's so responsive to mine. It’s a heady feeling. With a feather touch, I follow the curve of her body from her breast to her hip. Gripping her hip tighter than I have before, I guide her into a rocking motion. Slowly, but surely, we pick up the pace. Once she has the rhythm, I let go of her waist, placing my hand around her throat. I wait for her to panic, but she doesn’t. Instead, it seems to spur her on more. I squeeze her throat gently, just enough for her to feel it but not enough to cause marks or interrupt her breathing.
Stolen Warriors Page 15
