by Reid, Stacy
Still, hundreds of eyes remained fixated on her.
“Ignore them. You are a novelty.”
So are you.
After dinner, they opened the grand ballroom, and Saieke only danced with the king. It was just too soon to be gliding to the sensual and provocative dance with other Darkans. She had excused herself and pled exhaustion.
Saieke walked with Talon to her chambers. The king had insisted he escort her, along with the dozen warriors trailing several paces behind.
“Is there a reason High Lord El Kyn had not been present tonight?”
“Yes.”
Saieke eyed Talon balefully. That was it? “Would you care to expound?”
“No.”
They arrived at her chamber, and he stalked past her like the sleekest of panther's. After a thorough check of her room, he bid her a pleasant rest and disappeared.
They were all insufferable barbarians.
* * *
The court was alive with talk of the princess, and the fact she had treated Lady Farrah with such civility at the dinner. Drac had missed observing the High Lords and chancellor’s reaction to her presence because he had visited the dungeons and executed the men who thought to harm her out of misplaced vengeance. The hearing had been held only an hour before, and judgment had been swift and final. Drac’s retribution as he sliced their heads off with his claws had been even swifter.
He had then visited Gidon and learned of her request to which he had yet to respond.
“I never thought I would see you speechless,” Gidon said.
Drac scowled. “I am merely thinking.” And trying to slow the hunger twisting in his gut.
His king smiled, a flash of calculation appearing on his face before he smoothed his features into a blank mask. “The princess displayed an interest in you that I did not expect,” he said as Drac joined him on the secluded balcony.
Drac felt bemused. “I intend to shadow her so that she is safe while she tours the Darkage, but I need to stay hidden and as far away as possible if I am to proceed with caution. I need to assess what my reaction to her means from a distance,” he replied, while his gut tightened in anticipation at the mere thought of being in her presence again.
“Could it be that you want her, and your beast is responding to your lust for her?” Gidon asked. “She is beautiful.”
“No, that’s not it. The need and desperation I feel is deep and not something I can banish since I tasted the princess."
Gidon smiled with cunning.
“Wipe it from your thoughts, Gidon. She is blood-bound to the Nurian king; and if she were to be mine and he pursued her...”
“You think the Nurian King would war with us?” Gidon asked with silky menace as he leaned against the balustrade overlooking the jungle.
“If he wanted her or her kingdom enough, he would march on us. Our laws would allow us to declare war on anyone who thinks to take a Darkan’s mate away, yet his law also allows him to war for a queen by blood-oath." Drac's beast prowled restlessly at his assessment.
If she was his mate and he claimed her, the Nurian king might very well wage war for her, and then Gidon’s reign would indeed start with bloodshed. Drac faltered. It was why he must resist her, why he had not searched for a mate like some of their kind did. If he loved her, claimed her, he would be forever weak for her.
“To do so would be a folly on his part. He could not win,” Gidon said flatly.
“Nuria has over two hundred million citizens, twenty million of them warriors. He has more warriors than our entire kingdom’s population. King Ajali’s feats in the second Great War are unsurpassed.”
“You doubt our might?” Gidon asked in mild surprise.
“No.” Drac inhaled, tightening his hands on the railing, creating fissures. “My friend, I know you don’t want to start your reign by delivering death to any kingdom. That would transport us back to the dark times. I do not want to take her, if she is not my mate and jeopardize our vision for our realm.”
“Then proceed with caution,” Gidon warned him darkly before he shiktred away.
Unable to deny the need to see her, Drac stepped into the shadows and appeared in Saieke’s chamber.
Worry.
Pain.
Regret.
They seeped from the princess, the taste of emotions bitter to swallow. She lazed in the massive tub, gently waving her fingers, spiraling water in the air. A sigh slipped past her lips. "I am very sorry, Mother."
Ah, he'd found the source of her upheaval. She had been in his realm now for two days, and her kingdom would be beside themselves with fear for their missing princess. She did not understand that when one made a resolve, it was pointless to reflect with regret.
“Drac.” His name from her lips was the softest of whispers, and if not for his enhanced senses he would not have heard.
His intention to step from the shadows suspended, he drifted even closer. He groaned low in his throat as Saieke stood from the bath, giving him a glimpse of the graceful arch of her back and the smooth firmness of her ass before she drew on a silken robe.
With a flick of her finger, she removed all water from her body and garment, then flashed to the windows in the bedchamber and opened the drapes. She pressed against the cold glass, peering into the void.
She looked frail and alone. Drac did not like it.
He stepped from the shadows.
She spun from the windows, instinctively bracing for an attack. Terror skittered across her face. A curious feeling of satisfaction filled him when she relaxed instantly. She did not fear him. The very idea of it left him speechless. He could not remember a time when he had not been reviled.
“You came,” she said, the timbre of her voice husky and sensual.
“My king advised me that you requested me as your escort for your days in the Darkage.”
“I did.”
“Why?” The question that had been eating at him since Gidon alerted Drac.
Saieke ran her gaze over his frame in a contemplative caress. “I thought it fair that I get to see you naked as well.”
Thud. The beat of Saieke's heart slammed into him, arousal flared hot, burning his resistance. His beast stretched, and tried to taste her chakra, but recoiled as it found no answering beast within her.
Yet, its voice still whispered ours.
The spicy scent of her arousal wafted through the room. Drac's mouth watered, and he almost sank to his knees. “Do you understand what you invite?” he asked, wrapping the shadows around her and pulling her into his space. Her robe floated around her delicate ankles, caressing his feet.
She lifted piercing blue eyes to his face. “Yes.”
Impossible.
“You are heir to the kingdom of wind and mountains, and you offer yourself to me. Why?” he asked gliding around her, darkly curious.
The allure was too much for him to resist, and her scent was an irresistible beacon. His beast craved her. Too damn much, and the only thing saving her was the part of him that yearned to know her and the threat she posed to his kingdom if he took her and she was not his mate.
Her lashes swooped down, hiding her thoughts. A growl slipped from Drac, and the pulse fluttered at her throat, tempting him to bend and rake his teeth across her throat.
She snapped her gaze to his. “I desire you.”
The invitation to pry her legs open and sink his aching cock into her was evident in her scent. How could she trust him with her body and pleasures? He was hated far and wide. The curiosity of it grounded him from pouncing on her. “Are you not a virgin?”
Red crawled up her neck, and she narrowed her eyes. “I am!”
The swish of her robe whispered through his body, teasing him as she twisted to track his movements. The pulse beat even more frantically at her throat and the daintiest of feet that peeked from under the floating garment curled into the carpet.
He stopped at her back, bent his nose to her neck and inhaled, causing her to shiver.
His beast lunged and roared, and chakra leaked from him. Unable to stop the need, he scraped his teeth against her throat.
She arched sharply, quivering as his tongue followed the same path.
“Undress,” he ordered. What the fuck was he doing?
Saieke slowly faced him. Her hands fluttered to her knots and hesitated.
“I thought you understood what you were inviting.”
Saieke flushed and untied the knots of the robe, letting it pool to her feet. The fragrance of her arousal became stronger than before, and it pleased Drac to know she endured the same burning hunger.
Hunger overrode the need to push her away. He drew her to him, angled his body away from hers so that only their mouths touched, and claimed her lips with raw intensity. He coaxed her lips open, sliding his tongue against hers in a sensuous motion. Everything about her tasted like sin—dark and utterly decadent.
She moaned and fisted his jacket, pulling him even closer. Her hands flexed, then she slid them around his neck while her mouth responded with sensual greed. She breathed in his kiss as he gripped her hips, lifted her and strode to the bed.
He sat on the edge with her knees straddling his hips, pulling her wetness onto his straining cock, damping the front of his pants. Saieke bucked and shuddered, her hips undulating instinctively.
A snarl hissed out from his throat at the latent sensuality urging him to fuck her.
She froze, and apprehension flavored her chakra.
He fought to slow his intensity.
Their lips separated, and both breathed raggedly.
“Do not stop,” she moaned, uncertainty and need flickering in her eyes. "I feel achy, and there is a throb between my thighs."
“I will not fuck you,” he grounded.
Her eyes widened, and he clenched his teeth against the rumble building in his chest. More wetness wetted his cock through his trousers as she reacted to his words.
He licked her lips.
“Your eyes…they have taken on a serpentine cast.”
“My beast,” he murmured, and smoky tendrils swirled and enveloped them.
As if impatient, she rolled her hips, and this time he could not control his groan. The minx smiled.
“Why won’t you fuck me?”
The crude words from her glistening lips tugged at the savage urges beating in his blood. Drac struggled for control as her scent wrapped around his senses. His beast paced in the cage of his mind, wanting to devour instead of seducing. A red haze of lust tested his restraint as he became immersed with the need of his darkness.
Ours, his beast hissed inside, voice guttural with arousal.
He trailed his hands down between her legs and probed. She trembled as his fangs extended and raked against her neck. His beast inhaled the lust riding her, and he felt its shudder deep in his mind. Drac flexed his hand and ran his fingers inside her pussy, the soft heated silkiness testing his control. He rubbed around her slipperiness until he found her clit, which he circled firmly. She grew even wetter, and her moans hotter than before, and her hips struggled to undulate against the grip he had on them.
“Drac,” she moaned, voice husky with lust, her fingers gripping his hair tightly.
He pushed a finger deep and kissed her to the rhythm of his finger slowly fucking her.
She was wet, tight and perfect.
She returned his kiss passionately, turning to molten liquid in his hands. He dragged his lips away from hers and ran them roughly down her throat, his fangs, which he had retracted, burst out almost out of his control. He tried to insert another finger into her, but she flinched and bit his neck hard, drawing forth blood.
Drac nipped back at her neck but did not push her. He growled as she was too fucking tight. He thrust his finger inside her, pressing on her nub, and he plunged his fangs deep into her throat as she bucked and clamped down on him as orgasm claimed her.
She was fucking perfect, and the most dangerous woman he'd ever encountered.
Rapture ripped through Saieke. She screamed in shock, and pleasure, as fangs plunged into her. Fire lanced at her neck as he groaned deeply, and dark delight rose inside her. The violence of the arousal simmering from his chakra made her heart bump painfully against her ribs. She did not know what she was waiting for, but the keen knife-edge of suspension sliced through her. The tendrils of his chakra caressed her back, the globes of her bottom, and the back of her knees delicately—the pleasure sharp and alarming.
He slipped his finger from inside her but left his hand between her legs, cupping her possessively. She whimpered as his fangs slid from her throat, and a warm trickle ran from her neck to her breast. Saieke looked down, watching her blood, red and vibrant, trailed from her breast to stomach.
“Drac,” she said, hating the aroused confusion, yet her body stirred in answer to the lust and possession stamped on his face. His eyes had taken on a deeper serpentine cast, and there were flickers of red. His fangs were fully extended, and he looked…well he looked scary.
“This is but one of the reasons I must resist you,” his low growl was dark and rich. “You are not made for the kind of lover I am. I want to fuck you hard…feel the press of your nails against my back, and when you cry, unable to take me, I won’t stop…because I will love your pain.”
Her blood still flowed, and he ran his hands over her neck, stomach, and breast, painting her body crimson. His hands left a fire in its wake as pleasure and hazy confusion beat inside of Saieke. He cupped her breast, pinching, caressing her nipples to heighten her arousal.
His face took on a crueler cast as he arched her toward him and lowered his fangs to her breast, holding her gaze. Saieke groaned at the pleasure-pain that knifed through her as his teeth pierced her flesh. He drank deeply while his hands caressed her body roughly but seductively. He retracted his fangs and captured her nipple in his mouth and pulled. Hot dark pleasure rushed through her as the eroticism of what he was doing to her caused another orgasm to rush through her, blinding and frightening in its intensity.
He became even rougher, and his chakra became darker than before. He sucked and nibbled at her nipple and slipped his hand down to her core where without warning he plunged two fingers past her resistance deep into her body. “Drac!”
He snarled as her hips recoiled, he withdrew his fingers and thrust inside again.
She felt his control crack.
He ran his tongue over the punctures on her breast, and her neck, closing them, then kissed her with raw dominance in tune with the plunging fingers.
Saieke drew her lips from his and moaned, “Drac, I can’t…” against his mouth as the pleasure-pain that was knifing through her core edged closer to only pain.
“You can,” he hissed and twisted her down to the bed.
He withdrew his fingers and placed his hands under her hips and drew her to his mouth. His tongue swiped through the slit; it lashed and suckled. Saieke keened into the room as her body fragmented as exquisite bliss stormed her senses.
He gave her no ease, licking her into mindless pleasure, slowly and gently, then with harsh intensity. Saieke sobbed and undulated against his tongue desperate for more. He carried her body to the pinnacle of pleasure over and over until she was hoarse from screaming his name. Drac lifted her hips higher, nudged her legs wider, and ran his lips to the inside of her thighs where he pierced her with his fangs while he thrust two of his fingers inside her aching core.
Saieke wailed in pleasure and exhaustion as another orgasm lifted her torso off the bed and she was only supported by the strength of his hands under her hips. Drac swiped his tongue over the punctures and eased her down to the bed. He withdrew his fingers from her and laved her body with his tongue. He swiped from her hips to her stomach, from her breast to her neck. Saieke lay on the bed as tremors racked her body. There was the softest brush of his lips over hers as he kissed her lips, gentling her.
Saieke stared at the sensuality that carved his features and smiled. She could not believe he
was still fully clothed. He returned her appraisal lazily as if he had not just given her the most incredible delight. She drew the covers to her and stumbled to the edge of the bed. The sweat on her skin cooled with the air that wafted through the window. With a flick of her fingers breeze whipped into the room and closed the window. “I want you as my consort.”
She lifted her hand to trace his lips and blinked.
He disappeared.
They had to stop doing that was the last hazy thought she had before she succumbed to the deep pull of sleep.
10
The princess purred and stretched against the silken sheets. “I can feel you,” she murmured without looking in his direction.
Interesting. Drac's chakra was fully leashed. The shadows slithered from him, and she twisted her head to where he sat in the high wing back chair by the fire.
She glowed with pleasure.
“I am at your service for the days that you will remain in our kingdom, Princess. However, my lapse in judgment will not happen again,” he said.
“I will have you as my lover, Darkan.”
“Stated like a true princess,” Drac responded with no inflection in his voice, even though his beast roared in agreement. She was exquisite.
She is ours, his beast’s voice slid across his mind.
Patience, he said. “Are you not the Nurian king’s intended?” he asked. “Blood-oathed?”
“Not by my will or desire.” She stood and sauntered to him. “Does it matter?”
“Most assuredly it does, Princess.”
“You did not touch me like it mattered,” she said, gazing down at him with penetrating awareness. She stepped between his open legs, the coverlets brushing against his knees, her scent enticing.
Ours
A blush warmed her cheeks. “You did not taste me like it mattered…in fact, your touch made me feel owned by you…not by the insignificant Nurian king.”
Drac wrestled with the flare of rage that came at the thought of her with someone else. He had exerted ruthless control to tear himself from her earlier, and he would not succumb again. He glided to his feet. She tilted her head exposing the graceful arch of her neck. His beast lunged, and Drac tamped down harshly on the desire that roused upon just looking at her.
