Decadence: Darkstar Mercenaries Book 4

by Carven, Anna

  Fascinated, she moved her hands up and down, staring intently at his face, which was only just visible in the scant light.

  His eyes were closed. His lips were slightly parted, revealing the glint of his fangs. His expression was ecstasy and pain and need. He leaned in further, the tips of his horns nudging her soft skin.

  He dropped kisses down her belly. He parted her legs with a gentle claw-tipped hand. He buried his face in the soft nest between her legs and took a deep breath.

  A deep rumble reverberated through his chest.

  Sienna whimpered as his tongue darted out, teasing between her slick, velvet folds.

  It was like a spark to kindling, igniting a fire throughout her body. He was warm and velvety and wild and irresistible.

  His lips closed over her warm, throbbing sex, sucking gently as he thrust his tongue deeper, finding her clit.

  That touch made little supernovas explode inside her brain. She closed her eyes and became lost in the pure ecstasy of his touch. Writhing silently, she gripped his horns even tighter, pulling him toward her.

  He growled dangerously.

  She held him tighter.

  The deadly tips of his claws grazed over her skin, but not once did he hurt her. He just caressed her, and the promise of pain—never delivered—somehow made her pleasure all the more intense.

  He sucked.

  He caressed.

  He made tiny circles with his tongue.

  Each and every motion was exactly what she needed.

  How did he know how to do that?

  She forgot to question it. She became a mindless creature, knowing nothing but him and his damned mouth.

  He drank from her like she was the last handful of water in the desert; like he needed her to sustain his very existence.

  And in that instant she knew that she would give up everything she knew just to be with him, and the realization both terrified and thrilled her.

  Because he needed her as much as she needed him.

  He traced tiny circles around the tender nub of her clit, going faster and faster, filling her with delicious, molten, unbearable, goodness-to-oblivion pleasure.

  She held onto his horns for dear life. He growled like a savage beast, running his hands up and down her back, his claws no longer a threat.

  He never let up, not even when she violently rocked back and forth, her body spasming as the beginnings of a climax rolled through her.

  The wave grew bigger.

  Her need opened up; a great chasm demanding to be filled…

  So he did exactly that.

  With his devious tongue, he performed black magic on her.

  His touch was more intense, more pleasurable than anything she had ever felt before.

  How the hell is he doing this to me?

  The orgasm started deep in her core, tiny ripples quickly turning into a great wave. Before she could make sense of it, she was howling out her release, furiously holding onto his horns as she climaxed.

  It was pure ecstasy.

  Ikriss withdrew and rose to his full height, taking her into his arms. He held her as her body trembled; as she clung to him for all infinity, her nails digging into the scarred skin on his back.

  She couldn’t help it. She needed an anchor;

  She drew blood.

  He groaned deeply, as if the pain itself was a source of pleasure to him.

  She came.

  The orgasm was pure transcendence.

  Her body convulsed.

  She saw the stars.

  Ikriss lifted her off her feet and carried her backwards. His lips captured hers in a savage kiss, and she responded in kind as the aftershocks of climax coursed through her body, leaving her completely undone.

  At last, she looked up.

  She saw his eyes, burning like embers in the darkness.

  A deep, rumbling, and utterly alien sound—a sound no human could possibly make—erupted from him, reverberating right through her as he pushed her back against a smooth, cold surface.

  Glass?

  Was she leaning against a window of some sort?

  It didn’t matter. His kisses stole away any semblance of coherent thought. His hard body pressed against hers, and she felt every chiseled contour of him; felt his raw, dangerous power…

  Felt his massive cock.

  Her fingers curled around his hard length.

  A low hiss escaped him.

  He kissed her once again…

  And then slowly teased himself into her, the ridge of his cock caressing her raw, tender clit, sending her into the throes of another impending climax.

  They fit together.

  It was all so perfect.

  He started to fuck her; slowly at first, moving his body back and forth, taking complete control of her.

  But then again, he’d always been in control, hadn’t he?

  He thrust harder, deeper, filling her to the hilt. She surrendered to his demands, letting him have his way with her, because he was an unstoppable, relentless force, and she was only… human.

  He was always savage, but never to the point where he would hurt her.

  How did he do that?

  The cold glass behind her quickly heated up. Her skin became slick with sweat. Her hair was a damp mess.

  Still, he kept taking her higher.

  They moved together, their voices and bodies becoming one, her soft, desperate cries mingling with his deep rumbles.

  He gave her pleasure all over again.

  And again.

  Just when she feared she could take it no longer, she climaxed again, becoming jelly in his arms.

  Still, he fucked her.

  Possessive hands slid up and down her back, allowing her no escape as she found release yet again.

  She lost all sense of time.

  She was only aware of him.

  Devouring every last drop of her.

  He leaned in and pressed his warm lips against the delicate hollow of her neck. He kissed her deeply, his fangs grazing her soft skin. A sublime pinprick of pain lanced through the fog of her pleasure.

  He’d bitten her.

  Marked her.

  His hands went to the sides of her face. He caressed her cheeks possessively, his gaze wide and clear as he stared into her eyes.

  She stared back, completely entranced, hardly believing that this wild, otherworldly creature was all hers.

  “Ikriss,” she gasped as he relented a little, his thrusts becoming slow and undulating.

  “Sienna,” he whispered, baring his fangs. “You are mine now.”

  He paused, holding her in suspended motion, torturing her with the promise of his climax.

  She wanted him more than ever. She wanted to feel his warm seed spilling deep inside her.

  She wanted his surrender.

  “Please,” she whispered.

  He kissed her on the lips as he moved back and forth; faster, harder, unleashing every last drop of his pent-up need, losing himself inside her.

  And then he stopped.

  A great tremor coursed through his body.

  He buried his face in the hollow of her neck, once again sinking his fangs into her delicate skin.

  He cried out, his deep voice crescendoing to a howl.

  At last, he came. The climax ripped through him, and all she could do was grab his horns with both hands and hold on tightly as he finally claimed her.

  At last, they were whole.

  They were one.

  And as she held him in her arms, feeling his warmth flood through her, feeling his relief and pleasure and astonishment, his howls died like a fading storm, turning into soft whimpers.

  She held him in his moment of vulnerability; this strong, invincible seeming alien, and she was astounded when she felt warm tears on her cheeks, and she didn’t quite know if they were hers or his.

  Were Kordolians even capable of shedding tears?

  After a small and necessary infinity, he let out a deep, shuddering sigh an
d kissed her.

  This time, his kisses were soft and tender, so different to the fierce, savage way he’d kissed her before. He wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. He was still inside her, and his warmth spread through her core like a salve, seeping into every cell and pore and molecule of her body, transforming her.

  Healing her.

  “Turn around, Sienna.” The sound of his voice surprised her a little. He sounded like his old self again. Composed. Perfectly in control. The Commander was back.

  And yet his voice still held a hint of warmth.

  “T-turn around?” She was confused. What could he possibly—

  “Take a look.” Ikriss gently disentangled from her and spun her around.

  In a daze, Sienna looked out across the stars. The smooth glass she’d been pressed up against was indeed a window, one that gave her a spectacular view of the Universe.

  Her heart skipped a beat. Her breath caught.

  The stars were as beautiful as ever, shimmering in the cold, dangerous darkness.

  And here she was safe and warm, even though the only thing that stood between them and oblivion was a single pane of glass.

  “This is our Universe,” Ikriss said softly, his breath feathering across her cheek as he wrapped his arms around her. “We are the order amongst the chaos. And now that you are mine, that chaos will never touch you again.”

  She leaned into him, reveling in his warmth; his solidness. “Is that why they call you the… Enk… Enka…”

  “Enkaladu,” he said wryly, a low chuckle rumbling through his chest. “So you have heard of this, hm?”

  “Jaxis mentioned something about it… in the process of threatening me with certain death if I did anything bad to you.” She chuckled softly. “As if I could.”

  Ikriss stiffened. She swore the temperature just dropped a few degrees.

  “He threatened you?” His voice turned cold.

  “It was implied, in the way that you Kordolians do so very well.” She turned and looked up at him, frowning. “But you have to promise me you won’t rip his head off. He was just being protective of you.”

  “Huh,” Ikriss shook his head and gently caressed her cheek with his thumb. “Protective or not, he should know better than to frighten my mate. I will have words with him.”

  “He didn’t frighten me at all,” Sienna said calmly. “Because I would never do anything bad to you anyway.” She turned and looked out across the stars, wondering if Earth was amongst those distant glittering points. “So, tell me about this Enkaladu business, then. I’m intrigued.”

  Ikriss let out a soft snort. “That is an old Aikun word.”

  “Aikun?”

  “My tribe,” he replied, a note of nostalgia entering his voice. “They did not always regard me so favorably, but I suppose I did protect them when the Empire was at its worst. We Aikun… we are not so fond of the former Imperial Military.”

  “We? I don’t understand. I thought you were a commander in the military. How can you…”

  His roving hands slid over her shoulders and down her chest. He teased her nipples to perfect tautness.

  Damn male. They were supposed to be having a serious conversation, and he couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

  “It is true, my love. I’m not proud of it, but I was the Empire’s perfect tool. Obedient to a fault. Effective. Efficient. I knew how to exploit an enemy’s weakness and crush dissent using the fewest resources possible. I knew how to win at all costs. They had no choice but to elevate me. I’d seen enough of the Universe to know that I had to make myself indispensable to them.”

  “For survival?” A chill ran through her.

  “No. For power. You see, once I became valuable to them, I had a bargaining power of sorts. They had to find a way to ensure my continued loyalty.”

  A glimmer of understanding dawned on her. “You did their bidding to… protect your people?”

  “As you correctly observed before, my kind are so very good at implied annihilation. The Empire and I had an implicit understanding. As long as I remained their loyal varhund, they would refrain from wiping out what was left of my people. For a long time, I became what I most despised.”

  “That must have been hard,” she whispered reverently, sensing that this was a side of himself he rarely showed.

  “One learns to live with oneself,” he shrugged, sliding his devious hands over her belly, her hips… “It didn’t matter in the end, because my General and I fooled them all.” He closed his arms around her and held so tightly she wondered if he would ever let her go.

  That was okay, though.

  “I know what evil is, Sienna. Sometimes, one has to become evil to defeat it.”

  “You’re not evil, Ikriss. I’ve seen evil too, and you’re not it.”

  “Perhaps,” he agreed. He brought his fingers to her hair and gently teased through her messy strands, pushing them away from her face. “For some reason that we do not yet understand, you carry the so-called royal blood of our ancestors. I do not revere royal bloodlines, but they do. You are valuable to my enemies, but to me, you are beyond precious. I’m just a simple man, Sienna. If anyone tries to take what is mine, I will do whatever it takes to destroy them.”

  “I know that.” She leaned into his caress, drawing comfort from him. He made her feel safe in a way that nobody else ever could. “And you’re anything but simple.”

  His presence erased every trace of darkness from her existence… even though he himself was the darkness.

  But then she was struck by a terrifying thought. “If I have this… Kordolian gene, or whatever it is, then won’t my relatives on Earth have it too? I’m told my mom and sister are already under your protection, but what if it comes from my… father’s side?” She couldn’t keep the distaste out of her voice as she thought of the man who had refused to acknowledge her existence.

  “You are not fond of your sire, are you?” Ikriss’s voice grew cold, and Sienna got the feeling he was contemplating doing very bad things to a man she had never met.

  “Never knew him,” she said softly. “And I don’t care to, either.” Sienna felt surprisingly calm as she stared out across the stars. That small, niggling emptiness she’d felt for as long as she could remember… it wasn’t there anymore. “Maybe he has his reasons, but you know what? Some of my kind are just assholes, and there’s no changing them. Still, if my Kordolian gene came from his side of the family, then you should probably find him. I probably have relatives—maybe even siblings—that could be in danger.”

  “Hm,” Ikriss rumbled. “Huh.”

  Sienna turned to face him again. She looked up at him in confusion. Perhaps there was just a hint of wonder in his voice.

  “You are not a vengeful creature,” he murmured. “Instead, you ask me to protect the one who has wronged you.” Her buried his nose in her hair and kissed her gently on the crown of her head, his tender touch raising goosebumps across her arms. “That is why I need you, Sienna. You give me the strength to master my worst instincts.”

  Content in his warm embrace, she sighed. “All I know we’ve both been through hell to get to this point, and I don’t care how bad you think you are. You’re my terrible Kordolian.”

  “Always,” he agreed.

  She shook her head in disbelief, unable to come to terms with the perfectness of it all. “I’ve always made a point of existing on my own terms, but this feels different. I don’t even understand what’s happening anymore. It’s too big for me to fight on my own, Ikriss.”

  “Shush.” He pressed a finger to her lips and teased them apart. She couldn’t help but wrap her lips around his callused fingertip, teasing him with the tip of her tongue. “There is no need to ask. You already know I’ll do anything to please you… and to keep you safe.” He gently spun her around and planted a soft kiss on her lips. “You know, that makes you one of the most powerful beings in this Universe, my love.” A mischievous smile hovered at the corners of his lips.<
br />
  “I really couldn’t care less about power or anything like that,” Sienna retorted, returning his half-smile. “I’m a simple girl, Commander. I just want to know that my people are safe, and I just want to keep doing my thing. Seems like I’ve got a lot of work to do, trying to convince an entire species that food isn’t just a form of sustenance.”

  “Well, you are doing a brilliant job of convincing me so far.” He licked his lower lip; a tiny, tantalizing gesture that was at odds with his fierce expression. “After I deal with all the unfinished business from this operation, you should come with me on a journey… a holiday, as you humans call it.” He grinned, flashing his fangs. “I know many good places in the Universe, including some that have escaped the Empire’s destructive attention.”

  “Escaped? You knew about them, yet you didn’t…”

  “I might have been the Empire’s tool, but I did not see the need to unnecessarily disturb places that the nobles hadn’t yet cast their greedy eyes over.”

  She tried to imagine him; a cold and ruthless commander of the most powerful military in the Nine Galaxies, secretly and deliberately ignoring entire planets… civilizations, because he knew what his people were capable of.

  And to think she’d once believed that all Kordolians were just evil bastards.

  In reality, it was a lot more complicated than that.

  You’re a good man, Ikriss… even though you’ve probably done some terrible things.

  “Can we go to… your home planet, too? I want to see the place where you—” Sienna paused and checked herself. Based on what he’d told her and the snippets she’d heard from Earth’s media, a lot of bad shit had gone down on the mysterious so-called Dark Planet. Maybe Ikriss didn’t want to go back there. “I mean, only if it isn’t any trouble. I don’t want to—”

  “Relax, my love.” Ikriss chuckled softly. “We control Kythia now. I have no reservations about going back there, and it is not as bleak as the stories would have you believe… not anymore. There are some intensely beautiful places on the other side of the Vaal. I know of a certain mountaintop where the stars appear so bright and intense you would think you could pluck them out of the sky with your very own hands.” He placed his hands on her shoulders; intense, earnest, impossible to resist. “I would be honored to show you my home planet… that is, if your commitments will allow.”