Coughing sounded from the front of the tent, and Killian entered, lowering his eyes, unable to stand the sight of my face. He met Knox’s glare and nodded toward the tent’s opening. Knox turned toward it, tilting his head as if listening for something.
“Greer!” Knox called, and Greer entered the tent, staring from me to Knox, before waiting for Knox to speak again.
“Watch Aria. Ensure no one touches her while I’m gone. I will return in a few moments, and then we will escort her to the village to heal the damage. No one gets in or out of this tent,” Knox growled, grabbing his scabbard and sword before leaving me with Greer in awkward silence.
“Your face is literally killing me,” Greer grunted.
I stared at him, moving to the table in silence to pull the cork out of the whiskey. I struggled to lift the bottle to my lips before Greer grabbed it, pouring a dram into a glass, and handing it to me.
“Thank you,” I whispered through the tightening in my chest.
“Next time, aim for his balls, Peasant. Leave his heart alone. It’s broken, and when touched, he strikes hard and fast to protect what little of it remains in his chest.”
“Knox doesn’t have a fucking heart,” I snorted, sitting to stare at the tent’s opening.
Chapter Forty-Three
Knox
I’d wanted nothing more than to part her thighs and bury my thick cock deep into her tight haven. Instead, I’d watched the little bitch coming undone for me. I’d never seen a woman pleasuring herself or been so fucking turned on in my entire existence than when Aria’s clumsy-as-fuck fingers pushed into her tight paradise while she held my stare.
I didn’t care who the fuck she was; I’d wanted her. Never in my entire life had I not taken what I wanted. Women begged to fuck me, and most of them regretted it the moment I entered their sheath, stretching it out painfully. I didn’t do soft or sweet fucking. I abused vaginas, making them sore because once I’d fucked them, it was over. I didn’t go back for more, ever. Not until Aria.
Aria was a savage, like me. She fucked like she waged war against my cock, and fuck if I didn’t enjoy losing for a moment to let her think she held some resemblance of control. Her eyes undid me, growing heavy with lust, banking with a fire that left me burning for her.
She took all of me, and when she got to the end of my cock, she lifted and slammed her pussy home, again and again. I missed that feeling. I missed the feel of her tight cunt clenching down hungrily against my cock, draining my balls.
I’d never had anyone take me on and want more. Aria was the first woman ever to do so without complaint. She fucking rode me hard, and when she finished, she climbed off, patted my chest, and walked out the door like my dick wasn’t the best thing she’d ever felt pounding into her cunt. That pissed me off even more.
So fucking what if it was the only cock she’d ever had? The moment she smiled with me buried in her pussy, she’d signed her soul over to the devil in red lipstick with a fucking ‘call me’ note on her panties.
“Are we going to talk about what the fuck happened back there?” Brander demanded, and I turned, glaring at him.
“That little bitch aimed for my heart, and she dug it out of my chest. Aria meant to hurt me, and I’d be fucking shocked if she hadn’t wanted me to give her that reaction. She’s like me. When she hurts, she strikes hard and fast, and she doesn’t miss.”
“That doesn’t excuse putting your hands on her,” Killian muttered, his eyes holding mine with unease. “You want her, fine. Take her. Fuck the little bitch out of your system, Knox. Hurting her during a battle is one thing, but putting hands on her because she hurt your fucking feelings isn’t something we do.”
“She asked me how Liliana and Sven would react to what we had happening in the camp,” I admitted, noting their foreheads were creasing. “Then she told me they couldn’t react because they were fucking dead. I pulled back, but I never even saw her injuries past my anger. It just wasn’t soon enough to stop my hand. If she were anyone else, she’d be dead right now. I barely fucking tapped her. Trust me, assholes; no one is more disappointed in me than I am right now.”
I stared up at the cloudless sky, closing my eyes against the rustling wind that cooled the heat of my skin. I’d hurt her, and I hated myself more than I already did because of it. I hadn’t meant to touch her in anger, but she’d ignored my warnings to reach for my rage.
I’d spent all night holding her tiny body against mine, unable to ignore how perfectly she fit against me. I’d never allowed a woman to sleep beside me, not until Aria. Fuck, not even my wife had slept beside me through any part of our marriage. I’d been horrified at the idea of harming Liliana with my sheer size, and her weak body hadn’t been able to handle me.
Aria didn’t cower from me, though, not even my anger. She dug her heels in, and that fire within her burned in challenge. I’d never in my entire life been denied anything until I’d met Aria.
Last night, her cunt dripped down my throat, and it was fucking gloriously delicious. I’d known I could have buried my cock deep into that naked flesh, but I hadn’t. I wanted and craved her willingly to want to fuck me.
She was my enemy, and yet I hated the idea of her in pain or hurt. That realization bothered me. However, the more I was around her, the more I understood that Aria was too perfect for me. Everything within her called to me.
I didn’t just want sex with her anymore. Yes, I wanted to sexually destroy her pussy and hear those sweet, sensual noises as I stretched that cunt hard, making her feel every single fucking inch of me within her. But I craved her kisses more than I craved her cunt.
I needed the taste of her lips against mine, the pleasure they created as my heartbeat raced like some fucking punk-ass kid learning the taste of a woman for the first time. Aria kissed me, and everything faded to nothing around us.
There was her need and mine, and who the fuck cared about breathing? I couldn’t kiss her enough, and as a general rule, I didn’t kiss women. I’d barely kissed my wife, and I had never kissed another woman because that insinuated feelings, and I didn’t feel women. I fucked them hard and mistreated them because it ended things quickly without a mess left in my wake.
Aria’s mouth was heaven against mine. Her mind drew me to her; the way it worked knocked me on my ass. She calculated, contemplated, premeditated a plan, and then she went balls to the wall to see it through. Aria was five steps ahead of her enemies. She’d Trojan-horsed her sexy little ass into a keep and set fire to it from the inside.
She made my cock hard with her battle strategies. Aria gave me pause as an enemy. Knowing with her, I had to be on my fucking game. I loved her mind as much, if not more, than I loved the feel of her body around mine as I savaged that tender center, where I’d written my name.
She wasn’t just brilliant; she was a self-taught genius. She’s read the Art of War and taught herself how to wage a battle, not with strength, but with her mind. She was a dangerous adversary, and that made her intriguing.
“You know how this ends. You have two options, Knox,” Brander stated. “Marry her and claim her throne before she rises, or end her life. You can’t keep her like this, not even that mark on her thigh, or the one on her shoulder will ensure no one can use her against us.”
“I’m not marrying Aria,” I spat out, rage filling my vision at the idea of marrying a witch whose line ended my wife’s and son’s lives. “That isn’t an option. Neither is killing her. I can turn Aria against the witches. She’s young, brilliant, and her soul is pure. Aria knows Aurora intends to wield her as a weapon, but for what we don’t know.”
“There are other assholes chasing your girl, dick,” Lore snorted. “Well, besides me. You are fully aware that if she ever gives me the green light, I’m going to be all up in that heaven until I’m her baby daddy.”
I glared at him, noting the way his eyes sparkled with amusement. “Fuck off, Lore. You couldn’t handle Aria in bed. She’d eat you for breakfast and spit you out
by lunchtime. That girl took my cock and rode me like she was heading into battle, and fuck if she didn’t drain my balls and pat my chest like I was cute.”
“It’s disturbing how much we talk about you fucking her, asshole,” Brander grunted, shaking his head while Lore started moving around, rocking and thrusting his hips. “What the fuck are you doing?” Brander demanded.
“Exercising my hips, readying myself for Aria for when she tires of Knox’s shit,” he explained. “If I’m going to make it to lunchtime, guess I better up my pelvic game. I’ve heard Knox fucking her, and damn, it sounds like baby girl likes for daddy to go deep into the womb. ‘Oh, Knox, deeper! You hit those fucking lungs, big boy! You better push that cock up and out of my throat so I can pat it for the good job it’s doing before you fill my cunt full of that alpha scent. That’s it, fuck me harder!’”
Everyone stared at Lore before bursting out laughing. Brander held his stomach, shaking his head as I dragged my hand down my face, enjoying the rare moment when everything wasn’t life or death.
“You’re a fucking idiot,” Killian chuckled, wiping away the tears from laughing.
Lore didn’t miss a beat, rocking his hips while flipping Killian twin birds. I shook my head, turning to peer at the warriors standing beside us, staring at us in horror. I scanned their hands, finding the man that had hurt my girl as anger ripped through me.
Chapter Forty-Four
Knox
The warrior was easily over six and a half feet tall to Aria’s barely over five feet some change of fuck around and find out, she had. He had a good three hundred pounds of muscle on her and sported beefy hands with broken skin on his knuckles from hitting my girl repeatedly.
“That’s him,” Brander stated as if I needed confirmation.
I moved silently as the men quivered, feeling my anger. The rattle in my chest was raw, angry, and filled with unleashed rage. Standing in front of the warrior, I stared him in the eye, noting how his gaze dropped quickly.
“You can’t fucking look me in the eye, but yet you can beat the shit out of a tiny girl?” I snapped coldly, watching his jaw tense beneath my angry glare. “Fucking look at me, asshole. I’m not your fucking friend. I’m your King. I asked you a fucking question. I expect an answer.”
“She started a fight with Bekkah, and both are under your protection, My King,” he stated, holding his head up while peering through me. Aria had done inside the tent, her face mangled from this asshole’s hands that were larger than her entire head.
My hand moved, slamming into his face without warning, sending him to his knees. I gripped his hair, ripping his head back. “Explain to me why you felt the need to hit her more than once, or better yet, at all? Explain to me why after my girl was on the ground, you continued to fucking kick her ass?”
“Bekkah said Aria would spell you if we allowed her to live,” he uttered, spitting out teeth. “We cannot allow Aria Hecate to live, Sire. She is too powerful. Our job is to protect you, not some whore who can’t learn to listen and obey.”
“My girl isn’t a whore, you brainless fuck. Aria has known one cock in her entire lifetime. Mine. Your whore, however, has fucked the entire camp of warriors more than a few times to see whom she could poison with her cunt.”
“With all due respect, you fucked her, too,” the warrior sneered.
“No, I didn’t. You see, she’s not worth fucking to me. Bekkah enjoys power over men, and I can’t be subdued by a loose twat that would fuck a minotaur and have room for more than one of his friends in her loose cunt. She played you, and you believed her because she touched your cheek and told you she feared for your life. Here’s the thing, you hurt my fucking girl. I expressly made certain everyone knew not to touch her. She didn’t just have my protection, she had my mark on her shoulder, and my scent freshly placed between her legs.”
“She will die, either by one of us or by the witches. Aria Hecate betrayed her people by slaughtering them, and she will do it again. Just because you like the feel of her cunt around your cock doesn’t make her any less evil, My King.”
I kneeled, staring the warrior in the eye as I smiled evilly. “Reach into your fucking chest and give me your third rib bone. Now.”
I stepped back, watching the fear playing on his face while he decided if he could manage it or not. His nails sliced through his chest, and a scream tore from his lungs while pathetic tears ran down his face. His trembling hand pushed into his chest, but he paused, unable to pull the rib out. I kicked his shoulder, watching as he howled while falling forward onto his face.
“Put your arm back into the socket and don’t make a sound while you manage it.” With disinterest, I watched his bloody hand lift to his shoulder as he howled again, screaming like a pussy while he held his arm. “My girl did both, and she barely fucking made a sound as she removed the rib you broke and fixed the arm you dislocated. Right now, she’s standing in my tent, absolutely silent and utterly pissed off at me. That little girl you hurt, she has more balls and strength than you will ever have. Do you want to know why? It’s because Aria Hecate is a fucking monster, one that I intend to keep at all costs. Get up,” I growled, watching the man fighting to get back to his feet, moving slower than it had taken Aria with the damage she’d sustained.
The men waited behind me while the warrior struggled, crying out with every attempt he took to get to his feet. Once he stood, I slammed my fist into his cheek, smiling at the sickening crunch. I hit him again, uncaring that blood splattered the other warriors who had remained silent throughout the ordeal, never looking away from where Killian had told them to look.
When the man went down, I followed him, never stopping as I delivered blow after blow until nothing remained but a flat, useless face that lacked the brains with which he’d been born.
My claws extended, and I slowly removed his head before standing to accept the cloth Lore handed me, smiling deviously with my need for blood.
“Now, you assholes want to tell me why you thought it was a good idea to build a wall for this man? Why you felt it was important to keep me from seeing the damage he inflicted on the woman I told you all was off-limits before she’d ever fucking arrived in our camp?” I asked, watching as they faced forward. No one spoke, and I snorted. “Take their heads if they can’t find their tongues,” I ordered, watching all three men step forward, claws extending as excitement burned in their gazes.
“My King, we don’t know why we moved to build a wall with our bodies. Only that we did, and we couldn’t stop it from happening. Not even once you’d pushed through. We stood there until Killian retrieved us to bring us here,” Carsen answered, his green eyes never moving from the mark in front of him.
“Which female did you fuck before you felt the urge to build a fucking wall with your body?” I asked carefully. He swallowed, and I pinched my nose, scrunching up my face.
“Bekkah, she was with us all.” The statement had come from another male, who didn’t flinch as I settled before him.
“Do you know the punishment for breaking an oath to protect someone beneath my protection?” I asked, watching the slow nod.
“Death,” he swallowed hard. “It has been an honor to serve you, King Karnavious. I broke my oath and I’m prepared to die as punishment.”
I exhaled, studying his unwavering loyalty. “Stand, all of you.” Once they had, I stepped closer, noting they didn’t move or back away from the fact I sentenced them to death. “Aria Hecate just saved your fucking lives. You owe her yours now. That evil witch you assume is so horrid; she’d stand in front of my blade to save your lives. You’re now her personal guards, and you will watch her to ensure nothing like this happens again. Seek Siobhan and tell her Bekkah spelled you, and stay the fuck away from her evil cunt. It’s not worth dying over. Not a word about this when you go back. Let this man serve as a warning for any of you who fail to protect Aria from harm.”
I watched the relief flowing through each warrior as I turned, staring at my
men who looked peeved about not getting to kill. Killian nodded. It was the only indication he was thankful I hadn’t slaughtered the warriors he’d spent countless centuries training to serve in our army.
“You let them get off easy,” Brander snorted.
“No, because each one of them now knows the moment they allow someone to touch Aria, that is their fate,” I nodded toward the corpse.
“Aria made him look like a bitch,” Lore replied. “She’s something else.”
“What’s the word from the council?” I asked, watching Brander’s jaw clench at the change of topic.
“No one knows who gave the order for Aria to remain alive. I have runners searching through kingdoms, and Gideon has his spies searching the beast kingdoms for any hint of who might have sired her or what she may be. Here’s some shit we have to figure out. Aria is in heat, and your scent, while within her, isn’t strong enough to stop my need to mount her and mark her for myself. You didn’t fuck her last night, brother. It sounded like it, but you didn’t paint her needy womb with your scent. She rattled, and she purred. She has magic unlike anything we have seen before. She has men with similar features hunting her down, but whether it is to protect her or harm her is still debatable. When we encountered them, they took orders from her. Aria didn’t want us hurt, so they didn’t fight us. Everything about her is perfect, but what if she’s too perfect?”
“I have thought the same thing, often,” Killian grunted.
“We all have,” I admitted.
“Not me,” Lore snorted, shaking his head. “It’s real, her scent. I feel it in my balls. Her noises? I have heard nothing like them, and I can’t get enough. I’m not even ashamed to admit that I pulled up a bed roll and slept next to your tent just to hear her sweet-ass noises.”
“That’s fucking creepy, asshole,” Brander stated.
Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms Book 2) Page 31
