At first, maybe it had been just fucking. She was sexy as hell, but as a human, she was someone I shouldn’t have been tempted by. When she’d come into my room that night, I’d known by her scent alone that it was Itzel, the human daughter. I’d meant to play with her a little, to tease her for thinking she could fool a shifter so easily. I wouldn’t be had that easily, and if she could toy with me, I could play the game, too.
I hadn’t meant for it to go further than getting a taste of that asshole’s daughter. I thought I’d slide the amulet inside her, maybe finger-fuck her for a minute before she realized she’d been fooled by the man she was trying to fool. Because the amulet shouldn’t have worked on her. She was only human.
She’d smelled so fucking good, though. I’d had to taste her, to sink my tongue into the king’s virgin daughter, surely sent by him to steal the amulet. I had to admit, though she had no feline pheromones, the forbidden aspect had been a draw, too. I almost never fooled around with humans. Too much risk of injury to them. But the thought of her returning to her father to tell him I was no fool, yeah, that had been tempting, too.
Instead, she’d fooled me after all, in ways I still didn’t understand. After that first night, I’d had a taste, and I couldn’t forget it. The second time, though, that had been the one that did me in. Once I’d given in to the craving, it became an addiction.
And then it wasn’t just about busting open that tight little pussy every night, listening to her whimpers of pain and pleasure as I spurted cum into her until she couldn’t hold any more. It was about all of her. The spark in her eyes and the scent of her arousal when she bitched about her guard. The trembling vulnerability in her when she mentioned her slain lover, and the fierceness of her conviction to rid her home country of the tyrannical rule of her father. The softness in those same eyes when she talked about her sister.
Granted, I didn’t care for the sister myself, but if she did, I’d deal with it. That’s when I knew it wasn’t just about our physical connection. This feisty human had gotten her claws into me, and I was in too deep to get out now. I didn’t just care about fucking her. I cared about what she cared about. And that meant I cared about her.
If only I had told her that before. Now I didn’t know if I’d ever get the chance.
Twenty-Seven
Itzel
Princess, Ocelot Nation
I woke to sun streaming through a grimy window and falling across my eyes. Blinking, I twisted away, only to smack my forehead into a metal wall. I sat up, rubbing it with my wrist. Pain sprang awake in a dozen places, and I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could have slept a few minutes longer, so I didn’t have to wake up to reality again quite so soon. I’d had the same jarring reality smack me in the face every time I woke during the night. I kept waiting for the moment I woke up next to Camila and realized it had all been a crazy sex dream instead of waking to Shadow’s cock seeking entrance yet again.
“But no,” I muttered. “My sex dreams aren’t nearly this twisted.”
I rolled out of bed to find the trailer empty. At some point during the long night, Shadow had pulled the mattress back onto the bed, though I’d barely fallen asleep before he’d woken me for another round almost hourly through the entire night.
My stomach growled as I threw open the door and squinted into the glaring sunlight. Where the hell was Shadow? Had he abandoned me here? To my surprise, the thought sent fear spiraling through me. I would never find my way out of here. I’d rather be his sex slave forever than die here alone.
I wouldn’t do that. I’d figure out how to get off this fucking island.
Which, when I thought about it, was about as accurate as saying fucking amulets. I stretched my arms over my head, then hobbled down the steps and went behind a tree to relieve myself.
Had Camila called Father yet? If she had, he’d be more pissed off than worried. Gabor would be looking for me if Camila asked him to. My best hope was still Lord Balam. That, or learning to make a raft out of slimy swamp logs.
When I came back around the trailer, I pulled up short. A figure sat cross-legged at the edge of the little hillock, his back slumped against the trunk of a pine tree, his head in his hands. My heart thudded. He’d been so still I hadn’t noticed him when I came out. He was good at disappearing.
As I approached, he remained motionless except for a few strands of his long, straight hair that danced in the breeze. A sheen of sweat glistened on his bare, brown shoulders as the sun hit them, highlighting the corded muscles that had caged me through the long night as he fucked me from the front, the back, sideways, upside down.
At some point, I’d convinced him to unchain me from the bed. I’d convinced him that I was on his side. I had chosen not to be a victim, but a participant, helping Shadow until the potion left his system. If it ever did.
His head jerked up, snapping around in my direction. His nostrils flared, his eyes going wide when he saw me. I crossed my arms over my chest, suddenly uncomfortable with my nudity. Which was silly, since he’d seen and tasted and touched every inch of my body dozens of times, as both man and animal.
“Itzel,” he said, his voice low and still raspy.
“Were you expecting someone else?”
He turned away, slumping down again. “I was hoping you were one of my nightmares.”
I snorted, rocking back on my heels on the pine needles. “That makes two of us.”
He slid his hands up, fisting them in his long hair.
“I don’t guess there’s any chance you’d deliver this nightmare back where she came from?” I asked.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was worth a shot.”
“No, I mean... for this.” He raised his head, his green eyes miserable and…clear. I stared at him, my heart thumping harder than it had since the moment he’d taken me. I didn’t know if I was more or less scared than I’d been. It had only been one night, but I’d started to learn his madness, to understand it. Maybe that made me just as insane.
Maybe I had to be to survive this.
But I knew his crazy-eyes look. I knew when it got all lustful and bleary that I was about to get fucked, whether I wanted to or not, so I better just hold on tight and try not to be too scared. In his amulet-induced, sex-demon possessed state, this man was the devil I knew.
This man in his clear-eyed state?
That was a devil I didn’t know.
I backed away, hugging myself tighter. “It wore off,” I said softly. “It finally wore off.”
My mind raced. When I’d had whatever was in the amulet, I’d immediately had sex, and it immediately went away. Maybe because he’d taken three days before he gave in, it had taken a dozen times for him to fuck it all out of his system. Now he was stuck with a kidnapped princess who had taken the brunt of the effects.
“I won’t tell anyone what happened,” I said, racing to get the words out before he got any ideas about disposing of me, so I couldn’t go to the police, or his king, or whoever he was scared of. “Just take me back and drop me off. I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’ll tell them nothing happened. I promise. I’ll never tell a soul.”
I didn’t want a soul to know. Not everything that happened had been bad. And none of it was something I wanted to explain to a king, the police, or even my sister.
Shadow stared at me, swallowing with difficulty. “What I did to you…”
“Was because of the potion,” I said. “I’m not angry about it.”
“You should be,” he muttered, hurling a pinecone into the water with such force that his muscles rippled along his long arm.
“Well, I’m not,” I said, sinking down beside him. I made sure to sit on my feet. I didn’t really want an ass full of pine needles. Gingerly, I lay a hand on his back. His body tensed at my touch, as if it were suddenly unwelcome. A strange wave of sadness swept over me, as if somehow, this were a loss. As if I wanted him to still desire me the way the potion had made him desire me. As if I still wanted hi
m to want me at all.
I had been plotting my escape for the past twelve hours, and now the thought of never seeing this man again… I shook the thought away. It was a good thing. I had been his captive, and now I had a chance to be free. Now I could go back to my life and put this behind me as if it had never happened. I still had to get my sister on the throne. This was just a stumbling block.
Or an escape, something inside me whispered. As horrible and beastly as my captor had been, I couldn’t hate him. In truth, he’d taught me things about myself in the darkness of the swamp last night. Things I didn’t necessarily want anyone else to know. The unexpected pleasure I’d taken in Shadow’s need for me, in the ways he’d sated that need, weren’t something I would be able to explain any time soon. Not even to myself.
“I’ll never forgive myself for what I did to you,” Shadow said, turning to me. His green eyes flashed with anger, but this wasn’t an anger that made me shrink back.
Instead, I found myself leaning forward, wrapping my arms around him. He stiffened before raising his hands and laying them gently on my back. “It’s okay,” I said. “I don’t blame you. Believe it or not, I really do understand.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how that’s possible.”
“I forgive you,” I said, pulling back to look at him, linking my hands behind his neck. He was someone else now, the real him, without the intoxication. “I knew what you wanted, what you needed, when we left that bar. I told you I’d give it to you.”
“I know what you need, too,” he said, his hand closing into a fist around the little bullet-shaped crystal that hung from a cord around his throat. With a sharp tug, he broke the cord and handed it to me. “You have the empathy of a fine queen.”
“Oh—no,” I said, laughing a little. “That would be my sister. I’m a selfish bitch.”
I cradled the amulet in my palm, my body weak with relief. It had all been worth it for this moment. I had seen the necklace on him, had hoped it was the amulet. I just hadn’t dared to hope that I could get it. I hadn’t known when the magic would wear off. I hadn’t even been sure that he was still under its influence. For all I knew, he was always a crazed sex demon.
“You’re anything but,” Shadow said, his eyes dipping to my lips with a sadness I didn’t understand. Suddenly, my pulse was fluttering as his knuckles skimmed the side of my neck.
Shit. What was wrong with me?
“You don’t even know me,” I said, rising to my feet with all the dignity a naked, bruised girl could muster. “Now, are you going to take me back to her, or do I have to swim out of here?”
Twenty-Eight
The moment the bike stopped in the parking lot of the hotel, Lord Balam and Gabor appeared. Balam pounced, grabbing Shadow by the shoulders, hauling him off the bike, and throwing him to the ground. Shadow rolled away and leapt to his feet, claws extending from his fingers as he crouched on the balls of his feet, ready to feint in either direction.
Gabor held out a hand to help me off the other side of the bike, but I jumped off and threw myself in front of Lord Balam. “Stop,” I yelled, holding out my arms to block them from going at each other.
“What are you doing?” Lord Balam asked.
“Don’t hurt him,” I said. “It’s not his fault. And I’m fine.”
Lord Balam scented the air, his eyes narrowing. “You’re cut.”
“It’s just a scratch,” I lied. Shadow had bitten down on my shoulder in the midst of an orgasm, but I wasn’t going to tell Balam that. I also wasn’t going to mention that he’d been in panther form at the time.
“It doesn’t smell like a scratch,” Gabor murmured.
I sighed. “Can all you shifters please just keep your superior scenting to yourself? I’m sure it’s handy for you, but it’s annoying as hell when you’re refusing to mind your own business.”
“Your Grace, if he hurt you…”
“Shadow didn’t do anything other than what we made him do.”
I turned to Shadow. But there was no Shadow. He was gone. I scanned the parking lot, sure he’d been there just seconds before.
“Where the fuck did he go?” Lord Balam growled.
“Then it’s not just me,” I said. “He literally just disappeared in front of all three of us without anyone noticing.”
“Panthers are known to disappear,” Balam said, frowning at the empty lot.
“Good to know,” I muttered. I stood there feeling suddenly, ridiculously, abandoned. What had I expected—a heartfelt goodbye?
“Fuck that guy, anyway. What matters is that you’re okay.” Lord Balam put his arms around me, drawing close. “I’ve been looking for you all night. Where did that bastard hide you?”
For a second, my body tensed, but then I remembered that this was Lord Balam. He might look like shit, as if he’d been through the night with me, his face haggard and pale, his curls matted and dark circles ringing his eyes, but he was still my tattooed lover. I sighed, melting against the familiar wall of muscle that was his chest. Squeezing my eyes closed, I held back tears of relief. Of all the mistakes I’d made, he was not one of them. “I knew you’d look for me,” I whispered, returning his embrace.
He kissed the top of my head. “Always.”
I allowed myself a full minute to revel in his strong arms, the comfort and safety they made me feel. Then, I pulled away. A princess on a mission couldn’t fall apart this easily.
“Where’s Camila?” I asked, turning to the guard.
“She’s in her room,” Gabor said. “We had to ensure her safety.” The muscle in his jaw tensed, and he looked away.
“It’s not your fault,” I said, stepping in front of him. The fact that I’d once been so frightened of him almost made me laugh. I reached up, putting my hands on his shoulders. They were like stone under my hands, just as I would have imagined if I’d ever had the nerve to imagine touching one of Father’s guards. Even when he wore his casual clothes, when he wasn’t in uniform, he was still a guard. He smoked cigarettes, and I flirted with him as he stonily pretended not to notice. Even when I’d embraced him outside Gideon’s, it had been a show. But neither of us had ever crossed this line. I’d never touched him like this before. Genuinely.
A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
“It’s no one’s fault,” I said. “Stop looking at me like I’m a tragedy. I just want to put it behind me and for everyone to treat me the same as they always have.”
Gabor searched my face for so long I thought I’d burst if he didn’t speak soon. Finally, he gave a curt nod. “Princess Ocelot would like to see you, and she won’t want to be kept waiting.”
*
In her room, Camila threw her arms around my neck. “I was so worried, Itzie. Tell me everything. Did you get the amulet?”
I realized that neither of the men had even asked me. I didn’t know whether to be offended that they hadn’t thought to ask, or that it was the first thing Camila asked. It was the whole reason I’d done it, after all. I remembered thinking the cost of getting the first one had been high. That had been nothing.
As I listened to Camila’s squeal of happiness as she accepted the payment for the last twelve hours, I knew that the cost had been way too high for her.
“Camila,” I said, taking a deep breath. “I think you should go home.”
She looked up from the bed, where she was trying to fit the two amulets together. “What?”
“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “It was bad enough here, and this is only the first one. We’ll be so far away the rest of the time, and if something happens… What if Shadow hadn’t been willing to trade you for me?”
“Gabor made a mistake,” she said. “He won’t make it again.”
I remembered his misstep, his instinctual leap in front of me when he should have been blocking her from Shadow. Maybe it had only been because I was closer, but it had been a mistake that could have cost us everything. Camila could not have survived the night that
I had. I wondered if she’d punished him for it. He’d probably be working for free for the next ten years.
“Have you talked to Father?” I asked.
“No,” she admitted.
So, the Ocelot Nation had not been looking for me. Not even a helicopter over the swamp.
I hadn’t expected more. I was glad he didn’t know what had happened. He would think I was completely ruined now, even not knowing that I had found pleasure in Shadow’s madness.
“Father will agree with me,” I said. “It’s too dangerous for you, Cam. You can take all the guards and the car with you and go home. I’ll travel as an ordinary citizen and get the rest of the amulets. No one will know me.”
“But I don’t want to be left out,” she said, stamping her foot. “It’s my tour.”
I sighed. “I can’t make you stay. But you should talk to Father and think about whether you want to keep doing this, in these conditions, or if you wouldn’t rather go home to the safety and comfort of your own chambers in our palace.”
She crossed her arms, raising her chin. “You’re just like Father,” she said. “You don’t want me to have any fun. You don’t think I can handle my own Amulet Tour.”
I steeled myself for the words I had to say. “You’re right,” I said. “I don’t.”
I hated to make her angry, and even worse, to hurt her. But she didn’t understand what it was like. That was okay, too. I didn’t want her to have to understand. Sending her home was the only way to make sure she never had to know, never had to endure anything more than what she’d already seen.
Camila’s mouth fell open, and she gaped at me with such shock and fury that it made my mouth go dry. Camila never got angry.
After a second, she pointed to the door. “Get. Out.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I love you, Camila. I would love to take a trip with you if I knew you’d be safe, and we were on some grand adventure like we imagined when we were kids. But I can’t let you get hurt like this. Maybe once you’re queen, and you’ve established good relations with the other Feline Nations, we can take a trip that’s nothing but sisterly fun and frivolousness.”
Broken Princess: A Dark Paranormal Romance (Feline Royals Book 1) Page 19
