The Blood King

by Abigail Owen

  They’d made it halfway to his suite in silence before she spoke. “So…you’d choose Asher to leave in charge, huh?”

  For once, he didn’t hear censure in her voice, more like idle curiosity. “Asher’s role with Thanatos was discussed long before he took it. He would never betray me.”

  “I can see that,” Skylar murmured, and he gave her a sideways look. Maybe she did.

  “Still, I’d rather not have to try to mate him next,” she continued. “That would go down faster than the Hindenburg. This mating thing had better work and you better not die on me, Ladon Ormarr.”

  A pang of something dangerously close to jealousy—he was starting to get familiar with it—shot through him at the thought of her with Asher. Hot on the heels of that thought came another, scorching away the jealousy. That was the closest to a compliment she’d given him since they met.

  Skylar walked along quietly for a while. Her silences were starting to make him nervous. “Did you mean what you said?” she asked.

  He flicked a glance her way. “About what?”

  “About the clan being more than their king, more than one person.”

  So that was why she’d looked at him funny? “Yes.”

  “But you’re the king.” She couldn’t seem to help digging at the issue. He had a sudden image of her as a child, blithely and willfully running into danger just to test out how dangerous it was. A handful, he’d bet.

  My handful, now.

  He shook off the possessive thought and the pinch of worry that came with it. Maybe she truly needed to know.

  Except explaining himself sat about as easily with him as Thanatos’s mark had on his hand. He’d scratched that brand raw for years.

  Cold logic came to his aid now. More trust would only help him survive what was soon to come. “The last king did nothing for our people, selling us down the river in deference to stronger, more power-hungry kings. In the meantime, dragon shifters as a race haven’t evolved much since Pytheios claimed the Red Throne and the title of High King.”

  Suspicion pinched her lips and narrowed her eyes. “So, you’re going to take it away from him?”

  He frowned, not quite following. “High King?”

  “Yes.”

  Ladon shrugged. “I’m going to kill him and any others who try to take us down. What follows will be up to all those who remain. Technically, I’d say High King should go to Brand, as the first to mate a phoenix. We need to get him that Gold Throne either way, though.”

  Skylar stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, her braid swinging behind her back. “No way can you be for real.”

  Ladon couldn’t help it. Everything about her challenged him in a way too visceral to ignore. He reached out and yanked her up against him, watching with satisfaction as she registered the hard ridge of him pressing into her, her eyes widening.

  But then that stubborn chin lifted as she refused to give an inch. “So, you’d help another dragon shifter become High King?”

  “Will you ever believe anything I say?” Ladon snapped, then released her, turning to walk down the hall, though his throbbing dick made that process damned uncomfortable.

  She caught up with him. “Surprisingly, I might.”

  The incredulity in her voice made him want to laugh. Again.

  Ladon stopped at his door and ushered her into the room. Skylar stopped just inside, staring at the king-size bed beyond the main living space the doors opened into, visible between the natural arches formed by the cavern.

  Quietly, he moved in behind her, not quite touching, but enough to feel her heat, to inhale that sweetly smoky scent.

  “We’re going to have sex,” she said, more to herself than anything.

  A laugh punched from him, and she spun around with a glare, only to gasp at finding him standing so close. Skylar tilted her head back, refusing to step away or show any sign of weakness, as he’d come to expect. Damned if that part of her personality wasn’t a huge turn-on.

  He didn’t want a mate who cowered.

  Her gaze narrowed. “Yeah. Laugh it up, Chuckles. Pissing me off probably isn’t your best play right now.”

  Only her reaction, instead of angering him, reminded him of an orphan dragon he’d met once. The child lashed out when afraid, which was most of the time. No wonder, since the majority of orphans in their society were abandoned or killed. Without blood family to anchor their humanity, they turned feral the first time they shifted into a dragon, causing untold destruction. Most human legends about dragons originated because of rogues and orphans.

  Where was this coming from? “I’m not laughing at you.”

  “No?”

  He wanted to touch her but didn’t think she’d let him. “This isn’t exactly easy for me, either, you know.”

  “Don’t mistake this for nerves.” Skylar crossed her arms, pushing her generous breasts up in a way he couldn’t fail to notice. Nor did he miss the way her nipples beaded beneath the thin black material of her shirt.

  Angry and turned on—a cocktail he was becoming intimately familiar with since she stormed into his life.

  Ladon slowly moved closer, trying not to spook her. “Nerves aren’t necessarily a bad thing.”

  Only because he was intently studying her did he catch the way she swallowed.

  “I wish I could have taken this slower, take my time winning you over.” He was close enough now to catch how her chest moved with a deep breath.

  A spark of surprise ignited in his chest as the depth of those words struck him. He wanted to win her over. For a man who’d looked on mating as only a political maneuver, this felt…deeper.

  “You didn’t strike me as a patient man,” she said on a snort.

  “I’m not.” He wouldn’t insult her intelligence by denying it. “But I would have tried to be patient if it meant earning you.”

  He reached for her braid, pulling the elastic band off the end and slowly undoing it, the long blue-black tresses falling around her face and down her back in soft waves, raven-black against the pale oval of her face.

  Damn, she was gorgeous.

  “So, in your version of slow, how long would it have taken to get here?” she asked. Stalling?

  “Are you attracted to me?” he asked, smoke in his voice now, his dragon close to the surface. She still hadn’t answered him from earlier.

  She slow-blinked. “What?”

  “I asked if you’re attracted to me. I already told you I want you. Do you want me?” He moved a hand around the back of her neck, under the heavy fall of her hair. At the same time, he got caught in the vortex of her pale blue gaze, but he didn’t want to look away now, too intent on her answer.

  “Well, I do like this.” She ran a fingertip over the indent on his chin.

  “Not an answer.”

  Again, that stubborn jaw tilted up. “You don’t disgust me.”

  Blunt honesty, though not an answer. He could work with that. “Then let’s start there.”

  Her lips parted, and he took advantage, bending to take a quick taste before pulling back.

  “To answer your question,” he said, “I couldn’t have waited too long anyway. I want you too much.”

  She tipped her head, eyeing him closely. “You mean you need me too much.”

  “I do need you.” Ladon slowly pulled his hand from her neck, brushing it across her collarbone and down to graze an eager nipple begging for his touch. “But that has nothing to do with how badly I crave you.”

  Skylar sucked in a shuddering breath.

  “If you want me to stop, I’ll stop,” he murmured. He circled that tantalizing finger around her puckered nipple, barely brushing.

  Her eyes darkened as he watched, more of the blue swirling in those icy depths. “How do you want to do this?” she asked.

  Triumph lit a fire
in his blood. She wasn’t going to stop this. “If I’m going to die, I’d rather my last moments be ones of pleasure.”

  He cupped her breast, testing the weight in his hand, loving how she leaned into the touch with a small whimper.

  “Sounds reasonable,” she breathed.

  He dropped his gaze to those berry-ripe lips. He wanted to possess them, claim them, see them wrapped around his cock. His voice dropped low and harsh. “How about we just enjoy each other?”

  Skylar shivered against him. “Sex for the sake of sex?”

  Not exactly what he was thinking, but her shoulders dropped when she’d said it. She seemed to like that idea. “Pleasure, because it feels damn good,” he reworded.

  “I can do that,” she whispered.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Taking things back to the most basic—for the sake of the pleasure they could give each other—relaxed Skylar in a way she realized logically it shouldn’t. Somehow that took the pressure off, like she gave herself permission to give in to an attraction that had been grasping at her like a riptide since she’d laid eyes on Ladon Ormarr.

  “Good,” he murmured, lowering his mouth to hers way too slowly.

  Any other time, she would’ve smacked him upside the head for the smug satisfaction in his voice, but she was too busy waiting for him to kiss her.

  When he hovered, just out of reach, she speared her hands through his thick hair and tugged. “Kiss me, dammit.”

  His kiss was immediate, possessive and demanding, taking over her body as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her flush against his hard length.

  He grunted, the sound annoyed. “Damn, you’re shorter than I thought.”

  “That’s a first,” she snarked back through panting breaths. “Human men find me too tall.”

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he cupped her by the ass and hauled her up so that her mouth was level with his. Skylar didn’t hesitate to wrap her legs around him, grinding against the thick rod of his erection in a move showing him exactly what she wanted.

  “Fuck,” he grunted against her lips.

  “That’s the idea,” she teased as she licked her way down his neck.

  He huffed a half laugh, half groan. “If that’s the idea, this is not going to be gentle or slow.”

  Even through the need tightening his voice, she still caught a lilt of concern. For her? She’d expected him to claim and be done with it.

  She brushed aside the thought. Instinctual hunger possessed her, driving her actions. Needing to mark him, to drive him to take what he wanted, she pulled his shirt off, the first couple of buttons popping off, and bit his shoulder. Not hard enough to draw blood, but hard.

  Ladon sucked in a breath and shuddered. “Like that, is it?”

  He clamped his lips down on hers, dominating her mouth, demanding her submission, which, for once, Skylar willingly gave because what he was doing just felt so damn good.

  Vaguely she was aware he walked them back to the bed.

  With an abrupt move that had her gasping, he tumbled her to the bed, then grabbed her shirt and yanked it, none too gently, over her head. Her own driving need pumping through her, Skylar whipped off her sports bra before he could get to it.

  That intent gaze zeroed in on her half-naked body, and heat flushed through her, turning her skin pink under his greedy stare.

  “This is crazy,” Ladon muttered. “Why do I want you so much?”

  He was going to pause now to debate their loss of sanity? Skylar rolled her eyes. “Get moving, or I’ll keep going on my own.”

  She inched her fingers down her stomach and under the band of her pants.

  A low growl ripped from him, an obvious protest, and Ladon dropped forward, hands fisted on either side of her head, to pull a straining nipple into his mouth, every suck zinging pleasure straight to the juncture of her thighs.

  “Harder,” she commanded, pressing her body up into him.

  He released her with a pop to give her an evil grin. “Demanding little thing, aren’t you?”

  “We’ll talk about size-ism and sexism another time. For now…” Skylar bucked, trying to rub herself against him, but he leaned over her, just out of reach.

  Instead of grinding into her like she hoped he might do, Ladon snagged her wrists, pulling them above her head where he held them with one hand as he lay down on top of her, pinning her with the weight of his body. She should be fighting back, or frightened by the submissive position in which he held her. Only, being caged by this man evolved into a crazy turn-on. Wet heat soaked her panties as she trembled beneath him.

  Ladon buried his face in her neck and inhaled. “Gods, you smell amazing.”

  “It’s just shampoo,” she panted as he sucked on the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

  “It’s you,” he said. “Cloves and smoke.” He drew back and traced his fingers over her neck. “What happened here?”

  She knew exactly what he was asking about, the thin white scar had been with her forever. “The umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck in the womb.”

  Even then, the fates, if they did exist, were trying to take her out of the picture.

  “A fighter,” Ladon murmured, a light in his eyes that went beyond need. If she had her full wits about her, she might’ve said pride. In her.

  But he distracted her, trailing his lips over the scar back to her shoulder. Was he going to bite her in that spot like she had him?

  Not all shifters were rough when it came to sex, but many could be, incorporating biting and scratching into their play. Skylar never had. Until today. She found herself holding her breath in anticipation.

  Did she want him to?

  He kissed his way to the upper swell of her breast, and conflicting needs buffeted her—disappointment that he hadn’t bitten her, and a new anticipation that he’d tease her nipples again.

  “Fuck.” He abruptly returned to that spot at her neck, where he sank his teeth in. Like her, not hard enough to break skin, but enough to have her clit throbbing in response.

  Skylar let out a long moan.

  “You like that.” Satisfaction permeated the words.

  “Shut up,” she said.

  Ladon stilled and pulled his head up, putting a halt to the touching, though he still gripped both her wrists. “If this is going to work, we need total honesty.”

  He said the words quite seriously, but a challenging light in those flaming blue eyes managed to ratchet up her breathing another notch. She knew what he wanted—her to admit she’d liked his bite—but Skylar wasn’t into voicing emotions. “Your point?”

  His stare turned hard and cunning.

  And damn hot.

  “Are you just going to lie there glaring, or are you going to fuck me?”

  Surprise lit his eyes. On a huffed laugh, he levered off her. “Definitely fuck you.” Swiftly, he divested himself of his clothes.

  Ha. She’d won that round. Meanwhile, her clamoring body was loving every inch of lean, hard flesh and rippling muscles he exposed. Battle tested, warrior trained, she’d explore the scars and ridges and planes of him later. Right now, she needed him inside her.

  Keeping her gaze trained on Ladon, she shimmied out of the rest of her own gear. She kicked off the last leg of her black body-clinging pants only to have him snag her by the ankle.

  He grasped the other ankle as well and spread her legs wide, pulling her ass to the end of the bed.

  Every nerve in her body pulsed in anticipation as he lined his cock up with her entrance. He pushed the tip in, then paused and speared her with a blazing look. “Did you like me biting you or not?”

  Fuck. She hadn’t won that round after all. Skylar scowled and bucked her hips, trying to force the matter, but he grasped her by the waist and shook his head. “Did you?”

  He wasn’t letting
this go, and she needed him inside her. Hell, she was crawling out of her skin with the tension, the need to have him fill her.

  Now. Shit. “Yes, dammit.”

  Using his grip on her as leverage, Ladon slammed into her body, seating himself balls deep inside her. “Good. Because I fucking loved you biting me.”

  Her entire body flushed with a new kind of pleasure that joined the rest of the pounding as Ladon set up a driving rhythm, pumping into her hard—the slap of his body against hers joining his grunts and her own moans.

  With her ass off the bed where he held her through sheer animal strength, Skylar had no leverage. She flattened her hands on either side of her, gripping the sheets as she tried to meet him, thrust for thrust. Sensation piled on more sensation, building inside her body until everything thrummed, pressure building.

  “Fuck, you feel so damn good,” Ladon groaned.

  For a guy who kept to a minimum of words in general, he sure liked to talk in the bedroom. Which only managed to add to her own pleasure in the strangest, hottest way.

  “Skylar?” He grunted between thrusts.

  She knew what he was asking. Was she ready to trigger the flames that would bind them in mating?

  Skylar didn’t allow herself to think beyond the pleasure and a confidence in the logic of her decision—a confidence that she had no idea, until this moment, she truly possessed, or what it even meant, but she wouldn’t question it.

  At the flick of her will, her body lit on fire, glowing from the inside as red flames, which were now tipped in startling blue sparked all over her, flaming cinders rising around them in a dance of light. Another heat joined her own, and she realized Ladon was blowing fire over her skin. His blue flames joined hers and curled through them, turning the inferno around them violet.

  Immediately, Skylar’s skin started to glow, as if lit from within by his flames. Delicate lines of illuminated fire appeared across her neck and down her arms, over her chest, and probably her back. Lines that connected to form feathers. Then the fire rose from her skin, surrounding her, forming intricate shapes, like flaming wings, joined to the lines across her skin.