by Nora Ash
Roaring, he raised up off her while pinning her pelvis to the mattress with his own, and hammered his cock against her cramping pussy while she broke over the edge and screamed out her orgasm.
The flood of moisture her pussy released over his cock was the final trigger he needed. The sharp pleasure intensified to an all-consuming torrent and black dots danced across his eyes until finally, his balls emptied themselves and he was released from the raging inferno.
Kain collapsed, barely remembering to catch himself so he didn't crush the girl underneath him. His breathing was ragged and his heart pounded far harder than the physical exhaustion should have caused, but he was too pleasantly numb to give it much thought. His entire body sang with relief and endorphin-induced pleasure, and it was all because of her.
She turned her head from the tangle of his bed sheets to gasp more oxygen into her lungs, and he raised up on his elbows a little so he could nuzzle her wild hair and stroke his cheek against hers.“You okay?”
She nodded silently, not bothering to open her eyes, but from the soft smile he saw curve her full lips he knew she was in a similar state to himself; gone on hormones and exhaustion too bone deep to be purely physical.
Pulling his softening member from between her thighs, he let his hand find the semen he'd soaked the bed sheets and her stomach with, gathered a good amount on his fingers and rubbed them against her nether lips and clit before dipping two into her still-fluttering channel. He may not have fucked her properly, but that bedpost would leave her aching in the morning if he didn't take care of her.
She hardly did more than sigh when he smeared his seed deep into her well-used pussy, nor did she protest when he climbed back up and rested halfway on top her, possessively shielding her from the coolness of the room with his own flesh.
He was well aware that his instincts had cast him in the role as her mate and protector, fully ignoring her already bonded mate and the fact that he would never, ever, take a woman as his own.
As he settled against her soft body he couldn't bring himself to care.
* * *
When Selma woke up it was to the feeling of being pleasantly toasty and thoroughly buried in a very comfortable bed. Her brain was still in a daze from the first proper sleep she’d had in weeks, only really allowing her to sense that she was warm and safe somewhere.
She shifted with a pleased sigh. The sensation of being buried in the bed came from a heavy weight resting halfway on top of her firmly enough that she couldn't move, yet lightly enough to not crush her.
Startled, she forced her eyelids open.
Bulky muscle covered in olive skin caged her in from all sides. When she yelped in surprise, it constricted slightly around her already pinned torso, gathering her closer to a massive, male chest.
At the same time as his oddly familiar musk registered in her mind, the memories from the night before flooded back. Memories of the female demons who had tortured and humiliated her, of the gut wrenching anguish from the sight of the maimed body, and … of him. Lord Protector Kain, the demon who had saved her. He had taken her to his home and … Truth be told, she wasn't entirely sure what he had done, because while he had sated her desperate need and taken his own pleasure from her, his approach had been far different than Dr. Hershey's. In fact, he had seemed pretty unwilling to bed her until his hormones had taken over completely, and he had claimed he would hurt her if he penetrated her … Clearly, he didn't know that she was one of their 'Pure Breeders', which had to mean that Dr. Hershey hadn't reported her escape.
Selma breathed deeply in an attempt at letting his soothing scent placate her waking brain. She was nowhere near as terrified as she should have been, waking up naked in the clutches of an enemy, most likely because his heady scent had been playing tricks with her hormones while she slept. She bit her lip, trying to shake her thoughts of the drugged feeling of safety and complacency. He might seem kind and caring, but he was still one of them, and she would never again forget what they truly were; monsters only capable of kindness as an act of deceit.
She would have to bide her time and attempt to play him like she had the doctor.
As if her whirling thoughts had pulled him from his sleep he groaned softly into her hair a few moments later, and then an oversized hand slid up her bare stomach to round over a breast.
Selma flinched, despite the lazy simmer of lust low in her belly in response to his touch, and bumped into something hard with her thigh. His inhumanly large cock.
Oh God. She may have already been up close and personal with the large male currently clutching her against his torso and fondling her in his sleep, but she'd been lost in the mark's spell. Feeling him shift against her, touching her so intimately, reminded her that he was truly a stranger … and that she was at his mercy.
The groan turned to a rumble that vibrated through his chest. She felt his lips kiss the top of her head as if he sensed her panic even in his sleep and tried to soothe her, but after a few seconds it cut off abruptly.
She blinked at the sudden silence, and then his hands withdrew from her body before he shifted on the bed, separating their physical contact. He was awake.
“Are you okay?”
His voice was gruff, and not entirely from sleep. Selma dared a look up, taking in his features for the first time. She had been too wound up to look at him properly the night before, so until now her main impression had simply been 'huge and male'. As she let her eyes dart over him, she noticed that his features were all angles and sharp masculinity, too strong to be called beautiful, though they were softened by his full lips. She could still sense the otherness vibrating from him like she had in the bar, the power contained by the illusion she saw almost too much to submit to his human mask.
He was an attractive man, but so very different from Marathín's masculine beauty. Rough and big, with stubble on his chin, hair in deep mahogany and eyes so dark they looked pitch black even in the dim morning light filtering into the bedroom. Three deep scratches marred his right cheek.
“I am.” It came out as little more than a whisper. “Thank you for … saving me.”
Heat rushed to her cheeks as he briefly let his eyes slide over her naked body. Now that she was no longer wrapped up in his warm embrace she felt cold and exposed laying uncovered next to this stranger, and she couldn't stop her arms from moving up to hide her breasts and sex.
Kain heaved a deep sigh before he rolled over with his back to her and sat up. “Go take a shower, little one. The bathroom is past the door by the mirror. When you are done, we will talk.”
'Talk'. Selma watched him rise and walk out the door opposite the end of the bed—the end, where one of the intricately carved bedposts had been broken off—and frowned. No doubt he would either force her to go back to Dr. Hershey, and the auction he had threatened her with, or … try to claim her for himself just like the doctor had.
She would just have to be ready for whatever he chose.
Rolling out of the wide bed she bit back the onset of hopelessness and blinked back the tears forming behind her lashes. If she gave into the feeling of despair that had been haunting her while she fled from town to town she would be lost. She needed her wits and strength with her if she was to have a chance, or she might as well give up and accept a future as a broodmare for these monsters.
The bedroom was framed by a black carpet and white walls, one wall completely covered by floor-to-ceiling windows sporting an unsurpassed view of the city. The large bed and a dresser in matching wood were the only pieces of furniture in the room, but when she craned her neck she could see that the third door, opposite the one by the mirror Kain had pointed out as the bathroom door, opened up into a luxuriously large closet.
He was clearly wealthy, despite his sparse—and rather male—sense of interior design, but then again, she supposed a Demon Lord was bound to be.
Selma walked naked to the bathroom, enjoying the sensation of the soft carpet underneath her feet. She hadn't exac
tly been able to afford much comfort while on the run, many nights opting to sleep in her car instead of spending the savings she had withdrawn the night she escaped on a motel room. The luxurious shower was a welcome gift, despite the circumstances that had brought her here.
She used his expensive shampoo and fancy soap to wash away the dirt and semen that still covered her after the attack and Kain's tending to her. The hot water soothed her tired muscles and heavy heart, and afterwards she wrapped herself in clean, soft towels.
The shower didn't manage to clear away the sense of dread and anxiety over being captured by an enemy, but it did allow her a slightly clearer head and calmer outlook, and for that she was grateful.
She would make it through this, somehow, even if she didn't quite know how yet.
Still wrapped in the black, fluffy towel, she pattered back into the bedroom and found a man's shirt spread out for her on the bed. It didn't exactly offer the state of modesty she could have hoped for, but it was long enough to cover well past her mid-thighs. It was clean and crisp and smelled like detergent and faintly of him.
Flushing with embarrassment she stopped sniffing the collar, scolding her excited ovaries for the sudden dampness between her thighs. Annoyed and ashamed, she bit the inside of her cheek hard until her mind stopped looping over the things he'd done to her the night before. Clearly, whatever hormone it was she reacted so strongly to, this one had an even stronger dose of it than Dr. Hershey had.
She had been warned; Demon Lords were stronger and more powerful than regular demons, and apparently, that included their biological 'mating call'.
Luckily for her, Kain seemed convinced that she couldn't handle being mounted by him, and she sure wasn't about to change his mind. She was, however, going to find out what he had planned to do with her so she could start working on her escape.
Selma walked to the bedroom door and peered out into the dim hallway. Not too many steps to her right was the locked and bolted front door to the apartment. She had a short moment of considering just running for it, but she had no idea where she was in relation to her abandoned car, and her purse with her car keys and most of her money she’d dropped at the warehouse. No, even if she could get past all the locks the only option was to find the demon and see what game he intended to play.
She found him in the kitchen, hunched on a bar stool in front of a marble-countered kitchen island hosting an obscenely large display of food. He was slouched with his chin resting on his knuckles and a facial expression that could only be described as brooding.
Selma hesitated at the door to the large room, not entirely sure how to proceed. Despite the safety and comfort of waking up in his embrace, his looming form made her draw in a shaky breath. Now that she was conscious and aware of what he was, she felt more than a little nervous in his presence..
“Come. Eat. You need food—a Breeder should never be so malnourished.”
She blinked at the command and pressed a hand against her stomach. Sure, she had lost some weight while on the road, and hadn't made the healthiest food choices when she did scarf something down, but in no way would she be considered malnourished—by human standards. Apparently, demons preferred their sex toys somewhat plump.
Biting back an annoyed retort for his presumption that her weight was any of his business, she slid closer in silence. She was pretty hungry, and the spread on the counter made her mouth water; just at a glance she noticed smoked salmon, bagels, strawberries, eggs and cheeses.
“Did you prepare this for me?” she asked, when she scooted onto the too-tall bar stool next to him. It seemed like the polite thing to do—and she wanted to stay on his good side for as long as possible.
“Room service,” he grunted.
It seemed this Lord wasn't a morning-demon.
Selma decided to leave him alone until he wanted to begin that talk he'd mentioned earlier, and dug in. After the first bite she began to wonder where exactly they were; she only remembered a very posh but also abandoned apartment block when they arrived, not a first class hotel, yet the quality of the food was sinful.
“Who is your mate?”
Selma coughed. He’d chosen the exact time she’d taken an enormous bite of bagel layered with cream cheese and salmon to finally break the silence. She shot him a sideways look and realized he was staring down at her from his higher vantage point, taking in every movement of her face and body as if she was an opponent whose next move he was trying to decipher.
“I don't have one,” she said, after finally swallowing.
“You have been marked.” His eyes narrowed slightly, probably trying to detect any hint of deceit.
“I ran away before they took me to an auction.” It was hard to keep the accusing tone out of her voice. The thought of being sold like a common household product made her insides boil with an equal mix of anger and fear.
Kain's eyebrows crept up a millimeter in the first change in expression he'd shown since waking up. “You ran away from a procurer? How?”
Selma bit her lip and looked down at her hands next to the well-stocked plate. They shook a little, as they always did when she remembered Marathín and what she had done to gain his trust. How he had almost tricked her into giving up her freedom. “There was … an incident. I got away while he was busy trying to cover it up.”
A surprisingly gentle touch to her chin made her look up, her gaze easily captured by his dark eyes.
“Did he hurt you in any way?”
She swallowed thickly, forcing the memory of the two dead people down. “Not me, no. But someone else.”
“Who is he?” He didn't release her chin, and though the contact was as light as a feather, it kept her frozen as surely as if he'd grabbed her.
“Please don't take me back to him.” She swallowed again, trying to read the expression in the bottomless eyes staring down at her. She hadn't meant to plead with him. She’d had every intention of finding out what his intentions were before trying to sway him one way or the other. The fear of being brought back to Dr. Hershey after the way she had tricked him made cold sweat trickle down the back of her neck. If he got his hands on her she had no doubt she would live to regret running away.
Kain’s gaze narrowed slightly before he finally moved his hand from her chin. “He mated you.” It was a softly toned statement, not a question.
Idiotically, she felt a blush creep up her neck to set her cheeks aflame. Nodding, because there was no point in denying, she looked back down at her food.
“Is that why you fled?”
Selma scoffed. “Well, it was more the whole wanting to keep or sell me as a prize mare for breeding. I suspect you have similar plans, so it may come as a shock to you that I don't want any part of this!”
Her snide tone was met with silence.
Fuck. She had managed to keep her temper in check with Dr. Hershey, gauging what reaction he wanted from her. This time … perhaps it was the stress of it all, the fear of being back in their clutches after a month of running ….
She braved a look at him and saw that he was still staring at her, the black gaze as distant as before, though a small frown around his full lips made the small hairs at the back of her neck stand on end. Something about him really set her on edge; perhaps the hovering threat of his power looming just underneath the human facade, or the way he seemed to be hyper aware of every little movement she made, those dark eyes following her fidgeting like a hawk.
“You have seen the alternative.” His voice was surprisingly soft, despite his unsettling gaze. “The world is not safe for you, little one. If you accept a mate you will be protected from those who wish to do you harm. Cherished.”
“You mean trapped,” she muttered, finally finding the strength to break eye-contact. “I will essentially be some monster's sex slave, to do with as he pleases, and if I object … well, we both know what happens when someone touches my brand. Don't pretend like this is all for my own good.”
“So you would rather spen
d your life on the run, risking death and rape every single day, than build a family with a man who would worship the ground you walk on? Have sons who would love you?” His tone was still soft, but an unmistakable note of bitterness had seeped into it.
“At least it would be my choice.” Selma prodded irritably at the food with her fork. She didn't understand his motivations as she had Marathín's, so the only option she saw was to just be straightforward with him and hope he could sense her honesty. Maybe then he would be less vigilant when the right moment to escape revealed itself. “Your kind says that you treat Breeders oh so well, but what you truly want is a slave. What if I had had a human husband? Human children? Would that have mattered when you ripped me away from my life to serve for whoever has enough money to buy me? I know it certainly wouldn't have mattered to the one who marked me.”
Once again she was met by silence. A long silence.
She had begun to fear her honesty had snapped his temper when he finally spoke.
“There might be a third option.” Though his voice was low, the softness had left it.
Her eyes hesitantly shifted back up to his. He had stopped staring at her, and was now frowning at the enormous amounts of food on the kitchen counter.
“Like what? Are you offering to take me in?” she prodded after another long pause, cautious to keep her tone neutral. If he thought he was too big to be intimate with her it was a bit of an odd suggestion, but perhaps her scent had affected him enough that he wasn't bothered about that. Dr. Hershey had apparently been lost enough in it to go against his kin in order to possess her.
Kain’s face contorted ever so slightly, which was just enough to make the already severe man look like a brewing thunderstorm. “Absolutely not!”
* * *
The Breeder jumped at his sharp retort, eyes widening in instinctive fear.
