The Darkest King

by Gena Showalter

Think, think. Could she think? The deeper he worked those fingers, the faster he scissored them, his knuckles caressing her inner walls, hitting all the right spots. Pleasure became agony, agony became pleasure.

  Lick his tattoos. Tongue his nipples. Suck his testicles.

  Yes, yes. But once again, he thrust the two digits in deep, deeper, and she lost her mind, crying out. Come first, then think and lick, and flick and suck.

  “A third finger,” she pleaded. “Give it to me.”

  “Not ready.” He pushed the words through gritted teeth. “You’re too tight, sundae.”

  “Complaining?”

  “Tormented. Want to give you something bigger.”

  Like the wily unicorn she was, she wound her legs around his waist and locked her ankles—trapping his fingers inside her and his erection against her inner thigh. He was so hot she felt forever branded.

  He heaved a breath. Sweat trickled from his brow, and tension branched from his eyes. He was seduction incarnate, a warrior without equal. And mine. But she wasn’t as wily as she’d thought. By trapping his fingers, she’d ensured they couldn’t move. Need friction!

  She dropped her legs.

  He released her wrists and cupped her nape. Crazed, she combed her fingers through his hair, embedded her nails in his scalp and drew his mouth back to hers.

  Their mouths crashed together, their tongues rolling and thrusting. Finally! He wedged in a third finger, and oh, the stretch. The burn. He thrust them, and withdrew. Thrust, withdrew, changing his pace with every stroke, ensuring she could never anticipate his next move.

  She could only writhe and beg and score his back. Still pressure built. So close, so close. She needed—

  That.

  He rubbed his thumb against her throbbing clit and sent her hurling over the edge, screaming his name.

  32

  “I’m good at three things. Sex, killing and sex. Yeah, I’m so good at sex I had to mention it twice.”

  William was lost in the throes. Watching Sunny come, her face radiant with pleasure...feeling her inner walls clench around his fingers... She’d come alive, all the colors of the rainbow glowing in her eyes, her hair switching from white to blue to pink to black again and again.

  Was there a more glorious sight? I am undone.

  He’d been with inhibited and uninhibited lovers, greedy ones, selfish, giving, those with and without fetishes, those cold or hot, sadists and masochists, those seeking to win him or hurt him. But he’d never been with a woman who made him desperate to possess her body and soul.

  Before her inner walls ceased clenching on his fingers and she sagged into the mattress utterly sated, he removed his wet fingers.

  As she unleashed a stream of unicorn curses, he spread her wetness over her lips, around her nipples. Her breasts fit his hands, as if they’d been made for him alone. All of her fit him.

  Two puzzle pieces, locked together.

  When he placed the tip of his erection at her entrance, her curses turned into pleas.

  For a moment, he felt as though he was forgetting something. As soon as the thought formed, however, it vanished, pleasure his only concern.

  “Do it!” she cried. “Please.”

  “Am I...hurting you?” he gritted out.

  “No, no, don’t stop.” she commanded.

  Heaving every breath now, he slid in an inch...two, but she was tight, so damn tight. More sweat beaded on his brow. His muscles bulged with tension. Not slamming inside her required every ounce of his strength.

  After licking her lips, he pushed in another inch. Wet heat seared him. His bulging muscles began to tremble, extreme effort required to maintain a slow and steady pace. Will not fucking hurt her.

  She moaned his name. In one swift move, she sank her nails into his ass and lifted her hips, forcing him to thrust to the hilt. Finally, he was fully seated inside her.

  He’d thought, hoped, the pressure would ease.

  The pressure grew worse.

  “That brought a little more pain than I expected,” she offered, breathless.

  Guilt surged. Reached a point of no return. He was losing the ability to think or see past the pleasure. He wanted more, and he would have it. “Tell me when...you are ready...for me to move,” he said, between breaths.

  She licked her lips and nodded, then gave her hips an experimental rock. He bit his tongue to stop a roar, a sexual haze falling over his line of sight.

  Another rock, this one stronger. Then another and another. Her eyelids turned heavy, her lips parting on a gasp. At the same time, he reached between their bodies to thrum her little bundle of nerves until she continually rocked up, mimicking the shallowest of strokes.

  I won’t last.

  I will, damn it. Her pleasure came first, now and always, but staggering arousal had ignited his most ingrained aggression, and it was taking a toll. The need to hammer into her, to brand and to claim besieged him. Control! He would be the best lover she’d ever had—better than Sunny herself—even if it killed him.

  William withdrew to the tip, still teasing her swollen clit.

  When a flush darkened her cheeks, she cried, “I’m ready, I’m ready!”

  Yes! With a roar, he surged back in, shaking the bed. Little moans escaped her as she curled her body around his, so he did it again. And again. Again. He hammered into her.

  “Harder!” she commanded. “Faster!”

  No. No? Slower. He wanted to savor this. But when he hooked an arm beneath her knee, forcing her legs to open wider, his control frayed. With his other hand, he gripped the headboard, his bicep flexing.

  Once again, he slammed to the hilt, the pleasure nigh blinding him.

  He bent his head, taking her lips in a wild, wicked kiss. My angel...my seductress...my everything? They sucked on each other’s tongues, nipped at each other’s lips. Their teeth clinked, not usually something he enjoyed. With her, with the ferocity of their lovemaking, he saw it as a sign of their passion, and only wanted more. She tasted of heaven, her lush body his portal there.

  He wanted to be her portal to heaven. Wanted her to crave this, and William, every day for the rest of her life.

  “Don’t stop, don’t stop, never stop,” she panted.

  Last, damn it! “So good, love. So good. You please me...in every way.” He plunged in, pulled out, the friction scrambling his thoughts. Mindless, he unleashed. Pounding. Pounding.

  She arched beneath him, sending him deeper, deeper still. A scream left her, her inner walls clenching on his length, bathing it in hot feminine honey.

  Can’t withstand the pressure. Too much. With a final thrust, William threw back his head and roared, coming in a rush, emptying himself inside his woman.

  The little unicorn wrung a savage climax from him. The most savage of his life.

  When the spasms abated, he collapsed atop her, but rolled to the side, keeping her within his arms. As she curled into him, he kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose and the pulse that raced at the base of her neck.

  Contentment overwhelmed him, an odd and wondrous sensation. A smile teased the corners of his mouth, and he said, “Now you’re only the second-best lover you’ve ever had.”

  * * *

  “Arrogant bluebell,” Sunny muttered, smiling inside.

  William barked out a laugh, a genuine laugh, and she realized the ones she’d heard in the hotel bar had been fake. All she could do? Snuggle into his side and peer at him with awe. So beautiful. Amusement softened his features and turned his baby blues into stars.

  He petted her hair, saying, “Can you deny it, sundae?”

  While inside her, he’d called her “love,” an endearment she missed and yearned to hear again. Did he love her?

  A staggering need arose. I want him to love me. I want to make him a member of my pack.

 
Tracing a fingertip around his nipple, she answered his question at last. “No. I can’t.”

  He smiled at her, eyes sparkling, a reward for her honesty. “I’ve never lain with a lover and discussed my life, have never wanted to...until now. I’m desperate to learn more about you.”

  Desperate. Yes. “I want to learn about you, too.”

  “Tit for tat?”

  “Agreed.”

  “Ladies first. Start with how much I pleasured you.”

  Oh oh oh, what was this? Did someone need reassurance? How adorable! “Pleasured...put in a coma of bliss...”

  His chest puffed with well-deserved pride. “The same is true of me. Never knew such pleasure existed.”

  All right. She’d needed reassurance, too. His words went straight to her head.

  A thought occurred to her. “Where’s Dawn?”

  “Baden and Katarina are introducing her and the rest of the hellhounds to the wilds of Hell, their natural habitat.” His cell phone buzzed. He checked the screen and frowned. “I have multiple messages from each of the kings. They’re making offers for the medallion.”

  “Like what?”

  “A palace. Other artifacts. Slaves. Souls.”

  Guilt scorched her. She had yet to tell William what the medallion was, exactly, and what else it could do. To tell now or not to tell?

  Tell. Definitely. No pondering necessary. They were an official couple now, and he deserved to know. Did it have the potential to blow up in her face? Yes. He could use it to increase his strength, his magic. To subdue her. But. She did trust him. More than she’d trusted anyone in eons. But...

  She would be confirming one of his biggest fears. He would learn how easily she could kill him. It would ruin this precious moment. And what if she lost him because of it? Her stomach churned.

  Tomorrow, she decided. She’d tell him tomorrow, and also discuss the terrible things she’d written under the curse’s influence. Today, nothing would interrupt their escape from reality.

  “I think you should tell them no,” she said.

  “Planned on it.” He kissed her forehead, only to tense. “Shit! We never talked about birth control. We are so close to mating season, and I just came inside you.”

  We, not you. Proof they were a couple. To her surprise, he didn’t seem upset so much as surprised. “I’ve never forgotten before.”

  Oh, wow. Contraception hadn’t been a blip in her mind. But then, that was one of the mystical ramifications of mating season. “Magic makes unicorns and their lovers forget contraception, which is why I’ve always preferred to chain myself somewhere secret. But you don’t need to worry about going without one today. I can’t get pregnant outside of mating season, and even then it isn’t guaranteed.” Not ready for a baby—yet—she added, “Let’s hang reminders throughout the house and all over our bed.” Wear a rubber. Just in case.

  Dragging a hand down the ridges of her spine, he said, “I’ll have the signs up as soon as I can walk. Guaranteed, we’ll be doing this again very soon. When it comes to Sunny Lane, I am insatiable.”

  Goose bumps spread from her nape to her toes. “I’ll give you an hour, no, half an hour, no, fifteen minutes, no, five minutes to rebuild your strength, then I’m having you again, signs or no signs.”

  He gifted her with a tender smile, gently hooking a lock of hair behind her ear. “What do you wish to do with your life, sundae? Break codes?”

  Good question. “For so long, my only goals were survival and killing Lucifer. Plus, people who have life plans are super annoying because they’ve managed to do something I haven’t. I’d like to have everything figured out, too, you know? Although, now that I think about it, maybe I’ll join the mercenary game and slaughter demons for a paycheck. Oh! Maybe I’ll put together a ragtag team of bad as—butt superheroes, and we’ll clean up the mean streets of Hell.”

  “Uh-oh. My Sunny said a naughty word.”

  She humphed. “I can say the names of worlds and realms, as if, but only when I’m referencing said worlds and realms.”

  “Good to know.” He winked at her. “If you go with option B, you’ll need a superhero name. No need to rack your brain for one, though. You’ll be My Little Horny.”

  Ha! “Then you’ll have to go by the Lone Rider.” As he chuckled, she moved her hands all over him, learning him. “While we were otherwise occupied, I realized I don’t know your secret fantasies. Or your life plan.”

  “Fantasies—sleeping with a unicorn-shifter curled against me, and awaking to find she’s still there. Life plan—becoming a king of the underworld. I will be a king. I have only to find Lucifer’s former crown.”

  First, her heart swelled with more lo—like. Then her mind wallowed in confusion. “Why must you find his crown? Why aren’t you a king already?”

  A long stream of air seeped from him. “Long ago, I moved out of Hell. I didn’t like the male I was becoming here—too dark, no hint of light—and thought I could be a better man topside. I was wrong. I still warred, still killed, still abandoned the women I slept with.”

  “What made you return?”

  “The war with Lucifer. I want him dead, and I will do anything to get it done. Also, the longer I’ve been here, the more I’ve realized I choose whether I’m light or dark, not my location. I’m no longer a young male in his early hundreds. I’m older, stronger and wiser. As for the crown,” he said. “Long ago, eleven crowns were forged in the heavens, each representing a different power. Lucifer stole ten of them.”

  “Of course he did.”

  “The eleventh crown is rumored to enslave the other kings, but no one has found it yet.”

  “Maybe I can help.” No, no maybe about it. She could, and she would. Sunny longed to show William grateful she was to have him in her life, and to know pleasure and satisfaction for the first time.

  Maybe she could present the crown to him—while in her unicorn form.

  She scoured her mind for any reason to continue denying him. He would have eternal access to her horn, able to call it forth and remove it while she slept. He hadn’t actually copped to being in love with her, and he might not be there yet.

  But...none of that mattered to her. She wanted to show him. And she would. After she’d dropped the bomb about the medallion.

  With a sigh, she reached up and back to flatten her hand on the headboard and push, changing positions, but a splinter pricked the pad of her finger. “Ow!” She yanked her hand to her chest.

  William swooped in fast, latching on to her wrist to look over her hand. After gently, tenderly plucking the splinter free, he punched the headboard and growled, “That will teach you to harm my woman.”

  She chuckled. Silly, adorable male.

  “Better?” he asked.

  A wealth of incoming footsteps made her ears twitch. William must have heard them, too. He stiffened.

  “Expecting visitors?” she asked.

  “No.”

  Suddenly, the door burst open, a contingent of Sent Ones storming into the bedroom. Eleven in total. Three where Elite, and the rest were Warriors. They carried swords of fire.

  Since the Sent Ones were her neighbors, she’d taken pains to learn their names. A furious Bjorn led the charge, shouting, “William! Today you pay for your crimes.”

  Holding the sheet to her chest, Sunny jolted to an upright position. How dare they interrupt her afterglow? William jolted upright, too, his eyes stark with fury.

  “There’s a gun in my nightstand,” he informed her. “If anyone looks at you, give them a Sunny Lane special.”

  A bullet to the face?

  He surged to his feet. Gloriously naked, he bent to grab two of his discarded daggers. His beautiful lightning flashed, his smoke wings forming. Only, the smoke must have lost its potency. Or maybe he produced more than one kind, depending on the situation? Maybe
she’d grown immune to it? Whatever the reason, she remained unaffected. But so did the Sent Ones.

  “You have three seconds to exit my bedroom,” William snarled. “Or you will suffer.”

  33

  “Welcome to Big Willy’s little house of horrors.”

  If William didn’t get his way, he would commit murder. So he was naked. So what. He’d give the Sent Ones a thrill before he removed their heads. And he would remove their heads if they stayed. They hadn’t just invaded his home, his sanctuary. They’d dared bring violence to Sunny’s door, perhaps undoing her sense of safety. But the worst of their crimes? They’d ruined snuggle-fucking-time.

  For that, they would die screaming. “Three. Two.”

  The Sent Ones remained in place.

  “Very well. You suffer.”

  “Don’t taint your growing bond with Axel by killing his friends,” Sunny called. “Just spank them a little.”

  She didn’t sound frightened; she sounded excited.

  Very well. For her, and for Axel, he would only injure the bastards, then dump their unconscious bodies at camp.

  “Which crimes are you referencing?” he asked Bjorn.

  “As if you do not know.”

  The Sent One Warriors surrounded William, their wings blocking him from the Elite.

  “Stay back. William is mine.” Bjorn unleashed a war cry.

  Instead of retreating, the Warriors attacked.

  They dared disobey the orders of their leader. For that, William would spank them extra hard. He kept his arms in a constant state of motion, slashing, slashing. Each blade slicked into one of the challengers’ eyes. But the male healed quickly and continued getting up. The male shouted, agonized, but still he fought, blindly swinging his fiery sword with shocking accuracy, as if he’d trained for this. Perhaps he had.

  “Tell me what you think I did,” William demanded of Bjorn.

  “Do not pretend ignorance,” the Elite bellowed.

  William caught a glimpse of him. The male had decided to hang back while the Warriors received their punishment. How obliging.