Abducted (Hades and Persephone #1)

by Bella Klaus

  I tore my gaze away from his and headed toward the door, where a butler stood with two servants in white. The light mage remained at my side, staring at my profile as though he hadn’t met me at the door and helped Dami and me to gatecrash.

  As we reached the door, he placed a hand on my bare arm, sending that tingle through my chest. Our eyes met, and his features melted into a broad smile.

  “Look, if you’re not going to help me find Dami, that’s fine,” I said. “I don’t have time to explain this strange magic.”

  He raised a palm with an authority that made my mouth click shut.

  “Caiman.” He turned to the tall butler at the door. “There was a young woman about yay high.” He lowered his palm to Dami’s height. “She was dressed as a cat girl with tiger print fur and was last seen with a demon dressed as…”

  I rattled off the most accurate description I could muster.

  The butler inclined his head. “I can’t speak for the demon, but you’ll find the young lady in the upstairs cattery.”

  “Thank you.” The light mage inclined his head and escorted me down the hallway in the direction opposite the double doors.

  I stared up at the mage, my brow furrowing. “How do you know everyone here?”

  “Unfortunately, I owe King Valentine a debt that he’s making me work off with hard labor.”

  Curiosity stirred through my insides, as did the tendrils of excitement from being in his presence. He must have left the Fire Queen in the middle of the dance floor because he had reached me before the music had stopped. I shook off the distracting feelings and focussed on Dami.

  “How will you reward me when I find your friend?” he asked.

  “Thank you?”

  He placed a hand on the small of my back, sending sparks of pleasure across my skin. “A grateful young lady might offer a gentleman a kiss.”

  I ran my fingers over the heated skin of my cheeks, suppressing a moan. “This isn’t the time for flirting.”

  “Of course,” he said in a voice as smooth as petals. “But you will reward me with a kiss?”

  “Whatever,” I replied, my heart pounding hard enough to rattle my bones. “Just help me find her.”

  We continued in silence through the rest of the hallway, where the air thickened, blocking our passage.

  “Don’t be alarmed.” He stared down at me out of the corner of his eye. “It’s just the wards.”

  “Why would there be wards to protect a cattery?”

  “The upstairs one is within the king and queen’s private quarters. Your friend is likely an associate of their tomcat.”

  This situation was getting more and more unbelievable, but I had no reason to believe that the butler would lie about Dami’s whereabouts. She would never leave the ballroom without telling me. Now she was spending time with the royal cat? We ascended a set of steps that led to a white hallway illuminated by crystal chandeliers.

  “I don’t even know your name,” he said.

  “Kora.”

  “Of course it is,” he replied.

  I turned to meet his eyes, which appeared amber in the light of his flaming collar. “What does that mean?”

  “Kora or Kore is maiden in Greek,” he replied. “It describes what you are beautifully.”

  Questions piled on top of each other and stuck to the back of my throat. What was his name, and was he really a light mage? What did he mean when he said I was a maiden? How did he know Mother? What kind of trouble did he get himself in with the Vampire King, and what was his relationship with the Fire Queen?

  Before I could blurt anything out, he opened a door that led to what I could only describe as a cat’s paradise.

  It appeared to be designed for felines—one domestic-sized, and the other the size of a pony. A gigantic four-poster took up its entire left side, obscured by golden drapes, and surrounding it were platforms where a big cat could climb up and pounce on intruders from a height.

  I raised my gaze to the ceiling, looking for signs of a giant tiger or lion or whatever else might be lurking here, but didn’t see so much as a tail.

  The light mage placed a large hand on the small of my back, guiding me toward the bed. I glanced around the cat trees on the right side of the room, making sure to inspect the little platforms, cubby-holes, and baskets along the wall, but they all appeared empty.

  Someone purred through the drapes. My heart somersaulted. This had to be Dami.

  I parted the curtains to find two small figures. Dami had transformed back into her toyger form and lounged on her side with her legs outstretched. A leopard skin cat lay atop her body, lavishing the side of her face with little licks.

  I placed a hand over my mouth. She looked so blissful.

  “Dami?” I whispered.

  The tomcat raised his head and meowed, while Dami cracked open an eye.

  “Are you alright?” I asked.

  Nodding, Dami closed her eyes, and the tomcat made a plaintive yowl. He seemed to ask if I thought he was the type of cat who would hurt Dami.

  I raised my palms. “Sorry, but we came here together, and there was this demon—”

  “Mystery solved,” the light mage said with a deep chuckle. He placed a hand on my shoulder and walked me out of the cattery. “Let’s leave them in their post-coital bliss.”

  I followed him out of the room, letting the door click shut behind me. “You don’t think they were doing it, do you?”

  “Doing it?” he asked with a smirk. Light flickered across his irises from his fiery collar, making him look even more amused.

  “Having sex,” I blurted.

  His brows rose. “Birds do it. Bees—”

  “Alright.” Heat rose to my cheeks. “And apparently, so do cats. Now, will you stop making me sound like a prude and tell me your name?”

  “You’re doing a good job of fitting the description by yourself.” He ran his fingers down my bare arm, sending tingles up and down my spine.

  The air between us sizzled, and my breathing turned shallow. I gazed up at him through my lashes. What on earth was he doing to me with his touch?

  “You feel that?” he asked in a deep voice that curled around my senses.

  Time stilled as we stared into each other’s eyes, drinking each other in. He had looked just as surprised when I’d first touched him in the ballroom. Whatever was happening, we were doing it to each other.

  “What is it?” I said, my voice breathy.

  “A spark of magical attraction that indicates our compatible souls.”

  “Soulmates?” I gulped. This was too good to be true.

  Less than half an hour ago, I had danced with a man who claimed to have seen my favorite movie but turned out to be a demon with snapping fangs. Now, I was staring into the eyes of a man more beautiful than any I’d ever seen.

  This man was beyond handsome, with full, kissable lips and a bone structure that would put any of Michelangelo’s art to shame. His bare chest rose and fell with rapid breaths the way mine did whenever Mother allowed me a rare piece of chocolate. He seemed excited to be in my presence, but I wasn’t sure why.

  Cinderella was a fantasy. Women didn’t just go to palace balls and meet their soulmates. He had to be hiding something terrible beneath the glamor.

  “Take off your light magic,” I whispered.

  In the blink of an eye, he stood before me without the cloak of fire, but everything else about him was the same.

  “Who are you?” I raised a trembling hand and ran my fingers down the curve of his cheekbone.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, exhaling a long breath that I could have sworn sounded like relief. “Tonight you can call me Hades.”

  I snatched my hand away. “The Greek god? I suppose this costume makes me Aphrodite.”

  The light mage tilted his head to the side, seeming to assess my looks. “Hmm… you’re certainly beautiful enough and have the curves befitting the goddess of love, but everything about you screams that you’re a she
ltered little virgin.”

  Angry heat surged through my veins, and my nostrils flared. First he lied to me about his name and now he was doling out insults? “What makes you think I’m inexperienced?”

  “Call it a hunch.” The corner of one lip curled up into a lazy smirk. “Am I wrong?”

  Every finger on my right hand tingled with the urge to slap that cocky smile off his face. I’d watched 365 Days so many times that I memorized the female lead’s every move. I’d brought myself to orgasm over images of Massimo over and over. It was nearly as good as screwing him myself.

  The light mage stared down at me, his eyes dancing with amusement. It was the kind of smug expression that said he’d not only looked into my soul and found me a virgin, but he also found my definition of experience a joke.

  “You don’t know the first thing about me,” I snapped.

  He placed a hand on the small of my back, and steered me toward the stairs. “Why don’t we discuss your vast experience over a drink?”

  My eyes narrowed. He knew I was lying. But how? I lied to Pirithous, and Mother hadn’t caught me in a lie since I was thirteen. Out of self-preservation I’d become the queen of lies.

  “I can’t go anywhere with you. My friend—”

  “Is busy making the beast with two backs. I’m sure she’ll sniff you out after she’s finished with her tomcat.”

  My gaze darted to the door to the cattery. “You think they’re going to do it more than once?”

  His deep chuckle resounded through my core. “You are a delight.”

  Instead of heading down the stairs, he opened the door into the sitting room of a large bedroom suite, illuminated by a crystal chandelier even more elaborate than the one we’d passed in the hallway. In the middle of the room stood a gold-framed sofa that reminded me of the Louis XVI one in the mansion’s formal salon, a space Mother never allowed me to enter. It was adorned with silk-embroidered upholstery that matched the two armchairs at its side, and arranged around a low table.

  A breath caught in my throat. “What is this place?”

  “The guest bedroom.” He stepped through the threshold, ushering me inside with the hand on the small of my back.

  I swallowed hard. “Should we be in here?”

  “King Valentine and his security staff are meticulous with the palace wards. Nobody can pass them without his express permission.”

  My shoulders relaxed a little at his promise of not getting into trouble for trespassing, and I let him guide me toward the sofa. There were no pictures on the walls, only gilded mirrors with curling frames that matched the chairs. About ten feet behind the furniture stood a doorway that led to a four-poster bed with golden drapes.

  I lowered myself into the seat and placed my hands on my lap, so as not to touch anything with my sticky fingers.

  The light mage stood by a drinks cabinet and extracted a round bottle with a golden exterior encrusted with rubies. “Pomegranate liqueur?”

  I shook my head. “No, thanks, I’m allergic to the fruit.”

  He raised a single brow. “You’re telling the truth. How?”

  “My mother told me that I ate some when I was younger and ended up plagued by a scourge of deadly hives.”

  “Of course she did,” he muttered.

  My eyes narrowed. If he knew Mother, then did he recognize me from the mansion? “How do you know her?”

  He strolled toward me, holding the bottle that looked more like a royal orb, and lowered himself into the seat next to mine. “We’ve been acquainted since childhood.”

  A laugh huffed from deep within my belly. “You look too young to have known her for that long.”

  He gave me a dazzling grin that made my heart flip. “You think I’m handsome?”

  “That isn’t what I said!”

  “It’s what you implied.” He drew close, filling my nostrils with his earthy scent, and placed a hand on my thigh. The tips of his fingers skimmed where the fabric split to explore my bare skin, sending jolts of pleasure between my legs. “Now, how about that kiss?”

  My throat dried, and pressed myself into the backrest, trying to stop myself from hyperventilating. This was what I wanted, wasn’t it? The chance to lose my virginity before I died. And this was the man I’d hoped to meet at the ball.

  So, why the hesitation? Because if my body reacted to a kiss the way it did at his mere touch, one taste of those lips wouldn’t be enough.

  “Perhaps you’re not as experienced as you led me to believe.” He drew back and turned his gaze to the golden bottle.

  All the tension building inside me released with an outward breath, but I couldn’t help the twinge of disappointment.

  “You’re giving up?”

  The light mage unscrewed its lid and poured the purple liquid into a shot glass. “I’m not the kind of man who needs to coerce a woman.” He threw back the drink and swallowed it in a gulp. “If it’s pressure you want, we can go downstairs, where I’ll introduce you to some demons.”

  A shudder ran down my spine, and I shook my head.

  “Not keen on the denizens of Hell?”

  “Not particularly,” I rasped.

  This man had the power to unlock something in me that was hot, insatiable, utterly dangerous. At the end of the night, Dami would return me to the greenhouse, where Mother might lock me up for months after discovering I’d escaped. Now that I’d experienced the pleasure of another’s touch, I might go insane if I never got to see him again.

  I bit down on my bottom lip. “Just one kiss, or will you want more?”

  He poured himself another shot, this time taking a smaller sip. “Tonight, I will be the perfect gentleman. I will not venture where you do not permit, nor will I push for more than you can offer.”

  “But I’m not—”

  “Yes, yes.” He waved away my lie. “Virginity or not, the promise still stands.”

  Now that the kiss was back as an option, my heart galloped across my chest like a wild stallion. Sweat broke out across my palms. Pressing them into the fabric of my dress, I licked my lips.

  “Alright.” I tried to keep the tremble out of my voice.

  He turned to me, his brows raised in question. “I believe you were going to kiss me as a reward for finding your friend?”

  “Right.” I inhaled a deep breath, filling my lungs with courage.

  The light mage sat still, lowering his thick lashes to fix his gaze on my lips. Anxiety quickened through my insides like bolts of lightning. I’d always imagined my first kiss taking place while I was swept off my feet by a handsome gentleman. Then once I’d gotten over the shock of being kissed, he would morph into the kind of sexy rogue who haunted my Netflix fantasies. I’d never imagined myself to be the one doing the pursuing.

  His lips were smooth, plump, with the corners lifting into a smile. My ears filled with the boom of my heartbeat. If I didn’t move in for the kiss now, he would know this was my first time.

  I leaned forward and pressed a peck on his lips that sent a riot of sparks across my skin and down to my nipples, which tightened like rosebuds and protruded through the silk fabric of my dress.

  “How was it?” I drew back.

  My light mage tilted his head to the side, seeming to consider my performance. I held my breath, the butterflies in my stomach fluttering. Had the kiss been as good for him as it had been for me?

  After what felt like an eternity, he spoke. “Ten out of ten for a chaste kiss a virgin would give her mother,” he drawled. “It’s hardly fitting for the man who rescued her friend.”

  I frowned. “But Dami wasn’t in any danger.”

  “But you didn’t know that.” He ran his fingers up my arm, sending shivers down my spine.

  “And you call me the liar,” I muttered.

  His deep chuckle resonated across my soul, reminding me of a memory as deep as the ocean. I’d heard this laugh before. Had he visited the mansion before the time I’d seen him at the doorstep?

  “
Tell me your real name,” I said.

  He cupped the side of my face, his touch filling my heart with a warm sense of rapture. “Are you stalling because this is your first—”

  I cut off his words with another peck on the lips. Before I could draw back, he held me in place with a strong arm around my back and brushed his lips against mine in a caress that filled me with heat.

  “I’ve wanted to do this to you for an eternity,” he growled.

  The butterflies in my stomach took flight, their wings fluttering around my heart. My mind drifted back to the moment our eyes had first met—I’d known back then that he was special. “You’ve been thinking about me all this time?”

  “Longer than you could ever imagine,” he said with a groan.

  Before I knew it, he laid me flat on the sofa, his larger body pressing into mine and lavishing me with open-mouthed caresses that made my head spin. The pulse between my legs pounded a rapid beat, making me arch my back and moan.

  “Do you feel the connection between us, too?” His leather kilt parted, and his hardness pressed into my bare thigh.

  “Yes,” I whispered.

  “Tell me what you want.”

  My lips trembled as I said the word, “Everything.”

  The kiss grew hotter, wetter, more intense, and he positioned himself between my thighs so we lay chest to chest, heart to heart, with his hot length pressing into my most sensitive part. He rocked back and forth, lavishing me with a friction that made me melt with molten desire.

  I tilted my hips to match his movements, building up a sweet friction that was more pleasurable than anything I could achieve with my fingers. I needed this, wanted this, yearned for more of his touch.

  “Are you sure about this?” he growled.

  An incredulous laugh rose to the back of my throat. If he knew what my life had been like until this moment, he would never ask.

  “Please,” I whispered. “Make love to me.”

  In the blink of an eye, we were no longer on the sofa. Instead, we lay within the golden canopy of a four-poster bed, with his pulsing erection poised against my bare sex. My dress was gone and the leather straps around his chest were missing.

  I ran a hand down the muscles of his back, cupped his bare ass, and groaned. “How did you do that?”