by Meg Xuemei X
The panther bared his fangs, seeming to agree with Lorcan.
My throat bobbed, suddenly scratchy. “How can I trust your words?”
“My words are binding,” Lorcan said. “I won’t fail you, Cass. I might put my enemies in dungeons for years, but I’ve never done that to children.” He looked straight at me. “Even a monster won’t cross certain lines.”
I sensed the truth in him, and what he said about the monster ticked the right box with me.
He wouldn’t imprison me, but he desperately wanted something from me. He’d been so eager to get me out of the cage. He’d threatened to chase me to the ends of Earth. And I’d seen the intense hunger and heat in his eyes when he’d set eyes on me.
“Another condition,” I drawled.
He arched an eyebrow. “I thought you said one condition.”
“Will you agree to it or not?” I said with exasperation. My hunger was making me short-tempered.
“What is it?” he asked.
“You won’t take my blood without my permission,” I said. “The last thing I want, besides being back in that cage, is to end up a blood whore like my mother.”
His gaze traced the veins on my neck before moving up to my lips and then locking on my eyes. “I won’t drink from you without your permission, Cass. And I won’t allow anyone to take your blood.”
What else should I bring up? I tapped my temple. There.
“Don’t ever think I’m your slave or prisoner just because you let me out of that cage,” I said firmly. “I have the right to come and go freely.”
He hesitated for a second, and I narrowed my eyes.
“It’s non-negotiable,” I said as I braced my hands on my hips, gambling that he wanted me enough to accept my terms.
The panther hissed at Lorcan, urging the vampire lord to oblige. The beast had to be a magical creature who understood our words, though he couldn’t speak back. I scratched his ear, and he enthusiastically leaned into my touch.
Lorcan eyed the panther, not thrilled at his behavior. If I weren’t mistaken, I could have sworn I saw a flash of jealousy in his storm-gray eyes.
“You’re a free person, of course,” Lorcan said. “I accepted all of your terms, but you’ll also need to compromise.”
My brow furrowed.
“You’ll promise not to run away before you can truly take care of yourself,” he said. “And you’ll learn how to navigate the world under my instruction. I’ll be your mentor.”
That wasn’t hard. Those terms actually worked to my benefit. But I frowned at the vampire lord, pretending not to be pleased with his conditions. I sent him a brooding look, and pouting, I said reluctantly, “Fine, for now. You got the better part of the bargain!”
“You need to swear it,” Lorcan said.
“But I told you it was fine.”
“No, you need to swear on the whole sentence, as I did,” he said.
Why was a vow such a big deal? Words were easy. He wouldn’t even know if I cheated him. I’d hidden things from Jezebel and lied to her all the time.
I shrugged. “I promise I won’t run away unless it’s necessary, and I’ll allow—” I paused to regard Lorcan. “How should I address you in this serious oath you insisted on?”
“High Lord of Night,” he said.
“What should I call you in a casual setting?” I asked. “High Lord of Night is long-winded and melodramatic.”
“Lorcan will be fine,” he said. “Finish your oath.”
I heard small murmurs of surprise from his vampire guards.
He’d just put me on an equal footing with him, but I wasn’t all that flattered. I didn’t belong to his court. I didn’t belong to him. He had no rights to lord over me. I was equal to him, and to any being. No one lorded themselves over Cass Saélihn.
“I’m getting to it,” I said. “The former swear stands, and I’ll also allow the High Lord of Night to be my mentor under reasonable conditions. That’s it. Done.”
Lorcan arched an eyebrow, but he let it slip. “Say this to seal it: I, Cassandra Saélihn, so swear.”
I gave another small shrug and grinned carelessly. “I, Cassandra Saélihn, so swear.”
If he believed he could trust an oath, he was a fool. But then a magical wind slammed into my chest and wiped the smirk off my face.
Fuck! My words were also binding. Why hadn’t I realized it before? What would happen to me if I broke my promises?
Maybe a little panic hit me. Maybe hunger finally overcame me. I saw stars before darkness took me under.
I swayed on my knees. I wasn’t sure if anyone caught me when I fell and blacked out for the second time. If no one prevented my fall, then chivalry was dead.
6
I sprawled naked on the silky bed, my left nipple in a man’s sensual mouth. He suckled it with fervor. His light turquoise eyes laughed at me when I slid my lust-filled gaze over him and parted my lips. Why did he seem familiar when I’d never met him before? A tingling sensation washed over me as he grazed the tip of my breast with his teeth.
Naughty! But I didn’t push him away since pleasure was making a decision for me.
A large hand cupped my right breast and fondled it with a bruising force. I snapped my attention to it. Another man, just as hot as the turquoise-eyed male, worshiped my body with his hands. He had honey-brown eyes, sun-kissed skin, and rich auburn hair in a fashionable military style.
He looked like a warrior god.
My gaze dipped to his broad shoulders, the six-pack adorning his stomach, his narrow hips, then his massive erection. I’d never seen a male’s manhood before and my eyes were glued to it, utterly fascinated.
His cock jerked aggressively under the weight of my gaze, and I nearly jumped.
“Hello, Cass sweetheart,” his rich, deep voice purred. “Alaric Ash Desreaux at your service.”
My pulse spiked; my heart drummed.
Was I in heaven? I had two of the hottest men I had ever set eyes on cherishing my body with their hands, lips, and teeth.
“Oh,” I said on a sighing moan, acknowledging him and his good service.
Liquid fire swirled between my thighs when another hand, cool and powerful, stroked my bare pussy.
Waves of pleasure washed over me at the new sensation.
A third hunk?
A moan escaped from the depths of my throat as I raised my head and met Lorcan’s bright, gray eyes. The High Lord of Night knelt between my thighs. He didn’t look as cold and composed as usual. Heat burned though his icy exterior as he worshiped my pussy.
He brushed open my plump folds with his thumb, his gaze focusing on my flesh with ravenous hunger that made my face flame. I whimpered, stunned at my hot wetness.
As I wiggled my ass, Lorcan grabbed my legs and lifted them, positioning the crown of his hard length at my slick entrance.
I gasped at the sensation this contact brought. I wanted more. I shifted my hips, needing the delicious friction.
Before I could tell him I was a virgin, he drove into me mercilessly, his hard, thick cock stretching me, filling me until it was nearly uncomfortable.
I cried out, but the pleasure soon overwhelmed the pain, especially when the two other gorgeous males competed for my attention as they suckled and played with my breasts.
Lorcan thrust into me again, driving deeper into my molten core, and hitting every sensitive spot inside me. My toes curled and I arched my back in ecstasy.
A beastly growl ricocheted off the window. My heavy-lidded eyes fluttered open as a black panther leapt on to the bed.
I yelped. This was some weird shit. The beast couldn’t be joining us!
I had let this go too far.
Just as I was about to scold the beast, the panther shifted into a beautiful man. Actually, he shifted to a fae, and he looked just like the turquoise-eyed male, though his eyes were a shade lighter. They were twins.
So, I had four males ravishing me.
Holy fuck! I moaned.
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My eyes snapped open on that moan, and I was disappointed to find myself alone on a bed with clean sheets.
7
I let out a long groan. I sniffed, hoping to catch their fading, seductive scent of the four hot men in my dream, but I had no such luck. Even my familiar, unwashed scent was gone, replaced with the scent of cleanliness, jasmine, and rose.
Everything rushed back to me.
I’d been freed yesterday after being imprisoned for life.
I blinked to clear the fear of seeing the iron bars surrounding me, but when I saw I was in a furnished room with paintings of exotic landscapes on the walls, my breath evened out.
The mattress dipped on one side, and I snapped my head toward the movement and bolted up.
The black panther bared his startling white teeth in a grin before he yawned.
I’d dreamed he had shifted to a naked man who was hot as fuck just a few minutes ago. I felt my skin flush and shook the image out of my head.
“Are you kidding me, panther? We’re bed buddies now?” I said, but I didn’t shove him off as he settled closer to me and licked the back of my hand. “Just don’t make it a habit.”
I was cranky from my unfinished, unfulfilled sex dream. Lorcan’s hard cock filling me and stretching me had felt so real.
Once again, I shook it out of my mind. Dwelling on an erotic image like that when my freedom and survival were still at stake was not a good way to start the day.
“Your tongue is pretty rough,” I told the panther.
He sniffed, his eyes turning from turquoise to liquid gold, as if he scented my arousal.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
He grinned and licked my jaw.
“Now I’ll have to wash my face,” I complained, then noticed that I was wearing a blue tank top and silky undergarment.
At least I was decent in my waking hours.
I threw the blanket off me and swung my legs off the bed.
“Someone washed me and dressed me without my consent,” I murmured to myself as I strode toward the window and wheeled to check the room. “Who dared!”
No one answered, of course.
I had to admit that it was good to feel clean. I pulled my waist-length hair up to my nose, inhaling the light lavender scent. Whoever had washed me had used a nice shampoo.
I pulled open the heavy curtains, only to be greeted by thick blinds obscuring the sun-proof glass panes of the window. I reached under the blinds and tugged at the window, but it refused to open, and after a few failed attempts, I gave up trying.
I’d once seen in my mother’s memories that vampires couldn’t stand the sun, which explained the heavy curtains, the thick blinds, and the sun-proof glass. I brushed open a space between two rows of blinds with my fingers and peered out through the crack.
On the horizon was the ridge of mountains I’d last seen, and below the window was a courtyard, guarded by the vampires. It would be difficult to escape from this room.
I released the blinds, went to the other side of the wall, and opened the closet.
It was filled with clothes—training outfits, tops, pants, shirts, and dresses, accompanied by boots, flats, and sexy high heels.
Someone had arranged things for me while I was unconscious, and this was clearly my assigned room. However, I didn’t plan to stick around for long. This place was too close to my cage and my mother. I would have nightmares every night if I stayed near either.
I took a floral dress off the hanger, moved into the bathroom, and shut the door.
The white marble bathroom was spotless and spacious with a floor-to-ceiling mirror embedded in one wall.
I approached the mirror and studied my reflection.
I hadn’t had the luxury of seeing myself until today. I had never known what I looked like.
A young woman stared back at me. Her—my—left eye was a brilliant violet, and the right was golden like living fire. Bluish half-moon circles under my eyes indicated exhaustion and malnourishment—basically, starvation.
My face was creamy like porcelain, with high cheekbones, though my cheeks were a bit hollow. Nothing I couldn’t fix with a few good meals.
My skin felt silky under my touch, and I traced a line from my small, straight nose to my full, pink lips. Thank the fates, I did not resemble my mother.
I ran a hand through my curly, lustrous hair, shades of blue and red weaving through the stark silver. For the first time, it didn’t look like a wild nest for baby birds.
Cass Saélihn, you don’t look too bad! I grinned at myself.
I’d been worried about my appearance, but now I was relieved that I didn’t look like a skeleton.
I shrugged off my sleeping attire and studied my nudity—full breasts, slim waist, and shapely hips. My legs were a bit slender for my liking, but they would grow strong in no time.
I was sixteen, but I’d reached maturity at the age of nine. I wasn’t human. I wasn’t like any species, though Jezebel refused to tell me what I was. She’d only said that I was one of a kind and that I didn’t age like the humans, vampires, or any other creature.
She probably didn’t care that I had lost all my innocence and sweetness in that cage long before I’d reached adulthood. Bitch had wanted to break me and render me useless. I’d pretended to be the frail, broken doll she preferred me to be, but she’d failed epically.
My gaze returned to my red nipples.
I hoped Lorcan hadn’t been the one who had washed me and clothed me. It would be beyond embarrassing if he had cleaned my unwashed body. Then my mind drifted to his large, powerful hands roaming over me, and goosebumps spread over my skin. Involuntarily, I pinched my tit and felt liquid fire pool between my thighs.
Where was this lust coming from?
I’d hated all vampires since I could walk and talk. Never would I have thought I would be turned on by thinking of the High Lord of Night, but here I was, wet and hot for him.
I’d thought it was an accident that I had been attracted to him when I’d first set eyes on him, but clearly it was no accident. I was attracted to him.
Cass, are you going to be there forever? a man’s voice purred in my head.
I let out a startled yelp.
Who the fuck are you?! I demanded.
I shoved on the flowery dress before I jerked open the door. I threw my hands up in front of me, ready to toss the two kinds of magic I was familiar with—air and fire—at any threat.
I stepped out, scanning the space.
Only the panther and I occupied the room. I stood right outside the bathroom door, in a battle pose, and the beast perched lazily on my bed, his large head on his front paws.
He couldn’t be the one talking in my head, could he?
The panther raised his head and looked at me, his turquoise eyes becoming molten gold again, as if he was turned on by my new look.
He wasn’t even a man, but his gaze lingered on my exposed cleavage.
Strangely, I didn’t even feel repulsed.
What the actual fuck was wrong with me? Maybe a monster really did lurk inside me, and she liked this panther.
I shook my head, a bit disgusted with myself, and glared at the beast in warning.
A teasing smirk danced like a leaping flame in his beautiful, predatory eyes.
Were you wondering if Lorcan bathed you? The velvet male voice sounded in my head again. He didn’t. He would have had to go through me. And I wouldn’t allow him.
“Fuck,” I said. “You can talk in my head?”
I just did. He cocked his head. The servant girls washed you, of course, under my and Lorcan’s supervision.
Could he be a man instead of a panther? Or both? I didn’t know his kind, because when I dreamed, I usually wandered to the mortal world.
My eyes narrowed. “You and the vampire saw me naked?”
As naked as when you were born. The panther confirmed proudly.
My face flamed. They must have seen the layers of dirt coating my sk
in. I didn’t want to dwell on it. It was humiliating.
“How can you even talk to me?” I asked, drilling my gaze at the panther. “You’re an animal. Animals bark or howl. They don’t talk.”
I’m not merely an animal. The panther protested, looking offended. I’m a magical immortal being, just like you.
Maybe that was why he shifted in my dream?
I must have been too fucking lonely.
I eyed him moodily, biting my fingernail as I mulled over this information. “Fine, you can talk,” I said in resignation.
Then an idea hit me. My eyes rolled slowly as I did a cold calculation. It wasn’t such a bad thing that he could talk. He could be my errand boy as well as my bodyguard. He could spy for me and report back to me.
Amusement twinkled in his eyes, as if he could perceive my thoughts.
That made me pause. If he could talk in my mind, then he could probably read my mind.
And sometimes I had a lot of dirty thoughts.
I immediately pulled my mental shield up, shoving out anything in my mind that wasn’t mine or didn’t belong.
I can’t really read your thoughts, though I can communicate telepathically with you, he said. Relax, Cass baby. If you don’t want people to read you, you should learn not to wear your every expression on your sleeve.
“I do not wear my expressions on my sleeve,” I said. “I don’t even have a sleeve.” I waved my bare arms at him. Heat grew in his now liquid-golden eyes again as they roved over my exposed shoulders and arms to my ankles.
This was fucked up.
“Hello!” I cried out in exasperation, wanting to bring his attention back to my face.
He huffed out a laugh.
“I let my guard down around you because I thought you were only a friendly panther,” I said regretfully. “I’m now correcting my mistake.”
He leapt off the bed and alighted beside me, lethally graceful.
The enormous beast reached the top of my ears, even on all fours. He was formidable. Even the vampires gave him a wide berth.
