by Marata Eros
His heart remains, beating outside his chest.
Siana holds it.
He hates her.
However, the truth is worse. Baird is utterly, unfailingly in love with Siana.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Seraphina
Altho stands, walking toward her.
She lifts her chin defiantly, and he places a finger beneath it. His touch electrifies her. Like a rabbit caught in a snare, she feels frozen.
His power surges through her like warm bathwater. It is such a complement to her own power, she gasps.
Altho runs the barest touch of his fingertip along her lower lip, grazing the wetness of her tongue.
Seraphina is unaware her lips part farther. Her eyes flutter shut as she stands.
Her hard words from moments before are forgotten under his touch. She slides her arms around his neck and rises on her toes to feel his mouth.
“No kissing,” he says.
It is like cold water against her passion.
His words do much to remind her he is a male she does not want.
Seraphina steps back, and his heart-shaped scar tissue pulls with his smirk.
“I do not kiss females. I fuck them,” Altho says.
Seraphina blinks. Her eyes run over his face. She begins at the flourish of pink tissue on his cheekbone. His eyebrow is bisected by the start of it. The scar runs along his eye, missing the orb by a fraction. It descends at an angle, kissing the bridge of his nose, and lands in a curling dot dead center above his lip.
Seraphina reaches out and touches his lips. A face that had horrified her last night she now can look upon easily.
It is so much better that he is not skulking about, looking all threatening and raising the dead.
Altho flinches, grabbing her hand. “Do not touch me there.”
Seraphina grabs his cock. “And here?” she taunts.
He gasps, unconsciously rocking into her hand, instantly hard.
She squeezes harder and he releases her other hand. “I will touch you there if you want me to touch you here.” She jerks him forward by his prick and he comes in a lurching stagger.
Seraphina has been trained in sex. Another benefit of being a Druid breeder is recognizing each male is different. A woman has no expertise if she isn't able to see a man's deepest desire.
Seraphina descends like a viper. Grabbing his nape with her now-free hand, she launches her smaller body against his. She presses deeply into the shadow of his body even as her hand tightens around his cock.
She drags his face to hers and kisses not his mouth but the scar above his full lips.
Altho moans against her mouth, yet he does not pull away.
His hands land on her shoulders and he tears her off him. She lets go of his considerable length and Altho retreats. “Do not do that again.”
“No,” Seraphina replies. “You wish to have a Druid breeder. I am your consequence. I do not have the disposition of other breeders, Altho. You might have more carefully considered your choice.”
His eyes narrow. “Is this a bid for me to return you?”
That idea is steeped in logic, but the truth is, she is having too much fun to think of the morrow. The temple is in ruins. Jessamine is concubine to the undead. Siana is goddess knows where. Only her Druid sisters are of a concern, and she saw very well where she stood with them while held in the priests’ prison. Lowly.
There is nowhere for her to go. Yet when opportunity arises and freedom beckons, she will not hesitate to escape.
“No,” she replies. “However, I will not be raped—cannot be. I am Druid. Once sex with one of us is begun, rape is a difficult enterprise.”
“I know what you are,” Altho seethes.
Seraphina cocks an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Whore,” Altho says in a shaking voice.
Seraphina laughs. “If that be true, I am a whore you want.”
Seraphina backs away, never breaking eye contact with Altho. When the backs of her thighs touch the edge of the bed, she collapses, lifting her heavy skirts as she does.
He will be under her thrall.
His eyes no longer look at her own, but at what Seraphina shows.
The instant he buries his prick inside her—Altho will rule over her no more.
Seraphina lifts her skirts and parts her legs, knowing the intimate view Altho takes in.
She slowly rolls her skirt to the waist and brings her fingers to the wet folds of her pussy.
Altho's breathing quickens and he draws reluctantly nearer.
Seraphina touches herself, and a strong pulse closes around the digit she inserts.
She begins a slow pump, another finger working over the little nub nestled between her pussy lips.
Altho watches.
A minute passes, and Seraphina moans, bringing herself closer to orgasm.
She opens her eyes. His are glued to what her fingers are doing, his fists clenching and unclenching.
Seraphina does not play fair. She lifts her hips, pressing her heels deeper into the bed and gives a hoarse cry. A rippling orgasm, like soft lapping water, washes over her.
Her hands are roughly batted away, and she smiles in triumph.
Where a cock should be, the soft press of lips meet her entrance. To her surprise, she reacts spontaneously, wrapping her creamy fingers in Altho's dark hair.
“Yes!” she shouts, drunk with lust.
His mouth presses deeper, his tongue stabbing her center, and another orgasm crashes over her, deeper than the last.
When he enters her, she gasps. Her hands slap the bed beside her, her head whipping to the side.
He is enormous. The slow slide of his prick spreads her, filling her until the end presses against her womb. Slowly, Altho pulls out, and her pussy cries for more. In his prick slides again.
Soon he is hammering her, plunging into her so deeply, she cannot draw breath and gasps. A shuddering orgasm blows her body apart, pulsating so strongly around him, she pushes him out with each kiss of her muscles.
Seraphina opens her eyes and meets Altho's.
His face glistens with her juices.
His hand holds a phallus. The muscles of his arm flex, shoving it inside her again.
Seraphina yells. The sensation is delicious, her anger acute. He would not fuck her. He wants to pleasure her but not fall under her power.
She tries to sit up.
Altho flattens his palm against her chest. “No, you show me what you want, and I give it to you.”
She feels the huge member withdraw, and something falls to the floor. He is much stronger, and she cannot fight him when the second phallus appears. It is a dual, with a long thick end for her pussy and a mirror for the bud of her ass.
Seraphina shakes her head. “No... I have not.”
She squirms, and Altho refuses to let her escape. “You want this. I have felt how your pussy wants it. Let me pleasure you. You can use all the Druid magick you wish, and it will not work on what I hold in my hand.”
Before Seraphina can reply, Altho moves between her legs, his palm steady on her chest and his knees keeping her legs spread.
When the phallus nudges her ass and pussy at the same time, she cries out. All Druids can lubricate in all the holes the body possesses. Yet, her ass has yet to be used.
Altho presses deeply, and the two fill her holes perfectly.
When they are seated to the hilt, he places his own prick inside the phallus.
Seraphina's eyes snap open. He has found a way around her magick. He is using the phallus as a second skin.
He grabs her shoulders and thrusts inside the hollow phallus, the tip spearing her ass at the same time.
He shows no mercy.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Siana
Seraphina watches Baird leave and steels herself against thinking about the horror of the past day. Deep in her heart, she thought it would be Baird and her—somehow.
However, he has shown her in no uncertain te
rms that she warrants saving but not staying.
Kael says nothing and hands her a neat stack of clothing. It is not hers but Imogen's. She nods anyway.
Tears fall on her hands. She swipes at them.
“Do you know where my Druid sisters reside?”
Kael pauses. “They are still at the prison in the Druid temple.”
“What?” Siana asks in disbelief, giving him a sharp glance.
Kael nods. “We survived last night. We saved you. It was always the plan to get the other females after we saw to you.”
“What of the guards?” Siana already thinks of rescue. She will not look upon the shock and transgressions against herself right now. She can reflect on that later. What is most important is gathering the Druids and finding new shelter.
“The rogue have a fine stronghold.”
Seraphina would have gone to the Reapers in an instant. Imogen is mated with Carrig and Quinn. They are the absolute protectors of Druid females, the natural male for breeding. Jessamine's pact would be honored though she is now in the tender care of their undead cousins.
Siana wonders if three is sufficient enough a number to hold her.
She shudders.
Finally she says, “Thank you.”
Kael inclines his head.
“Can you—do you have the warriors to assist?”
He nods then gives a rueful smile. “It is Baird, is it not?”
He sees through her small talk instantly.
She does not bother to lie, hanging her head. “Yes.”
“He is not worth it. Yet...” Kael spreads his hands away from his body. “It is I who has taken your innocence. It is I who remains. It is I who provides shelter.”
Siana nods. She rises up on her knees, naked before Kael, and unwraps the undergarments one by one.
His eyes move over her body, and before she can object, he cups her full breast.
His head moves forward, and his lips close around her nipple. He puts one hand on the small of her back and one around the base of her neck.
It feels divine.
Siana gives up, thinking not of Baird but of this wonderful male who is tender with her body. He took her virginity for many reasons, only one of which was saving her.
“Siana,” Kael says, her nipple coming out of his mouth with a gentle pop. He lays his head against her mounded breast. “Let me have you again... I will do anything to have you.”
Siana does not answer but falls backward.
Kael catches her as she does, and he pulls her legs apart.
“It will not be hard and sure, but slow. Let us discover each other.”
Siana closes her eyes as his hands go everywhere, exploring her in a way he could not hours before.
He covers her with his body, his cock hard and long. Yet he does not use it. He lets it rest nestled between her folds.
It is a wonderful weight between her legs, and she sighs.
Kael catches her mouth, sucking first her lower lip then running the tip of his hot, wet tongue over her lips.
“I shall do this below as well.”
Siana's breath catches as he works his way down her body. His sculpted ass moves higher in the air as his mouth moves lower. His hands cradle the sides of her body, their feathering touch making gooseflesh rise. His hair caresses her as he makes his way between her thighs.
She is sore when one of his fingers enters her, but her soreness melts away as he laps at her like a cat with cream. Siana grabs his head, pressing him deeper against her center.
She cries out as he moves his digit. She feels the talon elongate inside her, the specialized nub pressing against her, high and deep, and she moans. Her breaths come in pants from the exquisite torture.
Kael lifts his mouth. “Let go, Siana. Use me for your pleasure.”
Siana presses her hips against his hand, and he withdraws his talon, scraping against her sensitive insides. She cries out.
It is not painful but more pleasure than she can stand.
A single throb deep within her pulses, and she whispers, “Take me, Kael.”
His talons retract as he grasps her hips, the tip of him against her entrance. Siana blinks at his nakedness, and he grins.
“I did away with my clothes quickly.”
Siana gives a low laugh. “In stealth.”
He nods, and her smile fades as he enters her. Being filled with a male when she is not in fear for her life is so different. The painful barrier of her innocence is an obstacle no longer.
Kael fills her gently. Completely.
“More,” Siana whispers.
He pumps harder. She is slick and ready.
“Open your womb so I might blast my seed into the ripeness.”
“Yes,” Siana says. This is her calling, to breed with a male of Exotic blood.
He presses forward, rocking in and out of her. “I want... I want to...”
“Harder—faster,” Siana moans beneath him.
His hips pull and swivel, picking up speed in a blur only the vampiric can obtain.
She catches him perfectly, her hips matching his speed.
Siana feels him harden inside her. Though she is Druid, he is much too keep inside.
When Kael releases, he kisses her, his pleasure captured with his lips, and she spasms around him in answer.
They lay locked against each other, breaths slowing, bodies losing the tension of stolen attention.
Kael rolls Siana astride him, her body tucked against his much larger one.
Siana finds she is content. Protected.
Kael is a magnificent lover, and every part of her has just been adored.
His hand trails down her back, and she moves her face to look at Kael.
“What we have done is not enough to wipe that look from your eyes.”
She is silent for a moment. “What look?”
Kael gives her a sad smile. “The haunted one.”
Siana snuggles closer, and Kael lifts the thin sheet, covering them both.
“I will never be the same after what happened,” she says.
“I would hope in time...”
“Yes.” Siana cups his face. “Time will make a difference. For now, I have only fresh memories of the horror of the undead.”
Kael looks conflicted, and Siana frowns as she asks, “What say you?”
His light eyes darken. “I do not know if this be the right time to tell you.”
Siana sits up, the sheet falling to her waist. She does not cover herself again but narrows her eyes upon Kael.
“What is it? Just speak plainly. I deserve that.”
“I know.”
Siana almost shouts at him, but he says, “I asked you to open your womb, and you did not.”
Siana's brows come together. “I appreciate... I—”
Kael shakes his head. “It is not a poignant expression; it is a reality. When a Druid female is ripe for the seed of her male, the womb will open, so we may enter and more deeply impregnate her.”
Siana nods. She's heard this bit of lore, though she thought it a fanciful turn of phrase. “I thought it an expression.”
His eyes meet hers. “It is not.”
“All right?” Siana asks, throwing out her hands.
“Your womb is closed, Siana.”
“I am not ripe?”
Kael's eyes drop. “No, it is not that.”
“Baird and I bred you on the sacred slab.”
“You were not breeding me, you were saving me,” Siana says, wishing he would get to the end of it.
“Your womb is closed because you are with child.”
Siana's hand covers her mouth. “No.”
“I am afraid it is true.”
“Baird,” Siana says in a word that sounds more like a sob.
Kael nods. “It could be mine.”
They look at each other.
Siana tries for a smile. “Even if it were his, he would care not.”
Kael stares solemnly back.
She hides her tears.
CHAPTER NINE
Baird
Baird's lungs beg for oxygen, more on fire than not, and yet he keeps running. Punishing himself.
He cannot get the image of Kael and Siana's locked hands out of his mind.
Though he has not seen them since then, he knows they will fuck.
The knowledge makes his blood boil.
And it serves him right. If Baird could not declare his true feelings for the Druid queen, he did not deserve to have her. If he is so unwilling to face his own truth, it is selfless for Baird to let another have her.
Then why do I feel like I've swallowed glass?
Baird makes a sharp left as he ascends the familiar hill.
He is familiar with the location of the Druid priest's lair, as many of the Faction, rogue and his own kind—are also privy.
The female Druids still need saving. If Siana chooses Kael, then let the entire rogue take care of her.
His self-delusions sit ill within him.
At least with fifteen warriors and no females, she should be safe.
And well-fucked.
He growls without realizing it, putting on a burst of speed as he jumps the moat to the priests’ temple.
Baird needs neither key nor a strong leg to kick in the door.
It hangs like a tooth by a thread in the jamb like a yawning mouth.
He tips his face to the sky, flaring his nostrils and catches the one scent he hoped to never smell.
Faction.
Baird tenses.
He runs in a blur of speed, descending the ten stories into the bowels of the temple.
Cell doors stand open. Dead priests are missing their throats, and guts like glistening skinned worms litter the floor in squiggly ivory piles. Baird's gaze bounces around frantically.
They are gone.
All the Druid females.
The Faction are proof against Druid magick. They are not enough Reaper to hold sway, but they are enough Druid for the mixed-blood of the criminal vampire element to want.
Baird pivots, racing back the way he had come.
He will return to the Reaper stronghold. Maghnus can bring a plan to fruition.
