She was getting tired of all his references to dogs. She wasn’t a freaking animal. “What exactly are you implying?”
“Maybe mongrels need to be leashed.” His head was still buried between her legs. He inhaled her scent and growled low in his throat. “You haven’t been frisky with Seamus or Visant, have you?”
Kiera shook her head. She was actually innocent of that one.
“Those males have been acting strangely of late. Preoccupied. You know nothing of that, though?”
“No. I’ve seen little of them. I’ve been rather busy with the tasks you gave me.” Gee, how long would he make her converse with him? And how long would he keep his head down there? It was distracting.
“And you have been busy with those tasks only? No others?”
“Correct. I have nothing to hide, Lord Halloran.”
“Then you won’t mind if I taste you.”
Before Kiera could respond, she felt his tongue lapping at her sex. She tried to twist out of his grasp, but he held her so tightly against the wall that she had no choice but to allow him to lick her there. His tongue licked along her cleft again and again and she felt her body respond, which mortified her. She clutched his head and couldn’t stop a low moan from escaping her lips.
He met her eyes. “Does my tongue bother you? You seem distressed.”
She squirmed in his hold. “I am sensitive down there.”
“Yes, I forgot. You are a mongrel and easily stimulated.” His condescending expression irked Kiera. “My intent is not to pleasure you, Kiera. I cannot help your inappropriate response.” She cried out as his tongue teased her again. She tried to dampen her arousal, so determined was she not to come. She wouldn’t give him that to hold over her head.
“I must complete the exam.” His tongue continued its path along her inner folds, lapping up her juices, before finally stopping.
It had only lasted about a minute, but Kiera felt weak and shaky. Her legs were like jelly and would not support her weight. She knew it was a good thing Modez held her upright. “Did I pass your taste test?”
“No.” Modez’s eyes were full of questions. “I can’t detect any male scents or tastes on you, but there is a sweetness that shouldn’t be there. What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing. If I taste strangely, it must be due to the human part of me. But at least you have to agree there’s no evidence of improper conduct on my part.”
“You haven’t explained everything to my satisfaction. Like the discoloration, for one,” he said while tracing her inner thigh with his finger. He stood up and subjected her to his full height, intimating her by the way he towered over her.
Kiera winced as he grabbed her hands to study her palms. She tried to pull them out of his grasp so she could hide them from view, but he easily gained control of her.
Turning her palms over in his hands, he said, “I cannot believe I’m seeing this. Tan spots.” His eyes were dark and accusing. “Someone’s cock dripped onto your hands. You’ve been playing the milkmaid for someone, but for which male?”
Kiera wrenched one of her hands away from his hold to peruse it with her own eyes. “I’m not seeing anything, my lord. I think you’re being paranoid.”
“You need to have your vision checked. Any hybrid with eyes can see it if they look hard enough. I have no doubt it is stain from hybrid seed.” His eyes narrowed in anger and his jaw tensed. “It’s similar to the stain at your thighs. Don’t bother lying. Tell me the name of the male.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“You better talk before I start an inquisition.” His artic manner froze her in place and there was fury in his eyes. “I’ll question every male here if I have to. Do you really want to go down that road?”
No, she sure as hell didn’t, but she kept her mouth shut.
“I know you were intimate with someone. Tell me his name so I can know who to kill.”
“You’re overreacting.” The crazy male was jealous of himself. “I’m not telling you any names.” No way was she going to identify Modez as her lover. “It is none of your concern.”
“You are my property. No one has the right to touch you and you cannot give yourself to another. Not without my permission.”
Property. He was becoming overly possessive all of a sudden. “And would you give it if asked?”
His eyes flashed in irritation. “No. I would not.”
“I’m not telling you any names. Threaten me if you must, but my lips are sealed.”
“Tell me his name. Was it Shane? Seamus? Visant? Torin? I want his name.” Kiera looked at him blankly, determined to tell him nothing. He grunted in frustration and started to pace. “His name,” he thundered. When Kiera shook her head firmly, he stalked toward her with heavy, booted footsteps and said, “You will end it with this person, whoever he is. You will end it immediately.”
She cupped his jaw in an attempt to soothe him. “It was a one-time thing and it’s already over.”
“I still want his name.” He started pacing again. “And it had better be over. I’m going to check you daily. There is no possible way for you to conceal a breach of conduct.”
His behavior mystified her. “You’re acting like a possessive mate. I’m not yours.”
“You belong to the Halloran’s. Therefore you are mine. Do not forget it.” His silver eyes were glacial and froze Kiera in place. “Under no circumstances are you to handle a male’s cock, no matter what inducements are used to persuade you to act as one of their milkmaids. And you are not to lay with any of the warriors here.”
She hated it when people tried to control her. “For what reason do you restrict me?”
His eyes darkened to gray. “The Halloran’s don’t like their pussy despoiled. All unmated serfs must remain available for the lord’s use if called to serve.”
He meant to force her to his bed. “I thought I was safe from you.”
“No serf is truly safe, Kiera.” His condescending look annoyed her. “Any more signs of staining and you’ll be confined to your room.”
A serf. Like her mother. She still couldn’t come to terms with it. She thought she had escaped her mother’s fate, but deep down, she knew Snotti’s reasons for taking her in as a child had nothing to do with charity. “I didn’t realize I was your prisoner. I thought Cassia was the only captive here. Your inspections are indecent. You look at me. Touch me. You use your tongue on me. Surely this wasn’t what the prince ordered you to do. You’re an animal.”
“I am a Halloran. It is within my rights to perform the duty as I see fit. Complain to the prince and he will tell you the same thing.”
“Maybe I will. He wouldn’t appreciate knowing how you’ve molested his ward.”
“I barely touched you, mongrel. And I could do much more than that with the prince’s blessing.”
Some mongrels were treated no different than enslaved humans. Would he do that to her? “I don’t believe you. I’m not one of your palace harlots.”
He fisted the fabric of her saffron tunic. “You’re a serf pledged to serve the House of Halloran. You are whatever the prince decides. And I have influence over those decisions.”
Kiera stared down at the floor. “Fine. Do as you wish. You have all the power and I’m just a serf. A mongrel.” Kiera was angry, already her mind was racing with various scenarios. Ways to make Modez pay for his insults. She lifted her head to gaze at the slave collar around his neck. It gave her some comfort to know she had been the one to thwart him. “The power you have over me is the only power you have right now, Modez. It looks like someone had the wisdom to restrain you.”
Modez narrowed his eyes at her. “You are to refer to me as Lord Halloran. Show some respect, mongrel. I am above you in all ways and you must obey me.”
He had been on the floor at her feet a moment ago. “Stop calling me a mongrel. I’m hybrid. My father was a lord.”
Modez lifted her skirts to expose her most private parts to his gaze. His hand slid
through the short curls of her mound to her plump sex. “You’re furred like a human so I’m not sure what you are. Your claim requires verification. Let us see whether or not you are a true hybrid.”
Kiera gasped as his finger slid inside her small passage. Her channel was wet from his earlier attentions and her soft folds parted easily to allow entrance. She clutched his shoulders and collapsed against the wall, her resistance crumbling to nothing. “Fine,” she said acidly. “Do as you will, my lord.”
“Oh, you feel like a human.” There was surprise in his voice as he slid a second finger into her. “Your sheath is most accommodating. I feel it stretching around my fingers and it’s getting wetter by the minute.”
Kiera arched under his hand, forgetting for a moment that he was a frequent source of aggravation for her. “That wetness doesn’t mean I like you.” She wished her body wouldn’t respond so eagerly since his ego was already inflated.
“Hmm. I’m beginning to like you better. Nice. Very nice.” His fingers continued to strum in and out of her slippery sheath. “No wonder you were so popular during those mating tests.”
“Is the high and mighty Lord Halloran above such things? Because it seems you’re getting off on touching a mongrel.”
“I like touching you,” he said in her ear. His forehead rested against her shoulder and he took a deep, ragged breath. “I wonder what it would feel like to be inside you. It wouldn’t be like fucking a hybrid female.”
“No. It’s better, much better. You cannot possibly comprehend the pleasure of it.” She taunted him. She loved to agitate him, wanted to see him lose control. He groaned, then cursed. He was so easily provoked. She traced the slave collar around his neck. She knew how much it bothered him to wear the device that curtailed his hybrid abilities. She took some satisfaction in being the one secretly responsible for it. “Aren’t you still on bed rest? I doubt you’re up to any strenuous physical activities.”
Modez’s hand movements stalled for a moment. “I’m nearly recovered. As you can see, I can handle you just fine.” His thumb brushed against her nub and he laughed softly when her body jerked in response. “I see that you haven’t asked me to stop. You don’t mind being touched like this,” Modez said as he thrust his fingers inside her. “A true lady would not feel pleasure at being accosted by one who is not her mate.”
She clutched his shoulders more tightly, knowing she was close to orgasm. At the moment, she didn’t particularly care who gave it to her. She just needed to have one. A rub of his knuckle against her nub sent her over the edge and she felt her body convulse as she screamed.
His fangs trailed her throat, pricking it lightly. “Just like a human. Always in heat. Always ready for cock.” His fingers slid from her drenched sheath and trailed a path down her inner thigh, wetting her skin. His smile was cocky and self-satisfied. “You soaked my hand and I didn’t use any jelly. I’m not used to that.” His eyes drifted down her body, pausing as they passed over her bosom and hips. “Mongrels have no special skills except when it comes to fucking.”
Her body was heavy, sated. Now she worried what that pleasure would cost her. Would he recognize her scent? “I have skills,” she said in a tone filled with indignation.
He snorted. “Right,” he said in a sarcastic tone. “You cannot even defend yourself.”
“I have fangs and I can take blood the same as any other hybrid.” Blood hybrids were rare and one of the most powerful among the different breeds. “I am not helpless. Not like you think.”
“You are fortunate to be given the job of watchdog.” He smoothed his hands over her tunic, momentarily pinning her hips with the same kind of hold a male might use when positioning a female for sex. “Do not mess it up or you’ll find yourself in a job you won’t like nearly as much.”
Modez pulled away from her and Kiera straightened her clothing. She fixed him with a glare. “You will not always hold power over me. And while you have it, take care how you wield it. I’m not as weak and defenseless as you think.”
“Is the little puppy trying to threaten me? What will you do, bite me? Strike me with your claws? Whine in hopes of eliciting my sympathy?”
Kiera clenched her fists. “I will bite you. Badly.”
Modez laughed and traced her lips with his finger. “Your fangs wouldn’t break my skin.”
Kiera would have loved to prove him wrong. But she couldn’t give herself away. She swore to herself that one day, she’d drain him dry. She would reveal her identity and watch him beg for mercy. She would give him none.
He shook his head as if to clear his wayward thoughts. “I must report to Diermont. I’ll say nothing of your discolored thighs and odd taste. But you will owe me one. For my silence.”
“Of course.” Kiera took offense at the mention of her odd taste, but she wasn’t going to make an issue of it. Modez escorted her back to Lord Ross’ room and she let out the breath she had been holding. At some point he would figure out the staining on her hands and thighs was his doing. He would realize she was the invisible woman who drank his blood and shamelessly groped him. The day of reckoning was coming and she needed to make sure she wasn’t present when he discovered the truth.
* * *
“I did as you asked,” Modez said to Diermont. “The human slave’s skin is creamy as milk and not marred at all by staining.”
“So Kiera has done her job by preventing improper behavior between the two.” Diermont rolled the shrunken head of one of the executed Roman soldiers across the huge mahogany desk. “Very good. I would hate to punish an overlord for disobeying me.”
“Lord Ross has been following your dictates. Although I know it is difficult for him. He has asked to take Cassia to the breeding camps.”
“My answer is no.” Diermont threw the shrunken head at Modez and grinned when he caught it with ease. “Good catch. I want you on my team during our next ballgame.”
“We’re always on the same team.”
Diermont cackled. “Right.”
“About the breeding camp—”
Diermont stomped his foot. “Do not take Lord Ross’ side in this. He can wait to breed that human.”
Like hell he can, Modez thought. If Cassia was his, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from taking her sweet body. The pleasures of the flesh were so much more pleasurable when it involved a snug, receptive sheath.
Diermont sniffed and rubbed his goatee that hung past his chin. “And Kiera. Has she obeyed me as well?”
“Yes, her skin is flawless,” Modez lied. He tossed the severed head back to the prince while he thought about Kiera. When he had first seen the signs of discoloration, he wondered if she had been the one to assault him. He knew it wasn’t possible. He just liked the idea of it. It would give him the justification to act on his desires, to claim her as his slave and use her as his blood whore. He could not deny he wanted her, but he didn’t want to take her unless he was in control. Otherwise she would wrap him around her little finger and he would be the one on the leash. Her leash. Never again would he place himself in that position.
Diermont grinned in a sleazy manner. “She let you look at her pussy?”
“I told her it was a royal decree, so she let me look. And touch.”
Diermont chuckled. “Good. Get her used to your touch. Soon she will perform for me in the dungeon and I want to watch her with you.”
“She’s not ready for that.” The truth was he wasn’t ready. When he took Kiera, he didn’t want some pervert getting off on watching it. He wanted to enjoy her in private.
“Get her ready, my man.” Diermont rolled one of the shrunken heads down his desk and it collided with a set of bottles he had arranged in a diamond pattern. Bottles rolled off the table and crashed onto the floor. “I’ve been waiting years for this. I want to see you penetrate her a dozen different ways. I never could see much during those mating tests, but once I get her in the dungeon, I’ll see everything. A complete and unobstructed view.”
Kiera wasn’t going to perform in one of Diermont’s fuck shows. If Modez had his way, her performances would be for his eyes only. He wanted her to himself. Had some unknown warrior already laid claim to her? He burned to know if she had taken a lover. He knew many of the warriors had an interest in her. It was possible she had helped one of them spend his seed in the donation cups. Whatever she had been doing, he hoped it hadn’t progressed to actual intercourse. It bothered him that he couldn’t discern the truth of the matter. “I don’t want her around the other warriors.”
“Some have asked to take her as a mistress. I declined, of course.”
“I take it Seamus is one of them.”
“He did express an interest in Kiera, but he cannot have her.” He picked another head from a desk drawer and began to juggle them in the air. “She is not going to set up house with some lord. I’ll not allow that girl to leave my protection. I control Kiera and that includes who she fucks.”
Modez was in control of that, not Diermont. “Of course.” Kiera wasn’t safe in Diermont’s protection, but Modez was glad she wasn’t free to take a lover and move elsewhere.
“And has Kiera improved in her behavior toward you? Is she giving the proper amount of respect?”
“She claims she will obey me.” Her words lacked sincerity. He hadn’t missed the pleasure in her eyes when she had seen that he still wore the slave collar.
“She will serve you with humility. I elevated that girl from the fields and this is how she repays me.” Diermont’s eyes glowed red with emotion. “I will put her in her place.”
“Yes, Your Royal Highness.”
“I have a surprise for you.” He set both severed heads on the desk and cursed when one continued to roll, falling on the Irelandian wool rug. “Sadly, the dronusflies prevent us from retrieving Elsa from the palace, but I’ve found a solution to the lack of bed servants and courtesans.”
“What would that be?” Human pleasure slaves, perhaps?
“A long awaited reconciliation. We have a most esteemed visitor.”
A deep sense of foreboding gnawed at his innards and made him dread learning what was to come. But Modez couldn’t stop himself from asking, “Who is it?”
Vampire Enslavement (Lords of Bondage) Page 23
