by Emma Dawn
King growled behind me. “Spartan, this is not the way.”
I glared at Spartan. “Stop being an idiot, right now. I have no more say in this than you do, you fool.” I glared down at him and he glared right back.
His burnished gold eyes narrowed further until they were merely slits.
If I’d thought King had jaguar eyes, I corrected myself. Spartan’s golden eyes reminded me of nothing more than a large cat, a predator in every sense of the word. From his eyes to the wild tangle of dirty blond hair hanging over his face, obscuring his features, to the sword in his hand and the well-used armor on his chest and around his waist...all of it screamed warrior.
I refused to feel anything for this tit of a man. “You think you can just be a bully? Totally unacceptable. You don’t have to like me, that’s fine. I realize I’m not every man’s cup of tea, but beating up on your brothers is stupid and unnecessary. What is wrong with you?”
He didn’t lower his sword but his glare eased. “Why would you care what happens to them?”
The depth of his voice did very bad things to me, curling through me right to my center, and I had to clamp my knees together to remain standing, as undignified as it was. I clenched my jaw against the moan at the back of my throat.
From behind me, King shifted on the bed. “Spar, ease off. She’s not like what we expected. She is nothing like the queen. She’s...she’s really quite lovely all around. I can see it already.”
Spartan’s eyes flicked to his brother, and I took the chance to look to Wick, Preacher, and Celt. The three of them watched with eyes the size of saucers.
Spartan slowly lowered his sword. “Fine. I will not kill her. But when it comes down to it, her life is forfeit over ours. I will not lose my brothers.”
A shiver of fear sliced through me. “You think I’m not capable of standing up to that little twat of a girl out there?”
His eyebrows shot up. “Does she not frighten you?”
I frowned. “Does she frighten you?”
He nodded. “Yes. And if you were smart, you would be on your knees begging for your life right now.”
A grin slid over my lips. “I’m sure I’ll be on my knees later, but I doubt I’ll be begging for my life.”
Celt burst out laughing. “Oh, damn, lass. I do like ye better and better.”
“Feeling’s mutual.” I gave him a rough salute as I stood on the bed, looking down at five very distinct, and all rather luscious, men. All of them mine, apparently. Well, forgoing Spartan, which the more I looked at him, the more I’d like to see what he had under that armor. The tub would be a lovely addition, scrubbing his body down, letting the soap slick his body.
I cleared my throat and looked away.
“Okay. So, is there anything else I should know about this whole shindig? I’ve got six days to make a decision and then what?”
“Then you fight the queen,” Spartan said. “You fight her and pray she kills you quickly.”
I frowned. “I have to fight her?”
He snorted and turned away, the derision in his voice thick. “You can’t fight, I take it?”
Without much thought, I leapt from the bed and landed on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling for all I was worth. I didn’t really think I could hurt him. Not a vampire of his size.
But I caught him off guard as I squeezed with all my might. He scrambled at my legs while the other men hooted and hollered, and I rode him like a bucking bronco. He twisted and flipped me over his hips so he caught me in his arms.
His face was flushed. “If you are that eager to die, then do it now and do not bother with my brothers.”
“Teach me to fight, then, if you’re so damn smart!” I threw the words at him, a challenge and perhaps a plea for help. I could see he was indeed the fighter of the five. I needed all the help I could get if I had to fight for my life in less than a week.
He stared down at me, his fangs peeking past his lips, and I wanted nothing more than to suck on them, feel them drive into my neck...I shook myself. “I can control myself around you. Can you do the same long enough to teach me something that could save my life?”
“You can’t learn to fight in five days. It’s impossible,” he snapped and let me go. I would have hit the floor if Celt hadn’t caught me.
I smiled up at him. “Thanks, that could have left a nasty bruise on my bum.”
“Ah, lass, I would have kissed it better.”
I laughed and he helped me to my feet. I cleared my throat. “Spartan, will you help me? I am willing to believe in the impossible, especially now after all of this.”
His shoulders hunched as if I’d hit him. “Damn your pull on me. Yes, I will teach you. During the day, you are mine to teach for at least four hours. The rest of the time...” He shook his head and flung a hand outward as if to encompass his four brothers. The rest of the time, I’d be bedding the men who wanted me.
Every part of me tingled in anticipation and I had to fight not to clamp my knees together and groan out loud.
“It’s a deal then.”
He grunted and stormed from the room, the pull between us not lessening but tightening like an elastic band. He wouldn’t go far. I knew that as well as I knew my own mind. Whatever bond was between us would not allow him to leave me. At least, not until I was good and dead, I supposed.
“Do not think like that,” Preacher said. “He will be a good teacher. It is a good compromise for him.”
I glanced at Preacher and held a hand out to him. He drew close, took my hand and lifted it to his lips. Time for me to spill the beans to all of them.
“I...I’ve been cheated on before and I know how shitty it feels. I don’t want you to feel like that, even while I can feel a pull to the others.”
He smiled and shook his head. “There are no hard feelings, Allianna. You were brought to us, and were meant to be with us all. There will be a draw to us like nothing you’ve ever felt.”
I looked at each of them. “So none of you mind? That I’ll be with all of you?”
One by one they shook their heads, all with a smile on their lips. I clung to Preacher. “Are they telling the truth?”
Laughter filled the room. “Yes. They are. Allianna, you are doing nothing wrong. We want you, and you want us. There is nothing about that you should feel bad about.”
I drew a slow breath and nodded once more.
“Is there anything else you should be telling me? I feel like you are holding back on the details of this.”
The four men exchanged glances that were far more telling than if one of them had just said no, there was nothing left to say.
“Spit it out,” I said. “Just rip the Band-Aid off. This is far more painful with the slow looks and—”
“You will choose one of us as your mate, and the other four will be sentenced to death,” Preacher said.
I took a moment to make sure I’d heard right. My heart cranked up at a speed that had nothing to do with lust but pure fear for these men I’d only known such a short time. “Why?”
“It is an old rule from a long time ago,” King said. “A time when a male harem was unacceptable, and the ruler was a male with a single queen. She was not to be touched by more than that one she was bound to.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “So, you mean to tell me you won’t just drop dead. That someone would actually have to kill you?”
“Yes,” Celt nodded. “That is correct, lass.”
“And you wouldn’t fight for your lives?”
The four shook their heads in unison. “No, we would not. Perhaps Spartan would,” Wick said, his dark eyes on mine. “The truth is that the only way would be for you to be queen. Then you could change the rule and potentially save us. If that is your choice. It could be seen as weakness, which is why it has never been done before.”
I drew a breath. My whole life I’d been writing, dreaming about a world I would fit in. Where the monsters and magic were real and the
love was as intense as I’d always written. I looked from face to face of the four men in front of me. I knew that by saying what I was going to say, I was changing my life forever. There would be no going back to my home, to my sister Dominique, to my dog Luke. There would be no finishing that damn novel.
But I already knew that for these men, I would do it all. I would fight for them, like I’d never even bothered to fight for poop-face Mike.
Preacher snorted. “Poop face? That’s what you call your ex?”
“Well, he’s an ex for a reason,” I pointed out with a slow smile that slid from my face faster than it grew. “We’re in this together, then. All five of us.”
Celt tipped his head to one side. “Six, if you want to count the child in the group.”
From the room next to us, the wall shuddered as if someone had punched it. I lifted an eyebrow. “Spartan?”
The four of them nodded, once more in unison. I sighed. “Six then, against all odds.”
Preacher was the first to come to me. He bent his head and kissed me gently, his lips tasting faintly of my own desire. I swallowed hard as he stepped back. King was next, and he lifted me so he didn’t have to bend down.
His kiss was not as demanding as I would have expected from such a big man, his mouth tender and sweet and full of hidden promises. I couldn’t resist. I flicked the tip of my tongue down the length of one fang.
He dropped me and backed away as the front of his pants tented. “Ah, you will have me tearing your clothes off, lady mine.”
I shrugged. “We all have talents. I supposed that’s mine?”
He followed Preacher to the door, a smile on his lips as he backed out. “Perhaps, it is.”
Celt took my face in his hands. “Lass, you be coming to me at the end, I hope you’re ready for me.” He leaned in and took my earlobe in his mouth, sucking it, laving it as if it were my clit and not my ear. Fuck, just my ear in his mouth and I was writhing against him.
He let me go as suddenly as he’d taken hold of me, and then he, King and Preacher were gone, out the door.
Leaving me with Wick.
A low laugh rumbled from him as I slowly turned to face him.
I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out of me when I saw him. He was completely naked and stretched out on the floor in front of the fireplace, his cock already at full attention, just waiting on me.
“In a hurry, are we?” I couldn’t help the smile despite the dire odds against us, despite all the things I’d just learned. I just couldn’t believe we wouldn’t succeed. In my books, the underdog always won.
I was the underdog, so I had to win. There was no other answer I would allow myself to consider.
Wick winked at me, and crooked a finger. “Will you let me fuck you, Allianna?”
“Not the most romantic way of putting it, Wick.” I took a step toward him as I lifted my shirt over my head. “But yes, I will fuck you. Only if you want it, though.”
He made a motion at the lower half of his body. “Little hard to hide that I want you.”
“Just being clear that we are on the same page.” I shimmied out of my pants and kicked them behind me.
Another time, another place in my life I would have balked at this wanton behavior, I would have chastised myself severely. But I just couldn’t. Not here, not now with this man whose laughter echoed my own.
I went to my knees beside him and arched an eyebrow. Waiting for him to make the move. For sure, I’d given consent, but I still wanted him to make the first move. To show me that he wanted me.
I didn’t have to wait long.
Chapter Seven
Wick’s body was as lean and hard as I’d imagined, perhaps even harder. There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fat on him, showing every angle of his cut muscles. Yet, there was not a lot of bulk to him; these were the muscles of long years of hard work that had kept him trim.
He took both my hands and tugged me toward him, rolling me under his body so my back was pressed into the thick fur rug in front of the fireplace in my room.
“Were you a fighter, like Spartan?” I reached up and ran a hand over the side of his face, finding a faint pale scar that I traced all the way to his ear.
His lips quirked. “You like to talk during?”
“Before. During. After. Indulge me. I have to get to know you each over the next few days and decide which one of you is the man of my dreams.” I waggled my eyebrows at him.
He flicked his tongue out the side of his mouth as if he were thinking. “I was a fighter, but as a slave, not a paid warrior like Spartan.”
I narrowed my eyes, thinking. “If I were to put you in a book, I’d make you a thief. Lean, fast, with a sense of humor as sharp as a blade.”
He threw back his head and laughed, exposing his throat and drawing me forward at the same time. I used his momentum to roll him so I was on top and he carried my weight. Both of his hands went to my ass, squeezing the twin globes. “Allianna, you are a very good guesser. I was a thief, after I broke free of my slaver. That is where I was found and brought before the queen.”
I couldn’t help the chuckle. “You were trying to steal from the vampire hive?”
He rolled his shoulders. “To be fair, I didn’t know what they were, only that there were rumors of great wealth hidden deep in the hills of New England. That is manna and temptation together for a thief.”
I lowered my face and began to kiss my way across his chest, finding the pale scars that marked him as a slave what I hoped was a long time past. “Talk to me, while I taste you,” I said softly.
He sucked in a breath. “I thought I would be the one doing the work.”
“You might be, but let me play.” I nipped at his side, over his ribs, making him jump.
I looked up from under my lashes, and his dark eyes, they closed. “God, you will be the death of me. I know it. Already I would cast my life for yours, Allianna. Not since my maker has anyone ever commanded that from me.”
My lips traced the curves and hard edges of his stomach, to the lines that pointed at the all but vibrating hard cock that waited for my touch.
“I was an orphan,” he said, and I kissed the juncture of his hip and thigh, pressing his leg to one side.
“Oh, fuck, I won’t last,” he whispered.
I smiled and rubbed my face against his inner thigh, breathing in his smell of clean skin, dark nights, and the haze of a lightning bolt cutting through the air. Ozone seemed to trickle around us as I kissed and licked my way down to the back of his knee and back up again. “Talk to me, Wick.”
“After I was captured and turned by the queen, I was sent out to recruit new members. It was my choice if they were worthy. I found King and Celt and knew they would fit well with Preacher and me. We needed more added to be a brotherhood. Spartan, on the other hand, he was brought in by one of the other brotherhoods, a violent group who like to abuse their women. But he wasn’t going to fit with them. I knew it right away, so I stole him and brought him to Lily to turn for our brotherhood and now, if you don’t mind, I think I’ve had enough of your brand of torture.” The words had come out in a flying rush and he moved as if to sit up.
I leaned in and licked the base of his cock, stilling his movement as quickly as if I’d literally frozen him.
“You sure about that? You want me to stop?”
He lowered himself back. “Killing me, I tell you.”
I licked up the base of his cock like a lollipop, curled my tongue around the tip and then trailed it back down. “Don’t worry. I’d like you to return the favor at some point.”
He buried his hands into the fur of the rug, unable to reach me where I sat between his knees. I slid my hand to either side of his cock and leaned over him, slipping the satin sheath of him in until the tip reached the back of my throat. I slid it out again, and in, over and over, tightening my lips here and there, swirling my tongue over him. Tasting him. Feeling my own pussy grow wet with wanting him even as I drew him clo
ser to a climax. Feeling the heat between us growing and swirling like flames kissing against my skin. I groaned, and he arched into my mouth.
Shifting my weight, I moved so I sat to the side of him, well within reach of one of his hands. He took the unspoken offer, and worked his way up my inner thigh to the wet warm center of my body.
“Damn it, woman. I’m going to come.”
I pulled my mouth off him and looked up his body. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“One climax each, then you have to be passed on to the next. If you reach the last of us, and there is still time, you will start back at the beginning with Preacher.”
His words echoed in my mind. Over and over, I would be shared among them.
Like a carousel of orgasms. A part of me wanted to squeal and jump up and down. If this was going to be the last week of my life, at least I was going out with a goddamn fucking bang-a-rama.
A tremble whispered over my limbs. “And I don’t have to sleep?”
“And that drink will give you stamina to keep up with us,” his finger dipped into me and did a slow circle, pressing outward. His thumb followed, pressing in deeply, and then he spread finger and thumb, stretching me ever so much that I forgot what I was doing, but instead stayed where I was and let the tug and pull on my pussy guide my movements.
“So that each of us can prove our worth to you, to prove we are the one that best fits your needs and wants.” Wick twisted his hand half a turn and then back again as he began to pulse his hand slowly in and out of me. I was on my hands and knees, head down as I breathed through the pleasure as it built and grew, as the heat in my middle spread outward and my wanton hips rocked with him.
“I can bring you as many times as I want, but as soon as I come, I have to give you over to King,” Wick said. “Which makes me want to fuck you, oh, so badly, but also, I want to hear you scream.”
I was shaking and barely able to hold myself up, my pussy was dripping and I panted with need. Wick shifted so he still had his fingers in me, but also so his free hand was on one of my hanging breasts. He pinched a nipple, drawing it down and with that drawing a deep moan from me as the two pleasure centers collided in my belly.
