Haral chuckled again. Not just a simple plan but also a sweet plan. The absolute destruction of his brother with a delicious added bonus. The blood of a Principatus was, from what Haral had heard, quite a rush. He looked forward to discovering how much.
You still have to find her. And bring Ezryn to heel. How many of your own guards do you think he will slaughter trying to save her?
He sneered at the thought. It didn’t matter. The end justified the means. A lesson taught long ago by his blood-drunkard idiot father.
Turning his mind from his troublesome brother for a moment, he let his attention linger on one particular female cowering in the corner before him. Her thighs were plump and dimpled with cellulite, her belly round and fleshy, her breasts full and tipped with pale pink nipples pinched hard with fear. Her sweat leached from her pores, salty sweet and tinged with the metallic tang of her body’s female blood. He smiled, his mouth growing wet. She was menstruating. Even better. The perfect feed. He would sate his lust and then sate his hunger.
“My Lord?”
Fury flooded through Haral and he hissed, spinning on his heel. How dare he be intruded upon in the ballroom? He locked his stare on one of his many servants scurrying toward him from the far door, the whimpering cries of the women behind him enflaming his rage even more.
The bleeder came to a halt before him, half-bowing, half-cringing. “You wished to be advised on any news of Ezryn Navarr?” he gushed, eyes downcast. “He was spotted moving through the city’s streets less than an hour ago.”
Haral narrowed his eyes. “Spotted by whom?”
“A human pet,” the servant blurted, head lowered, hands knotted. “The source is to be trusted. He is one of our most loyal donors, eager to be granted the transforming bite.”
Haral looked at the vamp before him, trying to ignore the familiar unease stirring in his gut. “Is there anything else?”
The vampire nodded, his expression wary. “General Jacob Ford has been seen moving through the streets as well. Heading for—”
Haral snapped his hand up, silencing the servant. Ford was in Australia as well? Why had he not known this? His throat grew tight and he ground his molars again. He should have known his brother’s lackey wouldn’t be far away from Ezzie’s side.
A heavy pressure squeezed his chest. General Ford presented a problem he hadn’t counted on. The American vampire was a threat. Ford despised him. Ford wanted him a pile of smoldering ash. Ford wanted to make him that pile of ash and was quite capable of doing so. Only Ezryn held him in check.
Haral let out a guttural growl. He would need to eradicate the general as well as his brother. He stamped his foot, the sound like a shot in the ballroom’s silence, and the women behind him squealed. “Fuck. Why isn’t anything ever easy?”
Use this information. Use their weaknesses against them and destroy all three at once.
The thought slid through Haral’s head, soft and absolute. He narrowed his eyes, considering the possibility. Ezryn’s weakness had always been his compassion, but Jacob Ford’s weakness was his heart. He was ruled by it. Friendship? Love? Ford believed in both.
Use those weaknesses then. Use them to destroy them all.
He turned away from the bowing servant and slid his gaze back to the silent females staring at him. Back to the plump woman with the full breasts and oh, so delicious fear.
Ezryn, Ford and the Principatus. Destroy all three at once.
He smiled, letting them see his fangs.
And to think his father had accused him of never amounting to anything, of never being as great as the prodigal son. If only Fredrik Navarr were alive to witness his son’s triumph…if only he could see what Haral was about to achieve. Maybe then he’d give his son the attention he deserved. Maybe then he would look at him the same way he looked at Ezzie.
His smile stretched wider as he stepped toward the woman with the dimpled, blood-smeared thighs.
All three at once.
Dark Ones, he couldn’t have planned it better.
Chapter Ten
Ezryn felt his general’s resistance surge through his mind, a thick sludge of demonic force tainting his normally calm subconscious. Jacob did not want to leave, did not want to walk away from Inari. The very notion filled him with such intense unease his vampire’s core was taking over.
“Jacob.” Ezryn fixed his stare on Jacob’s face, noting with detached interest how pointed his general’s fangs had become. How elongated. The vampire coming to the surface. “Jacob, go home.”
A shudder wracked Jacob’s body. He bared his teeth, jaw clenched. “I can’t do that, Ezryn. I need Inari—”
Cold jealousy rolled through Ezryn, irrational and pressing. Jealousy that his general dare believe he had reason to be near Inari. Jealousy that Inari had been speaking of something secret with Jacob—even through the doorway.
Jealousy that Jacob looked at Inari as if seeing her for what she was. What she truly was.
He snarled, yanking Inari harder to his body. “Go home, Jacob.” He pushed the command deeper into Jacob’s resistant mind. “Now.”
“Let me go, Ezryn.” Inari struggled in his hold.
He ignored her, his focus narrowed on Jacob’s face. Dismay twisted in his gut at the turbulent uncertainty etched there. His friend fought his true self just as much as he fought Ezryn’s command to leave.
Jealousy rippled through him again, building into a crashing wave of rage. “Jake.” He narrowed his thoughts into a single, pushing suggestion. “You need to go home.”
His dismay drilled deeper into his gut, his rage mounting. He’d never had the need to influence Jacob’s will before. That he did so now tormented him. And infuriated him.
Succubus.
The word slipped through his head like an oiled serpent, and his anger turned hotter.
Inari. Succubus.
A low growl rumbled in his chest and he tightened his arms around her body. Curse it, he wanted to fuck her. Even knowing what she was, what she was doing to Jacob, he wanted to bury himself in her wet heat.
Succubus.
Gut heavy, chest tight, he sent out another concentrated push to his friend. “Jake, go home.” He kept his voice calm but forceful. “Now.”
Jacob blinked once. His gaze slipped to Inari, his nostrils flared and he turned on his heel and left, moving away from the door and along the corridor in a blur of cold flight.
“What in all the levels of hell—” Inari began, but Ezryn didn’t let her finish.
He shoved her away from him, pinning her against the wall of her living room with his body before she could regain control. His cock pressed against the junction of her thighs, his chest crushed her breasts. He could smell her musk, taste it on the very air. Dark Ones, he wanted her. “What did you do to him?”
Her eyes widened. “What do you mean? I didn’t do anything to him.”
“I beg to differ.” He snaked his hands up her arms. Snaring the silver bracelets circling her wrists, he grit his teeth against the pain searing into his flesh and yanked them off, throwing them aside with a sneer. Fixing his stare on hers, he curled the fingers of his right hand around her throat. Her pulse beat against his palm, wild and erratic. “I’ve never had to influence my general like I had to just now.”
Inari’s eyes narrowed. “Influence?” She squirmed beneath him. “No wonder you were born to be overlord. Could you be any more of a control freak?”
Ezryn chuckled, dragging his thumb over her bottom lip. “Most definitely, succubus.”
“Fuck off, vampire.”
He lowered his head closer to her face. “Not until I’ve finished what I came to here to do.” He closed his fingers tighter around her throat, stared into her eyes, drew her sweet scent into his body and took possession of her lips with his.
His kiss was savage.
His tongue delved into her mouth, battled with hers. Explosive heat erupted in the pit of her belly, a heat further stoked by the head of Ezryn’
s erection massaging the tiny button of her clit through her pants. She whimpered, and the wretched sound was captured by Ezryn’s brutal mouth. The heat in the junction of her thighs grew wet and she rolled her hips, hating herself even as she grew desperate for Ezryn to enter her.
Instead, he dragged his lips from hers and chuckled in her ear, a low, husky laugh of pure malice. “Tonight, I am the master of your sexual slavery, Inari. I am the one in control. You have no power. No say. I decide when you are pleasured and when you will come.”
Her breath caught and she struggled against his body. “Fuck off,” she growled again.
Ezryn laughed, brushing his lips against her cheek, a cold caress that made her pussy weep. “Tell me to remove your clothing.”
Inari’s mouth went dry. “Go to hell.”
He pushed his hips to hers and ground his erection against the curve of her pussy. “We’ve had this conversation before, succubus.” He slid his left hand down her ribcage, over her hip to her ass. “And we both know where it ended. With me between your thighs, feasting on your cream. Now tell me to remove your clothing.”
Anger ripped through the black desire consuming her. “Just who the hell do you think you are?”
“I know who I am,” Ezryn squeezed her ass cheek with brutal pressure before sliding his hands back to her hip. “And now I know who you are, what you are too. Now tell me to remove your clothing.”
“Fuck you.”
The red shards in his eyes glowed brighter. “Very well.”
He lifted his hands to the deep V of her corset and popped the top clasp.
The slight release of pressure on her breasts sent a jolt of wicked excitement through her, and she gasped. She kept her stare locked on his eyes, the lust she saw in their clear depths making her pulse pound, keeping her motionless. Rooted to the spot. Or was it his thick, restrained cock nudging between her legs? Or both?
Whatever the reason, she didn’t shove him away. She didn’t want to. By the Powers, she was…
Without a word, Ezryn released another clasp on her corset, and a liquid charge of pleasure shot through her.
“Tell me how it feels to not be in control, Inari,” His low order sent another jolt deep into her very center. “To be defenseless against a force greater than yours.”
She couldn’t reply. Her throat felt thick. She stood frozen, held prisoner by his arms and smoldering eyes. He wasn’t just a vampire. He was the vampire, the first born of the first family. The vampire born to be the leader of them all, denied that role by a corrupt, meaningless ritual. Was that the reason for his power? Was that the reason he could reduce her to a slave of her own pleasure with just a simple word, a single look? Did it all make sense now? Or was she grasping for truths that weren’t there?
“Tell me how it feels to be the slave to your own pleasure,” he murmured, pressing the thick steel of his erection harder to her sex. “Succubus.”
At the hissed title, he grabbed the front of her corset with both hands and tore it open.
Inari cried out, her breasts tumbling free, her sex flooding with traitorous cream.
He scooped each revealed curve of flesh into his palms and dragged his thumbnail over her rock-hard nipples. The fire in his eyes flared to a scalding blaze and he dropped his head, his mouth claiming her right nipple with fierce greed.
She arched her back, her ass slamming into the wall behind her as he sucked hard on her nipple. Wet electricity shot through her body, sinking into her core with alarming speed. Her pussy gushed damp heat and she whimpered, Ezryn’s teeth nipping at her flesh.
“Yes, Inari.” His growl vibrated through her breast, into her body. “I can smell your arousal.” He slipped his hand between their bodies and rolled his fingers over her crotch, stroking her clit through the drenched satin of her pants. “I can feel how hot you are. How wet.” He slid his hand from between her legs and, unable to stop the shameful sound, Inari whimpered.
He chuckled, smoothing his hand over the flatness of her belly. “Tell me how much you like the feel of my mouth on your breast.” He dipped his hand back to her sodden groin and slapped it lightly with the tips of his fingers. “How much you like the feel of my hand on your sweet, wet pussy.”
His cruel order made her moan and she shook her head. No. She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t.
He chuckled again, his low laughter setting her nerve endings alight. She squirmed in his hold, pressing her thighs together, her clit a tiny ball of swollen need, her womb heavy with urgent want.
He returned his mouth to her breast, suckling, biting before sliding his lips up her chest to her neck. She felt his fangs score a lazy line over the base of her throat and another whimper slipped from her. By the Powers, she was going to come.
“Not until I say so, Principatus.” His whisper tickled her ear and he took a step backward, his nostrils flaring as he gazed at her with blatant hunger. “Tell me to remove your pants.”
Inari’s breath caught in her throat. She thought of Ezryn between her legs, of his hands pushing her thighs wide as his tongue delved into her folds. She thought of his cock, thick and hard and oh, so long, pressed at her sex, its bulbous head teasing the tight cleft. Her pussy throbbed, squeezing with base lust and primitive desire.
“Tell me, Inari,” Ezryn commanded, the tips of his fingers playing with the waistline of her trousers. “Or I will tie you to the bed and leave you untouched.”
“Remove my pants, Ezryn.”
The words came from her in a wavering whisper. Her surrender clear. Undeniable.
Slowly, his stare never leaving her face, he lowered himself to his knees and popped the button of her fly. He pulled down her zipper.
Inari’s pulse quickened. She could barely breathe. Oh, Dark Ones, yes…
Her cry to the dark, demonic gods should have terrified her. It didn’t. She was once their most faithful servant. A succubus who delivered more than their fill of human souls. The memory of that former life, her former self sliced into her with horrifying, seductive pain.
Fight it, Inari. Don’t lose yourself. Don’t…
“Tell me, Inari Chayse.” Ezryn’s cool lips brushed the flatness of her belly and she bit back another whimper. “Would you like me to touch your breasts while I fuck you with my tongue?” He placed a soft kiss at the base of her navel and let the tip of one fang touch her flesh before pulling his head away. “Or would you like me to cup and squeeze your ass with my hands while I suck on your clit?”
Inari closed her eyes, her knees weak. How did she survive this? How did she survive Ezryn’s cruelty?
How did she beg him to never end it?
Cool fingers skimmed over the tip of her right nipple, sending a shard of concentrated pleasure into the pit of her belly. One touch. One barely felt touch. “Answer me, Inari.”
“Yes, Ezryn,” she whispered, pressing her hips forward, wanting him to pull her trousers down her legs and sink his tongue between her thighs.
“Yes, what, Inari?”
She felt Ezryn studying her, his eyes like a molten caress. Smelled her own musk on the air as his stare roamed her face. “Yes, I want you to touch my breasts while…” She faltered, her cheeks filling with shamed warmth even as her sex filled with wet heat.
He feathered his fingertips over her nipple again. “While what?”
“While you fuck me with your mouth.”
“How much, Principatus?”
Inari ground her teeth, squirming against the wall. “Curse you, bloodsucker.”
“How much?”
Bastard.
She glared at him, pressing her hips forward, wanting to feel his mouth on her sex.
Ezryn chuckled. “Will you tell me if I do this?” He slid his lips over her belly, explored the curve of her waist and slid back down to her navel. “Or when I do this?” He blew a fine stream of cold air on the path his lips had just traveled, and Inari’s flesh rippled with an elemental response. “Or this?”
He touched his
lips to the curve of her sex exposed by her open fly, tracing his tongue in a small circle on her sensitive skin before he lifted his head to stare at her again.
Inari bit back a cry. He was a bastard. An absolute bastard, and she was going to kill him.
“Tell me you are mine, Inari, and your first orgasm of the evening will be but a flick of my tongue away.” He skimmed his fingers up the underswell of her breasts and circled each nipple with languid arrogance. “And your second but a twist of my fingers.”
She was burning. On fire. She was going to come. All it would take was one more touch. One more… “Go to hell.”
He hooked his fingers into the waistline of her shorts and tore them apart.
“Aren’t we already there, my sweet little demon?”
He slid hard hands up her partly exposed thighs, played long fingers over her cleft for a tantalizing second before he pushed her legs wide. “You smell like honeyed wine, Inari,” he murmured, blowing a thin stream of cold air on the damp folds of her pussy. “I am going to drink of you so deeply. Now—” he flicked his tongue at her slit, a teasing stab that made her hiss, “—tell me you belong to me.”
The word no formed in her mind.
The words, “I’m yours, damn you, I’m yours,” fell from her lips in a raw, choked moan.
Without preamble, he grabbed the back of her knees, jerked her feet off the floor and hooked her legs over his shoulders. She gasped, his abrupt action ramming her back harder to the wall. She grabbed at his hair and held him in a death grip as his mouth took possession of her sex.
“Oh, God!” Inari cried out, her body erupting in explosive pleasure. He stabbed his tongue into her folds, rolled it over her clit. She bucked, her spread pussy slamming harder to his open mouth, her shoulders pushing harder to the wall. She reached for him and buried her hands in his hair, holding on as he sucked savagely on her clit, his hands mauling her ass with increasing frenzy. “God!”
Dark Embrace (Principatus) Page 21
