by Shara Azod
“Is that delightful blush for me?” Valentin whispered while her three man crew was setting up.
At least she was getting an exclusive. Valentin had been escorting her around all day, first at the castle in which he and his brother lived, and now at the government offices. She had gotten some great footage and wonderful insight. He had even taken her to talk to local shop keepers and businesspeople. Frumosians really loved Valentin and his brother. They adoration was evident all over their faces. It was a great relief; they were nothing like the outside world had painted them.
She didn’t dare answer his question. Not with the cameraman, her producer and the sound guy a few feet away. She sent him a little frown, thought she didn’t feel the least bit annoyed. She was hot. For reasons known only in the heavens, she felt even more of a pull between her and the brothers today than she had yesterday. When Dragoş had left after kissing her sweetly this morning she had felt like crying. It was the oddest thing; she had never experienced anything like it. She could walk away from a relationship without batting an eye, and this was far from a relationship!
“Damn it, Kiana! We left some of the equipment back at the castle,” her producer muttered, not looking up from the bags the woman was rummaging through. “We have to go back.”
“I will have my car take you and bring you right back,” Valentin offered helpfully.
“That would be great!” the frazzled woman beamed, looking up for the first time. “Kiana, we will be right back. You stay here and break the ice. Pick a vantage point in this fabulous office for the interview. Be right back!”
The three man crew was gone before she could say anything to the contrary, leaving her alone with a grinning Valentin.
“Did you do that on purpose?” she demanded, more excited than pissed.
“You think I orchestrated your people forgetting their equipment?”
Maybe not orchestrated, but he was pleased as punch. She had seen that look before. Last night. Moisture began to flow despite her best intentions to let last night be a one night thing.
“Have you seen my desk?” Valentin took her lightly by the elbow and guided her toward the massive antique monstrosity.
That thing looked as big as a bed. A moan emitted at the thought. The last thing she needed to be thinking about was a bed while alone a man with too much sex appeal for his own good.
“Exactly,” Valentin agreed with that sensuous growl of his.
He lifted her on the clear surface, raising her skirt as he did so. Her legs opened without demur, without the request. Who the hell was she trying to fool anyway? She knew as soon as the crew left what was going to happen.
“Why are you wearing panties?” It wasn’t really a question. Her nipples tightened impossibly hard anticipating what he might do.
She did vaguely recall one of them saying something about not wearing panties ever again. She had blown it off. It wasn’t like she was going to be here much longer. Plus, she really wanted to see what one or both would do if she defied them outright. There was something inexplicably stimulating about the dominant men. They weren’t assholes, just forceful. She loved it.
“Is there something wrong with wearing panties?” she dared, her pulse racing as more moisture flowed from her.
Valentin closed his eyes, sniffing at her pussy. With a snap, her panties were gone, on thick digit tracing the opening of her bare pussy.
“One would think you are being defiant on purpose,” he murmured.
Oh, hell yeah she was!
The first smack against her quim caught her completely off guard. Her lungs gulped in air, her eyes going wide. Damned if her hips didn’t follow his hand. The sting turned into a slow burn, sending shards of voracious yearning through her. Valentin didn’t smile this time, his eyes smoldered with promise.
“Unbutton your blouse,” he ordered her.
Her fingers were at work in no time, eager to be bared to him. Another stinging slap fell before she could get more than a few buttons free. Followed by three more before the silk of her shirt was falling open, her hands cupping her own breasts, manipulating her nipples.
“Yes, play with them,” Valentin encouraged, freeing his rigid erection from his pants. Her mouth water as his hands stroked the smooth skin from root to tip. She needed that, and she needed it now.
“Valentin!” Placing her feet on the edge of the desk, legs sprawled apart, he canted her hip in invitation.
With a primitive snarl, he was there, buried balls deep inside her. There were no gentle strokes today. Valentin pounded inside her, primal, demanding. The sharp edge of pain, slight but oh so thrilling. Her legs wrapped around him, her feet pulling him forward. She didn’t give a damn that she was spread out on his desk where anyone could walk in. All that mattered was this, and the extraordinary bliss he was giving her.
“Mine!” Valentin barked. “Say it! Tell me you are mine!”
“Yours, Valentin! All yours.” As if she could deny it. She was panting for it.
“You will not leave us, will Kiana? You know you were born to be our woman.”
“Yes!” She would agree to just about anything, and at the moment, she meant every word.
Quite honestly, she meant it beyond the sex. She couldn’t explain it, but all they had to do was ask and she would stay. She didn’t think she could leave without leaving a piece of herself behind as it was.
“Look at me!” Her eyes open, taking in the beauty of deep sapphire eyes laced with silver. Weird how in the heat of passion their eyes seemed to swirl with quicksilver. “I mean it Kiana, promise me you’ll stay. Don’t let this end.”
No, she never wanted to let it end.
“Yes,” she said from the bottom of her being, giving herself over completely.
“Mine!”
His hands grasped her hips, slamming her into his every thrust. It was too good! She was going to scream.
“Bite me,” he huffed, reading her need. “Let go, iubire. Bite down and let go.”
Sinking her teeth into his salty sweat soaked skin she shattered, coming so hard she tasted blood in her mouth.
“Yes, iubirea mea! Fuck yes! Milk my cock, baby!”
How could she do any less?
*****
One day down and one to go. Kiana winced a little as she and her crew followed Dragoş across the countryside. Well, it wasn’t all countryside. They visited small military outposts, small forest villages and now at the base of the mountains where there was a larger military installation and the country’s only prison. She was shocked anew by how well received the brothers were by the average citizenry. There were always pastries, hot fresh bread, or flowers for Dragoş wherever they went. She couldn’t even say that he only took her to see places and people who were biased, he like Valentin, took her wherever she asked without question. The country as a whole was about the size of Connecticut so it wasn’t hard to get the lay of the land.
What was hard was trying to keep focus on her job. After spending the day with Valentin yesterday, the Alexandrescu brothers had wined and dined her crew, hustling them off to lavish rooms on the opposite side of the castle from the one they were keeping her in. Once again she had found herself the main attraction for men she was in danger of falling for hard. As much as she wanted to blow off what she was feeling to the mind blowing sex, she knew it was far more than that. If the feeling of missing Dragoş all day yesterday hadn’t clued her in, the aching she felt today when she parted from Valentin was hard to miss.
Not to mention all the very touch from one or both of them made Kiana feel warm all over, safe and loved. She knew it was a danger for women to start thinking the dreaded L-word just because the bed gymnastics was great, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She did feel loved; in a touch, a look, a kiss. Not to mention their constant insistence that she not return to London. If she thought for a second they were serious, she would send her crew packing this very second.
It was just a seduction, words to mak
e her lower her inhibitions. As if they needed to bother. Her inhibitions had taking a flying leap off a cliff the moment she had seen them.
“I don’t think I like the direction of your thoughts.”
Dragoş’ voice shook her right out of her musings. That low rumbling think he did sent goosebumps pebbling all over her skin.
“And how do you know what I’m thinking?” She replied tartly, casting a glance over her shoulder.
The three man crew was far enough away that they couldn’t hear, which was a good thing. Dragoş had been making off handed wicked things to her all day.
“You are thinking of leaving again. This is not something I or Valentin can allow.”
Okay, being all warm and fuzzy was one thing, but she would be damned if they were going to tell her what to do.
“Allow? Excuse me? What are you going to do, lock me up in this prison?”
They hadn’t actually entered the prison yet. The cameraman was shooting the outside. It looked more like a medieval fortress, all gray stone. There was no barbed wire, no men with shot guns spread out all over the place. One would never know it was a prison if they happened to stumble on it.
“I would love to lock you up, but it wouldn’t be in a prison. I will simply tie you to our bed, and then give you a tongue lashing until you screamed for mercy.”
Well…She kind of liked the sound of that.
“Come, I want to return before night fall.”
She followed into the facility, marveling how modern it was on the inside while looking ancient on the outside. It had to be the cleanest prison she had ever seen. Granted she had only seen them in third world countries, but it was a marvel. The cells were large with comfortable looking bedding and privacy dividers for the toilet. She had never seen anything like it. They didn’t have televisions or anything, but as prisons go, it was rather nice.
“Okay, so where is the other part?” Kiana couldn’t believe this was their only prison. Talk about Club Fed! “This cannot be where you keep all the prisoners. What about rumors of political prisoners kept in dank, terrifying cells?”
Before Dragoş could answer, her producer was jumping up and down about the opportunity to do go behind the scenes with the warden. They didn’t really need her, as all the shots they took would have to be voiced over anyway so she was left alone with Dragoş, who didn’t look happy about her last question.
“Come,” he order, grasping her by the elbow and walking briskly back outside. Once there he ordered a car to be brought to him here from the military base close by, leaving the limo for the crew to get back.
He didn’t speak while they waited, leaving Kiana to wonder if she had gone too far. His face was like granite, a tick evident in his right jaw. The car was there in less than ten minutes. Escorting her to the passenger side, he dismissed the young soldier who had driven it there then climbed behind the wheel himself.
He still didn’t speak, leaving the silence to scream in the void until Kiana just couldn’t take it anymore.
“Where are we going?” She finally asked. He had taken a dirt road that appeared to be headed up into the mountain rather than back toward the castle.
“I am taking you to where the political prisoners are,” he didn’t turn to look at her when he said it. There was no inflection in his voice.
Tiny prickles of something close to dread danced over her skin. Not that she was afraid of him or scared he would do something to her. It was more because she knew in her heart of hearts there were no political prisoners.
Kiana was a reporter who trusted her instincts, and her instincts screamed that although she was under no delusion believing she had great insight to the Alexandrescu brothers, they were no despots. There was a lot going on in this tiny country beneath the scenes, and she didn’t even begin to understand it, but it wasn’t because they were killing or imprisoning their enemies.
The thing was, she wasn’t so sure she wanted to know what was going on. Something told her it would be something far outside her sphere of understanding. There was just something…more about Valentin and Dragoş. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what that more was.
The arrived a small outpost some thirty minutes later. The sky was beginning to turn a grayish purple, announcing the coming night.
“La dracu', I did not what to have you out at night,” Dragoş muttered more to himself than to her.
Her hand shot out to grip his wrist before he could take it away from the steering wheel. “Then don’t. Let’s go back. I don’t need to know.”
For the first time since leaving the prison, his features softened. Cupping her face he looked at her so tenderly she felt tear sting her eyes. Damn. Her heart filled with what she knew was love, no matter that she had just met him two days ago. No matter that she felt the same way about his brother. She could really spend her life with them both.
“You need to know, iubire,” he answered softly, placing a fleeting kiss against her lips. “Because we want you to stay, because we need you more than you can ever know, you need to be aware of what you are walking into.”
She so didn’t like the sound of that.
“And if I decide to go?” They were asking an awful lot for someone they just met. Yeah, it was exhilarating to know they meant it when they had demanded promises she would never leave, but she needed to know how far their affections went.
“We will follow. And by doing so, give up all rights to rule. Our country will fall, our legacy betrayed. But for you, we would walk through hell and back.”
“Why? That doesn’t make any sense! You don’t even know me really.” No one fell this hard this fast and had it last. That only happened in fairy tales. “And how do you know your country would fall if you aren’t here?”
“Come and I will show you.”
There were no guards here. The building was made of wood, not stone; it looked like an odd log cabin, only it wasn’t a cabin at all. It was way too big. Oddly, sprigs of green leaves grew on the giant thick logs that made the walls. And the place felt cold. Eerily cold, as if there was something in the air.
A solid, enormous door swung open slowly at their approach. Weird – Kiana didn’t see any one on the other side. It must have been automated somehow. The air was even colder past the threshold. She instinctively took a step closer to Dragoş, glad when his strong arms surrounded her.
“No matter what you see, do not run. I am here to protect you, I would never let anything happen to you.”
“Okay,” she croaked weakly. What was she about to – “OH MY GAWD, THAT CAN’T BE REAL.”
The inside of the structure was no more than a wide open area. Along each wall were cells, but the cells didn’t have bars, or even plexi-glass. There was some kind of sheer covering that sparkled like translucent gems. It was the things inside the cells that had Kiana slamming back hard against Dragoş’ chest. Some were grotesquely distorted animal-man hybrids, somewhere men who looked like walking skeletons with rotting flesh falling off their bones. It looked like something right out of a horror movie!
Some of the things howled in outrage, making her ears ring as the barged the opening. They bounced back against the shimmering shield, and then got up to charge again. Some of the rotting looking men began chanting, their eyes glowing with an unearthly silver light.
“These men are my uncles, some are cousins,” Dragoş kept his voice low and even. Kiana was none too reassured that he stayed close the door, which she noted was not closing. Thank the Lord of that. “Some are wolf shifters, some are not. All are wizards. The combined magic of Valentin and myself keep them locked here. Should we leave, forfeit our throne, the magic will fail and they will be unleashed. The will take power by trickery, force, and black magic. Because the spirits of the land did not choose them, the land will fall. It has been decreed from generation to generation. Only the brother born with the bond, in the union of triad shall rule. One brother-bond every hundred years is born. Should we fail in our duty, the spirit
s will withdraw their protection and go the way of the old gods. Gone from the land forever.”
Kiana heard the words, but she couldn’t really understand them or place them in any kind of order that made sense in her brain. This was…This was…Well things like this just didn’t happen! It couldn’t be real. Yet, here was the proof right before her eyes.
In a way, she had always known something other than sexual attraction was afoot here. Sure the brothers were sexy as all get out, but the pull had been something that went way beyond attraction.
“And me? I am what, just some means to an end. You needed a third so you just what, picked me out of the crowd and used your magic or whatever?” Her voice had gone shrill, verging on the hysterical. The beings behind the barriers must have heard her, or like what she was saying because they were all getting agitated.
“Let us go.”
She allowed him to pull her out of there, breathing a sigh of relief with the solid door closed with a resounding thunk. At least outside those walls, away from those things she could vent her anger.
How stupid was she? She thought they really liked her. Maybe they chose her because she was gullible as hell. It was crushing, and damn it hurt!
“Look at me!” Dragoş thundered. Seizing her chin he forced her to look up at him instead of waiting for her to reply. “Don’t think for a second that we chose you for anything other than simply you! I know that’s what you’re thinking. We didn’t choose you – the universe did!”
“Oh yeah, that’s a hell of a lot better! Are you saying that you had no choice? And do you change into one of the beast things to?”
Ah, hell she had just considered that. Those things were seriously nasty looking! There was no way in hell she would stick around to watch, or GROSS sleep with anything like those things!
“We turn in to wolves, real ones, not the sick parody you saw in there. And it is beyond choice! We were born for you as much as you were born for us! I could not be happier to have found you! You are our universe. All of this – the country, the prophesy, all of it – would be nothing without you!”
