“I cannot hear you, Naveenah.”
“Yes. Yes, I enjoyed it.”
His smile showed her that he approved of her answer.
“Then all will be fine.”
He held her gaze even as he settled his mouth upon her, extending his tongue and giving her pussy another long, slow lick before nuzzling down on her clit, all her pent-up emotion bursting forth like fireworks from his touch.
She wanted to watch him, but the overwhelming sensations were too much. She closed her eyes to hold back and regain her patience. She moaned as he began to eat her more richly, feeling the roughness of his tongue bathe her as his fingers slid inside her. Again, he stopped too soon. She opened her eyes to watch him, only to find him watching her. He rose up on his knees above her, his cock hard and dripping pre-cum. She was so wet and ready that she didn’t know how much longer she could stand his tormenting.
She watched him. He grabbed his cock hard with one hand, sliding along its length. She reached out to touch him, but he held her back.
“I will not last if you touch me.”
His tone was dark and breathless. It showed her how close to the edge his teasing had brought him, too. He leaned closer, guiding his cock to her opening, then pushing just inside. It was exactly what she wanted, it was all she could do to not scream out how badly she wanted him inside her.
Slowly he pushed inside, allowing her time to adjust to his girth until finally he was entirely embedded inside her pussy. She felt all of him as he filled her completely. As he began to ride her, she had to close her eyes. She had grown so sensitive from his masterful way of bringing her to the edge and letting her back off that the sensations nearly overwhelmed her now. He’d been right, they fit perfectly together. She squeezed him and loved it when he growled at her in response.
His rhythm was so steady. A king, even now, so solid and true, commanding his lust, not allowing it to take him. He grabbed her hips, pulling her to him with every hard thrust. Good God, he was a thing of beauty. Surely there could never be another man like him in all the world.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself finally to get lost to the sensations. Her orgasm built as his rhythm sped. She bent her legs, hugging his hips with her knees, allowing him a deeper penetration. His control was slipping. She could tell by listening to his breathing. She reached down between her legs and abraded her clit, almost instantly falling over the edge. Her head back against the pillows, she growled deep in her throat as she came hard. He reacted by following her, roaring as his fingertips pressed into her hips. All care and technique gone now, they reverted to primal, raw beings, fucking the life out of one another. He had complete control of her entire body as he held her steady and thrust into her over and over.
“You are mine now, forever!”
His cum filled her body as his words filled her heart. Moments later he collapsed beside her, grabbing her, roughly cupping her face in his hands, and kissed her with frantic passion, laying claim to any vestiges of her soul he had missed before.
“Mine.”
His stare carried all the intensity of a great wave in the ocean. She had to look away in order to breathe.
Mine.
What a lovely word.
* * * *
Energy pulsed up Nikolai’s spine as sound began to register again. Dripping water and the scent of minerals told him exactly where he was even before he opened his eyes. The vision had gone. Had it even been real? Lying on the floor of the council chamber once more, he became aware of someone holding his hand. The fingers were cold but soft. He opened his eyes, looking into the tender blue eyes of the female who raised him and kept him safe from the clutches of his father all those years.
“Juelle.”
She patted the back of his hand softly, but the worried expression on her face concerned him. His head was spinning, but he felt so alive.
“Shhhh. Everyone else is gone. Can you get up?”
The vibrations in his body seemed to hum in one seamless rhythm. He felt like he could do anything. He nodded but only rose to a sitting position before feeling dizzy.
“Where did the council go?”
Juelle’s stunning features grew tense.
“Hima, they have gone to prepare for sohngala.”
The term of endearment was one a mother would call her son, and though anyone who saw the two together would not believe she could have been any more advanced in age than he, she was the female who had played mother to him. She had not called him that since he was a boy, but the term sohngala was of much more concern here.
“Juelle, why, why do they fear the sohngala is coming?”
The sohngala was legend, the ultimate battle for their people. The nay-chi had lived in the broken realm of Terra-li for so long a time, most no longer remembered why they were here at all as the curse on the realm played with the minds of even the immortal races. There was legend of a guardian council who held the truth, not only as to why they’d all been forced from the realm of Chibelle, but about their purpose in this realm, as well. As one of the rare half-breeds, everything Nikolai knew of his people had been taught him, not experienced firsthand. This made him reckless and less respecting of the old ways. The legend of Chibelle held no real interest for him. The way he saw it, his people had been waiting thousands of years for the realms to come together again, and he wasn’t about to spend his life waiting for something no one even knew for certain was real. The sohngala was not something he ever intended to take part in.
“My dear child, we all saw what happened to you. We saw the fair-haired one anoint you. You will lead us to the sohngala and to our victory.”
His mind cleared and he stood with a jolt.
“I need the council to save Antares!”
He helped Juelle to her feet.
“They won’t save him, Nikolai. You know this. They see it all as divine timing. Antares is dead or dying, and you have been anointed our new leader. You will be king of Vaturia now and lead our people back to the planet surface and our rightful place in history.”
He ran his hand over his head. This was all wrong, but how the hell was he supposed to fix it?
“No, you don’t understand, in the vision, did you not hear? She said to me that Antares and I would work together. We must save him!”
Juelle looked caught between two violent storms descending at once. Lips trembling, she wrung her hands over and over.
“No, we could not hear, only see. We saw the anointing. I don’t know…Nikolai, our people fear Antares and his reign. No one will help you save him.”
“Manchinta!” She looked at him, clearly shocked over his language, but it was appropriate for the situation. “Then I will save him myself.”
When he turned to leave, she yelled after him, “Nikolai, you cannot! It is sacred!”
He didn’t care. He understood the rules of his people, the bylaws put in place to keep any nay-chi from becoming corrupt with power, but he would use his gift alone and he would save his brother. In his mind, it was already decided.
Nikolai wore his horse down getting back to the city in record time. Still, night had already fallen again, and his brother had been left with his wound for over twenty-four hours. Whatever he found when he returned to Antares’s side, it would not be good. Though he could not get the council to agree to help, he was determined to save him any way he could. After what happened back at the fortress, he was feeling invincible anyway. As he bolted up the metal staircase he almost felt like he might take flight at any moment.
Worry bubbled in his veins as he sprinted down the long hallway to his brother’s rooms. The image of Antares collapsed on the floor, the warm, dark blood seeping into his clothing, was one that would not soon leave him. And what of Naveenah? He had not intended to leave her so long, and he prayed she could handle the situation in his absence. He had to believe that Antares would be fine, though. The vision had been too clear. Together, he and Antares would bring in a new Vaturia, one with pe
ace for both Vaturian and nay-chi.
He bolted into the parlor where he’d last seen Antares, but everything was still. He went to the spot on the floor where Antares had lain. Finding a stain on the patterned rug, Nikolai squatted and touched it, pulling back his fingers with blood on them. His heart seized.
It is not too late.
He would not believe it.
So many thoughts flooded his mind it became painful. He drew a breath and sorted them. First, he would check Antares’s own bed. After that, he would look for Naveenah.
He made the trip to the double doors of Antares’s bedchamber in a few wide steps and pulled the doors both open at once. The twin blows of betrayal and jealousy hit him harder than anything he had felt in his entire life. They superheated the already-intense energy he felt coursing through him. It coalesced in his veins, an unstoppable tempest of power. Screaming out his pain, he sent two bolts of energy surging across the room to their target, the bed where Naveenah lay naked with his brother.
Chapter Eighteen
Nikolai’s vision blurred. The bed broke in two, dumping both his brother’s naked ass, along with Naveenah’s, to the floor. Yes, he’d always known the plan was for Naveenah to fuck his brother, but seeing it hit him harder than he ever imagined. Flames licked the old wooden posts that supported the bed. Naveenah screamed and grabbed for a blanket to cover herself. Nikolai, on autopilot, heard a small voice deep inside him, warning him not to fuck his entire world, but it didn’t matter. He saw no way of stopping it.
“Why cover yourself, sienta? It’s not as though I have not explored ever miniscule inch of your flesh every time we fucked.”
He had spoken the words to Naveenah, but he kept his gaze locked on Antares. He would never be proud to say it, but he felt a sense of satisfaction when he saw the realization dawn and that first hit of raw pain register.
Naveenah frantically tried to dress, but her gown got stuck over her head and she seemed to be having trouble with the sleeves.
Antares did not seem bothered by his naked state. Dark rage in his eyes, he advanced on Nikolai, who roared encouragement, “That’s right, brother, come on!”
Antares got the first punch, a hard connection of fist to gut, and Nikolai buckled under the jolt of it, but he was done hiding what he could do. He grabbed Antares’s left arm and with very little effort flung him clear across the room, to take out a rickety chair as he landed.
He strode over to where Antares lay on the ground in a crumpled heap and stood over him, looking down, still not seeing even a hint of fear or surrender.
“What’s the matter, brother? Am I not good enough to share your female?”
He drew Antares up by the neck and again flung him to the other side of the room where he crumbled into a desk this time. Papers went flying, and a jar of colorful marbles broke, pinning pieces of glass into Antares’s flesh.
“In your childhood, did no one teach you to share everything?”
Nikolai reached to the heavens, pooling another bolt of electricity in his veins before sending it into the ceiling. He didn’t give a damn if he collapsed the whole damn building on them all. His heart hurt so deep as if the damn organ had been carefully sliced right in two and now both halves were laid open, bleeding.
He strode to Antares, who still had not risen from the pile of splintered wood and broken glass. He leaned in close, baring his teeth, still feeling the need to kill. The hatred burning in Antares’s eyes matched the fervor of his own rage. He spat in his face. “That’s right brother. I am nay-chi, as was our mother.”
Nikolai’s rage and the misuse of his sacred powers had brought a large piece of the ceiling in on them, and now the rain poured in, dousing the fires he had started.
“Our mother was not nay-chi.” Antares slowly stood.
Nikolai allowed it. “She was, and our father murdered her for it.”
He had always wondered whether or not Antares knew the truth about their parents. His brother’s bewildered expression told Nikolai that this revelation had come as a complete shock.
“Our father tried to eradicate my people, but he failed, and now I have come back to lead them exactly as the prophecies have foretold.”
Antares moved in close. Nikolai always respected his brother’s lack of fear in any situation, but right now he wondered if his brother truly knew how close to death he stood.
“Then I will finish what our father started.”
Naveenah’s whimper distracted him. He could not look at her and risk seeing the condemnation in her eyes as she looked back at him, but in the moment he’d let down his guard, Antares struck. His hands circled Nikolai’s throat, pressing hard, compressing his windpipe, leaving him gasping for even the smallest of breath. As his vision went hazy, another burst of pure energy soared through his body, and with it, he shot a bolt of white heat at Antares’s midsection, winning his freedom and putting Antares back on the floor. Antares cried out from the pain, and the scent of burning flesh rose around them. He put his foot on Antares’s chest, effectively pinning him to the floor.
Naveenah screamed and begged him to stop. He turned to her. She stood shivering in the corner of the room, her skin so pale, her eyes so full of fear. He wanted only to comfort her, but something darker inside him refused to allow it. He blamed her not. It was always meant to be this way, but he did have one question he absolutely needed answered.
“Tell me, Naveenah, did you enjoy my brother’s touch?”
He released Antares and stalked toward her. He’d given the darkness too much free reign, and now, despite how badly he did not want to hurt Naveenah, his feet moved him toward her and his mouth spoke harsh words that were dagger sharp.
“Did he do for you what I have? Did his mouth bring you more pleasure than mine? Did he fuck you well, johoree?”
“Don’t you dare!” The deep growl came from behind, and in a flash Antares was atop him again. “She is not johoree. She is mine.”
She is not yours. She is rianu.
Antares’s fist slammed into his face, but this time he didn’t try to stop him. In truth he needed Antares to stop him.
A wave of emotion inundated him. In that moment, he almost wished Antares would kill him. He took punch after punch without defense. Without Naveenah, he realized, life would not be worth living. He surrendered his soul and his life to his fate. If Antares killed him, so be it.
* * * *
Naveenah had to stop this. This was all her fault, and she would not have the deaths of these men on her conscience. Screaming had done no good. The men were lost to her, instead, prisoners to their rage and hatred. What she had seen Nikolai do tonight truly scared her, and the entire situation was a horrible, horrible mess, but she would not let things end like this. There was only one thing she could see to do that might work.
She steeled her nerves, knowing she would most likely get hurt, but Nikolai and Antares were everything to her now. She couldn’t let this continue. In a flash of movement, she covered Nikolai’s bleeding body with her own.
“Antares, stop!”
She closed her eyes as his fist pummeled toward her face, expecting the pain to burst forth at any second.
When she felt nothing, heard nothing, she slowly opened her eyes to see Antares still standing above her, fists frozen in place, eyes haunted.
“You choose him?” His voice broke like jagged ice. She hadn’t meant to choose anyone. She merely wanted the brutality to stop.
“No. I mean…”
She stood and tried to touch him, but he pulled away. The cracks across her heart were starting to congeal into one shattered entity. How could anyone bear such pain?
“I loved you.” He cupped her face in his hands, more roughly than he had before, then placed a kiss to her lips. “And you reject me.”
“No.”
He released her and found his pants in the rubble of his room.
“Antares, please listen to me.”
She looked over her should
er at Nikolai, who sat with eyes closed. He appeared to be in a trance, but she couldn’t concern herself with him now. She needed to stop Antares.
“Antares, I love you.”
“Lies.”
His voice was cold and level. The passionate responses she was so used to from him were gone. He dressed and began to walk away, then grabbed her one arm, pulling her face close to his. The pain and anger on the surface of his soul appeared with all clarity in his eyes.
“Tell the nay-chi I declare war on them all, and I won’t sleep until they are all dead.”
He released her as he stormed from the room, throwing her with enough strength that she stumbled and nearly fell. Naveenah wanted to run after him, convince him this was all a huge misunderstanding, but her feet were frozen to the floor. She looked to Nikolai, who seemed completely engulfed in his trance. Her heart was destroyed. Even if Nikolai would not refuse her the way Antares had, it didn’t matter. She could never be with Nikolai again after all this. Her entire world was crumbling into pieces of burning wreckage all around her, and she had no one to blame for it. She had done this all by herself.
Panic clawed up her spine and dug into her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. The rain poured in through the crumbled ceiling. With one last look at Nikolai, she ran. Ran from the room, ran from the hotel, ran out into the night, drenched and shivering. Heedless of the dangers she faced in the dark city streets, she sought only to outrun the pain and hide from what she had done.
Lost in the darkness before long, she began to realize just how much trouble she had gotten herself into. How many times had she been warned about the city streets at night? Yet there she was, and she’d taken so many twists and turns, trying to avoid debris, that she truly had no idea where she was any longer. She looked to the sky, trying to see if the dawn was anywhere near close to breaking, but what she saw was terrifying.
Dark black and blood-red clouds swirled overhead with such a menacing glow she feared fireballs would begin to fall from the sky at any moment. Scared and confused, she tried to find someplace to think and hide until morning. She remembered Antares’s warning about people living in the buildings, but she had to get off the streets. Realizing something was following her, she didn’t have the luxury of being choosy, so she hauled her ass up to the building she was standing in front of.
To Love a King [The Reformation 1] (Siren Publishing PolyAmour) Page 18
