Her Dark Soul

by Kim Knox

  Marek grinned against her ear, predatory, sharp, and she sucked in a quick breath. “I can feel your desire.” His thumbs rolled over her nipples, the sudden, fierce spark of his touch arching her into his hands. Lucas’ fingers regripped her thighs, his soft growl burning a shiver under her skin. “And when you scream his name into my mouth, he’ll find your ass with that clever tongue.”

  She turned her face to him, eager to kiss him, to make him share in Lucas’ talented mouth on her flesh.

  Marek bit at her lip and a wild cry filled the arena. A brief heat surged over her skin, forcing a shudder, and she knew the creation on the pillar had succumbed to Caheus, but it wasn’t enough for her. She wanted Marek and took his mouth, her binding song spiraling around them. He groaned and pressed himself against her back as his tongue fought with hers.

  Lucas gripped her ass and buried his face between her thighs, his tongue hot and quick. The heat of their hands on her body scorched her flesh and the rush of ancient words twisted and tightened around them. The first of the magics. That knowledge burst over her. The final binding was never simple.

  Her body teetered on the edge, the wild rush of need created by both men tearing over her. Her heart pounded, sweat slicking her skin in the burning sun, the scent of sex coalescing with the thrum of the words flowing from her skin in a swirling rush. Lucas’ desire pushed into her own and she reached out for Marek, wanting the touch of his need to carry her over.

  Her tongue, teeth, lips clashed with his, desperate for the brief spark. And then for one glorious moment, his mind opened to hers. His ferocious need to kiss her, to eat her, to fuck her, burned in a bright fire, surging over her thoughts, her skin, holding her, taking her, as Lucas fucked her hard with his tongue.

  The fierce sweep of her release flashed over her skin, her cry caught by Marek, his hands cupping her breasts, pulling her close to his chest. Ash broke away to pull in needed air and let her cheek drop against Marek’s. Magic ran raw through the air, turning, mixing with the soft keen of her binding song. She closed her eyes, luxuriating in his closeness. Lucas pressed his mouth to her mound, his breath ragged and hot, sending ripples of sensation through her sensitized skin.

  “Thank you.” Lucas’ murmur squeezed her heart and she threaded her fingers through his hair, brushing the damp strands away from his temple. He looked up, looked beyond her to Marek, and the heat in his gaze flicked fresh need. A smirk curved Lucas’ perfect lips. “Primary.”

  Marek’s hands eased back from her breasts to stroke over her waist. His lips touched her ear. “Turn around.” His raw whisper jumped a quick throb between her thighs.

  She glanced up and caught Caheus pushing back the robe of another woman, another statue of magicked flesh that looked and felt like her. The harsh sun cut across his shape as he formed a shadowed stain against her body. His tail flicked and he caught her in his large hands, turned her and bent her over.

  Ash’s heart caught in her throat, but Marek turned her and made her meet his gaze. The memory of his desire, so hot and bright, tightened her body and she gripped his arms.

  “We’re of more interest than an old demon.” Marek pressed his thumb to her bottom lip and he focused there, the hunger in his gaze making her breath short. The ancient words thickened around them, skimming over her bare skin in hot whispers. “Ready, Lucas?” He asked the question with his lips brushing hers. She shivered at the glide of Lucas’ fingers over the back of her thighs.

  Ash tilted forward and Marek let her as she offered her ass to Lucas. He ran his fingertips over her cheeks, dropping kisses over her thigh, her ass as he parted her. A long sigh brushed air over her damp skin. “Mine,” he murmured.

  Marek tilted his head to glance over her shoulder and a wicked smile curved against her jaw. Something moved just beyond her senses—almost his silent order—and then the smooth stroke of Lucas’ strong fingers up her spine followed. “Soon it’ll be both of us.” He looked back to her and her heart tightened. His smile softened and his kiss teased her. “I wouldn’t change this, Ash. Even as it ends.”

  Tears burned and she closed her eyes. Pain tightened her chest and Lucas paused in the slow caress of his fingertips down her spine. She pressed her lips together as Marek dropped a gentle kiss onto each eyelid. The third kiss touched her lips and she tasted salt.

  “Ignore what I’ve said before. I’m your primary. Believe it.” She didn’t know whether she imagined his deepened breath, but her heart skittered. “I will always be yours.”

  Ash took his mouth, pulling his head down, desperate to change the angle so that she could deepen her kiss. She wanted him, wanted them both. Marek was right. Their desire had brought them to this arena, would mean their deaths, but dark souls lived to form deomos, the perfect unity of flesh and magic.

  She groaned at the hot slide of Lucas’ tongue down the cleft of her ass, his tongue-tip teasing her puckered hole. The throb in her belly grew and she arched her spine, wanting more of him. The first push of his tongue broke her mouth from Marek. She needed to breathe, to control the sudden heat filling her.

  “No.” Marek’s sudden command shot her gaze to his, desire and fear twisting her stomach. “No control, not now.”

  The ancient binding words thickened, the roll of them over her own skin raising goose bumps before they wrapped around Lucas and slipped and slid over Marek. She had to lose herself in them so that her bind could sink into their open minds. The awakened demon in her curved a wicked smile. If this was what she had to do, then she wanted something from him.

  “I need you naked.”

  Marek lifted an eyebrow. “Demands?”

  Lucas’ tongue pressed again and Ash grabbed at Marek’s upper arms, her fingers biting into the leather. She wanted skin. Hell, they both did. He couldn’t deny it. Lucas eased from her body and then pushed again. Her pussy ached.

  “My primary takes care of my every need.”

  A slow smile cut across his mouth and swelled the heat coursing through Ash’s body. Lucas groaned and she knew he shared in her rush of arousal. Marek stepped back from her and tugged his tunic and thin undershirt over his head. Sunlight burnished his skin and Ash caught her breath as his beauty continued to surprise her. A wry smile twisted her slips. She should have known there’d be a price to pay for having him.

  “Ash…” Lucas sighed against her skin and his finger teased her ass, circling sensitive flesh until his tip breached the ring of muscle. “No thoughts like that.”

  She bit at her lip, the hot sensation of one and then two pushing fingers, and watching Marek slip his hand into the band of his breeches, the promise of him naked driving anything but hard need out of her head.

  “What do you want, Ash?”

  Marek’s question flowed over her damp skin, as warm as the slick kiss of the afternoon sun. Her gaze fixed on his thumb. It stroked over the hard muscle of his abdomen, teasing his navel. She ached to follow in its wake. The remembered taste of his skin burned in her thoughts, mixing with the steady rhythm of Lucas’ firm fingers. Damn it, she wanted them both. Both men inside her as she’d first seen them in the conjured dream that felt like a lifetime before.

  “I want you. Is that plain enough?”

  Marek laughed, something low and wicked. “Lucas?”

  She felt the connection between the two men, something shared, almost the stream of golden thoughts that mirrored the dreams. She couldn’t read it, but Lucas stopped the slow thrust of his fingers. Ash closed her eyes as the fire of his touch ebbed away. He stood and the rustle of fabric followed. She gasped at the first touch of his cock. He stroked a hand over her hip, the knuckles of his other hand brushing a cheek. The heat of his body pressed up against her spine and Ash closed her eyes at the delicious brush of his skin against hers. Ancient words soared, and in the still air, over the sounds of their quick breathing, she heard herself cry out. Caheus had brought another of her replicas to orgasm, making him thick with flesh and bone—

  Marek
cupped her jaw and she fixed her attention on him. “He does not concern us. And those women aren’t you.” His gaze flicked to the man behind her and she didn’t miss the sudden spark making his eyes shine. There was no fear in Marek and that strength pushed her back against Lucas. “Ready?”

  “Oh yes.” Lucas pushed and the head of his cock breached her ass. Ash arched her spine, breathing against the slow, slow push of him into her flesh. His warm hands shaped her hips, fingers flexing and the flow of her words wrapped around them both in an increasing keen, tying them together. “You’re ours,” he murmured and his slow pull back danced bright spots of light in front of her eyes. “You will always be ours.”

  “Will she?” Marek teased the question over her lips while his hand skimmed over her breast, her belly, to play his fingertips across her mound. “Should we keep her, Lucas?”

  The unexpected swell of anger mixed with fear tightened her gut. It overrode her terror of Caheus, of dying, of everything else. The surge of the words thickened in the air, displaying her increasing fury. “I’m not a toy.”

  A wry smile lifted Marek’s mouth and his fingertip stroked across her sweet spot, bucking her back against Lucas. The sudden meeting of his hard thrust broke a cry from her. “You’re our toy. We play with you when we want.” A second finger joined the first and the fire licking low in her belly flared. “What else did you expect?”

  Her instincts screamed at her to deny this, to take both men and pour her words into their open flesh. They had to goad her into reacting to them, the sane part of her brain knew that. But at that moment, she didn’t want to be sane.

  “I expect you to fuck me.” Ash fisted her fingers in his hair and took his mouth, denying him more insolent questions. Her other hand tugged at his breeches. Marek wouldn’t spurn her now. Lucas eased back and the restriction of her flesh ran fire up her spine. He pushed deep and Marek’s fingers mirrored him. The sudden fullness made her tremble and her grip on his breeches slackened.

  “I decide.” Marek’s words skittered over her skin and her birthmark throbbed in time with her blood. “I decide how he fucks you. How I fuck you.” He pushed down his breeches and his hand trailed her thigh and gripped it, hard. The head of his cock rubbed against her slick belly and her muscles squeezed around his fingers…and then they were gone. “If I fuck you.”

  Ash glared at him and her hand grabbed his ass, pressing him hard up against her. The rhythm of the words deepened and she imagined sparks of fury in their depths. She’d had enough of this. “Now.”

  Lucas groaned and his strokes into her body quickened. His hands tightened on her hips, almost lifting her off the sandy floor, the shift in her position easing Marek’s cock over her pussy. With each thrust, Lucas pressed Marek to where she ached for him. “Should I continue, primary?”

  “Should he, Ash?”

  Her thoughts were a tangled mass of desire and fury. The fast push of Lucas into her ass, the almost, almost slide of Marek into her pussy made her breath short and any coherent answer impossible. “Damn you, Marek…”

  He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” Marek gripped both of her thighs and jerked her up, her ankles locking at his ass, opening her wide to Lucas. “For now.”

  Lucas fucked her hard and fast and she clung to Marek, the jolt of her body forcing her against his cock, the promise of her release burning up through her flesh. She met every deep thrust, wanting Marek, hating him for tormenting her—

  “Soon.” The word scorched against her ear, his breath hot but infuriatingly controlled. “Soon, I’ll be fucking you, then together, but only if you…”

  “What?” She buried her face against his neck, her mouth on his hot skin, the spiced taste of him on her tongue. She was unable to deny the fire building in her body, the surge of her release so close that she ached to grab it and let it overwhelm her. Lucas growled, stroking into her ass, and his fingers bit into her skin hard enough to bruise. There. The wild push of her release was almost, almost with her… “What do I have to do?”

  Marek sank deep into her pussy and growled, “Come for me.”

  Heat enveloped her, the wave of it crashing over her, and she groaned against Marek’s shoulder, the fullness of both men in her body spiraling her joy. The fierce burn of magic strengthened the rush of her words…and then he started to move, to pull back and stroke into her. He matched Lucas’ solid pace and Ash let herself sink into the sensation of being caught between both men, the slick slide of their hair-roughened skin against hers. This was where she belonged, the three of them bound, sex and magic…and love…in the beauty of the deomos.

  Marek bit at her earlobe, the pleasure-pain rioting through her already thrumming flesh. “Mine,” he murmured and the raw word twisted through her, increasing the keen of the binding words streaming over their skin.

  In the distance, another woman cried out her release, but it only ran a light shiver over her body. Ash didn’t care. She wanted Marek and Lucas. Had them. Would sink her binding words so deep into their souls they would never escape her. She grinned against Marek’s mouth. “Take me together.”

  “Ash…” His low warning tightened her around him and he frowned. “I’m your primary. I decide.”

  His eyes narrowed and she held her breath. Time slowed, her heartbeat too loud in her ears. The stream of her words wound around the strange flow that existed between Marek and Lucas and she could just work out…

  And they took her at the same time, their rhythm deliciously perfect. Ash couldn’t stop the cry that escaped as she clung to Marek, fighting to breathe, to somehow make sense of the wild sensation scorching up through her body. Skin against skin, her breasts rubbing against Marek’s chest, teasing her nipples, their hands gripping her, her men, a part of her as she was of them.

  Ash closed her eyes and listened to the ragged sound of their breathing, of her own, at the satisfying smack of their bodies against hers and of the words churning through the air in a rippling song. It washed around them and she felt it tighten and then slip beneath their skin, pushing at their flesh, their minds, wanting to envelop them, bind them to her and to each other. But not yet. They were close, so close and the thought of her words sinking into their bodies ran liquid fire through her veins. Her reawakened demon rose within her, and she glared at Marek, seeing the reflection of desire in his eyes.

  “You belong to me.” She fisted her hand in Marek’s hair, echoing the spill of ancient words. Lucas moaned against her shoulder and she could feel the tightening of his body, how near he was to finding his release. “I will keep you.”

  Marek’s fingers dug into her thighs, and the hard push of them into her body drove away the ability to speak. Their bodies slick with sweat and need, they held her and fucked her hard and steady. Ash groaned, biting her bottom lip. Already fresh licks of fire chased up her spine and her own orgasm teetered on the edge of her flesh…but she needed Marek with her.

  “Ash… Make him come.” Lucas grunted into her shoulder, his hands, his body shaking with the need that gripped both her and him. “Please.”

  “Together.” She burned the word against Marek’s mouth, tasting his lips, his tongue all too briefly. He murmured something unintelligible and the flow of ancient words pushed at his closed thoughts, opening him to her, letting her taste the fire of his emotions. “Sharing me. I can feel you, your cocks almost touching.” She grinned against his mouth, picking out his illicit desires. “You like it.”

  Marek kissed her, cutting off her words, her breath, taking her in a ruthless kiss that mirrored the hard stroke of him into her body. The string of ancient words screamed around them, whipped into a frenzy by Marek, by Lucas’ open minds, at their release so…so…close…

  A blaze of white-hot light burst over her, searing her thoughts, her skin as both men came and took her with them. Ash thought she screamed, but it was lost in the riot of joy taking her flesh, in the words sinking into both men, in the binding that would make them perfect. Make them deo
mos.

  Air and heat swirled around them and it broke Ash from her pleasure, the ripples of her release still running though her body. Trembling, she stared at a wall of white sand darkening the glare of the sun. It swept over them and around them, spinning faster, and in the grit and the growing blackness burned a face. Somehow he looked familiar, human…but not. And the not sent a shot of cold fear down her spine. In the fire and joy of their bodies, in the creation of perfection, she’d forgotten why they were there…

  “Your binding is complete.” Caheus opened his mouth wide, too wide, and revealed rows of glistening teeth. “Now I feed.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Fear ran thick into her belly and the sudden discomfort of being trapped between Marek and Lucas forced her to arch, to try to free herself. She had to run. They had to run. Not simply accept that Caheus would devour them whole.

  Lucas caressed her shoulders and his forehead rested against the tangle of her hair. He eased from her body and Marek stroked his hands over her thighs. Her bare feet touched the hot sand and he supported her trembling legs. “We’re here with you.” Lucas’ whisper forced tears and her throat tightened. “Close your eyes.”

  Pain bloomed in her chest. It really was about to happen. She fought to breathe, the heat of Lucas’ body, of Marek’s, making her too hot and the air tight in her lungs. Caheus stretched around and above them and his rank breath washed down over her bare skin. She couldn’t look up. The sound of his wide maw opening, muscles creaking, skin stretching and of the heat and the sharpness of his teeth ran through her blood. Caheus’ heart thudded loud and slow.

  “You will set me free.”

  His voice boomed and Ash shuddered, the terror of her approaching death consuming her. It was not fair. To lose Lucas, to lose Marek now when she was bound to both men, had feelings for them, hell, when she loved them…