Throwing her back out onto the mortal plane wouldn’t work, she was too vulnerable, and she didn’t know how to fly beneath the radar—although by the state of her hair and appearance when Kian returned her to the realm, she’d given it a good try.
He could go with her. He could live a good life with her if they could avoid the wrath Kian would bring down on their heads. But it wasn’t worth the risk. They would be forever on the run, looking over their shoulders in daylight and trapped in the shadows at night.
Kian would rain the full force of the realm down on the mortal plane to find Allianna, and he would find her. As wonderful as that existence was, the Lord of Shadows could read it like a map, pinpoint who and what he wanted when he liked. Allianna had been in his sights for the full three months of her freedom; he could have plucked her off the mortal plane at any time, anywhere.
Isla sighed heavily. If they were caught, he knew he would be killed. As Kian’s Second, it would be a viciously painful, publicly humiliating death in front of the whole Shadow realm in order to make an example of him. While death didn’t scare him, the prospect of leaving Allianna alone with Kian and his demon terrified him down to the bone—a horrible sensation for a warrior to suffer.
So, he was stuck in a nightmare while his little one lived it.
The fire died to a ruby-red glow and Isla glanced at it. The room was warm, he could let it go out. There was time for sleep if he wished it; God knew what Kian would have planned for him tomorrow. No doubt the Lord of Shadows would concoct something to keep Isla occupied and far away from Allianna.
He pushed to his feet, grimacing as his body let him know every ache and pain. The dull ache in his ass was not abating and he was loath to visit the necromancer for a salve. The scratches were sore, but the bite was on fire. Grunting softly, he made his way to the bed and managed to ease his guest over to the other side enough for him to slide under the covers, leaving her curled in a ball and snuffling adorably.
Settling into the pillows, he crossed his hands over his belly and kept his eyes off the lump beside him. He could not touch. Well, he could, but he wouldn’t be able to stop. His neck would stretch and Allianna would suffer for the rest of her life.
Closing his eyes, he willed away the pain of sodomy, banished memories of Kian’s weight on his back and his natural urge to throw off his attacker and kill him. Dismissed the revolving thoughts had spun through his head as agony crippled his belly, telling him he had to be still, he had to submissive so that his treasure would be safe. He shut out the world and sought sleep.
It did not come, despite the fatigue biting at his bones.
The first sign of Allianna’s awakening came with the brush of her hand over his. Just a fleeting glance of fingers before she linked them with his, bringing his hand to her chest so she could cradle it beneath her chin and sigh peacefully.
They stayed like that for a few minutes before he felt her lips skim his index finger, middle finger. His cock flexed when her mouth closed around his thumb and she quieted again, sucking on him like she would her own digit but sending frissons of electricity shooting down every nerve ending.
Cheeky minx, he thought with a grin, and shoved the covers down far enough for her head to pop up, blue eyes bright but sleepy. “Little one.”
Her smile was cute and drowsy. Warm and coddled, she seemed happy enough to stay curled up beside him with his hand as a pacifier. That innocence radiated from her, and Isla wondered if Kian had ever seen her like this.
Whether he’d still be able to brutalize her if he had.
Isla was horribly afraid the answer was yes.
“Go back to sleep, Allianna,” he murmured, wanting to keep her content in her haven just a little longer before Kian stomped in and ruined a peaceful, sleepy morning. “I’m here. You’re safe.”
She sighed and blinked slowly. He could see her brain start to wake fully, sucking her out of slumber and into reality. “No, I’m not, and we both know it. Did he hurt you, Islador?”
“No, little one.” He found himself wanting to reach out and unbraid her hair. The symbolism churned his gut, knowing why it was braided and for whom. It suited her down, carefree and wild, like the woman who wore it. “Everything went fine.”
She released his hand and wiggled closer so his arm could slide behind her back and tether her against him. Happily, she nuzzled into his chest, then her breath caught as he shifted uncomfortably. “What did he do to you, Isla?” Suddenly a whirling dervish of energy, she sat up and shoved at his shoulder, her small cry of distress clear when she saw the bite mark and some of the scratches on the underside of his back. “God, he mauled you. He fucking mauled you!”
“Enough. They’re just scratches, Allianna. Nothing more. Relax.” He tried to tug her back down, to surround her in comfort again, but she was practically inconsolable. “Baby, it’s okay. They don’t hurt and I’ll be all healed up in a few hours. Come on, come back to sleep now.”
Those brilliantly blue eyes were devastated when they met his, gleaming with tears. His heart cracked down the middle when one fell, sliding down her pale cheek to drip off her chin. “You shouldn’t have done it, Isla. Not even to protect me. If I’d been in my right mind, I wouldn’t have let you.”
He sat up, chuckling. Cupping her cheek in his hand, he gave her a smile. “Little one, if you’d been in your right mind, you’d have kicked Kian’s ass back to the mortal plane, chains or no. Kian you can handle.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “The demon you can’t.”
Her fingers came to his face, tracing the creases around his eyes and mouth. Stress lines, he assumed, from everything he’d shoved down and out of thought over the last three months. Being Kian’s Second was stressful for so many reasons, the biggest of which was looking at him with sweet adoration.
She ran her fingers through his short hair, smiling absently as she trailed them down the nape of his neck. Smile fading, her touch hovered over the teeth marks in his shoulder. “He’ll do this to me. Bite me, bind me to him. You and I, bound to the Lord of Shadows but not to each other. We could be so much more together, all three of us, if he wasn’t so blind.”
“Not blind,” Isla corrected. “The closer he comes to claiming you, the more his demon takes control. Kian has been a timebomb, ticking away second by second, since the day he made the deal with your mother. Now we’re coming to the final countdown, and he has a battle of his own to fight. Whether to let the demon rule or the man he used to be live.”
“We could run,” she whispered.
“We would die, Allianna. Trust me, I’ve already considered it.”
His cock jumped in surprise when she swung her leg over his thighs and straddled him. Isla closed his eyes and took a deep breath, basking in the moment when heat from her pussy was close enough to kiss his shaft. How easy would it be to slide inside her now, when she was unafraid and open to him? No watchers, no demon waiting to pounce and ravage, no fucking drugs and cuffs.
“Maybe death would be better.” Though she said it quietly, her tone was matter-of-fact. Her lips touched his, shocking his eyes open, and hers were serious, the blue ice-cold. “I’ve seen inside his head, Islador. I’ve seen what he’s done under the demon’s influence, and I’ve seen what the demon wants to do to me.” She kissed him sweetly, just her mouth brushing his like a butterfly wing. “I have a destiny, Isla. We all do. I can achieve mine, or I can abandon it. If I throw it away, I will die. Will need to die before I give Kian his coveted son and make him King of Shadows.”
“Allianna—” Appalled, Islador sat back and stared at her, but she just gave him a sad smile.
“The demon will not stop at King of Shadows, Isla. That’s his focus right now, because he needs the Kingship to advance further. He has designs on Hell, on usurping Lucifer and taking the Nine Circles one by one. Merging the Shadow realm with hell, uniting all as one army.”
Islador’s stomach twisted. How the fuck did she know all this? If Kian had any inkling, a
single suspicion Allianna was privy to this knowledge, the Lord would drop her in a pit and keep her there for eternity, using her only for his needs as and when he wanted. Even Isla wasn’t aware of half of what his Lord had planned. “Baby, you need to keep quiet about this. Kian will have no qualms about getting rid of you if he discovers you have knowledge of his plans.”
She offered a half-shrug. “He should learn to silence his thoughts around me then, shouldn’t he? The demon’s downfall will be his arrogance and his belief that he is untouchable.”
“He’s not untouchable, but he is formidable.”
“Precisely. Which leads me to the other option.” Her hips rocked against his erection in slow, uncertain movements. “Accepting my destiny and doing whatever it takes to succeed. Which means,” her voice faltered by a fraction, betraying her confident façade, “letting the demon drag me back into that chamber and completing the rituals. Sacrificing my body to save millions of souls.”
“Allianna,” he breathed, and pressed his forehead to hers. “This is not your fight.”
“You’re not a naïve man, Isla. When have archangels ever been permitted to create life with a mortal if not for a higher purpose? My conception, my birth, every event in my life has been designed for this. If Kian’s demon rules hell, his sights will be set on the mortal plane. Hell on earth. From there, Armageddon. This is my fight, and I need you to help me.”
Did she doubt him? He would kneel at her feet and cut the heart from his chest if she needed him to. “I’m yours, Allianna, you know this.”
He heard her swallow hard, heard the click of her throat. She trembled in his arms, so he pulled her tighter to him. He vowed to give her whatever she needed, without question. She was no longer just Allianna, his love and the heart of his world. In his eyes, she was Allianna, Queen of Shadows.
Her hand slipped between them, grasping his cock in a damp palm. Awkwardly, she positioned the crown at her opening. “You can’t be the one to claim my virginity,” she told him mournfully. “He will know if you do. But I need you to give me your seed, Isla, to even out the odds that when I conceive, the baby will not be the spawn of the demon.”
His breath seized in his lungs as his cockhead eased through the tightest hole he’d ever known. He dropped his hands to the sheets, fisted them savagely to stop himself from gripping her shoulders and slamming her down fully on his shaft. Her opening gripped him just behind the crown, hot and slick, and he panted as she shuddered. “Allianna.”
“This is all we can do for now.” Her breasts rubbed against his bare chest, hard nipples brushing over his skin and setting him alight. “We don’t have long before he’ll come for me, to send me to the washerwomen again. He’ll send you on a mission,” she said on a moan, and he felt her fight the urge to sink lower, to take him completely. “I need you to go, Islador. Do as he says and go wherever he sends you. If you watch, if you see...you’ll substitute yourself for me again and he will accept.”
“I don’t want to leave you alone with him,” he growled, infuriated at the thought of abandoning her to the demon. Kian would take care of her, but the demon cared for nothing but the fertile womb inside. His cock throbbed, strangled by her pussy, and he wondered how long it would take for him to come just like this.
“My destiny,” she reminded him quietly. “Not every battle can be fought and won by the sword. Some battles are won with surrender, Isla, and this will be one of them. My submission will be his end.”
Islador cursed and wrapped his hand around the length of cock unsheathed, keeping his fingers tight an inch below where her pussy choked his cockhead. With his other hand, he used his fingers to trace the obscene spread of her lips around his girth, to gather the silky liquid of natural arousal and spread it over her clit. “Hands on my shoulders, baby. Hold onto me and keep your voice down. When you come, I’ll give you everything you want and more.”
Her face pressed into his neck, breath coming in nervous pants, and he wished he had another pair of hands to stroke her through the anxiety. “Just relax, baby. I’ve got you.” He strummed her clit lightly with his thumb, smiling as she stiffened and whimpered, her hips twisting. “Lose yourself, Allianna. Give yourself to me, trust me.”
She sank another inch down his shaft, his hand stopping her from lowering further and ruining her plan. Innocent muscles fluttered and kissed his crown, teasing the cum from his balls with shy little caresses.
“Oh.” The sweetest gasp echoed in his ear, signaling the beginning of the end of a tryst that could cost them their lives. “Oh, fuck. Isla. Isla. Oh, fuck.” She covered his hand with hers, jerking his shaft without moving the barrier. She squeaked and went rigid in his arms, body jerking in spasms. “Please, Islador, please.”
He couldn’t have denied her if he tried. The muscles kissing his crown became hungry little sirens, sucking voraciously at flesh so sensitive he was amazed he didn’t shatter. Growling under his breath, he fisted himself hard and moaned in relief as the first spurt of semen erupted almost painfully, followed by several more in quick succession.
Holding her was bittersweet, especially when the tears rolled down his skin. Saying nothing, Islador used silence like a blanket, snuggling her into it and him. Her pussy still contracted feverishly, controlled by the remnants of her orgasm.
Too aware of time ticking past, annoyed he couldn’t spend the time she needed to be held and praised and cuddled, Islador kissed everywhere he could reach with her face still pressed to his neck. “Beautiful, baby. Just beautiful.”
As if she knew what he’d say next, she murmured against his neck, “Five more minutes. Five more minutes before everything changes.”
There was a risk in staying this way, he knew. If Kian caught them, everything was for nothing, and Allianna would suffer for the rest of her days in the hands of a psychotic demon intent on existential domination. But she clung to him so fiercely, as though letting go of him meant losing part of herself, he couldn’t bear to push her away. “Five minutes, baby, and then you get a shower.”
Allianna almost said something, but just shivered instead. They both knew she would be bathed again, oiled again, but he wanted the scent of him off her body before Kian got close. With one hand still locking his cock inside her, he used the other to soothe the tremors beginning to ripple through her body.
His queen was brave, she was fearless when she had to be, but right now, she was only a sweet, terrified virgin facing a night of untold horrors from which he couldn’t save her. He could only give her his strength and hope she remembered to use it when she needed it most.
“Okay, treasure.” Islador’s heart didn’t just crack this time, it disintegrated in his chest when she shook her head and burrowed deeper into him. He tugged her away, met her eyes with determination, certain she would break him. “This is your destiny,” he told her, echoing her sentiments, “and you will master it, Allianna. Do you hear me?”
Her whole body sagged but she nodded slowly.
“Good girl.” Unable to resist temptation, Isla kissed her, teasing her lips open and gorging himself on the sweetness of her innocence. Drowning himself in the essence of what she was before Kian tainted her forever. “Go get a shower before they come for you, baby.”
Isla groaned like a wounded animal when she lifted off him, legs barely able to support her as she slipped off the bed. A flood of seed washed over his hand, the sheet, but he didn’t care—he just watched Allianna stumble away into the bathroom. He stroked his cock absently as the water started to thunder and he heard the rhythm change when she stepped under the flow.
Two minutes, three. Slowly, prepared for the shitstorm causing havoc through the tunnels of the realm, Isla dragged himself off the bed and made sure his cooling semen was smeared on his belly. He could feel Kian’s livid rage vibrating the walls as he stormed toward Islador’s quarters.
As expected, the Lord of Shadows didn’t bother with manners and knock. The bastard just kicked the fucking door in and
stomped inside Isla’s private space with a face blacker than the pits and his eyes alight with madness. Demonic madness, Islador realized with resignation.
Kian was losing himself to the beast.
“Where the fuck is she, Islador?” Kian demanded, slamming the wreckage of the door closed behind him. He faced his Second like a raging bull and a moment later, sniffed the air deeply. Madness turned into sheer insanity and Isla knew Kian had caught the scent of semen and pussy. “What the actual fuck?”
Isla ducked and felt Kian’s fist whistle over his head by a scarce inch. Fucker was moving fast this morning. He blocked the next swing with a forearm, brought his own up under Kian’s sternum and sent his friend staggering back, wheezing for breath. “Back off, you fucking idiot. Are you that reckless you’ll attack without my side of the story?”
“You smell like her,” Kian accused on a pained groan. He had a fist pressed against his chest as he sucked air into punished lungs. “She’s all over you, traitorous bastard.”
Isla rolled his eyes but kept his true feelings off his face. This was where one wrong step would have him rotting in the pits, swinging by his cock above the horde, waiting for it to shrivel and die and send him plummeting into the starving masses. “Don’t blame me for giving her what she wanted, Kian. The girl has a sharp brain and she’s seen what you are once you’re in that chamber. Seems fair to me she experiences an orgasm before you pollute everything that makes her special.”
Kian bared his teeth. “Your cum is mixed with hers, Islador. Explain that.”
Chuckling, Isla licked the hand covered in semen and made a sound of approval. Over the taste of his spend, he could taste her tartness and he craved more. “You didn’t think I’d miss the chance to jack off with her juices, did you?”
Bristling, Kian grabbed Isla’s wrist and brought his hand to his nose, sniffing deeply. Dropping it, he gripped his Second by the cock, twisting the shaft roughly from side to side. With a disgruntled grunt, he discarded Isla’s prized possession and stalked around the room. He inspected the sheets, his lip curling, and then began to pace. “I sent the washerwomen to her chambers and she wasn’t there.”
King Of Shadows: The Shadowcrown Duet Page 7
