Love Potion: A Valentine's Day Charity Anthology

by Graceley Knox

  The taste of wine and male hit her, buckling her knees as he kept her adrift in the sea of passion that threatened to consume her. The last time she’d kissed someone, there hadn’t been this heat. Cade’s stolen kisses hadn’t done this to her senses. He hadn’t made her feel as if she was adrift in a storm, crashing from one wave to the next with a single kiss.

  Asrian lifted her, and absently she wrapped her legs around him, holding on as he moved them towards the bed. A single thought screamed through her mind, He was her enemy. So why was she throwing herself at him again? Why did she never want his mouth to leave hers?

  She’d lost her ever-loving shit; that was what was happening, right? She felt her body lowering, and then he pulled away from her, standing back up as he deftly worked the jeans he wore. Heathen, he hadn’t even dressed up for their handfasting, and it would have merely taken a single thought to manage it, unlike her.

  His cock sprung free, and she sat up, her eyes watching as it bounced proudly before her. Oh hell, that thing was an actual monster. She now understood why he’d said he’d give her a monster.

  “Um…” she hesitated as she lifted her ice blue gaze to his, and found glowing green orbs of lust staring back. High Fae, High fucking Fae…and she’d forced the issue.

  “No, not happening now,” he warned as he bent between her legs and pulled them apart before settling there. He gazed down at her alabaster flesh, as white as the snow when it fell at the beginning of the year. His hands lowered, encircling her hips as he adjusted her body and then stared at her thinness.

  She was like a branch, a thin, delicate branch and he a massive oak tree, unbending, while she, on the other hand, could easily be snapped. Thick coils of muscles tensed on his stomach, rippling with strength as he released her, and lowered his mouth to rain kisses down her smooth belly. It was intoxicating, more so than the wine she’d downed to quiet the nerves.

  His mouth was magic, spelled by Merlin to lower her defenses and sneak past them. He continued until his mouth touched her clitoris and her back arched as her hands slid through his hair, pulling him away from her as a blush flooded her cheeks as apprehension shot through her.

  “What are you doing?” she demanded as a roguish smirk danced on his lips as the glow in his eerie eyes intensified. “You can’t eat me, I’m not food.”

  “You’re so fucking pure the bards could sing ballads about it,” he murmured before his mouth lowered again, uncaring that she yanked at his hair to keep him from biting her flesh…and then his tongue pushed through her slick folds, and all coherent thought left her.

  She moaned loudly as she parted her legs, giving him further room to work with. Her body hummed with an electrical current that threatened to bring the castle ruins down onto their heads. Lilith hadn’t ever imagined pleasure before, let alone this all-consuming pleasure his mouth was doing to her body. A ball of white-hot energy built in her belly and she lessened her hold on his hair as he worked her pussy, licking it as she grew heated until she thought she’d turn to embers and burn up.

  Asrian’s finger pushed into her body without his mouth leaving her, but it felt foreign, wrong. She wiggled her bottom, adjusting to the feeling until he added another. Her body was slick with heat, and sweat built between her breasts and her nape. That white-hot ball in her belly grew and grew until she was screaming as everything exploded and went wrong.

  Tears slid down her cheeks, her body trembled, continuing as he climbed up to wipe them away with his thumbs. His mouth claimed hers hungrily, stealing away the embarrassment of her body’s strange reaction to his. She felt him pushing against her opening and cried out as he pushed his body against hers, battering past her innocence.

  Pain exploded as her heartbeat thundered in her ears. He slowed, stalling as he stared down into her tear-filled gaze. His mouth lowered, kissing the tears away as his brands ignited, his hips rocked, and the pain was replaced with that foreign fullness. Her body clenched against his and her hands found his shoulders, holding onto him as he started to move in a steady rhythm. He filled her painfully full until it burned and ached. Moments passed and yet he continued, his mouth claiming hers as he kissed her gently, letting her guide his pace.

  Once the pain was a dull ache, she rolled them, lifting her body to tower over his as she stared down into his hungry glowing green gaze. Her hands slowly lowered, tracing the smooth path to his muscles, exploring the warrior beneath her as her hips began to move, seeking that earth-shattering pleasure his fingers had given her moments ago.

  Asrian reached up, cupping her full breasts in his hands as he explored her body with wonder in gaze, as if he couldn’t believe she was real. His mouth lifted which jostled his hips and sent his thick cock deeper, forcing a cry of pain to escape her lips.

  He rolled them, lifting her knees until they were against her shoulders. Deep, he was so fucking deep that she could feel him against her womb. His auburn head dropped, and his tongue traced a path over one pebbled nipple before mimicking the action with the other. He sucked it between his teeth, letting them scrape against it for maximum effect. She felt him moving again, even though he had yet to release her breasts with his hungry mouth.

  Her body started to heat once more, that white-hot ball inside her belly building as he worked her pussy and kissed her breasts before his hand slid between them, working her clit until she was bucking against his intrusion, uncertain if she’d survive the magnitude of the storm he was creating. All at once, he jerked and growled as it hit, her body a never-ending ball of trembling need that left her visibly shaking against his massive frame.

  “Gods, woman,” he uttered as he stared down at the hot, disheveled mess he’d created. “You’re fucking perfect, and mine.”

  “I am not yours, not any longer than a year and a day, heathen,” she whispered as she pushed him away, embarrassment at her wanton behavior sneaking up as she replayed her actions. These beings had murdered her mother and yet here she was, screaming like a wanton nymph beneath him. “Get off of me.”

  “You wanted this, not me,” he grumbled as he rolled from her body, swiftly moving to retrieve his clothing. He didn’t put them on; instead, he tossed them into the fire and dressed with magic, his glamour effortlessly allowing him a smooth exit as she remained in bed, fighting traitorous tears as her actions and behavior swallowed her whole.

  How could she have liked it that much? She’d found it a chore to kiss Cade, and yet with Asrian, his kiss had consumed her, easing her nervousness as surely as any wine could. One year and one day, and after that, she’d never see him again. She sent a prayer to the heavens, asking the Goddesses to ensure that when the time came, it was an easy break from the heathen she’d just found pleasure from.

  Chapter 7

  Lilith stretched in bed, hating the subtle reminder of the night before as muscles she hadn’t even known could hurt ached and burned. It took her longer than usual to move from the bed, and as she did, she cocked her head and listened. Silence greeted her, and she smiled; maybe she’d been bipolar enough to send his ass running for the hills.

  She slipped into the bath, dressing in a soft white maxi dress with slits up to the hip. She strapped her weapons on, slinging her bow over her shoulder before attaching the quiver full of arrows, and adjusting the wristband on her arms. Without another thought, she exited her bedroom and stopped dead in her tracks.

  Where there should have been a pile of rubble was a wall, which attached to a hallway. She put her palm flat against it and pushed hard, noting the sturdiness of it before she followed the corridor down to a fork that led in three different directions. She looked between them slowly before turning in the direction from which she’d come. The hell? She was lost in her own freaking palace. It had never had walls since she’d found the damn thing!

  After countless wrong turns and endless exploring, she reached a large room where voices were laughing, talking, and men, a lot more men than had been here last night. She stalled slowly, leaning ag
ainst the wall as she eavesdropped on Asrian discussing his plans to right the outside courtyard.

  Angry tears swam in her vision as all her own plans for this place went out the door. Her people had built it up from the ground, making it the largest, strongest court in the history of the lesser Fae, and here this insignificant prick was designing it as if he owned the place? No fucking farting fairy’s chance.

  She stepped into the room, noting the chatter come to silence as she stared at the man who sat on a throne of swirling dark eddies. His body fit it perfectly, as if it had been created for him. She stalked closer, staring at the men who all watched her with a look of curiosity.

  “The fucking fairy farting dwarves do you think you’re doing, heathen?” she demanded, and the men barked in laughter, which only made her even madder. “This is my palace, my kingdom! You don’t get to destroy it and then remake it as you wish!”

  “Lilith, this is the exact palace that was here before our father rendered it to nothing more than a pile of rubble. I believe the words you are looking for are thank you, my king.” Asrian stared down at her, daring her to say something.

  “One year and one day, then I am the queen, and you’re gone, heathen king,” she hissed before she spun on her heel and marched from the room. She couldn’t even argue if it was an exact match because he and his family had stolen it from her.

  “Well, congrats, she didn’t swoon on your cock and bow down. I guess I’m the better lover after all,” Tor chuckled.

  “She’s got more mood swings than Alice in fucking Wonderland on acid. One minute she’s cold, the next she’s hot. Her mood swings make Ciara look normal. Marriage fucking sucks. How the hell does Ryder make it look so easy?” Asrian groaned as he rubbed his temples.

  “Um, did you miss the whole Synthia beating him up or driving him insane part? Anything worth having isn’t going to be easy to get. She’s a hellcat, so take her claws from her. Make her want us to be here, ask her what she wants. We fixed the castle, but we can’t fill it with her people. We can’t bring the dead back, nor can we expect these beings to forgive us easily. Respect is earned, not given,” Sinjinn said solemnly.

  “I don’t understand women. I mean, I gave her an escape. I gave her an out to sleeping with me, and she told me no. She liked it, and the moment it ended, she hated me again.” He scratched his head as he stared at the door she’d escaped through.

  “Maybe she just didn’t like you that much? I can try, I mean, she’s got a nice body. I have been working on my wooing skills too,” Cailean offered, and Asrian turned his head slowly, leveling him with a lethal stare. “Hey, what’s the harm in it? And if in a few months she gives birth to a blonde little badass, he’ll be mine. No one the wiser until then, right?”

  Asrian rose from the throne, stepping down to start after the woman who seemed immune to his charms. Sure, he wasn’t the wooing type, he wasn’t even sure he had a fucking type other than willing and ready, but this was his wife.

  He passed through several empty hallways and more empty rooms before he heard it: the sound of arrows cutting through the air, thumping against a target in the distance. Once outside, he leaned against the wall, watching as she hit the mark every time, each arrow cutting through the next as she let her anger out with every shot. Well look at that, she was a little badass with a bow. They’d been lucky she hadn’t given them a fight because while it may not have killed them, it wouldn’t have been pleasant.

  He cocked his head again, listening to the silence of the palace and then watched as she did the same. Her shoulders slumped as she sat the quiver and bow aside and stared up at the high castle walls, glaring at the Horde banister as she set eyes on it. Those expressive eyes of hers did little to hide her anger—or pleasure for that matter.

  Her body was a haven, one he’d been lost in but her pain? It was fucking addictive. Not as overpowering as Synthia or Lena’s, but more soothing, like coming home. He crossed his arms and watched her, noting the way she stood, ready to fight. Trained for war, and yet so fucking delicate and dainty that an attacker wouldn’t take her seriously, which would be a huge fucking mistake. They should, the way she stood, the way she used the bow, self-taught. Warriors created from the need to survive were deadly. He’d been trained since the moment he could stand up, but Lilith trained herself, and no one could be harsher on someone than themselves.

  Asrian watched as she neared the wall, shucking off her shoes as she leapt against it, climbing it as he watched. What the fuck? She climbed as one who had centuries of training; fearless immortals wouldn’t try to scale a castle barehanded, and yet here she was, in all her fucking glory doing just that.

  Once she reached the top, she ripped the banner down, watching as it drifted to the ground. Their eyes locked and she smirked; confidence was fucking sexy, but confidence and an outright fucking challenge?

  Game on, little warrior.

  Chapter 8

  Lara watched her, unnervingly so. Her fingers drummed on the table, a brand new table they’d created from magic. Together they sat in an empty hall, filled with the echoes of the dead and yet no sound at all. She wanted to lay waste to it, to render it back to rubble. To the beautifully haunting ruins that mirrored her soul. But nope, he’d decided he was in charge and the king of it, and waltzed right in and fucking took over the place.

  “You ladies hungry?” Sinjinn asked as he entered the hall, a steaming platter of food in his hands. She turned, eyeing it before she dismissed him.

  According to Lara, it was exactly as it had been before it had been destroyed. That meant they’d been here when it had happened, because things had been remodeled right before they’d attacked, and no one outside the court had been allowed into the palace. Which also meant she’d fucked someone responsible for murdering her family.

  “I’m famished,” Lara said with a wide smile as the food was set down in front of her.

  “My appetite just soured. I’m going hunting.”

  “We have enough meat to last a few days,” Sinjinn offered carefully.

  “I’m not going hunting for food,” she hissed, her lips curving into a sexy smirk. “I’m hunting monsters that slither into my lands and take things that don’t belong to them.” She stared at him in open challenge as the other men waltzed in, stopping at the tense scene before them.

  “And who would that be?” he asked.

  “Anything stupid enough to fucking try me,” she answered coldly as she pushed past him and started to leave the room to retrieve her quiver and bow.

  “What the fuck is your problem?” Asrian demanded as he stepped in front of her.

  “My problem? I didn’t have a fucking problem until you showed up here and messed my life up! You had no right to fix the castle!”

  “It’s my castle now too until I choose otherwise!” he shouted back as he balled his fists at his sides.

  “It’s not your dead screaming at you! It’s not you who has to hear the silence and know they’re gone. That every one of them died fighting against monsters like you! It’s a fucking reminder that we lost and that you and your people took them away. You murdered children and women and left their corpses here to rot like trash. Do you know who got to clean it up? We did, two fucking kids who had nothing and no one left! So if you’re expecting a thank you, hold your fucking breath while you wait, heathen king!” She lunged, but not for his waist; instead, she dove for his legs, twisting her body around them and taking him to the floor before she flipped to her feet and stared down at where the giant lay, baffled.

  She exploded into darkness, becoming night and shadows as she escaped the room in an ebb of anger and grief. She surged to a semi-solid form a few feet away from him and stared at him, her body never fully becoming solid as she waited for him to attack her. Her eyes glowed from within, a reminder that she’d used her power outside of night, and without the protection of the shadows. Only stronger of the lesser Fae could use powers without a direct link to their court, and she’
d had to be strong. Lilith had never felt more alone than when she was surrounded by the Night Court, lost in a wave of endless people who suffered without being able to end their pain.

  “I’m not your enemy, Lilith.” Asrian stared her down, unflinching as he let his own power fill the room. “I won’t continue to apologize for what happened here because words mean nothing, less than nothing. You think you’re the only one who lost people because of him? Blane and the dragons lost thousands the same as you have lost here, and yet he can forgive. Our father didn’t ask our permission, nor would it have made a difference, but your court isn’t all gone. Some were allowed to escape. Some of them we hid, and they are still alive.”

  “You think I’m going to buy your lies? I know my people are gone because if they weren’t, I’d feel them. I’d feel the call to them.”

  “Then let us show you them, all of them. Come with us, we can prove it.” Sinjinn stepped closer, slowly closing the distance between himself and Asrian. “There’s a village, deep in the Hidden Realm. It’s spelled to protect those who we hid within the walls. We had no plans of genocide, and after the dragons were slaughtered, we took steps to protect people. I rebuilt your caste, Lilith. Me, I was here when it fell, when your people fell, not Asrian. Asrian was still cleaning up another mess our father had made. He has none of your blood on his hands, and if he had, Ryder wouldn’t have chosen him to be here with you, or to marry you.”

  “I would feel them, and I feel nothing. I’m the heir, I hold the bloodline.”

  “What if I did too?” Lara asked, and Lilith’s head snapped in her direction. “If I tell you, you have to promise it changes nothing between us. Promise me?”

  “Your father was human, Lara. A mere human male who wandered into mother’s garden long ago.”

  “My father raped our mother and left her on the stairs of this very castle. A monster, one who collected a pound of flesh for the tithe that wasn’t paid,” she whispered. Lilith expelled a breath as she stared at Lara as if she’d grown another head. “He took her away for months, abusing her until he’d extracted his payment, and when he’d finished, he left her pregnant and soiled on her father’s stairs. I didn’t tell you because when you showed up, I wasn’t alone anymore. I’d found you, and you, you hated them so very much. You were my sister, my blood. I’d thought I had lost everyone, and then you walked in and just like that, I wasn’t alone anymore. So I hid what I was, and we began cleaning up the remains that I couldn’t stomach to alone, you and I, Lilith, you and I.”