"You're not my slave. But you are one of my subjects."
"Don't you mean one of King Eternus'?" I sneered. Feeling a moment of true joy at sending that jab home.
"It is he they serve, but I that protects them." Gray said flatly. Impossible to rattle.
I knew that. But it's still worth a try.
In truth, I found him incredibly intimidating when he was cold and calculatedly calm like this. I couldn't tell what he was thinking, or what he was up to. He seemed to operate very different then every other monster I knew.
And I found that threatening.
"Thus, you think they're yours?"
"Yes. Mine to protect."
"I am not yours. Nor do I need your protection." I sneered the word.
He stiffened and rotated to stare at the same wall I was locked on. "Just because you don't want it, doesn't mean you don't need it."
"Oh, you have me." I looked at him now. Less threatened when his dark blue eyes weren't picking me apart. "I need you, Gray..."
"So badly." I feigned a yearnful whine.
He grunted. "Careful. One day you may have to say those words with actual feeling."
"Oh? You going to order me to do that too?" I faced him.
"If I could order you to feel, I'd have done so a long time ago." He said nearly under his breath.
"I do feel for you, Gray." I looked straight ahead.
He gave me a questioning look.
"Pure hatred."
"If that were true, you wouldn't have to tell me so on every occasion."
"You need a bath, and you need food. You're far too skinny."
I was hungry. But I hated him for knowing it. "Don't pretend you care."
"I just want you bathed to wash the other man off you before I have you."
"Of course, you do."
I didn't know why that jab hit home, but for some reason it stung.
He went to the door and cracked it open. Stepping into the doorway.
I was already there, my hand on the door. Hoping he'd step out far enough I could close and lock it. Sealing him out.
Not that the barkeep wouldn't simply let him back in.
Gray had a distinct way of getting whatever he wanted.
Except me.
He glanced at my arm vanishing behind the door and gave a lopsided smile. Knowing exactly what I was doing. "Nice try."
He was careful to keep his leg and booted foot in the door.
A leg which was well-muscled. Hinting at the strong body of a warrior. He called to summon one of the barmaids.
She took the stairs, in such a rush that her feet thudded quickly.
Nearly stumbling up them in her haste.
Run, girl run. I thought contemptuously. Annoyed by her eagerness to accommodate him. I hated that everyone catered to his every whim.
"Is she not moving fast enough?" I queried.
"Plenty quick. You could learn something of it."
"I move quick enough."
"But never where I tell you to."
"You mean, not toward you?" I lifted a haughty red brow and batted my eyes innocently.
"That's precisely what I mean. As you damn well know."
"I'm sorry I'm not as biddable as your fair barmaids." I said in a honeyed tone. "Perhaps you should join one of them in their chambers."
"And enter the bed of a woman who begs me to?"
"Exactly."
"Why would I do that, when I can fight you down? Witness your inner battle, while I sink. Into. You." He leaned forward to emphasize each murmured word. Using that low voice to send shivers over me.
"She'd obey you."
"But you'll please me."
"She'll want you."
"So will you." He gave me a hooded study. "Soon as I get you down in the sheets where you can't resist me."
"I can resist you."
He scoffed. His head dropping back on what was an actual laugh.
That makes him laugh. I frowned. Of course it would.
"Go away, Gray." I said in a hushed voice.
"No chance. Stop wasting your breath." He averted his attention to the hall to speak to the barmaid. Ordering a large platter of food and a bath.
"No!" I started to slide past him. "I don't know him! I don't-"
My words were cut off by sputtering as he palmed my face to push me back inside the chamber.
I stumbled backward against his powerful hold. Glaring furiously at him as I caught the door to balance myself.
"Hush, Baby Girl." He hissed at me. His gaze flashing dangerously. "Don't infuriate me."
I heard her conceding she'd fetch it right away and then the swish of cloth and a pause.
Did she really just curtsy at him?
He rounded on me. Pushing the door closed behind him.
***
Make a mistake.
Leave it open. Just a crack. Just for a moment.
He slid sideways and stepped into my view. "Hoping you'll get away?"
"Planning."
"And where would you go?" He said contemptuously. "You're starving."
"I'd run all night to get away from you."
"I'm not as bad as that."
"I hate you."
"As you've said." He rolled his eyes boredly. "Yet you continue to melt under my hand."
I flinched. My hand rolling into a fist that yearned to strike him.
He tilted his head in warning. He didn't have to threaten me to tell me that there'd be costly repercussions for doing as I yearned to.
"I'd rather die of starvation then let you touch me." I hissed at him.
"Would you?" His voice rose in intrigue as he closed in on me, weaving like a snake about to strike. Backing me up to avoid being smashed against his chest. "Shall we test that theory?"
"I would."
"Hmm." His lips curled coldly sideways. He eyed me thoughtfully.
My back hit the wall and I huffed a small pant of air.
His elbows framed in my shoulders and his forearms draped the wall alongside my face as he leisurely leaned against me. Caging me with his body.
So close I couldn't inhale without sharing his breath.
Far too close!
"Do you know how telling it is?" He asked. "That you let every ruffian in your sweet, tight, little hole without fight...But me...You're truly terrified."
"Because your far worse!" I was breathing raggedly. Hating that my voice cracked.
"No." He shook his head. Leaning in until his bottom lip slid over mine leisurely. "Because it is mine that brings you to your knees."
"You wish I was on my knees!"
"I do." He grudgingly admitted. "Amongst other things. But all your crude words don't change the fact that I know exactly where you hide. That I alone, can touch you in all the places no other man can reach. That I find you when no one else can." His voice dropped with every sentence until it was barely audible. He slid his head side to side. Making his lip trail mine until my nervousness had my tongue darting out to moisten it. Licking his in the process.
"Mmm." He growled. One hand sliding slowly down the wall with a whispering scrape. Drawing down toward my waist where he palmed the bottom of my ribs and slid his flat hand upward to my chest, his fingertips just brushing the bottom of a rounded globe.
I swallowed, my mouth drying.
"Tell me," He whispered against my mouth, hovering it just over mine so I could already feel the heat of him. "that you're not already wet for me."
"You have me cornered, Gray." I said as angrily as I could. Pushing my head back as far into the stone as it could go and still slicking my lips along his as I spoke. "Stop toying with your food."
"Oh, I won't eat you..." His eyes slid down over me.
"Yet." He snapped flat, perfectly white, teeth in a sound that made me jump slightly.
Knowing that he was an Eternus made those words more than just a playful warning.
He could suck me dry.
Something I'd long been expecting him to do.
His kind are all soulless. The old familiar hatred bubbled to the surface.
The door opened. Unlocked. The barmaid was carrying two steaming buckets.
And peering at her over his shoulder, I glimpsed one fat nipple peeping just above her bodice.
I couldn't help wondering if she'd done that to tempt him.
It seemed so obvious.
It probably would've worked. I thought dryly.
My gaze returned to his which was staring at me unblinkingly. His dark blue eyes consuming me as if he could take in every detail of my face in a way he never had before. Touching me as I knew his hands soon would be.
If he didn't already have prey tonight.
The girl visibly deflated at the sight of him pressed against me."Sorry, Sir." She murmured. Bobbing her head. "Brought the buckets, Sir.""No need to be sorry." Gray said in that dark voice. "Do as you need. You're no bother to me."It was humiliating that she could see us in such a compromising position.I probably looked no better than a common harlot with him molded against me as he was. His fingertips a breath away from fondling me."Is your intent to embarrass me?""No."I eyed him quizzically."It's to keep you right here, right where I want you, whilst she goes in and out."He wasn't jesting.Even when the brawny lad drug in the large metal tub and began pouring the buckets that the barmaid had brought up, he didn't budge.Not until they said they were done. Placing a platter atop our cloaks on the chair.Gray barely grunted in response as they closed the door."They're gone." I reminded. "You can let me go now.""Oh?" He queried. "Should I leap at your command as the Skins d
Baths in general were something I could rarely enjoy, for fear Orin would find me. To fully bathe I typically had to hide my face or cover the majority of the water with a cloak.To keep him from seeing me.I feared that one day, I’d be careless, and he’d get ahold of me.Gray positioned my arms on the outside of the tub as he set me in. Letting them slide down the metal, behind me.Forcing me to sit entirely upright in the water, my back pinned to the metal. Making me feel even more vulnerable than when Frost had me chained to the wall this morning.Because it’s Gray that has me. A tiny voice admitted.My jaw ticked and I was ramrod stiff. Watching as he walked to the chair to remove the platter to the side table before flipping the buckles at the shoulders of his tunic. Letting the glittering gold chain mail fall from his chest and to the floor.He leisurely collected it and set it atop his cloak. He sat on the edge of the bed and took off his boots before standing to unbuckle his b
“No to which, Baby Girl?” He growled against my cheek but I for the life of me I couldn’t remember what we were talking about.“Stop calling me that.” I muttered weakly.“No.” He shook his head. “Never.”“Why do you always do this?” I said desperately. Awash with emotion.Something I hated.“What?”“Make-make me feel…Why can’t you-” My desperate voice cracked, and I gave up.“Make you feel vulnerable?” He queried knowingly. His flat voice devoid of any hint of emotion. Though I knew he basked in mine.“Why can’t you just get it over with like the rest?”“Because I’m nothing like them.” He said darkly. His face written with disdain as he put an arm along the edge of the bin to lean into me as his other hand found my entrance. Slipping one long, slim finger deep into my channel.I gasped and my eyelids fluttered at the pure pleasure of the gentle touch. The coaxing fingers working in and out of me to create slow building.I hated it.And I loved it.Which made me hate him even more.“An
Following his motions, I worked him more vigorously. Determined to not let him do it.Not this time.He tipped his head, waiting.I shook my head in answer. But in that same moment a lightning streak burned through my spine sending my back curving forward until it almost bent in half. My knees shoving down into the bottom of the washbin. My wrists straining at the ropes as my body jerked in tiny tremors. Emerging from where the inside of my body gripped him and stroked along his length. Before bursting through me in white-hot heat.My head fell back, and I was racked with the violence of my climax. Something I hadn’t had in months.He held me down against him, piercing deep as I reached my peak and then subsided from the dizzying heights.Only then did I realize he’d entirely stopped moving.“Damn you.” I said angrily. Knowing he’d caught himself before sating his pleasure. Leaving me feeling strangely unfinished.And even more like he won.He proved, yet again, that he was strong.Wh
“Spark…” Craven’s voice made me tense in my sleep.I could feel his presence closing in. Winding through time and darkness to reach me.The incubus could always find me when I slept.I felt him drawing nearer and I couldn’t fight my way out of the peace of slumber. Another of Craven’s talents.I was suddenly flipped onto my back. I opened panicked eyes. Straining to get out of the dream state and confront him. Feeling the usual terror because I knew I wouldn’t be able to see him or touch him.Or fight him off.I was exhausted and could think of no way to fight him off right now. Just as I felt his weight climbing over me I opened my mouth to scream but couldn’t get any words out. Only the merest croaking emerging. But the moment that weight drew up to my torso and prepared to settle into my crevice, Gray’s arm snatched out and caught at air. Dragging something down to his face.“I’ve told you, Craven.”“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Gray. I forgets!”“Best not.” Gray sat up enough to do an ex
She nodded. Unnerved by the fact that the two men were so unison that their voices sounded like one. Yet, both their mouths had moved.“Give us the coin.” The brown eyed one said.“And we’ll find your woman.” The other supplied. Speaking as the other stopped as if perfectly orchestrated.Like they have one mind.She pulled the coins from the pocket of her scanty overdress. Holding her hand out over theirs.Greedy light filled their gazes and as they reached, she withdrew the coins to clutch them near her chest.Leaving their outstretched palms empty.“I want her brought back unsullied.”“She’ll be suitable to work.” They responded together.Kareni was clever enough to notice their evasive answer but knew how hard it’d been to find these two to hunt her down.No one else can promise me they’ll even find her.The girl had proven particularly elusive thus far.Kareni was somewhat skeptical that even these two would, but she had enough spies and assassins at her disposal that she was conf
His long look told me he wasn’t kidding.He never is.And we both knew how likely it was I’d travel with a woman. All I’d ever met did not want to be my friend. Far from.And despite that I wasn’t his, and he was the only man that could seem to willingly let me go, he seemed even more possessive than the others when it came to me keeping male company.Or he tries to be.Now, I wanted to surround myself with male Skins just to defy him.Certainly not male monsters though!I could control the Skins.“Oh.” He popped his head back into the door. “Is this you escaping me again?”My eyes narrowed on him. “You do know your particular manner of humor, isn’t actually funny, right?”Those dimples flashed again. Though I saw no hint of those flat square teeth he so often nipped me with.Never a real smile.Odd.I hated that I’d even thought that. Physically shaking myself, I slid on my shoes and peeked out to make sure he was gone.And this wasn’t a trap.He could’ve had the Pyre Army moving all
One ripped my bodice to roughly roll my breast. Gripping it while I writhed, trying to get away from the harsh touch.His other hand lifted my skirts while two others forced my thighs apart.I flailed but he managed to wedge himself between my legs.I considered calling to Lionel for help, but I knew that with my cruel response this afternoon, he’d be trailing far enough behind now, not to hear me.For awhile.The goblin’s dark skin shined with a pearlescent hue, blooming red and then returning as he flushed with arousal. His long thick member began stretching. Lengthening into the size of a small arm. Stretching like a tentacle as I fought to close my legs. I felt the spiked tip brushing through my lips and forcing between as it strained my entrance, ready to slam in until reaching my womb.He’d barely have to thrust to spill his vile seed.I needed help. Or this was going to hurt.It would take me weeks, if not months to heal.If I live.Nearby I saw a puddle.Still gasping for brea