Darkness Captured (10 page)

Impatience heated his cheeks. His cock could barely manage a stir of interest after the lush buffet Gabriella had offered. Recalling how wetly and tightly Gabriella’s sex had clasped his cock, Marduk willed his sex to fill.

In full view of her court, he forced Irkalla’s hand from his arm to the front of his trousers, ignoring her sharp gasp at the bold action. “My guest only scratched at my hunger.”

Her fingers curved around the ridge growing steadily beneath the fabric. Her happy smile stretched lush red lips. “I find I want you all to myself.” No sooner had she spoken the words then her courtiers fled the room, leaving them alone.

Irkalla opened the single golden clasp that closed her robe and let the silky fabric slide off her shoulders to the floor.

Likewise, he held her gaze and removed his clothing, then came to one knee in front of her, bowing his head. “How may I please you, mistress?”

Irkalla’s dainty hands bracketed his face and tilted it upward. “I would pleasure you first. I would like to know the many flavors of your new lover.”

Marduk felt heat rise on his cheeks again. He hadn’t time to bathe before he’d left Gabriella, and the bitch knew it. But he bit his tongue and nodded. “Whatever you desire.”

“Come,” she said, leading him toward her bed. “I’d have something soft beneath my knees when I sup from you.”

He had to keep Irkalla in the dark about his growing impatience with the monarch’s possessiveness. With his passions not completely assuaged by his new sex slave, Marduk followed. His cock hardened steadily while his heart thudded dully in his chest.

She stepped up the small riser to the comfort of her soft, down-filled bed, eagerly tossing sumptuous cushions covered in the same bloodred velvet and gold thread to the floor to make room for them both. Not that her large bed couldn’t have held another set of lovers—it had, whenever the queen’s hungers grew insatiable.

Now, Irkalla’s face beamed as she patted the center of the mattress. “Come. Why are you so slow? I’ve been waiting for you for hours.”

Marduk grew still inside, careful not to let her see how much she had disturbed him.
Hours?
She’d starved herself purposely, waiting to unleash her passions on him—as punishment for his actions? As a vicious reminder of where his loyalties would forever lie?

He’d had enough. In her present mood, she’d savage his cock. Tamping down his distress over Gabriella’s safety, he decided to deliver a reminder of his own—one that would satisfy both their lusts, but leave her with no doubts about why she kept him as a paramour.

Marduk lunged for her, digging his fingers into her soft shoulders.

Irkalla curled her fingers and raked his chest with her nails, drawing blood, which only excited her hunger more. The teeth at the upper corners of her feral smile extended, her pupils dilated, and darkness consumed even the whites of her eyes.

However, he was stronger, his passions running deeper; he turned her to face the mattress and leaned over, trapping her as she wriggled in his grasp. Mindful of the attendants listening at the door, he whispered harshly, “Is your arrogance so great you forget what I am?”

Her muffled reply was lost among the feathers spilling from the mattress where her teeth had raked slashes in the tucking.

“I’ve faced forces beyond your imagination. You may be a Born bitch, but I’m stronger. You should fear me. My fire would destroy you.”

Her fury ran unabated as she bucked and heaved. He brought his weight down on her and roughly parted her legs with his knees, shoving them wide. At the same time, he drew her arms up behind her; straining tendons forced her to lie still or risk ripping her arms from their sockets.

However, as he well knew, fury fed her passion. Her arousal scented the air.

Her struggles had inflamed him as well, and he aimed his cock between her legs, found the dampness between her legs and crammed his cock upward, halting Irkalla’s next muffled shriek.

Fully seated, he leaned close again. “Now that I have your attention, darling, I’m going to let go of your arms. Come up on your knees.”

When he dropped her wrists, she slowly brought them to her sides and lifted her torso from the mattress, spitting feathers.

He smiled at her docility, knowing that if she turned her face toward him now, he’d see her features were slackening, softening, the primal darkness in her gaze bleeding away as her sensuality overtook her bloodlust.

Lest she forget this was punishment, he wrapped her long hair in his fist and pulled back her head. Then he stroked his hips forward, riding her flanks; pounding her buttocks with sharp slaps as her moist center melted around him.

The first fluttering ripples of her orgasm caressed his shaft, and he rewarded her with a flurry of thrusts that built heated friction against her inner walls. She danced on his cock, her bottom shivering, jerking, until at last she howled and grew limp in his grasp.

Marduk lowered her to the bed, pulled out and turned her, proving his lack of fear by rolling to his back, pulling her thighs astride his hips, and plunging upward to spear her with his sex again.

Irkalla, her face reddened, her lips bruised and bitten, trained her moist gaze on him. Then she braced her small hands against his shoulders and began to rock forward and back. “Do I please you?” she asked in a subdued whisper.

“Not yet, love,” he said softly. “Would you like to taste my passion for you?”

Her entire body trembled, and she nodded.

Gripping her slight waist, he pulled her off his cock and shoved her down the bed. Then he caressed her face with both hands and aimed her mouth over his cock.

Her groan as she suckled him vibrated against his sensitive head. He petted her, combing her hair with his fingers, raking her scalp and tugging her closer.

Her jaws widened, gliding down, her teeth carefully shielded behind her lips, coming off him to lick the length of his shaft, swirling her tongue along his rigid length, and then diving beneath to mouth his balls.

She painted him with the moisture of her mouth, suckling his balls one at a time and laving them richly, her soft mouth tugging and building a sensual tension he felt all the way to his toes.

His thighs tensed, and he raised his knees slightly to dig his heels into the mattress. He pumped his hips upward, stroking at air until she ceased her teasing gobbles and returned to his aching shaft.

Her soft hands surrounded him, gliding up and down, pulling the foreskin down the shaft and up. Her lips kissed his tip, rubbing over the crown, her eyes closing as her tongue lapped a bead of arousal from the slit.

“I taste you. I taste her.” Her sharp-eyed gaze speared him. “She’s not human, milord.”

“What does your clever tongue discern?”

Her nose wrinkled. “Wolf.”

He smiled at her as though grateful for her cleverness, but he’d known the moment he’d pulled Gabriella over his shoulder and smelled her skin. It’s why he’d entered the bath. To entice her to join him and wash away the scent before anyone else noticed.

“Shall it be our secret?” he said. “See how long it takes for her to reveal her nature?”

Irkalla smiled and opened wide, sliding down his cock with more conviction now that she’d given him something he hadn’t commanded. She thought she’d taken back control.

He let her think it while he took his pleasure from her. While she was consumed with greedy lust, she couldn’t think beyond her own arousal. Keeping her on the edge had been a strategy he’d employed throughout their long relationship.

From time to time, Irkalla needed reminders like these that he was one demon who would never accept a leash—even one as rich and pleasurable as what she offered. She didn’t respect anyone willing to reside under her dominion.

And while he played at paying homage to her rank, they both knew who ruled the relationship. He had only to give her a single fierce glare and she became wet. When he placed her in stocks and whipped her, she trusted him enough not to fear he would betray her, offering a woman’s sweet cream for the powerful arousal his domination provided.

Gabriella was similarly affected. For now, she remained submissive only because she was uncertain of her fate. When she grew more confident, he would have his work cut out to prove his mastery.

Irkalla hadn’t offered him a true challenge in eons. Excitement over the thought of the battles to come with Gabriella hardened his balls to the point of bursting.

Irkalla murmured around him, her mouth suctioning harder. She mistook the source of his growing excitement, which amused him.

His fingers dug into her scalp, forcing her to take him deeper. He thrust hard against the back of her throat, heard her soft choking sounds and smiled. “Open your throat. You’ll swallow my seed, mistress.”

Irkalla’s hands tightened around the base of his cock, squeezing hard as she pumped up and down. Her mouth caressed his shaft, her tongue swirled down his length. Her throat opened and closed, swallowing around him, caressing the crown, and then opened again to take him deeper.

Holding her hair in his fist, he pumped his hips upward, slamming down her throat until his balls exploded and ropes of semen spurted into her.

She swallowed greedily, moans vibrating around him until she’d wrung every last drop.

His hand loosened on her hair, and she lifted, coming off his cock to tilt her face toward him. “Please,” she begged.

And because she was the perfect supplicant, he widened his legs and cupped his balls and cock, lifting them away. “Drink, love.”

Her face dove between his legs, her tongue skimming over his inner thigh up into his groin. Then she pierced him, and blood began to flow from the twin wounds she’d made.

Again, his cock filled even as blood streamed out of him, enticed by her vampire’s allure into full-blown arousal. He needed her to cast for him, needed her to supplant his natural need for the woman in his chamber so that he could please the creature filling her belly on his lifeblood.

For as long as Irkalla believed he loved her, the woman he’d decided would fill his lonely heart would be safe.

CHAPTER
7

G
untram reached down to offer Simon a hand, grasping it and heaving him over the edge of the parapet. Ducking down, they huddled for a moment with their backs against the crenellated wall while they caught their breath. They sat hidden by the shadows cast by a huge moon hovering over the tall dunes in the distance.

The climb up the sandstone wall had invigorated him, allowing him to expend some of the pent-up energy his worry and frustration had built up. As always, the physical challenge left him feeling relaxed despite the danger pressing closer, making it easier to think.

Wiping his sweaty face with his sleeve, he took stock of where they sat.

The walkway at the top of the fortress was approximately ten feet wide and stretched the length of a long curtain wall. No guards were within sight or scent—not patrolling the walkway or stationed in the tall parapets at the corners of the fortification, which seemed odd. Why build a wall if you didn’t have enemies ready to invade?

“Where do we go from here?” he whispered to Simon, who was taking a little longer to catch his breath.

Simon reached out and gripped his forearm, then dragged himself up. “We’ll head to one of the towers and make our way down to the city streets.”

“Are there no guards?”

“Not the sort you’re expecting, I imagine,” Simon murmured. “Guards patrol inside the city.
Anzu-birds
keep watch from above—and occasionally the
lillum,
especially nasty creatures. Keep an eye peeled toward the sky.” Taking another deep breath, he shoved away from the wall. “Come, we have to keep moving.”

Crouching to keep their heads below the top of the wall, they hurried down the wallwalk to the nearest tower. Guntram paused at the doorway, peering down the dark, spiraling stone steps. Simon gave him a shove from behind. “Keep moving. We’ll have no problems until we’re inside the fortress.”

Guntram took him at his word. The mage had been right so far. Ducking, he entered the stairs and felt a hot breeze whipping upward, evaporating the rest of the sweat beading on his forehead.

Stealthily, they hurried down the darkened tower toward the street, with Guntram wondering all the while about a for-tress free from watchful guards. Unease crept along his spine. Guntram didn’t like surprises, and wished he’d had more time to learn about the terrain and the dangers lurking before he’d come.

At the bottom of the steps, a doorway opened directly onto a city block. Pausing again, he hugged the door frame and peered up and down the narrow cobblestone street, not unlike those he’d walked in medieval townships. The smells that assaulted his nose were familiar as well: urine, feces, decaying bodies. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

However, it was the sounds of the place that sent a chill up his spine. Low, mournful wails and cries rose in the air. Crackling crunches emanated from darkened doors and alleyways—like bones being ground by powerful jaws.

“Don’t stop now,” Simon said, shoving him again.

They kept close to the outer curtain wall. On the opposite side of the street were doorways leading into multistoried houses and establishments. Huddled on stoops and in corners were lumpy bodies dressed in ragged, filth-encrusted clothing.

Simon darted across the street to one doorway. Guntram followed.

Simon pulled a leather bag from a pocket and extracted two gold coins, purchasing smelly robes from two men huddled close whose dry-eyed gazes didn’t see beyond the shiny coins.

Guntram grimaced when Simon passed him one of the robes, but didn’t hesitate to pull it on to hide his clothing. Now, they looked just like the rest of the pitiful creatures hiding in the shadowed doorways.

Then they were off again, Simon keeping his back to the wall, his gaze lifting to the star-filled sky above the darkened streets.

That’s when Guntram heard it—a loud, piercing roar and the flap of huge, feathered wings.